preside over crowds today in havana. he's on his last leg of his visit to cuba. before saying mass, he'll speak to cuban president raul castro. his brother fidel has requested a meeting as well. a key part of the health care reform law may be in jeopardy. the u.s. supreme court expressed different views on whether the government can require individuals to buy health insurance or face a penalty. today is the third and final day of the hearings. a ruling is expected in june. 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 del santos. >> and a very good afternoon from cnn hong kong. i'm andrew stevens. you're watching "world business today." these are our top stories this wednesday. shares in totale fall after a major gas leak in the north sea. the oil giant says it could be months before the rig is back online. rupert murdoch's news corp. is hit by more allegations of hacking. this time an australian newspaper says the company used piracy to derail its pay tv rivals. and why being super skinny is no longer a plus for models working in israel. we've got a jam packed show ahead in the next hour. let's have a look at how the markets are doing, though. they've been trading for about an hour themselves. this is how we're faring at the moment. little bit of a mixed picture. up about 1% just in the last quarter hour. the ftse teetering just above the flat line after something dropped in the morning. and the zurich smi trading below the flat line. one of the good stocks has been the cac, but only up 0.2%. nestle has fallen more than 1% after a downgrade by the main brokerages, which is run of the reasons the smi is down below the flat line. the others just managing to teeter above it, but we're not optimistic with a picture like that, andrew. >> speaking of optimism, a distinct lack of it over here, nina. there's been something of a reality check about the state of the u.s. economy given the bernanke comments on monday, the possibility of another round of quantitative easing put the markets up yesterday. when you get bad consumer confidence numbers coming in, still very weak housing numbers, which have happened in the u.s. over the past 24 hours or so, you get this sort of reality check where the u.s. economy is not as strong as many would hope. you've got a big sell-off in shanghai, down 2.6%. obviously, the u.s. is such a key export market for china. nikkei down .75%. hong kong down about the same. no reason why australia showed this strength today, up by 1%. certainly, it was the banks getting a boost in australia and some resource stocks as well. at the close in the u.s. on tuesday, stocks retreating from their highest level in nearly four years. that was the close. and at the close, the dow down by .33%, weighed by bank of america stocks downgraded by bad equity research. the s&p finishing about .33%, and the nasdaq finishing just marginally. let's take a look at futures. looks like a bit of a rebound in store for the u.s. equity market. but anything can happen to these numbers over the next few hours. >> we've got about four hours to go, four hours, 15, before these u.s. markets get trading. now, to the north sea where an underwater gas leak has occurred in the drill run by the french giant total. more than 200 workers evacuated from the platform about 240 miles off the coast of aberdeen in scotland. total hasn't said what caused the leak but has said it could take up to six months to fix. ships and aircraft have been ordered to stay away from the area where the rig is located, and the dutch driller shell has evacuated workers from two nearly rigs. shares in total took a really big hit, falling some 6% when the market closed. that dragged down the cac in paris. it's currently down again to the tune of about 3%, trading at a price of 37.40 euros. the cac is just managing to hover above the flat line, but given the performance by total the last couple of days, some of us saying that could be difficult to maintain the momentum for the french markets. it is, obviously, heavy stock here. total says it's weighing up its options for stopping the gas leak, which includes perhaps drilling a relief well. earlier today, cnn's john wall spoke to simon boxall about what's best for this rig. >> the leak was detected on sunday. the first thing was to evacuate the platform because of the risk of explosion and also toxicity was very high. this is called sour gas. not only does it have methane, it has a high portion of hydrosul identifihydro s sulfide and carbon dioxide. they're now trying to inspect the rig using robots. >> what would the risk be of explosion? >> initially, the risk of explosion was seen as being very high. there were reports coming through of a large gas cap enveloping the whole rig. but last night it became clear that there was still a light on the platform, and that contradicts the fact there's a very high risk of explosion. so the idea being perhaps the quantity of gas isn't that great as first thought. also, the wind is taking the gas and blowing it away from the flare, which again implies for the moment that the risk is there but isn't quite as serious as people first thought. >> perhaps not quite as serious, but nina, as you say, it's going to take up to six months to try to close off that leak on the sea floor. let's take a look now at the oil picture. that was a gas story you're talking about, but the price of brent crude has been falling but still hovering around that $125 a barrel mark. down 30 cents a barrel at the moment. at that level, though, nina, still causing a lot of concerns for industry. >> you can bet. also, we've got oil rigs that are going out of action, again, that will put pressure on prices again, andrew. still to come on "world business today," the major developing nations are gathering in new delhi, but the host country may not have the energy to keep up with some of its companions. and rupert murdoch is under the microscope yet again. we'll tell you about the latest allegations. golly! that is deep snow! can you get me out of it? 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[ female announcer ] travelocity. get great deals on all kinds of beach vacations. hello and welcome back. you're watching "world business today" live on cnn. >> the leaders of the so-called brics nations will have plenty to talk about when they gather hours from now. the policy makers from brazil, russia, and china will meet on oil sanctions and food supplies. but one idea is attracting special attention to the world's top emerging economies. despite their differences, the five nations will discuss pooling their finances in a joint development bank, which will fund projects and encourage trade between the bric countries. india is behind this idea, and it could be a fact in elevating the status of the world second tier economies. certainly watch that space. while india is undoubtedly on the rise, an acute energy shortage is putting that growth currently at risk. about 40%, 1.2 billion people, still live without electricity, and most who do have power cannot rely on it 24 hours a day. the challenge for the indian government is how to build supply. if you take a look at this chart, this is how supply, energy production currently stacks up. as you see, thermal energy the lion's share, more than 65%. thermal energy includes things like coal, gas, and oil. hydropower is on the rise. about a fifth of india's energy sector now. nuclear a minor sector, as you can see, and renewables provide about 11.5% of energy needs. as monica kapur reports, there's pressure to help the energy sector to meet demand. >> reporter: here these power cables don't reach everyone. a third of india's population don't have access to electricity. there are billions of people, the economy is growing, and there's a massive demand for power. in fact, india is the fourth largest consumer of electricity after the united states, china, and russia. this village on the banks of the yemena river in delhi got power just a year and a half ago. before that, we used to live in darkness, says rukhsana, who has lived here 33 years. it used to be so dark, it used to feel we were living in a well. now we have light, a tv, a dish, a mobile phone charger. it feels like we've reached the moon. almost a decade ago, india set itself an ambitious target, power for all by 2012. that hasn't happened. india needs a huge jump in the supply of electricity, and it's now pursuing every option -- wind power, solar power, and nuclear energy too. currently, india gets only 3% of its power from nuclear sources. the goal is to increase that and lower its dependence on coal and gas. india's nuclear plans are facing some opposition, especially after the fukushima accident in japan, but the indian government insists it will continue with its nuclear program. it will just make sure it has a much higher safety standard. it insists it's the only way to light up every village, every home in india. mallika kapur, cnn, delhi, india. let's hone in on another one of those crucial bric countries around the world. as it prepares to host the 2014 world cup and the 2016 olympic games, brazil is showcased like never before. one thing the country doesn't want to showcase is its continual problems with poverty. the world's sixth biggest economy is emphasizing education in its efforts to cut deprivation. >> reporter: this woman patches together a blue jean dress for her 14-year-old daughter. with on-site training, she's also building a new career as a seamstress and hopefully a better future for her family. i'm learning a profession that i thought was very difficult, she says. i looked at clothes, and i didn't believe i could make them with my own effort. she is one of 13 million families to benefit from the state run program, bolsa familia, aimed at the poorest. last year the government spent $14 million on the program. the families get a small cash benefit as long as their kids are in school. she says the aid is temporary, just to get organized, buy some sewing machines, she says, and then i'm going to walk on my own two legs. brazil knows a thing or two about poverty reduction. over the last decade, millions of brazilians have climbed into the middle class, lessons it will share with its partners at the bric summit in new delhi next week. the sixth biggest economy in the world could also learn from its partners. >> you're very right to mention competitiveness and applying science and technology to the industrial output. this is one of the big challenges for brazil's economic development for the next few years. >> reporter: brazil's economy is heavily dependent on commodity exports, like soybeans, iron orr, aor ore, and beef, much of it headed to china. now brazil wants to boost the export of high end goods like tablets and high end cars to meet the growing luxury class. but antonio patriota says the summit is most remarkable because these five countries have created an unprecedented forum to discuss world affairs. >> there is increasing coordination when it comes to, for example, enhancing the participation of brics at the imf, world bank, and financial institutions. >> reporter: at brazil's career centers, women bake bread and practice stitching hem lines. they hope that they too will soon see the benefits of the country's growing prosperity. as for jeleni, her seams are getting stronger. >> china is one country who hopes to learn from brazil's example. at this week's summit, as shasta just reported, the country hopes to bridge the gap between rich and poor. another dark day for rupert murdoch's newscorp. a police investigation must now take place following claims the company used high tech piracy tactics to sabotage its pay tv rivals. the allegations came to light on tuesday when the australian financial review published details linking newscorp to computer hackers. the article suggests that hackers were paid to crack the security systems of competitors, causing millions of dollars worth of damage. the revelations come just a day after the bbc reported that a newscorp subsidiary company nds hacked its rival pay tv company on digital. andrew? >> certainly the pressure growing on rupert murdoch's news empire. now, news limited, the parent company, is strongly denying the allegations laid out in the australian financial review. the company says, "the story is full of factual inaccuracies, flawed references, fanciful conclusions, and baseless accusations which have been disproved in overseas courts. the company goes on to say, "the united states department of justice, a federal court jury, and an appellate court have all said they are not responsible for distributing codes to facilitate piracy." newscorp has been rocked by a string of scandals lately, and they've come at a serious cost. it began with allegations of phone hacking, which surfaced back in 2009. last year the company was forced to drop its $14 billion bailout of british broadcaster b sky b in the wake of that hacking affair. newscorp announced the legal costs alone of the phone hacking scandal were around $200 million. in february, new claims of payments to uk police weighed further on newscorp's image as well as its finances. certainly tough times for rupert murdoch. still ahead on "world business today," why a captain's midflight behavior led to an emergency landing. we'll bring you this amateur video of what happened. also, what's happening in the currency markets. as you can see, the yen has been strengthening against the u.s. dollar. now 82.8. and 1.33 and 1.59 against the euro and pound respectively. what makes the sleep number store different? 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. oh, my god. we got israel. we got iraq. we've got to get down. >> this amateur video apparently shows the behavior of a captain on a plane traveling from new york to las vegas. passengers told cnn that he was locked out of the cockpit and then began shouting "we've got to get this plane down" before passengers and flight attendants managed to restrain him. jet blue says an off duty pilot came in to lend a hand to the copilot, until the plane landed in texas and the pilot was taken to a local hospital. you're watching "world business today." welcome back to the show. >> not what you want to hear from the captain when you're 36,000 feet in the air. business travelers from europe may be feeling the heat as well. let's go to ivan cabrera in the weather center for more on that. >> good to see you. hopefully your flight, if you're traveling today, will be smooth. certainly more than that one. if you're traveling in europe, it's going to be warm. we have just fast forwarded here to june. forget spring. we have been talking about temperatures, look at this, low 20s, where normally this time of year we have single upper digit highs here. that's not been the case. june-like temperatures will continue so long as this high is protecting us here from the weather systems that would bring at least clouds to cover us up and keep us a little cooler. clouds that precipitate. none of that. that's all going around the high. all the action across eastern europe. look at this dive here across, very impressive on the satellite. we can't even make clouds here to the west. so with that, the temperatures will continue to be rather warm. madrid will be seeing temperatures into the low 20s once again as we head through the remainder of the week. the further west you are, the warmer it's going to be. that's the way the story is going to go. london looking at low 20s for high temperatures, where normally this time of year we shouldn't even be close to that. towards the end of the week and over the weekend, we're going to see a bit of pattern changes, especially further to the east. places like poland, germany will begin to see cooler temperatures begin to move in, so i think by friday, for example in berlin, we're going to be talking about temperatures back closer to average where we should be for this time of year. the other feature we're following in the weather center, we'll keep you posted throughout the day, no formation yet, but we do have that potential cyclone developing in the south china sea. we'll keep you posted. we have plenty of time to watch it for now. back to you. >> ivan, just quickly, some friends of mine are planning on skiing in europe over the easter break. is there any snow left? >> you have to go high, high elevation, and there's still some snow left, but it's going to be melting rather quick. >> going to be a very slushy affair, i suspect. thanks very much for that. you're watching "world business today." we're going to be back in just a moment. from cnn hong kong, i'm andrew stevens. >> and i'm nina del santos at cnn london. welcome back to "world business today." let's see what's going on in the european stock markets. we're about 90 minutes into the european trading session, and we've already flirted with negative and positive territory with these markets, as you can see. it's a little mixed picture with some of these indices back up in the green after spending about a half hour in the red. in particular, the zurich smi fell by quite a bit more than the other markets in just the first hour or so of trading. that was largely thanks to nestle dropping 1% following a brokerage downgrade. but the big stock in focus today is the french oil giant total after a gas leak on one of its rigs off of the coast of scotland in the north sea. that gas leak has been ongoing since sunday, affecting other rigs around the area, and it says it might take about six months to fix according to total. that stock is under pressure in paris, but the cac 40 managing to rebound a little bit. as we hone in on the u.s., experts in the oscd are saying this country needs a strong firewall. the corporation of economic development, which is a think tank for countries, says that the size of the rescue fund should -- and i quote here -- overshoot expectations, this to convince investors that their money is safe in europe. >> the mother of all firewalls should be in place, strong enough, broad enough, deep enough, tall enough, all sorts of -- you know, just big. to make sure that it does not need to be used actually, so people know it's there and will therefore not attempt to either speculate or try to see if it's strong enough. >> the secretary general there, you see, voicing that think tank's view. they're proposing a rescue fund worth about $1.2 trillion. andrew, i don't know about you, but it sounds like monopoly money to me, these figures have gotten so large. >> it gives you an idea of just how deep the problems are, doesn't it? i must admit, angel guerrera sounding a bit like david cameron's big bazooka. mind you, i think the mother of all firewalls is very descriptive. this is how the asian trading ended the day. there was something of a reality check as investors checked again on really what's going on in the u.s. economy. we had weaker than expected consumer confidence numbers out. we had still pretty dismal housing numbers out, and you add that to the jobs warning from ben bernanke the day before, and you see a bit of a sell-off, particularly shanghai. down by 2.6%. the u.s. obviously such a key export market for shang