AL QAIDA SUPPORTER CHOSEN AS MB LEADER

CAIRO [MENL] -- An Al Qaida supporter has been chosen to assume theleadership of Egypt's largest Muslim opposition group. Mohammed Mahdi Akef, who replaces the late Mamoun El Hodeiby, was chosenWednesday in a 9-6 vote by the Guidance Council, which approves candidatesfor leadership positions. The 75-year-old Akef has been termed a Brotherhoodhardliner who has rejected reconciliation with the regime of President HosniMubarak and religious rights for Egypt's Coptic Christian minority.