BOGOTA, Colombia – Authorities discovered a submarine-like vessel Friday still under construction by drug traffickers (search) who planned to use it to smuggle cocaine, the head of Colombia’s secret police said. Eduardo Fernandez said the fiberglass submarine was nearly complete when police found it near the Pacific Ocean, in Tumaco, …

NEW YORK – Perjury charges against a government witness are grounds for a reversal of Martha Stewart’s conviction on charges of lying about a stock sale, her lawyer argued before a federal appeals court Thursday. Lawyer Walter Dellinger argued that — although government ink expert Larry Stewart was subsequently acquitted …

KIEV, Ukraine – President Viktor Yushchenko (search) confirmed Thursday that Ukraine’s troops will leave Iraq by the end of the year. “It will be by mid-October, but I don’t exclude that this date can be changed a little. But for sure our troops will leave Iraq this year,” Yushchenko said …

CHICAGO – Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) on Tuesday said fourth-quarter profit rose sharply, topping estimates, as revenue doubled at its casinos in Las Vegas and Macau, the island off the southeast coast of China. The company, which went public in December, said net income jumped to $69.3 million, or …

DETROIT – Kmart Holding Corp. (KMRT) on Wednesday said it posted a $309 million profit for the fourth quarter, a 14 percent increase over the previous year. The retailer, which in the coming weeks is expected to close its acquisition of Sears, Roebuck and Co. (S), saw its same-store sales …

BOSTON – The FBI admitted Saturday it accidentally gave classified documents back to the American translator who pleaded guilty to taking them from the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Ahmed Fathy Mehalba, who was released from jail earlier this month, contacted the FBI’s Boston office Tuesday after he …

JACKSON, Miss. – To hear one side tell it, African hair braiding (search) is an art passed down through generations, a form of expression that shouldn’t be hampered by bureaucratic licensing. The other side argues the practice needs to be regulated so braiders will learn to prevent the spread of …

NEW YORK – The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. (NDAQ) announced Monday a new service that will allow users of its system to trade New York Stock Exchange (search)-listed shares on the Nasdaq market. The new service, which the No. 2 U.S. stock market plans to launch in April pending approval …

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan – Kyrgyzstan’s new parliament held its first session as the country’s undisputed legislature Wednesday, but it was marred by delay and protests, underscoring the country’s political disorder since opposition protesters drove out President Askar Akayev (search) last week. The session began a day after Akayev said in an …

HOUSTON – Jurors began deliberations Monday on charges that Tyrone Williams (search) let more than a dozen illegal immigrants die in the back of his unventilated truck because he was greedy. Williams is accused of driving and abandoning a trailer at the center of the nation’s deadliest human smuggling attempt. …