Wikinews:Briefs/April 11, 2006

Audio Wikinews Transcript, 2006-04-11 0900 UTC

Hello and welcome to Audio Wikinews Newsbriefs, at 0900 UTC, April 11, 2006.

Headlines

A couple of breaking news stories at this hour.

Israeli PM Ariel Sharon declared 'permanently incapacitated'

The Israeli Cabinet has declared Prime Minister Ariel Sharon “permanently incapacitated,” formally ending his tenure as Prime Minister. Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is currently in negotiations to form a coalition government after parliamentary elections last March, is expected to be named as Sharon’s permanent replacement.

Prodi claims victory in Italian election; Berlusconi refuses to concede

Italian opposition leader Romano Prodi is declaring victory in parliamentary elections held on Sunday and Monday. Preliminary results show Prodi’s center-left coalition with a slim majority in the lower house. However, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has refused to concede, since the results of the upper house have yet to be determined. Italian law requires the prime minister to have the support of both houses of Parliament.

France to replace controversial youth worker law

In other news, French President Jacques Chirac has announced that the new youth job law that has fueled protests for the past few weeks is to be replaced by other measures to attack unemployment amongst young adults. Students and unions protested the new law, which would have given employers the freedom to fire youth workers under the age of 26 without reason during a two-year "trial period". The prospect had sparked somewhat violent protests across the country in the past two months.

Closing Comments

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