Home Office plans to introduce an "earned citizenship" system for immigrants from outside the European Union who want to become British have been attacked as descriminatory and degrading by campaigners.

Pressures from several directions may put disestablishment of the Church of England back on the agenda, say reports following the General Synod and concerns about the long term impact of the Archbishop of Canterbury's Sharia speech.

"There is no dispute about our common allegiance to the law of the land" Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams told the General Synod of the Church of England - and a watching world on TV and the internet - this afternoon.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has privately asked Archbishop Rowan Williams to clarify the precise import of his remarks about the social and legal codes of Sharia and the English civil law system, those close to 10 Downing Street say.

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who recently returned to the country to challenge the Pervez Musharraf regime, has been assassinated in a suicide attack which has killed 20 others and injured several more.

International development agency Christian Aid has accused the British government of short-sightedness after the world’s first Climate Change Bill was published containing targets widely condemned as inadequate.

As the political debate around the Queen's speech continues, the Methodist Church in Britain has made a careful response to a range of issues - including climate change, social policy, human rights and bioethics.

Religion and culture are abused when they are employed illegitimately to justify the suppression of women and the denial of their equal humanity, human rights lawyer Chrie Booth argued yesterday in a lecture at Chatham House in London.

The Saudi head of state King Abdullah found the Mall in London lined by anti-arms and human rights protesters as he travelled in ceremony to Buckingham Palace today. Critics worldwide are appalled that his regime is being feted by the Queen and Prime Minister.

The Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) has received police permission for a demonstration on the Mall as the Saudi head of state King Abdullah rides in ceremony towards Buckingham Palace tomorrow morning. Human rights protests are also predicted.