attack. one person has been killed by gunfire in daraa. the group says three members of the government s security forces were also killed in clashes with army defectors. business leaders in los angeles is preparing to roll out the red carpet for the man expected to become china s next president. xi jinping arrives in california for a two-day visit hosted by state governor jerry brown. visit will include a tour of the port of los angeles, china shipping terminal, which is undergoing an upgrade as sign of u.s. trade continues to grow. those are the headlines from cnn, the world s news leader. i m monita rajpal. world business today starts right now. good morning from cnn london, i m nina dos santos. and good afternoon from cnn hong kong, i m andrew stevens and you re watching world business today. the top stories this thursday, february 16th. the accounting scandal surrounding olympus escalates. seven arrests are made regarding the billion dollar fraud of the jab
the first prime minister has been indicted. mr. gilani entered a plea of not guilty. the court demanded he ask swiss authorities to revive corruption charges against president zardari and others. an autopsy of whitney houston has revealed no signs of foul play but could take eight weeks to get toxicology result. attempts of resuscitation failed on sunday after she was found unconscious in the bathroom of her hollywood hotel room. those are the world headlines. i m monita rajpal. world business today starts right now. good morning, from cnn london, i m nina dos santos. and very good afternoon from cnn hong kong, i m manisha tank. amid anger on athens streets, politicians try to pull greece back from the brink, approving a new round of deep spending cuts that may help the country head off a messy default. rupert murdoch to the rescue. the news corp. chief flies into london while journalists at his best-selling british tabloid are arrested. and friends and colleagues
greece passes next year s budget. it is packed with tax increases and spending cuts which are required to secure bailout funds. the budget cuts, the deficit pushes the deficit to 5.24 gdp, down from 9%. ahead of the u.s. 2012 election campaign, u.s. president barack obama says the middle class needs to step up to the plate. he called for more taxes on the wealthy. those are the top stories from cnn, i m monita rajpal. world business today starts right now. hello and welcome to your wednesday edition of world business today. i m andrew stevens in hong kong. i m nina dos santos in london. these are the top stories today. adding more fire power to the bailout fund. anticipation builds for lasting in europe ahead of the crucial summit. india shelves plans to open up its supermarket sector. and the immaculate rejection, ebay auction for a date with the virgin mary. this very wednesday word is out that they re ready to use all they can to add to their arsenal in
just as it began. will he stay or will he go? that s the big issue in the birth place of democracy as the greek prime minister, george papandreou and his government faces a crucial confidence vote in parliament later today. the outcome of the vote may have seemed a bit predictable just 24 hours ago. now it seems it s far from certain. after mr. papandreou backed away from a referendum on a debt deal he announced days earlier. all of this comes as leaders of the g20 are gathered. it s sure to be dominated with talk about gross s future and the escalating crisis that s gripping the euro zone. relief surrounding that possible aboutturn on the greek referendum is moving stocks but also the bond markets, because ten-year greek bonds are down just a little bit today, still yielding around 2 %. let s go live to athens where we can join jim bolden. the day is young over there in the greek capital. let s have a quick look at what we could see coming out of greece and this confidence v