News Briefs

7 offer to endure lash

in blogger’s place

CONCORD, N.H. — Seven members of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom have offered to personally endure most of the whippings that a liberal Saudi blogger has been sentenced to endure for “insulting Islam.”

Chairman Katrina Lantos Swett says she and her fellow commissioners made their offer to Saudi officials as individual followers of Islam, Christianity and Judaism rather than as representatives of the government agency.

Raif Badawi was sentenced in May to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes and was fined $266,000.

In a letter, the seven signatories say they would rather present themselves to each suffer 100 of his lashes “than stand by and watch him being cruelly tortured.”

— The Associated Press

Bishop criticizes

Mercy benefits

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — The bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau has expressed deep concern at the decision of a Catholic-based hospital group to extend benefits to same-sex spouses of employees.

The Mercy Health System, which has about 9,000 employees in Springfield, plans to offer benefits to legally married same-sex spouses beginning this spring.

The hospital said it made the decision because of recent changes in government regulations for same-sex couples.

But in a statement, Bishop James Johnston said Catholics should reject the view that “marriage is whatever the government says it is.”

— The Associated Press

Jindal stands by claim

of ‘no-go’ zones

WASHINGTON — Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is standing by discredited claims that some European countries have allowed Muslims to establish autonomous neighborhoods where they govern by a harsh version of Islamic law and where police decline to patrol.

The Republican delivered his remarks Monday about “no-go zones” during a speech to a London think tank. Jindal, who is considering a presidential campaign in 2016, later defended the statements after facing questions about his facts.

The claims about “no-go zones” are similar to those author/Fox News guest commentator Steven Emerson made Jan. 11 about places where non-Muslims were not welcome in the United Kingdom.

— The Associated Press

Man can’t recall

Codex theft confession

MADRID — The former electrician for Spain’s famed cathedral in Santiago de Compostela has denied having ever seen the priceless 12th-century Codex Calixtinus that authorities found in his garage and has insisted he doesn’t remember confessing that he stole it.

The richly decorated Codex, which disappeared in 2011, is considered the first guide for Christians making the pilgrimage to venerate St. James.

Jose Manuel Fernandez Castineiras, who is in his 60s, made the declarations a day after his attorney argued that the confession should be thrown out. The attorney, Carmen Ventoso, also said judges should throw out the security video that appeared to show her client in a cathedral office stuffing money into his pockets.

— The Associated Press

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