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Supporters say the Army private is a whistle-blower and a hero, but prosecutors will make the case that Manning is responsible for one of the biggest leaks in decades. During the proceedings, which begin Friday at Fort Meade, Md., both sides have an opportunity to make their case.

After nearly nine years, 4,500 American dead and 100,000 Iraqi dead, U.S. officials formally shut down the war in Iraq - a conflict that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said was worth the American sacrifice, because it set Iraq on a path to democracy.

South Sudan is one of the most underdeveloped places in the world and still has a tense relationship with its former rulers in Sudan. But the world's newest nation does have oil, and diplomats at a Washington conference are looking at what can be done to help get South Sudan on its feet.

As U.S. troops depart Iraq, many observers assume the country will fall into lockstep with its powerful Shiite neighbor to the east, Iran. But, at least in the short term, other countries in the region are expected to keep Iran in check, and Turkey is already playing a significant economic role.

As American troops leave Iraq, the one place in the country that's most likely to erupt into violence, at least in the short term, is the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

Oil-rich Kirkuk is a complicated ethnic mix of Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen and others. The question of whether it belongs to the autonomous Kurdish region in the north or to the Arab-dominated central government of Baghdad has long been a point of contention. The U.S. military served as mediators among the factions.

U.S. forces will leave Iraq by January 2012, but with thousands of diplomats and contractors remaining in the country, the U.S. presence will remain strong in the months ahead. Commentator Ted Koppel shares what he observed in a recent reporting trip to Basra, Iraq.

Tehran says it acquired "priceless technological information" after a CIA spy drone went down in Iran earlier this month. But defense experts say the pilotless craft, much like the U-2 spy plane shot down in the 1960s, may have more value as propaganda than as a treasure trove of technological secrets.

Newt Gingrich made a fortune from the businesses he started after leaving Congress in 1999. Washington Post reporter Karen Tumulty explains how Gingrich "transfigured himself from a political flameout into a thriving business conglomerate."

A recent U.N. report suggests that laws to protect women in Afghanistan from rape and forced marriage are still not being enforced. As NATO prepares to leave, concerns grow that women's rights will be further compromised.