FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, May 28, 2003

BABY MACCA! Paul McCartney and model-activist wife, Heather Mills, expecting their first child together, the couple's rep confirmed on Wednesday. The former Beatle already has three adult children and a stepdaughter.

IT'S OFFICIAL: Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton officially granted a divorce on Tuesday, according to court documents obtained by the Smoking Gun Website.

MOVIN' OUT: Billy Joel set to perform "New York State of Mind" live from Times Square on CBS June 8 to kick off the 57th Annual Tony Awards.

ONE RING TO RULE THE STAGE: English Patient producer Saul Zaentz mounting a $13 million mega-musical of The Lord of the Rings for London's West End. It is due to open in 2005.

SURVIVING POLITICS: TV Guide reporting that CBS execs have nixed plans by Survivor: The Amazon winner Jenna Moraska to star in a new anti-fur ad for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The network cited "contractual obligations." No other reason was given.

ON THE MEND: Doctors successfully performing surgery Wednesday on Liza Minnelli's kneecap, which she fractured in a fall in a Rome hotel on Sunday.

COVER GUY: The New York Daily News reporting that Ben Affleck has sealed a $2 million deal with L'Oreal to pitch hair care products.

PILGRIMAGE: Whitney Houston and hubby Bobby Brown meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Tuesday during a visit to the Holy Land hosted by the Black Hebrews. The celebrity couple will stay for a week and see the sites.

THE BARD'S BEST MAN: British thespian Kenneth Branagh secretly swapping vows with girlfriend Lindsay Brunnock in a private ceremony over the weekend, his publicist confirmed on Wednesday.

FOR LENNY: Robin Williams, Penn and Teller and the Smothers Brothers among the artists supporting a campaign to win a pardon for legendary foul-mouthed comic Lenny Bruce, who was convicted of obscenity charges in 1964 in New York.

AMNESIAC: The New York City-area Field Day festival, set for June 7 and 8 and featuring headliners Radiohead and the Beastie Boys, may be canceled after a bureaucratic snafu. The nearby town of Riverhead, Long Island, failed to file necessary paper work to beef up security for the event.

LAST CHANCE TO STOP THE MEDIA BORG: Supporters of media ownership restrictions making their final pleas to FCC chairman Michael Powell not to eliminate the caps on a single company owning many newspapers, TV and radio stations in the same city. Such consolidation, they say, could harm diversity.

THE NEXT INDY? Nicolas Cage signing on to star in director Jon Turteltaub's National Treasure, playing an archaelogist-historian who believes a treasure map is hidden on the back of the Declaration of Independence. Jerry Bruckheimer is producing.

SAVE YOUR SOUL: Fans who buy Jewel's upcoming album 0304 during its first week of release will get a unique PIN code that they can use to download solo live MP3 tunes from her Website. The promotion runs through June 9.

AARON DOES GERSHWIN: New Orleans-based crooner Aaron Neville set to release Nature Boy, an album of his interpretations of American standards by Cole Porter and George Gershwin among other great songwriters, on August 26.

DEJA VU: Musician Bob Geldof, who organized the 1985 Live Aid concerts to raise funds to combat famine in Ethiopia, slamming the European Union for failing to prevent another famine in the country.

ART IMITATING LIFE: A group of students in California's Point Loma High School creating Sticky Fingers: A Tale of Saks, Lies and Videotape, a satirical musical based on last year's shoplifting trial of actress Winona Ryder.

BACK ON THE UPSWING: THE 2002-03 Broadway season setting a record with $705 million in ticket sales, up 9.8 percent from the previous year, which took a financial hit because of 9-11. However, the average ticket price saw its biggest increase in 20 years to $63.80.

WARNING SHOTS? An unknown assailant firing seven bullets into the front door, windows and wall of Suge Knight's Tha Row offices in West Los Angeles early Tuesday morning. No one was injured and there were no witnesses.

JACKASS FREED: Steve-O (Stephen Glover) of MTV's Jackass fame released from a Swedish jail after copping a plea to drug-posession charges and paying a $5,800 fine today. He was arrested last Thursday on more serious drug-smuggling charges.

A REAL TROUPER: Just days after breaking her kneecap, Liza Minnelli performing a song live Tuesday from her hospital room for pal Luciano Pavarotti's annual benefit concert. Minnelli initially planned to attend the show, but her doctors wouldn't allow it.