CNN news 2007-11-19 加文本

cnn 2007-11-19


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Hi, everyone! I’m Asieh Namdar, at the cnn Center in Atlanta. Here’s a quick look at what’s happening NOW IN THE NEWS.

A church pastor who witnessed one of the country’s worst hate crimes has died. The Rev. John Cross Jr. was a pastor of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama when it was bombed by Klansmen in 1963. 4 black girls were killed in that blast that became a turning point in the Civil Rights Movement. Cross was 82.

Relief efforts are underway to help victims of last week’s cyclone in Bangladesh. Two US aircraft carriers are on their way to the region. And the White House has promised more than a million dollars aid and additional support. Organizations say they are most concerned about food shortages, contaminated water and difficulties in getting supplies to the most damaged areas. The death toll has reached more than 2,000 people. Thousands more remain missing.

OPEC will begin investigating whether it should convert its cash reserves into something other than dollars. The idea was discussed at an OPEC Summit in Saudi Arabia this weekend. Oil prices are at an all-time-high but the declining dollar has some OPEC leaders concerned over future oil sales. Well, oil is priced in US dollars on the world market.

Broadway stagehands and producers are back at the bargaining table for what they hope is an encore performance. They are trying to end the walkout that has closed more than 2 dozen Broadway shows. The upcoming Thanksgiving holiday is usually one of the most lucrative periods on Broadway. Stagehands walked off the job last weekend in dispute over work rules and staffing issues.

And finally to Iran where a novel by a well-known Columbian writer is generating more interest than ever after it was banned. The book by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is called "Memories of My Melancholy Whores". It was published in Farsi as "Memoirs of My Melancholy Sweethearts and sold out in weeks. Iran’s Culture Ministry" has now banned a second edition saying a bureaucratic error led to the book’s Farsi publication. Copies of the book are now going for more than twice the original price that is if you can find it. Iran has tightened censorships on books, films and music since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to power 2 years ago.

And those are the headlines this hour. For more on these stories and other news of the day, cnn is your source online, on TV, or when you are on the go.