Commissioners are being asked whether to continue an indefinite ban on the ordination of gay ministers until a report next year. Another option is to lift the ban but await a separate report which would be published in two years. For two years, since it confirmed the Reverend Scott Rennie's appointment to Queen's Cross Church, the Kirk has been consulting widely with its officials and congregations on the issue of the ordination of gay ministers.

One in five members of Kirk sessions have said they would leave if it is agreed that gay ministers can be ordained, while one in 10 have said they would leave if the Kirk rules they can not be ordained.

Dr Bill Naphy, from Aberdeen University, warned that it was a "very divisive issue" but said he believed the Church of Scotland faced losing whole congregations if it approved the ordinations. He added: "The very fact that the Kirk has spent two years debating an issue that relates to a handful of verses in the Bible must seem a very peculiar thing for the Kirk to spend its time on. In actual fact the Bible doesn't say a great deal about sexuality at all."

In 1961, for every 1,000 boys under the age of seven, there were 976 girls. Today, the figure has dropped to a dismal 914 girls. Although the number of women overall is improving (due to factors such as life expectancy), India's ratio of young girls to boys is one of the worst in the world after China.

Many factors come into play to explain this: infanticide, abuse and neglect of girl children. But campaigners say the decline is largely due to the increased availability of antenatal sex screening, and they talk of a genocide. "Whatever measures have been put in over the past 40 years have not had any impact on the child sex ratio," Home Secretary GK Pillai said when the census report was released.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described female foeticide and infanticide as a "national shame" and called for a "crusade" to save girl babies. Until 30 years ago, he says, India's sex ratio was "reasonable". Then in 1974, Delhi's prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences came out with a study which said sex-determination tests were a boon for Indian women. It said they no longer needed to produce endless children to have the right number of sons, and it encouraged the determination and elimination of female foetuses as an effective tool of population control.

"By late 80s, every newspaper in Delhi was advertising for ultrasound sex determination," said Mr George. "Clinics from Punjab were boasting that they had 10 years' experience in eliminating girl children and inviting parents to come to them." Today, there are 40,000 registered ultrasound clinics in the country, and many more exist without any record.

The Grimsvotn volcano is experiencing its largest eruption in 100 years. It comes a year after ash from the Eyjafjallajokull eruption reached Europe, closing much of its airspace. A spokesman for the Met Office, which runs Europe's Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre, said: "This is a very different situation to last April."

"The weather is much more changeable and there's a lot more uncertainty. There's no risk of the ash moving across the UK in the next day or so. But there is a possibility that we'll see some volcanic ash towards the end of the week." Icelandic air traffic control has created a no-fly zone around the volcano, closed Keflavik airport, the country's main hub, and cancelled all domestic flights.

Last month tornadoes and storms killed at least 350 people in Alabama and six other southern states. John Miller, a freelance photographer for the Springfield News-Leader newspaper, described widespread damage in Joplin. "The Home Depot is levelled. The Walmart is destroyed. Gas stations, buildings. Everywhere I could see was either heavily damaged or completely destroyed," he said. "I saw firefighters and paramedics pull a young girl out of a car at the Home Depot. Part of the building had fallen on the car."

Power lines and phone lines in the city are down, reports say. Witnesses said ambulances lined the street near a Walmart store amid reports that hundreds of people were trapped inside. Officials at St John's Hospital in Joplin said the building had been badly damaged and windows blown out. A resident living 45 miles away said debris from the hospital had landed in his yard, including medical supplies and X-rays. Newton County Coroner Mark Bridges told Reuters by telephone that at least 30 people had been killed.

Governor Nixon said storms had caused extensive damage across Missouri. He warned that the storms were not finished. "I urge Missourians to keep a close eye on the latest weather information and to follow the instructions and warnings of emergency personnel as these deadly storms continue to move through our state," he said.

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In an unusually sharp rebuke to Israel's closest ally, Netanyahu insisted Israel would never pull back to its 1967 borders - which would mean big concessions of occupied land - that Obama had said should be the basis for negotiations on creating a Palestinian state.

"Peace based on illusions will crash eventually on the rocks of Middle East reality," an unsmiling Netanyahu said as Obama listened intently beside him in the Oval Office after they met for talks. Netanyahu insisted that Israel was willing to make compromises for peace, but made clear he had major differences with Washington over how to advance the long-stalled peace process.

Despite assurances of friendship by both leaders, this week's events also appeared to herald tense months ahead for US-Israeli relations, even as the Arab world goes through political tumult and Palestinians prepare a unilateral bid this fall to seek UN General Assembly recognition for statehood. Obama and Netanyahu, meanwhile, appear to have reached an impasse after two and a half years of rocky relations. The Obama White House was angered when Netanyahu refused a US demand to halt building Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Some Israelis have never felt entirely comfortable with Obama, unnerved by his early attempts to reach out to Iran and his support for popular Arab revolutions that have unsettled Israel. In a pointed comment clearly aimed at Obama's new approach to the long-running conflict, Netanyahu said: "The only peace that will endure is one that is based on reality, on unshakable facts."

Obama on Thursday also delivered a message to the Palestinians that they would have to answer "some very difficult questions" about a reconciliation deal with Hamas, the Islamist group that runs Gaza and which the United States regards as a terrorist group.

Water companies are already ordering customers to only water gardens if absolutely necessary and are warning of hosepipe bans as early as July. But unlike previous years, the bans will be focuses on certain activities. A new Government act means that water companies have the power to restrict certain activities rather than a blanket ban. For example hosing down the cat or dog, cleaning motorcycles and caravans with a pressure hose or filling fountains and ornamental pools. Households that ignore the new law face a fine of £1,000.

Trevor Bishop, Head of Water Resources at the Environment Agency, said much of England and South Wales is already experiencing drought. Hard hit areas include Severn Trent, Anglia and Bristol. "Water companies are telling us that if conditions continue to be dry and it gets warmer - as expected - then we are looking at hosepipe bans in late July and August." He explained that the Water Act 2003, that has just come into force, gives water companies the right to put certain conditions on any restrictions.

The previous laws, based on a 1945 Act of Parliament, restricted any "unattended" use of the hosepipe. The new ban was brought in to make hosepipe bans more fair, so customers will be fined for unecesssary use of water like hosing down the patio but will be allowed to keep garden plants alive. Caroline Spelman, the Environment Agency, is in regular contact with water companies and farmers as fears of a drought increase.

This year, 69% of Democrats said same-sex marriage should be legal, compared to last year's 56%. Among independents, 59% were in favor of the move, compared to 49% last year. Republican views on the issue didn't budge from the 28% who said they support gay marriage last year.

When Gallup first asked the about the issue 15 years ago, two-thirds of Americans were opposed to legalizing gay marriage, while just 27% were in favor of it. By 2004, overall support rose to 42% and stayed roughly at that level through last year.

Younger Americans support gay marriage in greater numbers, according to the poll.

Seventy percent of those 18 to 34 years old said they supported gay marriage, while only 39% of those aged 55 and older said they supported the institution. In general, support is highest among younger women and lowest for older men.

Yesterday was the last day for candidates to campaign for the election for municipal and regional government positions in much of the country. Citing the mandatory end of campaigning, the national election commission banned protests today and tomorrow - voting day.

But as city clocks chimed the beginning of a new day, thousands of demonstrators condemning government spending cuts - stood their ground. Some kept quiet, many with sticky tape over their mouths in a gesture to illustrate they were being gagged by the ban.

The government avoided saying if it would order police to break up the crowds in the early hours of this morning, but at the stroke of midnight officers kept a discreet presence on the edges of the demonstrations. People are angry over Spain's high unemployment rate and what they see as the national political parties' ineptitude in dealing with a deep economic crisis. Many protesters have said they were influenced by recent pro-democracy uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East and one popular chant is 'Join us'.

Bradlee Dean ended his prayer saying, "It's not about the Baptists, not about the Catholics alone, or the Lutherans, or the Evangelicals, or any other denomination, but rather THE HEAD OF THE DENOMINATION, AND HIS NAME IS JESUS, AS EVERY PRESIDENT UP UNTIL 2008 HAS ACKNOWLEDGED AND WE PRAY IT IN JESUS' NAME."

House Majority Leader Kurt Zellers took responsibility and immediately apologized after Dean's opening prayer, calling for a restart, asking the regular House chaplain to say another prayer. "I denounce him, his actions and his words. A person like that will never, ever be allowed on this House floor again as long as I am speaker," Zellers said.

Lawmakers said prayers are given every single day at the Capitol, but when a legislator invites their pastor to speak, there is trust it will be an acceptable and respectful address. Leidiger says someone from Dean's ministry requested the invite. He says he only knew of Dean's past work educating students on constitutional issues and not his controversial past remarks.

Smoke could be seen rising from the volcano, which lies under the uninhabited Vatnajokull glacier in southeast Iceland.

A no fly zone has been designated for 120 nautical miles (220 kilometers) in all directions from the eruption. Isavia, the company that operates and develops all airport facilities and air navigation services in Iceland, described this as standard procedure around eruptions. "The plume of smoke has reached jet flying altitude and plans have been made for planes flying through Icelandic air control space to fly southwardly tonight," said Hjordis Gudmundsdottir, the spokeswoman for Isavia.

Grimsvotn last erupted in 2004. Scientists have been expecting a new eruption and have said previously that this volcano's eruption will likely be small and should not lead to the air travel chaos caused in April 2010 by ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano. History shows that previous eruptions in Grimsvotn have not had much influence on flight traffic - unlike the massive disruption caused last year.

Pall Einarsson, geophysicist at the University of Iceland, said last year's eruption was a rare event. "The ash in Eyjafjallajokull was persistent or unremitting and fine-grained," Einarsson said. "The ash in Grimsvotn is more coarse and not as likely to cause danger as it falls to the ground faster and doesn't stay as long in the air as in the Eyjafjallajokull eruption." A plane from the Icelandic Coast Guard carrying experts from the University of Iceland will fly over the volcano and evaluate the situation.

The 89-year-old Californian preacher and radio host had prophesied that the Rapture would begin at 6pm May 21st in each of the world's time zones, with non-believers wiped out by rolling earthquakers, as the saved ascended into heaven. His refusal to schedule a media interview for the following day - "It is absolutely going to happen. There is no way that I can schedule an interview because I won't be here." - was being replayed by media as the world firmly stayed standing.

On the microsite Twitter, groups of atheists and sceptics were last night swapping tales of After Rapture parties, with one group, in Tacoma, Washington, branding their celebration "Countdown to Back-Pedalling". Mr Camping's doomsday prediction wasn't his first. He blamed an earlier apocalyptic prediction which passed quietly in 1994 on a mathematical error, last month saying: "I'm not embarrassed about it. It was just the fact that it was premature."

This time would be different, with "no possibility" it would not happen. While across the United States, some devotees reportedly sold all their possessions and took to the streets to warn of the second coming of Jesus, in Britain, sceptical voices were louder. After 6pm passed without incident in New Zealand and Australia, Stephen Fry tweeted: "Marvellous news! Rapture doesnt mean end of world; apparently all the planet's imbeciles disappear in one go."

Amid the sound of ruffled feathers he later added: "Calm down. Never said all Christians are imbeciles. Just those who think they'll be raised up today. They do the faith a grave disservice." Earlier TV scientist Professor Brian Cox had suggested it was a good time for a global practical joke: "I think we should all pretend the rapture is happening so that when Harold Camping gets left behind later today he'll be livid."

At the White House on Friday, Netanyahu bluntly rejected Obama's vision for the boundaries of a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, in what appeared to be the opening of a deep divide between Israel and the United States. In a sharp rebuke to Israel's closest ally, Netanyahu told Obama his endorsement in an address on Thursday of the Palestinian demand to go back to Israel's 1967 frontiers - meaning big land concessions - would leave Israel indefensible. Netanyahu's latest comments did not contain any change to that position.

But as Obama prepared to address the annual assembly in Washington of the pro-Israel lobby organisation AIPAC, where he could face a cool reception from some delegates, Netanyahu appeared to be trying to calm any anger towards the president. "It's true we have some differences of opinion, but these are among friends," the spokesman quoted him as saying. Netanyahu believed that Obama had "shown his commitment to Israel's security, both in word and in deed," the spokesman added. "And we are working with the administration to achieve common goals."

China's investment demand for gold more than doubled to 90.9 metric tons in the first three months of the year, outpacing India's modest rise to 85.6 tons, the World Gold Council said in its quarterly report on Thursday. China now accounts for 25% of gold investment demand, compared with India's 23%.

The report underscores the rising appetite for gold among the growing middle-class in China. Fears of the country's soaring inflation, as well as a search for new investments, is luring investors to gold, and marketing of the precious metal has also increased in recent months.

"I think people will be surprised by the strength in the Chinese demand, but we think this is a trend that is set to continue," said Eily Ong, an investment research manager at the gold council. Historically, India has been the largest investment market for gold. In 2007, just before investing in gold began to take off globally, India's physical gold demand accounted for 61% of the world's total. China's was 9%. In terms of total consumer demand, which also included jewelry, India is still a bigger consumer of gold than China, taking in 291.8 tons in the first quarter, compared with China's 233.8 tons.

At the center of it all, Camping's organization, Family Radio, is perfectly happy to take your money - and in fact, received $80 million in contributions between 2005 and 2009. Camping founded Family Radio, a nonprofit Christian radio network based in Oakland, California with about 65 stations across the country, in 1958.

But not even all of his own employees are convinced that the world is ending on Saturday. In fact, many still plan on showing up at work on Monday."I don't believe in any of this stuff that's going on, and I plan on being here next week," a receptionist at their Oakland headquarters told CNNMoney. A program producer in Illinois told us, "We're going to continue doing what we're doing."

According to their most recent IRS filings, Family Radio is almost entirely funded by donations, and brought in $18 million in contributions in 2009 alone. According to those financial documents, accountants put the total worth of Family Radio (referred to as Family Stations on its official forms) at $72 million.

With those kind of financials - and controversial beliefs - it's no wonder skeptics have accused the group of running a scam. Camping first inaccurately predicted the world would end in 1994. Even so, he has gathered even more followers - some who have given up their homes, entire life savings and their jobs because they believe the world is ending.