CNN 2008-07-08

Hello, I'm Brooke Baldwin at the CNN Center in Atlanta. And here is a look at what's happening NOW IN THE NEWS.

Travel trouble for Senator Barack Obama just this afternoon. His plane was diverted to St. Louis after experiencing mechanical problems during take-off from Chicago. The Democratic presidential candidate was on his way to a campaign event in Charlotte, North Carolina when all this happened. That event has been postponed 1. Meantime Republican presidential candidate John McCain is taking his campaign to Denver where he'll talk up his economic policies at a town hall a little later this afternoon. McCain is expected to acknowledge the huge loss of jobs and convince voters his tax cut plans will help stimulate 2 US economy.

A series of explosions have rocked (to) the southern Pakistani city of Karachi. Officials say at least one person was killed, 30 injured in those blasts. The explosion comes just one day after a suicide bomber 3 killed 17 people in an attack on a rally in the capital city of Islamabad. Most of those victims were police officers. The bombing happened on the one year anniversary of a military siege on the nearby Red Mosque 4. Thousands of people had gathered nearby to mark that anniversary date.

To London now where people are observing the third anniversary of the attack on the city's public transit 5 system by suicide bombers 6. Hundreds gathered today (at) one of the underground rail stations that was targeted. Some people laid flowers to honor those victims. Fifty two commuters were killed when four suicide bombers blew themselves up on three underground tubes or trains, and a double-decker bus at the height of London's morning rush hour.

And the first hurricane of the Atlantic hurricane season could be a Category 2 storm by late this afternoon. You are looking live at pictures. That storm is heading closer and closer to the Caribbean. Right now Bertha's top sustained winds are at least 90 miles an hour. The storm is moving slowly and forecasters say that will help it strengthen as it moves closer to the US. It is still too early to tell though if or when it might make landfall.

In California, cooler air is helping 7 firefighters gain ground there. Hundreds of evacuees 8 are back home. Wildfires burning around Big Sur and even farther south down in Santa Barbara County though are far from out. Almost 20,000 firefighters are battling 330 active wildfires across the state of California.

And those are just some of the headlines you are watching free here at CNN. Stay with CNN for more on those stories and other news of this day.