CNN news 2008-10-30 加文本

Hello I'm Naamua Delaney at the cnn Center in Atlanta and here's a look of what's happening NOW IN THE NEWS.

The candidates are fighting for battlegrounds with less than a week to go until the General election. At a rally in Miami John McCain kept pushing his economic policy saying he is running to create more wealth while Obama is running to punish the successful. Republican VP pick Sarah Palin is also on the battleground trail in Ohio. The Democratic ticket is bringing big names into their fight for battlegrounds. Former President Bill Clinton speaks today in Pennsylvania. Barack Obama and Joe Bidden also on the trail in swing states like North Carolina and Florida.

The Fed is expected to cut interest rates today. This would be the Fed's second cut this month and could impact lending rates for millions of consumer loans. On October 8th its benchmark rate was lowered to 1.5 percent.

At least 160 people are dead and thousands are homeless after a powerful earthquake shakes southwest Pakistan. The quake measured 6.4 and struck remote villages near the Afghan border. Rescuers are digging for survivors and expect the death toll to rise. One local official says not a single house is intact.

Nebraska's governor is calling a special session of the legislature to change the state's safe haven law. This move comes as two more teenagers were abandoned at hospitals last night. One a 15-year-old girl left at a hospital, the other a 17-year-old boy left in a Lincoln Hospital. One attorney says 23 kids, 12 of them teens, have been abandoned over the last two months. The special session is expected to begin November 14th.

The former mayor of Detroit is spending the first afternoon of his jail sentence today. A judge sentenced Kwame Kilpatrick to four months yesterday. The Democrat pleaded guilty to lie under oath to keep a secret his affair with the former Chief of Staff. Kilpatrick must also pay the city one million dollars by the end of his five years of probation. (WWw.hxen.net)

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

Vocabulary:

safe haven law: 规定父母在孩子出生的72小时内，可以将新生儿遗弃在警察局、消防队或者医院，当事人可以不负任何法律责任。