protesters pelted the delegation with eggs and tomatoes saying its members were too close to president bashar al assad. dissidents also say syrian forces killed 25 people across syria on wednesday. news corp. executive is preparing for his second appearance between british mps today. they suspect he misled them when testifying with his father, rupert, in july. police officials say 4,000 people may have had their phones hacked. those are the top stories from cnn, the world s news leader. i m monita rajpal. world business today starts right now. we are in one of those defining moments where we either unite or face irrelevant convenience. europe at the cross roads. t good morning from cnn london, i m nina dos santos. you re watching world business today. every time we think that we ve reached the pits of the european debt debacle it seems as though another event serves to remind us there s no quick fix here for the moment. the markets continue to take yet another t
china s economy cools slightly, but still hot enough to beat the forecast. uk lawmakers close ranks to try and block news corp s bid for bskyb. first up though here in the italian capital, the government is preparing to speak to parliament for a marathon debate over the next couple days, designed to gain the necessary approval for painful austerity measures. these are ones designed to prevent this country from becoming the fourth eurozone nature to go cap in hand to the imf, the eu and the ecb. pauline. european stock market investors are watching italy s debt crisis very closely. here is where they stand at the moment. let s take a look at the moment. the london ftse making some gains, so is the xetra dax t. zurich smi is pretty much flat at the moment on this wednesday morning. nina? pauline, of course, the effects of italy s debt crisis are being next right across the board. let s have a look at where the ftse is. the milanese has lost about 4,000 points in the last
bailout plan and that s showing strains already. they re supposed to sign off on the portuguese package of 78 billion euros and to give ireland the lower interest rate. dominique straus-khan is a dominant player. he s one of two key players around this area along with jean claude tree shaichet. john lisky will oversee an informal board meeting waiting for the results of the court hearing in new york. so a lot of intrigue. but it s absolutely the worst timing coming into the debt restructuring charges here in brussels. fully functional, but straus-khan undoubtedly had some really good personal relationships with the eu leaders. he was able to push through a lot of deals and negotiations. when it comes to bailing out countries like portugal and now potentially even greece, what happens to something like this in terms of the momentum that he had created?
warrant for moammar gadhafi on suspicion of committing war crimes. a national disaster devastating floods for thousands of people in the u.s. to abandon their homes. space shuttle endeavour is preparing for its last mission. although he is one of the most powerful men in finance, but today, the head of the international monetary fund will appear in court to answer charges of attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment. right now, come niece straus-khan is accused of committing rape. the married 62-year-old denies the charges and has agreed to undergo a medical and physical examination. this is the hotel where the alleged attack took place. police say the maid ran to the front desk for help. by the time they arrived, the imf chief had already left for the airport. susan candiotti brings us the latest. reporter: it was an extraordinary day of waiting. all day long and night long at this courthouse, waiting for the very first court appearance by the defendant in this case
hitting growth, causing social unrest and of course there s a lot of questions about the political will, not only in greece to take another step but of course around all of the european union. we re talking about more strikes in greece. the greek government, not making enough cuts. most of the greek citizens would not agree with that. if greece does get a new deal, ireland would want another new deal as well. there s 78 billion euros of loan going to portugal and there s a lot of talk about what the portuguese, what the measures portugal will have to take, how unpopular those will be of course. a lot is hitting the markets, a lot is hitting the bond markets. they have to take money from the bonds markets. you ll see here the greece as we heard earlier, 15.71% for ten-year bond yield. portugal, 9.6%. we were hearing if portugal had