i'm monita rajpal. "world business today" starts right now. >>> good morning from cnn london i'm charles hodson. this is "world business today." our top stories on tuesday, october the 25th, bp profits jump in the third quarter. their ceo says the company has turned the corner. >>> a slap in the face for the murdoch sons as they lose faith in their leadership. >>> caterpillar posts a big jump in profits. straight over to the stock markets. they've been trading for, what, 62 minutes in europe and here's how things stand ahead of wednesday's key meeting on the eurozone debt crisis, a possible plan to solve the region's woes. we had -- we'll come to those in a moment. kind of a mixed picture going one way and the other sort of perfect symmetry almost between these two with the ftse and the dax up slightly and paris cac 40 down 0.10%. it came in at $5.1 billion compared to $1.8 billion last year and i'm not sure what the share price has been doing for bp. there we have. no, they are up by 3.74%. up by 3.75%

i'm monita rajpal. they're digging for survivors following sunday's 7.2 earthquake. dozens collapsed and more than 200 people have been killed. cnn diana magna is near the scene a few hours ago and joins us and what did you see? >> reporter: well for people here it's agony of waiting. a father who is trying to find out whether his two sons are still alive in the rubble. before we talked to him he found out that they had found one of his sons dead and trying to bring him out now. you get a real sense from all the people standing here waiting to find out news about loved ones in these numerous buildings that have collapsed as they see pieces of their lives, furniture, bits and pieces and all they want to know is that their loved ones are safe. they're using sound checks, dogs, hundreds of rescue workers mobilized to van where i am and 200 -- more than 200 people killed in both. that is the death toll as we know it now. it could well rise, of course, as the search goes on. monita? >> all right, diana, than

. >>> hello, i'm monita rajpal at cnn london. here are the top stories right now. officials in thailand are working to reinforce sandbags intended to stop floodwaters from inundating bangkok. 281 people have died in the flooding across thailand and the country's economy is expected to lose billions of dollars. more rain is in the forecast. >>> the united states is pushing other countries to further isolate iran's government after it says it foiled a tehran-backed murder plot. the u.s. accuses iran of killing the u.s. ambassador. the alleged plot sun characteristic of iran's current government, some say. >>> the nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a u.s. passenger play on christmas day 2009 has pleaded guilty to all charges against him. the so-called underwear bomber said he was guilty under u.s. law but not according to the koran. >>> executives and engineers of rimm are in damage-control mode as problems with the mobile service spread into north america. research in motion's chief information officer issued a written apology to customers. we'll have more det

i'm monita rajpal. riot police battle coptic christians furious about the burning of a church in the southern part of the country. >>> libya's revolutionary fighters say they are close to capturing the last strongholds of ousted libyan leader moammar gadhafi. they say they are on the verge of taking the port city of sirte. >>> a spade of killings at a port on the mekong river has interrupted cargo trade between children that and thailand. at least 12 sailors were murdered in what may have been a drug traffic attempt. investigations are continuing. >>> severe weather in new zealand is hampering efforts to corn taken an oil spill off the country's north eye land. authorities are trying to pump the remaining oil off a ship that struck a reef last wednesday. 30 tons of oil has leaked from the vessel. those are the headlines from cnn, the world's news leader. i'm monita rajpal. "world business today" starts right now. >>> good morning from cnn london, i'm charles hod southern. >> and good afternoon from cnn

i'm monita rajpal. "world business today" starts right now. >>> good morning from cnn london, i'm nina dos santos. >> and a very good afternoon from cnn hong kong, i'm andrew stevens. welcome to "world business today." it's friday. the top stories on -- >> g20 finance ministers meet in paris. >> slowing slowly. china's inflation rate eases but food costs are still a worry. >>> and it's semifinals weekend at the rugby world cup. we'll take a look at which teams have the psychological advantage. >>> first off, let's get straight to what's moving across the european stock markets today. it's bad new for the spanish prime minister and also the finance minister. spain's debt has been downgraded just late yesterday by standard & poors. it took it down one notch, aa to aa minus. it gave it a negative outlook as well, citing slowing growth, weakening financial system and persistently high unemployment which we should add is around about 21% across spain. the major banks have been downgraded earlier this week. i

let's head to monita rajpal. when they finally get it under control, what will this mean? we're hearing right now, carol, is that these anti-gadhafi fighters are saying it's a matter of time before libya is free. fighters say they are ready to take the center of sirti within a matter of hours. it's gadhafi's hometown. if they take control of sirte, they say they will have control of the country. it's a moral as well as t strategic town they need to take control of. they say some of the key structures there are under their control such as the hospital, the university, and even the conference center, which the fighters of the national transitional council say has been a major objective. also a major objective was the control of the airport, which the fighters say is now under their command. now while all of this is happening, there's still no word on the exact whereabouts of colonel gadhafi. >> i know. where the heck is he? let's talk about this ship off the coast of new zealand. this could end up a potentially serious blow to the environment. >> not only the oil spill itsel

around the world with monita rajpal. a disturbing report. >> reporter: they're saying according to this report there is compelling evidence as how they're describing it of systematic abuse of detainees in afghanistan and it revealed children who were being held under the age of 18 were also tortured. it was a year-long investigation that included interviews of more than 300 detainees in more than 40 detention centers across afghanistan. the readiness of its security force is in question. there are also questions about the fact that these -- that the training of these forces and the running of these detexas centers are funned by western powers such as the united states so how complicit are they and how much of what was actually happening within these prisons was widely known and, of course, if any of the information obtained from the detainees who had been tortured was useful to u.s. intelligence. now, an american official who spoke on the condition of an minimumty has been quoted in a report as saying that they didn't kn

i'm monita rajpal. a showdown is under way in southern england where authorities are trying to evict a small nomadic group known at travelers from land that the group has claimed for years. for the latest let's go live to essex and our reporter. nemma, what's happening where you are? >> reporter: well, monita, authorities have managed to go in around the back. there have been altercations between them and residents and activists, but the main gate, the front gate, that you see behind me which is the most fortified entrance into dale farm is still currently at an impasse. we understand it's because some residents have chained themselves on the inside of that gate. last time when there was threat of an eviction, there had been concern that some of the residents had chained themselves by the neck to the gate, which is one of the reaps that police are trying to move very slowly here, monita. council said they wanted this eviction to be as safe and dignified as possible. we're past the point of dignified whe

let's go around the world with monita rajpal. president blaming terrorists for the attack. at this point, do we know who did it or why? >> well, what we know right now, year quoting authorities that kurdish guerrillas struck forces in a kurdish province that borders iraq. they opened fire with automatic rifles. at least 24 people have been killed in that. reuters is reporting that turkish planes have now bombed kurdish rebel bases in northern iraq. according to recent reports, militants from the kurdish workers party also known as the pkk have been blamed for the deaths of more than 50 turkish security personnel since july. in retaliation, they've launched air raids on rebel targets in northern iraq where the pkk have bases. the pkk was formed in 1970 and since 1984 it has launched an arms struggle against turkey as they seek an independent kurdish state within turkey. turkey considers them a terrorist group. and of course we continue to wait for more information that comes out of that region. christine? >> right now riot police

i'm monita rajpal, "world business today" starts right now. >>> good morning from cnn london. i'm nina dos santos. >> and good afternoon from cnn hong kong, i'm andrew stephens. welcome to "world business today." the top stories this friday, october 7th. european stock markets face further turmoil as moody's down grades the credit rating of 12 british banks. >> and could eu measures to change carbon taxes spark a new trade war? >> a luxury brand is forced to slum it as commercial rents skyrocket here in hong kong. >>> first though to the stock markets, european banking stocks have been falling in the last hour or so that the markets have been trading. this comes after moody's decided to downgrade 12 british banks. the giant lenders like rbs, lloyds tsb are among some of the companies downgraded just a short time ago. moody's cut iterate tinges on rbs by two notches, and lloyds by one notch. the cooperative bank nationwide also saw their ratings lowered as well as seven smaller institutions across the country. this comes just less than 24 hours after the european commission pre

let's go around the world with my good friend, monita rajpal who joins us from london. >> good morningcretary of state clinton visited the afghan leader. now president hamid karzai has some pretty strong words that just don't seem to favor the united states. on a broadcast this weekend on pakistani gotv network karzai said quote, god forbid if any war took place between pakistan and the united states, we will stand by pakistan and he went on to say, if pakistan is attacked and if the people of pakistan needed afghanistan's help, afghanistan will be there with you. now, the odds of a war between the u.s. and pakistan aren't particularly high. it is believed that these words were to soften some statements he had made earlier. and angry comments he made over pakistan's support for afghan insurgent groups, a bit of a surprise, but after what has been considered a successful visit last week with the secretary of state. ali? >> very interesting comments. let's talk about the trash, the debris from the earthquake and tsunami that hit japan. we've always known that it's heading toward hawaii.

so let's head around the world with monita rajpal live in london.as agreed to free this soldier, but, of course, their deal didn't come for free. tell us about it. >> yeah, you could call it a ratio, carol, of 1,000 to 1. it's in a deal broken through the egyptian mediators. they agreed to swp an israeli soldier and many are asking how this could have happened in the first place as the reef is well documented. the latest development is that the captain of the ship that ran aground has been arrested and charged with operating a vessel in a manner, quote, causing unnecessary danger or risk, carol. >> mondita rajpal, thanks so much. >>> iran is linked to an assassination plot on u.s. soil. you are looking at one of the suspects. the target, saudi arabia's ambassador to the united states. does this amount to an act of war? . >>> good morning to you. it is wednesday, october 12th. this is your "a.m. wake-up call." i'm carol costello joining us live from new york this morning. it's 30 minutes past the hour. government officials say they have stopped a ter

. >>> hello, i'm monita rajpal at cnn. iran says it is outraged at the u.s. for charging two iranians for plotting to kill saudi arabia's ambassador to the united states. officials say one suspect, a naturalized u.s. citizen, has confessed since his arrest last month in new york. the other remains at large, apparently in iran. >>> israeli soldier shalit could soon be set free after five years in captivity. hamas and israel have agreed to a deal to exchange him for more than 1,000 palestinians in israeli prisons. the exchange is expected to happen within the next few days. >>> the worst floods in decades are wreaking havoc on the livelihood of thailand's people and economy. they're bracing for the next round which could reach them in days. flooding has killed at least 269 people and affected 8 million across the country. >>> in southwestern mexico, soldiers have been deployed, tourists have been told to leave, and emergency shelters are open as a hurricane comes ashore. the category 2 storm has weakened but is still bringing rain and strong winds. weather auth