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Hello, I’m Naamua Delaney at the CNN center in Atlanta. And here is a look at what’s happening NOW IN THE NEWS.

CEOs from Ford¹, Chrysler and General Motors are making their case for a 25- billion-dollar emergency loan. They want Congress to tap into the 700- billion- dollar Wall Street bailout approved last month. Many Republican critics point to financial mismanagement at the Big There and argue the companies don’t deserve any help. Most Democrats² disagree, saying the auto³ industry is too important to the overall economy to fail.

Treasury⁴ Secretary Henry Paulson says dipping into the government’s 700- billion- dollar financial bailout fund to rescue the auto industry is not a good idea. Still, Paulson says something should be done to help the Big Three because this is not a good time for an auto company to fail.

Carlifornia Governor Amold Schwarzenegger is urging President Bush to declare southern California a federal disaster area. Schwarzenegger says the state needs help cleaning up after wildfires burnt more than 65 square miles and destroyed almost 1000 homes. Fire fighters continue to take advantage of the dying Santa Anna winds and hope to have the wildfires under control in the next few days.

The U.S. Navy says pirates in the Gulf⁵ of Aden have seized another ship, this one a Hong Kong cargo⁶ vessel⁷. The latest attack comes just days after a crude oil tanker⁸ was seized far off the coast of Kenya. That area had been considered relatively⁹ safe until now. The company is now working to secure the release of the crew. The ship is filled with oil worth as much as 100 million dollars.

And in space, two astronauts are venturing outside space shuttle Endeavour. This will be the first in a series of spacewalks outside the international space station. During today’s spacewalk, two astronauts will focus on cleaning and lubricating the space station.

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