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Earlier this year, Massachusetts lawmakers lobbied for a proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage which would strictly define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, though it would leave existing Massachusetts same-sex marriages intact. While the recognition of the 26 marriage certificates does not actually change the legal status of the marriages, Patrick's decision has been heralded by the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) as a move toward treating same-sex couples equally to heterosexual couples. Patrick's order was criticized, however, by the Massachusetts Family Institute which said Patrick was "placing his personal preference above the law."

Massachusetts is currently the only US state to recognize same-sex marriage, after a November 2003 state high court ruling, and more than 8,000 same-sex couples have since been wed there.

Apple could face significant fines if found in violation of EU antitrust laws. The company has two months to respond to a letter from the European Commission containing questions about its iTunes sales practice in Europe. Last year, France passed legislation allowing French regulators to force Apple to make its iPod player compatible with songs downloaded from other Internet music stores, and downloads from its iTunes service compatible with other players. Similar legislation has been proposed in Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Poland.

Syrian officials and state-run media on Tuesday welcomed an ongoing visit of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Damascus, hoping that it would help alleviate tense relations between the two countries.

Elias Mourad, director general and editor-in-chief of Syria's ruling al-Baath party's organ the Baath newspaper, told local press that Pelosi's visit represents an affirmation of Syria's role in the Middle East.

He said differences inside the U.S. administration over Pelosi's visit showed that there are more and more opinions for engagement with Syria.

Meanwhile, Mahdi Dakhlullah, Syria's former information minister, said Pelosi's visit was "a step towards the right direction" which indicated a failure of the U.S. policy to isolate Syria.

Syria believed the visit signaled a sign that the U.S. policy regained a balance in dealing with the Mideast issues, he added.

"We think dialogue between Syria and the United States has restarted," Dakhlullah said, hoping that it would continue in a bid to pressure the Bush administration to reverse its unsuccessful Middle East approach.

Syrian official media, for its part, widely hailed Pelosi's trip as the government-run Damascus Radio welcoming it as "a step in the right direction ... because closing gates of dialogue is a flagrant mistake."

In addition, the Syria Times newspaper described Pelosi as a "brave lady" on an "invaluable" mission while the Tishrin daily stated in an editorial that Pelosi would discover herself that Syria was ready for serious and sincere dialogue with U.S. officials.

Pelosi, a staunch critic of U.S. President George W. Bush's Iraq policy, is scheduled to hold talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and other officials on Wednesday about which she had "no illusions but great hope."

The trip, however, has met strong criticism from the White House which rebuked it as a "really bad idea."

On Tuesday, Bush criticized Pelosi's trip to Damascus as sending "mixed signals" that undermine U.S.-led efforts to isolate Syria.

Defending her trip to Damascus on Monday in Beirut, Pelosi argued that the journey was "an excellent idea" and she would discuss with Assad "the overarching issue of the fighting against terrorism and the role that Syria can play to help or to hinder."

Pelosi, the highest-ranking U.S. politician to visit here in years, arrived in Damascus Tuesday afternoon with a congressional delegation that grouped U.S. lawmakers from both Democratic and Republican parties.

Relations between Washington and Damascus have been strained since 2003 as Syria strongly objected the U.S. invasion of Iraq and blamed the U.S.-led occupation for the turbulences in the country ever after.

The White House, on the contrary, has been accusing Syria of supporting terror organizations and doing little to stop weapons and militants from infiltrating into Iraq and destabilize situation there.

Damascus supports the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah movement which Washington labels as terror organizations. Syria, however, insists that they are legitimate resistant movements.

U.S.-Syrian ties further deteriorated following the murder of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri in February 2005 after which Washington withdrew its ambassador to Damascus for its alleged role in the killing.

Syria denied any involvement in the murder although a UN probe has implicated senior Syrian officials in the case. Washington, which had since refused high-level contacts with Damascus, has been under pressure to engage directly with Syria to help quiet down upgrading turmoil in Iraq.

The U.S. bipartisan Iraq Study Group has urged the Bush administration to engage in talks with Syria and Iran over Iraq. However, the White House has largely ignored the suggestion.

The summary predicts that global warming will cause the glaciers in the Himalayas to melt. Hundreds of millions of people, particularly in the poorer countries, will be threatened by water scarcity, hunger, flooding and the spread of tropical diseases.

The Brussels report is the second of a planned series of three IPCC reports on climate change. The first report was presented two months ago in Paris and it focused on the causes of climate change.

The third report, which focuses on solutions, will be presented at the end of April in the Thai capital of Bangkok.

The climate conference will be attended by Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt and European Union Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas and Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potocnic.

Dimas has criticized the United States and Australia for refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocol limiting greenhouse gas emissions. He called on Washington to cooperate instead of "having a negative attitude in international negotiations."

Last month, the 27-nation EU agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20 percent by 2020 from the 1990 levels. ?

TGV builder Alstom Transports and the state-run rail company SNCF said the 30 million euro project was aimed at boosting customer interest in France's high-speed technology.

"It is important for us to show that the TGV technology, developed by SNCF 30 years ago, is a technology of the future," CEO Guillaume Pepy said.

Germany's ICE trains and Japan's Shinkansen - the TGV's main competitors - develop a maximum speed of 267 miles per hour and 249 miles per hour, respectively.

Japan's non-conventional magnetically levitated Maglev train can accelerate to 361 miles per hour.

Less than a day after a devastating tsunami hit the Solomon Islands, a smaller earthquake struck early Tuesday near the South Pacific chain of islands. The U.S. Geological Survey reported an earthquake of 6.2 on the Richter scale struck about 305 kilometers west-northwest of Honiara, on Guadacanal, the capital of the Solomons, about 10:20 a.m.

There were no reports of further damage after Tuesday's quake.

The tsunami and huge 8.1 earthquake that devastated the western Solomon Islands Monday killed at least 20 people and left many more missing, a senior police officer said.

"We are now of a view that here are about 20 confirmed dead overall, but I am rather fearful that the number will increase today as we get around to the various locations," said Solomons Deputy Police Commissioner Peter Marshall.

He said many more people were missing. Earthquakes are regular events in the Solomons, a poor country of 450,000 people spread over 1,000 islands closer to Papua New Guinea than Australia.

Entire villages were destroyed Monday after the 8.1-magnitude quake caused a tsunami that struck towns in the country's Western Province and a state of emergency was declared by the government.

Sky news in Australia reported hundreds of people were missing after the town of Gizo was first shaken by the earthquake, whose epicentre was just 40km away, and then by punished by a wave reported to be at least 10 feet high.

"The main number of the deaths were in Gizo, where a number of villages were affected," Marshall said.

Separately, police spokesman Mick Spinks said 13 villages had been destroyed.

"Virtually all the houses have been destroyed" in the affected villages, the spokesman said.

"The priority this morning is to use aircraft to get around all the islands in the Western Province to see what the level of the problem is," Marshall said.

He said rough terrain and poor communications were hampering efforts to assess the damage and loss of life.

Aircraft and boats with aid workers and officers on board were racing to the area to estimate damage and bring help to survivors.

"It's been a long night for a lot of people, in the area of Gizo in particular, there is no electricity and there have been a lot of tremors overnight and people have had to move to higher ground," Marshall said.

The premier of the Western Province said there were up to 4,000 people camping out in Gizo.

The U.S. Geological Survey recorded at least 10 quakes measuring between 5.0 and 6.2 in magnitude overnight.