Wikinews:Briefs/July 18, 2006

The time is 23:00 (UTC) on July 18th, 2006 and this is Audio Wikinews News Briefs.

Headlines

Death toll rises in Indonesian tsunami

Indonesia

Relief officials have said that at least 341 people have been killed by a tsunami which hit the Indonesian island of Java on Monday, July 17th, afternoon. An underwater earthquake, which measured 7.7 on the Richter scale, triggered the two-metre-high tidal wave.

Discovery lands at Kennedy Space Centre

United States

Space shuttle Discovery landed at Cape Canaveral at 13:14 UTC yesterday. It returned after a thirteen day mission to the International Space Station.

Harvard lawyer who advises IDF asked about "rules of engagement" in 2004

Canada

Michael Byers, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of British Columbia, revealed in Sunday's Toronto Star that while he was in Tel Aviv in 2004, he met with a lawyer who advises the Israel Defence Force about rules of engagement Scenarios which were unfolding were discussed.

Commerce Commission fines BNZ $5 million

New Zealand

The New Zealand Commerce Commission has fined the Bank of New Zealand. It has been forced to pay NZ$5 million [five million New Zealand dollars] in compensation to its customers, $500,000 [five hundred thousand dollars] in fines and $80,000 [eighty-thousand dollars] in costs to the Commerce Commission. The money will be placed into a bank account to be monitored by an auditor, and if there is any money left over it will be donated to a consumer organization.

Light aircraft makes emergency landing in major industrial estate

United Kingdom

BBC Wales and iPTV station, VTV are reporting that a light aircraft made an emergency landing at 13:00 BST, at Treforest Industrial Estate, near Cardiff, south Wales.

Heatwave sweeps USA, many struggling to keep cool

United States

Temperatures as high as 44 °C [Celsius degrees] or 111 °F [Fahrenheit degrees] have hit the US today, a continuation of Monday's triple-digit record Fahrenheit highs in some areas.

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