As the Obama administration seeks to differentiate itself from its predecessor, it may risk playing down the role of 'hard power' too much. The National Security Strategy will be unveiled Thursday.

Project Natal, Microsoft's upcoming motion-control system, will sell for $149, one magazine is reporting. The peripheral could also get a new name.

US Attorney General Eric Holder met Wednesday with a group of police chiefs, who bolstered Mr. Holder's own criticisms of the Arizona immigration law.

AP - BP started pumping heavy mud into the leaking Gulf of Mexico well Wednesday and said everything was going as planned in the company's boldest attempt yet to plug the gusher that has spewed millions of gallons of oil over the last five weeks.

AP - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday the world must respond to the "unacceptable provocation" represented by the sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on Pyongyang, as the regime unleashed more blistering rhetoric against Seoul and Washington.

AP - As the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig burned around him, Chris Pleasant hesitated, waiting for approval from his superiors before activating the emergency disconnect system that was supposed to slam the oil well shut at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.