KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tim Donahue, executive chairman of the Sprint Nextel Corp.’s (S) board of directors, will step down Dec. 31, the company announced Tuesday without naming a replacement. Donahue, 57, was chief executive of Nextel before Sprint acquired the company last year for $35 billion, creating the nation’s …

NEW YORK – The government of Libya has reached an agreement with an American nonprofit group to provide inexpensive laptop computers for all of the nation’s 1.2 million schoolchildren, The New York Times reported Wednesday. With the project scheduled to be completed by June 2008, Libya could become the first …

SAN JOSE, Calif. – A shareholder lawsuit over Hewlett-Packard Co.’s (HPQ) ill-fated boardroom spying probe added claims of insider trading on Wednesday, alleging that executives sold millions of dollars in stock just before the scandal broke. The lawsuit, filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court on behalf of all HP …

WASHINGTON – President Bush tapped Florida Sen. Mel Martinez, a prominent Hispanic who previously served in the Cabinet, to assume the high-profile post of Republican National Committee general chairman. “He’s going to be an excellent spokesman for the Republican Party,” Bush said Tuesday. Martinez, 60, will remain in the Senate …

VEVEY, Switzerland – Nestle SA, the world’s largest foodmaker, may buy baby-food company Gerber Products from Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG (NVS) for as much as $5 billion, according to a published report. Novartis is already in negotiations to sell Nestle a medical-nutrition business and Nestle executives are interested in trying …

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – African, Arab, European and U.N. leaders agreed in principle Thursday to a joint African Union and United Nations peacekeeping force for Sudan’s Darfur region. The force could be as large as 27,000 troops, including the existing 7,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur, but the leaders …

DETROIT – Ford’s new Fusion model earned high marks from both Consumer Reports testers and consumers who rated its reliability, the magazine said in its 2007 new car preview, showing that U.S. automakers may be making strides in initial quality. Asian automakers once again dominated the closely watched reliability ratings, …

WASHINGTON – Former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby will not be allowed to use a memory expert at his perjury and obstruction trial, a federal judge ruled Thursday, blocking a key tactic in Libby’s defense strategy. Libby, who is accused of lying to investigators in the CIA leak …

This is a partial transcript from “The O’Reilly Factor,” November 6, 2006, that has been edited for clarity. Watch “The O’Reilly Factor” weeknights at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET and listen to the “Radio Factor!” BILL O’REILLY, HOST: In the “Impact” segment tonight, you may remember just over a …

NICKEL MINES, Pa. – Three of the five girls who survived being shot inside an Amish schoolhouse last month are back in school, two of them part time, and more than $3.2 million has been donated to help the survivors, a community group said Monday. Some of the money will …