Sri Lankan MPs are to vote on proposals to let President Mahinda Rajapaksa seek a third term, in a move critics warn marks a slide to autocracy. (full story...)

The country's first female prime minster must leave small politics behind and show her true substance'So let's draw back the curtains and let the sunshine in," said Julia Gillard on hearing of her narrow victory in Australia's general election. "Let our parliament be more open than it was before."Australia's first....(more) (full story...)

The USA Today top 25 football coaches' poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Sept. 6, total points based on 25 points for first place through one point for 25th, and previous ranking: (full story...)

Carolyn Maloney and Reshma Saujani sharply clashed in their first - and likely only - debate Tuesday, an hour-long brawl moderated by Daily News columnist Errol Louis on WWRL 1600 radio. (full story...)

AP - Afghan election officials said Wednesday that scores of additional polling stations will have to remain closed during the Sept. 18 parliamentary vote because of the deteriorating security situation in the country. (full story...)

Three public schools -- Kennedy High and Grant and Olinda Elementary -- in the West Contra Costa district were spared the chopping block when the Richmond City Council voted late Tuesday night to fund the schools for another year. (full story...)

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias on Tuesday said Republican Mark Kirk was "George Bush's architect" in the push for war against Iraq, a claim that at once overestimated the congressman's role while overlooking the involvement of fellow Democrats. (full story...)

by Jorge Madrid. This article was cross-posted from the Center for American Progress. The upcoming November election contains a ballot initiative that will   threaten all Californians’ health and safety. But the Latino community   will suffer disproportionate harm. Proposition 23 will undo California’s Global Warming Solution....(more) (full story...)

US college knocked off top spot for first time in seven years, while UK institutions 'struggle to compete on funding'Both of them have earned fistfuls of Nobel prizes, have educated enough statesmen to table a string of international summits, and inspired eminent scientists, philosophers and poets.But Harvard today forfeits first place to C....(more) (full story...)

Results go from a 10-point lead favoring Republicans a week ago to a tie with Democrats. The shift proves ' vote r sentiments are not immune to change,' the pollster says.A week ago, Republicans surged to what was described as an "unprecedented" 10-point advantage in Gallup's survey of congressional v....(more) (full story...)