Wives

Newly released documents in the divorce proceedings of Broadcom Corp. co-founder Henry T. Nicholas III reveal harsh battles with his former wife, Stacey, over how to divide the couple's $1 billion in community property, his alleged drug use and her relationship with the family's former security chief. The documents show that Stacey Nicholas' recent efforts to force a trial to divide the estate have been complicated by the pending criminal prosecution of Henry Nicholas. Federal indictments have accused Nicholas of distributing illegal drugs to friends and business associates, and of manipulating Broadcom stock options to secretly provide $2.2 billion in benefits to employees of the Irvine microchip company.

In a hearing Wednesday, the daughter of "Columbo" star Peter Falk described lifelong tensions between the 81-year-old actor's children and his wife of more than 30 years. Now Catherine Falk and her stepmother are locked in a court battle for control of the ailing star, who has dementia.

Hundreds of young women in head scarves scream, stomp their feet and wave green flags and banners inside the Bahman Cultural Center, often a venue for pop bands performing in Tehran. But it's not a rock star they await -- it's an aging politician and his wife, who has electrified female voters with her impressive resume and seemingly modern relationship with her husband.

Teresa Malof knew she wasn't in Kentucky anymore when a cleric issued a fatwa against her secret Santa gift exchange. Malof proposed the idea at the King Fahad National Guard Hospital, where she has worked for more than a decade.

A court employee married to the main judge in the Madrid bombings trial was fired Wednesday for writing a book that divulged confidential information about the case. The General Council of the Judiciary dismissed Elisa Beni from her job as spokeswoman for a Madrid regional court. The panel lost confidence in Beni because she used information obtained from her husband, said a council official.

It was the way she stood there, enduring. Silda Wall Spitzer did not say a word as her husband, Gov. Eliot Spitzer, brusquely apologized to his family and the public after he was allegedly caught on a wiretap doing business with a high-priced prostitution ring. Her face was drawn. But she took her husband's hand as they left the room. This scandal has many salacious details, but it was the image of Silda Wall Spitzer at her man's side that dominated conversations across the country Tuesday.

An icy wind whips by as Cindy McCain tramps across hillsides still slick from snow on the Albanian border, wearing well-worn hiking boots and carrying her Prada purse. She's looking out at minefields and visiting schools where children must thread their way around leftover munitions. One headmaster told her he had uncovered a cluster bomb when he went out to plant a tree.

Although husband John's popularity is often ascribed to his loquaciousness around journalists -- what reporter doesn't love a presidential candidate who gabs? -- Cindy McCain, 53, is far more reserved. The June issue of Vogue magazine features a story and photo layout on the would-be first lady, but the glossy monthly didn't get her to cough up much that's new. Still, there are a few tidbits: McCain owns not one but two condos in a Coronado building on San Diego Bay.

People are often surprised by Michelle Obama's skill as a public speaker. But by the time she began campaigning for her husband's presidential bid nearly two years ago, she was already a veteran of his political campaigns. "I think to the extent that people think that I'm good, it's from the fact that I really do try to speak from my heart," she said earlier this year on her campaign bus in South Carolina. "I know that sounds corny.

The woman who claims to be James Brown's fourth wife wants half of the singer's estate and to be allowed back into the South Carolina home she was locked out of soon after his death. Tomi Rae Hynie's lawyer said she filed a petition in Aiken County probate court Thursday, claiming that she is the surviving spouse of the singer and entitled to part of his estate.