Taj Aldin al-Hilali attracted controversy instead of friends, said senior Muslim leader Rehin Ghauri.

Australia’s top Islamic cleric, who triggered a furore last year when he referred to women without head scarves as “uncovered meat,” stepped down today, prompting Muslim leaders to appoint a new mufti.

Several more arrests of al-Qaida suspects have been made in Pakistan in the past several days, including one man arrested trying to leave the country from an airport in the eastern city of Lahore, and another arrested in a nearby town, police said.