gains. they claim this video shows a police station they took over. cnn cannot independently verify the authenticity of this video, however. opening statements got under way today in the drew peterson trial. now, he is the former chicago area police officer accused of murdering his third wife, she was found dead in the bathtub in 2004. her death was treated as an accident. but peterson came under scrutiny when his fourth wife stacy disappeared. the trial is expected to last about a month. now to what is going on in the olympics. okay. we got a spoiler alert, though. so put your tv on mute if you don t want to know who the winner is. the u.s. women s gymnastics team now in first place in the finals after the first rotation. they just did the vault. now, if the u.s. wins, it is going to be their first team gold since 1996. we ll watch this one and keep you posted. now, in swimming, the women s 200 meter freestyle happens in about two hours. 17-year-old american missy frankl
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,
caught on tape. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. the politics of unemployment swirling today as president obama and the republicans try to spin the latest jobless numbers to their political advantage. while the president is highlighting new signs of economic strength, the republicans are spotlighting the unemployment level that remains unchanged despite solid job growth. cnn white house correspondent dan lothian has more in prince georges county in virginia. dan? reporter: wolf, the president came here today because he says rolls royce jet engines are helping to boost the economy. 140 new jobs expected here, another hundred at a plant in indiana. but it was also a chance for him to cheer the latest job numbers which he says proves the u.s. economy is on the right track. even though not everyone agrees. the u.s. employment picture is far from sunny. but the better than expected february job numbers seems to have pushed a few more dark clouds out of the way.
we re live in charleston, south carolina. it s debate night. after a dramatic day in the republican race for president. iowa declares a new winner. rick perry bows out. 35 hours before the polls open here in south carolina, a dead heat. the southern republican presidential debate starts right now. welcome to the south. the heart of the republican party. where tradition lives. the strongest military in the world. and values matter. we want a conservative on the ticket. tonight, the republican candidates on stage in south carolina for their final debate before the first in the south primary. mitt romney, the front-runner, going for another win. trying to close the deal with skeptical voters. i will work to get good jobs back. newt gingrich, on the rise, trying to harvest conservative report as the field gets smaller. i am the only candidate capable of stopping a moderate from winning the nomination. rick santorum, with renewed momentum, after learning he won i
both the fictional and nonfictional varieties with columnist and novelist david ignatius. then a look at innovation with the master architect frank gehry. finally, why president bush might have offended some italians onnationrati inaugurat. first here s my take. many talk about the absence of leadership, especially those who oppose president obama. many democrats believe that president obama head doneas bee leader. the conventional wisdom is that he doesn t have the leadership he needs to be the leader that we need, the leader that we have had in the past. such as bill clinton, a gifted leader, a legendary player. now, i have a huge admiration for clinton. i think he was a very good president, and he s almost prenaturally a politician. let s recall what his first few years looked like. he began his presidency with the fiasco of gays in the military and moved to two failed nominees for attorney general. remember zoe baird? then went on to try and failed spectacularly to pa