WASHINGTON - Four weeks after election day, Democrat Kamala Harris, daughter of an African American father and Indian Tamil mother, finally sealed a narrow but historic win making her the first woman attorney general of California.

WASHINGTON - US Defence Secretary Robert Gates pressed forward with plans to end the ban on homosexuals serving openly in the military, urging the Senate to repeal the controversial 1993 law by the end of the year.

BRUSSELS - The European Commission Tuesday launched an anti-trust probe into Google following claims that Google's search engine manipulates results to harm rivals.

NEW DELHI - The Supreme Court Tuesday issued notice to Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and assembly Speaker K.G. Bopaiah on a petition by seven rebel legislators of the Bharatiya Janata Party who were disqualified from the house for expressing their lack of confidence in the chief minister.

NEW DELHI - The Supreme Court was Tuesday told that the transcripts of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia's telephonic conversations relating to the 2G spectrum allocation scandal should not be held back from the public gaze as the people had a right to know how officials were functioning.