Dina Habib Powell, a senior aide to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, resigned Wednesday to join a Wall Street investment bank, State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said.

Powell, 33, was assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs and deputy to Underscretary of State Karen P. Hughes before her resignation.

Powell said she resigned for personal reason.

She is one of the youngest senior State Department diplomats, and a key architect of a Rice initiative to improve the United States' image abroad.

Powell, who emigrated from Egypt to Texas with her parents, is the highest-ranking Arab American in the Bush administration.

Days before Powell's resignation, Barry Lowenkron, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, resigned to join a private charitable foundation. In addition, one of Rice's two deputies, foreign aid director Randall Tobias also quit due to involvement of sex scandal. ?

A series of emails released by the Department of Justice in March revealed that Rove originally suggested firing all 93 US Attorneys in January 2005, contradicting earlier assertions by the White House that the idea first came from former White House counsel Harriet Miers. The same month, the Senate Judiciary Committee panel subpoenaed Rove, Miers, and former DOJ Chief of Staff Kyle Sampson, rejecting Bush's interview offer. The House Judiciary Committee panel later subpoenaed Rove, Miers, and several aides to testify in a concurrent investigation.

The Oregon Senate passed a bill Wednesday allowing same-sex couples to enter into contractual domestic partnerships with the same state benefits as married couples. The measure covers state benefits including inheritance, child custody, and hospital visitation rights, but does not affect federal benefits for married couples. The bill passed the state House last month and now goes to Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who has said he will sign it. Kulongoski has also said he will sign a second piece of legislation protecting individuals against discrimination based on sexual orientation. That bill would ban discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations, and create a civil cause of action for violations of the act.

Currently, Vermont, Connecticut, California, New Jersey, Maine and Washington are the only states that recognize civil unions or domestic partnerships. The Washington State Senate passed a domestic partnership bill in March. Late last month, the New Hampshire Senate voted in favor of a bill already passed by the state House allowing same-sex civil unions. Also in late April, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer introduced a bill to legalize gay marriage in New York.

Though most claims were dismissed by the judge, the families still intend to pursue claims left standing.

Adam Saleh today received the maximum sentence of 38 years to life in prison after a jury found him guilty of the murder of Reynoldsburg model Julie Popovich.

The judge called Saleh a "shark" who might prey on other women if he is ever released. He also order that Saleh, 20, be labeled a sexual predator.

"Today we received justice for Julie because a very dangerous man is being removed from society," said Popovich's mother, Peggy White. "But I encourage young women to beware of the predators because they are out there waiting."

The jury of six men and six women found Saleh, an auto mechanic, guilty of murder, attempted rape, kidnapping and tampering with evidence for the 2005 slaying of the 20-year-old Popovich.

They acquitted him of aggravated murder charges, sparing him a possible prison sentence of life without parole. Jurors deliberated about seven hours over two days.

The jury told Assistant County Prosecutors James Lowe and Daniel Hawkins afterward that they didn't think Saleh intended to kill Popovich, as one inmate had testified.

"They said they believed that he choked her, but he wasn't trying to kill her," Lowe said. "The testimony was that he tried to make her pass out and then he realized she was dead."

"Only God can judge me," Saleh told Hogan before he was sentenced.

Hogan told Saleh: "I have come to the conclusion that you, sir, are a shark and I hope the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction never lets you out, because I am convinced that once you are out you will find a way to behave the same way again."

Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton on Wednesday pledged to conduct an internal investigation to determine if police violated policy by using force to quell pro-immigration protesters.

Bratton said he had seen news footage showing a number of officers in riot gear striking protesters and some members of the media to the ground with batons, and others firing foam bullets into the crowd.

The incidents happened during a Tuesday rally in downtown Los Angeles.

"I regret and am, as are all of you, disturbed by the events so vividly depicted in the various news videos," Bratton told a press conference at the city hall.

"Police use of force in any context is always visibly and emotionally upsetting, even when necessary and lawful," the chief said.

"Our challenge in reviewing and investigating the actions of the police department ... and that of the public is to determine if that use of force was an appropriate response to the level of threat, disturbance and danger that they are encountering."

However, he is determined to meet the challenges, Bratton said.

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) will create an "after-action report" to evaluate its handling of the event, and conduct a use-of-force investigation to determine if officers responded appropriately, he added.

Tuesday's rally by thousands of people calling for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants was peaceful until about about 6 p.m., when police tried to disperse some demonstrators who had moved off the sidewalk into Alvarado Street in the downtown area.

Some demonstrators responded by throwing plastic bottles and rocks at officers, police said. Several dozen riot police, wearing helmets and carrying batons, fired a few dozen volleys of foam bullets into the crowd.

The clashes injured 15 police officers and at least 10 demonstrators.

The Radio and Television News Association (RTNA) said earlier that "there is evidence that officers knocked reporters to the ground, used batons on photographers and damaged cameras, possibly motivated by anger over journalists photographing efforts by officers to control the movements of marchers."