The Washington State Senate and House of Representatives approved the bill in March and early April respectively. Opponents of the measure claim it erodes the institution of marriage, but the bill's supporters stressed the importance of granting equal rights to same-sex couples. The bill is the latest step in Washington's pioneering stance on gay civil rights which includes a revision of the state's Civil Rights Act to include the phrase "sexual orientation" among the classes of people protected from discrimination in housing, lending, and employment.

William Phillips, 60, took a revolver to work at the Johnson Space Center on Friday and shot dead fellow employee David Beverly, 62. Phillips bought the gun on the same day last month that he printed off the bad review, police said.

A woman was also held hostage in a four hour ordeal but was only slightly hurt.

Nasa said Phillips, a contract engineer, had been employed for about 12 years, was unmarried, had no children and reportedly lived on his own.

Security review

Nasa officials said Phillips brought the revolver into a building that houses communication systems for the space shuttle. Phillips confronted Beverly, a quality-control engineer, about the review and despite attempts by his victim to calm him, shot him twice. The stand-off took place in the communications Building 44

Phillips left the room briefly but later returned and shot Beverly another two times as he tried to resist, police said.

"The suspect blamed Mr Beverly for being responsible for his negative job-performance situation," Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt said.

Nasa said the woman hostage, Fran Crenshaw, was tied to a chair for hours and succeeded in providing a calming influence, preventing the situation from getting worse. Phillips held her hostage until he shot himself dead.

Nasa says it is undertaking a review of security procedures. It evacuated some employees in the building when the situation occurred while others were ordered to stay in their offices.

The Johnson Space Center contains Nasa's mission control, which oversees the agency's space flights.

Doors to mission control were locked and outlying roads cordoned off.

The stand-off came less than a week after a gunman killed 32 students and teaching staff at Virginia Tech university before killing himself.

There has been a rash of security alerts across the US, which is also marking the eighth anniversary of the Columbine school massacre in which 15 people died.

Virginia Tech shooting gunman Seung-Hui Cho was technically prohibited from purchasing firearms after a Virginia court found Cho to be an "imminent danger to himself" in December 2005 and issued an order for Cho to receive psychiatric treatment, the New York Times reported Friday. Under federal law, persons "who have been adjudicated as a mental defective or who has been committed to a mental institution" are prohibited from possessing or receiving "any firearm or ammunition." US federal firearm regulations define "adjudicated as a mental defective" to include a determination by a court that the person "is a danger to himself."

Virgina is among 22 states currently submitting mental health records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which requires Federal Firearms Licensees to request background checks on individuals attempting to receive a firearm. Despite being the leading state in reporting mental disqualifications, Virginia's state rules on "mental disqualifications to firearms purchase" differs from the federal regulations and only require submission of records of persons who have been "involuntarily committed" or ruled mentally "incapacitated." Legislation seeking to improve NICS enforcement has been introduced in the House of Representatives in the past three terms, but has never become law.

Kim, vice president of marketing for the memory division at Samsung, agreed to plead guilty to a single count of price fixing. As part of his plea agreement, Kim agreed to pay a $250,000 criminal fine and to assist prosecutors in the ongoing investigation. The entry of the plea agreement and sentencing is currently scheduled for April 25, 2007. The plea and recommended sentence must be approved by the court.

Kim agreed to plead guilty to the charge contained in an indictment filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco in October 2006. Kim was charged with participating in a conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition by fixing the prices of DRAM to be sold to certain original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of personal computers and servers, in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

To date, the court has imposed criminal fines totaling more than $730 million against the DRAM cartel members, which is the second-largest total amount of fines ever imposed in a U.S. criminal antitrust investigation. A total of 18 individuals and four companies have been charged as a result of the Department's ongoing antitrust investigation into the DRAM industry.

In November 2005, Samsung pleaded guilty to participating in the price- fixing conspiracy and was sentenced to pay a $300 million criminal fine in November 2005. A second Korean manufacturer, Hynix Semiconductor Inc., pleaded guilty and was sentenced to pay a $185 million criminal fine in May 2005.

In October 2004, German manufacturer Infineon pleaded guilty and was sentenced to pay a $160 million criminal fine. In January 2006, Japanese manufacturer Elpida Memory pleaded guilty and was sentenced to pay an $84 million fine.

Of the 18 individuals that have been charged in the DRAM investigation, 15 individuals have been convicted. Kim is the first of three defendants charged in the October 2006 indictment to plead guilty. A trial against Kim's co- defendant Gary Swanson, senior vice president of memory sales and marketing for Hynix Semiconductor America Inc., is scheduled for Sept. 10, 2007.

A third defendant charged in the October 2006 indictment, Young Bae Rha, a Korean national and the vice president of sales and marketing for Samsung's memory division, remains at large.

Kim is the sixth Samsung executive to agree to plead guilty and agree to a prison sentence in the DRAM investigation. In April 2006, Sun Woo Lee and Yeongho Kang pleaded guilty to participating in the price-fixing conspiracy while they worked for Samsung or its subsidiaries in the U.S.

The Italian State invited expressions of interest for the purchase of (i) a shareholding of not less than 39.9% and no more than 49.9% in Alitalia - Linee Aeree Italiane S.p.A. ("Alitalia") and (ii) 1,207,147,404 convertible bonds issued under the debenture loan known as "Alitalia 7.5% 2002-2010".  Non-binding offers were to be submitted by 16 April 2007.

Mayer, Brown Rowe & Maw and Italian co-counsel Tonucci & Partners, with which it has an established independent alliance, worked with Roland Berger, strategy consultants, to advise Aeroflot and its consortium partner, UniCredit Banca Mobiliare S.p.A.

Brussels based partners Kiran Desai and Edward Borovikov, assisted by Nunzio Bambara, led the team for Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, whilst Rome based partners Marco Nicolini and Giorgio Alù assisted by Andrea Rosi and Francesco Fiore based in Milan led the team for Tonucci & Partners.

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