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News from the Associated Press

AP Top News at 3:03 p.m. EDT

Dozens of children killed in new Syria attack

BEIRUT (AP) - Gruesome video Saturday showed rows of dead Syrian children lying in a mosque in bloody shorts and T-shirts with gaping head wounds, haunting images of what activists called one of the deadliest regime attacks yet in Syria's 14-month-old uprising. The assault on Houla, a group of villages northwest of the central city of Homs, killed more than 90 people, including at least 32 children under the age of 10, the head of the U.N. observer team in Syria said.

Egypt's 3rd runner-up calls for vote recount

CAIRO (AP) - The third runner-up in Egypt's presidential race called Saturday for a partial vote recount, citing violations, his spokesman said. Early results show that Hamdeen Sabahi came in third by a margin of some 700,000 votes, leaving him out of next month's run-off between the two leading candidates.

Vatican confirms pope's butler arrested in scandal

VATICAN CITY (AP) - The Vatican confirmed on Saturday that the pope's butler has been arrested in its embarrassing leaks scandal, adding a Hollywood twist to a sordid tale of power struggles, intrigue and corruption in the highest levels of Catholic Church governance. Paolo Gabriele, a layman and member of the papal household, was arrested Wednesday after secret documents were found in his Vatican City apartment and was continuing to be held Saturday, Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said in a statement.

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Flowers, dolls adorn site of NYC boy's '79 death

NEW YORK (AP) - Well-wishers are leaving flowers, candles and dolls outside the New York City building where police say 6-year-old Etan Patz (AY'-tahn payts) was strangled in 1979. The little boy's disappearance from his Manhattan neighborhood was a mystery for 33 years, until a surprise confession this week by a New Jersey man who claimed to have lured the boy into the basement of a convenience store as he waited for his school bus.

Warning signs for Obama on path to electoral votes

President Barack Obama faces new warning signs in a once-promising Southern state and typically Democratic-voting Midwestern states roughly five months before the election even as he benefits nationally from encouraging economic news. Obama's new worries about North Carolina and Wisconsin offer opportunities for Republican Mitt Romney, who must peel off states Obama won in 2008 if he's to cobble together the 270 electoral votes needed to oust the incumbent in November.

Embittered Facebook investors ponder next move

To say that Facebook's debut as a public company was bungled is something like saying Facebook is a website you might have heard of. Either way, a colossal understatement.

Astronauts enter world's 1st private supply ship

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - Space station astronauts floated into the Dragon on Saturday, a day after its heralded arrival as the world's first commercial supply ship. NASA astronaut Donald Pettit, the first one inside the docked capsule, said the Dragon looks like it carries about as much cargo as his pickup truck back home in Houston. It has the smell of a brand new car, he added.

Cheaper gas spurs more travelers this Memorial Day

NEW YORK (AP) - More Americans will hit the road this holiday weekend than a year ago. And they'll have a bit more money to spend thanks to lower gas prices. Memorial Day kicks off the summer travel season, and since pump prices never reached $4 or $5 a gallon, as feared, economists says travelers are likely to dine out or shop more once they pull off the road.

Parents' dilemma: Let children play football?

Already uneasy about the idea of letting her 7-year-old son Jason start playing tackle football, Elizabeth Giancarli made up her mind when former NFL star Junior Seau committed suicide. While many of her son's friends are moving on to tackle, he'll be playing another year of flag football.

Eurovision set for battle of the oldies

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) - Usually a jamboree of youthful exuberance - and questionable taste - this year's Eurovision Song Contest features a pair of elderly acts among its top contenders. Engelbert Humperdinck, 76, takes the stage Saturday night for the United Kingdom, 45 years after he first got international attention crooning the hit "Release Me." He'll be wearing a necklace given to him by Elvis Presley.