bales is the suspect in the killing deaths of afghan civilians. there's no explanation so far why he could face 17 murder charges. bales is being held in a military prison in the u.s. the u.s., france, and other countries are condemning the overthrow of the government in mali. there's been no sign of mali's president since renegade soldiers staged the coup on thursday. the borders are closed. those are the top stories from cnn, the world's news leader. i'm zain verjee and "world business today" starts now. good morning, from cnn london, i'm nina dos santos. and good afternoon from cnn hong kong, i'm andrew stevens. you're watching "world business today." and the top stories this friday, march the 23rd. the u.s. president talks up his energy policies throwing his support behind part of a controversial oil pipeline. hong kong's top job goes to a vote this weekend, but a string of scandals has turned this election on its head. and fans line up for "the hunger games." investors bet big on the blockbuster. okay. we are just a few minutes into the european trading day now and we'll get the numbers in just a moment when they settle. first let's take a look at how the asian markets closed out the week. it was a sea of red as you can see there. australia really dodging any major move there. virtually flat the at the end. the biggest weekly decline for the year, for the whole of asia as a group, that's according to the msci, morgan stanley capital index, down nearly 2% for the week. now why? it's all about export numbers and about industrial production. factory output. you had the numbers coming out from both china yesterday and from germany, the world's two biggest exporting nations, talking about factory orders weekening. the nikkei logging its biggest one day percentage fall in two months. a lot of that was related to germany. europe is a key export market for japan obviously. the nikkei, as i said, down by one. still at the 10,000 yen level. hong kong down by a little more than 1%. shanghai down by 3% for the week. just a quick number to tell you about, china agricultural bank, that is the third biggest bank in china, reporting this day an unexpected drop in profits. one other stock to tell you about is the fox con. it is the world's biggest contract manufacturer of cell phones. it swung its net profits, they shifted to hiring smart phones. the company that assembles apple's ipad and iphone boasting profits of more than $70 million doubling forecasts by analysts. in 2010 foxconn had profits of more than $200 million. foxconn stock zpiet the overall fall up by 1% today. andrew, let's look at how the european markets are doing. they've only just hoped. a bit of a mixed picture as you can see. the cac, 1% underneath the flat line. the ftse doing okay. the dax hovering on the flat line. one thing we are focusing on very heavily on in "world business today" is the rising price of fuel and with those rocketing fuel prices right around the world, the cost of crude is still under close scrutiny by many an investor these days. this commodity has been dropping throughout the course of this week as concerns over consumer demand rise. also we've had fears over supply subsiding. right now this is the price of n nymex crude. it's up to the tune of 46 cents on the barrel trading at $105.81. must point out, it's down from a peak of $108 just on monday's session. at the center of the american fuel price concern is the keystone xl pipeline. this is a proposal that would link canada's oil fields with u.s. refineries on the u.s. gulf coast of mexico. president obama has been blocking so far the full project in its entirety, but on thursday what he did do is he did fast track approval of a key section of this pipeline, namely between oklahoma and texas. that move was part of a tour to pub bli size his energy policies. republican critics argue that more production is required to lower the prices at the gas pums. they say it's done little to expaid yat a plan already scheduled to begin in june which is only a couple of months away from now. politically the president has to do something here. in an election year, he's got to do all he can to balance the need for jobs and affordable fuel with the costs on the other side of this project and then of course the environmental concerns that are attached to the keystone xl. todd foreman talks us through the pipeline predicament as it stands now. >> reporter: the president is trying to score something of a hat trick with his approach to the pipeline by voicing his approval for the bottom part of it down here to the gulf of mexico. the reason republicans are attacking, however, is they're saying this is more of a local issue. the states and local municipalities can handle this part. what the president is needed for is the upper part, the part that goes across the international border with canada. that's why they're attacking. why do i call it a hat trick that he was trying to pull off here? first of all, he's trying to address the issue of energy independence. about half of the oil we use in our cars, gas, comes from imported oil, oil that comes from other countries somewhere. about a quarter of that comes from canada, our biggest supplier. the new pipeline by most estimates would bring about 700,000 additional barrels a day. that's not actually a huge amount compared to how much oil we use, but over ten years this number is expected to rise maybe as high as 5 million barrels a day. that would make a big difference. the president wants to say that even as he looks at alternative fuel sources, he's still trying to promote energy independence. the second part of the hat trick. he wants to talk about jobs. the estimates on how many jobs would come from this pipeline are all over the map. some say none at all. the low numbers about 4,000, the high about 20,000. we don't really know. no sitting president at a time like this wants to look like they're against jobs. by approving part of it he's showing some support for some jobs. the last part has to do with environmental issues. the simple truth is environmentalists are very concerned about this. he wanted to address this to some degree. the way this oil is produced up in canada is an extraction process where it's removed from oil sands up there. environmentalists really don't like this because they say it raises problems of more greenhouse gases. that's been proven. that's one of the concerns. they also worry that with the pipeline running down through the country you can contaminate groundwater sources, particularly around nebraska, where there's some big aquifers. they worry about spill damage from a pipe. that's why i call it an attempt at a trifecta here, a hat trick by the president, because what he's trying to do is address in some way each of those concerns by addressing one part of the pipeline project and hoping that the voters like what they hear and will fall in his favor as a result. todd foreman there. certainly with gas prices heading up higher, energy is a key election issue. quick recap now on what happened on wall street. plenty of enthusiasm there at the closing bell, but stocks closed lower across the board following sluggish manufacturing data, both from china and from europe as well. the key export economy there, germany. commodities also falling. declines for oil and gas producers. where do we end up? the dow down by .61%. the s&p .75%. as far as the stars of the future are concerned, the markets will recover some of the losses when trading begins a little later this friday. all three major indices, as you see there, on track for a higher open. slightly higher, but higher nonetheless. we're got data on new home sales today. forecasts suggest sales increased in february to in part due to the improving jobs market. andrew, still to come on "world business today," this american is on his way out of the world bank. tradition dictates that another american is likely to take his place at the helm. some emerging markets have other ideas about the disappointment. we'll tell you about the first really truly global race of the presidency of this prestigious institution. i'm good about washing my face. but sometimes i wonder... what's left behind? 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[ female announcer ] from neutrogena® naturals. on december 21st, polar shifts will reverse the earth's gravitational pull and hurtle us all into space, which would render retirement planning unnecessary. but say the sun rises on december 22nd and you still need to retire, market. really truly global race of the welcome back. you're watching "world business today" live on cnn. it's crunch time at the world bank. member countries have just hours to nominate their candidates to land this top job. the bank was founded back in 1944 to battle poverty. it's always had an american president. however, developing countries these days want a bigger say and the u.s. is under increasing pressure to find the best possible contender for this post. >> reporter: he's the man with the weight of the world bank on his shoulders. robert zoellick. nominated by president bush in 2007. he's finishing his term and stepping down in june. the big question, who will take his place? the deadline for countries to hand in their nominees is friday. as in the past, the u.s. is expected to get its nominee approved even though there may be challengers this time around. those thought to be in the running for the u.s., former obama advisor and clinton administration treasury secretary, larry summers. and senator john kerry, the former democratic presidential nominee. there's also speculation that president obama might decide to nominate a woman. also reportedly being considered, susan rice, the current u.s. ambassador to the united nations. the ceo of pepsi could he and secretary of state, hillary clinton, who's planning on leaving the administration if obama is re-elected. >> president obama could like to nominate secretary of state clinton, but i don't think she wants it. and i don't think his persuasive powers are likely to move her. >> reporter: so who's likely to get the nod? >> if i had to make a bet, i think of the five, the leading candidate right now is larry summers. >> reporter: in an interesting twist, jeffrey sax, the head of columbia university's earth institute, has expressed interest in the job. he's written an op ed in the washington post titled, how i would lead the world back. sax is critical of the zoellick regime. still, don't hold your breath. >> if the emerging market countries were serious about an alternative candidate, that candidate would not be an american. >> reporter: reports say two other non-american names may also be nominated. we should know who the world bank member countries ultimately choose as their next head later next month. maggie lake, cnn, new york. well, as maggie says, the u.s. has had a monopoly on the top job until now. the developing world looks like it could be pushing back. represented by at this stage at least two possible candidates. the first one is the nigerian finance minister. now a source says she hasn't actually put herself forward for that job and there's no certainty she even wants it. she would have a lot of support across africa. certainly she is seen as a corruption campaigner, anti-corruption campaigner. she's a harvard graduate. certainly widely well-respected right across the african continent. another predicted candidate is this man, jose antoni oe ocampo. form jericho lum beian finance minister. he has spoken about the need for global protection. he's believed to have the backing of brazil. if either of these two is to end the u.s. domination of the world bank, nina, they have to form a consensus among the developing countries. u.s. and europe have half the voting power. there is an unwritten agreement which we have spoken about between europe and america. it's interesting, jeffrey sax putting his hand up. he is american. he's certainly not seen inside the world bank as someone they would necessarily want. maybe more by the politicians. he certainly knows about developmental issues and would get quite a lot of support mr. some developing countries, at least that's what i'm being told. >> yeah. then the other interesting person on that last was the woman from pepsi could he. somebody from a developing market. also the interesting thing, she's from the private sector. perhaps she could shake things up at the world bank. very interesting candidates. so far no sign that the status quo may be broken. certainly when christine legality became the managing director of the imf, the only thing that shattered them there was the fact that she was the first woman to hold that role. after this break, it's set to break box office records. fans of the hunger games prepare to feast on the film as it releases this weekend. it seems as though investors also have something of an appetite of the movie as well. full details ahead here on cnn. and we'll take a break with a quick look at how currencies are fairing this hour. the euro, the pound and the yen are against the u.s. dollar. yen down 83.7 weakening a fraction. the euro strengthening up to 1.32. s bed is that you're sleeping on something that conforms to your individual shape. wow! that feels really good. it's hugging my body. in less than a minute i can get more support. if you change your mind once you get home you can adjust it. so whatever you feel like, the sleep number bed's going to provide it for you. at our semi-annual sleep sale, save $400 to $700 on our most popular bed sets. sale ends march 31st. only at the sleep number store, where queen mattresses start at just $699. it seems as though investors the euro strengthening up to if i'm going to die, i still want to be me. >> i just can't afford to think like that. >> 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. the wait is finally over for fans of the hunger games. the hit book series turned movie franchise releases in cinemas on friday. the film first played out in the united states at midnight. an international ticket sales are now expected to top $300 million this very weekend. these people lined up outside theaters in the u.s. state of kansas. it's being billed as the next "twilight." certainly seems we have a fanatical following too certainly among the book readers. investors are pretty excited as well about the release of the hunger games. this company, lions gate entertainment is the studio behind the film. they've had a stellar start to the year on the new york stock exchange where it's listed. check this out, shares up 75% since january. i will press that one. there you go. 75%. they closed at a record high of just over 15 dld. lions gate recently acquired summit gate. that franchise is worth $2.5 billion. scholastic, they're up around 25% this year. the publisher of the book. nina, there's still a lot of money when you come up with a good idea in a book. >> certainly is. this book was only written back in 2008, wasn't it, andrew? we mentioned that "the hunger games" is on track to smash some of the box office records. joseph pan deer says the movie's opening this weekend will likely live up to the hype. take a listen. >> reporter: i have been talking to studio sources all day as well as on wednesday and it's just tracking bigger and bigger almost every hour. so the opening day friday, including the thursday night midnight shows which over here in new york is about four hours from now, that's when the ball gets rolling, we're looking at near record sales. possibly in the 70 to $80 million u.s. dollar range. that's among the biggest in history. that's up there with harry potter, twilight. for the weekend it's going to be well north of 100 million, possibly somewhere in the 140 or $150 million range. again, one of the top five of all time which is amazing because it's not even a sequel. that makes it more spell binding. the box office is on fire. worldwide it could be north of 300 million this weekend which is around what the last twilight movie made. if you can look at that size audience and you see it again for this film, you've got a budget of only about $75 million. you're looking at a very profitable movie. absolutely they will be making two and three in the series. let's turn now to weather and torrential rains in parts of new zealand turning streets into swift moving rivers this week. now nature may be setting the stage for an encore. the meteorologist is at the international weather center. just how bad is it looking the second time around. pedra? >> they've gone over this the last couple of days. with the soil being actually saturated, that's the concern. even if they get a moderate rainfa rainfall, the problems could be severe. the north eye land of new zealand, in the southern tier of the north islands, around wellington, that's the area where we had winds upwards of 120 kilometers per hour. these areas actually picked up two months' worth of rainfall in just a matter of 24 to 48 hours. that's why the concern is so large. take a look at satellite imagery. a couple of disturbances, australia, this part of the world weather travels from west to east, a disturbance across the southern tier. another one across the coral sea. these are two areas of concern. two separate features, but going to essentially come together here in the next couple of days as we head on into saturday night into sunday morning. then we're talking about heavy rain showers saturday night as we transition into sunday. southerly flow. the autumn season already in full swing. going to get a southerly surge of air across the south islands. going to feel a little bit like winter for some folks perhaps in the higher elevations. you can see some of the outer bounds of the clouds beginning to move in from the west. pretty good image coming out from earlier this afternoon in new zealand where we have the olympic trials taking place. long jump. we're seeing the partly cloudy skies by meet logical definition there, andrew, about 30 to 60% of the cloud covers. that's how much clouds you have in the sky. pretty nice scene. the clouds will begin to thicken in the next couple of days out there. >> certainly looks fantastic. thanks very much for that. nina? andrew, stay with us here on "world business today." still to come after the break, the final countdown of the controversial race for hong kong's top job. we'll examine the main contenders and the scandals that have been dominating this de bait. ba. . b. a. debate. . from cnn hong kong, i'm andrew stevens. and i'm nina dos santos at cnn london. back to "world business today." adultery, organized crime, and an illegal basement are just a few of the accusations that have emerged in the race for hong kong's top job. the selection is usually a predictable process devoid of any controversy. this year the result is not a foregone conclusion, c.y. leung, henry tang and lu are all contenders. tang and leung have taken a battering from mudslinging on all sides. people in hong kong have held protests to criticize the candidates and to call for a more efficient process. instead the decision is made by 1200 committee members chosen for the most part by beijing. whatever the outcome, more demonstrations are expected. ann curran reports that could be embarrassing for beijing. >> reporter: what would normally be a dull and predictable election campaign has recently transformed into a source of intrigue, uncertainty, and major embarrassment. a few months ago china made it perfectly clear who it wanted as hong kong's next chief executive, but scandal, adultery and allegations of connections to organized crime have turned the system of no surpris