- The Obama administration ordered oil companies to resubmit dozens of exploration plans that were virtually identical to BP's and that also called major spills and environmental damage "unlikely." The action came after McClatchy informed the White House and Interior officials that it had reviewed 31 deepwater exploration and development plans approved for the Gulf under the Obama administration and found that all of them downplayed the threat of spills to marine life and fisheries.
- Billionaire investor Warren Buffett told the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Wednesday that concerned executives from Moody's Corp. didn't tip him off to problems with bonds that Moody's had rated highly, directly contradicting evidence presented privately to the panel.
- As BP's latest attempt to capture leaking oil from its crippled rig in the Gulf of Mexico stalled Wednesday, Alabama, Florida and Mississippi braced for what officials said could be the first crude oil to hit their beaches.
- Openly gay recruits will likely be admitted into the military, and the services will adjust to their presence, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a group of soldiers at Fort Bragg on Wednesday.
- Republican gubernatorial front-runner Nikki Haley said Wednesday that a rival, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, is behind a last-minute attack, raising questions about her marital fidelity in an effort to undermine her campaign.
- Five years to the day Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway disappeared in Aruba, the prime suspect emerged at the center of a grisly murder in Lima, Peru. Peruvian Criminal Police have launched an international manhunt for Joran van der Sloot, 22, in the Sunday slaying of 21-year-old Stephany Flores in a Lima hotel.
- Sarah Palin is endorsing Fairbanks lawyer Joe Miller to beat U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, saying she considers Murkowski part of the problem in Washington. The former governor wrote Miller is a "true Commonsense Constitutional Conservative" and reformer who more closely shares Alaskans' values than does Murkowski.
- The Sierra Club gave the EPA official notice Wednesday that the federal agency has 60 days to make Texas comply with the Clean Air Act or it will be sued in federal court. The Sierra Club says Gov. Rick Perry's administration has not protected Texans from dangerous air pollution and has allowed many of the state's industries to emit contaminants.
- A majority of Californians say they support the new federal health care law but view it as just the first step toward fixing the country's much-criticized health care system, according to a Field Poll released Thursday. These sentiments run counter to those expressed nationally.
- Owners of iPads, iPhones and other smart phones will no longer be able to sign up for plans with unlimited use of e-mail, videos and other Internet data, AT&T announced Wednesday. The shift reveals the extent to which the iPhone and now the iPad have clogged the company's network.
- Most people will not want to hear the truth about the calamity that unfolded when Israeli forces boarded a flotilla aiming to break the blockade of the Hamas-run Gaza territory. Demonstrations, indignation, flag-burnings, interviews and lectures will offer two sharply different accounts of the events that left nine people dead, many more wounded and Israel's international standing under withering assault. The truth, however, will prove deeply disappointing to both Israel and its enemies.
- There is a growing consensus among Latin American diplomats that new political winds are blowing in the region — after a decade of radical leftist populism, we are entering a new era of centrist pragmatism.
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