TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) — New Jersey’s attorney general told Muslim leaders Saturday that he was still looking into the extent of New York Police Department surveillance operations in the state, yet stopped short of promising a formal investigation during a meeting that both sides characterized as productive. Leaders from different New Jersey Muslim organizations met with Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa and state and federal law enforcement officials for nearly three hours in Trenton to discuss concerns over the NYPD’s... Read more

HICKSVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan is calling on worshippers to become more involved in politics as the church stands against the government in what he says is a “freedom of religion battle.” Dolan spoke Saturday at an event in Hicksville about the recent controversy involving contraceptive coverage. The cardinal says the U.S. government is engaged in “an unwarranted, unprecedented radical intrusion.” He told the crowd they “live in an era that seems to discover new rights... Read more

NEW YORK (AP) — The FBI is considering whether to open an investigation into allegations that followers of a New York City rabbi made illegal campaign contributions to U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm, according to a law enforcement official. Followers of Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto, an influential figure in Israel with a headquarters in Manhattan, raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Grimm when he first ran for office in 2010, according to campaign records. Some donors have since said that... Read more

PARIS (AP) — The issue of France’s Muslims moved front and center into the presidential campaign with the incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy, excluding on Saturday any special indulgences for halal meat or separate swimming hours for Muslim women in public pools. Echoing his 2007 campaign, Sarkozy insisted that French civilization must prevail in France. He created France’s first Ministry of Immigration and National Identity after being elected, but has since done away with it. Muslims, and immigration, are constant themes in... Read more

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — The Muslim Brotherhood in Libya has formed a political party after six decades in the shadows of dictator Moammar Gadhafi’s regime. The Islamist group declared the formation of the Justice and Development Party on Saturday in the absence of laws laying out a formal process for the formation of political parties. The Brotherhood faces competition from other more hard-line Islamist groups, but is considered the most organized movement in Libya that has a nationwide presence. Many... Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is casting the contraception controversy as an issue of women’s rights, not religious freedom, seizing on what backers see as a political gift from Rush Limbaugh to firm up support from women and young voters, groups essential to his re-election hopes. He dove deep into the culture wars of American politics by rushing to defend a female law student verbally attacked by the conservative commentator, making a telephone call of support to Georgetown University’s... Read more

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Muslim leaders in New Jersey are meeting with officials to discuss the state’s response to the New York Police Department’s secret surveillance program. Leaders representing a cross-section of New Jersey’s diverse Muslim population participated in Saturday’s session in the capital city. Several participants entering the private gathering said they hope the state attorney general will announce a formal investigation into the matter. Muslim leaders — including the imam of the Paterson-based Islamic Center of Passaic County,... Read more

CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian court on Saturday rejected the second of two lawsuits brought by ultraconservative Islamists accusing a Christian media mogul of insulting Islam when he relayed a cartoon online of Mickey Mouse with a beard and Minnie in a face veil. The judge ruled the plaintiff was not eligible to file the religious defamation lawsuit and sent the case back to the state prosecutor’s office for further investigation. The first lawsuit was thrown out by a different... Read more

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — The GOP presidential candidates are fighting to win over conservative voters in the Bible Belt as the race takes on a more prominent Southern focus. After bowing out of recent contests north of the Mason-Dixon line, Newt Gingrich is staking his entire campaign on a big victory Tuesday in Georgia, where the onetime House speaker represented a suburban Atlanta district for 20 years. Rick Santorum is making inroads in Tennessee with a message that the state’s... Read more

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian lawmakers are meeting in Cairo to decide who will write the country’s new constitution, a debate focusing on the role of Islamists in constructing the document. The Saturday parliament meeting is supposed to decide who will be on the 100-member panel tasked with drafting the first constitution after the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak. Debate preceding the session has focused on the role Islamists will have in drafting the crucial document. The Muslim Brotherhood and ultraconservative Salafist,... Read more