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Google has completed a $12.5 billion US deal to buy cellphone maker Motorola Mobility, the company announced on its blog Tuesday.

The technology giant had announced its intention to buy the U.S. mobile communications company last year and was awaiting approval from regulators in the various countries in which it operates. China was the last to grant approval. It did so on Saturday — on condition that Google’s Android software would remain free for other cellphone makers for at least five years.

U.S. and European Union regulators approved the acquisition in February.

Google said it has appointed Dennis Woodside, previously president of Google’s Americas region, to be the new CEO of Motorola Mobility, replacing Sanjay Jha.

Technology analysts widely see Google’s buy of Motorola, a pioneer in the cellphone industry, as an attempt to beef up its portfolio of patents in order to be able to compete with other tech giants like Microsoft and Apple, which are increasingly at war with each other over technology patents.

Motorola Mobility, which split off from Motorola in January 2011, holds 17,000 patents for various wireless technologies and standards and has said it has another several thousand pending. These will now belong to Google.

With files from the Associated Press

Wedding bells will ring this summer for Marvel Comics’ first openly gay hero, super speedster Northstar, and his longtime boyfriend.

The New York-based publisher said Tuesday that Canadian character Jean-Paul Beaubier will marry his beau, Kyle Jinadu, in the pages of Astonishing X-Men No. 51. The issue is due out June 20.

Northstar revealed he was gay in the pages of Alpha Flight No. 106 in 1992, one of Marvel Entertainment’s first characters to do so.

Since then, numerous comic book heroes and villains have been written as gay, lesbian or transgender — from DC Comics’ Kate Kane, also known as Batwoman, to Hulkling and Wiccan in the pages of Young Avengers.

Comics, as a medium, have embraced gay, lesbian and transgender characters, including the introduction of Kevin Keller by Archie Comics. Comic strips have done likewise.

This month, cartoonist Tom Batiuk is writing about a gay couple trying to attend their high school prom in Funky Winkerbean, a go that has divided the fictional community.

For Marvel, the upcoming wedding is a way to further embed same-sex issues in its contemporary universe.

“The Marvel Universe has always reflected the world outside your window, so we strive to make sure our characters, relationships and tales are grounded in that reality,” said Axel Alonso, Marvel’s editor-in-chief.

Author Marjorie Liu, who is writing Astonishing X-Men, said the choice to have the pair marry was appropriate.

“As a writer — and a romance novelist, no less — I’ve always found it a bit odd when characters in comic books remain in relationship limbo for years at a time,” she said.

“Certainly, that happens in real life — some relationships just never grow — but the wonderful thing about tales is that they tend to go readers and characters forward,” Liu said, adding that Northstar pops the question in issue No. 50, which is due out on Wednesday.

“And, in this case, it was time to do the same to Northstar and Kyle, who have one of those rare comic book romances that really works.”

As for the event itself, Liu said the wedding will take place in New York City, where gay marriage is legal, but given that Northstar is on the X-Men, it remains to be seen if the event will be distress-free.

“As for the ceremony … well, what wedding ever goes off without a hitch?”

The public inquiry into allegations of corruption in Quebec’s construction industry got underway today with commissioner France Charbonneau stressing repeatedly that the hearings will be free of government interference.

“The Quebec government made this commission of inquiry, which is really impartial and independent, well removed from any political considerations,” she told a room full of journalists and inquiry staff.

“Nobody can tell [the inquiry] what to do, whom to interrogate or how to investigate.”

She expressed the desire of the commission to denounce and right the flaws in Quebec’s public-procurement system. Part of its mandate includes interviewing experts and examining international practices.

Commissioner France Charbonneau on Tuesday opened a public inquiry into allegations of corruption in Quebec’s construction inquiry by saying the hearings ‘will be well removed from any political considerations.’

Charbonneau clarified that the inquiry cannot, under its mandate, examine agencies of the government of Canada. But she pointed out that it can explore projects that received both provincial and federal funding.

The commission has a broad mandate to look at how public contracts were awarded in the Quebec industry over the last 15 years.

It is expected to touch on possible links between organized crime and politicians and political parties, engineering and consulting firms, labour unions, the Quebec Transport Ministry and other government departments.

Many expect the inquiry will implicate dozens of businesses, governments and political parties in dirty dealings.

“We are very aware of the public’s expectations as far as the work of the commission goes,” said Sylvain Lussier, chief counsel for the commission. “But the work of the inquiry will take several months.”

Fraud suspects could testify

The commission’s powers include the right to compel witnesses to testify, meaning potential witnesses already facing fraud-related charges could be expected to take the stand.

They include former politicians such as Frank Zampino — Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay’s right-hand man at Montreal city hall until his resignation in 2008 — and construction magnates Paolo Catania, arrested along with Zampino on May 14, and Tony Accurso.

Accurso was arrested in April on fraud and conspiracy charges relating to an alleged kickback scheme in a Montreal suburb.

His business empire also operates in Ontario and Alberta, where it’s involved in building natural gas pipelines.

It’s widely expected that Tremblay will be among those also called to testify.

The public will not be informed of who is to testify until 48 hours before most witnesses take the stand.

While the commission’s final report, expected in late 2013, is allowed to make recommendations, it’s not a court of law, so it is not entitled to find anyone guilty.

Premier Jean Charest resisted demands for the inquiry for two years before finally bowing to public pressure in October 2011.

One of the first witnesses expected to take the stand when testimony gets underway in June is Jacques Duchesneau, the former head of the Quebec Transport Ministry’s anti-corruption unit.

It was his report and explosive testimony on collusion and backroom dealings that helped to force Charest’s hand.

With files from The Canadian Press