World

SAN FRANCISCO, (Reuters Life!) – California became  the first U.S. state to require that public school textbooks  include the accomplishments of gay, lesbian and transgender  Americans as Governor Jerry Brown signed the mandate into law.

NEW YORK,  (Reuters) – The risk that the United  States will lose its AAA credit rating in the next three months  has risen considerably, even if  lawmakers reach an agreement to  raise the country’s debt   ceiling later this month, an S&P official said yesterday.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Rupert Murdoch yesterday caved  in to pressure from Britain’s parliament to answer questions  over alleged crimes at one of his newspapers and denied that  News Corp was drawing up plans to separate its  newspaper holdings.

MUMBAI, (Reuters) – Indian Prime Minister Manmohan  Singh vowed yesterday to bring to justice those behind triple  bomb attacks on India’s financial capital Mumbai, and police  questioned members of a home-grown Islamist militant group.

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey,  (Reuters) – Kurdish fighters  killed 13 Turkish soldiers and seven militants died on Thursday  in the worst clash since the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) ended  a ceasefire in February.

ASUNCION,  (Reuters) – Paraguay’s  opposition-controlled Congress rejected yesterday a  constitutional reform that would have let leftist President  Fernando Lugo run for re-election.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama  clashed with Republi-can lawmakers yesterday in a fierce  White House meeting on deficit reduction that left a deal in  question as the clock ticked toward a debt default.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Rupert Murdoch withdrew his bid  for broadcaster BSkyB yesterday, as outrage over  alleged crimes at his newspapers galvanized a rare united front  in parliament against a man long used to being courted by  Britain’s political elite.

LONDON, (Reuters) – News International chief  executive Rebekah Brooks was warned by police in 2002 about  serious malpractice and possible illegal activities by reporters  at a newspaper she edited, former British Prime Minister Gordon  Brown said yesterday.

CHICAGO,  (Reuters) – Red-hot food inflation that  has vexed policy makers around the world seemed to take a  breather last month, when corn and wheat prices tumbled on  reports that crop shortages were easing.

MUMBAI, (Reuters) – Three bombs rocked crowded  districts of Mumbai during rush hour yesterday, killing at  least 21 people in the biggest militant attack on India’s  financial capital since 2008 assaults blamed on Pakistan-based  militants.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – President Barack Obama  warned yesterday that elderly Americans could suffer first  from a debt default, raising pressure on lawmakers as prospects  for a deal to lift the debt ceiling appeared far from reach.

LONDON, (Reuters) – The British government endorsed  a move in parliament to block Rupert Murdoch’s bid for  broadcaster BSkyB yesterday, casting more doubt on his hopes to  expand in television despite a widening scandal over  phone-hacking by one of his newspapers.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, (Reuters) – The younger  half-brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, one of the most  powerful and controversial men in southern Afghanistan, was  shot dead at his home on Tuesday by a senior and highly trusted  family security guard.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – China secured its first top  management post in the International Monetary Fund yesterday,  in a move aimed at recognizing Beijing’s growing clout in the  global economy.

NEW YORK,  (Reuters) – A U.S. senator called for an  investigation of News Corp following the telephone hacking  scandal at one of its British newspapers, signaling the crisis  could spread to the United States.

LONDON, (Reuters) – “The basic test of a decent  police force is that it catches more criminals than it employs.”

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Former media mogul Conrad Black has been ordered to report to prison on September 6 to serve out his prison sentence for fraud and obstruction of justice, according to US court documents filed yesterday.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The UN Security Council voted yesterday to wind down a peacekeeping force in Sudan that was operating in volatile border areas, but said it was willing to keep working there until new security arrangements are agreed.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian court handed down life sentences yesterday to five ultra-nationalists convicted of the racist murders of 27 people, and shorter prison terms to eight members of their group.