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Swansea University’s research vessel Noctiluca will be one of two boats involved in the research which will include 3D modelling of the seabed
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Scientists are to investigate the impact tidal energy generation could have on Pembrokeshire’s marine environment.
Experts from five Welsh universities will spend the next few weeks on two research vessels off St David’s.
A trial of newly-designed underwater generators powered by the tide is to take place in the area.
The 25 scientists aim to establish how such schemes may affect porpoise, seals, seabirds and their environment.
Operation Celtic Odyssey will see experts from Swansea, Cardiff, Aberystwyth, Bangor and Pembrokeshire join forces.
“Energy debates are invariably passionate”
Dr Chris Wooldridge Operation Celtic Odyssey
They say Swansea University’s research vessel Noctiluca and Cardiff’s Guiding Light will act as floating laboratories and offshore classrooms for survey and monitoring.
The team will observe marine wildlife, undertake 3-D modelling of the seabed and turbulence, study fish behaviour and measure underwater background noise.
Research staff will include hydrographers, marine biologists, engineers, marine archaeologists, and ornithologists.
Dr Chris Wooldridge of Cardiff University said they would make an independent and impartial assessment of the likely affects of tidal generation.
He said there was huge potential for tidal power off Pembrokeshire, around Anglesey and in the Bristol Channel.
But he said it was vital to establish whether it would be environmentally sustainable.
A year-long trial of a new underwater generator will take place off the Pembrokeshire coast
“WAG [the Welsh Assembly Government] is committed to renewable energy but how many more wind farms can be accommodated?” he said.
“We’ve got to look at alternatives.
“Energy debates are invariably passionate in nature whether they surround nuclear, conventional, wind or marine power.
“Celtic Odyssey is well placed to make a substantive, evidence-based contribution to the debate on tidal power.”
Because the area around the St David’s peninsula is fully exposed to the storm waves of the Atlantic and has major tidal streams it has been identified by the assembly government as a potential site for tidal energy.
Earlier this year Cardiff-based Tidal Energy Ltd was given the go-ahead by ministers to test its new DeltaStream underwater generators off the coast for a 12-month trial.
The 1.2MW project at Ramsey Sound features three generators that sit on a triangular frame and the company said it would generate enough electricity to power up to 1,000 homes.
Dr Wooldridge said the environmental research, organised by the Low Carbon Research Institute, would work with the company but provide an independent assessment of any impact.
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Sebastian Vettel dominates the Turkish Grand Prix as Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber wins a battle with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso for second, with Lewis Hamilton fourth and Jenson Button sixth.
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Celtic return to within a point of Scottish Premier League leaders Rangers after a workmanlike win over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.
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Bahrain accused Iran of fomenting the recent unrest – a charge Tehran denied
Bahrain’s king has ordered the state of emergency imposed in mid-March during weeks of protests to be lifted from next month, the state news agency says.
“The state of national safety is lifted across the kingdom of Bahrain from 1 June,” the agency BNA quoted the king’s decree as saying.
At least 30 people have died since Bahrain’s Shia majority took to the streets in February.
More than 20 activists are charged with attempting to oust the Sunni monarchy.
Emboldened by uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, Bahrain’s Shias began protesting on 14 February demanding greater freedom and rights.
Some called for the overthrow of the monarchy.
The government imposed martial law and invited troops from Sunni-ruled neighbours such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to help quell the unrest.
Bahrain accused Iran of fomenting the unrest – a charge Tehran denied.
King Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah became emir of Bahrain in 1999 upon his father’s death, before turning the Gulf state from an emirate into a kingdom three years later.
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Lionel Rose was the first Aborigine to be named “Australian of the year”
Lionel Rose, the first Australian Aboriginal boxer to win a world title, has died at the age of 62.
Rose, who beat Japan’s Fighting Harada in Tokyo in 1968 to win the world bantamweight title, had been ill for several months.
In 2007, he suffered a stroke that left him partially paralysed and with speech problems.
He was named “Australian of the year” after his world title win, the first Aborigine to receive the honour.
He also was appointed a member of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the same year.
He finished his career with 42 wins in 53 fights, 12 of them by a knockout.
Former triple world bantamweight champion Jeff Fenech told Sydney’s Daily Telegraph website: “Lionel was not only a great fighter but a wonderful human being.
“He was an absolute legend and I was honoured to know him as a friend.”
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The US has said it will press China again on its currency policy
Top US and Chinese officials will be meeting for two days in Washington, starting this Monday.
The heads of 16 US government agencies and representatives from 20 Chinese government departments will discuss the most difficult issues in a complex, interdependent relationship.
The annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue comes just four months after bilateral discussions between President Barack Obama and President Hu Jintao.
It is not thought any concrete results will emerge from this meeting – rather, each side is hoping to influence the other’s point of view.
That has meant a string of statements and briefings on issues from the yuan exchange rate to protectionism, America’s budget deficit and China’s human rights record from leaders on both sides.
Perhaps the most influential business group in America, the US Chamber of Commerce, says it is most worried about reduced access for American businesses to China’s vast market.
According to Myron Brilliant, senior vice-president for international affairs: “It is more difficult to do business in China than it was five years ago.”
In particular, the chamber says China’s “indigenous innovation” policy tilts the playing-field in favour of Chinese firms, and hurts American businesses.
US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said ahead of the US-Chinese meeting that US firms in China “are frequently shut out of sectors or forced to share their technology to gain market access”.
But China makes its own claims of discrimination. Beijing argues the US imposes restrictions on Chinese investment in the US using the cloak of national security concerns.
China expert Professor Shang-Jin Wei, of Columbia University in New York, says both countries are more open to trade and investment than the rest of the world.
But sizeable disagreements over important issues remain.
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will be co-chairing the economic talks with China’s Vice Premier Wang Qishan, while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and State Councillor Dai Bingguo will head the strategic dialogue.
Mr Geithner has said he will press China again on its currency policy, an issue of persistent friction between the world’s two biggest economies.
The Chinese have retorted they are adamant that pleas to raise the value of the yuan will be of little use.
Chinese Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said in a briefing ahead of these talks that both countries agreed on the direction of yuan reform, even if they disagreed on the pace of change.
America has complained for years that China keeps its currency artificially low, to help Chinese exporters.
Many US lawmakers believe the yuan is undervalued by 15% to 40%.
The yuan has now risen in value by about 5% since June.
But the US wants the Chinese currency to increase further, not least because of the worrying trade gap between the two nations.
On the other hand, China has its sights set on America’s huge budget deficit.
China is America’s biggest lender and Beijing has asked Washington on numerous occasions to offer assurances about government debt levels and the strength of the dollar.
The federal deficit in America is expected to hit a staggering $1.4 trillion this year.
That is a serious concern to governments like China that invest heavily in US Treasury bonds and other dollar assets.
Finally, talks will not just be about business.
The Obama administration says it will raise China’s human rights record at this event following recent bilateral talks that produced no tangible results.
Critics have argued the treatment of dissidents and individual rights in China has been lost amidst the trade and business talk.
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Wolves hold on to beat West Brom in the Black Country derby at Molineux to move a point above the relegation zone and leapfrog Blackpool and Wigan.
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Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg is expected to promise a more assertive role in the coalition government, after his party’s heavy election losses.
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Police have been accused of violence in tackling recent protests
Authorities in Tunisia have imposed an overnight curfew in and around the capital, Tunis, after days of unrest.
The curfew will run every evening until 0500 local time (0600 GMT), the country’s defence and interior ministries said in a joint statement.
Some of the protests were organised by supporters of former Interior Minister Farhat Rajhi, who has become a vocal figure in the pro-democracy movement.
Tunisia’s President Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali stepped down amid January protests.
Saturday’s protests took place in the city’s deprived district of Ethadamen.
The district was at the centre of protests in January during the uprising that led to the fall of Mr Ben Ali.
The joint statment by the defence and interior ministries said that the curfew was needed because of “violence and pillaging” on the edges of the capital.
On Friday the interior ministry apologised for a brutal police response to protests against the transitional government in which tear gas and truncheons were used.
There were also unconfirmed report of unrest in the southern city of Gabes and in Sidi Bouzid, in the centre of Tunisia, where the uprising originally began in December last year.
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The targets destroyed by the RAF Tornado jets were identified during previous reconnaissance flights
RAF war planes have destroyed rocket launchers and dozens of Scud-missile containers in Libya, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said.
Two Tornado planes targeted a weapons system known as the FROG-7 – which can fire rockets more than 40 miles (64km) – near the city of Sirte on Friday.
The planes also destroyed at least 30 containers used for transporting long-range Scud missiles.
Defence Secretary Liam Fox said the mission was “hugely successful”.
It was also an example of how strikes on Gaddafi’s forces were being stepped up, he said.
“I have no doubt that this stockpile of weapons could have been used to threaten and kill innocent Libyans.
“We continue to degrade and destroy a range of military assets including tanks, armoured personnel carriers and rocket launchers that threaten the civilian population.
“The international coalition is resolute in its UN-mandated task of protecting the civilian population,” he said.
The targets were identified during previous reconnaissance flights.
Scuds have a range of around 200 miles (320km) and can carry a one-tonne warhead.
Under the terms of United Nations Security Council resolution 1973, Nato-led forces are enforcing a no-fly zone over the country, as well as carrying out missions aimed at preventing Col Gaddafi’s forces from attacking civilians.
Nato aircraft have flown more that 5,300 sorties since the no-fly zone was put in place in March.
The MoD’s announcement comes as government forces in Libya have been scattering land mines in the port city of Misrata, according to rebels and video footage.
The use of Chinese anti-vehicle mines was verified by Human Rights Watch.
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By James Landale
Both David Cameron and Nick Clegg have said they want to “move on” from the UK’s AV vote
In the throes of defeat, a political party thrashes about in spasm. It attacks its coalition partners – in the same breath as it promises a more businesslike relationship.
Its members have a go at the leadership and one leader resigns.
Above all, the party agonises over why the voters turned against it. Witness the Liberal Democrats in the wake of their election rout.
The brutal truth though is that they remain in coalition and – election defeats or no – they must continue governing.
They have nowhere else to go. They are locked into a government whose fate depends on economic recovery in four years time.
It is that truism that colours the urgent debate now taking place within the Lib Dems about what they should do now.
Some Lib Dems want their ministers to assert their independence more and be open about disagreements with the Conservatives.
Others want them to push the party’s agenda further, demanding changes to policies outside the holy writ of the coalition agreement.
Their cause of the moment is the government’s health reforms, with many Lib Dems looking for tangible restrictions on the involvement of the private sector in the delivery of NHS services.
Other Lib Dem ministers disagree with this analysis. They say the call for greater independence is code for the Lib Dems to be a bit more left wing, a bit more of an opposition within a government.
This, they say, is a path to electoral oblivion.
“Underlying it all is an identity crisis, long brewing, that these elections have been forced on the Lib Dems”
They argue that it is foolish and pointless to demand transactional concessions from the Conservatives that would not be granted or make any difference if they were.
“People did not vote against us because we weren’t pushing hard enough on Lords reform,” said one minister.
At the heart of the debate is that question: why did people stop voting Lib Dem?
Some blame the spending cuts, others blame the so-called broken promises, and others just blame the fact of their being in coalition with the Tories.
Underlying it all is an identity crisis, long brewing, that these elections have forced on the Lib Dems.
For years they have won votes from a variety of voters, many of whom have had vastly differing ideas of what the party is about and for.
Those who thought the Lib Dems were a soft-left, anti-war alternative to Labour have long gone.
Those who thought the Lib Dems were a party of civil liberties and electoral reform alone have been left puzzled and disappointed by their coalition with the Conservatives.
Some who thought the Lib Dems were a respectable centrist alternative to the Tories in the South West have either drifted away to UKIP or been attracted by David Cameron’s social liberalism.
Nick Clegg admitted the Liberal Democrats had taken a “real knock” after the election losses
And of course, many who voted Lib Dem just to protest against the government of the day can no longer do so.
In other words, in the wake of these elections, the Lib Dems are having to decide what they are for.
No longer can they appeal to different voters in different ways. That is the straitjacket of government. They have to agree policy that affects people’s lives, not positions that can be flavoured differently around the country.
In the short term, the Lib Dem leadership’s preferred solution is not to have vocal rows with the Tories, but to shout out loud the achievements they have already made in government.
Nick Clegg will tell his party activists in a speech next week that he – and they – are in this for the long haul.
On the first anniversary of the coalition, he will say the two key decisions – to join the coalition and to cut the deficit quickly – remain the right ones.
But he will also make clear the Lib Dem’s achievements, telling voters what they get from the Lib Dems being in government.
As an example of that, he will appear at a joint event with David Cameron to highlight what they are doing on youth unemployment.
That, for now, is the strategy. It does not, though, change the fact that the party is in government and many voters don’t seem to like it.
Their task now is to become some thing that voters do like.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
