NEW ORLEANS, La. — A mile-long oil sheen spread Thursday from an offshore petroleum platform burning in the Gulf of Mexico off Lousiana, west of the site of BP's massive spill.

WASHINGTON — The former chief of Lehman Brothers told a panel investigating the financial crisis that the Wall Street firm could have been rescued, but regulators refused to help — even though they later bailed out other big banks.

SILVER SPRING, Md. – Police shot and killed a man upset with the Discovery Channel network's programming who took two employees and a security officer hostage at the company's headquarters Wednesday, officials said. All three hostages escaped safely.

WASHINGTON — Despite President Barack Obama's declaration Tuesday of an end to the combat mission in Iraq, combat almost certainly lies ahead.

WASHINGTON — The number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. has dropped for the first time in 20 years as substantially fewer undocumented workers from Mexico, Latin America and elsewhere are crossing the border in search of jobs, an independent research group says.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Federal officials say Hurricane Earl's effect on the East Coast will depend on when it makes its expected turn to the northeast near North Carolina's Outer Banks.

AMSTERDAM – Dutch prosecutors say two Yemeni citizens who arrived in Amsterdam on a flight from the United States are suspects in a conspiracy to commit a terrorist act.

MEXICO CITY – A Texas-born fugitive known as "the Barbie" who allegedly led a violent smuggling network grinned as he was paraded in handcuffs before reporters on Tuesday — the third suspected drug lord to fall in Mexico in the past 10 months in a coup for President Felipe Calderon's war on cartels.

WASHINGTON – Straddling war and peace, President Barack Obama is about to formally end the divisive U.S. combat role in Iraq and restart talks between Israelis and Palestinians, a moment defined more by relief and hope than triumph.

Emmy had a split personality this year. Television's annual awards show honored hot new broadcast comedies "Modern Family" and "Glee," while sticking with more familiar favorites from cable in drama.