Wikinews:Briefs/January 5, 2007

The time is 10:00 (UTC) on Friday January 5, 2007, and this is Audio Wikinews News Briefs.

Headlines

United States Navy ordered to Somalian coast

United States

The United States Navy has been ordered to the Somalian coastline in an attempt to stop Islamic Militants who are part of the Union of Islamic Courts, from escaping the country. "We...are going to be working closely with states in the region to ensure that these individuals aren't able to transit those borders and exit Somalia," said a spokesman for the U.S. State Department.

Pelosi named new Speaker of the House

United States

Californian Democrat Nancy Pelosi has been named the 60th United States Speaker of the House at the age of 66. She is the first female House speaker in United States history. The opening of the Congress in 2007 marks the first time in a dozen years that the Democrats have control of the entire Congress.

Report: 50,000 American casualties in Iraq

United States

As the U.S. military hit a grim milestone this week of 3,000 deaths in Iraq, the online magazine AlterNet reported on Thursday that another marker had been reached there sometime in December: 50,000 U.S. casualties, including deaths, wounds and injuries. The figure comes from more than 22,000 wounded in combat and more than 24,000 either injured in accidents or who became too ill to fight.

Canadian PM cabinet shuffle results

Canada

Canadian PM Stephen Harper has shuffled his cabinet yesterday. The major change with this shuffle is Rona Ambrose, Minister of Environment, being replaced by Treasury Board President John Baird. Ambrose is the new intergovernmental affairs minister.

FBI details chief justice's prescription drug trouble

United States

The FBI has released files according to which former U.S. Chief Justice William Rehnquist suffered paranoid delusions in 1981 during withdrawal from a dependence on prescription painkillers.

Record low amount of organs donated in New Zealand

New Zealand

Figures released today show that the amount of organs donated by New Zealanders in 2006 have decreased by four to the new record low amount of 25.

Closing statements

We invite you to visit wikinews.org for more details on these and other news reports. This has been Audio Wikinews Newsbriefs. Thank you for listening, and enjoy the rest of your day.

This recording has been released under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License