Posted: 1:55 PM -October 2007: 170,000 at peak of troop buildup.

Posted: 1:54 PM The U.S. military's main combat hospital in Iraq has increasingly switched to helping Iraqis. As the numbers of wounded American soldiers have fallen, the hospital is now saving the lives of a remarkable 93 percent of Iraqis who come with devastating injuries.

Updated: 1:53 PM U.S. troops in Iraq were encouraged to vote in November's presidential election during a visit this week by a group of officials from several states.

Posted: 1:52 PM A U.S. soldier pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of accessory to murder and was sentenced to eight months in prison for his role in the killing of four Iraqi prisoners who were bound, blindfolded, shot and dumped in a canal.

Updated: 1:51 PM As of Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008, at least 4,176 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Posted: 1:49 PM Manny Ramirez and the Dodgers look ready to run the shaky Chicago Cubs out of the playoffs early and extend their championship drought to 100 years.

Posted: 1:48 PM Oil prices rebounded Friday from steep declines a day earlier with investors confident that a $700 billion U.S. bailout package would get House approval.

Updated: 1:47 PM Who's running for president, anyway?

Posted: 1:46 PM Thirteen months after millionaire thrill-seeker Steve Fossett mysteriously disappeared, authorities finally know what happened to his small single-engine airplane: It slammed straight into a mountain on a cloudy day.

Updated: 1:46 PM A jury began deliberating Friday whether O.J. Simpson and his co-defendant robbed two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a casino hotel room.

Updated: 1:44 PM A jury began deliberating Friday whether O.J. Simpson and his co-defendant robbed two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a casino hotel room.

Posted: 1:43 PM Iraq's presidential council on Friday ratified a law that paves the way for the first provincial elections in four years, officials said.

Updated: 1:42 PM Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin defended John McCain as a reform-minded maverick while Democratic rival Joe Biden sought to tie his longtime Senate colleague to unpopular Bush administration policies during their first face-to-face encounter and only debate.

Updated: 1:42 PM Far more people watched Thursday's vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin on television than watched the first presidential debate.

Updated: 1:40 PM A battle broke out for control of Wachovia Friday as Wells Fargo signed a $15.1 billion agreement to buy the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank, while Citigroup and the federal regulators backing its earlier deal insisted that Citi's takeover bid go forward.

Posted: 1:39 PM Jobs are vanishing at the fastest pace in more than five years with pink slips likely to keep stacking higher in the months ahead, an urgent signal the country may be careening toward a deep and painful recession just as Americans prepare to elect a new president.

Posted: 1:36 PM Jobs are vanishing at the fastest pace in more than five years with pink slips likely to keep stacking higher in the months ahead, an urgent signal the country may be careening toward a deep and painful recession just as Americans prepare to elect a new president.

Posted: 1:36 PM Millions of taxpayers, thousands of businesses and groups as diverse as solar power developers and natural disaster victims will see tax relief with the House vote Friday to approve and send to the president a $700 billion financial rescue plan.

Updated: 1:35 PM With the economy on the brink and elections looming, Congress approved an unprecedented $700 billion government bailout of the battered financial industry on Friday and sent it to President Bush for his certain signature.

Posted: 1:35 PM A battle broke out for control of Wachovia Friday as Wells Fargo signed a $15.1 billion agreement to buy the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank, while Citigroup and the federal regulators backing its earlier deal insisted that Citi's takeover bid go forward.

Updated: 1:33 PM There's something about Scranton that must be special for this bear: He keeps returning. Pennsylvania Wildlife Conservation Officer Mark Rutkowski says the bear he caught near a Scranton elementary school is the same one he caught on Labor Day in Scranton - and the same one he tagged in April in nearby Moosic.

Updated: 1:32 PM Defense Had Accused The Prosecution Of Suppressing Evidence In Senator's Corruption Trial.

Updated: 1:32 PM A court in Kazakhstan has dropped drunken-driving charges against a man who admits he had a few drinks before he was arrested. The reason? He'd consumed fermented mare's milk, not beer or liquor.

Updated: 1:30 PM A Utah state park moved an American Indian-inspired statue of a humpbacked flute player Thursday after objections that it was offensive because the male figure is anatomically correct.

Updated: 1:29 PM A Kansas State University political science professor says that foreign policy issues regarding counterterrorism and Iran will remain a challenge for the next president's administration.