Retired General Wesley Clark, the former NATO commander who acknowledges he has no experience in elected politics, was set to join nine other Democrats yesterday in the race next year for the White House. A former top Pentagon war planner who headed the 1999 bombing campaign in Kosovo, Clark planned to announce his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination at noon at a boys' and girls' club in his hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas, state party officials said.
■ Canada
MPs defeat marriage motion
The Canadian Parliament lent lukewarm support to the government's plans to legalize gay marriage on Tuesday by narrowly defeating a nonbinding motion reaffirming the heterosexual-only definition of marriage. The Liberal-dominated House of Commons voted 137-132 against a motion from the opposition Canadian Alliance declaring that "marriage is and should remain the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others." The vote capped a tumultuous summer, starting in June when an Ontario court overthrew the traditional definition of marriage as unconstitutional, allowing gay marriage in the province immediately.
■ Iraq
New `Saddam' tape
An audiotape purporting to carry the voice of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein was broadcast on Arab television Wednesday, calling for Iraqi men and women to step up their fight against the American occupation and calling a US defeat inevitable.
``You mujahedeen, Iraqis and women, increase your attacks on your enemies,'' the voice said. It sounded to be that of Saddam, but there was no way to independently verify who was speaking. The voice also called on Iraqis to protest in the streets against occupation, to ``beat the walls in protest'' and to donate money to the resistance. The voice called on U.S. forces to withdraw from Iraq immediately.
■ Russia
Bolshoi boots big ballerina
Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre sacked an ice-cream-loving prima ballerina on Tuesday, saying she was too heavy and too tall for most of her dance partners to lift. Anastasia Volochkova, one of Russia's best-known ballerinas, has been publicly feuding with the theatre over a new contract and the Bolshoi's claims she was too heavy to dance with. A spokesman for Volochkova said she was 169cm tall and weighed 50kg. Unlike most ballerinas, who are notorious for watching their weight, she has said she could not imagine life without ice cream.
■ United Kingdom
Man attacks Blaine's box
London police on Tuesday arrested a man who allegedly tried to cut the water line sustaining American magician David Blaine, who is trying to live without food for 44 days in a box dangling near Tower Bridge. Blaine reportedly was awakened by the suspect but was not injured. London's Metropolitan Police said they received a report at 4:45am that a man had climbed on to the water tower near Blaine's box. ``The man threw water bottles and other objects from the tower and tried to cut through water and cable lines connected to the tower, but without success,'' police said. Police later identified him the suspect as Stephen Charles Field, 38, and said he was charged with using threatening behavior and causing criminal damage. He was released on bail and will appear at Tower Bridge magistrates court on Sept. 30.
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