California

Larry Flynt announces plan to run for governor

California Democrats showed signs of growing unease Monday over the election to recall Gov. Gray Davis, with state lawmakers meeting behind closed doors to discuss a possible Democratic alternative and Sen. Barbara Boxer saying Democrats should field another candidate if polls indicate Davis would lose.

On Monday, pornography mogul Larry Flynt declared his intent to join the race.

Flynt, the publisher of Hustler magazine, said the candidate with the best name recognition would probably win.

“I felt that there was nobody out there that had better name recognition than I did,” said Flynt, who would run as a Democrat.

A potential Flynt candidacy and speculation about the aspirations of actor Arnold Schwarzenegger led Boxer to conclude Democrats shouldn’t pin all their hopes on Davis.

Schwarzenegger is expected to announce Wednesday he is not running for governor, then appear on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” to discuss the decision.

“When one of the leading candidates is announcing yes or no on Jay Leno, another taking out papers is a publisher of pornography, the thing is turning into a somewhat chaotic situation,” Boxer said.

Indonesia

Bali bar attacked in terror strike reopens

Paddy’s Bar, one of the nightspots attacked nearly 10 months ago by suicide bombers on Indonesia’s Bali island, reopened over the weekend, staffed by several waiters who were working on the night of the attack.

Hundreds of mostly Australian tourists and expatriates on Saturday night packed the bar, which was reopened in a building 100 yards up the street from its original site.

On Oct. 12, an Islamic militant detonated a bomb concealed in a vest inside the bar, killing himself and nine other people. Minutes later, a much larger car bomb exploded outside the nearby Sari Club, killing 193 more people. Most of the dead were foreign tourists. The Sari Club is still closed, with no word on if it will reopen.