NEW YORK – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) on Tuesday said the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles has informed the retailer that it is the target of a criminal probe involving the transportation of material deemed “hazardous waste” in allegedly improper vehicles. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and …

WASHINGTON – President Bush will focus first on the economy in his final State of the Union address to the nation on Monday night, a speech that is to serve as a blueprint for his last year in office. The House is set to take up a stimulus package quickly …

PHILADELPHIA – A nurse admitted he cut body parts from 244 corpses and helped forge paperwork so the parts, some of them diseased, could be used in unsuspecting patients. Authorities say nurse Lee Cruceta was the lead cutter in a group that trafficked in more than 1,000 stolen body parts …

MINNEAPOLIS – Minneapolis police say local users of the Internet bulletin board Craigslist should use caution, after a string of assaults and robberies last month. Authorities say at least five Craigslist-related robberies happened in December. Police say the victims thought they were buying something from someone else on the Web …

BREST, France – Francis Joyon had no heat, no companions and little sleep for nearly two months as he sailed around the globe. Now he has a stunning world record. Click here to view photos The 51-year-old Frenchman circled the planet alone in 57 days, 13 hours, 34 minutes, 6 …

LOS ANGELES – An attorney for Kevin Federline wants the police department to release its investigative report on an incident at ex-wife Britney Spears’ home a week ago that led to the pop star losing custody of her two sons. According to a court order released Friday by Los Angeles …

BARNSTABLE, Mass. – Bail has been set for a Cape Cod man who allegedly tried to rob a collection box during a special Mother’s Day service. Police say 45-year-old Clyde Bridges arrived at the Hyannis Foursquare Portuguese Church carrying what appeared to be a handgun, but what was actually a …

LEWES, England – A photographer convicted of assaulting Heather Mills won an appeal Tuesday because Mills didn’t attend a court hearing. Jay Kaycappa had been sentenced to 140 hours of community service for allegedly grabbing Mills by her shoulder and taking her photograph in 2006. A prosecutor told the court …

WASHINGTON – CIA Director Michael Hayden says there is “a big and continual push” to capture or kill Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden, but his demise won’t end the organization’s menace. The CIA is just as interested in those jockeying to replace bin Laden in what Hayden predicted will …

NEW YORK – It was so singular a marvel, so ambitious a feat, that its opening drew the president and a crowd of thousands. A leading national magazine said it stood poised to become “our most durable monument.” Some 125 years later, the Brooklyn Bridge remains a powerful symbol of …