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Hello to you, I'm Creshon Saunders at the CNN.com Newsroom in Atlanta. Here is a look at what's happening NOW IN THE NOWS.

Israel is pounding Gaza with airstrikes for a second day in a row. Hamas militants¹ are the target and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says the airstrikes could continue for some time. Hamas’s repeated rocket attacks into southern Israel prompted the Israelis into responding. Palestinian sources say at least 277 people have been killed.

One of the three members of the group Al-Qaeda in Iraq who escaped from a Ramadi jail Friday is dead, the other two men were rearrested early Sunday morning. The three are believed to be the masterminds behind the jailbreak. Forty prisoners escaped in the incident. Most of them have been recaptured.

The Iraqi government has given the final approval to a plan to keep non-U.S. foreign troops in Iraq past the U.N. mandate². That mandate expired Thursday. Iraq already approved a plan for US troops to remain there.

“Barack, the magic Negro, lives in DC. The L.A. Times, they called him that cause’ he is not authentic³ like me.”

All right, I wanna let you know that's former Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Chip Saltsman's idea of satire⁴. It is a song called "Barack the Magic Negro". The song and Saltsman are now both getting a lot of flacks from Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan. Duncan says the tune⁵ is appalling⁶. The song is on a parody⁷ CD Saltsman sent to fellow RNC members. Saltsman is currently vying⁸ for a top post within the RNC.

Those are the headlines at this hour. For more on these stories and other news of the day, CNN is your source, online, on TV, even when you are on the go.

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收听单词发音

1 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。

2 mandate
n.托管地；命令，指示
参考例句：
The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。 The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

3 authentic
a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的
参考例句：
This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。 Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。

4 satire
n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品
参考例句：
The movie is a clever satire on the advertising industry.那部影片是关于广告业的一部巧妙的讽刺作品。 Satire is often a form of protest against injustice.讽刺往往是一种对不公正的抗议形式。

5 tune
n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整
参考例句：
He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。 The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

6 appalling
adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的
参考例句：
The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions.恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。 Nothing can extenuate such appalling behaviour.这种骇人听闻的行径罪无可恕。

7 parody
n.打油诗文，诙谐的改编诗文，拙劣的模仿；v.拙劣模仿，作模仿诗文
参考例句：
The parody was just a form of teasing.那个拙劣的模仿只是一种揶揄。 North Korea looks like a grotesque parody of Mao's centrally controlled China,precisely the sort of system that Beijing has left behind.朝鲜看上去像是毛时代中央集权的中国的怪诞模仿，其体制恰恰是北京方面已经抛弃的。

8 vying
adj.竞争的；比赛的
参考例句：
California is vying with other states to capture a piece of the growing communications market.为了在日渐扩大的通讯市场分得一杯羹，加利福尼亚正在和其他州展开竞争。 Four rescue plans are vying to save the zoo.4个拯救动物园的方案正争得不可开交。