Thats as final arguments get under way as were speaking. The defense is claiming that the olympian could not have committed premeditated murder. Well take you live to south africa for reports. Also nearly half the country is under a wintry blast. Heres a live look this morning at wichita, kansas. Feet of snow in the heartland, tornado warnings in the gulf, snow blanketing the desert. Well tell you where that storm is going next. And then weve got breaking news this morning out of syria where 31 people are reported dead after a huge car bomb blast near the ruling partys headquarters. Well bring you the latest on that story as well. New overnight, five People Killed when a small plane runs off a runway. Were live on the seen in thompson, georgia, where investigators are trying to find out how it happened and who was on board. And president obama addresses that highly talked about golf match with tiger woods. Who does he think was more nervous . Its thursday, february 21st. Starting point begins right now. Welcome, everybodys. Happening right now, Oscar Pistorius possibly minutes away from a decision on his bail as he fights a charge of premeditated murder against him. Final arguments are under way. Its day three of the hearing. The defense is angling for a lesser charge than premeditated murder. They say if pistorius wanted to kill his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, he could have done it in the bedroom and not in the bathroom. Weve also learned that the lead investigator in the case is facing reinstated attempted murder charges for allegedly opening fire on a mini bus that was carrying seven people back in 2009. Allegedly he was under the influence of alcohol at the time. I want to get right to Nic Robertson whos live outside the court house in south africa to walk us through some of the latest turn of events in this case. Good morning, nic. Reporter good morning, soledad. Well, the defense are putting their case just after a lunch recess, a very short lunch recess here. The defense saying that the prosecution hasnt even put forward enough evidence so far to determine that there should even be a murder charge, never mind premeditated murder. They say theres no eyewitne eyewitnesses, that this is a forensic case. The magistrate earlier in the proceedings called on the chief police investigator, the one with these attempted murder charges hanging over his head, called him into the courtroom and asked him if he was happy speaking in english and he said yes, he was happy in english but no mention whatsoever of those pending charges on him. The prosecution reading from a magazine today, a magazine in which pistorius is quoted as saying that he lived several months of the year in italy, which is where he trains. The prosecution saying that this, transfeherefore, offers h somewhere to live in italy and heightens the possibility of his flight if given bail. So the proceedings still going on into the third day here. Nic robertson this morning. Thank you for the update. Also we want to update folks, nike says theyre going to suspend their contract with Oscar Pistorius. The deal was believed to be worth 2 million. An ad featuring pistorius with the words i am the bullet in the chamber. That was already pulled. Nike says we believe Oscar Pistorius should be afforded due process and we will continue to monitor the situation closely. Also hearing this morning from Reeva Steenkamps family. Theyre stunned, theyre grieving and all they want is the truth. Her cousin talked about piers morgan last night about the moment she heard the news that reeva had been killed. The last thing i expected and to me to this day its surreal. We turned around in this bumpertobumper traffic. We turned around and drove and i just remember thinking the whole time theres no way. Somebody is playing a joke. The radio guy is going to come on and say that this is a big joke. I want to begin ted simon this morning. Hes a criminal defense lawyer who has defended multiple clients not only here in the United States but also around the world. Its so nice to have you with us this morning. Nice to see you. Lets start with the question of bail. What are they considering now as we wait for them to come back with this information from the hearing . Obviously thats the critical question of the day. And its the Perfect Question to start because we must start looking at this case through the lens of a criminal defense lawyer in south africa and their system, because this is their system has some similarities to ours and many differences. We already know they dont have a jury system. But with regard to bail, the critical question is this. Normally theres a presumption of innocence and the question of proof beyond a reasonable doubt which they have there. The burden always stays in the prosecution, just like here. But in bail cases, and particularly in murder cases, the burden shifts to the defendant. In a murder case, its considered a schedule 5. A premeditated case is considered a schedule 6. So their goal is to move it from schedule 6 to schedule 5 as fast as possible. Absolutely. In addition to showing the person is not a flight risk and not a danger to the community or any person and not going to interfere with the prosecutions case, they also want to show its in the interests of justice, which is a lesser standard if its a schedule 5. But if its a schedule 6, premeditated murder, they must show exceptional circumstances. And that is why they offered an affidavit in the case that both showed he would not interfere with the prosecution, that he would not flee, he was not going to endanger anyone and also it was in the interest of justice and they sought to attack the premeditated nature of the case to drop it to a schedule 5. They also seem to be seeking to attack the investigator in the case. I tell you, there are shades of o. J. Simpson in all of this. Yes. And the investigator seems to be playing the role of mark fuhrman. They have highlighted a case of 2009 where he fired at seven people in a minivan. That case reinstated we found out last night. Why this tactic and does that influence a case . As we heard from Nic Robertson, its a forensics case. True. Even though these are true charges, you have to believe the prosecution had to be aware of the investigators background. They made the choice to have him be the lead investigator as opposed to anyone else. So it somehow affects the judgment in the case and may affect how they have charged the case. It certainly is not a good fact. How bad remains to be seen. The question in this case largely will be the forensics. But coming back to the affidavit, why did they do that . We cant look at that from the perspective of a u. S. Lawyer. They did it to specifically avoid him having to testify, be subject to cross examination, which all of which would have been available for the trial so he doesnt have to answer any questions . This is critical because if they didnt offer anything then they may not be able to undermine the premeditated nature of the allegation. Well obviously continue to talk about this case all morning and youre going to stick around with us, which we appreciate. Our other top story this morning, 30 Million People across the 18 states are now in the path of a powerful winter storm moving into the plains. The system is huge. Its literally an area about the size of mexico stretching from the dakotas all the way into texas. While it dumps snow in the north its also going to pour heavy rain over parts of the south and maybe even tornados along the gulf coast. Parts of kansas are looking at a foot and a half of snow. Several flights have already been cancelled out of Kansas City International airport. Were covering this extreme weather from lots of angles this morning. Erin mcpike is in wichita, kansas. Jennifer delgado is live at the cnn Weather Center in atlanta. Erin, lets start with you. Hows it looking . Reporter well, its not quite as heavy as it was last hour but its still pretty heavy. Weve seen snow plows go by here about six times in the last two hours and the roads are still covered. Also weve got this ruler, weve been measuring. About an hour ago it was 4 inches. Now were at 5 1 2. But soledad, heres the interesting thing about this storm. Were calling it a thundersnow. Theres thunder and lightning that goes along with it. I wish it would happen when im out here but i think weve got video, so lets play that video. I dont know if you can hear it. And thats why were calling it the blizzard of oz. Weve seen that a lot on twitter from some people in kansas, so we want to name this storm the blizzard of oz, soledad. I thought thundersnow was dramatic enough. Lets get right to jennifer d delgado on where the storm is going to head next. Right now we are watching the storm system and, soledad, this is awe huge one. You can see where all the wauchgz and advisories are extending from michigan all the way down towards texas but this is our triple threat. If you add in the future flooding potential, we could call this a quadruple threat. Were talking about snow where we saw our reporter, ice as well as the severe storms that will be setting up. Right now were already looking at some of those moving through texas as well as oklahoma. You see that lightning there . That shows you how strong the convection is with the storm. Thats why we saw that video of the thundersnow and well continue to see this potential as we go through the day. We are talking about 12 to 18 inches of snowfall through parts of kansas, nebraska and then a half inch to threequarter inch of Ice Accumulation for missouri and parts of arkansas. That could lead to power lines down as well as trees. Wow. That is a big massive area youve got there for us. Thanks, jennifer, appreciate it. Well keep monitoring that all morning. Following a developing story as well out of georgia where a plane that was carrying seven people has gone down. Christine has got that and also a look at the days top stories for us. Good morning. Good morning. Were getting our first look at the scene of a Small Plane Crash in georgia. Five people died. Two people injured when the jet overshot the runway at thompson mcduffy Regional Airport near augusta. Cnns Victor Blackwell is live in thompson, georgia. What do we know this morning . Reporter well, we know that the Sheriffs Office says his department didnt even know about the plane crash until they started to get calls about power outages. When they came to look at those lines, they found the plane, parts on fire stretched othver field and forest of about a mile. The first call from the faa said that it lran off the runway. The closest part of this plane is over a fourlane road, past an industrial building and 100 yards or more away. Theyre telling us that the ntsb will determine exactly what happened. We know that power to a lot of the businesses and a Technical College nearby is still out. That investigation from the faa will continue this morning now that the sun is up. We know that there are federal authorities on scene investigating. Were still trying to confirm who was on that plane. When we find that out, well bring it to you. Now back to you. Thanks, victor. An update now on a story thats been breaking in syria. A car bomb targeting the headquarters of syrias ruling party exploding in central damascus. Were now hearing 31 people were killed at the scene here. Ivan watson live in istanbul with the details. Good morning, ivan. Reporter good morning, soledad. Thats right. A series of deadly explosions in the heart of damascus, the first of them taking place within about 20 yards of one of the offices of the ruling baath party. If you look at the video airing on syrian state tv, its just terrifying. Dozens of cars it looks like hurled by the force of this massive blast. Syrian state tv is reporting at least 35 People Killed, more than 200 people wounded. There are several schools close to where this explosion went off. Weve been messaging with a resident who was nearby there and hes saying that the schools are ordering parents to come and bring their kids home to safety. This is only the first of several explosions. Not too far away in another neighborhood, at least one other car bomb being reported there by both syrian state media and opposition media sources near one of the offices of one of the Security Forces groups there. Then were also getting reports of possible clashes there between Syrian GovernmentSecurity Forces and rebels. So this is a very tumultous day here. Our first look capturing the moment a gas explosion and fire leveled a restaurant in kansas city. Look at this. Witnesses said it sounded like thunder, felt like an earthquake. One person was killed, more than a dozen others injured. Authorities say a utility construction crew severed a gas line leading to the massive explosion and of course fire investigators say you could smell the gas in the air in the moments before the explosion. A newly released 911 call from a shooting and carjacking spree in orange county, california, that left four people dead including the gunman. This man early Tuesday Morning when police say 20yearold ali sayed fatally shot a young woman in his parents home. His mother then frantically dialed 911. 911, whats your emergency . Yeah. I think somebody is shot. Take a deep breath and tell me whats going on, okay. Please come. Explain to me whats going on, please. I cant talk. Please come. Terrifying. Police say sayed committed three carjackings. He killed two drivers in the process. The rampage ended when sayed took his own life behind the wheel of a moving car. First on cnn, the armys aboutface on paula broadwell. Theyre revoking the promotion of David Petraeus former mistress. She had been approved for a promotion from major to Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserves but since the scandal broke, shes been under investigation for having classified information at home without permission. She will not get that promotion. Take a look at the new official white house portrait of first Lady Michelle obama. Everyone is talking about her hair. She first debuted the new bangs halftime month just in time for her husbands inauguration and heres her official portrait from 2009. Back then everyone was talking about those very nicely toned arms. Now we like the bangs and the arms. I guess we like the whole package. President obama speaking out about that round of golf with tiger woods. The commander in chief and the fourtime masters champion teed up sunday in florida. Tiger thought it was, quote, pretty cool and praised the president s short game. Mr. Obama, a little bit more impressed. He plays a different game than i do. Hes on another planet. Is he more nervous because hes playing with you or are you more nervous because youre playing with tiger woods . I dont think he was nervous. He knew that i wasnt a big threat to his world ranking. And i knew that i better keep by day job. The white house is still fielding complaints from the media for barring reporters and photographers from the president s golf outing. Theres some in washington still ticked off about that. Teed off, if you will. Ahead this morning on starting point, a possible break through in the Nuclear Negotiations with iran. World leaders reportedly ready to offer a new plan to convince iran to shut down a Nuclear Enrichment site. Then we look at Business News as well. Future video games, its here. Well look at the brand new playstation that was revealed. Ps4 reclaiming the glory days of playstation. With the spark miles card from capital one, bjorn earns unlimited rewards for his Small Business. Take these bags to room 12 please. [ garth ] bjorns Small Business earns double miles on every purchase every day. Produce delivery. [ bjorn ] just put it on my spark card. [ garth ] why settle for less . Ahh, oh [ garth ] great businesses deserve unlimited rewards. Heres your wake up call. [ male announcer ] get the spark Business Card from capital one and earn unlimited rewards. Choose double miles or 2 cash back on every purchase every day. Whats in your wallet . [ crows ] now wheres the Snooze Button . Welcome, everybody. Theres word this morning that six world powers, including the United States, have come up with a plan to coax iran into scrapping its nuclear program. Theyre going to presenting it to the iranians in talks next tuesday. Were told that theyre going to offer significant economic incentives in exchange for iran shutting down a uranium enrichment facility and surrendering its stockpile of enriched uranium. Elise labott has new details on this proposal. Reporter good morning. Well, sources are telling the partners are sweetening the pot from a deal they offered iran last year and are asking more of iran in return when they sit down next week in kazakhstan. So whats the deal . In exchange for easing the ban on the trade of gold and Precious Metals to iran and giving them some nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes, iran has to close down this enrichment plant and ship out the uranium that is already enriched to a pretty high level. The big concern here is that this facility is underground and the longer iran keeps running the plant and enriches youraniu there and stores it, it becomes more difficult to stop them from having enough material for a nuclear weapon. Iran has already rejected the plan, and my sources are saying expectations are pretty low for these talks. Iran has its elections coming up in june. No one really thinks that the iranians will want to be seen as making concessions to the west before then. But irans economy is really hurting because of these biting sanctions on their oil sector and central bank. Take a look at this. In the last year alone, the iranian currency has fallen 80 . So t