Lincoln led votes, Bush among worst in history. At least by Britain’s standards, Abraham Lincoln, President Barack Obama’s political mentor, is the greatest American president ever. The Times, a U.K. paper, released a President’s Day weekend poll showing that Bill Clinton was viewed as just mediocre, while John F. Kennedy missed the top 10 by one position. Lincoln, due to his holding together of the Union during Civil War times, was given top props. Obama’s predecessor George W. Bush, on the other hand, landed in the bottom 10 among Times staff vote results. Ronald Reagan, whose policies largely devastated Black America in the 1980s, also wound up near the bottom of the list.

Obama plans address for northern neighbors. President Barack Obama will cross the border this week to address America’s northern neighbor. On Thursday, the commander-in-chief will make his first appearance before Canadian government officials since his election to the White House. Among topics he’s expected to discuss are the American and international economy, and the military deployment in Afghanistan. Canadians, like many around the globe, have received Obama’s leadership with warm, positive words and receptive political gestures.

Rocker retires early from Canadian tour. Seems Janet Jackson isn’t the only star having tour problems these days. Lenny Kravitz is calling it quits for now in his Canadian appearance schedule, not long after Miss Jackson hung it up in the United States. Like Jackson, popular rocker Kravitz is reportedly dealing with illness. But, unlike Jackson, poor ticket sales don’t appear to be Lenny’s lot. Reports his Web site: “It is with great regret that Lenny Kravitz has had to cancel the remainder of his Canadian tour. Lenny is suffering from severe throat problems that have resulted in him not being able to sing or even talk.” Refunds to the show are being provided.

Djimon Hounsou to voice BET series hero. A Blood Diamond star will voice the role of a Marvel Comics hero for a BET series in 2009. West African-born Djimon Hounsou will portray T’Challa, an African king who doubles as crime-fighting Black Panther. Reginald Hudlin, ex-president of BET Networks, is set to write for the series. Black Panther, comics fans may know, has the distinction of being one of few action characters to go toe-to-toe with the legendary Captain America. He is the husband of X-Men character Storm, who was played by Halle Berry in the live-action film.

Russian forces advance into Georgia. Russia’s military pushed further into the former Soviet Republic of Georgia Monday sending the country’s forces scrambling to escape. However, early Tuesday the Russian President called a halt to the fighting. After a weekend of several Russian attacks by air in Gori, streets in the major Georgian city were deserted Monday. Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said Tuesday he was halting military operations in Georgia because they had accomplished their end, though explosions continued to rattle the now largely empy city of Gore. In a televised statement in Moscow, Medvedev said that after five days of operations “the aggressor has been punished” and largely driven from the two Russian-allied separatist provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. More than 2,000 people are feared dead as a result of the fighting. As BET.com reported earlier, the fighting started when Georgia asserted its authority in S. Osettia.

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is to be released from jail on Friday, but tethered to a monitoring device, according to the latest news reports. Despite his apologies to 36th District Court Judge Ronald Giles at a hearing on Thursday, Kilpatrick (seen above in booking photo) woke up in Wayne County Jail this morning after he made an unauthorized trip out of the country. The trip apparently was in violation of the conditions of his parole on purjury charges in connection with an affair the Detroit mayor allegedly had with a co-worker. However, now the so-called hip-hop mayor faces a whole new set of problems. Read more at BET.com/News. Should he have been sent to jail?