CNN 2008-11-14

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Hello, I'm Melissa Long here at the CNN Center in Atlanta, Thursday, Nov. 13th. Here a look at some of the stories happening Now In The News.

The economy seems to be going from bad to worse. New figures show more than half a million of people filing for unemployment claims last week, all of whom were the first time filers. That's the highest level since the September 11th terrorist attack seven years ago. We're also seeing a big jumping foreclosures, almost 85,000 homes lost to foreclosure last month, more than a quarter of a million borrowers received foreclosure filings like bank repo and auction¹ notices.

The Ford² Motor Corporation is taking drastic measures to deal with a massive sales drop. Bloomberg reports the auto³ maker⁴ will temporarily shut down 9 of its North American plants during this quarter. The shortest closures will be for a week, while plants in Minnesota and Kentucky will be closed for the entire month of December.

A suicide bomber⁵ has killed a U.S. soldier and seven civilians⁶ in eastern Afghanistan. The U.S. military says 75 others were injured when that bomb went off in a busy market place this morning. Officials say it appeared the terrorist had intended to ram⁷ its vehicle into a U.S. military convoy⁸ but swerved⁹ and hit the market instead.

John McCain returning to the campaign trail to help out fellow Senator Georgia's Saxby Chambliss. The incumbent¹⁰ Republican faces a runoff next month against Democrat¹¹ Jim Martin. Neither candidate got the required 50% plus one in last week's election. McCain won Georgia by a comfortable margin¹² in the general election but Republicans feel his presence in the state could certainly be a big help to Senator Chambliss.

And early this week, President-elect Barack Obama got that White House tour. Today is Vice¹³ President-elect Biden's turn to see his future home. Biden and his wife Jill are getting to see their new home at the invitation of Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife Lynne. The Cheneys host Bidens for dinner this evening, as well as they look around the vice president's residence at the Naval¹⁴ Observatory¹⁵.

And those the headlines making news this hour, do stay with CNN and CNN.com for more on these stories or other news of the day.