. >>> hello, everyone, i'm fredricks whitfield. you are in the cnn newsroom. >>> drivers and danica, start your engines. with those words, date tone nah 500 kicked off as scheduled. the historic start with female driver danica patrick in pole position nearly upstaged by this harrowing collision on the same track less than 24 hours ago. at least 28 fans were injured when more than a dozen cars crashed in the final curve of the nationwide race. here's how one woman described what happened. >> there was a wreck and i got by the an engine or a part of an engine and i got a broken leg. >> we will go live to daytona just homes from now where there are fewer than 50 laps to go. >>> all right, in south africa, the older brother of oscar pistorius is also charged in a woman's death. carl pistorius is charged with culpable homicide after an accident involving a motorcycle in 2010. the charges were initially dropped but he now faces a trial at the end of march. prosecutors say carl pistorius had been driving recklessly at the time of the acci

. >>> hello again, i'm fredricks whitfield. you are in the cnn newsroom. a look at our top story right now, all about daytona. nascar driver jimmie johnson takes the win there. johnson won his second praise race in the daytona 500, becoming the tenth driver to win america's greatest race multiple times. we will go live to the winner's circle in a moment. >>> the pope led the people in prayer for the last time today at the vatican. an emotional crowd gathered to hear him speak but his resignation comes at a time when the vatican and the catholic church are in the middle of other controversies. more on that straight ahead. >>> just five days until forced spending cut go into effect. in this country, $85 billion in cuts will impact defense and social programs if congress and the president don't reach a budget deal. >>> and oscars fever hits hollywood, the biggest and best awards show in tinseltown kicks off just two hours from now, we will have a red carpet preview straight ahead. >>> but first, let's talk about those spending cuts, $85 billion worth. athena

i'm deborah feyerick in for fredricks whitfield. if you are just tuning in, thanks so much for being here, spending part of your day with us. these are the top stories that we are following right now in the cnn newsroom. >>> danica patrick makes history as the first woman to win the pole for the daytona 500. that puts her in the best starting position for the race next sunday. she clocks a qualifying speed of 196 miles an hour. that's also her first full-time season in nascar's sprint cup series. patrick spent a lot of this week answering questions about her private life, dating fellow sprint cup requires a, ricky citizen house, jr. now, yes, she has something else to talk about. >>> in washington, thousands of people are marching. their demands? they want more action on climate change. among their calls is for president obama to kill the big keystone xl pipeline. we have a reporter been in the crowds all afternoon. we will take you there in a few moments. >>> massachusetts soaked again with a thick blanket of snow a week after that

i'm deborah feyerick in for fredricks whitfield. >>> danica patrick makes history as the first woman to win the pole for the daytona 500. that puts her in the best starting position for the race next sunday. she clocks a qualifying speed of 196 miles an hour. she spoke a short time ago, giving thanks to those who helped make this moment possible. >> i'm grateful for all those things. i feel like, first and foremost, i feel like i grew up with good values and good goals and i was brought up tonight fastest driver, not the fastest girl so i feel like that was instilled in me from very young and -- well, from the beginning and then i feel like thriving in those moments where the pressure's on is also gonna help for me and i feel like i've also been very lucky in my career to be with good teams and have good people around me and i -- and i don't think that any of it would have been possible without that. >> a team effort. danica will join our don lemon live at 6:15 tonight to talk about her big win. >>> some days, being president has to be the best job in the world, especially if you're

. >>> welcome back to the newsroom, i'm fredricks whitfield.e have been talking about the oscar pistorius murder case. just so many questions about this case and so much that we still don't know about exactly what happened that night. forensic psychiatrist and chairman of the forensic panel, dr. michael wellner, is back with me again. so earlier, dr. wellner, you talked about you would want to know whether drugs or alcohol played a role anyway that evening in which the shooting took place. we did hear reportedly that testosterone was found -- >>> tonight at the oscarsmaker do it again, could be the only time you hear her sing this incredible song live, also going to be a huge tribute to the bond movies in general. shirley bassey will be performing. she has never performed at the oscars. i imagine we are hearing "goldfinger" just a guess, that is where my money would go. you will see all the surviving james bonds, i think there are six of them, and they are the rarest boys club in the world, other than ex-american presidents. so, going to be qui