GILROY, California (Reuters) – “Less is more” should be the mantra of the next governor of California, says the Republican candidate for the job, former eBay Inc chief Meg Whitman.

The billionaire political novice sees the next governor’s main task as keeping the Legislature focused on hauling the most populous U.S. state out of its morass of unemployment, overspending and poorly performing schools — and she plans to do so by vetoing any other legislation.

By Steve Gorman and Peter Henderson

LOS ANGELES/OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) – A white former transit police officer was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in a videotaped shooting death of an unarmed black man last year in Oakland, California, sparking a wave of looting and destruction in the city on Thursday.

The verdict prompted a peaceful protest by up to 1,000 people in downtown Oakland, which gave way after nightfall to some people looting stores, smashing car windows, throwing powerful fireworks at police and lighting fires in trash cans.

By Peter Henderson

PALO ALTO, Calif. (Reuters) – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was “inspired” by a tour of Silicon Valley on Wednesday and left determined to replicate the U.S. technology hub at home, despite pessimism that Russia could create a sufficiently open environment to nurture success.

Medvedev sent his first “tweet” message on Twitter and tried out video conferencing at Cisco Systems Inc before conferring with Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sent his first Twitter “tweet” message on Wednesday, then tried out video conferencing at Cisco Systems Inc as he made a quick tour of U.S. technology hub Silicon Valley, which he sees as a possible model for Russia to follow.

Russia’s economy is still stuck in its dependence on energy, sending natural gas to Europe and petroleum to the world. The economy boomed for a decade, raising Russian confidence, but a 7.9 percent economic contraction last year prompted Medvedev to look for new industry engines.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited microblogging sensation Twitter and sent his first tweet message on Wednesday before heading to U.S. technology hub Silicon Valley, which he sees as a possible model for Russia to follow.

After more than a decade of relative freedom, Russia’s economy is still stuck in its dependence on energy, sending natural gas to Europe and petroleum to the world, prompting Medvedev to look for new industry engines.

SAN FRANCISCO, June 23 (Reuters) – IPhone chief Steve Jobs
and his tech titan friends take an unusual consulting
opportunity on Wednesday: helping Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev turn around his creaky economy.

Medvedev will make a whirlwind tour of Silicon Valley, the
U.S. technology hub he sees as a “quite interesting” model that
Russia could follow.

SAN FRANCISCO, June 16 (Reuters) – A six-month trial on
whether to overturn a California ban on gay marriage ended
dramatically on Wednesday when a lawyer defending the
prohibition said he did not need evidence to prove the purpose
of marriage.

The case is likely headed for the U.S. Supreme Court no
matter how District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker rules on
California’s gay marriage ban. A decision there could determine
the fate of same-sex marriage in the United States for years.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Same sex weddings would not harm traditional marriages and California voters had no good reasons to ban them, a lawyer said on Wednesday at the end of a six-month trial likely headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Lawyers made their final appeals to District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker. His ruling, expected in a few weeks, is likely to be appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. If it took the case, the high court’s ruling would determine the fate of same sex marriage bans in most U.S. states.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The U.S. judge weighing the constitutionality of gay marriage in a San Francisco courtroom on Wednesday will ask how weddings between gays and lesbians could undermine marriage between men and women.

The case to overturn California’s ban on gay marriage, approved by voters in 2008, is based on the argument that it denies equal rights to same-sex couples. But it may turn on whether voters had a legitimate, reasonable reason for their decision or were motivated by discrimination.