Mark Memmott

Good morning.

The day's major story looks to be President Obama's late-morning address about the United States' relationship with the Muslim World.

As Alan Greenblatt writes for NPR.org, the president "will attempt partially to close the gap between U.S. ideals about democracy and its strategic interests in the Middle East and North Africa. It won't be easy."

"Four foreign journalists held by the Libyan government for six weeks were released Wednesday and moved to a Tripoli hotel," The Associated Press reports. "Clare Morgana Gillis, an American, said she and her colleagues — American James Foley, Spaniard Manuel Varela and Briton Nigel Chandler — were in good health."

From Benghazi, NPR's Martin Kaste says that the journalists "were all delivered to a hotel that houses the foreign press corps in Tripoli."

The discussion over who in Pakistan knew what about the fact that Osama bin Laden was living in a city north of Islamabad continues.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates had this to say to reporters earlier today:

President Obama today signed an executive order "imposing sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and six other senior officials of the government of Syria, the Treasury Department just announced.

It said the move is "an effort to increase pressure on the government of Syria to end its use of violence against its people and begin transitioning to a democratic system that protects the rights of the Syrian people."

Oh, the heavy burden that comes to those who wear the crown.

You can't even enjoy a perfectly poured pint.

During a tour of the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin today, "master brewer Fergal Murray expertly prepared a pint" of the famous stout for Queen Elizabeth, The Associated Press reports.

She declined to take a sip. Perhaps because it was before noon?

Prince Philip, the AP adds, "gazed at the brew with obvious longing but also walked away without a taste."