Panetta: Cuts to defense spending would be 'disastrous'

Paolo Gabriele: from papal butler to accused traitor

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Paolo Gabriele was always a reserved, almost shy man, as his position required. He had access to the most private rooms in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace - Pope Benedict's apartment.

Subtropical Storm Beryl swirls toward southeast coast

MIAMI (Reuters) - Subtropical Storm Beryl moved slowly toward the U.S. southeastern coast on Saturday, threatening heavy rains and dangerous surf for Memorial Day weekend beachgoers in northern Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

Democrats, losing ground in Wisconsin, play down recall election

WASHINGTON — Recent polls have pointed toward a victory for Republican Gov. Scott Walker in Wisconsin’s June 5 recall election. But here’s the clearest evidence to date that national Democratic party officials believe their side is losing: Democratic officials are playing down...

Finnish rooftop gunman seems not to be extremist

HELSINKI (Reuters) - A gunman opened fire from a rooftop in a Finnish town centre in the early hours of Saturday, killing two people and wounding several others, police said.

Two adults, two kids found dead in Missouri home

Police are investigating after the bodies of two adults and two children were discovered in a northwest Blue Springs home on Friday afternoon.

Germany sets new solar power record, institute says

BERLIN (Reuters) - German solar power plants produced a world record 22 gigawatts of electricity per hour - equal to 20 nuclear power stations at full capacity - through the midday hours on Friday and Saturday, the head of a renewable energy think tank said.

Judge rips Peterson prosecutors

The judge hearing the Drew Peterson case raked prosecutors over the coals Friday for filing a "hyperbole"-filled motion that he said unnecessarily "exposed the court to suspicion."

Colorado college student shot while allegedly trespassing

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'Million Miler' sues United over perk reduction

A Chicago frequent flier is suing United Airlines for taking away some of his lifetime perks as a so-called Million Miler, someone who has flown 1 million miles with the airline.

Police find mother of abandoned Oregon children

PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) - Authorities in Oregon said on Friday they had located the mother of three small children found abandoned in a shed in Portland.

New Jersey man charged in Etan Patz death after 33 years

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A man who police say confessed to strangling Etan Patz was charged with second-degree murder on Friday, 33 years after the 6-year-old boy vanished from his New York neighborhood and soon changed the way the nation responds to missing children.

No German money for Greek 'bottomless pit': minister

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany will not "pour money into a bottomless pit" and patience with Greece is growing thin ahead of a new election in the Mediterranean country, a conservative member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet was quoted on Saturday as saying.

Dragon docks at space station and makes history

SpaceX, the upstart California rocket maker, launched a new era in spaceflight Friday when its Dragon capsule was docked at the International Space Station, concluding a cargo delivery trip previously made only by NASA space shuttles and other governments' spacecraft.

Bud dumps heavy rain on Mexico's Pacific coast

MANZANILLO, Mexico (Reuters) - The remnants of the first hurricane of the 2012 season, Bud, dumped heavy rain along Mexico's coast early on Saturday but caused little damage before it turned back into the Pacific.

Vatican butler arrested in documents leak

ROME — As it turns out, the butler did it. At least that's who the papal police force believes is responsible for the recent leaks of personal papal correspondence that has shed unwanted light on power struggles and alleged corruption within the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church.

American Airlines passenger detained after flight disruption

Crews battle wildfires raging in six US states

SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) - Crews battled to contain a massive New Mexico wildfire on Friday that torched a dozen homes, the largest of several blazes that have consumed more than 200 square miles (520 square km) of rugged land in half-a-dozen U.S. states in recent days.

John Edwards' trial jury ends week with no verdict

GREENSBORO, North Carolina (Reuters) - The sixth day of jury deliberations in former U.S. Senator John Edwards' federal campaign finance trial ended without a verdict on Friday after the judge held a closed-court session about an undisclosed juror matter.

Obama: Romney's 'prairie fire of debt' a 'cow pie of distortion'

WASHINGTON -- In a return to the state that launched his 2008 presidential campaign, President Obama found his folksy voice Thursday night as he warned Iowans that rival Mitt Romney had fed them a “cow pie of distortion.”

Car bomb in central Turkey kills 3, wounds 18

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Two militants set off a bomb inside their car by a police headquarters in the central Turkish province of Kayseri on Friday, killing themselves and one policeman and wounding 18 others, Turkey's interior minister said.