Gay marriage spawns big spike in online videos
President Barack Obama's May 9 announcement that he favors same sex marriage led to a huge spike on YouTube, according to data assembled by the popular video sharing site.

AP source: Romneys donate $150k to campaign effort
Mitt and Ann Romney are opening their personal checkbooks as wide as allowed to their presidential campaign's joint fund with the Republican National Committee.

Romney, GOP guvs have differing takes on economy

In Virginia, Gov. Bob McDonnell runs TV ads hailing the state's business growth. Ohio Gov. John Kasich tells anyone who will listen that 100,000 jobs have been created or retained on his watch. And Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder promotes a state budget that's on solid ground for the first time in a decade.

Chinese activist Chen on way to airport, bound for U.S. : advocacy group
BEIJING (Reuters) - China has allowed blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng to leave a hospital in Beijing for the United States, a U.S.-based Christian advocacy group said on Saturday. Chen Guangcheng told Bob Fu, the president of Texas-based ChinaAid, that he and his family were heading to the Beijing airport now, according to an emailed statement from the group. Chen and his family "were informed to pack up and get ready to leave China" for the United States on Saturday, the statement said. Chen could not immediately be reached for comment. ...

AP NewsAlert

Blind Chinese activist leaves hospital, says he expects to leave for the U.S. later Saturday.

Blind activist says China's "manipulation" of nephew's case will fail
BEIJING (Reuters) - Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng said on Saturday the authorities' drive to manipulate his nephew's case would not succeed, but instead would increase public discontent over an episode that has renewed international focus on China's human rights and legal system. Chen Guangcheng's nephew, Chen Kegui, was denied his family's choice of lawyers on Friday to defend a charge of "intentional homicide", the latest in a series of moves to deny him legal representation, and underscores the hardline stance taken against Chen Guangcheng's family. ...

Obama opens up Camp David for rustic VIP sleepover
CAMP DAVID, Maryland (Reuters) - Eight of the world's most powerful people spent Friday night in the woods. In a sort of VIP sleepover, G8 leaders bedded down in rustic cabins in rural Maryland, where the U.S. presidential retreat known as Camp David is hosting by far the largest international summit in its 70-year history. President Barack Obama welcomed his peers from Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and Canada to the verdant compound on Friday evening, describing the weather as "perfect" with clear skies visible through tall oak and poplar trees. ...

CFTC opens probe into JPMorgan trading loss - source

(Reuters) - The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has opened an investigation into possible wrongdoing at JPMorgan Chase & Co in connection with the bank's multi-billion-dollar trading loss, a source familiar with the probe told Reuters. The agency will soon disclose the existence of the investigation, the source said on Friday. Earlier on Friday, the New York Times reported that the CFTC had opened an enforcement case, quoting people briefed on the matter. The CFTC would join the FBI and the U.S. ...

Alabama governor signs bill tweaking immigration law
MOBILE, Alabama (Reuters) - Alabama's governor signed into law revisions to the state's controversial immigration statute on Friday, despite his earlier suggestions he might veto the measure because it did not make enough changes to the toughest state crackdown against illegal immigrants. Republican Governor Robert Bentley had publicly urged lawmakers to modify sections of the law that took effect last year and which sparked lawsuits by the Obama administration and immigrant rights groups that argued it is unconstitutional. ...

CFTC opens probe into JPMorgan trading loss: source
(Reuters) - The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has opened an investigation into possible wrongdoing at JPMorgan Chase & Co in connection with the bank's multi-billion-dollar trading loss, a source familiar with the probe told Reuters. The agency will soon disclose the existence of the investigation, the source said on Friday. Earlier on Friday, the New York Times reported that the CFTC had opened an enforcement case, quoting people briefed on the matter. The CFTC would join the FBI and the U.S. ...

Iran, Syria among top for G-8 and NATO

President Barack Obama and leaders of other major industrial powers grappled Friday with options to solidify world resolve against development of an Iranian nuclear bomb and encourage a more forceful response to worsening violence in Syria.

German IG Metall, employers confirm 4.3 percent wage deal
SINDLEFINGEN, Germany (Reuters) - A key regional branch of Germany's IG Metall union reached a deal with employers for a 4.3 percent wage increase over 12 months to April 30, 2013 after an all-night negotiating session ended early on Saturday, officials said at a news conference. The deal reached just before dawn will set the benchmark for 3.6 million engineering workers nationwide, Europe's largest industrial union. Officials from the two sides confirmed the breakthrough agreement at a news conference after Reuters had earlier quoted sources leaking the broad outlines of the deal. ...

Police nab airline pilot with loaded gun in luggage
BUFFALO, New York (Reuters) - An airline pilot was arrested Friday morning at Buffalo Niagara International Airport after security screeners discovered a loaded revolver in his baggage. Brett Dieter, 52, of Barbersville, Virginia, arrived at the upstate New York airport Friday to pilot a flight to New York City's LaGuardia International Airport for Piedmont Airlines, a passenger airline that subcontracts under U.S. Airways. While at a security checkpoint, a scan of Dieter's bag revealed a .357 magnum revolver loaded with five rounds. ...

Boehner: All options on table in gun-running probe
House Speaker John Boehner says "all options are on the table" in the ongoing congressional investigation into the "Fast and Furious" operation and whether the House would move to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt should he refuse to fully comply.

Sri Lanka to probe civil war abuses on its own
Sri Lanka says it will conduct its own investigation into rights abuses during the final months of the island nation's civil war when thousands of civilians reportedly died, dismissing the need for an international tribunal.

The Camp David Showdown
The president brings together world leaders to discuss the European economic crisis. Our “World News” report: -Jake Tapper

Arizona elections chief seeks proof of Obama's citizenship
(Reuters) - Arizona's secretary of state said Friday he had asked officials in Hawaii to verify that Barack Obama was born in their state in order for the president's name to appear on the November ballot in Arizona. Ken Bennett, who is Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's campaign co-chairman in Arizona, said he made the request on behalf of a constituent. Earlier this year, hardline Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio announced that an investigation by his office had found that Obama's birth certificate was a forgery. ...

Soldier to stand trial for 2009 Iraq shooting
SEATTLE (Reuters) - A U.S. soldier accused of killing five fellow servicemen at a military combat stress center in Baghdad in 2009 has been ordered to stand trial in a U.S. military court, officials said on Friday. Sergeant John Russell, who could face the death penalty if convicted, is accused of going on a shooting spree at Camp Liberty, near the Baghdad airport, in an assault the military said at the time could have been triggered by combat stress. ...

California woman burned by flaming beach stones
SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - A California mother suffered severe burns from a handful of beach rocks that burst into flames in her pocket, and authorities on Friday said they are trying to determine why the stones appear to have been coated with flammable phosphorus. The woman was identified on Friday as Lyn Hiner, 43, when she appeared on ABC program "Good Morning America" from her hospital bed at a burn center. She is from San Clemente, which is midway between Los Angeles and San Diego. It is also near Camp Pendleton, the biggest U.S. ...

Obama holds 2-to-1 cash advantage over Romney
President Barack Obama holds a cash advantage of more than 2-to-1 over Republican challenger Mitt Romney but the president's money advantage is beginning to dwindle.

Texas town settles council election with coin flip
(Reuters) - In the small Texas town of Wolfforth, it's "Heads I win." A city council election there came down to a coin toss on Friday. After church administrator Bruce MacNair and banker Bryan Studer wrapped up last Saturday's election with 118 votes each, the men agreed to settle the town's first electoral tie with the flip of a coin. A special election to decide a winner would have cost "north of $10,000," said Darrell Newsom, city manager of Wolfforth, population 3,600, which is southwest of Lubbock in the Texas Panhandle. "That's a lot of money for a small town like this," Newsom said. ...

French find new first lady "distant" - poll

PARIS (Reuters) - The French find their new first lady, Valerie Trierweiler, to be down-to-earth compared to her former supermodel predecessor, but distant, a poll released on Friday said. The Paris Match reporter took on her new role on Tuesday when her partner Francois Hollande became president, replacing Nicolas Sarkozy. While Sarkozy had earned the nickname of "president bling bling" for a brash style and connections with the rich-and-famous, Hollande has styled himself "Mr. Normal". ...

Venezuela says third diesel shipment sent to Syria
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela has sent a third shipment of diesel to Syria, the energy minister said on Friday, underscoring President Hugo Chavez's support of the Middle East country despite its intensified crackdown on protesters. Earlier this year, Venezuela's government said it had sent at least two shipments of fuel to Syria, potentially undermining Western sanctions as a rare supplier to the increasingly isolated regime of President Bashar al-Assad. ...

AP source: Romneys donate $150k to campaign effort
Mitt and Ann Romney are opening their personal checkbooks as wide as allowed to their presidential campaign's joint fund with the Republican National Committee.

Oregon bans American Indian team names, mascots for schools
PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) - The Oregon state board of education has banned public schools from using American Indian names and mascots for their athletic teams, out of a concern they disparage native American people. The move is believed to be one of the nation's most sweeping prohibitions of its kind in favor of native Americans who say their culture is stereotyped by a number of sports teams. It follows years of controversy surrounding a range of teams, from the Cleveland Indians in Major League Baseball to the Washington Redskins of the National Football League. ...

U.S. says will bar some Motorola Mobility phones

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some Motorola Mobility smartphones infringe on a Microsoft patent and will be barred from importation to the United States, a U.S. trade panel said on Friday. The order by the U.S. International Trade Commission has been sent to President Barack Obama, who has 60 days to consider whether to overturn it for policy reasons. The legal fight at the ITC is one of dozens globally between various smartphone makers. Google's Android system has become the top-selling smartphone operating system, ahead of mobile systems by Apple, Microsoft, Research in Motion and others. ...

House Republicans top Democrats in April fundraising
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican Party's fundraising arm working to elect its candidates to the U.S. House of Representatives raised $6.9 million in April, slightly more for the month than its Democratic counterpart. The National Republican Congressional Committee figures released on Friday showed that the NRCC ended last month with $31.3 million left in the bank, adding about $4.2 million to the cash on hand in March. Republicans currently have a majority in the House. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised $6. ...

Extension on pool standards for disabled
The Justice Department says it is extending to next Jan. 31 a deadline for making existing swimming pools accessible to the disabled.

172 Days to Go, Sleepover for World Leaders, 2 Candidates Named Roy, Biden Doesn't Blame WV (PM Note)
Story of the Day – Candidates With Same Name Run for Same Office -  http://abcn.ws/L5y7Mz Obama Campaign Launches Bid to Save USPS – $1.5 Million spent on postage, per FEC reports just released. (Hartfield) Elevator Endorsement – Romney Calls Bush to say ‘Thanks’ – http://abcn.ws/LkYhkc...