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Sunday will witness a huge rush for weddings in India as a six-month drought of dates considered auspicious comes to an end.

Indian Hindus believe 16 May is one of the four most auspicious dates in their calendar.

Professional wedding planners claim that around 50,000 weddings are taking place in Mumbai and half that in Delhi.

However the mass weddings are causing shortages of priests, caterers and wedding halls.

Farmhouses

According to the Hindu calendar, Sunday is the Akshaya Tritiya day, the first of the four most auspicious days to start new ventures, including entering into wedlock.

Astrologer Premila Devi says Akshaya Tritiya is a day that "brings eternal good fortune".

"It’s the most auspicious time to start any good venture, like business, marriages or moving into new houses."

It is certainly bringing fortune to the caterers, jewellers and wedding planners.

But while cash registers are ringing the traditionally lavish Indian weddings are also creating shortages of marriage venues, flowers and Hindu priests.

There are reports of affluent Indians hiring farmhouses for wedding ceremonies.

Akshaya Tritiya ends a nearly six-month drought during which it was regarded as inauspicious to undertake a new enterprise.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Brazil’s president is in Iran to hold talks with its leaders in what is seen as a last ditch attempt to find a compromise over the nuclear issue.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva arrived from Moscow, where he met Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

US officials have warned they are close to securing agreement on a new package of sanctions against Iran in the UN security council.

Iran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.

Diplomatic effort

President Lula’s visit to Tehran has been described by both senior American and Russian officials as the last chance for a compromise before new sanctions are imposed on Iran.

The Brazilian president will be trying to encourage Iran to agree to a deal under which its existing stocks of enriched uranium are shipped out of the country and converted to fuel for a research reactor.

This will prevent the material from being available to make a nuclear bomb.

Iran has given mixed messages about such a deal, suggesting that it is still open to the idea, but then imposing conditions the West feels are unacceptable.

For his part, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be hoping to persuade the Brazilians to use their seat on the UN Security Council to vote against new sanctions.

Mr Ahmadinejad had been hoping to have a similar conversation with the Turkish prime minister, but Turkey is now indicating that he probably will not travel to Tehran, possibly following pressure from Washington.

Iran has been mounting a big diplomatic effort to prevent the new sanctions – the foreign minister has been travelling to all 15 members of the security council.

But President Ahmadinejad is in a weak position following the dispute over his re-election last year.

It is not clear that he could deliver a compromise deal, even if he wanted to.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

The Methodist Church has become the first major denomination in Britain to launch its own application for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The new app will allow users to view bible studies and daily prayers.

It is hoped it might appeal to both believers and those who might be more cautious about attending church.

The app may also offer an alternative for people who want a daily dose of scripture, but are not keen on carrying a bible on their daily commute.

The Methodist Church stresses that technology should complement, not replace traditional worship.

However, they believe the download will be popular and are already planning the next version.

Apps, which are pieces of computer software downloaded from the internet onto mobile phones, have become increasingly creative in recent years.

The Methodist Church is already engaged in new media with its Twitter account, various blogs and online bible studies.

Canadian fighter jets have escorted a Cathay Pacific airliner to land at Vancouver airport after receiving an alert of a bomb threat, officials said.

The Vancouver-bound flight, which originated from Hong Kong, landed safely at 1340 (2040 GMT) and was towed to a secure part of the airport.

Canadian police told the BBC the plane had been screened and no explosives were found.

The police spokeswoman said the bomb threat had been received by telephone.

The passengers, all unharmed, were taken off the plane, while police investigated the alert.

The two CF-18 jets were scrambled after the threat was received.

The jets, acting under the orders of the North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad), took off from a base at Comox, on nearby Vancouver Island and returned after flight CX 839 had landed.

"As a precaution, Norad fighters escorted the aircraft until it landed safely in Vancouver," said Maj Holly Apostoliuk.

One of the disembarked passengers told Canada’s CTV News that he had not noticed the jet escort.

Another man said: "They told us there was some sort of terrorist problem and the baggage would be held up."

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Each year 46,000 people are diagnosed with breast cancer – only four of these are under 20.

So when 19-year-old student Elisa Caleb went to her doctor with a lump everyone felt quite confident it would be benign.

Elisa was told the results were clear.

But she says they were unclear. And medics were so confident that she was too young to have the condition, they did not tell her of the uncertainty, or order any further tests.

It was only when she decided herself to have the troublesome lump removed a year later, that she was told she had an aggressive cancer.

It needed to be removed immediately and followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

"I was completely stunned because every day the lump had been in my thoughts and I’d thought it was nothing to worry about," said Elisa, now 29.

"It was really, really numbing because I had been living with this illusion that it was OK, but it wasn’t.

"I think the reason they didn’t find it in the first place was just because they assumed I was too young."

Extremely lucky

Elisa said she is very lucky indeed to be alive today as she had only decided to have the lump removed because it had become too uncomfortable.

It had grown from the size of a marble to a golf ball and was protruding through her skin.

"It was a really sobering thought," she said.

"It is pretty scary to think I am only here because I opted to have it removed.

"It was quite an aggressive cancer when they took it out. It could have been a lot worse."

Jackie Harris, clinical nurse specialist at Breast Cancer Care, agreed that Elisa was very young to have the cancer.

"It is extremely rare for women in their teens to be diagnosed with breast cancer," she said.

But she said that should not stop younger people checking their breasts.

"Early detection of breast cancer can lead to simpler and more effective treatment, so it’s important that women of all ages are breast aware throughout their lives – getting to know how their breasts look and feel normally so they can report any unusual changes to their GP immediately."

Life-changing

Elisa, who now sings jazz for a living, said her life has completely changed since her diagnosis.

"My priorities have changed," she said.

"I am not so anxious about things and if things don’t work out it doesn’t bother me as much.

"I have a daughter and spending time with her and my family is important.

"You don’t know how long you have."

Elisa took tamoxifen for five years and still has regular check-ups.

"At the time I did not feel angry, I was just relieved it was caught.

"But looking back it is really silly not to do a thorough test. If the doctors have done a test and it’s not clear, they should do another one.

"I do wonder how many other people are in the same situation."

Her album Carry Me Home is out on May 24

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

A by-election is under way in Hong Kong aimed at putting pressure on China to speed up the move to full democracy.

Five activists triggered the vote by resigning their posts in the Legislative Council (Legco) in January.

The activists want universal suffrage for the election of Hong Kong’s chief executive and representatives.

However, correspondents say their move has been rendered almost meaningless by the refusal of pro-Beijing candidates to contest the by-election seats.

Chief executive boycott

Voting opened in the five constituencies at 0730 local time (1130 GMT Saturday).

The BBC’s Annemarie Evans in Hong Kong says voter turnout is expected to be only about 25% for a poll that has been criticised as a waste of taxpayers’ money.

The five legislators are from two small pro-democracy parties.

One, Alan Leong of the Civic Party, said: "Hong Kong people have been promised universal suffrage when the Basic Law was promulgated in 1990. So I don’t see how we should be made to suffer an open-ended wait."

The chief executive and other senior government figures have announced that they will not vote on Sunday.

But Hong Kong’s popular former deputy leader, Anson Chan, has backed the election.

There remains no clear date when the Hong Kong public will be able to directly elect their leader and legislators.

Beijing has said that direct election of the chief executive cannot start before 2017 at the earliest and Legco by 2020.

The Basic Law is a mini-constitution drawn up before Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.

The chief executive is picked by an 800-member election committee and only half of Legco is directly elected from geographical constituencies.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Eurosceptic MPs will renew calls for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty when it comes up for debate again in parliament in the coming weeks.

A new amendment to the treaty – expected to be rubberstamped by EU leaders in June – will require ratification at Westminster.

The Foreign Office says it is only a technical adjustment.

But some Tories are set to use the process to call for a vote, despite David Cameron already ruling one out.

National sovereignty

The Lisbon Treaty, a substitute for the rejected European constitution, is often described as an attempt to streamline EU institutions to make the bloc of 27 states function better.

But its opponents see it as part of a federalist agenda which threatens national sovereignty.

Many people had thought the treaty was all wrapped up when the Czech president signed it last November.

But MEPs have agreed an amendment adjusting the composition of the European Parliament, which held elections last year before the treaty came into force.

The amendment allocates 18 extra MEPs to 12 countries, including one extra MEP for the UK . It will require approval throughout the EU.

According to the Foreign Office, the adjustment would not transfer any new powers to Brussels.

Last November, the then-shadow foreign secretary William Hague said the Conservatives would not hold a referendum on the treaty.

The announcement prompted accusations from Eurosceptics in his party that he had reneged on a "cast iron" guarantee made in 2007 to hold a referendum on any treaty that emerged from EU talks.

To find out more, watch The Politics Show at 1100 BST on Sunday on BBC1

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

A 15-year-old boy who was trapped against a shop front in Smethwick by a crashed car has died of his injuries.

The crash happened at 1114 BST in Cape Hill, West Midlands Police said.

The boy was airlifted to hospital where he died at 1730 BST. A female was also taken to hospital with serious injuries.

The driver, a 28-year-old man from Evesham, Worcestershire, has been arrested. Anyone with information has been asked to call the police.

Several roads in the Cape Hill area were closed while officers dealt with the incident.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

The doctor accused of giving a fatal dose of anaesthetic to Michael Jackson has come to the rescue of a woman who fell unconscious on a plane.

Dr Conrad Murray responded when cabin crew asked if a doctor was on board a US Airways flight, US media said.

He put her on an intravenous drip from the plane’s emergency kit after finding her pulse was weak, reports said.

Dr Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson last year.

‘You probably know me’

Dr Murray was flying from Houston to Phoenix when the 23-year-old woman fainted.

"We’re not surprised," said a spokeswoman for Dr Murray.

"He’s a good doctor, we’ve always said he was a good doctor, and that’s what good doctors do is save people," Associated Press news agency quoted Miranda Sevcik as saying.

The plane diverted to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where the woman and her 11-month-old baby were taken off the flight for further treatment.

The story was first reported by entertainment website TMZ and later confirmed by Dr Murray’s legal team.

US Airways said a doctor on the flight had helped stabilise a woman who had had a medical emergency but did not name the doctor, AP said.

The woman, who has not been named, told TMZ that when she regained consciousness the doctor was standing over her and said: "You probably know me… I was Michael Jackson’s doctor."

Dr Murray is alleged to have administered a lethal dose of Propofol and other drugs, which resulted in the pop star’s death on 25 June last year.

He remains free on bail pending his trial.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Essex cricket players Danish Kaneria and Mervyn Westfield have been arrested following an investigation into betting irregularities.

An Essex Police spokesman said the men had been arrested on Friday, but released on bail.

The allegations relate to spot-fixing, a practice in which money is placed on individual details of a match.

It is believed that the match in question was a Pro40 win against Durham in September 2009.

Essex Cricket Club confirmed that the arrested men were Pakistan leg-spinner Kaneria, 29, and 22-year-old pace bowler Westfield.

An Essex Police spokesman said: "Two men from Chelmsford have been arrested in connection with a police investigation into first class domestic cricket match irregularities.

"The investigation began in March 2010 following allegations received about two Essex county cricket players.

"On Friday 14 May, two men aged 22 and 29 were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit fraud and both were released on police bail until Wednesday 15 September pending further inquiries."

Both men will be able to continue playing cricket until 15 September, meaning Kaneria will be available for Pakistan’s Test series against England.

Kaneria has competed in more than 50 Test series for Pakistan during his career.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

There has been a fresh setback for BP in its attempts to contain the leaking Gulf of Mexico oil well, a company official says.

Initial efforts by the firm to insert a long tube into the broken pipe to funnel oil to the surface have failed.

A week ago, BP tried to cap the well with a 100-tonne box, but gave up after it became encrusted with ice crystals.

Mississippi has now become the third state to have oil wash up on its coast, along with Louisiana and Alabama.

Thousands of barrels of oil a day have been leaking from the seabed since the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig blew up, killing 11 workers on 20 April.

Slurping straw

Early on Friday, BP began trying to thread a 6in (15cm) wide tube into a damaged 21in wide pipe on the ocean floor off Louisiana.

Like a long straw, the tube is intended to slurp oil to a ship on the surface, and a stopper surrounding it would stem the flow of crude into the sea.

But in a Saturday briefing in Robert, Louisiana, BP chief operating officer Doug Suttles said his technicians had hit a snag.

"We hope to have that tool inserted by sometime late tonight. It’s back on the seabed," he said.

"We did have to pull it back to surface yesterday to make some adjustments so we could connect it properly to the pipe-work that connects it to the ship, but we expect to begin operation of the equipment overnight."

Earlier, US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told media at a Louisiana bird rescue centre BP had been forced to "reconfigure" in its attempts to insert the tube.

‘Ridiculous spectacle’

The oil giant has been using remote-controlled robots to guide the contraption to the seabed a mile beneath the surface.

BP chief executive Tony Hayward told the BBC’s Today programme in an interview broadcast on Saturday he hoped the leak could be stopped within 10 days.

But the worst case scenario was "more than that, and it’s impossible to say how much more", he added.

President Barack Obama warned on Friday there would no longer be a "cosy relationship" between oil firms and US regulators.

He condemned a "ridiculous spectacle" of oil executives shifting blame in US congressional hearings in recent days.

Mr Obama has stopped all new drilling for the moment and a number of politicians want that to become permanent.

Some scientists have begun to cast doubt on official estimates of the rate of oil flow, saying the widely repeated figure of 5,000 barrels of oil per day dramatically understates the real amount.

The spill is threatening to eclipse the 1989 Exxon Valdez leak off Alaska as America’s worst environmental disaster.

Underwater efforts to cap oil leak

Initially, BP tried to lower a 125-tonne, 18-metre (40 feet) high container dome over the main leak on the sea floor. However, this failed when gas leaking from the pipe mixed with water to form hydrates, ice-like crystals, that blocked up the steel canopy.

Instead, engineers have lowered a smaller device onto the site. Dubbed the Top hat, it will sit over the tear in the pipe and partially stop the leak. To prevent the build up of hydrates, methanol is pumped into the top hat to disperse the water and gas.

The top hat is 1.5m (5 feet) high and 1.2m in diameter. Two special side lines are used to pump methanol into the top hat to displace water and gas leaking from the broken oil pipe. This should prevent the build-up of hydrates. Once in place, oil can be pumped up to the surface.

BP plan to lower the original subsea containment dome over the top hat to provide a better seal over the leaking site and pump oil up to the surface. This time, it will be attached to a pipe that can pump warm water into the dome to prevent the build-up of hydrates.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.