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Hello from the CNN center here in Atlanta, I'm Melissa Long. It is a Monday afternoon. Here's a look at some stories happening NOW IN THE NEWS.

President-elect Obama is meeting in Chicago with his former opponent Senator John McCain at this hour. It is the first-face-to-face meeting since their last debate a few weeks before the election. Obama and McCain are set to discuss cooperation between a new White House and the Senate. Also attending that meeting, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina and a McCain confidante, and Democratic congressman¹ Rahm Emanuel whom Obama has tapped as the new White House chief of staff.

Massachusetts Senator Ted² Kennedy is back at the Capitol following a treatment for a brain tumor³. He had surgery in June followed by radiation chemotherapy. The 78-year-old Democratic Senator says he's looking forward to getting back to work.

The Security and  Exchange Commission has filed insider trading charges against entrepreneur and Dallas Mavericks's owner Mark Cuban. The SEC accuses him of selling 600,000 dollars, excuse me, 600,000 shares of stock in an internet search engine company based on non-public information concerning an impending⁴ stock offering. The SEC claims Cuban avoided losing $750,000 by doing so. No comment yet from Cuban who has owned the NBA team since 2000. He also co-founded a cable television network HDNet.

Citigroup is cutting more than 50,000 jobs. It's already cut 23,000 over the last four quarters. This will leave Citigroup with about 300,000 employees. The struggling financial services company has lost more than 20 billion dollars and its stock is down about 68% so far this year.

The Senate considers a 25-billion-dollar bailout for the automakers today. General Motors, Ford⁵ and Chrysler argue the help is essential to help save their companies. Some lawmakers argue the industry doesn't deserve a bailout, should be allowed to fail. President-elect Barack Obama supports saving the automakers while President Bush has been critical of a blanket bailout.

And those are the headlines making news at this hour. Do stay with CNN and CNN.com for more on these stories or other news of today.