Pastor Tim Reed of First Baptist Church is among those who believe the Scouts should have never changed their rules. “God’s word explicitly says homosexuality is a choice, a sin,” Reed, who decided to cut his church’s ties with the Scouts, told a CNN affiliate. “It’s not a hate thing here. It’s a moral stance we must take as a Southern Baptist church.”

While those in support of the new-found policy are frustrated that gay leaders are still not permitted to take part, others who oppose the amendment believe that the group is abandoning its Christian heritage. Among the denominations that may cut off support for the Scouts is the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).

Church leaders, according to CNN, are planning to urge the religious order’s 45,000 congregations and 16 million members to officially cut ties with the Boy Scouts. Considering that 4,000 units are currently sponsored by the SBC, this would be a monumental loss for the organization — one that would impact 100,000 young men who participate through this denomination.

Founded in 1954, Bilderberg is an annual conference designed to foster dialogue between Europe and North America. Every year, between 120-150 political leaders and experts from industry, finance, academia and the media are invited to take part in the conference. About two thirds of the participants come from Europe and the rest from North America; one third from politics and government and the rest from other fields.

The conference has always been a forum for informal, off-the-record discussions about megatrends and the major issues facing the world. Thanks to the private nature of the conference, the participants are not bound by the conventions of office or by pre-agreed positions. As such, they can take time to listen, reflect and gather insights.

There is no detailed agenda, no resolutions are proposed, no votes are taken, and no policy statements are issued.

Sumant Kumar was overjoyed when he harvested his rice last year. There had been good rains in his village of Darveshpura in north-east India and he knew he could improve on the four or five tonnes per hectare that he usually managed. But every stalk he cut on his paddy field near the bank of the Sakri river seemed to weigh heavier than usual, every grain of rice was bigger and when his crop was weighed on the old village scales, even Kumar was shocked.

This was not six or even 10 or 20 tonnes. Kumar, a shy young farmer in Nalanda district of India's poorest state Bihar, had – using only farmyard manure and without any herbicides – grown an astonishing 22.4 tonnes of rice on one hectare of land. This was a world record! That might have been the end of the story had Sumant's friend Nitish not smashed the world record for growing potatoes six months later. Shortly after Ravindra Kumar, a small farmer from a nearby Bihari village, broke the Indian record for growing wheat.

What happened in Darveshpura has divided scientists and is exciting governments and development experts. Tests on the soil show it is particularly rich in silicon but the reason for the "super yields" is entirely down to a method of growing crops called System of Rice (or root) Intensification (SRI). It has dramatically increased yields with wheat, potatoes, sugar cane, yams, tomatoes, garlic, aubergine and many other crops and is being hailed as one of the most significant developments of the past 50 years for the world's 500 million small-scale farmers and the two billion people who depend on them.

Instead of planting three-week-old rice seedlings in clumps of three or four in waterlogged fields, as rice farmers around the world traditionally do, the Darveshpura farmers carefully nurture only half as many seeds, and then transplant the young plants into fields, one by one, when much younger. Additionally, they space them at 25cm intervals in a grid pattern, keep the soil much drier and carefully weed around the plants to allow air to their roots.

"Farmers use less seeds, less water and less chemicals but they get more without having to invest more. This is revolutionary," said Dr Surendra Chaurassa from Bihar's agriculture ministry. "I did not believe it to start with, but now I think it can potentially change the way everyone farms. I would want every state to promote it. If we get 30-40% increase in yields, that is more than enough to recommend it."

Tens of thousands of protesters spent the whole night resisting an unregulated and brutal assault of tear gas, water cannons, and plastic bullets, which left scores of people injured, traumatised, and hospitalized. While people were being beaten by police, mainstream media have caused outrage among Turks by neglecting to comment and refusing to broadcast from the streets.

By and large, people have united in opposition to the way Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party have been treating protesters. Unexpected alliances have formed between people... Doctors have volunteered their time and effort to help the injured on the streets and lawyers have come to the aid of those who have been detained.

Now that the police have left Taksim Square (tear gassing people as they went), thousands of people remain in Gezi Park waving Turkish flags and chanting "Tayyip Istifa" — meaning "Tayyip Resign" — while #tayyipistifa is trending on Twitter. There are reports that tensions are rising between protesters and pro-government Islamist groups in the nearby neighbourhood of Tophane, where Islamists are said to be attacking people with knives.

In a letter published in The Sunday Telegraph, the Conservative Grassroots group said the Prime Minister had “no solid evidence” behind his support for same-sex marriage and that he was “alienating” Tory supporters. It will come as a major blow to Mr Cameron, who has tried to placate activists by insisting that he will stop concentrating on policies such as same-sex marriage and instead focus on the “big picture” issues of the economy and education.

Same-sex marriage was approved by MPs last week after Mr Cameron was forced into a deal with Labour to beat a Tory back-bench attempt to derail it. However, it will have to overcome significant resistance when it comes before the House of Lords this week. Peers from all main parties will unite in an attempt to block the legislation.

But the Bishop claimed that signing into law a Bill that would allow same-sex couples to marry would force her to break that promise she made upon her Coronation. Peers will today begin two days of debates on the Government's plans to allow same-sex weddings, with a vote tomorrow. Bishop Nazir-Ali told the Daily Mail: "The idea of a constitutional monarchy comes from the Bible. Christians are told in the Bible to obey their rulers, unless the ruler tells us to do something God forbids."

"Happily in this country we have a monarchy that has taken an oath of upholding God's laws, and the present Queen has for years been faithful to that. We are praying that she continues to be faithful. But while she is faithful to the vows she has taken, in this country she has to act on the advice of her ministers."

The warning comes after both Labour peer Lord Alli and Viscount Astor, the stepfather of David Cameron's wife Samantha, said that the gay marriage Bill could result in a constitutional stand-off between the Commons and the Lords.

The plan to send Borei-class submarines, designed to carry 16 long-range nuclear missiles, to the southern hemisphere follows President Vladimir Putin’s decision in March to deploy a naval unit in the Mediterranean Sea on a permanent basis starting this year. “The revival of nuclear submarine patrols will allow us to fulfill the tasks of strategic deterrence not only across the North Pole but also the South Pole,” state-run Itar-Tass cited an unnamed official in the military General Staff as saying.

The official said the patrols would be phased in over several years. The Yuri Dolgoruky, the first of eight Borei-class submarines that Russia hopes to launch by 2020, entered service this year.

Fears of a nuclear confrontation between Russia and the United States has eased in recent years, and the Cold War-era foes signed a landmark treaty in 2010 setting lower limits on the size of their long-range nuclear arsenals. But the limited numbers of warheads and delivery vehicles such as submarines that they committed to under the New START treaty are still enough to devastate the world.

Putin has made clear Russia will continue to upgrade its arsenal.

Foreign bank loans fell by $472 billion (£311 billion) in rich countries in the fourth quarter of last year, contracting at an 8 percent annual rate. The retrenchment was led by a collapse of interbank loans in the eurozone, where lenders in the creditor states continue to pull back from periphery countries. Volumes fell by $284 billion across the eurozone, a 20 percent rate of contraction. Belt-tightening by banks is a key reason why the region remains stuck in recession for the seventh quarter in a row.

The BIS said in its quarterly report that the markets are “under the spell of monetary easing”, convinced that central banks will keep the asset boom going despite signs of “broad deceleration” in the US economy and fatigue in China.

Jaime Caruana, the BIS’s managing director, said last month that the authorities should refrain from further stimulus to keep growth alive, warning that excessive liquidity is distorting the financial system without achieving much. “If a medicine does not work as expected, it’s not necessarily because the dosage was too low,” he said.

The BIS was the only major watchdog to warn of a bubble before the Lehman crisis, and it has once again begun to fret over junk bonds and frothy asset prices.

After a miserably long winter followed by a cold, rain-drenched spring, the start of summer has brought severe flooding in Germany and neighboring Austria and the Czech Republic, killing at least nine people so far and awakening unhappy memories of the disastrous deluge of August 2002. There's no respite in sight, with Germany's weather center warning of further heavy rainfall on Monday in the worst-affected regions of southern and eastern Germany.

Thousands of people have been evacuated from low-lying areas, historic town centers are under water, schools are closed and high-school exams have been postponed, all to the grim soundtrack of emergency sirens and the merciless rushing of water. Five people are reported to have been killed in the Czech Republic, including two men on a river rafting tour. Two people have died in Austria and two in Germany. Several more are missing.

Perhaps the most extended research, however, comes from the Gallup poll. Since 1957, Gallup has asked Americans this simple question: Is religion increasing its influence? The poll is not a measure of religious or spiritual beliefs but rather a perception of religion’s role in society. The latest poll, released Wednesday, shows the most negative public opinion toward the impact of religion since 1970.

The last time a majority of Americans saw religion as increasing in influence was just after the 9/11 attacks. Today, in sharp contrast, 77 percent believe it is losing influence. That’s about the same percentage as during the late 1960s.

Another poll, done for the Christian group LifeWay Research, also finds Americans more open to religion during time of tragedy. Nearly 6 in 10 agree with the poll’s statement, “When a natural disaster occurs, my interest in God increases.” It is difficult to reconcile these polls with a rising disinterest in institutional religion. A Pew poll last year found 15 percent of American adults say they have no religious affiliation (the “nones,” as they are dubbed). That is about double from four decades ago.

These numbers, however, probably reflect a growing distrust in almost all institutions, not just established denominations, as well as a rising interest in individual spirituality more than group worship or faith-impelled social action.