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Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta visited Baghdad Thursday to mark the end of the nearly nine-year-long U.S. mission in Iraq. He told troops, "You will leave with great pride.... Secure in knowing that your sacrifice has helped the Iraqi people to begin a new chapter in history."

The plan would include a cap on total Medicare spending and feature more private competition than under the current program. Even if the proposal draws support, it won't be introduced as legislation until after the 2012 election.

Jacques Chirac was found guilty of misusing public funds while he was the mayor of Paris. The court said Chirac was the mastermind behind a system that paid political allies for municipal jobs they never did.

The founder of a venerable literary institution in Paris has died at 98. George Whitman founded the Shakespeare and Company bookstore, across from the Notre Dame cathedral. The shop was a magnet for English speakers in the French capital.

The Republican presidential candidates meet for their final debate of the pre-primary season Thursday. Lynn Neary turns to NPR's Mara Liasson for more.

While all eyes are on the GOP presidential contenders, there's another candidate busy building an organization in Iowa: Barack Obama. Volunteers have opened eight offices across the Hawkeye State, hosted dozens of house parties and logged tens of thousands of telephone calls.

Middle-level jobs are becoming increasingly automated, which pushes many people into lower-skilled (and lower-paying) jobs like fixing flat tires or delivering pizza to get by. Another option is to get training for higher-skilled jobs — and many want to see more training programs offered.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry entered the GOP presidential race with great fanfare and immediately became a front-runner. But his candidacy quickly deflated. Now, Perry is trying to mount a comeback in Iowa, appealing to social conservatives with provocative ads and embarking on a bus tour of the state.

In January, colleges and universities will have to sign a special memorandum before they can receive tuition assistance for active members of the military who enroll in their programs. But some schools have declined to sign the memo because of its requirements. Military advocates have asked Defense Department officials to put the new rules on hold.

He was "the Cicero of the saloon bar" and a "polemicist who slashed all, freely, with wit," headline writers say. Hitchens died Thursday at the age of 62, after a long battle with cancer.