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.

Leaders of Britain's 250,000 strong Jewish community are among those welcoming a decision by the Muslim Council of Britain, the country's largest Islamic organization, to end its boycott of Holocaust Day on 27 January every year.

Christmas celebrations for Christians went off peacefully across the majority Islamic nation of Indonesia - with the help of Muslim organizations.