Body identified as missing constable

A body found in a shallow grave over the weekend is that of a constable who disappeared a week ago, officials said Monday. He had been shot several times.

Robert Lee Bailey, 67, died instantly after being shot, said Charleston County Coroner Rae Wooten, who declined to say how many times he had been hit.

Bailey was last seen May 14 making a traffic stop in Lincolnville, 50 miles from where the grave was found near Interstate 26. Five people have been taken into custody since he vanished.

Doctor convicted of aiding al-Qaida

A Florida doctor was convicted Monday of providing material support to terrorists by agreeing to treat injured al-Qaida fighters so they could return to Iraq to battle Americans.

Dr. Rafiq Abdus Sabir, 52, was convicted in federal court in Manhattan after a three-week trial that featured testimony by him and Ali Soufan, an FBI agent who posed as an al-Qaida recruiter in a sting operation that led to four arrests.

The charges against the New York-born Sabir, including conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, carry a potential maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. Sentencing was set for Sept. 12.

New York

Firefighter exams biased, suit alleges

The mostly white Fire Department of New York discouraged racial diversity by using recruitment exams that inadvertently discriminated against blacks and Hispanics, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Monday in a civil-rights lawsuit.

The complaint alleges that the Fire Department administered exams in 1999 and 2002 that, while not purposely or obviously racist, contained many questions that do not test an applicant's ability to fight fires. "The city's testing practices ... do not select the firefighter applicants who will best perform their important public-safety mission, while disproportionately screening out large numbers of qualified black and Hispanic applicants," said Wan Kim, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division in Washington, D.C.

City officials accused federal authorities of making misleading allegations about outdated written exams. They said recent recruitment efforts have resulted in triple the number of blacks and double the number of Hispanics taking the latest exam.

Of roughly 11,000 firefighters in the department, about 3 percent are black and 4.5 percent are Hispanic. By comparison, the New York Police Department is 16.3 percent black and 25.3 percent Hispanic.

Farmers Branch, Texas

Rental ordinance blocked by judge

A federal judge Monday blocked enforcement of a voter-endorsed ordinance preventing apartment rentals to most illegal immigrants in this Dallas suburb.

The ordinance was to take effect today, more than a week after voters approved it. Opponents had filed three requests in federal court for an injunction to stop its enforcement.

The ordinance requires managers to verify that renters are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants before leasing to them. Only the federal government can determine whether a person is in the United States legally, wrote U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay.

Seattle Times news services