ATLANTA — For the first time, abuse of painkillers and other medication is sending as many people to the emergency room as the use of illegal drugs.

Chastened by heavy criticism from lawmakers, a grim-faced BP chief executive Tony Hayward said Thursday he was "deeply sorry" for his company's catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
"I understand the seriousness of the situation, the frustrations and fears that continue to be voiced," he told a House investigations subcommittee.
But before testifying, Hayward had to endure more than an hour of mostly unrelenting criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike.

A death row inmate who had used a gun to fatally shoot two men suffered the same fate Friday morning as he was executed by a team of marksmen - the first time Utah used the firing squad to carry out a death sentence in 14 years.

A jubilant celebration over the Los Angeles Lakers' dramatic win in the NBA championship game turned rowdy in scattered sections of the city, with raucous revelers hurling rocks and bottles at police, setting fires and jumping on vehicles.
Police spokesman Cleon Joseph said Friday 38 people had been arrested, most for public intoxication and others for vandalism and inciting a riot.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Times Square bomb suspect Faisal Shahzad was charged Thursday with 10 terrorism and weapons counts in an indictment that accuses him of receiving explosives training from the Pakistani Taliban months before the botched bombing.

The Texas Republican, the House's top recipient of oil industry campaign contributions since 1990, apologized Thursday for apologizing to the chief of the British company that befouled the Gulf of Mexico with a massive oil spill.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The independent attorney appointed to oversee the property and cremation of late actor Gary Coleman said Wednesday there will be no funeral services for the former child TV star.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the search of a police officer's personal, sometimes sexually explicit, messages on a government-owned pager, saying it did not violate his constitutional rights.

WASHINGTON — In an atmosphere of high tension, a House panel has opened Congress' first hearing with BP CEO Tony Hayward answering questions about the catastrophic Gulf Coast oil spill.

JERUSALEM – Israel agreed Thursday to ease its three-year-old land blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, hoping to quell international outrage over its deadly raid on a flotilla bound for the Palestinian territory.