Hate crimes rose slightly last year in the United States, with attacks based on race, religion and sexual orientation all increasing, according to new data released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Monday. Overall, there were 7,783 hate-crime incidents reported last year, compared with 7,624 in 2007, representing a 2-percent increase. Of all such incidents in 2008, 51.3 percent was motivated by race; 19.5 percent by religion, 16.7 by sexual orientation; 11.5 percent by ethnicity or national origin; one percent by disability. Within the racial bias incidents, with 72.6 percent against blacks while 17.3 against whites. Gay men were the victims in most of the sexual orientation-bias attacks at 58.6 percent. Anti-Jewish bias accounted for 65.7 percent of the religious bias attacks. The majority of 6,927 known hate-crime offenders were white, at 61.1 percent, compared with 20.2 percent who were black. Last month, U.S. President Barack Obama expanded coverage of the federal law against hate crimes, which now not only covers attacks on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin, but also attacks based on sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. 