affect the u.s. economic recovery with higher prices. more compensations cost for costa cruises. the costa allegra ship are offered full reimbursement. first off though, greece has made a lot of sacrifices to try and secure its second big bailout from the eu and the imf. unfortunately though, it seems as though it still hasn t made enough. eurozone members holding a meeting in brussels decided to withhold more than half of the $175 billion that athens so badly needs to stay afloat. that s the portion due to go straight into the government bank. while greece struggles, another aspect has been sealed. the finance ministers have approved the funds required to safeguard a $274 billion debt swap for greece s private creditors. they have lost more than 70% of their value on their bonds in real terms. early this week what we saw with standard and poors becoming the first of the big credit rating agencies to define in as a default. with them tasked with deciding whether default i
windows smashed as police were unable to contain the rampaging crowd. in athens, ashley webster with the fox business network. shepard: the new cost cutting moves were part of a deal for greece to get a second bailout from the european nation. but tonight, it s all unclear whether that bailout will come through. the chief fox report correspondent jonathan hunt is with us tonight. why is the bailout still up in the air? i thought this was supposed to do it. in one word, shep. trust. europe peep officials have seen the greek government fail to deliver before on these kind of reforms. they are worried that the same could happen again now. so they are now asking all of the leading politicians in greece to sign pledges saying that they will follow through with these reforms before they release the billions in bailout funds. now, i spoke to richard parker earlier today. is he a harvard economist. he has been advising members of the greek government for the past two and a half years. he say
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
mitt romney and ron paul went to caucus sites today. mitt romney s first time campaigning in maine this cycle. they ve been going hard after this win to avoid another loss as both suffered on tuesday. this is a two-man race? romney and ron paul? essential. rick santorum and newt gingrich essentially. it wasn t a part of their whole delicate calculation to come up here and campaign. a few weeks ago when the other three were in florida, ron paul packed up his sweaters and headed north. i was here with him. he came up here because he has a strong young following here. strong libertarian following. he figured those 21 delegates up for state, maybe he could do well and get his first win. he is 0-8, but mitt romney came along and said not so fast. he started campaigning last night. thank you, shannon travis reporting. the situation room is straight ahead with wolf blitzer on our political team joining us. wolf, tell us about the coverage you have of the maine caucuses comin
as search and rescue attempts continue, the focus moves 0en to who is to blame for the sinking of a giant ocean liner off the italian coast. and we ll tell you which production houses is big at the golden globes and what these awards tell us about the upcoming oscar ceremonies. first up, though, if the new year promised a new europe, well, some people could be disappointed. standard & poors last week had other ideas completely. to nobody s great surprise, this particular influential company decided to downgrade the credit scores of nine countries across the euro zone on friday. these particular downgrades apply to a large swath of central and southern europe. it is this country in the center here, france, that is commanding all the headlines today. this after france lost its treasured aaa rating. that in turn, some economists say could undermine the a aa rating of the total esfs. one country as well that s hitting the headlines, one country that will ill afford any more b