Caniaveral pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of simple assault on a juvenile in October. In doing so, he admitted to intentionally touching the girl, who was sleeping in the window seat covered by a blanket.

The U.S. Attorney's office reports that Caniaveral first stroked the girl's arm with his hand, then he touched her on the stomach below the navel. The tip of his fingers reached below the waist of her pants, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

The girl awoke during the incident, according to the U.S. Attorney's office, and she alerted a flight attendant.

"I laud the victim's courage in reporting and pursuing this case," said Schools. "Too often this type of attack is not reported or not punished."

The incident, which was investigated by the FBI, took place on a Philippine Airlines flight to San Francisco from Manila.

A Baltimore man who attended an Islamist guerrilla training camp in Pakistan pleaded guilty in New York to a terrorism charge.

Mahmud Faruq Brent, 32, faces up to 15 years in jail at his July 10 sentencing, The Washington Post reported.

Brent, who is also known as Mahmud Al Mutazzim, was scheduled to go on trial April 24 with two other defendants. His lawyer, Hassen Ibn Abdellah, told the Post Brent didn't plan to testify against the other defendants.

Brent pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to conspiring to aid a group on the U.S. terrorism list, the Lashkar-e-Taiba, by attending one of its training camps. He was arrested in 2005 and has admitted attending the camp in 2002, the Post reported.

Federal officials tied Brink, an Ohio native and former Washington taxi and ambulance driver, to Seifullah Chapman, a member of what prosecutors called the "Virginia jihad network," the Post said. Chapman was sentenced to 65 years in prison on charges that included conspiring to support Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Kelly Finestone filed the suit yesterday against Ontario, Canada-based Menu Foods Incorporated and Petco Animal Supply Stores Incorporated of San Diego.

Finestone alleges negligence and strict liability. Her lawsuit states that she bought the dog for twelve-hundred dollars, then spent three thousand dollars on veterinarian bills after he got sick. It cost five-hundred dollars to cremate him.

The lawsuit also alleges Fineman suffered emotional distress and a loss of companionship after her dog's death. Her lawsuit does not specify the amount of additional general and actual damages she is asking for.

She is also looking for others to join in her lawsuit.

The American Lawyer is the country’s leading monthly magazine for lawyers and has served as the standard by which the nation’s most important lawyers measure themselves for 25 years.

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.

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.