CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian court on Tuesday suspended a 100-member panel selected by lawmakers from the Islamist-dominated parliament and tasked with drafting the country’s new constitution. The ruling was a blow to the Islamists, who have catapulted into the center of Egypt’s political stage since the ouster 14 months ago of longtime authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak. It followed complaints by political groups, secular politicians and constitutional experts over parliament’s decision to give lawmakers half the seats on the panel.... Read more

PARIS (AP) — EU human rights court: Extradition of radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza, 5 others to US was legal. Read more

SYDNEY (AP) — Carmen Marton and Safwan Khalil have their priorities set after being named in the Australian team for the London Olympics: first taekwondo then tie the knot. Marton and fiance Khalil were named Tuesday by the Australian Olympic Committee, along with Khalil’s brother and coach Ali, as Australia’s taekwondo contingent for London. The pair, who met 10 years ago at the Junior World Championships, will marry after the Olympics. Khalil said having Marton on the team and his... Read more

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A nun testified Monday in a landmark church sex-abuse trial that she was fired from a southeastern Pennsylvania parish for reporting concerns to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia about explicit mail that a priest had received. Sister Joan Scary said she lost her job as director of education at St. Gabriel’s in the rural Montgomery County town of Stowe, near Pottstown, after she complained to then-Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua about the Rev. Edward DePaoli shortly after his arrival in... Read more

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A landmark church sex-abuse trial in Philadelphia has entered its third week with testimony from a nun who said she was fired from a suburban parish for complaining about a priest. Sister Joan Scary said Monday she lost her job at St. Gabriel’s in the Montgomery County town of Stowe after she complained to Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua (beh-vih-LAH’-kwah) about the Rev. Edward DePaoli. She said she was concerned about a men’s magazine DePaoli received in the mail.... Read more

THE ISLAMISTS: KHAIRAT EL-SHATER Deputy head of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s strongest political movement, and thus a top contender. A behind-the-scenes operator, el-Shater, 61, is the top Brotherhood strategist and a chief financier. Educated as an engineer, el-Shater is a multimillionaire, owning or running a network of businesses, including investment companies, manufacturers and a furniture chain. El-Shater spent 12 of the past 20 years in prison under then-President Hosni Mubarak’s crackdowns on the Brotherhood. He was released from his latest... Read more

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Taunts of “baby killer” and “butcher” still echo in Bill Baird’s ears, nearly five decades after he began fighting for birth control and abortion rights. Now 79, the Massachusetts man says a Georgetown University law student’s recent verbal bashing on a national radio show is evidence that rights he equates with liberty and equality are in jeopardy. “There will always be those who will try to deny us our freedoms,” Baird wrote in a letter to... Read more

PARIS (AP) — France’s interior ministry says an arsonist has partially destroyed a Muslim prayer room in the Mediterranean island of Corsica’s capital city. A ministry statement said racist inscriptions were found Monday on the front of the building housing the prayer room in Ajaccio after it was damaged in the early morning fire. French Muslim leaders have voiced fear of renewed stigmatization following March attacks that killed seven people in southern France that were attributed to an Islamist who... Read more

PARIS (AP) — French authorities contend the gunman in a killing spree in Toulouse took the path to religious radicalization behind bars, with neither teacher nor network. The investigation will show whether gunman Mohamed Merah, who claimed al-Qaida links, acted alone in the three March attacks that killed seven people, and may help decipher his path to radical Islam. But in the meantime, his case has been seized upon by those who say the model for Islamist radicalization in prisons... Read more

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Vice squad cops were waiting for Bill Baird that day and he knew it. When he showed contraceptive devices to 2,500 Boston University students, Baird did it hoping he would leave the lecture in handcuffs. The 79-year-old re-created the story last week for a much smaller audience, on the eve of the 45th anniversary of his arrest. He told about a dozen Democrats inside a stately home across the Charles River how Boston police helped advance... Read more