CAIRO (AP) — Islamists that dominate Egypt’s new parliament looked Saturday to solidify their power over the country’s political direction as lawmakers chose a 100-member panel to draw up the country’s new constitution. The selection process has sparked a fierce debate in Egypt. With so much at stake, a bloc of secular and liberal lawmakers boycotted Saturday’s voting by both houses of parliament, accusing the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood — the country’s most powerful political force — of trying to pack... Read more

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian parliamentarians are selecting on Saturday a 100-member panel that will draft the country’s new constitution amid deep polarization between liberals and Islamists over the process. The meeting is likely to be part of a weekslong struggle over the charter that will define Egypt’s future identity. After the panel writes the constitution, it will be put to a vote in a national referendum. The country’s ruling military council, which took power after the mass uprising that toppled... Read more

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian parliamentarians are meeting to name the panel that will draft the country’s new constitution amid deep polarization between liberals and Islamists over the process. The Saturday meeting is likely to be part of a weeks-long struggle over the charter that will define Egypt’s identity. After the panel writes the constitution, it will be put to a vote in a national referendum. The old 1971 constitution was abolished after the uprising that overthrew Hosni Mubarak last year.... Read more

SILAO, Mexico (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI worked to build the future of Mexico’s church by reaching out to children Saturday as tens of thousands of teenagers streamed into a vast, shade-starved park to camp out overnight ahead of a gigantic papal Mass. Benedict awoke to the pre-dawn serenade of two dozen youths from a Guadalajara church group who sang him a traditional folk song after getting as close as security would allow to the college in Leon where the... Read more

LEON, Mexico (AP) — There was little excitement in Leon in the hours before the pope arrived. Crowds were thin. Spectators napped under trees. Vendors complained about the low turnout here in the conservative heartland of Mexico’s Roman Catholicism. Then, as Pope Benedict XVI’s plane appeared in the shimmering heat of Friday afternoon, people poured from their homes. They packed sidewalks five and six deep, screaming ecstatically as the pope passed, waving slowly. Some burst into tears. Many had said... Read more

WEST MONROE, La. (AP) — Republican presidential nominating contests often reveal a rural-urban split in the party, but what sets this year’s campaign apart is the emphasis Rick Santorum is placing on that divide and wearing his successes in small-town America as a badge of honor. To hear Santorum tell it, the ability of front-runner Mitt Romney to win in big-city suburbs is a mark of ideological weakness, not political strength. “Gov. Romney does well in the counties where Democrats... Read more

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Roman Catholic church official facing a landmark child sex abuse trial wants a new jury seated because of publicity over a co-defendant’s last-minute guilty plea, his lawyers said Friday. Monsignor William Lynn’s attorneys said Thursday’s plea from defrocked priest Edward Avery could influence jurors in the trial that’s scheduled to begin Monday. Lynn, the former secretary for clergy for the Philadelphia Archdiocese, is the first U.S. church official ever charged with endangering children by failing to... Read more

HAVANA (AP) — Cuba will listen with respect to Pope Benedict XVI during his visit next week even if he differs with island leaders, the country’s foreign minister said Friday after the pontiff’s comment that Marxism is out of step with the times. The pontiff made the comment to reporters during his long flight to Mexico, the first stop in his six-day tour. While it was in keeping with the Vatican’s position, it was an unexpectedly blunt statement to come... Read more

Associated Press (AP) — A Roman Catholic church official facing a child sex-abuse trial in Philadelphia Monday wants a new jury seated because of publicity over a co-defendant’s guilty plea. Lawyers for Monsignor William Lynn say defrocked priest Edward Avery’s plea Thursday may influence jurors. Lynn is charged with child endangerment and conspiracy for allegedly failing to remove Avery and another accused priest from ministry. Six men and six women have been seated on the jury and advised not to... Read more

NEW YORK (AP) — Mitt Romney says President Barack Obama blocked construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline as a gift to environmentalists. Newt Gingrich calls Obama “President Algae” for supporting research on biofuels. And Rick Santorum says Obama’s environmental views constitute a “phony theology” that prioritizes the earth over people. The leading Republican presidential hopefuls have cast Obama as environmental extremist whose policies have put him out of touch with the needs of ordinary Americans. It’s a characterization that... Read more