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.

Scientists at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, at the University of Sherbrooke Hospital Centre in Quebec, took dozens of samples from women. Traces of the toxin were found in 93 per cent of the pregnant mothers and in 80 per cent of the umbilical cords. The research suggested the chemicals were entering the body through eating meat, milk and eggs from farm livestock which have been fed GM corn.

The findings appear to contradict the GM industry's long-standing claim that any potentially harmful chemicals added to crops would pass safely through the body. To date, most of the global research which has been used to demonstrate the safety of GM crops has been funded by the industry itself.

One of the researchers told the scientific journal Reproductive Toxicology: "This is the first study to highlight the presence of pesticides associated with genetically modified foods in maternal, foetal and nonpregnant women's blood."

The figure was recorded by the Japan Coast Guard which maintains underwater geodetic equipment along the fault responsible for the giant tremor. An upwards movement of 3m (10ft) was registered by the same instrument.

The data underlines once again the colossal nature of the Magnitude 9.0 quake and its associated tsunami. "The scale is almost double that estimated only from the terrestrial data," the coast guard's Dr Mariko Sato told BBC News. "Our results show how important offshore data are to know where and to what extent the rupture occurred on the plate boundary." Dr Sato's research is reported in one of three online submissions to the journal Science this week.

He said the boundaries of Israel and a Palestinian state should be based on pre-1967 borders with agreed swaps

He told Syria's president to lead transition in the country or "get out of the way"

He said the US has both an historic opportunity and responsibility to support those seeking freedoms

He said the future of the US and the Middle East were bound together by economics, security, history and faith

He said the US will continue to insist the Iranian people deserve their universal rights, and a government that does not smother their aspirations

He said mass arrests and brute force in Bahrain are at odds with the universal rights of Bahrain's citizens

BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus comments:- "A clear signal, as with the choice of venue - the state department - that this marks a shift in the emphasis given to the instruments of US policy in the region; away from the predominant military emphasis in Iraq, Afghanistan and the war on terror, towards diplomacy, engagement and supporting open societies."

Mr Netanyahu is preparing to meet Mr Obama for talks at the White House. An estimated 300,000 Israelis live in settlements built in the West Bank, which lies outside those borders. The settlements are illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.

In Thursday's speech on the future of US policy in the Middle East, Mr Obama said the basis of the peace negotiations was to create "a viable Palestine, and a secure Israel". "The United States believes that negotiations should result in two states, with permanent Palestinian borders with Israel, Jordan, and Egypt, and permanent Israeli borders with Palestine," he said.

"The borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognised borders are established for both states." In a statement, Mr Netanyahu's office said he appreciated Mr Obama's "commitment to peace" but that for peace to endure, "the viability of a Palestinian state cannot come at the expense of the viability of the one and only Jewish state". The statement called on Mr Obama to reaffirm commitments he made to Israel in 2004.

"Among other things, those commitments relate to Israel not having to withdraw to the 1967 lines which are both indefensible and which would leave major Israeli population centers in Judea and Samaria beyond those lines," it said. "Those commitments also ensure Israel's well-being as a Jewish state by making clear that Palestinian refugees will settle in a future Palestinian state rather than in Israel."

Holding on has proved hugely profitable - in January 2010 gold was trading at about $1,100 an ounce, whereas the lowest price during the first three months of 2011 was more than $1,300. The highest was about $1,450. It is not known exactly when Mr Soros sold his gold, which was held via the Soros Fund Management investment vehicle. Filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the American regulator, showed that he had sold 99 per cent of his holding in SPDR Gold Trust, an exchange-traded fund (ETF) backed by gold bullion, by the end of March.

The New York-based fund sold its entire holding in iShares Gold Trust, a similar investment. But Mr Soros bought shares in two mining companies, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold and Goldcorp. This may have been a smart move. "As the precious metals rally ends, you'll get transition toward related equities," James Dailey of Pennsylvania-based Team Financial Asset Management, told Bloomberg. "You don't see any speculative appetite for gold stocks yet."

Not all investors share his view. Paulson & Co, the US hedge fund run by John Paulson, left its holding in the SPDR Gold Trust unchanged, filings to the SEC showed. And Hal Lehr, a commodity trader at Deutsche Bank, was quoted by Bloomberg as saying: "I'm bullish on gold despite its current levels. It could reach $2,000 an ounce in the next eight months."

The European Commission has just approved in principle France's request for an advance on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payments its farmers are due to receive in December, bringing them forward to 16 October. With parts of Europe seeing less than 40% of their long-term average rainfall between February and April, fellow EU states may follow suit.

A bad year for wheat - second only to wine as the EU's largest agricultural product - would hurt not only the farmer, but could well hit the consumer, driving up the cost of Europeans' pasta and pretzels. "You see the root, how it's dry, how short it is?" asked rapeseed grower Pascal Seingier this week, speaking to a Reuters TV crew that came to see him on his farm near Lumigny in northern France.

"There is nothing. And the whole top of the field is like that. Fortunately that's not the case lower down. But where the earth is very shallow, where there are no water reserves, well - there you go." Cracked earth and browned leaves are visible across the Ile-de-France region, according to Reuters. France's soft wheat output is forecast to fall by 11.5% this year compared with last, as a direct consequence of the lack of rain over the past three months, while in Germany the wheat harvest is now expected to be down 7.2% on last year. "As time goes by the impact on crops grows stronger," a European grain trader told Reuters. "We need water, period."