CHICAGO – Lines snaked around the corner as scores of shoppers awaited the opening Wednesday of Wal-Mart’s (WMT) first Chicago area store, a debut that capped a four-year struggle pitting unions and small business owners against politicians and activists with an eye on job creation. “I love this store,” said …

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – U.S. warplanes mistakenly strafed Canadian troops fighting Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan, killing one soldier and seriously wounding five on Monday in an operation that NATO claims has also left 200 insurgents dead. More than 20 others were killed across Afghanistan, including a British soldier and four …

Female fertility may be affected by a gene that makes a protein called adrenomedullin. Female mice with only one copy of the gene have “significantly reduced fertility” compared with those with two copies of the gene, say researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The researchers included …

SAN FRANCISCO – A type of fish so common that practically every American kid who ever dropped a fishing line and a bobber into a pond has probably caught one is being enlisted in the fight against terrorism. San Francisco, New York, Washington and other big cities are using bluegills …

WASHINGTON – Five years after the worst attack on U.S. soil, President Bush said Monday night the war against terrorism is “the calling of our generation” and urged Americans to put aside differences and fight to victory. “America did not ask for this war, and every American wishes it were …

WAUKEGAN, Ill. – A coroner’s jury has declared the death of a heart attack victim who spent almost two hours in a hospital waiting room to be a homicide. Beatrice Vance, 49, died of a heart attack, but the jury at a coroner’s inquest ruled Thursday that her death also …

KABUL, Afghanistan – Fighting between forces loyal to two pro-government warlords in western Afghanistan Sunday left at least 12 people dead, while NATO said its forces killed 15 suspected militants who launched an attack on an alliance convoy in the south. Meanwhile, the Afghan government and the United Nations appealed …

HARRISBURG, Pa. – Gov. Ed Rendell has raised taxes, greatly boosted state spending, even signed a huge legislative pay increase that cost over a dozen lawmakers their jobs. For other elected officials, that record might be pure poison. But not for Rendell. For months he has stayed far out in …

WASHINGTON – Former Rep. Mark Foley was molested between the ages 13 and 15 by a clergyman, his attorney David Roth told reporters late Tuesday. Roth said Foley also wants Americans to know that he is a gay man. The former lawmaker was admitted on Saturday night to a mental …

For years I yearned for a large flat-panel TV in my home. I became a fan early in the HDTV craze, and every time I visited a house with an LCD or plasma display, I became incredibly envious. Now I’ve joined the club. I only wish I’d gotten my master’s …