show, a regular time -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com white house and on the crisis in syria. that's tonight 9:00 eastern. good night. hello. i'm monita rajpal. the u.s. ambassador to the united states susan rice says syrian president bashar al assad's days are numbered. meanwhile, senior u.s. officials says the pentagon has begun a review of military capabilities in the region. it's a typical move to inform the president of his options if and when he calls for them. argentina's president says she'll file a complaint with the united nations over britain's plans to send a warship and a submarine to the falkland

islands, which argentina calls maldivas. and the results are in, and there's. an unexpected clean sweep for rick santorum. santorum is celebrating after winning three state contests on tuesday. the former pennsylvania senator won the colorado and minnesota caucuses and the nonbinding missouri primary. those are the headlines. i'm monita rajpal. "world business today" starts right now. good morning from cnn london, i'm nina del santos. >> and from cnn hong kong, this is "world business today." the top stories on wednesday, january 8th. ratings agency s&p downgrades sony after a triple whammy of economic challenges. the question is are their exporters now losing out to

their south korean rivals? a license to print money. why more american towns are minting their own currencies. and europe's football clubs used to attract all the top talent in international football, but as brazil's economy outperforms europe's, more players, it seems now, are staying at home. first up, though, investors continue to keep a close eye on events in greece, where political leaders are still working out a rescue deal with their creditors. amid the current uncertainty, there's still some good news there coming out of germany. this is the eurozone and europe's largest economy. this powerhouse has just posted record export figures for the year 2011, sending more than 1 trillion euros a year abroad. let's have a look how that's affecting the markets abroad. here in europe, we're seeing a bit of a bright spot to the trading session today. we're now just over an hour into the trading session. as you can see, we've got the

likes of the kak 40 and the xetra dax. these two are doing better, up .9%. the greek prime minister phas reached a deadline where they have bonds due. we're seeing a bounce on the back of the better than expected numbers when it comes to german exports. we've also got a meeting of political ministers delayed until today. what we have in greece is the political side as well as the economic side coming to the forefront. bankers' minds projecting zero growth in 2012. that's one of the reasons why the cac 40 in paris isn't up by as much as xetra dax. also wanted to mention the ftse

400 talk whether the merger with glenco is going to continue. that's in the mix as many shareholders within those companies say they're not going to approve it so far. >> when you saw the figure on that deal and figured out how big those companies are, it doesn't surprise us we're getting that talk now. here you can see behind me we've seen the most solid gains of the week so far. japanese automakers doing well, this on hopes of getting a greek debt deal. obviously, that is so much in the mix, as nina points out to us. there are some analysts in hong kong saying there seems to be a general perception there will be some sort of relief for greece ahead. we'll see about that. toyota enjoying a 5% boost a session. it's raised its forecast for 2011. nissan rising ahead of its earnings report. this is great news for some japanese corporations. we'll find out that's not the case all around.

profit rose 3.2% to $1.1 billion. not a good day for all japanese exporters. sony was downgraded to bbb-plus by standard & poor's. the hang seng doing well, up 1.5%. the japanese government has promised to help first time home buyers in a market which is a really, really tough one to get into, particularly if you're looking at property here in hong kong and indeed on the main land. i wanted to talk about the japanese exporters. nissan, while it may have defied the odds today, but many other big japanese manufacturers may not be so lucky. let's run you through how grim times have got all of these exporters. 2011 was a tough year for all sorts of reasons. the devastating earthquake and tsunami disaster, the strong yen as well. economic troubles overseas as we keep on hearing greece, for example. all of that conspired to produce japan's first trade deficit in 31 years, totaling $30 billion.

clearly, these things happening outside and in japan itself having their impact. japan's currency problems, we cannot ignore these. they've been looming for some time now. just five years ago, one u.s. dollar would have bought you 124 yen. now it buys you just 76. that's a 38% less bang for your buck. that means buying japanese, well, it's a pretty expensive choice. let's talk about individual stocks. that fact isn't lost on the key exporters. toyota, for example, sony, and panasonic, they're represented here. what we've seen is they're starting to recover after that tough 2011, but they do have a long way to go. we can look a little more closely at that. here are the gloomy forecasts ahead. the stock recovery isn't being mirrored on the profits front. toyota -- and that's in blue right here -- has just forecast half the earnings for the current fiscal year that it boasted last year. sony meanwhile, that's in the middle right here. you can see this falling below the line, stagnating, predicting

no real improvement on what was meant to be a blip in 2010. look at panasonic. i think the graph says it all. it's here in green. not a pretty picture at all. after lighting the way for so long, is the land of the rising yen now the land of the setting sun? let's go to kyung lah in tokyo. kyung, i know you've been speaking to a lot of analysts this week trying to get a grip on what's happening there, particularly on this export recovery, nonrecovery. what's it going to be? >> what experts will tell you and what many economists will tell you here in japan is the idea of a setting sun, that has already set. what japan corporate has got to do is look at new horizons. because of all the pressures you're talking about, all the external pressures like the currency. then you have to look internally that japan corporate has failed to innovate those big products that capture the consumer imagination. and then there is simply fierce

competition from china and korea that corporate japan has really struggled against. all of these factors put together, what economists are saying is that corporate japan has simply got to figure out a new path. what a lot of consensus among the experts that i'm speaking to says there is this idea that this country can still make things. they're going to make incremental, small inventions. it still can be invented in japan and perhaps built elsewhere. the idea, manisha, in three years that 70% of production will be outside of japan will be startling to some outsiders, but they say this is the reality for japan of tomorrow. >> how do you do it, kyung? if you have the likes of samsung, for example, pumping money into research and development and really coming up with innovation and new products is really where it's at, if that horse has already bolted for the japanese, there's no way they can catch up with some of these competitors. what is it the japanese need to do really well? what is it they can do really

well over the next three years? >> let's talk about samsung for a minute. that's really an extraordinary numbers game. you look at samsung and a report today said they're estimating about $17 billion into research and development. then look at the japan side. panasonic and sony lost about $17 billion they're estimating. so certainly it is going to be a very tough climb. so what we saw today are some reports of some semiconductor chip makers merging, renassis with panasonic and fujitsu. perhaps by integrating their resources, they may be able to catch up. certainly when you look at the numbers, when you compare what happened with sony and panasonic with samsung's look at the future, certainly it's going to be a tough haul. >> i'm sure we'll be checking in with you for reports on how it's going to go. kyung, as always, thank you so much for that. nina? u.s. stock markets moved higher in tuesday's session,

wiping out early losses on the hope that greece is nearing any kind of position of securing more bailout money. that was the closing bell on wall street. the dow jones industrial average rose at the end of trade about 33 points, or .25%. when it comes to the broader s&p 500, it closed up three points, at .2%. and the nasdaq edged up less than .1%. so a lackluster day for the market. the question is when wall street opens in under 5 1/2 hours time, the picture slightly more positive. we're not too far off the line. the nasdaq futures edging up .3 of 1%. those talks hinging on greece today. >> i don't know how you've been

experiencing it, but those temperatures in europe putting a strain on demand, most importantly the ukraine, suffering one of the harshest winters on record. we've been speaking to the ukraine minister about the crisis. i don't want healthy skin for a day. i want healthy skin for life. [ female announcer ] don't just moisturize. improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula goes beyond 24-hour moisture. it's clinically proven to improve your skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. for healthy, beautiful skin that lasts. i found a moisturizer for life. [ female announcer ] daily moisturizing lotion. and for healthy hair every day, try new pure renewal hair care, with balancing seaweed extract. only from aveeno.

let take a look at the currency markets now. the euro is continuing its rise against the u.s. dollar. it's currently the highest level against the dollar since back in december. all of this is on the back of optimism than an agreement on greek reform. you also heard kyung lah and also manisha discussing the recent strength for the yen. the yen is currently trading at 77.06. welcome back. you're watching "world business today" live on cnn. >> you certainly are. now, to an outsider they may appear worthless, but a growing number of communities across the united states, home grown currencies are helping to stimulate their local economies. more and more people are

believed to be turning their backs on the greenback itself to protect themselves from the nation's economic troubles. instead of printing -- instead. what they do is they print their own form of money. in the u.s., anyone can legally print their own notes so long as they're easily distinguishable from u.s. dollars and the value is tied to the dollar itself. it doesn't end there. more than ten u.s. states are also considering introducing alternative currencies. >> this is a really interesting story, manisha because the number of community currencies have spiked over the years, and those that have been around for some time have received renewed interest. the so-called equal dollar has been circulating in philadelphia since 1996. equal dollars are earned by volunteering and people doing good favors for one another. we spoke to some of their users. >> that's good. being a single father with two kids, mortgage, car notes, my son in a private school, it's a

tremendous savings. i can save easily about $100 or more per week. we got three of these. >> all of your life and all of my life until now, you only thought of money as meaning u.s. currency. we're saying broaden your view. >> you volunteer your time, you receive currency, and you purchase with the currency. what better way? one, two, three, four, five. >> equal dollars community currency is a local currency here in philadelphia. we print our own money, and then we give it value by allowing people to use it to buy goods and services. i'm all for organizations that donate food or services, but what equal dollars does, it gives people an opportunity to earn their money. >> heart warming tale there. philadelphia is affectionately known as the city of brotherly love, manisha.

>> it certainly is very appropriate, isn't it, nina? in the new york borough of brooklyn, the torch could soon be the currency of choice for many people there. just by using it, shoppers could be subject to discounts in stores. we spoke to the woman who's launching it as well as a retailer who's very keen to sign on. >> business owners are entrepreneurs, and this speaks to an entrepreneurial spirit of trying something new and just trying -- you know, experimenting. if it works, it works. if it doesn't, move on to the next. it's an idea that i think business owners respond to. hopefully, it does stimulate the local economy by getting people to go out into their local shops where the money is available to trade with. >> our margins on books are pretty slim as it is but anything to sort of foster community and get people shopping locally is worth it. it really comes down to logistics. i love the idea of it, and i love the idea that people can have this currency that can be

used at many locations on my block. the question is just the logistics of it. >> so if mary dade gets her way, the next time you're in new york, it could be brooklyn torches in your pocket rather than dollar bills. in case you're wondering, the exchange rate will be one to one. >> heartening stuff. we'll be back in just a moment's time.

let's check out the price of brent crude at a six month high right now. demand up, of course, partly on that freeze in new york -- sorry. across europe. also the american petroleum institute saying last week inventories in the u.s. were driven down. so more indications of higher demand are pushing that price up. a very warm welcome back. you're watching "world business today." we are live here on cnn. a brutal winter is pummelling europe with temperatures 10 to 15 degrees below normal for this time of year in some places across the region. for individuals, it's been fatal. at least 250 people across the continent have so far died from the cold, 155 in the ukraine, which is the coldest country. it's pushing up energy consumption right across europe, but in the ukraine, it's currently at historic highs. cnn's matthew chance has been speaking to ukraine's energy minister, and he joins us from

kiev to see exactly what he has to say. matthew, italy has said, for instance, it's really facing a real power crunch because of a lack of gas supplies coming from russia via ukraine. other countries in a similar situation. what has the energy minister been saying to reassure people here. >> reporter: that's right, nina. in fact, some european union countries are reporting the amount of russian gas through pipelines, most of which comes across the ukraine, are down 30%, which is obviously very difficult during this extremely cold weather in the continent. one of the issues, one of the questions that's been raised is where all the gas has gone to. is it russia that hasn't supplied it, or is it ukraine that's been siphoning it off for its own purposes? i sat down earlier, as you mentioned, with the ukrainian energy minister victor boyko, and asked him specifically about that issue. is ukraine siphoning off gas from russia, from its pipe lines, which is meant for paying customers in europe?

>> no. the main reason about lower amount of gas coming to europe is extremely cold weather in russia, first of all. that is why the west border of our country, we received smaller amount of gas than it was before. according to technical conditions, we must receive 500 million cubic meters per day. we received 400 all those days. that's why 100 million doesn't come to europe from russia. >> reporter: but the russians, of course, deny this. gasprov, the russian gas monopoly, says it has not lowered the volumes, the amount of gas it's pushing through to european customers. so somebody's not telling the truth. >> i think the information was when the deputy of gasprov said

they're not ready to give additional gas to europe. the fact is that smaller amount of gas came to us. >> reporter: that was the ukrainian energy minister, blaming russia for the shortfall of gas in western europe. back to you. >> matthew chance there in ukraine. it must be freezing there these days. many thanks for that. let's get the latest on this brutal winter blanketing most of europe. iran cabrera is at the cnn weather center. it's been freezing in britain where i am, but goodness knows whoo it's like in kiev, where matthew is. it's been brutally cold. temperatures at 25 to 30 degrees below zero at times, and the windchill has made it horrific out there. they're using a lot more energy.

when a country that supports a significant amount of energy is having issues meeting their own demand, you're going to have a drop-off here. that's what we've been talking about. you heard matthew chance said upwards of 30% of reduction. that is going to impact a lot of folks. then there are the ships, the pipelines are the pipe lines, but then we have the ships that are also transporting this energy over, and they have been grounded as a result of ice. haven't been able to clear the ports here. just an unbelievable turn of events here. the shortage has been critical. the biggest offshore gas storage facility for the uk has been pumping at maximum over the last five days, and they'll likely continue to do so. things are going to get a little better this weekend as the temperatures begin to moderate to the west. here in the east, we'll have big highs dominating over the current temperatures. the sun has been out for a while. we're still at minus 16, and that's the way we're going to be the rest of the day and really for the rest of the week as you see these blue and purple hues,

another reinforcing shot of cold air that's going to come all the way down into the balkans. cold air is in place, and then we have the lows in the mediterranean that have been producing the heavy amounts of snow that have been burying villages and towns across the balkans here. that will likely continue. the snow amounts not as heavy. that is certainly some good news there. they're going to continue to snow a little bit here as the lows move in, and it's going to remain cold for a good chunk of the continent here, again except for extreme western areas, and that does include to the north and west into the uk, where temperatures will be again to moderate there. >> ivan cabrera, many thanks for that. coming up on "world business today," we're on the campaign trail in the united states. we take a look at the rise of super pacs and what an impact they're having on the republican race for the nomination.

from cnn london, i'm nina del santos. >> welcome back to "world business today." let's take a look at what's going on in europe. we're 90 minutes into today's trading session. what we're doing at the moment is tracking gains that have been going on in other parts of the planet, such as asia. not huge movements in these markets, but bringing back some of the losses we saw in yesterday's session. greece is paramount to many an investor today, this is because

we've got a meeting of political investors going on later today, in which they're going to be finalizing the bailout. that meeting is delayed until today. as the talks resume, markets are nervous, but some of them still managing to push higher, particularly the eurozone markets, like the xetra dax, which is up just under 1%, and the paris cac, up .75%, manisha. >> we have hopes of those debts being covered in greece. we've seen decent gains today. greece very much in focus. it has been over the last -- well, it goes back quite some time, wasn't it? automakers were higher in particular in japan, that helped by earnings news out of the biggest ones, toyota, for example. sony has been downgraded to bbb-plus by s&p. we've talked about how that's

impacted them. we got a fairly good performance out of the nikkei 225 today. in hong kong, beijing is saying it would help first time home buyers. that pushing up the biggest property stocks listed in asia. those are heavyweights in hong kong. the hang seng getting a big boost out of that. but obviously we have an eye on what's happening in the u.s. what happened there? nina? >> we certainly do. we had a quiet day on the u.s. stock markets on today. alison kosik gives us a wrap up of the day that was on wall street. >> hopes that greece is near a deal to secure another bailout helped push stocks back into positive territory on tuesday. the dow rose 32 points ending at 12,878. the nasdaq and s&p 500 also ended slightly higher. no change in tone from federal reserve chairman ben bernanke. there had been speculation after friday's positive jobs numbers that bernanke may amend his statement to the u.s. senate on tuesday. instead, it was identical to the one he delivered to the u.s. house last week.

the chairman renewed its pledge to prevent the european crisis from damaging the u.s. economy. as for jobs, he said the labor market has a long way to go before it can be said to be operating normally. coca-cola shares gained .75% after the beverage giant reported better than expected quarterly earnings. coke unveiled a new cost savings program that should help against rising commodity talks. strength overseas and in nonsoda drinks in north america has helped coke outperform pepsi in recent months. pepsi is said to roll out a counterattack when it reports earnings on wednesday. coming up thursday, earnings from cisco, visa, and anheuser busch. groupon is slated to clock in. it will be the first earnings report as a publicly traded company. that's a wrap-up of the day's news. i'm alison kosik in new york. >> that was the day that was on

wall street. let's have a look at how things are poised to open later on today. they seem to be taking their lead on the positive momentum we've seen in asia, which pushed higher past the 1% mark. also, we've got muted gains in europe. gains on the future even more muted than that. the likes of the dow and also the nasdaq up by .25% in terms of premarket action, and the s&p just lacking behind, just shy of .2%. >> if you check the clock, that means the markets will open in just under five hours time. u.s. investors will then have a chance to react to the latest development in the race to the white house, and intriguing developments they are as well. after mitt romney routed the opposition in recent republican contests, tuesday saw a triple whammy for his conservative rival rick santorum. the former pennsylvania senator was tipped to take the missouri primary and minnesota caucuses, and he did so in style. he also pulled off an upset in

colorado, where he edge d the favorite, who of course is romney, into second place. and he didn't mince his words about why he thought he'd succeeded. >> and you see that, when you have a republican out there talking about growth and talking about growth for everybody, right? that americans respond because i do care about, not 99% or 95%, i care about the very rich and the very poor. i care about 100% of america. >> interesting that he should be talking about rich and poor because santorum isn't just up against romney in this republican race. he's up against the spending power of romney's supporters.

since the at vedvent of politic action committees or super pacs, that spending amount got a whole lot bigger. jonathan mann explains. >> reporter: one of the remarkable things about rick santorum's surprise results is that santorum has lasted long enough to enjoy them. he wasn't anyone's obvious favorite. some thought earlier he might be among the first casualties of the long caucus and primary process. back in the old days, like just four years ago, candidates who didn't do well in the primaries dropped out of the race. they had to. when votes dried up, donations dried up. the campaigns couldn't go on traveling, advertising, paying for salaries and office space. they just didn't have the cash. but this is the first election powered by super pacs. new fund-raising organizations established under a precedent setting supreme court decision that came just two years ago, and even a single donor is enough to keep a super pac funded and a campaign in

contention. casino billionaire sheldon adelsen donated billions to back gingrich. those from the venture firm founders fund donated to endorse liberty super pac to back ron paul. and billionaire foster freeze has been giving to the red, white, and blue super pac, which is backing rick santorum. >> i've got to keep that from my wife. she'd kill me if she found out. i want to keep that under the radar. i just believe in santorum. i believe in what he can do for the country. >> foster friess was actually at rick santorum's side when santorum gave his victory speech. the reason santorum is here was because friess was here. no coincidence, foster friess is one of the reasons santorum is still in the race and he's hope to go win it. in mitt romney's case, maybe the most important name to know is wall street. our colleagues at cnn.com

compiled this and found that no other candidate came even close to the $12 million that romney's campaign raised directly in 2011 from people who work on wall street. $12 million. even president obama raised just $5 million, and that doesn't compare to the money that was available to romney from super pacs, which was a lesson not lost on the president. just this week, obama's campaign announced this week it will cooperate with and accept the support of super pacs. he railed against them. he fought the supreme court ruling that made them possible, but he can read the numbers. and now president obama wants some of that super pac money as well. back to you. >> jonathan mann reporting there. coming up next on "world business today," with the world cup on the horizon, the football game is flourishing in brazil. golly, that is deep snow!

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rather overcast and grim looking hong kong skyline. one of the ever so popular star ferries and takes many visitors and locals across that victoria harbor. a very warm welcome back. it's "world business today." >> here it is, four months and four days, the football world cup will kick off in brazil, and already the tournament has been beset by financial worries, a series of strikes, and building delays. but within the host nation, football is on the up. in the past, brazil's talent, its up and coming talent has usually up and left the country, the big money playing elsewhere. but good times in the economy at home mean that things are changing right now. >> reporter: why didn't namar go to europe? too much snow and not enough beach for the rising brazilian football star, at least according to this popular ad for

the so drink. the answer may be tongue in cheek, but the question is all too common. for decades, brazil's most promising players have headed to europe to improve their game and, of course, fatten their wallets. but last year 19-year-old namar turned down powerful suitors, chelsea, real madrid, and barcelona and renewed his contract with home team santos. we asked a former central banker, now president of the santos club, what it all meant. we can't continue being a third world country selling raw materials instead of finished goods. when you sell young, you create wealth for the buyer. after pulling santos out of debt, olivera returned to the private sector to recruit talent. today he earns more as a pop star than an athlete. we discovered the obvious,

companies can pay a european sized salary so he can stay here. it also helps that latin america's largest economy is booming while europe is mired in crisis, forcing many midsized clubs to tighten their purse strings. some players have come home to brazilian clubs while some young talent are thinking twice about packing their bags. namar's new contract is worth $20 million a year in salary and sponsorship deals. it commits him to santos through 2014. that, of course, is when brazil will host the world cup. just another reason for players to work on their game at home, at least for a couple more years. brazilians will be mightily disappointed if the next world cup doesn't add another chapter to its glorious football history, on display at sao paulo's football museum. another picture of a teenager signed to santos who helped his country to three world cups.

his name, of course, pele. shasta darlington, cnn, sao paulo. to israel now. a labor union strike is causing widespread disruption there. hospitals, banks, and government ministry staff have left their posts in a row over contractors. the strike is costing the country $500 million a day. our very own david mckenzie joins us from jerusalem and can really put us in the picture as to what's going on. david? >> reporter: that's right, manisha. if you look here, we're at one of the namesakes of downtown jerusalem. this is the bank and post office behind you completely shut down. behind the camera, the municipal offices. this general strike, as you put it, is affecting all sorts of services here in israel. it's important because this has been a long-running dispute with the government, how contractual workers are treated, their salaries and whether they get benefits. the government has criticized

the strike, particularly the prime minister and the finance minister, saying while israel has managed to avoid the tough times in europe, this could push it over the edge. >> we haven't had lower growth in a substandard way. we haven't had high unemployment. we want to continue keeping the israeli economy apart from some of the problems separate from what we're seeing in europe. it's going to be difficult. unfortunately, the national strike we're seeing in europe is not good because it can threaten the relative economic stability we've had in israel. >> reporter: they did add that it's important for contractual workers to feel they are getting the right benefits, but they say a strike now isn't the right time. this is running into the hundreds of thousands of people who are affected by what they say are low salaries, and it's important here, as israel has had pretty healthy economic numbers over the past few years and is trying to establish

itself and keep itself out of the trouble that greece and other countries in europe have gotten themselves into. >> of course, david, the thing about greece and some of the other countries is tensions, problems, economic problems have built over some time. in this case, for this particular strike, how long has it been since this has been building up? >> reporter: it's been building up for quite a while. i want to show you video here from the summer protests, where there was a general level of major protests throughout the country about economic issues, social issues, real sense, particularly of the youth of israel, saying they wanted a fair shake. this issue grows explicitly talked about and raised at some of those protests. there's a sense that people want to make sure they are paid a fair salary, given a fair benefit. but on the government side, they're basically saying they've managed to with tight fiscal policies and smart policies and not much links to the bad debt

of europe keep this economy growing steadily over the past few years. when you see these buildings shut down like this and the fact this is an open-ended strike, the worry is that, if they don't come up with some kind of deal, the millions of dollars the country will lose every day certainly is a worry for those managing the finances of israel. manisha? >> all right. thanks for putting us in the picture like that. david mckenzie there live from jerusalem. nina? coming up next on "world business today," japanese seniors prove they're down with the kids. we'll tell you why it's not unusual inform see japan's older generation in video ar kads and how the owners are cashing in. 'ñ so what do you think? basic.

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gold hasn't lost its shine. it's continuing to climb, up more than 11% so far already. one troy ounce is trading at a value of $1,746.90. that's up nearly $2 on the ounce. welcome back. live from cnn hong kong in london, this is "world business today." now, nina, everyone out there, there is, of course, a saying that youth is wasted on the young. not in japan, where senior citizens are taking over video game arcades. so much so that some arcade owners are marketing special senior days and offering low tech games for them to play. cnn's kyung lah has this report.

>> reporter: in the hyperanimated shoot 'em world of japan's video arcades, the player has gone from preteen to retiree. we look around and see a lot of people about your same age. why? because it's fun here, says teruo kataoka. he's 70 and so is his wife. we're bored, she says. we don't have anything to do. i don't have anything to say to my husband anymore. it's much better to come here than sit in the house watching tv all day. we need excitement too. so many gray hairers gathered here, this arcade has morphed into an unofficial senior center. of course we did, pointing out the game he sees every other day. games are good to prevent dementia. a clear trend spotted by the corporation that owns this arcade, promoting senior days

and marketing easy to use points cards. are you purposely make thg more analog to meet the needs of an older population? >> that's right says sega's spokeswoman. in japan, the trend is to use the mobile phone to collect more points, but we're using paper because it's senior friendly. >> reporter: if you think getting seniors to play video games is a crazy idea, get this. for every child in japan, there are two elderly people. the number will grow. for every child, there will be four elderly people. it makes economic sense. japan is aging faster than anywhere on the planet with the birth rate at historic lows. the arcade is one example of a once youthful industry shifting to meet the population reality. do you think it's at all weird, though, to see so many elderly people in the arcade? no, it's not that weird say these 16-year-olds, as long as the seniors stick to their games. if you saw them playing one of

the shoot 'em up games with a gun or a sword, would that be weird? yeah, now that would be weird. but no telling, says the video game industry, what the future of this graying nation holds. kyung lah, cnn, tokyo. >> the silver haired gamblers out for a penny or two. nice stuff from kyung lah there in japan. let's take a quick look at the leading indices and see how they're performing nearly two hours into the day's trading session. we're tracking the gains we saw before in particular in asia, which is now closed, but closing up to the tune of 1.5% to 2%. greece remains the word in the back of many investors' minds as you can see there. a bit of cautiousness ahead of the political leaders meeting today. hopefully, they'll be able to hammer out the terms of the much needed second bailout for the country. in asia, nina, we saw pretty

decent gains today. greece again very much in focus. waiting for news on that. in japan, the automakers pushed higher. we had decent guidance from toyota in particular. sony has been downgraded to bbb-plus by s&p, not a good one for that particular one. and here in hong kong, a big boost for property stocks. beijing said it would help first time home buyers. let's just update you with news coming in over the course of the show. this just into us now. the european aviation safety agency si that all airbus a-380 planes are to be checked for cracks in the wings. some of you may recall this has been an issue brought up over the last month or so. it coming after the australian airline qantas saying it was grounding one of its a-380s on wednesday. cracks had been discovered in its wings. while these checks are being carried out, this is the second directive that all a-380 airbus planes have to be checked for these cracks. it has to happen within the next

three to four weeks. they're saying it's a stepped measure, and they will publish this second interim directive. that follows up on the first directive some three weeks ago. this has been going on for a month now. the planes will not have to be grounded. i'm sure this was a question that many of the airlines were concerned about. the first directive, just to point out, stated that 20 of the oldest planes that have flown the most had to be checked. this is the second one coming through now. and we'll keep an eye on that story for you. that is it for this edition of "world business today." it was great to have you with us. >> you're watching cnn, the world's news leader. from the two of us, it's good-bye for now.