DRESDEN, Germany (AFP) – A man accused of killing a pregnant Egyptian woman in court in a frenzied anti-Islamic attack goes on trial in Germany Monday in a case that inflamed tempers throughout the Muslim world.

Prosecutors say the defendant, identified according to German legal practice only as Alex W., stabbed Marwa al-Sherbini at least 16 times in three minutes on July 1, in the same courthouse where his three-week trial will be held. Some 200 police officers will guard the proceedings this time in the eastern city of Dresden, as German media reported Internet death threats against the defendant, who will appear in court behind bulletproof glass.

The 28-year-old Russian-born German allegedly plunged an 18-cm (seven-inch) kitchen knife into the chest, back and arm of Sherbini, 31, who was three months pregnant at the time with her second child. She bled to death at the scene in the presence of her son Mustafa, aged three and a half at the time, in what prosecutors say in the charge sheet was a killing motivated by “a pronounced hatred of non-Europeans and Muslims”.

Town grieves for slainin priest

CHATHAM, New Jersey (AP) -- An arrest in the brutal slaying of a Roman Catholic priest has brought little solace to his parishioners in this affluent community, who widely view the suspected role of the long-time church janitor as a second tragedy.

More than 150 people at St. Patrick’s Church for Sunday’s early Mass prayed for Rev. Ed Hinds, whose body was discovered in the church rectory Friday, and for Jose Feliciano, who is charged with stabbing the priest 32 times with a kitchen knife.

“This is a tragedy for this community,” Rev. Owen Moran said after leading Mass. “It’s a tragedy for Father Ed and his family, and it’s a tragedy for the Feliciano family.” Authorities say the slaying occurred at about 5 p.m. Thursday after an argument between Hinds and Feliciano in the rectory.

Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi told CNN on Saturday that the two men argued “over Feliciano’s continued employment.”

Karzai questions U.S. reliability as partner

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai questioned the reliability of the United States as a partner Sunday, as he fought off criticism of his government’s legitimacy following fraud-marred elections. Karzai’s main challenger, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, warned in an interview with CNN that the US strategy will not succeed without a credible partner in Kabul, blaming Karzai for deteriorating conditions.

But underscoring the political headache that Washington faces if Karzai wins a run-off against Abdullah next month, Karzai pointed the finger at the United States in a separate, pre-recorded CNN interview. “Is the United States a reliable partner with Afghanistan? Is the West a reliable partner with Afghanistan?” Karzai asked.

“Have we received the commitments that we were given? Have we been treated like a partner?” Karzai said a partnership to him was “where the Afghan lives are respected, where Afghan property is respected, where the Afghan traditions are respected, where we know the direction we are moving to.”

Ex-guerrilla, rival in Uruguay runoff

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) – A blunt-talking former guerrilla seeking to maintain the left’s hold on power in Uruguay easily got the most votes in presidential elections Sunday, but failed to win the majority needed to avoid a runoff. Jose “Pepe” Mujica got about 48 percent of the votes compared to 30 percent for former president Luis Alberto LaCalle, a free-marketeer who wants to cut government and taxes and reduce alliances with Latin American leftists.

Two voter initiatives — one to remove amnesty for human rights abuses under the 1973-85 dictatorship and another to enable mail-in votes by citizens living outside Uruguay — also failed to win majorities, according to exit polls by the companies Cifra, Factum and Equipos Mori.