plan. activists say at least 26 people were killed wednesday in several cities. video posted online appears to show new shelling in the district of homs. the crisis in syria is expected to dominate the summit. ban ki-moon is there. an updated resolution on syria will be presented to leaders, but it will not call for president bashar al assad to step down. those are the top stories from cnn. i'm monita rajpal. "world business today" starts right now. good morning, from cnn london, i'm nina dos santos. this is "world business today" and these are the top stories this thursday. leaders of the brics nation stand united. nigeria's finance minister hopes to prove the emerging economies are ready to take the lead. she tells cnn why she's the ideal candidate to run the world bank. also on the show, a general strike grips spain a day before the government announces a new round of austerity measures. so these are some of the world's fastest-growing major economies these days, brazil, russia, india, china and now south africa, often grouped together under the brics. their aim is to try and strengthen this particular group as a whole trading bloc to try and increase their influence on the world stage. the move makes the brics matter. these are countries that together make up 40% of the total world economy, that's equivalent to gdp worth about $80.5 trillion. almost half of all of the people in the world live in some of the brics countries. business among these brics these days is, it seems, thriving. trade among them as a trading group last year is growing about 28%. currently it stands at about $230 billion. growth is rising and is at an economical clout. mondica joins us this morning. perhaps we can another expect one in places like south africa. we have another letter add ed. >> the ministers have just finished their session. we heard from all the heads of state in the last hour. the ministers have just signed two banking agreements and these are basically agreements to extend credit to each other, to the member nations of the brics bloc in their own local currencies. this is to facilitate trade between all the five countries and trade between this block has been growing rapidly at about 28% over the last ten years. we've already heard from the heads of state that they have agreed to look very seriously into developing a south bank, a focused exclusively on the brics nation. and one of the prime ministers said they've asked their financial ministers to go away and examine the feasibility of this bank and come back with a proposal about it when they meet again in one year. politically, iran, syria, these are topics that have come up in the last two years in delhi. everyone here was waiting to see what the ministers would say about the situation in western asia. let's take a look at what indian prime minister manmohan singh said. >> we agree to work together on a peaceful resolution of the crisis. we must divide political disruptions that create volatilities in global energy market and affect trade flows. >> reporter: you know, it's interesting. iran is a topic that came up yesterday as well when the trade ministers met. and basically they agreed that it's okay to disagree when it comes to iran and you have india and china saying they will continue to import oil from iran just because it's a practical thing to do. they need more oil where as south africa has cut down its dependence from iran. the prime minister said they had time to discuss energy shortages, how to tackle that and also food security. nina? >> that's what i wanted to come to, mallika. some of them are big exporters of energy but food really does decide things there, doesn't it? >> reporter: absolutely. you know, food security is a key issue for all the brics nations. between yesterday and today they have talked about that, saying it's a priority for these member countries. they said they should come together as a block to shun the protectionist tendencies of some western countries. their protectionist natures when it comes to agriculture help to distort the food distribution around the world. red tomatoes are so delicious, say these children, as they learn about eating healthy and play with plastic fruits and vegetables. the focus of this government-run child welfare hub in delhi is nutrition, children, 2 to 6 get two meals during school hours. the goal is to get the children to their optimum weight. >> what is his weight. >> 11. >> he's 3 1/2 years old. >> yes. >> what should his weight be if he was healthy, what -- >> he should be 15? >> yes. >> but he's 11? >> yes. >> this doctor tells his mother don't buy him food from outside. use that money to cook food at home. despite its economic growth, india struggles with persist enthely high rates of malnutrition, far worse than many poorer countries. according to a recent government survey, 42% of children in india under the age of 5 are underweight because they don't get enough food. nearly double that of sub-saharan africa. >> not enough food is just part of the problem. lack of awareness, dirty water, poor sanitation, unhygienic conditions, all of these contribute to india's serious malnutrition problem. getting food is a problem says toto's mother. what does a poor person to do? we eat what we can get. buying food is a daily problem for millions of indians below the poverty line. food security expert says that's a good idea but it's not enough. >> we have to have government acknowledging that india is a very poor country, despite this, we still have some of the world statistics globally on malnutrition, health care and malnutrition. we have to acknowledge that a large section of the population has been left out of the story. >> reporter: prime minister manmohan singh call india's malnutrition problem a national shale. he says tackling it is a major priority and the annual budget announced earlier this month includes a 58% boost in spending to reduce malnutrition so india's hungry children have a shot at a healthy future. and india hopes to implement that national food security bill by the end of this year. nina? >> mallika kapur, thanks for that. within the brics, the rate of growth does vary by quite a bit. let's show you the details here. when you look at gdp estimates for last year, china came out, as you can see there, as the clear winner, clocking up about 9 the 2%. india isn't too far behind, though. those two countries have been trying to grab the top growth rate. the rate for india drops off a little bit when we focus in on russia. it comes in with a gdp of 4.3% increase year-on-year. south africa and brazil, on the right of the chart, they're at the bottom of the brics. lagging behind them is the world's largest economy, the united states, squeezed out 1.5% growth last year. it goes to show you why the brics are economically important with these stellar growth rates. between them, it does vary enormously. let's hone back in on the european markets. the western markets that are bigger arguably but haven't been putting on the stellar performance from some of the bric economies have of late. we have basically a third straight day of declines into a row for the european markets that means it extends already a week of declines like the xetra dax and the cac currant in paris put on a declean last week of 3%. if we carry on this momentum, they'll put on more in terms of this week's performance. what we have going on at the moment, this kind of performance tracking the losses on wall street overnight and on asia. a lot of this is on the back of concerns of momentum of global growth following ben bernanke cautious comments that this could be a blip for a moment. he wants to see more economic reports to underpin the recovery. we have the price of oil on the way after talk of a strategic release of oil reserves. saudi arabia saying it could make up some of the shortfall there. and that is one of the reasons these markets are down. the cac currant is not doing too badly despite the fact that totale, a very heavy stock on that particular market is suffering for another day amid that gas leak which continues in the north sea. let's check in on the asia markets season. let's go to ramy inocencio standing by to tell us all in hong kong. >> markets here in asia, they ended in the red after lackluster news from the united states as well as those continue rising oil prices in japan. retail sales rose more than forecast for february but that does not help the nikkei as you can see here. it closed down about 0.66% after a broad slide in exporters. sharp did buck the trend. taiwan's hon hai says it will buy up shares close to $800 million. icbc, bank of china down almost 2% today. and china's top oil producer posted record profits for last year, a 29% rise year-on-year. despite that, its shares fell nearly 4%. they expect costs to grow and output will stay flat. shanghai fell about 1.5% and in australia, well, the asx 200 fell 0.1%. resource stocks like rio tinto and bhb billiton fell. this is hong kong's largest property developer by market value, it's responsible for major developments including the international commerce center, the icc, the international finance center, the ifc, which you can see right there. a statement from the company says the suspension comes ahead of an announcement which may be, quote, price sensitive. we'll keep you up to date with any updates 0en that story. nina? >> ramy, thanks so much. we look forward to any updates you get on that. still to come on "world business today," though -- >> right now there's so much uncertainty and volatility in the global environment you don't want to spend six months, one year, learning how the institution functions before you can lead. i can lead from the word go. >> the nigerian finance minister tells us why she should take the reins of the world bank. that interview after this break. ♪ why tell the trees what ain't so? ♪ [ all ] shh! ♪ whispering grass ♪ the trees don't have to know ♪ no, no [ all ] shh! ♪ why tell them all your secrets ♪ ♪ who kissed there long ago? 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[ male announcer ] solutionism. the new optimism. the top job at the world bank has been held by an american ever since the institution was founded. now two candidates from the world's emerging markets say that it's time to break that pattern. nigeria's finance minister says she's the most suitable candidate. she is face something stiff competition from two other candidates who are men. president obama has nominated the u.s. citizen jim yong-kim and the warmer finance minister of colombia, jose antonio campo. jos okonjo-iweala spoke to our own richard quest. >> developing countries are excited. this is about having a voice in global governance. all countries, it would be good to listen. i'm not daunted by the fact that the u.s. has a nominee. because the shareholders of the world bank promised a free merit-based and open and competitive process. we welcome competition. we welcome the u.s. to be part of that competition. >> all right, minister, if you do bet to become president, what fundamental change would you like to make at the world bank? >> i would very much like to move the bank to be a faster and nimbler institution that really responds to developing country problems in days, not weeks, not months, certainly not months, but in days and weeks. because things are happening fast in real time. the bank has proven it can't do that. it has a superb staff. when there was a global food crisis in 2008 it was able to respond to get money to countries within days. we would like to move the bank into that kind of an institution. and the primary problem that i feel the world bank group should be focusing on is job creation. we have a problem in developing countries of job creation, particularly for youth. and the key question is, look, i've never met a poor person who didn't want the dignity of a job. if they have a job, they can take care of their health problems, their education problems and the world bank group is well placed to use all its instruments to help get the private sector to create more jobs, to solve infrastructure problems, health problems, education problems. >> okay. but doesn't that show the difference then between yourself with an economics policy and economics background and a growth strategy and perhaps your principle contender mr. kim of the united states, who is more on the development side? is this not going to be a contest if you like, between development versus growth when it comes down to it all? >> i do not believe that you can have development in any of the emerging markets or developing countries without growth. i think the key question is not just the kwanty of growth but the quality of growth. is it inclusive growth, growth that creates jobs, growth that takes care of the piest at the bottom end of society? that's the key question, how we do it. >> do you feel that the u.s. gets the world bank and the imf as it already has, gets the imf and the developing world gets left outside? >> you know, the developing countries, they want to be part of this global governance. they want to be part of the game. they don't want to be bystanders anymore. which what happened 60 years ago continues to happen. they deserve a voice. because the world is changing. the developing countries are contributing more and more to global growth. it's know a multipolar world to borrow the words of bob zoellick. >> the next meeting will be on the cards for mid-april, hence the candidacies and people throwing their hats into the rings these days. total says it has work to do in the north sea five days after a gas leak. before we head into the commercial break, the euro, there's little change, as the region's finance ministers prepare to meet friday with an eco fin summit. [ male announcer ] let's level the playing field. take the privileged investing tools of wall street and make them simple, intuitive, and available to all. distill all that data. make information instinctual, visual. introducing trade architect, td ameritrade's empowering web-based trading platform. take control of your portfolio today. trade commission-free for 60 days, and we'll throw in up to $600 when you open an account. the sleep number bed. the magic of this 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. hello and welcome back. you're watching "world business today" today live on cnn. let's update you on a story we're covering pretty closely here on cnn. a gas leak from a north sea oil platform owned by total. this company says it's now looking into ways to try and put out a flair burning above the rig to warn people about ince presence. ivan cabrera is standing by to tell us about the climactic conditions in the area. hi there, ivan. the winds could be a problem here, i understand? >> winds are very, very important right now. good to see you there, nina. i just can't believe we're talking about relief wells again here after, of course, the disaster in the gulf of mexico here. but we're not talking about an i' oil spill. this is a gas leak. we have two things going on. we have the gas leak that they may try to cap here. that could take upwards of six months. the other situation, the more pressing situation, the flare that is still burning. that flare is burning, essentially the excess gases, this is a formal process when you shut off the rig, the gases, you don't want them to build up. . you have to burn them with the flare. the gas cloud needs to stay away from the flare, obviously, gas, flare, not a good combination. that could be a catastrophic explosion there. we certainly don't want that the to happen. we experienced that in 1988 with the piper alpha in the precise area east of aberdeen here. the winds are going to be key because we want the cloud, the gas cloud coming from that leak to move away from that flare. we need a north wind for that to happen and that's what we have ongoing here. long-range models, the medium-range models taking you through the week into next week, still looking at a predominantly northerly wind. that's an tune for them to extinguish the flare or the flare to go out by itself. the winds will be the key, the temperatures not all that important here. 35, 55, 60, 70 kilometer per hour winds and prevailing from the north and the west. so far, we are looking okay but of course we have that exclusion zone as a result of the danger that is ongoing there from the gas leak. and the potential explosive nature of that flare and the gas coming together. nina? >> okay, ivan cabrera, joining us with more on the total gas leak which so far has wiped about $9 billion off of the value of that company. you're with "world business today." coming up after this short break, workers in spain take to the street to protest against the latest round of austerity cuts there. we'll also be asking the film director of "the titanic" james cameron about how he prepared for a dive to the deepest part of the ocean. from cnn london, i'm nina dos santos and a warm welcome back to "world business today." let's see what's going on on the european stock markets. we've been trading for about 90 minutes on this thursday session. take a look at that, a choppy picture with most of these indices now entering their third day of declines. the cac currant was hovering above the flat line the last time we looked. now it's just below that. there are mounting concerns about slowing global growth. we had difficult to digest u.s. durable goods numbers that depressed the markets. speaking of asia, let's have a look at those markets over there that have now closed but closed in the red as well amid concerns about, again, yes, you've guessed it, the recovery in japan. we saw retail sales rising for the month of february but the nikkei managed to fall for a second day in a row. when it comes to the hong kong hang seng index it was the worst performer after icbc and bank of china closed down more than 1% each. the hang seng put on a decline of 1.3%, the nikkei was down by about 0.66% and the shanghai composite down 1.4%, the asx in sydney still ending the day in negative territory. about five hours away from the opening bell on wall street now. when trading rules, investors will be hoping to try and recoup some of the losses on wednesday that i was telling you about. here's alison kosik with the details from the new york stock exchange. stocks in the u.s. followed on the heels of global markets ending the session sharply lower. investors sold their positions on worries about spain's economic health along with a weaker than expected reading on u.s. manufacturing. at the close, the dow slid 71 points to 13,126. the nasdaq and the s&p 500 each lost 0. 3 3rers. durable goods orders rose 2.2% last month. that's not a bad number but fell short of forecasts. the report shows that the manufacturing sector may not be expanding as rapidly as wall street had thought. caterpillar and united technologies, two industrial companies, were the biggest losers on the dow. materials and energy shares also fell after a drop in oil prices. crude slid almost