CHICAGO – Sara Lee Corp. (SLE) on Thursday said its fiscal first-quarter profit plunged 81 percent, hurt by declining sales and a spate of restructuring charges, but the food and clothing company fared better than expected and its stock jumped after the news. Net earnings for the quarter ended Oct. …

Botnets are big business — at least according to authorities who announced the first U.S. case against an alleged computer hacker, who authorities believe netted $60,000 in cash and a BMW from a personal army of zombie computers. Federal authorities arrested a 20-year-old California man Thursday and charged him with …

AUSTIN – Prosecutors who brought criminal charges against U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay denied on Wednesday allegations by his attorneys that investigators inappropriately coerced a grand jury to indict the former House majority leader. DeLay’s attorneys have asked that money laundering and conspiracy charges against DeLay, a Republican, be dropped because …

WASHINGTON – The difference between the sexes has long been a rich source of humor. Now it turns out, humor is one of the differences. Women seem more likely than men to enjoy a good joke, mainly because they don’t always expect it to be funny. “The long trip to …

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Tropical Storm Gamma deluged the coast of Central America on Saturday, killing at least six people — three in flooding in Honduras and three in the crash of a small plane belonging to a Belize lodge owned by the filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola. Forecasters said Gamma, the …

WASHINGTON – Legislation to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, apparently scuttled in the House last week, may resurface quickly, Republican leaders signaled Tuesday. Missouri Rep. Roy Blunt, the acting majority leader, told reporters there would be no attempt to reinsert the controversial provision in deficit-cutting legislation …

This is a partial transcript from “On the Record,” March 1, 2005, that has been edited for clarity. GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: Joining us is the district attorney prosecuting the BTK serial killer (search) case, Wichita district attorney Nola Foulston (search). Nola, it’s been 15 years. Did you think this …

VIENNA, Austria – Iran is quietly building a stockpile of thousands of high-tech small arms and other military equipment — from armor-piercing snipers’ rifles to night-vision goggles — through legal weapons deals and a U.N. anti-drug program, according to an internal U.N. document, arms dealers and Western diplomats. The buying …

MIAMI – Shaquille O’Neal’s (search) taste in breakfast cereals might be changing. The longtime fan of Frosted Flakes (search), which he once called “the best cereal ever created,” is the latest athlete to grace the cover of a Wheaties (search) box. The Shaq box, which features a picture of the …

WASHINGTON – Republicans who swear by the principle of states’ rights are having to make some exceptions when it comes to the Terri Schiavo (search) case, or reining in trial lawyers, protecting the sanctity of marriage and advancing the party’s other priorities. Capping medical malpractice payouts (search), putting in place …