The law faced a heated debate in the Egyptian Parliament. Some lawmakers had argued fervently that the law was in the victims’ interest as otherwise, their marriage prospects were slim. The debate came to an end only with the intervention of the President himself. The cabinet endorsed President Mubarak’s decree and then sent it to Parliament for ratification.

The decision has been welcomed by human rights groups and also, surprisingly, by the nation’s top clerics, who decreed that such marriages lacked the parity and amity required in a proper Islamic marriage. However, repealing this law may lead to an increase in cases of murder of rape victims by male relatives, in a bid to ‘save family honour’, as the family will no longer be able to get the ‘tainted’ girl married off to the offender. Thus, though the law is a step in the right direction, any real solutions for the rape victims of the country would require consistent efforts towards creating public awareness and changing patriarchal attitudes.

The task force clarified that revoking ‘Christian education’ would not mean that religion no longer be taught in schools. They held that the basic school system must provide for the study of religions "from a cultural perspective in place of Catholic or Protestant religious instruction". It has further asserted that the study of religions be made compulsory for all students irrespective of their religious backgrounds.

On the other hand, a recent judgement in White Plains, New York, declared that a Westchester County School had violated its students’ First Amendment right to religious freedom by engaging in ‘religious–oriented activities’ which included the construction of a Ganesha likeness by third–grade students. The activity was part of one teacher’s week–long lesson on the culture of India, in which the teacher read out stories of the elephant–headed Hindu god, Ganesha, and then planned to have pupils make their own Ganeshas from paper. "While reading the Ganesha story can be part of a neutral secular curriculum, this court fails to find any educational justification for telling young impressionable students to construct images of a known religious god", the judge ruled in response to the complaint that the school was forcing the children to make graven images, in violation of their religious beliefs.

A group of Roman Catholic parents, represented by the American Catholic Lawyers Association had petitioned the Court on 15 counts, of which the Court upheld three. Judge Charles L. Brieant III chided both sides for not accommodating the others’ views in his judgement, but also ordered school district officials to stop teachers from creating lessons that incorporate religious symbols or routines, as they violate the constitutional doctrine of church–state separation. The judgement directed school officials to publish a clear policy for their teachers and guest lecturers to remain neutral towards all religions in the future and discuss it without advocacy. The Judge also upheld objections to the creation of "worry dolls" to dispell worries as a means of advocating "rank superstition" and the Earth Day festival the school observed. Children recited the line, "This is what we believe. The Mother of us all is Earth. The Father is the Sun", on Earth Day, which the judge held to constitute religious worship of the Earth.

Both, the parents and the Bedford school, which was supported by People for the American Way of life, a civil liberties group, are planning to appeal and the case may well lead to wider discussions on what secular education is to entail.

Combat 18, an ultra–right terrorist group with several neo–Nazi members, claimed responsibility for all three blasts. The group’s name is based on Adolf Hitler’s initials — the first and eighth letters in the alphabet, and its membership is conjectured to be anywhere between 40 to 200, which includes several convicted bombers. A splinter group of the Combat 18, which calls itself the White Wolves, has a chillingly clear enough manifesto: "Many immigrants are innocent of any recognised crime, but collectively they make up an invading army which threatens (our) birthright — they must be forced out with extreme violence." Anti–racist activists fear the group is now intent on fomenting a race war.

Economic frustrations were not the cause of the violence as the explosions were aimed not at the affluent sections of the minority community but rather, targeted the poorer sections of the minorities that inhabit these areas. The violence comes in the wake of the Stephen Lawrence report, which declared the British police to be institutionally racist. Though the police have assured the minorities of full efforts for their protection, minority Asian groups have begun street patrols in Southall and Bradford, watching for suspicious packages. The Barnet Borough locality, which has a large number of Jews and Asians has also asked its sweepers to be on the alert for such objects.