SACRAMENTO (California) - THE California Senate has approved a plan to close the state's US$26 billion (S$37.4 billion) budget deficit, giving a glimmer of hope after weeks of fiscal gloom.

WASHINGTON - A MAJORITY of Americans take a negative view of outgoing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and although she remains popular among Republicans, her image within the party has slipped, according to a new poll.

CAMBRIDGE - SUPPORTERS say the white policeman who arrested renowned black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. in his home is a principled police officer and family man who is being unfairly described as racist.

Friends and fellow officers - black and white - say Sgt. James Crowley, who was chosen by a black police commissioner to teach recruits about avoiding racial profiling, is calm and reliable.