CNN 2009-02-16

I'm Asieh Namdar, at the CNN.com newsroom in Atlanta, here is a look at what's happening NOW IN THE NEWS.

The battle over the 787-billion-dollar stimulus¹ bill officially ends after President's Day. President Obama says he will sign the bill into law in Denver On Tuesday. He is calling the measure "a major milestone² in the recovery of the US economy." Administration officials say the President wants to get away from the politics of Washington and sign the bill in an area hit hard by the recession. They say Denver is a place that will see the bill's benefits in hiring workers.

US automakers' survival may depend on their race against time to meet the deadline. They have until Tuesday to submit restructuring plans proving they can repay billions of dollars in federal loans. If not, the government may let them fail. Under the original bailout deal, the automakers must make concessions³ with their labor⁴ union.

A former Hospital worker in New York is charged with murder after going on a shooting spree. The attacks happened early yesterday morning. Authorities say 34-year-old Frank Garcia gunned down 4 people at two different locations including the unthinkable - shooting a mother of two in front of her children.

Iraq is sending some plainclothes military members to protect Shiite pilgrims during their annual pilgrimage to Karbala. Some 5,000 of those military personnel were deployed⁵ south of Baghdad yesterday. At least 60 pilgrims were killed in bomb attacks during the past three days. So far no one has claimed responsibility but al-Qaeda and other extremists may be trying to re-ignite fighting between rival Sunni and Shiite groups.

Hillary Clinton will travel to Asia today. It's her first trip abroad as Secretary of State. Typically new Secretaries of State have made their initial overseas trip to Europe or the Middle East but she says the Obama administration wants to develop a broader and deeper relationship with Asia, a region that has felt overlooked by the United States. Clinton's itinerary⁶ includes Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and China.

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're on the go.

1 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

2 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

3 concessions   

n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权

参考例句：

• The firm will be forced to make concessions if it wants to avoid a strike. 要想避免罢工，公司将不得不作出一些让步。
• The concessions did little to placate the students. 让步根本未能平息学生的愤怒。

4 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

5 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

6 itinerary   

n.行程表，旅行路线；旅行计划

参考例句：

• The two sides have agreed on the itinerary of the visit.双方商定了访问日程。
• The next place on our itinerary was Silistra.我们行程的下一站是锡利斯特拉。