With a number of Democrats and a few Republicans in Congress calling for Gonzales to step aside as the nation's chief law enforcement officer, Bush telephoned him early on Tuesday, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

"The president reaffirmed his strong backing and support of the attorney general," Perino said.

Congressional committees plan to vote this week on whether to subpoena those who refuse to testify. They are particularly interested in hearing from White House political strategist Karl Rove. A former aide to Rove was named to replace one of the prosecutors fired last year.

Critics charge the administration dismissed the prosecutors to make room for its allies or because it felt some were too tough on Republicans and not tough enough on Democrats.

Recently released documents showed the administration had considered firing all the nation's 93 U.S. attorneys, each a Bush appointee, at the end of president's first term in January 2005. But later it decided to dismiss just eight.

The documents also showed the U.S. attorneys were judged on such factors as their effectiveness as well as their loyalty to the administration.

Former prosecutors said they were given little if any reason for their dismissal and were warned the administration might retaliate if they complained. The administration denied any such threats.

Many Republicans lawmakers have said publicly that no judgment should be made on Gonzales until the facts are determined.

Goodwin Procter LLP, one of the nation's leading law firms with more than 700 attorneys, today announced the addition of new offices in San Diego and downtown Los Angeles, bringing to four its total number of offices in California. This strategic expansion will broaden the reach of the firm's nationally recognized technology and life sciences practice, as well as its real estate and real estate investment management practice.

Joining the firm are Stephen C. Ferruolo and Ryan A. Murr, both former partners at Heller Ehrman LLP. Ferruolo is one of the nation's leading attorneys in the technology and life sciences industry and former co-chair of Heller's Corporate/VLG Group; he will chair Goodwin Procter's new office in San Diego.

In addition, the firm is expanding its Los Angeles presence with the addition of new partners Dean C. Pappas and Dani L. Vogt, both from Mayer, Brown, Rose & Maw LLP and Edward C. Hagerott, Jr., who joins from Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP. All focus on complex real estate transactions; Pappas was previously the chair of Mayer Brown's Real Estate Group in Los Angeles.

"We are extremely pleased to welcome these highly-regarded attorneys to Goodwin Procter as we continue to further our mission of providing 'best in class' legal counsel to our clients," said Regina M. Pisa, chairman and managing partner of Goodwin Procter. "California is a critical component of our long-term strategic plan and we are committed to investing in key practices and markets in the State."

Goodwin Procter's Technology and Life Sciences practice is one of the largest in the United States, with its attorneys representing over 500 public and private companies and entrepreneurs, and over 100 venture capital and private equity firms as well as some of the nation's leading investment banks. The firm recently added an FDA practice based in Washington, D.C. and in 2005 attracted nearly 100 attorneys from Testa Hurwitz, many of whom focused on technology, life sciences and intellectual property.

"Goodwin Procter is also a leader and pioneer in the real estate industry and has been actively involved in real estate for decades - from real estate development to the most sophisticated real estate investment trust (REIT) and merger and acquisition deals," said Pisa. "Serving clients nationally from both the East and West Coasts is a key component of our long-term bicoastal strategy. The addition of these lawyers - who focus on complex and sophisticated transactional work - significantly complements our existing Century City-based real estate practice and our East Coast-based real estate and real estate capital markets practices."

Lewis G. Feldman, chair of Goodwin Procter's Century City office and head of its National Public/Private Development Finance Practice, will assume additional responsibility for chairing the firm's new downtown LA office.

Goodwin Procter first launched offices in California in April 2006, opening in Century City and San Francisco simultaneously.

http://www.goodwinprocter.com

The city of Modesto has agreed to pay $3.25 million to settle allegations of sex discrimination, harassment and retaliation filed by a Sacramento law firm on behalf of three female employees.

The settlement was confirmed by Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Roger Beauchesne on Monday. The women were represented by Susan Kirkgaard, a trial attorney at Diepenbrock Harrison who specializes in employment law.

  City employees Karin Rodriguez, Jocelyn Reed and Debra Eggerman alleged that high-level managers in the city created a workplace that discriminated against and was hostile to women.

The women complained they were denied promotions and pay equal to their male counterparts, in violation of state law. When they reported the problems to city officials, the city did nothing to stop the discrimination and harassment; instead retaliating against them, the women alleged.

"Unfortunately, gender disparity has historically been a systemic problem within the city," Kirkgaard said in a prepared statement. "During the time we have been fighting this war, we have seen the city attorney, city manager and a number of deputy directors leave the city's employment -- and I believe it to be caused in part by the claims we were raising."

The city settled the case to avoid complex and protracted litigation, said litigation counsel Shelline K. Bennett. The city did not admit liability.

"This resolution provides an opportunity to conclude a difficult chapter so that the organization can move forward," city manager George Britton said in a prepared statement.

The law firm of Foley & Lardner has signed a 10-year, $18-million lease for nearly 53,000 sf at City National Plaza in an expansion from the law firm's existing offices in Century City, according to Jones Lang LaSalle. Foley & Lardner will occupy space on the 35th and 36th floors of the office tower at 555 S. Flower St.
Jones Lang LaSalle managing directors Lisa St. John and Peter Best, who represented the law firm, note that the addition of the downtown office brings the firm’s worldwide office total to 20 with seven offices in California. Foley has 70 attorneys practicing in Los Angeles, where the firm has had a presence since 1996.

According to Ralf Boer, chairman and CEO of Foley & Lardner, the company sought a downtown location for the expansion of its corporate and litigation practices and felt that the downtown location would serve that purpose well “particularly in light of the area’s tremendous growth and importance as a hub to the business and legal communities.” Boer explains that the firm's Century City office “continues to flourish” and is of strategic importance to the growth of its intellectual property and entertainment industry practices.
 
City National Plaza encompasses an entire city block in the financial district of the Los Angeles Central Business District. Originally completed in 1972 as the world headquarters for Atlantic Richfield and the Southern California Headquarters for Bank of America, City National Plaza consists of two 51-story office towers, one plaza level building and four subterranean levels. The towers are owned by locally based Thomas Properties Group, which was represented in-house by Kent Handleman in the Foley lease.

http://www.foley.com

The transcript released Monday was the fourth from the hearings the military is holding in private for 14 "high-value" terror suspects who were kept in secret CIA prisons before they were sent to the U.S. facility in Cuba last fall.

Last week, Waleed bin Attash said he helped plan the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania that killed more than 200, according to the transcript. He also said he helped organize the 2000 attack on the USS Cole in which suicide bombers steered an explosives-laden boat into the guided-missile destroyer, killing 17 sailors.

Identity thieves are offering a person’s credit-card number, date of birth and other sensitive information for as little as US$14 over the Internet, said a new report on online threats released Monday.

The data is sold on so-called “underground economy servers,” used by criminal organizations to hawk information they’ve captured through hacking, Symantec said in its Internet Security Threat Report, which tracked online trends from June to December 2006. The information can then be used for identity scams such as opening a bank account in a false name.

“U.S.-based credit cards with a card verification number were available for between US$1 to $6, while an identity — including a U.S. bank account, credit card, date of birth and government-issued identification number — was available for between $14 to $18,” the report said.

Some 51 percent of the servers hosting the information were in the U.S., in part because the growth in broadband Internet access in the U.S. has created new opportunities for criminals, Symantec said. About 86 percent of the credit and debit card numbers available on those servers were issued by U.S. banks, it said.

One way that criminals have gained access to computers is by exploiting zero-day vulnerabilities, or software flaws that are being exploited as soon as they are revealed and before a patch has been released.

Symantec documented 12 zero-day vulnerabilities in the period from June to December 2006. Only one was found in its two prior six-month reporting periods, the company said.

Hackers have exploited some of those vulnerabilities by creating malicious documents in Microsoft Office and other software, said Ollie Whitehouse, a security architect at Symantec.

A malicious Word or Excel document, when attached to a spam e-mail, has a greater chance of being opened by someone since it may appear legitimate and be targeted at an employee of a specific company.

While security software programs will often block executable programs attached to e-mail, common Office documents are allowed to go through, Whitehouse said.

“A business isn’t going to say ‘We will no longer accept Office documents received via email,’” Whitehouse said. “I think productivity would go through the floor at that point. Unfortunately, this is where the security requirement and the business requirement do really clash.”

A video posted on Symantec’s blog, shows a sophisticated attack where a malicious document is opened that puts a harmful executable onto the system and then opens a regular Word document. The attack is almost invisible to the user, apart from a flicker on the screen before the Word document opens.

“Office documents — PowerPoint presentations, Excel spreadsheets — and graphics like JPEGs aren’t necessarily considered malicious file formats, so the user is more inclined to open them,” Whitehouse said.