CNN 新闻在线听 (2008-3-31)

Good afternoon everyone. I am Creshon Saunders at the CNN.com newsroom in Atlanta. Here is a look at what’s happening NOW IN THE NEWS.

Authorities say none of the five passengers aboard a small plane survived after it crashed into a residential area just southeast of London. Authorities say the private plane crashed into a neighborhood called Broadwater Gardens. The nearby airport is used mostly by private aircraft.

Shiite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr is calling on his followers to end the violent clashes in the country and cooperate with the Iraqi security forces. In exchange for the ceasefire, Al-Sadr wants the government to grant amnesty to his followers and release members of his Mehdi Army militia. Iraq’s government says it welcomes the move, but hasn’t formally agreed to Al-Sadr’s terms. Government forces have been fighting Al-Sadr’s Shiite militia since Tuesday. More than 400 people have been killed.

On the campaign trail today, John McCain is in Mississippi. He kicks off a biographical tour from there tomorrow. The campaign says it’s a chance for McCain to reintroduce himself to voters. Hillary Clinton takes a break from campaigning after stops yesterday in Kentucky and Indiana. Bill Clinton is on the trail. He will be in California and Oregon. And Barack Obama holds more rallies today in Pennsylvania. He is on a bus tour through the state. The Pennsylvania primary is April 22nd.

Hundreds of thousands of people across the globe hit the switch and turned off the lights this weekend as part of Earth Hour. The global campaign kicked off in Australia, but people were in the dark from Europe to the US and Canada. The aim was to shine the spotlight on climate change and to prove that turning off the lights for even an hour can make a big difference. Earth Hour organizers were hoping that one hundred million people would turn off the lights for an hour.

Just in time for the Olympics, the Beijing Zoo’s panda population is about to double. Eight new pandas were picked by an online vote to be sent to the zoo from a breeding center in southern China. 

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.