CHICAGO (Reuters) – Mitt Romney’s Mormonism could hurt the Republican candidate with evangelical voters in his fight for party’s presidential nomination, but those voters would favor him over President Barack Obama in the general election, a poll released Wednesday concluded.

Some 15 percent of evangelical Christians, a key constituency in the Republican presidential nomination battle, say they are wary of Mormonism and will not vote for Mitt Romney, the poll found.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Tuesday sentenced Antoin “Tony” Rezko, a former Chicago fundraiser for President Barack Obama, to 10-1/2 years in prison for corruption and extortion.

Rezko’s conviction was among a slew of guilty pleas that led to the conviction in two trials of former Democratic Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and several of his aides.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – U.S. efforts to eradicate Afghanistan’s opium poppy crops, which cover an area about the size of New York City, have been “unsatisfactory,” Russia’s anti-drug czar said Thursday.

Russia is the world’s largest per capita consumer of heroin and is coping with an epidemic of HIV/AIDS spread by dirty needles.

By Andrew Stern

(Reuters) – The U.S. Roman Catholic Church will establish a body in January to house disaffected members of the Episcopal Church, beginning with a few dozen ministers and at least two congregations seeking communion, U.S. bishops were told on Tuesday.

Some 35 of 67 Anglican ministers who have applied to join the Catholic Church have received the “nulla osta” from the Holy See, allowing them to move forward to become priests, said Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, D.C.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Members of the anti-abortion “personhood” movement, dealt a sound defeat by voters in conservative Mississippi last week, are vowing to push on with their state-by-state campaign to have life declared as beginning at conception.

Warriors on both sides of the decades-long U.S. battle over abortion say personhood may have little chance of success even as the group’s members gather petition signatures from Ohio to Oregon to try to get voter referendums on to 2012 ballots.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Regular attendance at religious services is associated with a more optimistic outlook and a lesser inclination to be depressed, compared to those who do not attend services at all, a study concluded on Thursday.

The study’s findings supports previous research that religious participation can promote psychological and physical health — and reduce mortality risks — possibly by calming people in stressful times, creating meaningful social interactions and helping curtail bad habits.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Regular attendance at religious services is associated with a more optimistic outlook and a lesser inclination to be depressed, compared to those who do not attend services at all, a study concluded on Thursday.

The study’s findings supports previous research that religious participation can promote psychological and physical health — and reduce mortality risks — possibly by calming people in stressful times, creating meaningful social interactions and helping curtail bad habits.