Mail | featured news

Of three ricin-laced letters mailed this month to public officials, only one made it into the hands of an intended target, 80-year-old Mississippi judge Sadie Holland. Investigators are working to piece together what motivated someone to send the letters to her, President Barack Obama and U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker. Holland is a common link between two men who have been investigated in the case. Holland presided over a 2004 assault case against Paul Kevin Curtis, an entertainer who had been the top suspect in the case until prosecutors dropped charges against him Tuesday.

A court filing says charges have been dropped against a Mississippi man accused of sending ricin-laced letters to President Barack Obama and others.

A letter addressed to President Obama, containing a suspicious substance, was intercepted at a screening facility outside the White House, officials said on Wednesday. The letter was intercepted at a screening facility outside the White House, the Secret Service said.

The U.S. Postal Service lost $1.3 billion in the October to December quarter, an official said on Friday, days after the beleaguered mail agency announced plans to cut back on Saturday delivery to save money.

The U.S. Postal   Service will stop delivering mail on Saturdays but continue to deliver packages six days a week under a plan aimed at saving about $2 billion annually, the financially struggling agency says.

A Norwegian art gallery lost a Rembrandt etching worth up to $8,600 in the mail after trying to save money on courier and insurance costs, the gallery's chief said Thursday.

The Postal Service is set this week to default on a giant payment, the latest blow illustrating Congress' slow progress toward fixing the agency's deep financial woes and one that could damage some customers' confidence.

The U.S. Postal Service has agreed to hold off on closing any more post offices or mail facilities until May 15, 2012, to allow Congress time to work on a plan to save the service.

A letter bomb exploded Friday at an office of Italy's tax collection agency, slightly wounding the organization's director.

Facing bankruptcy, the U.S. Postal Service is pushing ahead with unprecedented cuts to first-class mail next spring that will slow delivery and, for the first time in 40 years, eliminate the chance for stamped letters to arrive the next day.