CNN news 2008-02-13 加文本

cnn 2008-02-13


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Good afternoon. I'm Naamua Delaney at the cnn Center in Atlanta. Here is a look at what's happening NOW IN THE NEWS.

You don't need to have a high cost subprime loan to get help with your mortgage. The Treasury Department has just announced a plan called Project Lifeline. It's available to at-risk borrowers with all types of mortgages. It will allow seriously overdue homeowners to suspend foreclosures to 30 days while lenders try to work out more affordable loan terms. The plan involves six of the largest mortgage lenders which service almost half of the nation's mortgages.

General Motors is offering a new round of buyout packages for 74,000 employees. It's entire US hourly workforce. The plan comes as the nation's largest automaker announced record losses for last year, nearly 39 billion dollars.

The road to the White House leads to the heart of the nation's political power today. Polls are open for presidential primaries in Washington, Maryland and Virginia. A total of 168 delegates are at stake. Democrat Barack Obama is hoping to build on momentum he gained with victories over the weekend against Hillary Clinton. And Republican John McCain wants to maintain the big advantage he grabbed in last week's Super Tuesday contest while Mike Huckabee hopes to stay in the race.

Closing arguments have wrapped up in Canton Ohio in Bobby Cutts Jr.'s murder trial. The former police officer is accused of killing his pregnant girlfriend Jessie Davis last June. In tearful testimony yesterday, he said he elbowed her in the throat and she fell, but he didn't mean to hurt her. Prosecutors say Cutts was angry over mounting child support and strangled her. He's pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges.

Russia and Ukraine seemed to have resolved their latest dispute over energy resources. Russian gas monopoly Gazprom was threatening to cut off supplies to Ukraine if it failed to pay 1.5 billion dollars in debt. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Victor Yushchenko have announced that they reached an agreement both on paying the bill and on the coming year's gas prices.

Well, those are the headlines this hour. Stay with cnn for more on these stories and the other news of the day.