KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Islamic clerics have banned Malaysian Muslims from undergoing Botox treatment for cosmetic purposes because the compound contains prohibited and harmful substances, according to a published report.

The National Fatwa Council, which advises the government on Islamic regulations, issued the July 27 edict, but said using Botox for medical reasons — for example, to treat cerebral palsy sufferers — is permissible if doctors deem it necessary, The New Straits Times reported.

Council Chairman Shukor Husin said the ruling is not legally binding, but that Muslims who defy it would be committing a sin.

Shukor said Botox contains extracts from pigs, an animal considered unclean in Islam, and that the council ruled on the issue after studying reports by local and international specialists as well as religious edicts in the Mideast.

UTICA, N.Y. (AP) — A Roman Catholic priest who publicly acknowledged he is gay says he was barred because of his sexual orientation from a humanitarian mission that aimed to increase awareness of HIV and AIDS in Africa.The Rev. Fred Daley, of St. Francis de Sales Church in Utica, said he applied for a spot in the Catholic Relief Services program in March, went through months of training and was assigned to Lesotho in southern Africa. He was then notified July 18 by phone that his application had been withdrawn because of his activism on behalf of celibate gay priests.Catholic Relief Services chief executive Michael Wiest says the agency, which is the humanitarian arm of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, learned late in the process that Daley "was kind of a spokesperson and activist around this issue" and felt his "celebrity" would follow him to Africa and would be a distraction for the project and its leaders.Daley drew national attention after taking the rare step of revealing to his parish and diocese in 2004 that he is gay, to show that gays are faithfully serving the church. A key 1961 Vatican document on selecting candidates for the priesthood is one of several over the years that have said that gays should not be ordained.

CHICAGO — The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America says its membership dropped 1.6 percent to 4.85 million last year.However, income for the year increased nearly 3 percent or $76 million over 2004, to reach about $2.7 billion. Offerings to congregations increased, as did return on investments.The denomination blames the membership decline on the disbanding of 31 of its 10,549 congregations, an update of membership lists in many churches and a decrease in new members.