Emergency legislation has been passed by Scottish ministers to prevent fishing in the Dalgety Bay area.

The order, which follows concern about radioactive contamination, came into force on Wednesday afternoon.

Radiation at the site at Dalgety Bay in Fife is believed to be from radium paint used on wartime aircraft instruments.

The order bans fishing in the bay area and also the possession of any fish caught there.

A gardening expert insists that Britain's changeable weather will not dampen down plans to keep Britain in bloom for London 2012.

Mr Turvil is a "Local Leader" from Coventry – one of 13,000 people from around the UK who have been recruited as volunteers to inspire their communities to get together for parties and to get into the garden.

He did admit that the weather had slowed down the growing process, but he remained optimistic.

"It's been a bit cold the last few weeks and a little dark – but we had a nice warm March so overall it will balance it out.

"May is a really good time to get things going. Green courgettes, beetroots and lettuce can still be planted and will offer a shared harvest in time for the Games."

Mr Turvil is also the project manager for Garden Organic's Master Gardeners scheme – encouraging 1,000 volunteer champions to help people garden in time for London 2012.

Locog is also giving advice on how to transform individual gardens as well as public gardens or those in schools and around workplaces.

"These are all places which show support for the Games," Mr Turvil said.

"It brings people together. Fruit and vegetables unite people and you don't need many skills to get it going."

Locog has produced guides to get people going – either becoming Local Leaders or planting flowers [pdf] and vegetables [pdf].

Advice includes planting window boxes in red, white and blue colours.

So while Locog is looking to inspire the UK with Olympic colours, it is also getting the Park ready for the millions of spectators who will descend in July.

The Park's wildflower meadows cover the size of more than ten football pitches and it has taken two years of trials to get them ready.

Around 4,000 trees, 300,000 wetland plants, 15,000 square metres of lawns and more than 150,000 perennial plants and bushes have been planted in the area.

Throughout winter and spring, specialist gardeners have been battling the elements, wrapping trees and cutting back early flowering plants to ensure the meadows are ready for July.

There are new habitats for various types of wildlife including otter, kingfisher, bat, frogs and lizards while a total of 250 benches and more than 3,300 seats have been built into the parklands.

Locog chairman Seb Coe said the meadows are not only for visitors to the Park, but will leave a legacy for the future.

"The meadows are just one example of the painstakingly detailed and innovative work of the team of experts that have created the Olympic Park that will be enjoyed by spectators during the Games and for generations to come," he said.

Mr Turvil said that it is not just the plants which can help to build Olympic fever, vegetables can too.

"It's a very exciting time. The tomatoes are really gaining height and you can put them on shared salads at barbecues on opening ceremony night. That's the idea," he said.

He also gave advice to those gardeners in areas where there are temporary hosepipe bans.

"Lots of techniques can help. You can get plants well established during May and June time.

"When very young, they need good watering and shouldn't go dry. But then the trick is to be a little mean and back off a bit.

"It is tempting to water every day but it is better to ease off and let them go dry. The roots will go deeper and become more resilient.

"Less is more. When you do water them, water them well – less frequently and with more water. Doing that is a better use of a precious resource.

"Direct the water correctly by creating a dish around the plant and water into that dish, so it puddles up and soaks down deep.

"You can also get a pipe, six inches deep, next to the plant and water into that pipe."

Wetland plants for the Olympic Park were grown initially on the Gower peninsula in Wales, with around a third grown from cuttings and seeds collected from the Park before construction started.

The plants were grown on mats sunk in waterbeds in Thetford and are now being transported and planted on the riverbanks.

A Royal Horticultural Society Great British garden overlooks the Stadium, featuring bronze, silver and gold areas with matching colour wildflowers and running-track inspired spiral paths.

The garden also includes a "de Coubertin oak", from an acorn collected from the tree that Baron Pierre De Coubertin planted in 1894 to thank the citizens of Much Wenlock in Shropshire for inspiring the founding of the modern Olympic Games.

Story By: by Scott Neuman

American nuns attend Mass at Sant’Apollinare in Rome. The umbrella group that represents the majority of the approximately 56,000 U.S. nuns plans to meet later this month to discuss its response to a Vatican reprimand.

- Harvey Cox, Harvard divinity professor

“Many sisters I know are quite saddened, because many of the reforms that happened in the last 50 years were the result of their following the instructions of the Second Vatican Council,” he says.

Harvard’s Cox, who calls himself a “sympathetic outside observer” of the current drama, says the Vatican crackdown is likely to chafe for many nuns from orders that have long relished their independence.

“My guess is that the real worry here with the American sisters is that they are slipping out of the chain of command,” says Cox. “Rome gets very worried when the chain of command appears to be challenged, either overtly or covertly.”

A Shift Toward Obedience And Order

Both Bishop Karol Wojtyla, who later became Pope John Paul II, and then-Rev. Joseph Ratzinger, installed as Pope Benedict XVI after John Paul’s death in 2005, took part in the opening session of the Second Vatican Council.

Known as the “pope’s rottweiler” for his hard-line positions back when he led the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — the same Vatican office that issued last month’s LCWR assessment — Ratzinger was considered a liberal at the council.

The Second Vatican Council opened in Rome on Oct. 11, 1962, under Pope John XXIII and concluded on Dec. 8, 1965, under Pope Paul VI.

“But Ratzinger got very dismayed and distraught by what was going on in the late 1960s in the German universities,” Cox says. “He thought it was time to tack [to the right] and emphasize authority and obedience and order because he thought things were getting out of hand.”

Cox, author of the book The Future of Faith, says that during their “long talk” in 1988, one of Ratzinger’s chief concerns was so-called liberation theology, a movement led by Latin American bishops that emphasizes working to end unjust economic, political and social conditions.

“The main objection was not really the theological content of the liberation theologians, but the fact that they seemed to be forming a kind of separate magisterium,” Cox says. “They had these base communities all over the place that were not really answerable to the local bishop.”

Essentially Two Options

Cox says that’s the same concern with the nuns now. The Vatican’s remedy? A five-year period in which Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain, along with two other bishops, will provide “review [and] guidance and approval, where necessary, of the work of the LCWR,” according to the CDF’s doctrinal assessment.

“It means they’ll review all policies, all speakers, all conferences, all publications and all letters of support,” says Mary E. Hunt, a feminist theologian, writer and activist.

Sister Simone Campbell, head of the Catholic social justice lobby Network, says the Vatican reprimand was “like a sock in the stomach.”

It’s not clear what form the Vatican-mandated changes will eventually take. And the LCWR — made up of about 1,500 representatives who in turn represent the majority of the approximately 56,000 U.S. nuns — plans to meet later this month on how to respond.

An LCWR official told NPR this week that members have essentially two options: They can agree to work with Rome on making the mandated changes, or they can choose to form a new organization independent of the church’s hierarchy.

“The conference plans to move slowly, not rushing to judgment. We will engage in dialogue where possible and be open to the movement of the Holy Spirit,” the group said in a statement.

Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for Sartain, says all the parties involved constitute “a reasonable group of people, and the changes will be made in a reasonable way.”

Waiting In The Wings?

Hunt wonders whether another factor is at play. She thinks the church would ultimately like to displace the LCWR in favor of a smaller and much more conservative order of nuns known as the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious.

“They are of course uniformly anti-choice, anti-gay — all the things that the hierarchical church stands for, those women agree with and abide by,” she says, adding that with the crackdown on the LCWR, the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious “is poised to become the new definitive group.”

Walsh disagrees with that view. “I don’t think it could be supplanted, because it is the main body,” she says.

Donna Bethell, chairwoman of Christendom College in Front Royal, Va., says the Vatican is simply fulfilling its responsibility to make sure the sisters reflect church doctrine.

“They’re expected not only not to contradict what the church teaches, which is one of the complaints, but also to be very active in … talking to people since more people see them than see bishops, talking to people about the fullness of the church’s teaching,” Bethell says.

The Vatican oversight may hurt recruitment of U.S. nuns, whose numbers already have shrunk by two-thirds in the years since Vatican II, according to data collected by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.

“Without a doubt, it makes it more difficult,” Hunt says.

Cox, the divinity professor, says he doesn’t understand the Vatican’s approach given the way the clergy abuse scandal has played out.

“This is a bit humiliating and angering to have it played out in public this way,” he says.

“Why couldn’t they have done it much quieter? Why such a public thing over this?” Cox wonders. “They could have quietly met after they did their assessment of American nuns and found ways to counsel and negotiate with them.”

The first James Bond movie was released on October 5, 1962, and the latest, Skyfall, the 23rd in the series, featuring Daniel Craig as James Bond and Javier Bardem as Raoul Silva, the film’s villain, will be released in the UK on October 26. On the 50th anniversary of James Bond films, The Charles Hotel Munich is giving you a chance to be the super secret agent for a day.

"We wanted to give our guests a special and unique experience this year, so we’ve created our James Bond 007 package," says Frank Heller, general manager, The Charles Hotel Munich.

"Imagine you can be James Bond for one day, experience all the adventures and luxury goods that James Bond does. It will be a unique experience, tailor-made to the guest’s choice and physical ability. From helicopter rides to the Alps to bungee jumping to jetskiing — each category has two to three options to choose from. And there is always a mission behind it. Either you have to rescue a hostage or fight somebody. It will be a full-day adventure, but safety comes first and we will make sure of it."

But that’s not all. The whole day you will be followed by a professional filming crew which will be shooting all your antics. "So you make your own James Bond film, which you can show to friends and family," Heller says.

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Editor’s note: Margaret Hoover is a CNN political contributor and author of “American Individualism: How a New Generation of Conservatives Can Save the Republican Party.” She is a consultant to backers of the New York initiative that led to the legalization of same-sex marriage in that state and is active in GoProud, a conservative gay rights organization, and other gay rights groups.

That’s right, this amendment doesn’t just prohibit gay marriage, it prevents the existence of civil unions and domestic partnerships under North Carolina’s Constitution.

Shockingly, the state’s Republican House speaker, Thom Tillis, who was largely responsible for putting the measure on the ballot, called the anti-gay marriage initiative a generational issue and predicted that while the initiative would probably pass, it would also be repealed within 20 years.

Even for most of the GOP’s old-school legislators, there is dawning understanding that opposition to freedom to marry is on the wrong side of history and damaging to the long-term, and increasingly the short-term, prospects of the GOP, especially among independent-minded younger voters. Indeed, according to Gallup, 70% of people between the ages of 18 and 34 believe that same-sex marriage should be legal.

Vote means uncertainty for North Carolina’s same sex couples

In November, residents of four more states — Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington — will voice their views on same-sex marriage at the ballot box. Voters in Minnesota will consider a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, and in Maryland and Washington, they will probably face measures to undo new laws legalizing same-sex marriage passed by state legislatures.

Maine will, for the first time in history, have the chance to vote “yes” for a freedom to marry law. Unlike in previous years, polling shows that advocates of the freedom to marry stand a good chance to win some of these battles — and the potential losses they would face are by much smaller margins than Americans witnessed even five years ago.

Follow @CNNOpinion on Twitter and Facebook.com/cnnopinion

While the reigning stereotype is that Republicans are opposed to gay rights, growing Republican support in state-by-state fights belies this perception. Indeed, in New Hampshire and New York, Republicans were critical to recent marriage freedom victories. And Republicans will play key supportive roles in November at the ballot box.

There are tectonic shifts happening just beneath the surface within the Republican Party that haven’t percolated to the national dialogue on gay rights. Efforts to support gay rights by GOP state legislators in several states are real and indicative of an increasing realization that expanding equal opportunity and freedom to gay Americans shouldn’t be a partisan issue.

Most recently, a stunning victory occurred in New Hampshire, where anti-gay forces sought to roll back the freedom to marry. After Republicans gained three-quarters supermajorities in both chambers in the 2010 elections, the National Organization for Marriage, the chief organization opposing same-sex marriage, proclaimed it was “confident of victory” and would show “that history is not unidirectional” on the issue.

Unfortunately for them, New Hampshire Republicans who believed in the state’s “live free or die” motto were quick to build a powerful campaign and harness the two-thirds of the public who opposed taking freedoms away and downgrading people’s families. They mobilized hundreds of civic and business leaders and thousands of citizens to make their voices heard.

Not only did the Republican-controlled New Hampshire House defeat the repeal bill, it did so by a lopsided 211-116 margin. The most overlooked fact: A substantial group of Republican legislators, 109 to be exact, voted to preserve the freedom to marry in the Granite State. Despite the best efforts of the National Organization for Marriage, history is unidirectional on the issue, and the freedom to marry is a settled issue in New Hampshire. The trend toward greater acceptance is clear, irrefutable and happening on both sides of the aisle.

To date, 197 Republican state legislators across the nation have stood up for the freedom to marry — and have lived to tell the tale. Republicans put the bill on the New York state Senate floor and provided the votes needed to make same-sex marriage a reality, making it the first GOP-controlled legislative chamber in America to do so.

The state senators who courageously voted for marriage risked primary opposition from anti-marriage forces but are now garnering wide support. They are well-positioned to fight single-issue attacks while running campaigns and building records of public service that respond to the core priorities of their constituents: less government, lower taxes, individual autonomy and personal responsibility. (In the interest of full disclosure, as a New York resident, I personally advocated for the passage of freedom to marry in Albany last summer.)

A few years ago profiles in courage like these seemed to come in ones and twos. Today, they are occurring frequently. A growing number of Republican legislators are choosing to stand on the side of freedom because they have gay and lesbian people in their lives who they care about.

They’ve done so because the politics has shifted dramatically, taking the peril out of following one’s conscience. They’ve done so because they believe, like so many of us, that marriage is the most powerful social institution on Earth, integral to strengthening our society because it is rooted in the traditional values that strengthen our families and communities: the values of love, commitment and sacrifice.

To be sure, there’s a long way to go before the Republican Party fully embraces these values and is consistent about being the party of individual freedom, but I’m glad to see more and more of my fellow Republicans on the right side of history.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Margaret Hoover.

Situated in the Outback, it is close to nothing: The cities of Adelaide and Alice Springs are respectively nine hours south and eight hours north, and the nearest town — William Creek, official population three — takes 3½ hours to reach, provided the dirt roads aren’t closed due to rain. Here, the earth is red, vegetation bare and temperatures extreme, but none of that stopped Westerners from setting up camp a century ago when they found opal shimmering in the dirt.

Lots of opal.

So they began digging, in more ways than one. As they mined the earth to discover one of the world’s richest gem deposits, they also discovered why Westerners didn’t settle in this barren, desolate region of Australia before: The heat. To battle temperatures that regularly reached above 110, settlers dug underground dwellings, a practice that continues to this day. In the heat of day, people are nowhere to be found, each hidden in a mine or dugout.

One sees why outlaws chose to come here: It’s far from anything, it’s desolate, it’s pockmarked with underground homes, and it offers the possibility of a fresh start and the hope of a fortune.

Walking down the town’s main drag today makes one feel like a real-life space cowboy and evokes an episode of “Firefly.” There’s a reconstructed “Star Wars” spaceship, underground hotels, a Volkswagon beetle painted like an opal dangling from a store, signs for underground churches, a kangaroo orphanage, a couple of mining museums, underground home tours, and a pizza place that sells pies with toppings like kangaroo, emu sausage, sweet cranberry, asparagus, onions and Camembert.

Its residents are known for being eccentric and hearty — and if some are outlaws, they don’t publicize it much on the street. What they do publicize is the town’s international community, which represents more than 50 countries. There are olive groves for the Italians and Greeks, a Chinese restaurant so Asians can taste home and grocery stores with fare ranging from sweet chili sauce to imported Greek fondant and a whole kangaroo tail, complete with fur.

All in a town of 1,900.

Coober Pedy remains a popular tourist destination for those seeking an authentic Outback experience (or who want to see where films like “Red Planet,” “Mad Max” and “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” were filmed). Visitors often walk through the graveyard, where several tombstones are decorated with colored lights, and one even has, “Have a drink on me,” etched into it, with beer and wine bottles resting nearby, free of charge. They board a four-wheel drive mail truck for a 13-hour tour of Outback cattle stations and towns. And, of course, they sit on the hot, dusty earth, shooing away oddly persistent flies as they lose all sense of time searching for opal in the dirt, hoping that the next stone they turn might let them retire early.

Outlaws came to Coober Pedy a century ago to find their fortune. Today, the town is an international community of residents united by their commitment to mining one of the world’s most precious gems. Just as the town is home to the kind of diversity found in many cities, the opal that miners find so alluring, seductive, even, is a gem of many colors, with specks of pink, green, blue and red. It’s a singular, unique, precious stone, and like Coober Pedy itself, what makes it so valuable is the rainbow inside.

IF YOU GO

What to do

Outback Mail Run Tour: Guests travel 13 hours with an Australian mail carrier to deliver mail and supplies to five cattle stations (including the largest in Australia) and two towns (including one of the smallest in Australia). The tour provides a unique opportunity for visitors to experience the vastness of the Australian Outback and to learn about what it’s really like to live there.

Sunset, Ghosts and Stars Tour: Run by the Desert Cave Hotel, guests begin this tour by traveling 20 minutes outside town to the Breakaways, a geological formation of jagged hills marking what used to be the shorelines of an ancient ocean, to see the sunset. Once the stars have risen, guests travel back to the Old Cemetery in Coober Pedy, where a guide delights them with ghost stories of the town’s most notable residents. Be sure to ask about Crocodile Harry!

Old Timers Mine Museum: One of Coober Pedy’s most popular destinations, the mine provides visitors with an opportunity to learn about the search for opal and the struggles of Coober Pedy’s earliest miners. As part of the museum, guests have the chance to walk through an old-time dugout as well as a mineshaft.

Fossicking: Tourists in Coober Pedy are welcome to dig for their own opal fortune at public fossicking sites in town. Simply sit on the red earth and look for shimmery rocks. Fossicking is free and guests usually find numerous low-quality opals. Ask any resident for directions to the nearest public fossicking site.

Getting there

By plane: Regional Express operates a two-hour flight from Adelaide to Coober Pedy most days of the week.

By train: The Ghan train operates a weekly service from Adelaide or Alice Springs to Manguri Station, 45 minutes outside Coober Pedy; transportation from the station must be arranged with hotels in advance, as there is no transportation at the station and trains from both cities arrive late at night.

By bus: Greyhound offers daily service to Coober Pedy from both Adelaide and Alice Springs. Expect the trip from Adelaide to take 11 hours and the trip from Alice Springs to take eight.

By car: Coober Pedy can be reached by car via a nine-hour drive from Adelaide or an eight-hour drive from Alice Springs. Drivers are warned not to drive through the Outback at night, because of the lack of gas stations and the threat of accidents caused by kangaroos; rain in the Outback may also render roads impassable, and drivers should not expect to have cell phone reception in the desert.

Where to stay

Desert Cave Hotel: Located in the middle of Coober Pedy’s main street, this is the town’s only four-star hotel. Guests have the option to stay underground or aboveground. Underground rooms have ventilation but no windows.

The Underground Motel: Offers underground accommodations to travelers with friendly hospitality. All rooms are underground with natural light and ventilation.

Underground Bed and Breakfast: Owners Ana and Ken Male treat their guests to truly authentic Coober Pedy accommodation. Guests stay in underground rooms with a choice of en suite or shared bathrooms.

Where to eat

John’s Pizza Bar and Restaurant: Awards hang from the walls of John’s, testifying to its reputation for having not only the finest pizza in Coober Pedy but some of the best in Australia. John’s serves up not only traditional pies but also regional specialties like the Malu (smoked kangaroo, tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, eggplant, marinated tomatoes, roasted peppers, eggplant and olives) and the Coat of Arms (sweet cranberry, mozzarella cheese, Camembert, emu metworst, spinach and smoked kangaroo). Pasta and sandwiches are also available.

Tom and Mary’s Greek Taverna: The place to go for Mediterranean food in the Outback. A favorite of locals and visitors alike, Tom and Mary impress visitors with authentic Greek fare. The restaurant is renowned for its seafood, especially the Saganaki prawns, so don’t be afraid to try some fish in the desert. Also be sure to try some tzatziki — the yogurt is made from scratch and the herbs are grown in the backyard. Then, with a full stomach, ask for directions to Coober Pedy’s olive grove to continue that Greece-in-Australia experience. Hutchinson Street, Coober Pedy

Umberto’s: Located in the Desert Cave Hotel, Umberto’s is Coober Pedy’s finest dining establishment, and is known for its Mod-Oz cuisine, including regional specialties like kangaroo, camel, emu and Australian beef. Italian food is also on the menu.

The Pink Roadhouse (Oodnadatta): Situated in a largely aboriginal town of fewer than 300 people, this combo restaurant, grocery store and post office looms over the town in all its pink, hand-painted-sign splendor. The restaurant is known throughout Australia for its iconic Oodnaburger, which is composed of meat seasoned with secret spices, onion, cheese, egg, bacon, pineapple, lettuce, beetroot and tomato. The Outback Mail Run Tour stops here for lunch.

William Creek Hotel (William Creek): Owned by two of the three permanent residents in South Australia’s tiniest settlement, the William Creek Hotel serves a changing menu of fresh schnitzel, burgers and curries. The walls are covered with photos and business cards from folks who have passed through, and the owners always welcome friendly conversation and questions about what it’s like to live in such rural territory. If visitors are too tired to move after eating, they can stay in one of the pub’s hotel rooms. The Outback Mail Run Tour stops here for dinner.

The clip was posted online Tuesday night and has already attracted 1.4 million views on YouTube. It features a near-future scenario in which the U.S. military has developed technology that puts unmanned vehicles and robots on the front lines of battle. An enemy gains access to that technology and turns it against cities all over the world.

Developed by Treyarch and published by Activision, “Call of Duty: Black Ops 2″ will be released November 18. Its predecessor, 2010′s “Call of Duty: Black Ops,” is the best-selling video game ever in the United States, according to some estimates.

Mark Lamia, Treyarch studio head, said his developers did a lot of research to set the game in a plausible future. He said for its single-player campaign, the game will feature multiple plotlines and nonlinear gameplay in which a player’s actions affect how the story unfolds.

Gameplay in the video shows a bombed-out Los Angeles, urban combat through city streets and … horseback chases through the desert. It appears to mix futuristic, sci-fi themes with present-day elements.

Lamia also confirmed that zombies are returning to the game. “Our biggest, most ambitious zombies ever,” he said.

He would not reveal anything about the game’s multiplayer action. Lamia said more information on that will be released later.

The futuristic tone of the game seemed to polarize fans on the Internet. Some joked about whether Treyarch was making Anonymous, the real-life hacker group dedicated to promoting free flow of information, the game’s main villain.

Twitter user @killyourfm said, “You know what? I’m BURNT OUT on shooters, especially Call of Duty. But that trailer got me very interested. Futuristic toys. Horses. Cool.”

However, “Call of Duty Elite” forum user Oneqwkford laments, “This looks stupid! If I wanted to play a Si-fi game I would play Gears of War or Halo! I always get Very excited for a new CoD game but this one looks very Disappointing. I will not be buying this one!”

Many other gamers said they were waiting for more details on “Black Ops 2′s” multiplayer action before making a decision about purchasing the game.