CLAYTON, Missouri (AP) — Concordia Seminary in suburban St. Louis gets an eclectic mix of students in a program allowing them to train for the ministry online — electricians, farmers, entrepreneurs — and even a founder of one of the best-known thrash metal bands. David Ellefson plays bass for Megadeth. He also is an online student in the Specific Ministry Program at Concordia Seminary operated by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper reported that Ellefson’s studies illustrate... Read more

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A Muslim death row inmate has settled a lawsuit that accused the Ohio prison system of denying him meals prepared according to Islamic law while providing kosher meals to Jewish prisoners. Ohio had previously decided to remove all pork products from prison menus in response to the lawsuit, though inmates weren’t seeking a ban on pork. Details of the settlement announced Wednesday weren’t released. The inmate’s lawyer would not comment. JoEllen Smith, a spokeswoman for the... Read more

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Tens of thousands of protesters marked the fifth anniversary of a Turkish-Armenian journalist’s murder on Thursday as outrage continues to grow over a trial that failed to shed light on alleged official negligence or even collusion. Human rights activists placed red carnations on the spot in Istanbul where Hrant Dink was gunned down in broad daylight outside of his minority Agos newspaper office by a nationalist teenage gunman. The case highlights Turkey’s uneasy relationship with its... Read more

WHITE BEAR LAKE, Minn. (AP) — From turning out for blood drives to pitching in at homeless shelters, the Minnesota couple missing since last week’s cruise ship disaster in Italy could always be counted on to help out, friends say. As those friends now await the news of Barbara and Jerry Heil’s fate, they have turned to each other, and the Catholic faith the couple so deeply embraced, for support. “There’s always hope. And if we can hope that there’s... Read more

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — The Greenville-Spartanburg area, home to many of South Carolina’s evangelical voters, should be prime political ground for Rick Santorum, a longtime anti-abortion crusader who was embraced by a group of Christian leaders meeting last weekend in Texas. Or perhaps for Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who led more than 30,000 people in prayer in Houston last August. Or maybe for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who talks forcefully of his conversion to Catholicism and his hope for... Read more

Excerpts from recent editorials in newspapers in the United States and abroad: Jan. 14 The Denver Post on merging government agencies: Maybe it’s an election-year maneuver crafted for maximum voter appeal, but President Barack Obama’s proposed merger of six large agencies seems like a prudent cost-cutting move in financially trying times. The White House proposal could eliminate 1,000 jobs and save $3 billion over a decade …. Obama’s proposal would fold six major business and trade operations into one agency.... Read more

CAIRO (AP) — The Muslim Brotherhood is trying to maneuver its way between its fierce anti-Israel ideology and the realities of governing as it ascends to leadership in Egypt for the first time in its history and faces the key question of how to deal with the country’s peace treaty with the Jewish state. The fundamentalist group’s stance on the accord — opposition but not renunciation — is a telling sign of its broader style of politics. It can play... Read more

Maine lawmakers form legislative prayer group Top Maine lawmakers including Gov. Paul LePage form Maine Legislative Prayer Caucus AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — The caucus is affiliated with Pray USA, an initiative of the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation Inc., which seeks to “preserve the Judeo-Christian heritage of our nation and protect American religious liberty.” More than 150 people, including about 50 legislators — mostly Republicans and a few Democrats — participated in a ceremony Tuesday to announce that Maine is the... Read more

CAIRO (AP) — Revenues from Egypt’s vital tourism sector plunged almost 30 percent last year, dragged down by the unrest following the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak, the government said Thursday. The shortfall has forced the country to turn to the International Monetary Fund to bridge a burgeoning budget deficit. The decline in revenues caused by near-daily protests and strikes underscores the challenges as its military rulers and the interim government plot a course toward handing over power to... Read more

Moeed Abdul Salam didn’t descend into radical Islam for lack of other options. He grew up in a well-off Texas household, attended a pricey boarding school and graduated from one of the state’s most respected universities. But the most unlikely thing about his recruitment was his family: Two generations had spent years promoting interfaith harmony and combatting Muslim stereotypes in their hometown and even on national television. Salam rejected his relatives’ moderate faith and comfortable life, choosing instead a path... Read more