CAIRO (AP) — The fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood named its chief strategist and financier as a candidate for president on Saturday, a surprising reversal of an earlier pledge to stay out of the race and a move that sets the group on a collision course with Egypt’s military rulers. The long-outlawed Brotherhood already controls about half of the seats in parliament and had been concerned that contesting the presidency would bring a backlash from liberals and Western countries fearful of an... Read more

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood says it has decided to field the movement’s deputy leader and top strategist as its presidential candidate, topping off its success in legislative elections with a bid for the country’s most powerful post. Top leaders of the country’s most influential political group announced in a Saturday press conference that it selected Khayrat el-Shater to contest the presidential race set to start in May. The move reverses a pledge made by the group’s leaders not... Read more

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood fields deputy leader and top strategist as presidential candidate. Read more

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The long, typed letter fantasizes about a seventh-grader’s body, and asks if the boy wants to try various sex acts. “You are soooo cute. I have been thinking about you for a long time. … You’re the cutest in our grade,” the author wrote in a rare line that wasn’t overtly obscene. But the anonymous author was not a classmate at the boy’s Catholic school in northeast Philadelphia. It was a parish priest. One with a cache... Read more

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Experts say a landmark priest-abuse trial in Philadelphia is revealing how the Catholic church handled complaints about accused predators. Albany Law School professor Timothy Lytton says that may be as important as the verdict. Monsignor William Lynn is charged with endangering children by keeping predators in ministry when he served as secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004. The 61-year-old Lynn faces a long prison term if convicted. Documents presented to the jury last week show the... Read more

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The long, typed letter fantasizes about a seventh-grader’s body, and asks if the boy wants to try various sex acts. “You are soooo cute. I have been thinking about you for a long time. … You’re the cutest in our grade,” the author wrote in a rare G-rated line. But the anonymous author was not a classmate at the boy’s Catholic school in northeast Philadelphia. It was a parish priest. One with a cache of gay pornography... Read more

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Experts say a landmark priest-abuse trial in Philadelphia is revealing how the Catholic church handled complaints about accused predators. Albany Law School professor Timothy Lytton says that may be as important as the verdict. Monsignor William Lynn is charged with endangering children by keeping predators in ministry as secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004. The 61-year-old Lynn faces a long prison term if convicted. Documents presented to the jury last week show the church transferring priests... Read more

FORT BRAGG, North Carolina (AP) — For the first time in history, a U.S. military base will play host to an event aimed at service personnel and their families who don’t believe in God. The Rock Beyond Belief concert, scheduled to take place Saturday at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, will bring together bands, speakers and events intended for families and young children. The headline speaker for the event is Richard Dawkins, the British author and scientist who has become... Read more

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) — For the first time in history, a U.S. military base will play host to an event aimed at service personnel and their families who don’t believe in God. The Rock Beyond Belief concert, scheduled to happen Saturday at Fort Bragg, will bring together bands, speakers and events intended for families and young children. The headline speaker for the event is Richard Dawkins, the British author and scientist who has become one of the world’s most... Read more

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made clear Saturday that time is running out for diplomacy with Iran over its disputed nuclear program, saying Tehran’s “window of opportunity” for a peaceful resolution “will not remain open forever.” She also expressed doubt about whether Iran has any intention of negotiating a solution that satisfies the U.S., Israel and other countries that believe Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran contends the program is solely... Read more