NEW YORK – Brad Pitt, ever the social activist, says he won’t be marrying Angelina Jolie until the restrictions on who can marry whom are dropped. “Angie and I will consider tying the knot when everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able,” the 42-year-old …

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA hopes to figure out what caused the latest problem keeping Atlantis earthbound: an electrical short in a 30-year-old motor. If the agency determines by Thursday night that the cause of the short is not serious, NASA can try to launch the shuttle Friday morning. On …

HARTFORD, Conn. – Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, a vocal defender of Sen. Joe Lieberman earlier this year, is urging Connecticut voters to rally behind his rival, Ned Lamont. The Illinois senator and potential 2008 presidential candidate sent an e-mail message Thursday praising Lamont. “Ned Lamont has waged an impressive grass-roots …

Good for Madonna. The 48 year old rock star and her husband have saved a baby from life in an orphanage and a future of poverty. They have left behind a generous endowment for the orphanage and a trail of controversy. A coalition of childrens rights and human rights organizations …

MADISON, Wis. – The FBI said Tuesday it will review evidence in the drowning deaths of eight young men in La Crosse-area rivers over the past nine years. All eight disappeared from taverns in the southwestern Wisconsin college town, and police have said for years that they believed all eight …

LONDON – The band Babyshambles has postponed the remainder of its British tour to give frontman Pete Doherty more time to undergo drug rehabilitation treatment, his record company said Saturday. Babyshambles postponed its five remaining dates to allow Doherty’s “excellent” efforts at overcoming his addiction to continue, EMI said. Last …

MOSCOW – The Russian foreign minister on Thursday signaled the country’s opposition to a draft U.N. Security Council resolution proposed by European nations that would impose sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear program. Sergey Lavrov said the resolution, which imposes limited sanctions on Iran because of its refusal to …

CHICAGO – A judge in a case closely watched by those who oppose circumcision sided Tuesday with a divorced man who did not want his 9-year-old son to undergo the procedure. Circuit Judge Jordan Kaplan said that circumcision is “an extraordinary medical procedure” for a 9-year-old and that the boy …

LAS VEGAS – Clenching his wife’s hand, a Republican congressman running for governor on Thursday repeated denials that he had assaulted and propositioned a woman after a night out with campaign donors. “I did nothing wrong last Friday. I did not act inappropriately with anyone,” U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons said, …

WASHINGTON – Oil prices rose Monday on assumptions that OPEC is plotting its first output cut in nearly two years. Forecasts calling for colder weather in the Midwest also helped to push energy futures higher, analysts said. Following a late-summer freefall of almost 25 percent, oil prices have bounced around …