As of Saturday, May 17, 2008, at least 4,079 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Six rail cars derailed in southern Louisiana Saturday, causing a hydrochloric acid leak from two of the cars that forced police to evacuate thousands of residents within a 1-mile radius of the accident.

Los Angeles police say a man with a rifle has wounded two people at a festival outside a Southern California church.

State investigators were trying to determine what caused a spinning carnival ride at a county fair to collapse and injure all 24 people aboard.

A Western diplomat says pirates have hijacked a Jordanian ship off the coast of Somalia.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a top Democratic critic of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, met with the Iraqi prime minister Saturday during a visit to Baghdad.

President Bush said Saturday that the Saudis' modest increase in oil production is "something but it doesn't solve our problem" of soaring gas prices.

North Korea welcomed on Saturday a U.S. offer of food aid, saying the assistance would help alleviate shortages and improve relations between the two countries.

The NAACP board of directors has chosen Ben Jealous, a former news executive and lifelong activist, as the organization's next president and the youngest in its 99-year history.

A Chinese government spokesman says the confirmed death toll in this week's massive earthquake has risen to almost 29,000.

The army says six rebels have been killed in a gunbattle between security forces and suspected Islamic militants in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Lawyers for a 16-year-old boy filed a lawsuit Thursday against Denver and the city's police department, alleging that he was beaten by five police officers after being stopped.

Republican presidential contender Sen. John McCain saidhe hopes to use his appearance this week on "Saturday Night Live" toreach out for the youth vote, but he won't follow in former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani's footsteps by cross-dressing on the

Three people were severely injured in the collapse of a carnival ride at a fairgrounds in California and 15 others received lesser injuries, according to officials.

A powerful aftershock knocked out roads and communications in some ofthe most quake-ravaged parts of central China on Friday, as emergencycrews rescued 163 people who had survived up to 100 improbable hourstrapped in the ruins.

Republican Mike Huckabee responded to an offstage noise during hisspeech to the National Rifle Association by suggesting it was BarackObama diving to the floor because someone had aimed a gun at him.

Federal health authorities are directing a Pasadena, Texas, company toshut down and recall all its dried smoked catfish steaks and othersmoked seafood produced since June 2007 because it failed to developsafety standards, leading to a risk of bacteria contamination in

Supplies from U.S. relief flights were given directly tonongovernmental organizations Friday to help with the aftermath ofMyanmar's disastrous cyclone, the State Department said.

A military judge wants to hear from the Supreme Court before startingthe first war crimes tribunal at the Guantanamo Bay prison. Thejudge hearing the case against Osama bin Laden's former driver ruledFriday that the trial should be postponed six weeks.

It was one of the biggest sports stories of the year: the New England Patriots, caught video-taping a rival team's coaches as they sent signals to their players. This week, a former employee said the Patriots had been doing it