CNN 2008-01-27

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I'm Asieh Namdar at the CNN.com news room in Atlanta. Here is a look at what is happening NOW IN THE NEWS.

The polls are open in South Carolina. It is the first southern state to hold the Democratic primary this year. And the stakes are high for all the candidates. A loss in the state would be devastating¹ for Southern Carolina native John Edwards. Hillary Clinton is hoping for yet another victory after consecutive² wins in New Hampshire and Nevada. And the state, once a conservative opponent of civil rights, could be fertile ground for Barack Obama's brand of politics. Republicans would hold their next primary Tuesday in Florida.

In Chicago, an autopsy³ is planned today on the body of a woman found at an industrial site. The badly decomposed⁴ body was discovered yesterday near train tracks on the city's south side. The discovery has sparked speculation⁵ that remains⁶ could be those of Stacy Peterson who disappeared last October. Peterson's husband Drew who is a former Illinois police sergeant⁷ is suspected in her disappearance⁸.

Three people are dead and at least one person is still missing after avalanches⁹ in California San Gabriel Mountains. The latest victims were found by searchers this morning. Also today, a snowboarder who spent last night on the mountain was found unharmed. The avalanches follow several days of storming weather in California. Warmer temperatures would bring rain to the area today, but by tomorrow, heavy snow will be falling again. That snow would come from a new system that would bring heavy rain to southern part of the state.

He is accused in what may be the biggest case of bank fraud ever committed by single person. Futures¹⁰ trader Jerome Kerviel is being questioned by police in Paris. A French bank says the 31-year-old used fraudulent transactions to hide more than 7 billion dollars in losses. Police are also at the bank's headquarters, investigating the bank's potential role in the scandal and cleaning up a possible insider trading.

An American woman and her driver have been kidnapped in Afghanistan. The State Department says the woman and her driver were abducted¹¹ on the outskirt of Kandahar. The woman was identified as a worker for the Asian Rural Life Development Foundation which is based in the Philippines.

And those are the headlines this hour. For more on these stories and other news of the today, CNN is your source online on TV or when you are on the go.