[CentOS] php fopen ssl error

Hi,
With CentOS php53 I get an SSL Error

<?php
  $handle = fopen("https://maps.google.com", "r");
  $contents = stream_get_contents($handle);
  fclose($handle);
?>

will result in something like

Warning: stream_get_contents(): SSL: fatal protocol error in bla.php on line 3

Some https pages do not raise this error, e.g. https://www.redhat.com is fine
What is wrong? How to debug?
-- 
Markus