It took three rounds of balloting, but more than two thirds of the Evangelical leaders meeting at a ranch outside Houston, Texas finally decided to endorse former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins announced the vote on a conference call with reporters.

 

"After a vigorous and passionate discussion, there emerged a strong consensus around Rick Santorum as the preferred candidate of this group."

 

Perkins says there was also enthusiastic support for Texas Governor Rick Perry and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, but not, he conceded, for former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. After finishing a close second to Romney in Iowa, Santorum faded in New Hampshire. In South Carolina, polls show him trailing Romney and Gingrich by more than ten points. Joel Rose, NPR News.

 

A bomb exploded near the southern Iraqi city of Basra today. Officials say 53 people were killed and at least 130 people were wounded. This is the latest of several attacks against Shiite pilgrims visiting shrines in Iraq. Today is the last day of forty days of Shiite observances, marking the anniversary of the death of a Shiite imam. Sunni insurgents are suspected. Many Sunni Muslims fear being marginalized in the mainly Shiite country, especially now that US troops are withdrawn from Iraq.

 

State television in Iran reported today that Iran has evidence that the CIA was behind the latest murder of one of its nuclear scientists. A bomb was attached to the scientist's car Wednesday, killing him and his driver. The US has denied any role and condemned the slaying.

 

Dozens of people are still missing after an Italian luxury liner ran aground off a Tuscan island last night. Officials say at least three people are confirmed dead. More than 4,000 people were rescued and taken to a nearby town on the mainland. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports some passengers described a chaotic scene.

 

Some passengers told Italian media that it was like the Titanic. Panic broke out at dinner time, they said, when they heard a loud bang, the boat shivered and power went out. The 290-meter-long Costa Concordia is believed to have hit a reef off the island of Giglio and immediately started taking in water. Passengers and crew were evacuated by lifeboats to the island of Giglio a few hundred yards away. People were also rescued by helicopters. But some passengers, apparently in panic, jumped off the boat into the cold waters. By dawn, photos of the ship showed it listing at more than 80 degrees. It had set sail yesterday evening from the port of Civitavecchia for a Mediterranean cruise. Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, Florence.

 

This is NPR News from Washington.

 

The president of Taiwan won reelection today, barely. Officials say Ma Ying-jeou collected 51% of the vote, while the main opposition leader had 46.3%. Ma had campaigned on his efforts to tie Taiwan's economy closer to China. He's also lowered tensions with Beijing.

 

Egyptian presidential contender Mohammed ElBaradei is withdrawing from the race. Baradei is a Nobel laureate who once headed the UN nuclear watchdog agency. Lourdes Garcia-Navarro reports he's released a statement saying there is still no real democracy in Egypt.

 

In the statement, ElBaradei writes, "My conscience does not allow me to run for the presidency or any other official position unless there is real democracy." He compares the revolution to a boat, saying that the captains of the vessel are still treading old waters as if the revolution did not take place. "We all feel that the former regime did not fall." he wrote. The statement comes after Egypt's parliamentary elections which the Carter Center called largely free and fair. Liberal groups which ElBaradei has championed fared particularly badly in the recent vote. But there is a growing concern here that the military junta which controls Egypt is unwilling to hand over power to a civilian body. It has also been accused of repressive tactics including the use of torture and killings against activists, something which ElBaradei condemned in his statement. Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, NPR News, Cairo.

 

A bank in Ohio that took over another bank has found dozens of checks that had been written by famous Americans, including George Washington, Mark Twain and Thomas Edison. A plane dealer in Cleveland reports a check written by Abraham Lincoln was made out to "self" for 800 dollars, and it was dated the day before Lincoln's assassination.