CNN 2009-01-01

Hope you're having a great day, I'm Nicole Lapin at the CNN Center in Atlanta. Here is our Now In The News update.

Israel's Prime Minister is vowing¹ that air strikes in Gaza will continue until Hamas militants² end rocket attacks against the Jewish nation. Israel has rejected a French call for a cease fire. It's not yet clear how or even if this figures into the Middle East conflict but someone shot two Israeli citizens at a mall in Denmark today. They're both gonna be okay, one was shot in the hand, the other in the leg. So far police do not have a suspect in custody³.

And Democratic congressional lawmakers say they won't accept any appointment made by the Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. The embattled governor says he is appointing former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris to President-elect Barack Obama's old Senate seat in Illinois. That of course is the very same seat that Blagojevich himself is accused of trying to sell or trade. The governor's critics say he should resign so his successor can be the one to appoint a new senator.

And the Tennessee sludge spill now has its first lawsuit⁴. A real estate developer has now filed a 165-million-dollar lawsuit against the Tennessee Valley Authority. The developer says the sludge spilled into their land and was badly damaged, causing two home sales to fall through. Billions of gallons of coal ash, of course, spill through this area after a broken dam occurred in Knoxville last week.

The party goers in New York's Time Square should get a better look at this new and improved crystal ball when it drops in this evening. As many as one million people are expected to be there in Time Square for tonight's celebration. The new ball has four times as many Waterford Crystal triangles compared to last year's ball along with more than 32, 000 lights.

Basketball great Charles Barkley has been arrested now on suspicion of drunken driving happened this morning. Police in Arizona say they stopped Barkley after he ran a stop sign. And Barkley declined to take a breath test then was taken to a police station in Scottsdale, that's where authorities administered a blood test. Barkley was cited for driving while impaired⁵ and then released.

And those are the headlines at this hour. For more on those stories and other news of the day, CNN is always your source, whether you are watching with us online, or on television. We've got you covered, take care.

1 vowing   

起誓，发誓（vow的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild its collapsed bridge. 布什总统承诺将帮助明尼阿波利斯重建坍塌的大桥。
• President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild this collapse bridge. 布什总统发誓要帮助明尼阿波利斯重建起这座坍塌的桥梁。

2 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

3 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

4 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

5 impaired   

adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Much reading has impaired his vision. 大量读书损害了他的视力。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• His hearing is somewhat impaired. 他的听觉已受到一定程度的损害。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》