The shooting death of a black man whose body was dragged for several miles is being investigated as a possible hate crime after the arrest of a white man he worked with, South Carolina's state police chief said.
Gregory Collins, 19, is charged with murder and made his first court appearance Thursday.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- New details surrounding TV actor Gary Coleman's death have emerged with his attorney saying the child star of ``Diff'rent Strokes'' and his wife divorced in 2008, and Utah authorities releasing a tape of her frantic emergency call after he struck his head in a fall.

Van der Sloot was arrested the same day he was charged in Alabama with trying to extort $250,000 in return for giving the location of Holloway's body and describing the circumstances of Holloway's death.

WASHINGTON – Facing off over illegal immigration, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer told President Barack Obama that Americans "want our border secured" and called Thursday for completion of a separating fence. Obama underscored his objections that the tough immigration law she signed is discriminatory.

WASHINGTON – The federal government slapped BP with a $69 million bill Thursday to cover initial costs of responding to the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Virginia was one of just two states that refused to join a friend-of-the-court brief Tuesday supporting the father of a Marine whose funeral drew anti-gay protesters carrying inflammatory signs.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's planned meeting Thursday with Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer faces a protest from opponents of Arizona's new immigration law.

A State Department official says one of the nine people killed in the Israeli raid on an aid flotilla Monday was a 19-year-old man with dual U.S.-Turkish citizenship.

METAIRIE, La. — BP sliced off a pipe with giant shears Thursday in the latest bid to curtail the worst spill in U.S. history, but the cut was jagged and placing a cap over the gusher will now be more challenging, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said.

The best-case scenario of sealing the leak is two relief wells being drilled diagonally into the gushing well -- tricky business that won't be ready until August.