(Reuters) - The U.S. Coast Guard has closed a couple of miles of the upper Mississippi river near the confluence with the Missouri river after barges broke loose. A filing with the Illinois Emergency Management Agency said loose barges floating adrift in the upper Mississippi river collided with Kirby Inland Marine barges, which were docked at the Marathon Oil Dock. Coast Guard spokesman Colin Fogarty said the incident occurred around midnight and initial reports suggested there was a discharge of around 300 gallons of crude oil.

The beleaguered US government claims it was only trying to protect American lives when it took the drastic step of seizing journalists' phone records in a probe of what it calls a major security breach. President Barack Obama's administration, embattled on several fronts, now faces a barrage of criticism that the step undermined freedom of the press. Attorney General Eric Holder hit back on Tuesday, defending the action in which the Justice Department secretly took two months of telephone logs from news operations of the Associated Press.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Michael Jackson appeared "a little loopy" after visits with his longtime dermatologist, a choreographer who worked one-on-one with the pop superstar told a jury Tuesday. Travis Payne said he witnessed Jackson's unusual behaviour after the singer visited Dr. Arnold Klein, who Payne believed was performing cosmetic treatments on the singer so that he would be comfortable performing onstage again.

Mexico City, May 14 (EFE).- Two suspects have been arrested in Mexico City in connection with the killing last week of Malcolm Shabazz, the grandson of U.S. political activist Malcolm X, District Attorney Rodolfo Fernando Rios said. David Hernandez Cruz and Manuel Alejandro Perez, who worked as waiters at The Palace Club on the Plaza Garibaldi, were arrested for the beating death of Shabazz, Rios said. The two suspects, both 24, and two other men allegedly beat Shabazz early Thursday after he refused to pay a $1,200 bar tab, the DA said.