house. also ahead, the first lady of r&b, beyonce. and sarah, duchess of york. they're all coming up on "piers morgan tonight." hi, i'm zain verjee. here are the head lines. fifa says it will proceed with the presidential election today. incumbent president is standing unopposed because the only other candidate withdrew. accusations of flying that officials solicited cash and gifts in world cup bidding. japan underestimated the threat of a tsunami on the nuclear installations. that's what the iaea is saying

at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. they praised the response at the plant as exemplary. the power plant was badly damaged after a quake triggered a tsunami in march. former bosnia serb commander is now awaiting charges at the hague. he's facing war crimes of the massacre of 8,000 men and boys in 1995. after 16 days in space, shuttle" endeavour" is back on earth. nasa's 30-year shuttle program will come to an end after the launch of "atlantis" in the coming weeks. those are the headlines. "world business today" starts now.

good morning, from cnn london, i'm nina december santos. >> good afternoon from cnn hong kong. i'm andrew stevens and you're watching "world business today." the top stories this wednesday, australia suffers its biggest economic squeeze in 20 years after severe flooding soaks the mining industry. mixed fortunes in the tech sector. apple had its head in the data cloud wu nokia is feeling under the weather. and doubts, mistakes and regrets. not many ceos are big enough to admit them wu michael wu is. we sit down with the boss. european stock markets rather subdued this morning. let's go straight to take a look at them. you should be able to see on this chart right now, we have a number of markets trading in the red. ftse in particular with number of heavy weight stocks currently trading without the rights to

dividend or x dif depd and a reason to see a falloff there and we should mention that nokia shares tanking further after reaching a 13-year low yesterday after the company scrapped the full-year sales targets. those shares are currently down by 5% and investors looking at france's latest unemployment data. the jobless rate of the country fell only slightly in the first quarter and above that key 9% level, cac 40 virtually unchanged at the moment. the euro is up against the dollar as concerns start to ease over the situation in greece. there's also some speculation mounting about a possible -- the possibility of a further slowdown in the u.s. economy. we should also mention that the dollar is currently trading at a three-week low versus the euro. one dollar buys you $1.4438 in terms of euro. the yen is trading at 81.44

versus the greenback. all about slowdown in asia, as well, particularly in the biggest economy in asia. that's china. and it's revealed today some manufacturing numbers. this is the hsbc pmi index and it showed that activity did grow and at the slowest rate of some three quarters. inflation, higher interest rates largely to blame for that so the economy is indeed slowing down. that news did flatten the shanghai composite. that's how the shanghai actually ended up just as i said flat but it was up 1.4% yesterday. the economists are saying that this number was a little bit expected on the manufacturing side, perhaps it's going to be a soft landing for the chinese economy. nikkei up and australia barely moved. big news also coming out of

australia today. australia battled a record deluge in the summer and now looking forward to a winter relative economic content. what i mean by that? the country reported the largest gdp contraction in 20 years after floods overwhelmed the coal and agriculture sectors earlier this year. the economy contracting 1.2% in the first quarter of this year compared with the final quarter of last year. the good news is that the slump is likely to be a one off. one economist indeed described this decline as a temporary pothole. for more on the causes and effects, let's talk to james dagonixon. give us the reasons, why was there such a dramatic impact? >> reporter: well, as you said,

the first quarter gdp contraction, a big number with the historical context. the biggest contraction some 20 years. we vice president seen that sort of decline since the '90s recession. however, actually, it was welcomed consensus forecast had been for a contraction of 1 hadn't 4% and saw the market move up off the back of it. as you say, the big reason why was because of the natural disasters, the queensland floods and the cyclones earlier this year really crimping exports, in particular our coal exports. it is a hot bed for coal that eastern side of the australia. we saw, in fact, exports fall or exports volumes fall about 8.7% in that quarter, 27% dropoff in coal exports and took a 1.7% chunk out of the gdp number and considered only a soft patch, a

short-term lived thing simply because a lot of those mines are being able to get back to pre-flooding production levels and hopeful to get back up to full-time production a little bit sooner. we are hearing anecdotally that is the case. digging deeper into those numbers, there were also some economists taking heart from the fact that household consumption maintained an upward trend and business investment, two key measures moving forward in terms of this economic growth or sustaining the economic growth within australia. however, over the year analyzed gdp expected to fall about 1% from the original target of 4%, 4.5%. >> okay. let's take a look at that -- that was a one-off hit for the australian economy. what is the current quarter looking like then? what is australia's growth rate likely to be over the next few months? >> reporter: look.

pre -- during the budget handed down last month there's treasury forecasts here of a growth rate of about 4%. that many economists are saying is unlikely. probably see something closer to about 3%. in terms of the next quarter, there's expected to be a bounce back because the production levels, those export volumes are going to be back up to pre-flooding levels. a lot of the focus now in terms of the economy shifts to the royal bank of australia and the monetary policy. they have been very hawkish in the comments the last couple of months, suggesting an interest rate rise is on the cards. the next move is in june. not many people expecting that we will see that simply because if there's short term soft patch we have seen in the economy suggestions to see a move back in july. inflation again seeing around the region something that playing foremost in the reserve

bank's mind at the moment so while we have seen that little bit of a slowdown in terms of growth for this quarter that's expected to rebound next quarter and that could bring the reserve bank on the sidelines in terms of pulling the interest rate trigger. >> okay. james, with sky news in australia, thanks very much for that. nina? let's tell the viewers of what happened on wall street on tuesday because rumors of new aid for greece put investors in the buying mood and high-profile announcements in the technology sector. we'll tell viewers about that in a moment's time. the dow and s&p 500 rose by 1% and the nasdaq jumped by 1.3%. now, there were two unexpected statements from computer giant apple on tuesday. the company announced that the ceo steve jobs who's been away

on medical leave since january will take the stage at apple's annual developers conference on monday and took the unusual step of publy sidesing in advance a new product. it's called the i cloud. and many believe it to be apple's answer to similar services from google and amazon. they allow you to store music online, allowing you to stream the songs to all of your devices rather than storing them on your devices. now, staying in the computer econo industry, intel announced for its microchips one allows computers in hibernation mode to receive e-mails and others get computers running in six seconds. intel says you don't want to wait to boot up. ic echo that sentiment, nina. nothing more frustrating than watching your computer get itself organized. >> mine takes a few good

seconds, i have to say. i'm not the most patient in the world, andrew. nokia says that things are worse than it had originally thought, of course, issued a profit warning for the second quarter of the year saying that the second quarter earnings will be, quote, substantially below the earlier forecast of 8.8 to $9.5 million. the sales volumes, selling price, it says be lower than expected and no longer providing quarterly annual forecasts. it is only providing quarterly forecasts for the moment. as you can see, shares in the company plunged by a whopping 17.53% in trading on tuesday. they're down by 40% since the start of the year and as i was saying, andrew, they're already trading 5% lower at the moment. now, nokia's smartphone strategy is currently in transition. we have been telling you this

for quite a while. the operating system a replaced by windows phone systems. nokia was overtaken by competitors while it rested on the laurels. take a listen. >> the market's moved on three years in the last past three years. another thing nokia picked up on that. they were slow to innovate in the smartphones. apple came in and nobody saw that as a competitive element. they have massive volume. they're making good margin. good revenues. >> certainly corporate history littered with the car casses of companies that forgot about the competition. nokia's global market share stands at a 14-year low. 25.1% of the market in the first quarter. now, it's struggling to make the mark on smartphone companies, competitors like apple, samsung,

google, all chipping away at nokia with their smartphones. just want the show you this. this is a number gram for a graphic idea of the sales. these are sales for the first quarter amongst the biggest global sellers. nokia as you see still the biggest seller, first quarter, 107.6 million units and down 5.5% compared with last year at the same time and it is because it continues to struggle to get a foothold in the smartphone market. smartphones, where do you go for those? we all know apple. take a look at the apple numbers. small overall and 18.6 million units sold, doubling sales in the first quarter. apple has 3.9% of the global market. not just apple, though. it is also the taiwanese manufacturer htc. htc nearly tripling the sales in the first quarter to 9.3 units. that's where nokia's competition is coming. they're responding but taking a

long time. it's interesting. i looked at an investment note. one house is tipping a fall in the share price with the competition and still going to be strubling for a long time to come. >> it's been struggling for quite a bit already, isn't it, andrew? it's interesting about nokia is year after year we have been hearing these profit warnings and still no clear direction in terms of sort of come petting with the likes of apple's iphone and et cetera. and facing a new challenge of the industry, coming up we'll be explaining what the wto is now saying about phones and cancer. and also, one-horse race. if fifa go ahead with the controversial presidential election? we'll get the latest after this. and the pollen outside. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my allergy symptoms. it's the brand allergists recommend most. ♪

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hello and welcome back. this is "world business today."

>> against a backdrop of a very public ethics scandal, plus political infighting, the governoring body of soccer is gathering to elect the next president. there's allegations of bribery in the presidential campaign. it's left only the incumbent seth blattern race. there's also bribery allegations in the world cup venues. at stake is the credibility of the organization that oversees the world's most popular game and hundreds of millions of dollars in event sponsorship and revenue. well, fifa is a global organization with sponsors and a football fan base that exceeds 1 billion people. it says that in the four-year period of 2007 to 2010 it banked some $631 million. on total revenue of almost $4.2 billion. but the current crisis has

sponsors openly expressing concern. candy vett has the details on what this crisis is all about. ♪ >> reporter: before due to be sworn in as fifa president unopposed seth blater admitted that the governing body is shaking at the foundations at the opening of the 61st fifa conference in zurich. chuck blazer had been sacked with immediate effect. within 40 minutes or so on tuesday evening the acting president standing in for jack warner sacked him without authority and so blazer will remain on as general secretary. it was blazer's report, of course, to fifa's ethics committee alleging that they tried to blib caribbean union officials.

>> translator: i believed we were living in a world of fair play, respect and discipline. but unfortunately, i must say that that is no longer the case because our pyramid, the famous fifa pyramid, is now shaking at its foundations and there is a danger lurking. >> reporter: four of the six biggest sponsors increased the pressure on football's governing body to accept reform. following statements of concern of coca-cola visa europe said on monday the current situation is clearly not good for the game and we ask that they take steps to resolve the concerns. emirates airlines said it was disappointed with the issues that are currently surrounding the administration of the sport. and happy but none of the partners issued a public ultimatum demanding change. that is not true of the engish

a football association. the only bla blatter is not renominated is to call off the vote with the support of three quarters of the 208 voting delegates. david burnstein said they have very little ability to succeed. football associations asked for a postponement of the election but many are now questioning why authorities don't boycott the game's governing body. the answer is pretty simple. basically, they risk being ostracized to the group that gives them access to the competition in the game and they can't afford it. national teams would lose sponsors and ticket sales and european clubs would also suffer, as well. without fifa there would be no access to the champions league,

top players would jump ships to play in countries to compete. for a shake-up to occur we would have to have more than one country quitting and some said it needs a full-scale revolution here. andrew? >> going to say the politics of fear. unbelievable. it may be good to talk but with mobile phones is it good for your health? the world trade organization altered the stance on calls and cancer. we'll tell you why they're ringing the changes, just ahead. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made.

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live from cnn london and hong kong, this is "world business today." welcome back. the march of the mobile phone from its humble beginnings certainly got everyone talking and one conversation that's not losing any steam concerns the possible link between hand set usage and our health. the world health organization now says there could be a risk with mobiles having as much potential to cause cancer as lead, exhaust or chloroform. previously the wto assured consumers that no damaging health effects had been uncovered, nina. >> the report stresses that the risk is merely possible, rather than definite, and mobile industry leaders insist that the products are safe but as nicole collins reports here, there are many others dialing into this debate.

>> reporter: 5 billion cell phone subscriptions are estimated worldwide. >> probably hold it to my ear maybe twice a day. >> reporter: now the world health organization says radiation from the phones could possibly cause cancer, listing cell phone use in the same category as lead, engine exhaust and chloroform. >> i care about it. anybody would. >> reporter: previously the wto assured consumers no adverse health effects had been detected but a study concluded otherwise. the doctor who headed the team said in a statement released by the who the conclusion means there could be some risk and therefore we we need to keep a close watch. mobile phone use is in its relatively early stages only popular for the last 15 years. the chief of neuro surgery at cedars sinai says it may take several decades of exposure before consequences are learning

and a growing chorus of concern. the european environmental agency pushes for more studies says it could be as big a risk as asbestos and smoking. >> probably when they have more people affected by it they'll probably, you know, stop using it as much. >> reporter: the cell phone industry maintains there is no conclusive proof of danger. for now, experts suggest using a headset or speakerphone to avoid possible health risks. in washington, i'm nicole collins. >> the health implications may be unclear but any proof of a cancer risk have obvious imply kag cases for the industry. earlier, maggie reardon said that the development should not derail progress in the nobmobil sector. >> i think the industry stays pretty focused on the message that they've been giving out

that cell phones don't possess any risk. people have to look at the safety standards and looking at where those come from. >> with so many differing sources in this debate it can be pretty difficult to keep up with exactly what the current way of thinking is, nina. >> certainly is quite difficult to keep up with, isn't it, andrew? it is a story we'll be following closely on cnn and "world business today." up next, the boss. hong kong's ceo telling us about the journey to the top. don't go away.

from cnn hong kong, i'm andrew stevens. >> and i'm nina december santos at cnn london. welcome back to "world business today." let's see european stock markets. it seems as though they're firmly stuck in the red. at the moment, but just two teeter towards the positive line. about flat for the cac 40. we have french unemployment numbers today and a reason why the cay 40 slightly better than the other markets and there's a reason why the ftse 100 started the day on a down beat note. trading without the rights to dividends and known as x dividend and that has been a reason for some of those falls. also in the mix, nokia shares. after a 13-year low yesterday,

we should also mention that nokia gained very much in focus today is now down by about 5% in trading. andrew? well here in asia, the big number came out of china. it was manufacturing data. and it showed that manufacturing activity expanded but at its slowest rate for something like three quarters. that's largely put down to inflation. some products are unaffordable for the population there. what does it mean for the index? virtually flat at the close on wednesday. remember, up 1.4% yesterday, that was the end of an 8-session losing streak. okay. we are going to take a short break and be back in just a moment.

welcome back. you are watching "world business today." a u.n. nuclear safety team concluded that japan underestimated the tsunami hazard for several of the

nuclear power plants. the agency says that that left the fukushima daiichi facility overwhe overwhelmed. joining us with more is a cnn reporter live from tokyo. >> reporter: andrew, basically, this is a preliminary summary of the iaea fact-finding mission and in a nutshell they found that japan's response after the disaster has been quote exemplary. the problem was in the preparation. the iaea team in the preliminary summary credit japan in looking at the tsunami hazard for several sites had quote underestimated that hazard. it left the defenses of the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant, the crippled plant that was crippled on march 11th, it led the defenses overwhelmed. for example, the sea wall was built to withstand a tsunami wave of 5.7 meters, a maximum height. but the tsunami waves on that

day estimated to be 14 meters tall. that's more than twice the size of the sea walls that it was prepared to deal with. so, here's what the team leader told reporters shortly after meeting with the government. >> natural disasters, you perhaps can't predict the precise moment of when they might occur but you can say let me try and predict what is the consequence of them occurring and that's what you take into account in design. and that's the lessons to take away for the world. so you can make nuclear plants safe against natural events. but you have to understand those events very carefully and be able to predict them. not the timing. but the size of them. >> reporter: as far as other lessons learned, regulatory independence, something that the team found needs to be done for

governments around the world and this is something we have heard a lot of criticism of is the close relationship between tepco, the regulatory agency here in japan and japan's government and another lesson learned is hardened on site emergency response centers. this is, though, the iaea team finds a chance for world governments to actually improve nuclear safety around the globe. andrew? >> thanks very much for that. nina? andrew, michael wu is the chairman of hong kong's maxim group. we have seen him cope with a range of challenges, running an international company, but there are moments when even the man at the top has his doubts. it is time now for "the boss." >> reporter: for the last eight months, michael wu pushed the boundaries of his business,

launched new products, introduced new brands, taken on mainland china all while managing his 14,000 employees. today, he's in london. richard qwest sits down with michael wu, chairman and managing director of the maxim group for a visit with the boss. >> have you made the transition from entrepreneur to chief executive? and do you battle with that difference? >> i don't think i've made that well. i'm much more an entrepreneur than i am a ceo. i'm the one who dreams. i'm the one who communicates. >> when did you first probably realize that you were going to become a chief executive with

fairly large, substantial responsibilities? >> well, i joined the company in 1992, and at that time, when my grandfather hired me, he said, you would have a shot at becoming the chief executive if you performed well but if you didn't you would be out of the company. so from day one my aim was to become chief executive. >> was there a perception that it's within the family you're going to get the job anyway, whether rightly or wrongly, the perception is always the family boy's going to get the job. >> in chinese culture, you know, people want outsiders to staff. they want a family member to succeed. they want to be led by a family member. because i think the tradition and the heritage of this company being led by a family member, i think it's very important and i think it carries -- it gives me

lots of advantages as well as pressures when i try to execute something. it's just easier for me being a family member and the ceo to get something done than if i were an outsider. if i were an outsider, i would be given lots of doubts, what's he doing with this work? when's he going to fail? >> there must have been people who said, young kid, new, freshly-minted degree, he's going to ruin the company. >> i had doubts even from my grandfather. when i first brought starbucks to hong kong, nobody had herd of starbucks and i took them to a competitor in hong kong and i told them to try the coffee. and we're going to be charging $3 u.s. for this small cup of coffee which is the same as a whole lunch, a barbecued rice lunch and making money out of

this company. and everyone in the company including my grandfather said, you are crazy. nobody's going to pay $3 for a cup of takeaway coffee. but i said it's the trend. the young people, they're willing to spend this money on the brand. and it's the lifestyle so i believe in this concept. let me try it. one thing i've learned from managing a business in china is don't assume anything. when we tried -- when we thought that the business model was probably very similar to hong kong, we were right and we were wrong. >> have you bitten off more than you can chew in china? by your own admission, it's proved to be more challenging than you had thought. >> china is a very challenging market. we are focusing on close to hong kong and the thing about china

is that it's such -- it's geographically so much different from hong kong. you know? you take things for granted in hong kong. hong kong is a small place. china is a huge place. >> did you misjudge? >> there were a lot of misjudgments in the operations, logistics, for example. we completely disjudged that. >> so as a boss how has the last ten years shaped your concept of what it means to lead a company of 14,000 people? >> you have to have faith and confidence in your vision and your dream. during difficult times which we have seen in past ten times, some very difficult years, there were a lot of people would doubt you into what you do, your expansion, your rolling out new concepts. they'll doubt you. will this work? will that work? what if you believe in what you

do and you execute that well, and good times will come back. >> sarah cohen said she thinks she'll know when it's time to hand over the reins, she is an employed ceo. you are a family ceo. will you know when it's time to say, good-bye? >> the day i lose passion and interest in my job, the day i stap coming up with new ideas, stop driving our team to think further, to go out and innovate i think when that day comes is the day i will have lost interest. but it won't be soon. >> next week on "the boss" -- >> it was bloody difficult. >> sarah prepares to take on her next big challenge, inspiring and mentoring. and in brooklyn, new york, playing up the underdog status. steve tells us how he used the viral and aggressive gorilla marketing to get ahead.

>> michael wu had made millions of dollars out of his food and beverage business. however, his wealth is not that unusual here in hong kong with the fourth highest concentrations of millionaires anywhere on earth. but according to a new study by the boston consulting group, you have to look elsewhere in asia for the highest concentration. to be precise, singapore. 15.5% of households in the city boasted more than $5 million in assets last year. that's more than 1 in every 10 houses. singapore is positioned for the booming economy of indonesia, the economies around it and helped boost that figure. let's move on to the number two nation and it counts sepp blatter among the mill their club. just under 10% of households in switzerland have $1 million in

assets. the future world cup host qatar taking the number three spot, 8.9% of residents pass the millionaire marketer and i can reveal i'm not amongst that percentage in hong kong that are in the millionaire club. >> you know plenty of millionaires here in london, as well. sadly i'm not one of them either. there you go. coming up next, deep and meaningful, the titanic may have sunk nearly 100 years ago but that doesn't mean you can't visit it. we'll be one on one with a fashion designer who's taken the creations to the film industry.

chinese premier swapped his business suit for a gym suit on tuesday to play some hoops with elementary school students. he told the sixth graders at a beijing school that china will have a good future only if its children are healthy. he showed off a pretty good dribble and led the children in call sthetices. welcome back. so it's the first day of the atlantic hurricane season and forecasters predicting pretty extreme weather. let's go to jen delgado now at the international weather center and seem that is particularly in the u.s. extreme weather is commonplace. >> absolutely. as you said, $15 billion worth of damage, an extreme year. we are talking about flooding, of course, tornadoes as well as

fires. and let's go to some video more recently of the tornadoes happening across parts of the u.s. an incredible year, indeed. this is video out of joplin. of course, proved to be deadly. more than 100 people died there and the damage there estimated to be in the billions. and as we talk about tornadoes, now we are moving into hurricane season. yes, today's the start of the atlantic hurricane season. taking you to the graphic, we are expecting it looks like above average season anywhere between three and six major hurricanes and 12 to 18 named storms. now, typically on average, we see about 11 named storms and last year we did pretty good but this year noaa expecting more activity for the atlantic ocean and while today is the start of it, it looks like the peak actually doesn't come for a couple more months and it's usually right around september 10th and then starting to see activity falling off and then

eventually the atlantic hurricane season comes to an end november 30th. already starting to see a bit more activity out there. we have a system with a 10% chance of development just to the west of the bahamas and also watching another system and the caribbean. we are talking in the southern caribbean and spinning down the region and going to continue to bring heavier rainfall. through the next 24 to 48 hours, the models showing a bit of development. as i take this and put it into motion, you can start to see a little bit trying to get the act together and watching out for that and potentially dealing for sure with heavy rainfall across honduras and nicaragua. a long season that goes into november 30th as i said. andrew? >> jen, thanks very much for that. jen delgado at the weather center. nina? andrew, tom ford is nothing if not a force in the fashion industry. he launched his own label after

turning around a struggling fashion house named gucci. he is talk iing anjali rao and directed "a single man" and he says he realized that fashion design and film production are really not all that different after all. >> it felt totally natural to me and, you know, i have to say i have had a house in los angeles for a long time, i have an office there. i know a lot of people in the film industry. everyone was incredibly supportive. there's a line that i think people in hollywood can nice you to death and you have to take it with a grain of salt but they're polite and supportive. so, i thought, well, everyone thought i can really do this. it wasn't until after i had made my film every interviewer said it was it like having -- >> how sweet. >> people thought i was crazy?

people didn't think i could do this? i had a very clear picture of what i wanted the film to be and i'm not going to stay there weren't things i learned abe i didn't know, but directing a film is not that dissimilar to being a creative director of a large fashion house. first of all, tough have a vision. that's the most important thing. you have to have something to say. why does anybody need to see a tom ford film? why does anyone need a tom ford jacket or brand? so you have to have something to say. then, you have to hire a great team of people to help you realize that vision. and you have to create an environment where those people can be creative and give you their very best and then you have to also slowly guide carefully that team of people to help you realize your vision. and so, the dynamics of film directing and fashion design in the way that i have done it as a

creative director and a fashion designer were not dissimilar. >> tom ford there in conversation. if you want to see more of that interview you can on the next edition of "talk asia" 6:30 in the evening hong kong time here on cnn. let's see what's going on in the markets in europe. about two hours into the trading day. a lot of these markets starting the day in the red and then two of them teetered into the positive territory. but as you can see, those markets now sinking further. most of them down by about a quarter of 1% to about a tenth of 1%. andrew? it has been a huge amount of movement in the asia pacific region this day, either. we have the gdp decline in australia. poor manufacturing numbers of china. both eventings as you can see there hardly rippling the markets. australia widely anticipated.

in fact, a little better than expected. the chinese manufacturing numbers, it's still growing but slower. the trend is definitely decelerating for factory production in china but a lot of that has been written into the market. nina, a quiet sort of a day here. don't forget that if you want to comment on that or any more of the stories here on the show, get in touch with us. the whole team is reached at facebook.com/cnnwbt and let us know your thoughts. that is it for this edition of "world business today." >> "world one" is next. i have astigmatism.

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