CHARLESTON, South Carolina (AP) — Front-runner Mitt Romney looked to fend off attacks from his rivals in a presidential candidates’ forum Saturday a week ahead of the crucial South Carolina which may be their last chance to prevent him from becoming the Republican nominee to challenge President Barack Obama. Five of the six candidates were scheduled to take part in the candidates’ forum hosted by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, an unsuccessful Republican presidential contender in 2008. Huckabee, an ordained... Read more

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne said Friday he admires Tim Tebow and wishes he displayed his faith as strongly as the quarterback does. Bayne was the upset winner in a thrilling finish last year in the Daytona 500, and the 20-year-old Baptist has used his newfound fame as a platform for his religion. He said he talked to Tebow over the phone in the whirlwind media tour following his victory and that the Denver quarterback... Read more

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge in Indiana has upheld the nation’s largest school voucher law and rejected opponents’ arguments the measure unconstitutionally uses taxpayer money to support religion. Marion Superior Court Judge Michael Keele’s ruling Friday says the School Choice Scholarship program doesn’t violate the state constitution because Indiana isn’t directly funding parochial schools. It instead gives scholarship vouchers to parents who can choose where to use them. Indiana State Teachers Association President Nate Schnellenberger says opponents will appeal.... Read more

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A judge upheld Indiana’s school voucher law on Friday, rejecting opponents’ arguments that it unconstitutionally uses public money to support religion. Marion Superior Court Judge Michael Keele said the School Choice Scholarship program doesn’t violate the state constitution because the state isn’t directly funding parochial schools. Instead, it gives scholarship vouchers to parents, who can choose where to use them. That was essentially the argument made by the program’s supporters. Keele declined to block the law, saying... Read more

DENVER (AP) — Can Tim Tebow’s blessing inspire Colorado lawmakers? One state representative thinks so. Democratic Rep. Sal Pace sent a letter Friday to the Broncos quarterback inviting him to lead the House in the daily morning prayer before lawmakers start work. Pace said in the letter that Tebow is an excellent choice to “give Colorado’s elected officials guidance as we take on the important task of leading Colorado.” “You have inspired Colorado. You have inspired America!” Pace wrote. “Throughout... Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — In mailboxes across South Carolina in 2007, likely Republican voters received a Christmas card signed by “The Romney Family” with a quotation from a 19th century Mormon leader suggesting God had several wives. Mitt Romney’s campaign, just a few weeks away from the 2008 presidential primary in a state where evangelicals look skeptically on the former Massachusetts governor’s Mormon faith, condemned the bogus card as politics at its worst. The sender never took credit. And it... Read more

ZUBAIR, Iraq (AP) — A bomb killed at least 53 Shiite pilgrims near the southern port city of Basra on Saturday, an Iraqi official said. It was the latest in a series of attacks during Shiite religious commemorations that have killed scores of people and threaten to further increase sectarian tensions just weeks after the U.S. withdrawal. The attack happened on the last of the 40 days of Arbaeen, when hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims from Iraq and abroad... Read more

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s Sunni deputy premier called Friday for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to step down and warned that the country’s festering political crisis risks sparking a wider sectarian conflict in the region. Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq stood by an earlier charge that Iraq is becoming a new dictatorship under al-Maliki, a Shiite. He said Iraqis could eventually rise up violently if al-Maliki remains in his post, and pushed for a parliamentary vote of no confidence in the... Read more

CAIRO (AP) — Former President Jimmy Carter said Friday that Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and other political groups want to assume full authority over state affairs, despite efforts by the country’s ruling generals to retain some power after transition to civilian rule. The future role of the military in Egypt has been a key sticking point in the country’s rocky transition to civilian rule since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in the face of popular protests last year. The ruling... Read more

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Muhammad Ali is turning 70, but the boxing great is still a “big kid” who enjoys his birthday parties, his wife said. The three-time heavyweight champion reaches the milestone Tuesday, but the festivities will start early. Ali will be surrounded by friends who are gathering Saturday evening for a private birthday party at the Muhammad Ali Center in his hometown of Louisville. “Muhammad likes celebrations that involve him and are centered around him,” Lonnie Ali told... Read more