Marriages

They say money can't buy happiness. But financial strain can certainly help undo a relationship. Seventy percent of Americans said they had so much debt it contributed to distress in their home lives. Money is the No. 1 source of disagreement in the early years of marriage. In a survey of 1,001 people, more than half considered money a sensitive topic in their households; 40% admitted they lied to their spouses about how much they spent on something. The odds of violent behavior are nearly six times higher for people who lose jobs.

David Letterman says he and longtime girlfriend Regina Lasko are newlyweds. During a taping Monday of CBS' "Late Show," Letterman said he and Lasko married Thursday at the Teton County Courthouse in Choteau, Mont. The couple has a son, Harry, born in November 2003. "Regina and I began dating in February of 1986, and I said, 'Well, things are going pretty good, let's just see what happens in about 10 years,' " Letterman, who turns 62 next month, said at the taping.

The city council in the nation's capital voted 12-1 to recognize same-sex marriages from states that approve them. The District of Columbia Council's vote is considered the first step toward allowing gay marriages to be performed in Washington. Congress has final say over the city's laws and has 30 days to review the bill, assuming Mayor Adrian M. Fenty signs it. If Congress takes no action, the bill would become law.

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When she was practicing law, Kartini Maarof once went beyond the call of duty for her divorce client. She arranged for Rohaya Mohamad, a mother of seven, to be married again -- to Kartini's own husband. The spouse they have shared for a decade is 43-year-old Ikramullah Ashaari, who has four wives and 17 children. His 72-year-old father has 38 offspring from five marriages, without ever having flouted Islam's prescribed limit of four wives at a time. Polygamy is legal for Muslims in Malaysia, though not widespread.

A bill that would allow same-sex couples to marry in the nation's capital was introduced by one of the two openly gay members of the City Council. It was nearly certain to pass, but whether it becomes law is more complicated because Congress can review D.C. legislation. Councilman David Catania introduced the measure at a standing-room-only council meeting. The bill was co-introduced by 10 of the council's 13 members and has the support of the mayor. Catania, an independent, said he hoped for a vote in December.

Gay and lesbian activists walked out of Mass in Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross to protest the Roman Catholic Church's opposition to same-sex marriages. The activists said in a statement that the church has "no moral authority" to advise on such matters in the wake of its sex abuse scandal. Msgr. William H. Roche had asked parishioners to read the marriage statement in the archdiocesan newspaper and explained why the church opposes same-sex marriage, prompting about a dozen people to leave.

Eddie Murphy celebrated New Year's Day by tying the knot with film producer Tracey Edmonds. The pair exchanged vows Tuesday on a private island off Bora Bora in French Polynesia in front of family and friends, their representatives told People magazine. A call to Murphy's publicist, Arnold Robinson, wasn't immediately returned.

He married her; he married her not. He married her; he married her not. He married her? France's rumor de jour is that First Bachelor Nicolas Sarkozy has done just what he said he'd do if he decided to marry his fetching former-supermodel girlfriend, Carla Bruni: He'd keep it a secret. "There are strong chances you will learn of it once it's done," Sarkozy told 600 reporters at a news conference a week ago after acknowledging that he'd gotten "serious" with his girlfriend of two months.

The divorce rate in the armed forces held steady last year at 3.3% despite the stress that marriages are under during persistent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some veterans questioned whether the figure, reported by the Pentagon, presents an accurate picture. But Defense officials credited efforts in recent years to support couples enduring uncommonly long separations and other hardships because of those wars. The divorce rate represented more than 25,000 failed marriages among the nearly 755,000 married active duty troops in all military branches between Oct. 1, 2006, and Oct. 1, 2007.