■ Canada
PM urges gay support
Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien on Tuesday urged his Liberal Party to support a bill to legalize gay marriage, a proposal that has sparked a rebellion within the governing party. "Believe me, for someone of my generation, born and brought up in Catholic, rural Quebec of my youth, this is a very, very difficult issue. But I've learned over 40 years in public life that society evolves," Chretien told his party's lawmakers, gathered in northern Ontario for a summer retreat. "We have to live up to our responsibilities, and none of these are more essential than the protection of the constitution and the fundamental rights it guarantees to all Canadians," he said.
■ Colombia
Drug flights resume
Drug surveillance flights, suspended two years ago after a missionary plane was mistakenly shot down, will resume over Colombia within days, the American and Colombian defense chiefs said. At a joint news conference with US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Defense Minister Marta Lucia Ramirez said on Tuesday that she expected the surveillance flights to resume within three days. Rumsfeld said some details with regard to notifying civilian aviators would be worked out in meetings yesterday. The White House announced that US President George W. Bush had approved the plan.
■ United States
Famous tree topples
One of the most photographed trees in the world has fallen from its lonely perch above Yosemite National Park, 25 years after it died in the severe drought of 1977, according to news reports on Tuesday. The gnarled Jeffrey pine had stood alone for hundreds of years on the dramatic granite outcrop of Sentinel Dome -- where its wind-twisted branches and breathtaking backdrop made it a favorite subject of master photographers like Ansel Adams. Park rangers said that the tree, which was up to 400 years old and stood nearly 4m tall, probably grew there after a seed managed to take root through a crack in the granite.
■ Nigeria
Troops to quell violence
Army reinforcements moved into the southern port city of Warri on Tuesday, trying to quell fighting between rival ethnic militias that witnesses say has killed at least 45 people. Residents of Warri reported sporadic shooting on Tuesday even as days of intense gun battles between rival ethnic Ijaw and Itsekiri militias began to subside. Colonel Ganiyu Adewale, Nigeria's defense spokesman, said a fresh battalion of troops was to reinforce troops already in the important oil town. Adewale said the casualties included civilians and members of the security forces.
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