story

This is a partial transcript from “The O’Reilly Factor,” October 9, 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: Now for the top story tonight, joining us from New York, …

NEW YORK – More than 650 economists, including five winners of the Nobel Prize for economics, called Wednesday for an increase in the minimum wage, saying the value of the last increase, in 1997, has been “fully eroded.” Economists including Nobel prize winners Kenneth Arrow of Stanford University, Lawrence Klein …

LOS ANGELES – The maker of software to thwart unauthorized online file-sharing has obtained technology that can scan video files and block computer users from making copies. Audible Magic Corp. said it plans to incorporate the technology it has licensed, dubbed Motional Media ID, into its suite of anti-piracy tools …

MANILA, Philippines – A small ferry capsized in rough waters in the southern Philippines on Saturday, leaving 14 passengers dead while 58 were rescued, a civil defense official said. The vessel, MB Leonida II, capsized in the waters off Surigao, about 444 miles southeast of Manila, said Blanche Gobenciong of …

VIENNA, Austria – St. Nick, nein! A ban on St. Nicholas at Vienna’s kindergartens is taking some of the ho-ho-ho out of the holidays for tens of thousands of tots this year. And it’s creating a political ruckus, with opposition parties accusing City Hall of kowtowing to a growing Muslim …

TEL AVIV, Israel – Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was taken Friday to an intensive care unit after his overall condition and heart function deteriorated, a spokesman for the hospital said Friday. Sharon, who has been in a coma since suffering a major stroke in January, contracted a new infection …

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Juvenile has been cleared in a lawsuit claiming the rapper was responsible for an off-duty police officer injuring her knee while trying to break up a mall fight involving the rapper in 1999. Following a weeklong trial, a six-member jury ruled in favor of the New Orleans-based …

BAGHDAD, Iraq – A mortar attack ignited a huge fire Monday night at an oil facility in northern Iraq, shutting the flow of crude oil to a major refinery, and a U.S. Air Force jet crashed in Anbar province, a hotbed of the Sunni-Arab insurgency, officials said. Al-Jazeera reported that …

PASADENA, Calif. – A racing tycoon accused in the slayings of legendary racer Mickey Thompson and his wife nearly three decades ago said he wanted to rip Thompson off in a business deal, a messenger said during testimony Tuesday. Stewart Linkletter, who said he worked for Goodwin as a messenger …

NEW YORK – Stocks fell Friday in thin trading, ending a shortened week quietly as the holiday shopping season began and attention turned to retailers and a steep decline in the dollar against other major currencies. The major stock indexes ended the week mixed, with only the Nasdaq composite index …