Code:
on *:text:%addnews:#:{
  if ($istok(%friend,$nick,32)) {
    var %ticks = $ticks
    .timer.kill.addnews. [ $+ [ $nick $+ . $+ [ %ticks ] ] ]  1 5 .timer.addnews. [ $+ [ $nick $+ . $+ [ %ticks ] ] ] off
    ;
    ;
    set -u7 %news. [ $+ [ $nick $+ . $+ [ %ticks ] ] ] $2-
    .timer.addnews. [ $+ [ $nick $+ . $+ [ %ticks ] ] ]       1 6 write NEWS.TXT % $+ news. [ $+ [ $nick $+ . $+ [ %ticks ] ] ]
    ;^ this adds news to the NEWS.TXT file in 6 seconds
  }
}


Just thought about this, and the above code is safer as $2- well be preservered in the variable, this closes a security gap with passing unknown contents in a timers parameters.