■UNITED STATES
Senator admits affair
Senator John Ensign admitted on Tuesday that he had an extramarital affair with a member of his campaign staff. The Nevada senator led the Republicans’ campaign efforts last year and had recently visited Iowa, apparently contemplating a run for president in 2012. An aide said that the consensual affair took place between December 2007 and last August, and that the woman worked for Ensign’s campaign operation, Ensign for Senate, as well as for a conservative political action committee, Battleborn PAC. The woman’s husband was a member of Ensign’s official Senate staff. Neither has worked for the senator since May last year, the aide said. Ensign, 51, is married and has three children. In a statement released by his office in Washington, Ensign said: “I take full responsibility for my actions … I deeply regret and am very sorry for my actions.” Ensign’s wife also issued a statement, affirming her commitment to her husband.
■UNITED STATES
Tractorcade draws 500
More than 500 tractors are joining a three-day joyride around eastern Iowa, an annual 80km trek from Dubuque to Dyersville and back. Organizers say 509 tractors were registered for the 10th anniversary of the Great Eastern Iowa Tractorcade, which began on Monday. That’s up from the previous high of 450. The line of orange, blue, yellow, red and green tractors stretched for kilometers, with most cruising at about 26kph. Bearing names like John Deere, Ford and Farmall, they stick to local roads and pass tree houses, tire swings, barns and banks along the way. Tom McClain, who traveled from Phoenix for the ride, says it’s like a family reunion. Darold Sindt of Keystone, Iowa, says “tractor people” are a different sort of club.
■VENEZUELA
Globovision’s license at risk
The nation’s telecommunications regulator asked prosecutors on Tuesday to determine if an opposition-aligned television network is responsible for a talk show guest’s suggestion that foes might kill Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The probe, which potentially could force the station off the air, adds to a string of government actions against Globovision and its owner — moves the owner says seek to intimidate the channel into curbing its criticism of Chavez. Roselyn Dager, a representative of the Conatel telecommunications agency, said the channel’s broadcast license could be revoked if the attorney general’s office determines the news network incited a crime when newspaper editor Rafael Poleo said Chavez could end up “hanging” like Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Prosecutors are investigating Poleo, but they have not yet determined if his comments on a talk show in November were aimed at inciting violence.
■CANADA
Circus aims for record
Cirque du Soleil aimed on Tuesday to reclaim its Guinness world record for the most people simultaneously walking on stilts, to mark its silver anniversary. The acrobatic troupe, created in 1984 and now performing in all corners of the world, readied 900 people to stride 100m on 33cm stilts in the streets of Montreal. It also invited people in Brazil, Las Vegas, Lisbon, Macau, Nagoya, New York, Orlando and Tokyo to join in the experience. Cirque du Soleil set the first Guinness world record for stilt-walking with 544 employees in 2004. Two years later, a Japanese group beat it with 614 stilt-walkers and last year a Brantford, Ontario team took the title with 625.
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