AP美联社一分钟新闻 2008-10-22（在线收听）

1. More moves from the Federal Reserve to break through a credit clog. The central bank announcing it will buy commercial paper--short-term funding companies rely on for day-to-day expenses. All of this to stimulate lending and stop a deep economic slowdown.

2. A relative says Barack Obama's 85-year-old grandmother broke her hip recently and is "gravely ill". She helped to raise Obama. The candidate will take a break from the campaign trail and visit her in Hawaii.

3. Low-key talks between the US and Russia in Finland, the highest-level meeting between the two since Russia's war with US ally Georgia. Discussion topics include Afghanistan, the Black Sea region and Georgia.

4. In Russia, brown bears get ready to return to the wild from this rehab center formed to help rescue orphan bear cubs. Some three thousand cubs go homeless every year during hunting season.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. clog: n.

An obstruction or hindrance.

2. commercial paper: n. 商业票据

Short-term, unsecured, discounted, and negotiable notes sold by one company to another in order to satisfy immediate cash needs.

3. low-key: adj.

If you say that something is low-key, you mean that it is on a small scale rather than involving a lot of activity or being made to seem impressive or important.