Religious Officials

Iraqi leaders worked Saturday to resolve their impasse over who will rule the country, with a secular coalition proposing an emergency government that would supersede election results and Shiite clerics conferring on how best to preserve their sect's newfound power. Politicians remained deadlocked over Sunni Arab and Kurdish opposition to Ibrahim Jafari, the main Shiite Muslim coalition's nominee for prime minister.

The trial of cleric Abu Hamza al Masri on charges of stirring up racial hatred and urging the killing of non-Muslims opened Monday in a London court. Masri, 47, is the best-known figure to be tried for such offenses in Britain since the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S. The Egyptian-born cleric faces nine counts of using public meetings to incite followers to kill non-Muslims. Four other charges allege that he urged the killing of Jews.

There is nothing physically imposing about Warren Jeffs. He's tall and reedy with a quavering voice and, acquaintances say, an especially limp handshake. Family members describe the church leader as secretive, strict and "very militant about his religion." Jeffs, 50, grew up in a Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints compound in Salt Lake City, where he served first as a teacher and then principal of the sect's Alta Academy.

In a sign of how difficult it may be to avoid a church schism over Anglicans' treatment of homosexuality, a high-ranking African archbishop Tuesday angrily accused liberals of "subverting the faith" and assailed a report that called for reconciliation. The strong response from Archbishop Peter Akinola, Anglican primate of Nigeria, signaled a rough road ahead as the archbishop of Canterbury and other leaders of the 77-million-member Anglican Communion seek adoption of the report on the U.S.

British authorities Tuesday charged extremist cleric Abu Hamza al Masri with possessing Al Qaeda literature and inciting the killing of Jews and other non-Muslims, delaying his possible extradition to the United States, where he is wanted on terrorism charges. The Crown Prosecution Service lodged 16 counts against the cleric, whom terrorism experts have long considered a major Al Qaeda supporter in Europe. The move means he would stand trial in England before being sent to the United States. U.

Egypt's Patriarch of Alexandria, a top Greek Orthodox leader, was killed in a helicopter crash, Greek authorities said. A military spokesman said rescuers had found seven bodies and were searching for 10 others. Petros VII, 55, was on a pilgrimage to monasteries on Greece's Mt. Athos when the helicopter went down 20 miles away for unknown reasons and sank in deep water.

British police "de-arrested" Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al Masri in connection with a terrorism investigation, but said the move was unrelated to separate U.S. charges. Abu Hamza has been indicted in the United States on 11 counts, including having a role in a 1998 hostage-taking in Yemen in which four people died. He remains in custody in London, where he is fighting extradition to the United States. A police spokesman said future charges in Britain were possible.

A French judge ordered a Turkish leader of a Paris mosque held under house arrest after the Interior Ministry accused him of heading an extremist Islamic group that advocated terrorism. French police had arrested Midhat Guler, 45, after they received an expulsion order from the ministry. Guler, who has lived in France for 30 years, denied he was an extremist and has appealed the expulsion order.

A radical Islamic cleric accused of heading an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist network in Asia wept in court as he accused the Indonesian government of framing him on charges of treason and plotting to assassinate the president. Abu Bakar Bashir, 64, said authorities in neighboring Singapore and Malaysia had tortured witnesses to testify against him.

Radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir was found guilty Tuesday of taking part in treasonous activity but was acquitted of a more serious charge that he headed the Jemaah Islamiah terrorist network. A five-judge panel, which also found Bashir guilty of forging an immigration document, sentenced the 65-year-old Indonesian cleric to four years in prison, less the 10 1/2 months he spent in jail awaiting trial.