"I extend my sincere gratitude to Chuck Rosenberg who stepped in to serve the Department admirably during a challenging transitional period," said Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. "I am very pleased that Kevin has agreed to serve as my Chief of Staff. He is an outstanding lawyer and as U.S. Attorney in Connecticut demonstrated that he is a strong manager and leader."

Mr. O'Connor was appointed by President George W. Bush and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Connecticut's 48th U.S. Attorney in 2002. In January 2006, Mr. O'Connor also began serving in the Department's headquarters as the Associate Deputy Attorney General to oversee violent crime and gang-related policy initiatives for the Department.

Prior to his appointment as U.S. Attorney, Mr. O'Connor was a partner in the law firm of Day, Berry & Howard in Hartford, Conn. Mr. O'Connor also served as Corporation Counsel for the Town of West Hartford, Conn. from 1999 to 2001.

From 1995 to 1997, Mr. O'Connor served as Staff Attorney and Senior Counsel in the Division of Enforcement of the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. From 1993 to 1995, Mr. O'Connor was a litigation associate with the law firm of Cahill Gordon & Reindel in New York City. From 1992 to 1993, Mr. O'Connor served as a law clerk to the Honorable William H. Timbers of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit.

He is a 1992 graduate, with high honors, from the University of Connecticut School of Law and a 1989 graduate, with honors, from the University of Notre Dame.

Mr. O'Connor will remain the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut. After four to six months, he and the Attorney General will determine whether he continues to hold both positions.

Spear & Jackson's former chief executive, Dennis Crowley, has already settled with the SEC in a related fraud case, agreeing to pay more than $6.1 million.

Lawyers for Park and Cantley did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.

Spear & Jackson manufactures and distributes hand tools, lawn and garden tools, industrial magnets and meteorology tools.

The SEC said that between February 2002 and July 2003, Park and Cantley executed numerous trades in Spear & Jackson stock, despite obvious red flags. Proceeds from the trades were about $2.5 million.

On several occasions, former CEO Crowley gave Park and Cantley sell orders on Spear & Jackson stock for three British Virgin Islands companies that he secretly controlled, the SEC said.

The SEC said Park and Cantley filled the orders knowing that Crowley was the CEO of Spear & Jackson and that the British Virgin Islands companies' accounts traded only in the stock, often buying and selling shares on a daily basis.

Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva Tuesday approved a law permitting abortions during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. The Portuguese parliament passed the law last month after a February referendum on the issue failed due to low voter turnout. Approximately 60 percent of those who voted in the referendum supported a reform of the former law, which only permitted abortion in cases of rape, fetal malformation, or risk to the mother’s health.

The law was passed despite staunch opposition from the Catholic Church, to which 90% of Portuguese belong. The new law imposes a three-day waiting period on women seeking abortions and requires that they receive information about adoption as an alternative. Portugal's reform leaves Ireland, Poland, and Malta as the only remaining EU member states that outlaw abortion.

Zak, owner of the Mohawk Trout Hatchery, had pleaded guilty on March 26 to two counts of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and one count of conspiracy.

His attorney, Vincent Bongiorni, said then his client was not willing to accept a guilty plea for the eagle charge.

"There was a factual basis to support those two counts and our claim is that it doesn't support the bald eagle count," he said.

Zak's employee, Timothy Lloyd, 30, of Easthampton, pleaded guilty March 23 to two counts of violating the migratory bird act and one count of conspiracy.

Federal investigators said they found more than 250 great blue heron carcasses, as well as carcasses of ospreys and a bald eagle on hatchery property. Tests showed the birds were killed by gunshots.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents say they staked out the hatchery periodically and saw Zak shoot at a heron with a scoped rifle and Lloyd shoot and kill an osprey.

The men are to be sentenced on June 27. Zak faces up to three years in prison and Lloyd faces up to 18 months.

The subpoena comes the day after four senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Gonzales, requesting additional undisclosed documents in that committee's investigation of the firings and claiming the DOJ failed to turn over relevant documents despite repeated calls from the Senate Judiciary Committee. The letter from US Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Charles Schumer (D-NY), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) suggests that the DOJ has been less than forthright in disclosing documents:

We are concerned that additional documents relevant to the Committees' investigations are missing or have been withheld.... Given that this was a process that extended over more than two years and involved staff from both the Department of Justice and the White House, and involved consideration of a number of U.S. Attorneys, there would seem to be other documents that would comment upon the reasons some U.S. Attorneys were chosen for removal and others were not. For example, there are press reports that the former U.S. Attorney in San Francisco had multiple evaluations and was the subject of significant discussions. Documents reflecting those multiple evaluations and significant discussions have not been produced to date. This raises a question about whether we have seen all similar documents about others selected for replacement or left in place.

In addition, the letter identifies specific undisclosed documents such as a chart provided by former Gonzales aide Monica Goodling to former chief of staff Kyle Sampson, who both resigned in the wake of the scandal, that was described in an e-mail that was turned over to the committee. The letter also outlines several document requests and poses questions from the committee concerning its disclosure procedures.

Last Thursday, Leahy sent a letter to White House counsel Fred Fielding seeking undisclosed documents relating to the firings from President George W. Bush. Last Monday, Leahy rejected attempts by the Bush administration to move up the date that Gonzales is scheduled to testify. In March, Sampson told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the prosecutors were fired for political reasons rather than for poor performance as the DOJ has claimed.

A 2006 US Department of Justice report said that sexual violence in US prisons, perpetrated by both inmates and prison staff, often goes unreported because abused inmates fear a reprisal. Last month, Texas Gov. Rick Perry appointed a commission to review the records of approximately 90 percent of the state's juvenile inmates following allegations by families and community activists that prison officials extended sentences in retaliation for inmates filing grievances. Staff-initiated sexual misconduct constituted 38 percent of allegations. The authors of the report also warned against placing juvenile inmates with the adult prison population, finding that the incidents of rape and abuse are five times higher against juveniles. The report, which was the second in an annual series required by the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003, showed a marked improvement over staff sexual misconduct and harassment since the initial 2004 study.

President George W. Bush will sign off on a bill providing funding for studies on embryos incapable of further development, but will refuse to endorse legislation that would subsidize stem cell research the White House announced Tuesday. The administration said in a formal policy statement sent to Congress that Bush would veto the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007 because the law would "pay for research that relies on the intentional destruction of human embryos." The White House also said, however, that Bush would support the HOPE Act because it would provide funding for research into pluripotent stem cells that does not entail the destruction of embryos.

In July, Bush vetoed the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005 saying he refused to provide federal funding for stem cell research because many people consider the destruction of embryos murder. Simultaneously, Bush signed the Fetus Farming Prohibition Act, intended to prohibit "fetal farming," the method of creating fetuses for the sole purpose of research, after both the House and Senate passed the bill unanimously.