CAIRO (AP) — Final results on Saturday showed that Islamist parties won nearly three-quarters of the seats in parliament in Egypt’s first elections since the ouster of authoritarian president Hosni Mubarak, according to election officials and political groups. The Islamist domination of Egypt’s parliament has worried liberals and even some conservatives about the religious tone of the new legislature, which will be tasked with forming a committee to write a new constitution. It remains unclear whether the constitution will be... Read more

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s election commission and political groups say final results from the country’s first elections since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak show Islamist parties winning nearly three-quarters of the seats in parliament. An alliance led by the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood won 47 percent of the spots in the 498-seat parliament, while the ultraconservative Al-Nour Party clinched 25 percent. The two parties are not likely to join forces because of ideological differences. The liberal Egyptian Bloc, led by a... Read more

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal won’t seek re-election, the group announced Saturday, paving the way for a leadership contest and possible struggle over the ideological direction of the Islamic militant group. However, the wording of the Hamas announcement also left open the possibility that Mashaal would be asked to stay on even though he has led the movement since 1996, nearly twice as long as permitted under Hamas rules. Mashaal himself could not be immediately... Read more

PADANG, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian police say a civil servant who posted “God does not exist” on Facebook faces a maximum penalty of five years behind bars for blasphemy. Thirty-one-year-old Alexander Aan was taken into police custody Friday after his remarks triggered public outcry in West Sumatra province. He was attacked by a mob on his way to work. Indonesia, a predominantly Muslim nation of 240 million, recognizes the right to practice five other religions. But atheism is illegal. Col.... Read more

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Newt Gingrich’s presidential hopes may rest among the pews of Florida’s ministries and megachurches. The former House speaker is looking to Florida’s religious conservatives to counter rival Mitt Romney’s organizational and financial might in a state where so-called “values voters” could constitute more than a third of the Republican electorate in the Jan. 31 primary. “There’s no question Gov. Romney will always have more money,” Gingrich says when asked about his Florida campaign. But he’s quick... Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — Many church-affiliated institutions will have to cover free birth control for their employees, the Obama administration announced Friday in an election-year decision certain to upset conservatives and add to the national debate about the reach of government. Granting a concession, however, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said nonprofit institutions such as church-affiliated hospitals, colleges and social service agencies will have one year more to comply with the requirement than most other employers. “I believe this... Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — In an election-year decision certain to disappoint religious conservatives, the Obama administration announced Friday that church-affiliated institutions will get only one additional year to meet a new rule to cover birth control free of charge. Friday’s announcement by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius does not apply to houses of worship. Churches, synagogues, mosques and other places of worship were already exempt from the birth control coverage rule. But in many cases, other religious-affiliated employers such... Read more

CAIRO (AP) — A crowd of anti-military activists suddenly converged on a bustling Cairo boulevard, erecting screens and showing videos of soldiers beating protesters, dragging women on the ground, partially stripping one and stomping on her chest. Their flash mob’s message for the passers-by who stopped to watch: The generals ruling Egypt have to go. The activists who led the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak last year have been holding hundreds of such flash mobs around the country in the... Read more

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The Maldives’ vice president joined calls Friday for the release of a detained senior judge, in a sign of divisions within the government of President Mohamed Nasheed. Vice President Mohammed Waheed Hassan criticized the “extrajudicial arrest” this week of Criminal Court Chief Justice Abdulla Mohamed after he ordered the release of a detained government critic. Hassan told The Associated Press the detention sets a bad precedent for the country’s new democracy. Nasheed’s government has been... Read more

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi authorities detained a senior Sunni official on terrorism charges Friday, even as an aide to the country’s most prominent Shiite cleric urged politicians on both sides of the sectarian divide to end an escalating political crisis. The political battle erupted last month after the Shiite-led government issued an arrest warrant against the Sunni vice president, Tareq al-Hashemi, on terrorism charges, sending him into virtual exile to the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Iraq. In protest, al-Hashemi’s... Read more