The time is 19:00 (UTC) on July 16th, 2006, and this is Audio Wikinews News Briefs.

Lebanon
The international nature of the crisis between Israel, Lebanon and Hezbollah was discussed in an emergency summit of the Arab League in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, and by Group of Eight leaders in St Petersburg, Russia, Sunday.

Iraq
The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that a British soldier has died after a mission in the northern area of Basra in Iraq.

United Kingdom
Lord Hattersley, the former deputy leader of the Labour party, has said Tony Blair should stand down as British Prime Minister in September.

United States
North Carolina Governor Mike Easley signed into law a new minimum wage for the U.S. state Thursday. The increase of $1 will raise the rate to $6.15. Easley said that the new law will make it easier for North Carolinians to deal with the rising cost of living. The new law will become effective on January 1 next year. This is the first raise to the North Carolina minimum wage in nearly nine years.
A heat wave in the upper Midwest has people trying to stay cool, while the National Guard is activated by Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty to fight a new wildfire in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

sports – Formula 1
Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher won the FIA Formula-1 French Grand Prix on the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours. Renault driver Fernando Alonso overreached his teammate Felipe Massa due to a different pit-stop strategy (2 instead of 3 for Ferrari's) and finished second. Massa was only third.

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Wikinews:Briefs/July 16, 2006