CNN 2009-10-18（在线收听）

Three US service members, they've been killed in militant attacks in Afghanistan. And a statement from the International Security Force says two were killed in a roadside bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan, the other was hit by an explosion in southern Afghanistan.

Well, to Pakistan now, well,  they've had two bloody weeks of militant attacks. Well,  the country now has launched an assault on the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Civilians have been fleeing the area ahead of today's offensive. Army and intelligence sources say 28,000 troops are involved. This offensive is aimed at militant in South Waziristan, that's along the Afghan border. This comes after terrorist attacks over the past two weeks that killed over 175 people.

Hurricane Rick picking up some steam in the Pacific Ocean. The hurricane was just upgraded to a category four storm that happened about an hour ago. Look at this monster storm right here! It is carrying maximum sustained winds of 135 miles per hour. And it's about 250 miles southwest of Acapulco Mexico. We'll be following that for you closely.

A quick check, of some of the stories we are keeping an eye on here. Uh..Taking a bit longer to make that H1N1 vaccine than expected. About 30 million doses will be available this month. Now that's something. But that's about ten million fewer than expected because they are seeing some manufacturing delays.

The White House says we now have a 1.42-trillion-dollar deficit. We are in the trillions！That makes this fiscal year the worst since World War II.

Well！ add more happy news to that！ Around Christmas time, a lot of you want to travel. Thanksgiving and Christmas. Last minute deal is not coming to you from the airlines. At least according to travel experts, they say that unlike last year when airlines slashed fares after sharp drop in travellers. This year, ticket price is already on the rise. And not only will you pay more for a ticket, many airlines are also hitting you with this thing they made up called “a 10 dollar peak travel (sur)charge”.

A delay in holding elections in Iraq will not affect the scheduled withdrawal of US troops. The Pentagon plans to pull all combat troops out by August. Now that will leave 50,000 in advisory roles. And those troops will leave by the end of 2011. Washington's ambassador to Iraq says the Iraqi Parliament must come up with a new election law in order to hold elections in mid-January.