Wikinews:Briefs/August 27, 2005

Audio Wikinews transcript – 2005 08 27 – 1100 UTC

The time is 1100 UTC on Saturday 27th August, and this is Audio Wikinews: News Briefs.

Hurricane Katrina strikes Florida, kills seven
As hurricane Katrina moves beyond the Floridian peninsula, death tolls are beginning to surface. On Friday, the official count was seven dead, at least five missing. The forecast for Hurricane Katrina predicts that it will continue on its present northwesterly course and approach the panhandle of Florida and the Mississippi delta region in the next few days.

Katrina was downgraded to a tropical storm as it made landfall on Friday in southern Florida's Miami and Fort Lauderdale metropolitan areas.

Katrina turned back into a hurricane with winds of 100 miles per hour - or 160 kilometres per hour - when it reached the warmer Gulf of Mexico waters.

World Health Organization declares tuberculosis emergency in Africa
A World Health Organization committee comprising 43 African health ministers has declared a tuberculosis emergency in the continent.

The number of Tb cases in African countries per year has quadrupled since 1990, and continues to rise. Now 540,000 people die of the disease in Africa every year.

The only more deadly disease in the world is HIV/AIDS.

UK study claims men more intelligent than women
In a study accepted for publication by the British Journal of Psychology, Dr. Paul Irwing (Senior Lecturer in Organizational Psychology at Manchester Business School) and Prof. Richard Lynn (of the University of Ulster) conclude that men are on average five points ahead of women on IQ tests. The study also found that men outnumbered women in increasing numbers as intelligence levels rise. There were twice as many with IQ scores of 125, a level typical for people with first-class degrees. When scores rose to 155, a level associated with genius, there were 5.5 men for every woman.

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