In the World

SAO PAULO, Brazil - Gays, lesbians, and their supporters, possibly numbering in the millions, jammed several of Sao Paulo's main avenues Sunday for the 14th annual gay-pride parade in South America's largest city.

Dancing to music blasting from sound trucks, they condemned homophobia and demanded equal rights for homosexuals. They also said they would push candidates in this year's Brazilian presidential election to support their cause.

A river of protesters, including cross-dressers and heterosexual couples, flowed down skyscraper-lined Avenida Paulista in what was billed as the world's biggest gay-pride parade.

Organizers expected about 3.2 million people, but they will not release a tally until Monday. Police did not provided a crowd estimate. - AP

WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday that she believed Iran would "pull some stunt" soon to try to forestall further U.N. sanctions over its nuclear program.

"I think we will see something coming up in the next 24 to 48 hours where Iran says, 'Wait a minute, wait a minute, look at what we're going to do now,' " Clinton told reporters before leaving for Latin America. Brazil, an elected member of the U.N. Security Council, recently worked with Turkey to broker a deal with Iran in hopes of averting fresh penalties.

The United States suspects Iran is enriching uranium to build a nuclear warhead. Tehran denies this. The United States hopes to bring a fourth sanctions resolution to a U.N. Security Council vote this week.

"I fully expect Iran to pull some stunt in the next couple of days because they know that sanctions are on the way," Clinton said. - AP

ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, Md. - A string of setbacks for al-Qaeda's affiliate in Iraq has left the insurgent group "devastated" and struggling to cope with a double whammy of a leadership vacuum and a money squeeze, the top U.S. military officer said Sunday.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he found it particularly encouraging that gains against al-Qaeda had been made in operations carried out jointly by U.S. and Iraqi military forces. That makes it more likely, he said, that after U.S. troops leave in 2011 the Iraqi government will be able to handle what remains of al-Qaeda's capability.

Mullen's remarks echoed an assessment made Friday by Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.

Odierno told reporters that over the last three months, "we've either picked up or killed 34 out of the top 42 al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders." He said the group was trying to reorganize, but it had "lost connection" with the top-rung al-Qaeda leaders, who are suspected to be hiding in western Pakistan. - AP

A surfer suffered deep gashes to his right leg when he was attacked by a shark off Australia's west coast, an official said. Michael Bedford was rescued by a friend and a group of fishermen.