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Pope Benedict XVI's butler Paolo Gabriele was convicted this morning of stealing the pope's private papers and leaking them to journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, who published them in a best-selling book. It took the three judges presiding over the case in Vatican City about two hours of deliberations to reach the guilty verdict today, the fourth day of hearings. Gabriele was sentenced to 18 months in an Italian prison, which was less than the expected sentence of four years. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told reporters after the reading that the tribunal had fully accepted the "extenuating circumstances" and had reduced...

It may be chilly outside but naked butlers are hot stuff in Sydney with bookings being made as much as six months in advance. There is no party that the buff men in aprons (albeit brief) and bow ties won’t do, including handbag, shoe, gay, 70th and even divorce parties. “It’s cheeky and risque but not dirty,” said Leah Hudson who decided to bring the UK franchise, Butlers in the Buff, to Australia with her partner Peter Suttle, who worked for the service in Britain. See more cheeky pics of the buff men The Coogee couple, who already have 20...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

Hi, I'm sure you are all unaware of the hype! Currently going on around the World via the 'Internet' regarding Comet strikes, Asteroid strikes and 'The end of the World' Armageddon debates. I'm not a professional astronomer, astrologer or a conspiracy theorist, but I can't believe the UK or the WORLD'S mainstream media hasn't picked up on the highly increased number of meteor impacts and sightings over the last few weeks. Why could this be? In the astronomical aspect of things this is huge news. Here are some of the main news headlines over the last few weeks from around...