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A married teacher is poised to become Italy’s first woman priest when she is ordained later this month in an Anglican church close to the Vatican.

Maria Longhitano, a member of the breakaway Old Catholic Church, says she hopes her ordination will break down "prejudice" in the Roman Church.

The event may energise the debate among Roman Catholics about the role of women, a BBC correspondent says.

Pope Benedict is implacably opposed to women as priests.

His predecessor, John Paul II, even banned official discussion of the issue, BBC religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott notes.

Although Mrs Longhitano will not be a Roman Catholic priest, her ordination in the borrowed Anglican church will be acutely uncomfortable for the Vatican, he says.

When seven Roman Catholic women were unofficially ordained in 2002 they were promptly excommunicated.

Mrs Longhitano, who says she has always wanted to be a priest and played with communion wafers as a child, has accused the Vatican of preventing women from fulfilling their vocation.

She said she hoped her ordination would galvanise debate among Roman Catholics about modernisation.

Some Catholics believe reform is necessary to reverse a decline in numbers and influence and an Austrian bishop said this week that the Church should eventually consider the ordination of women.

The Old Catholics broke away from the Vatican in the 19th Century, rejecting belief in the immaculate conception and the infallibility of the Pope.

Their Church – which leaves issues such as homosexual relationships and contraception up to the individuals’ consciences – has ordained women since 1996.

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

The US senate has voted for increased regulation of credit rating agencies to prevent a future banking crisis.

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

The coalition government’s move to make it harder to dissolve Parliament is a "constitutional outrage", ex-Transport Secretary Lord Adonis has said.

The Lib Dem-Tory plan will mean that 55% of MPs must approve such a move to get it through the House of Commons. A simple majority is currently enough.

Labour’s Lord Adonis said it raised doubts over the coalition’s legitimacy.

But Lib Dem Andrew Stunell, who helped frame the deal, said it was needed to prevent an "ambush" on the Tories.

The coalition agreement between the Lib Dems and Conservatives promises a "strong and stable" government, with elections held on fixed dates every five years.

‘Ganging up’

The raising of the threshold for a dissolution vote is intended to prevent a move to hold an election earlier than that.

The Conservatives currently have 306 out of 649 MPs – a 47% share.

One seat, Thirsk and Malton, is empty, pending a by-election on 27 May, while Sinn Fein’s five MPs have not taken the oath of allegiance allowing them to sit in Parliament.

It would be impossible for opponents, even if fully united, to muster the 55% needed to dissolve Parliament, unless at least 16 Tories rebelled against their party leadership.

Lord Adonis said: "This is a brazen attempt to gerrymander the constitution which calls into question the legitimacy of the coalition from day one.

"If the legislation ever gets to the House of Lords, it will meet opposition of an intensity and bitterness not seen for many years. This is a constitutional outrage."

However, Mr Stunell, the Lib Dem MP for Hazel Grove, told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme: "What the prime minister has given up with a fixed-term parliament is the right to go to the Queen at any moment and just call a general election. Obviously that’s what a fixed-term parliament stops.

"On the other hand, if your threshold for a special case is only 50%, in theory it would be possible for the Tories to be ambushed by other parties, including the Liberal Democrats, ganging up against them…

"Although nobody in the partnership has any intention of doing any such thing, it was a small matter for us to say ‘No, we accept your concerns and if we raise that threshold to 55%.’

"That gives you the safeguard you want and that’s the way we’ve proceeded."

Charles Walker, Conservative MP for Broxbourne, said: "It is for Parliament to decide when it’s lost confidence in the government and I think we have to look at this very closely…

"This is perhaps just a little too much for our unwritten constitution to bear."

He added: "Parliament actually runs this country, not the prime minister. Over the past 100 years, Parliament has given away huge powers to the prime minister.

"We have a quasi-presidential system here, without the checks and balances. This would be the loss of an enormous check."

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

A UN-commissioned review opens in Amsterdam into the workings of the UN’s climate body, the IPCC.

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

The US authorities investigating the attempted bombing in New York’s Times Square have arrested two people during searches near the city of Boston.

"Two individuals encountered during the searches were taken into federal custody for alleged immigration violations," the FBI said.

Police have cordoned off a house in Watertown, Massachusetts.

Pakistani-born US citizen Faisal Shazhad, 30, has already been charged with the attempted bombing on 1 May.

Authorities said Mr Shahzad, who lived in Connecticut prior to the bombing attempt, has been cooperating with federal officials.

In its statement on the latest arrests, the FBI said it could "provide no further details as the investigation is ongoing".

But it added: "This search is the product of evidence that has been gathered in the investigation subsequent to the attempted Times Square bombing and [does] not relate to any known immediate threat to the public or active plot against the United States."

A law enforcement official told the Associated Press news agency that searches were also being conducted in homes on New York’s Long Island.

Justice department spokesman Dean Boyd said the searches were the result of evidence collected during a 13-day investigation.

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

A bomb has exploded outside the main prison in Athens, Greek police say.

The blast in the Korydallos suburb of the city followed a telephone warning to an Athens newspaper, officials said.

One report says a woman has been injured in the blast, but this has not been confirmed. The extent of damage to the prison is not yet known.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but correspondents say suspicion will fall on radical left-wing Greek militant groups.

Athens has seen recent violent protests as the government unveiled tough austerity measures designed to tackle Greece’s huge budget deficit.

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

About 400,000 homes have been left without television reception after an "intense fire" at the Beckley transmitter in Oxfordshire.

Firefighters said part of the structure was in danger of collapse following the blaze, which started at about 1400 BST.

Cable and satellite services and Five’s analogue signal are not affected.

Engineers said it was unsafe to carry out repairs and signals would not be restored until at least 1900 BST. The fire has now been put out.

Eyewitnesses saw smoke drifting from the top of the mast at about 1420 BST – when pictures went off – and reported parts of the structure falling off.

Digital switchover

A cordon has been put in place around the site.

Matt Carlisle, of Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: "It has been subject to quite an intense fire at the top, so there is a possibility that the structure may be weakened."

He said the cause of the fire was not yet known.

The Beckley mast transmits across Oxfordshire and parts of Wiltshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire.

Maintenance has been taking place on the mast in preparation for digital switchover in 2011.

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