In his 25-page statement, Gonzales apologized for embarrassing the eight U.S. attorneys and their families by letting their ousters erupt into a political firestorm that has engulfed the Justice Department since January. He maintained the firings were not improper, but said he remembers having only an indirect role in the plans beyond approving them.

"I have nothing to hide, and I am committed to assuring the Congress and the American public that nothing improper occurred here," Gonzales said in prepared testimony released before he appears Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The panel, which oversees the Justice Department, is investigating whether the firings were politically motivated.

"I am sorry for my missteps that have helped to fuel the controversy," he said.

Gonzales added: "In hindsight, I would have handled this differently. ... Looking back, it is clear to me that I should have done more personally to ensure that the review process was more rigorous, and that each U.S. attorney was informed of this decision in a more personal and respectful way."

The earlier quake, with an epicenter 16 kilometers underground in central Mie prefecture, also affected nearby prefectures including Nara, Shiga, Aichi Nagano, Wakayama, Ishikawa and others. The focus of the second quake was also in central Mie prefecture.

A part of the stone wall of Kameyama Castle fell in Mie prefecture due to the earlier quake. Shinkansen bullet train service in the area was briefly suspended and later resumed. Parts of expressways in the areas were also closed due to the quake.

Electronic device maker Sharp Corp. temporality suspended its liquid crystal production lines for safety checks at its flagship plant in Kameyama, Mie prefecture, Kyodo said.

Some 4,300 households in Mie prefecture temporarily went without electricity and over a dozen houses and buildings were damaged in Kameyama city, the report said.

U.S. gasoline stockpiles fell sharply over the past week, while inventories of crude oil and other refined fuels increased, the Energy Department reported Wednesday.

In the week ending April 6, the nation's gasoline supplies plunged by 5.5 million barrels to 199.7 million, the department said in its weekly survey of petroleum inventories.

Analysts had been expecting a 1.3 million barrel decline in gasoline inventories.

The sharp fall in gasoline supplies came amid strong demand as summer driving season is coming soon.

Gasoline demand averaged 9.4 million barrels per day over the past four weeks, or 2.5 percent higher than the year-ago period, according to the department.

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, however, rose by 700,000barrels last week to 333.4 million. But the gain was smaller than the 1.6 million barrels expected by analysts.

Meanwhile, stocks of distillate fuels, which include heating oil and diesel, increased by 100,000 barrels to 118.1 million barrels. That was defying analysts' expectations of a decline of 900,000 barrels.

The figures for commercial crude oil inventories do not include the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which currently holds crude oil of about 689 million barrels.

A former Manhattan Beach police sergeant has been found guilty of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy in Las Vegas.

Shawn Michael Shelton, 40, once the fastest-rising officer in his department, could face the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison following the Clark County District Court jury’s decision, reached Friday night after two hours of deliberations.
 
Following two days of testimony, jurors concluded that Shelton was guilty of first-degree kidnapping, sexual assault with a minor under 16 years old, battery with intent to commit sexual assault with a minor under 16 years old, and use of a minor in pornography, court information officer Michael Sommermeyer said.

Jurors acquitted Shelton of one count of robbery. A charge of transmission of the AIDS virus previously was dropped. Shelton is HIV positive.

The guilty verdicts came after jurors listened to the boy, now 15, describe how he was sitting at a bus bench outside a mall May 21, 2006 , when Shelton pulled up, displayed a badge and told him he was a police officer. He persuaded the boy to get into his Hummer.

The boy told jurors that Shelton said he was investigating a homicide, handcuffed him, drove him into the desert and forced him to perform oral sex in the back seat, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

During his testimony, the boy described the .50-caliber bullet hanging on Shelton’s key chain and the brand of cigarettes Shelton smoked. Police found the cigarettes in Shelton’s Hummer when they arrested him May 26 in Corona, the newspaper reported. Besides the identification, prosecutors had key forensic evidence to pin the crime on Shelton, who had been an experienced detective. Following the oral sex, the boy wiped his mouth with his T-shirt. The act absorbed Shelton’s DNA into the cloth, the newspaper said.

The firm also hopes the 48-year-old Prince George's County resident will raise its profile in political Washington.

"As the issuance of Congressional subpoenas continues to surge, Michael will also play a lead role in providing counsel to elected officials and executives brought before Congress," the statement said.

Steele is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University and Georgetown University Law Center. He was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in June 1992 but let his law license expire during his four-year term as lieutenant governor. He renewed March 1, paying a $375 fee, according to the Pennsylvania's Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court.

Steele, a former head of the Maryland Republican Party, has not practiced law in more than a decade. He worked for six years after law school in the Washington office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP. He told The (Baltimore) Sun in 2002 that he left the firm when he realized he would not make partner.

A Reno woman has filed a federal lawsuit against the manufacturer of recalled pet food. She claimsIams brand food killed her 20-year-old cat, "Patches."

Marion Streczyn seeks unspecified damages from Ontario, Canada-based Menu Foods in the suit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Reno. A Menu Foods spokesman says the company has no comment.

The company, which makes "cuts and gravy style" dog and cat food sold under nearly 100 store labels and major brands, recalled 60 million containers in mid-March after cats fell sick and died during routine company taste tests.

The recall has since expanded to include earlier dates and other brands, and at least six pet food companies have recalled products made with imported Chinese wheat gluten tainted with an industrial chemical.

Streczyn's attorney Brian O'Mara says the suit joins a growing number of others filed around the country against the pet food maker and is believed to be the first in Nevada.

It raises claims of negligence, product liability and breach of implied and express warranty. It further argues that the company received "unjust enrichment" by selling the tainted pet food.

Recent FDA tests found a toxic chemical in some menu products were related to at least 16 pet deaths around the country.

The O'Mara law firm is looking for pet owners affected by the dangerous pet food to join the lawsuit.

It wasn't immediately clear what prompted Kanovsky's suicide.

"He was interviewing a client," said a man who works in the suite. "He just got up, opened the window and jumped."

According to news reports, more than 30 people have committed suicide by jumping from the 103-story building since the skyscraper opened in 1931.