ATHENS, Greece – The mayor of a tiny Aegean Sea island was charged with breach of duty after conducting Greece’s first same-sex marriage ceremonies Tuesday, in defiance of a prosecutor’s order calling such nuptials illegal. Tilos Mayor Tasos Aliferis held the civil ceremonies for two Greek gay and lesbian couples …

LAKELAND, Fla. – The Department of Justice says SWAT team officers didn’t use excessive force when they shot the suspected killer of a sheriff’s deputy 68 times during a manhunt near Lakeland in 2006. Angilo Freeland was the man believed to have fatally shot a Polk County deputy and his …

LOS ANGELES – Attorneys for convicted Hollywood private investigator Anthony Pellicano filed a motion for a new trial on Monday, claiming there were several instances of juror misconduct in his wiretapping trial. At least four jurors talked about the case without other jurors present and one juror knew about a …

LOS ANGELES – Cyd Charisse, the long-legged beauty who danced with the Ballet Russe as a teenager and starred in MGM musicals with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, died Tuesday. She was 86. Charisse was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Monday after suffering an apparent heart attack, said her …

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says that he expects a “different approach” from whoever wins the U.S. presidential election in November, Agence France-Presse reported Wednesday. “The United States will have a reduced sphere of influence in the world,” Ahmadinejad, in Rome for a U.N. food summit, told Italian newspaper La Repubblica. …

FREMONT, Ohio – A small plane crashed Sunday afternoon in a residential area and killed all six people aboard, including the pilot, a former state lawmaker who had offered joyrides to airport visitors after a charity breakfast. Gene Damschroder Sr., 86, was flying the fixed-wing, single-engine Cessna when it crashed …

RAFAH, Gaza Strip – Egyptian troops closed the last breach in Egypt’s border with the Gaza Strip on Sunday morning, ending 11 days of free movement for Palestinian residents of the blockaded territory, witnesses and Hamas security officials said. The troops were allowing Gazans and Egyptians to cross the border …

SAO PAULO, Brazil – A ferryboat carrying more than 100 passengers collided with a barge carrying fuel tanks and sank to the bottom of the Amazon River on Thursday, officials said. Twenty people were missing and feared dead. The Almirante Monteiro capsized at dawn near the isolated Brazilian town of …

ELKHORN, Wis. – Jurors began deliberations Tuesday in the trial of a man accused of using antifreeze to poison his wife, who left a note saying he should be a suspect in the event of her death. Mark Jensen, now 48, is charged with first-degree murder and faces a maximum …

Stop — press! A 21-year-old man was charged Wednesday with impersonating a police officer after allegedly trying to pull over a TV reporter who turned the tables on the suspect, the Idaho Statesman reported. The local Channel 12 employee became suspicious that what appeared to be an unmarked police vehicle …