she are at a press conference, if you will, an all-access press conference for the pariba open in indianells, california, that is going on right now. she is trying to prank maria sharapova. that's the tall, gorgeous woman standing on the left. my guess is she was trying to scare her by jumping on the balloon and popping it. she can't do it. >> yeah. >> she can hit a tiny tennis ball with a racket but can't jump on a blown-up balloon. >> there was a light wind factor she was dealing with here. the balloon was kind of shifty. >> what is going on? >> i was trying to shock her. >> my plan was, i thought the balloon would explode and scare her late bit, but my plan kind of got ruined. i stepped on it and nothing happened. >> i should start watching tennis. >> you never knew about maria sharapova. >> i think i've come across her once or twice. >> are you willing to watch tennis because of the great pranks? >> no. nope. . >>> some awesome mountain biking, downhill mountain biking this is the geiger trail. at the beginning it looks like he's floating, this is hard-core down until mountain biking

paribas in danger. why yorkshire could become a mining center again.nd kids keep up -- the controversial ban. armenians do not have it easy. the cease-fire with neighboring as a rise and is very unstable, and the relationship with turkey is difficult because the turks still deny the mass murder armenians during and after the first world war. things are not much brighter when it comes to the country's economy, either. in florida prospects in the small country in the caucuses are low, prompting people to leave the country look for jobs elsewhere in russia or in the u.s.. so how do you make young armenians believe in their future? give them something armenians are famous for. >> they may be only seven, but they already know how to topple a king. these second graders in armenia are learning to play chess. it is a required subject at the anton chekhov school. she says chess is great because it change your mind. it will make some clever. this boy says he likes the king best because he is the most important chess piece. this girl says she plays against her gr

bob bass of paribas says he was out hiking monday when he came across big floods, and we came across a mother bear and two cubs and as he turned to leave the mountain lion pounced on his back and given no where. he says he tried to fight off, the bear though sprang into action. >>> is and coming around to i saw something coming from the left and it was the parents grabbing the throat of the mountain lion in japan. >>> he would write down about a lottery ticket. and then the here's the big cat was stalking the bear cubs and he got in the way. he says both animals ran off after the fights and instead of going to the hospital he went panning for gold. his luck was pretty bad day for fish and game is looking into the big story and say so far haven't found much to substantiate it. >>> from the weather center we have a true story for you are taking a look right now the city of san francisco and mostly cloudy skies and a rainmaker a ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, but " wearing a suit continue to monitor this but this is the evergreen oil refinery in newark and rookie posted as to get information. f

. >> in the finals of the bnp paribas open.er had one of 20 he ises and reaches his first atp master series final and the other finals match was hampered by cold and rain, but roger federerer was able to take out his nemesis rafael rafael nadal in straight sets. roger federer err versus issuesner tomorrow for the been m parduce open items. >>> congratulations to the cal women's swimming and diving team. they win their third ncaa championship in the last four years. >> sharks and stanford women's basketball team win. and the manning speculation continues. >> that is right, next week we'll find out. >> i tell you, signing mario manningham might take it over the top a little bit. >> we'll see. that would be a mindblower if that happens. >> we'll be there. >> thank you, fred. >> that is our report for tonight, thank you so much for trusting ktvu channel 2 news wftv we'll see you the next time newsbreak. >> join ktvu morning at 7:00 for the latest news from overnight and we're always here whatcha lookin' for hon? ah, these new jeans

we had earlier gains of over 1% for the french banks like bnp paribas. as far as bond markets are concerned, we had a big going on for italian btps. after a big move down wards yesterday and surging prices, steady at 4.72%. tr treasuries trading over 2% on the yield. bunds just around 1.8%. but we're still below that 300 basis point spread on btps. we hit under that level since yesterday. euro dollar weaker during the session down to 1.3218. we have seen the yen slightly stronger at 108.07. of course christine will come on to this in a second but more data suggests we might get another reserve requirement for sterling dollar. christine, over to you for the asian news. >>> asian bowesian bourses are higher. we will avoid a messy default coming from the country, overall risk appetite, nikkei 225 inching ever closer to the key 10,000 level. the softer yen helping out the export oriented stocks. topix is up 1.5%. one eye on greece, the other on china. cpi today slowing a little bit more than expected. cpi 3.2% for the month of february. giving way talk this

joining us now from paribas and the chief economist there, we've seen a big dowls use of hope, b give us the flip side, what gives you doubt for the economy, julia? >> ire asking the right person. the things we're focused on in terms of risk to the recent momentum, rising gasoline prices, that's going to take a little bit of a bite out of consumer purchasing power. the fact that the global economy really still is slowing. europe is still in a recession. asia, china, still not really seeing the turnaround in momentum there, so not a lot of support coming from the external sector. and as one of your previous guests mentioned with the dollar strengthening, that whole external support that's been so important has been -- is not looking like something that we can rely on going forward so -- >> is there anything that you see that points to self-sustaining momentum in the economy? because obviously we've still got the fed crutches beneath us. >> absolutely. >> is there any indication that they'll be taken away before the 2014 date that essentially the fed has steet? >> no, i think the fed is

the chief eurozone economist at bnp paribas and michael crofton, president and ceo of the philadelphiarust company. welcome. let's kick off with you first. we have the gdp number out but questioned, of course, more reacting to what the pmis were telling us particularly in spain and italy. is it your sense the eurozone as a whole will be sort of contracting for the first quarter of the year as well? >> i think that's pretty much a done deal. if you look at the reliable indicators and what's happening in the economy then on the survey side the pmi losing ground just below 50. the indicator is not a bad guide either, consistent with the small falling gdp. the hard data has been quite disappointing. so a small fall looks a reasonable assumption. i think most people probably already have is that in their forecast. that's long discounted by markets. the issue is, can we get back to growth at some point and it's probably reasonable to have growth of some kind in the euro area but probably not very strong. so germany looks like it's going back to the period where the economy is expanding again

. >> we want to mention once again, that you are here in new york city to play in this bn bnp paribas >> to check the headlines with natalie morales. >> good morning once again. we begin with the devastation in the midwest and parts of the south. residents are picking up the pieces after powerful storms ripped through the area, killing 12 people. and now, a new storm system is powering up to hit tomorrow. nbc's lester holt is in hard-hit harrisburg, illinois, with more. lester, good morning. >> natalie, good morning. there were fatalities in at least three states, missouri, tennessee and illinois, the most, six people killed in harrisburg. overnight, the weather service upgraded the intensity of the winds on the weather scale of storms. it doesn't get much worse than what happened here. for those who survived it, however, on the emotional scale, thats with off the charts. in the hours before dawn on wednesday, the largest of the twisters cut a deadly trail through this former coal mining town. rated an e-4, the second highest, the tornado brought winds reaching 180 miles per hour. the