Irish President Mary McAleese has signed into law the Defamation Act, which includes clauses that create the offence of "blasphemous libel". Civil rights campaigners are dismayed.

A Christian is taking an art centre to court over an exhibition which included a statue of Jesus she believes was lewd and offensive. Civil rights activists say this is an attempt to reinstate blasphemy laws by the back door.

Civil rights organisations and national leaders are expressing alarm at a United Nations General Assembly resolution that demands respect for religion but which critics say has been used to justify suppression of religious minorities.

With tensions running high on blasphemy and other issues, church leaders in Denmark say they will seek further conversations with their Muslim counterparts following the open letter by 138 prominent Islamic scholars.

The Prime Minister's office has said that it will consult Britain's churches over the scrapping of the country's blasphemy laws, after the principled need to do so was strengthened by a tabled amendment in the House of Commons.

Pakistan's elections, originally scheduled for 8 January, will now take place on 18 February, the authorities have announced amid widespread scepticism. Campaigners for Christian and other minorities fear for the future.

The decision by the High Court not to allow a prosecution against BBC Director-General Mark Thompson for blasphemy to go ahead has been welcomed by Christians and Humanists. Stephen Green of the group Christian Voice, had attempted to prosecute Mark Thompson

As schoolteacher Gillian Gibbons' lawyers prepare an appeal against a 15-day jail sentence imposed in Sudan over the naming of a teddy bear, Muslims in Britain have joined in condemning the decision and calling for clemency.