i'll know more about how you think than i knew yesterday. and i'll know a lot of stuff here. >> jack, i think i have learned slightly more as the viewers from you tonight, than you will ever learn from me. it's been a real pleasure. >> thank you for having me, piers. >> get america going again. hello, i'm monita rajpal at cnn london. members of the u.n. security council are working to get a resolution to on dem syria's violent crackdown on anti-government protesters. despite some disagreement, britain and france are pushing to vote on a resolution by friday. u.n. investigators say they have new evidence that moammar gadhafi not only ordered libyan troops to commit rapes but that he also bought drugs like viagra to help his soldiers sexually

assault libyan women. international criminal chief prosecutor says he may seek new charges against the leader. the duchess of cambridge is among the public figures targeted by a phone hacker. that hacker was recordly a private investigator working for the news of the world up in. he also allegedly hacked the phone of former prime minister tony blair. those are the headlines. i'm monita rajpal in london. "world business today" starts right now. good morning from cnn london, i'm nina dos santos and this is "world business today." here are the top stories on thursday, june 9th. investors in europe try to hold their nerve as the continuing sell-off on wall street now spills into asia. charming offensive in china.

christine lagarde tries to bolster support in beijing. and tokyo opera re-opens. a symbol of japan's determined earthquake recovery. all that and plenty more to come on today's show. but first, six days, six losses. it doesn't take a sixth sense to predict that the u.s. and european markets aren't out of the woods yet. oil has inflamed the situation one again. opec's decision not to increase output has pushed prices higher amid fears that supply can't meet growing demand. we've seen optimistic open innings europe a few times this week but so far they haven't been sustained towards the close of trading. today markets are anticipating increased -- excuse me, interest rates announcements from the bank of england and the european central bank. it could hint at an increase later, perhaps as early as next month despite the risk of

default in some parts of the euro zone. as the market strengthens, so do the currencies. let's have a look at how things are faring on the currencies front very much in focus, of course, in light of those interest rate decisions coming out of the bank of england and the excb. we have the euro currently up against the u.s. dollar, trading at 1.4 35 when it comes to the pound. the pound trading at 1. 443. also rising against the u.s. dollar, japanese yen slipping just a tad versus the green back currently trading the 80.11 at the moment. markets in asia pacific have just ended their thursday trading session. let's go to ramy inocencio. markets in ericia were mixed again, just like the past few days. first off let me take you to

tokyo and the nikkei over there. the nikkei was up, did manage a gain of 0.2%. tepco fell 4% on some restructuring fears. its fears clawed back from a 13% plunge earlier today. tepco has been falling all week on growing fears that the government's plan to save and restructure it might actually collapse. shares of sumitomo and mitsubishi fell on those fears over in hong kong, the hang seng, is down about a third of a percent to 22584. it fell on fears of china money tightening on the mainland and air china fell 3.35%, china southern down 5.5%. that's because of fears of higher oil prices. in shanghai, that was the biggest market mover be fell by

1.75% to 2703. banking shares are down. new trade data is expected to come out on friday. also down to australia, the asx 200 did manage a gain of 0.3%. it was back and forth over the flat line for much of the day. in the day it did close up. jobs figures were just a bit over 7,000. that's disappointing for the jobs market there. the interest rate rise is now expected to be a little bit less likely because of that. also that is what new zealand is talking about right now. the central bank over there has decided that they're going to hold the interest rate at 2.5%. this is the record low. it's been there since that 6.3 quake that rocked christchurch in february. they hope to keep the recovery going. nina, back to you. >> ramy, thanks for that wrapup

of the markets. with the major ind diaz se-- indices fell for the sixth session. there was extra pressure on some of the stock markets. the dow off by just under 0.2%. the nasdaq, the broader index had lost nearly half of a percent by the end of that session. let's have a look at how things are shaping up in the premarket action. fairly healthy green arrows across the board for the futures at the moment with the s&p 500 closely followed by the nasdaq, all up by 0.5%. for saudi arabia's oil minister it was one of the worst meetings we've ever had. his iranian counterparts chalked up the discord to bad timing. the history books will show for

the first time opec failed to reach a consensus on oil output. there will be no official rise in supply despite the demand. that deadlock meeting is bad news, of course, for motorists and the world economy at large in the short term. as john defterios explains, most opec members think the current price, it seems is right. >> reporter: after 5 1/2 hours of discussions they left the table with no agreement at all. at the heart of the debate, re-establishing the opec quota. it goes back to the end of 2008 when the oil market was collapsing at 24.8 million barrels a day. opec production is at 26.3 million barrels a day plus iraq. the market was looking for them to shrink that gap. opec's secretary general tried to put a brave tface on the

discussions. >> we have enough supply in the market that is no shortage whatsoever. in the absence of one country but as of today, we are not in a crisis. >> are you disappointed though that you could not reach a consensus to put a quota that's more realistic with market demand right now and actual production of opec of 2 .3 million barrels a day, sir? >> i was minister and i attend many meetings that sometimes reach a decision, sometimes we won't reach a decision. i am sure if it's in crisis we'll make that decision. >> at the end of the day there are two distinct camps within opec right now, the hawks like vengz whela, trying to protect $100 oil and the doves like the uae who are willing to put more market on the market. they came in divided and left

divided. >> i think the second half of the year seems to be tight. i think they are going to be short. the market requires -- >> reporter: this $100 oil is something president chavez seems to support. are you satisfied with the prices at what they are today. >> we are always thinking the price. we have to have a fair price for everybody. we believe $100 per barrel is say fair price. >> reporter: at the current level of oil, $109 for north sea brent in the first half of 2011, opec will close out the year with a record $1 trillion in export revenues. john defterios at the opec meeting in vienna. >> make sure you take a look at

john's opec blog on our website where you can find out more about one of the most politically charged meet innings recent memory. go to cnn.com/biz360. exxonmobil says that it struck oil in the gulf of mexico with the discovery that could yield $700 million barrels. it's exxonmobil's first oil strike in the gulf since the moratorium on deep water exploration was lifted following last year's bp disaster. just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, the debt crisis seems to have taken a new term. german officials say the current economic aid package will not be enough to prevent the country from defaulting. germany's finance minister told the imf and the european central bank that a new package should allow more time for greece to repay its loans and he also said taxpayers in the private sector should shoulder some of the burden of the additional bailout. sonny pictures has told more

than 37,000 customers that their personal information may have been compromised in the latest hacking attack to hit the company. hackers raided sonypictures.com, the entertainment arm of the company last week it seems. sony said the stolen information did not include any credit card numbers. you're watching "world business today." coming up, she's traveled the world in an effort to win the top spot in the international monetary fund. we'll take a look at that, just ahead. [ female announcer ] together at last. introducing new stouffer's farmers' harvest with sides of lightly sauteed farm-picked vegetables. find more ways to get to the table at letsfixdinner.com.

from cnn london, this is "world business today." welcome back. the french finance minister christine lagarde's visit to china is entering its second day. beijing is lagarde's latest stop on a tour beganering support for her bid to lead the meteorologist dave hennen.

all three countries instead say they prefer to see a noneuropean head up the imf. eunice, she's a charming lady, madam lagarde but is the offensive paying off in beijing? >> she is a very charming lady and in fact she did present herself very well to the chinese. during her two-day stay she met with the finance minister, the central bank minister as well as the vice-premier. she felt that these discussions were very satisfying. >> the imf does not belong to anybody. it belongs to the 187 members of the fund.

and the management of the fund does not belong to any particular nation or region, which is why the selection pro session should indeed be open, transparent and only based on the merits of the candidate. equally you cannot be banished or punished because of your nationality. >> reporter: and china has not officially so far backed any one candidate. in a regular press briefing today they reaffirmed that position. there is one up in that is stirring up a bit of discussion here. it's this number called the financial news. it's a state-run paper published by the central bank. in it there's an editorial that says lagarde has almost nailed the victory and fans -- faces no real opposition. because of that there's a lot of people who believe now that perhaps, just perhaps, china actually does in fact favor lagarde. nina? >> well, eunice, one of the

other interesting aspects to her visit is the timing. it seems the acting m.d. of the imf, john lipsky himself is in beijing at the same time. he min takaintains that's a coincidence. you buying it? >> he says that is a coincidence and a lot of people here believe it. the imf says it's a coincidence and he regularly comes here on consultation with the chie needs. he did make a statement at a briefing this morning saying the selection process needs to be transparent, merit-based and open. the same line that we are hearing from not only the chinese government but also from lagarde herself. there's been a huge gripe as you know, among developing nations that this process has long been too -- not been transparent at all. it hasn't been transparent enough for them and in fact, a lot of people believe it's been dominated for too long by the europeans.

that's one of the reasons why the mexican central bank governor is really going to be pushing hard for support in the developing world, especially here in china. he's expected to come here and make his case next week. now, as for lagarde, she is next going to be head to portugal where she's going to be talking to representatives of africa. she's also going to be speaking in jedda and cairo over the weekend. nina. >> thanks so much for that. the deadline for the keanes to throw their hat into the ring for the imf top job is fast approaching. as eunice was mentioning, constance is also crisscrossing the globe as well. he picked up more support from latin america with colombia is

nounsing its support. the the support of the bric nations, brazil, russia, india, china and now south africa, could be pivotal. the next managing director of the imf will be elected on june 30th. getting back to normal, japan is one step closer to recovering from the devastating earthquake and tsunami that rocked the nation on march 11th. up next, we'll be taking you to tokyo for an opening night that marks a milestone for the country. my vision. my eye doctor said there's great news for people with astigmatism. acuvue® oasys for astigmatism. he said it's the only lens of its kind designed to realign naturally with every blink and created with hydraclear® plus. i'm seeing more clearly, crisply, comfortably, all day long. now life doesn't have to be a blur.

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you're watching "world business today" here on cnn. japan has revised its first quarter gross domestic product numbers upward. they still claim the country is still in recession. the gdp shrank by 3.5% through to march, compared to a year earlier. that's better than its initial estimate of 3.9%. but it's still the second consecutive quarterly drop for these figures. economists say that in turn could change in the coming quarters as japan invests billions to recover from the march 11th earthquake and tsunami.

for a country such as japan that has endured a disaster, recovery is measured not just in term of material numbers. it's also measured in the spirit of the people and the commitment of others to help each other. in tokyo where tourism has dropped more than 60% since the march earthquake, music rising from a single stage is second a powerful message to the japanese people. as we report, it's a sign of hope. >> reporter: fans buzzing at the anticipation of the production of the year. a stunning opera of love, heartbreak and untimely death. but this is also a show of triumph. >> i would like to say how proud we are to be the first major performing arts company to visit japan since the disaster in march.

>> reporter: the very first all other international arts performances have canceled, citing concerns with the earthquake threat and the ongoing nuclear crisis. leaving japanese workers unemployed for months. a theater sector struggling to survive with the rest of japan's economy. new york's metropolitan opera faced challenges of its own, several big stars canceled at the last minute. barbara fitoli stepped into the lead soprano role. >> i had to do this role to help them. i think it was the right thing, just come and help them with our singing. >> reporter: at the end of the day this is one opera, one production. they hope by simply showing up, they send a potent message, not just to international companies but to international individuals about the state of returning to japan. ♪ >> we're not here to impress tourists but i think that's an

important byproduct of our business. i think it's important to demonstrate to the japanese people that normalcy can return and in our small way we're trying to do our best. >> reporter: as the curtain falls on opening night, fans would not leave, lining up around the block. a chance to show their appreciation in person. >> thank you very much. i feel so good about this. that's what i want to say. >> reporter: more than just theater, for these fans, a sign that their country can come back. kyung lah, cnn, tokyo. cloud computing is being heralded as the next big thing in tricks. for savvy investors, the cloud seems to have a silver lining. we'll show you where to look to that coming up next on "world business today's" special report.

from cnn london, i'm nina dos santos and this is "world business today." the members of opec added to the economic pain on wednesday the decision to cap oil output at current limits has driven crude prize up and stock markets in the opposite direction, down. we've seen six days of losses on europe's equity markets. now, 90 minutes into the trading session as you can see, a number of markets started out in the positive. we have the smi turning things around. things are looking up but we must point out we've been here before over the recent days with

stock markets starting out on an upbeat note and that positivity being rather short lived. we have a number of interest rate decisions on the cards for the bank of england and the ecb later on today. potentially that could mover the markets. for the second day running, the nikkei pushed itself into slightly positive territory in the late part of the trading session. that was despite another huge drop for tepco, the tokyo electric power company and a big slide for nintendo. the game's giant lost almost 6% after ubs downgraded its shares. the nikkei was the only one that ended the day in the green, up by 0.2%, some heavier losses for the shanghai composite, also the hang seng and the kospi ending the day down. let's wheel you around to wall street. alison kosik is in new york for a wrap of the action. >> the major averages ended

lower for a sixth session in a row. the report found economic activity continued to expand moderately across most of the u.s. with growth in the dallas, texas area speeding up. the central bank said the labor market had improved recently in most of the country. at the close, the dow slipped 21 points to end at 12,048. the nasdaq lost almost 1% and the s&p 500 fell almost 0.a%. credit card shares tumbled after the senate rejected an incentive to the swipe fee measure. it would have delayed for a year when banks can charge myrrh chantz when a debit card is used. coming up thursday, investors get the latest figures on weekly jobless claims. analysts expect first-time claims to have ticked up slightly from last week. that's a wrap of the day on wall street. i'm alison kosik in new york.

misery on the markets is being reflected in the homes and workplaces of people right across america according to a new cnn poll. the survey reveals that four out of five of the top five concerns among u.s. voters relates to the economy. as well as the overall economic situation, respondents expressed concerns about unemployment, petrol prices and the federal deficit. as if any more evidence were needed of the prevailing pessimism, 48% expect another great depression to occur within the next year or so. a key reason for the sentiment, well, it seems as though a similar number of people surveyed said they live in a household where someone has lost a job or fears that unemployment is likely to be imminent for them. and in troubled times, expect the residents -- sorry, the president's popularity to take another knock with these kind of figures. respondents put barack obama's approval rating at just 48%, down six points from a month

ago. and the pressure on the president will only grow if the u.s. economy contracts one more. former general electric ceo jack welch says that scenario is available. earlier he spoke to piers morgan. >> we're muddling along. we're not going to double dip in my view. there's too much liquidity out there. we don't have a vision of where we're going. in order to lead a country or a company, you've got to get everybody on the same page and you've got to be able to have a vision of where you're going. if america had a strategy of being the -- a highly competitive, successful, winning enterprise and you put everything through it, you wouldn't have this uncertainty. all this week we've been taking you inside the cloud, a pleasant name for what

technology types say is a revolution in computing. the cloud refers to remote servers that will store all of your applications and data so you don't have to do so. the idea is to enable you to access business and computing applications as well as entertainment programming and communicate from any device anywhere in the world. major technology companies such apple, microsoft, google and amazon are leaping head first into the cloud. so too are a lot of smaller companies and many already have become very successful it seems. as maggie lakes tell you us, the savvy investors who know where to look and what to look for in a cloud computing company, the sky, it seems, is the limit. >> reporter: cloud related companies like rax space have been on a tear. rax is up by well over 100% since early last year. the ceo says the shift to outsource computing is only just beginning.

>> it's big. depending on what analysts you look at and other industry pundits, people are talking about the cloud growing 0% to 75% a year. we're going through a technology shift. anytime a new technology shows up that makes things cheaper, easier, faster and better, it grows rapidly. zblts what's happening. >> there's a buy rating on rackspace. but people should be careful about not overpaying for cloud valuation stocks. >> seven years ago when we started covering the space, we said buy the space. we're in the slightly more mature but the early innings of the game phase. we need to be sensitive as to what companies we buy and when. >> reporter: deciphering what stocks are in the cloud sector is not easy. >> on my phone it's, again, automatically pushed up to the cloud. >> reporter: companies like apple, netflix and google are increasingly using cloud technology to offer new and improved music, film and

applications to consumers on the go. for investment purposes analysts tend to focus on the firms that directly sell and support cloud technology and stand to benefit from this massive shift. >> today what we're seeing people, instead of buying the physical asset are renting it, renting compute cycles, renting storage arrays, renting capacity in somebody else's cloud. >> reporter: large tech firms like hewlett-packard and ibm are chasing this business, but amazon.com with its vast server farms dominates the film. smaller companies like soft layer, and rackspace provide tailored services. >> these businesses coming to us and say we have a mission critical application that's important to our business and we want you to run it in your environment. we basically take on the responsibility of that running that application in our cloud. one customer is six flags.

if you go to a six flags website to buy admission tickets to the park, that's coming off cloud systems we run. >> reporter: understand the business plan of the company you are buying, look for firms with a global footprint and above all, be disciplined about price. maggie lake, cnn, new york. and a week-long special series on cloud computing continues tomorrow. we'll take a look at the latest product and service launches and also we'll be gauging the mood among buyers and sellers at a major cloud computing industry gathering getting under way in new york. that's friday on "world business today." staying with technology, a new face recognition feature on facebook has caused yet more kerns over privacy. the company scans users photos as they're uploaded and figures out who is in the picture by analyzing their facial features. facebook has since let users opt out of the feature and it also

admits it made a mistake. we should have been more clear with people during the rollout process when this became available to them. that hasn't kept "world business today" off facebook. if you want to comment on it or any of the other stories, get in touch with the whole team on our very own facebook page, go to facebook.com/cnnwbt and let us know your thoughts. steve jobs has made many things become a reality. this is what he says apple's new campus will look like, located in cupertino, near san francisco, he says it won't have a sith straight piece of glass in the entire structure. >> and those buildings hold maybe 2600 people, 2,800 people. but we've got almost 12,000 people in the area.

so we're renting buildings, not very good buildings either, at an ever greater radius from our campus. and we're putting people in those. and it's clear that we need to build a new campus. so we're just out of space. that doesn't mean we don't need the one we've got. we do need it but we need another one to augment it. >> the 150 acre campus is expected to have enough space for up to 13,000 employees. coming up on the show, the same people who nearly brought down the global economy are now messing around with the world's food supplies. we'll be thinking at the think tank's investigation into land deals in africa. you might improve a retro -- approve of a retro counterrevolution that's currently taking place in south

africa. we'll have plenty more on the show. stay with us. nationwide insurance. talk to me.

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take a look at that, gold currently trading up 1.69 at $1,537. welcome back. you're watching "world business today" on cnn. let's stay with the commodities theme but move on to talk about land and agriculture. there's a land grab of extraordinary proportions going on in africa. the winners are western hedge funds, pension funds, prominent universities and corrupt african officials. the losers are small farmers and the global food supply and, of course, the environment. that's the assessment of the oakland institute, a california-based think tank in an investigative report called "understanding land investment deals in africa." the institute says these largely unregulated purchases are forcing millions of small farmers off of their ancestral

lands. they're being replaced by lucrative export commodities including things like biofulz and cut flowers. the institute says the same financial firms that caused the global recession by selling bogus home mortgages are going the same thing when it comes to the world's food supply. the amount of land involved is staggering, totological a nearly 60 million hectares in 2009 alo alone. it's actually equivalent to the size of france. staying with africa, remember when the ka scassette player wae last word in music technology? i do, just about. in zimbabwe, it still is. why the digital age isn't getting much of a foothold over there. >> reporter: rewind back a few decades before the cd, after vinyl, there was the cassette tape. a music format now outdated almost everywhere else. but here in zimbabwe, the

cassette is still top of the pops, sold in music stores and manufactured by a local record company for the past three years. diamond studios saw a business opportunity out of old technology and started what they say is one of the few tape factories left in the world. from the small garage, they produce more than 10,000 cassettes a month, tracking their music to listeners in rural zimbabwe and mozambique and botswana. making more money than if they sold only cds. >> there was nothing for the artist or the studios with cds. we decided to opt for the cassettes. >> reporter: these are two of diamond studio's best-selling artists, editing their latest release, they say they're surprised at how many tapes they've sold. >> this is my latest album. it was three weeks ago.

with cds they would sell few copies and the cassettes, it's a big surprise to me, you'll sell more than 10,000 cassettes. it's a very big difference, a huge one. >> reporter: with little disposable income people say it's a matter of value for money. here on the streets of harare, zimbabwe, they can pick up a cassette tape with better quality. >> we'll have this for the next 10, 15 years. >> reporter: the record label executives says his customers want tapes because they last longer than badly proud pirated cds. >> you buy a cd, it's great.

a tape deck has been around for the past how many years? so for them to buy this cd stuff, it needs a lot of voltage. they opt for the radio cassette where they buy batteries. >> reporter: from the towns to the countryside, most cannot upgrade to cd players. >> they stay in areas. >> reporter: inflation hit record highs, political uncertainty still frightens away foreign investors. so there's been little investment in infrastructure. a de-industrialization as some analysts describe it. the survival of the old cassette tape is just a remindser of how broken zimbabwe's economy still

is. stuck with a sound track of a time of prosperity now long gone. the homemade ice cream that's causing a buzz in the u.s. and bungling health officials, let's explain all after the break. do stay with us.

live from cnn london, this is "world business today." welcome back. a wildfire in the u.s. charred nearly 158,000 hectares in arizona. it's forced some 6,000 people from their homes. in amongst all of that there has been a little bit of good news because the winds are slowly dying down, potentially giving firefighters a chance to get a leg up on the battle when it comes to battling that ten-day blaze. jennifer delgado joins us from the cnn weather center. these fires have been devastating. >> absolutely. we're talking about arizona. you said we'll see improvement there. the area we were talking about, the wallos wildfire there, it will be spread over more towards the east. we're still talking about a critical fire danger for areas, as you can see, new mexico and over towards texas and oklahoma. we were following that area in

arizona. let's show you more of that video to give you an idea of how bad the fire is there. keep in mind, a lost acres have been burning there. thousands of people have been evacuated. they're still working to contain the fires across the region. we'll still be dealing with that fire threat. the winds will still be breezy. we're talking about low relative humidity val use. want to talk more about the story in depth. with the fire, we can tell you more than 100,000 hectares of land burned across that region. 150,000. it's the second largest wildfire in arizona history and in fact more than 2,500 firefighters there from as far away as california. the fire is so big, they needed to pull in backup to help contain the fire as it burned. as we talk about the wallow fire, showing you the smoke, spreading into kansas as well as

over towards texas. the old smoke plume, look at this, all the way up towards canada. of course this is causing breathing problems in addition to the threat tort homes that are burning across parts of canada. definitely a serious story there indeed. right now we'll take a look at your city-by-city forecast and talk more about space. stay with us. welcome back. a lot of people getting sad about "endeavour's" final mission. let's go to some images to

brighten up some days. looking at imagines for the first time from outer space, these are pictures of the shuttle at the international space station. these images were snapped from the shuttle "endeavour." "atlantis" is scheduled to take off july. nina, we'll send it back over to you. i think i'll come back and talk to you more about something creepier. but now, back over to you. >> you are, absolutely, jen. let's quickly talk about the "endeavour" mission and those pictures. they're beautiful pictures. is that the last time we'll see these kind of shots, jen? it's the end of that mission. >> yes, we certainly aren't going to see it coming out of "endeavour." it makes you sad. we watched the landing of it and

it was such a sad, you know, a sad thing to see something like that coming to an end. a great history indeed. >> it sin deed. i don't know about you, jen, it's marked my childhood all the way through, you name it, starship enterprise, these kind of pictures, we've grown up with them and they have marked our last 20, 30 years. jen, stick around. i want you to listen to this one. >> something for summer. >> yes. and something else for summer. if the sound of cicadas znts give you sleepless nights, the thought of eating these boisterous bugs might, it seems. employees at sparky's in columbia collected insects from their backyards and they boiled them, dipped them into chocolate before adding them to the mix. and like the winged insects within, they probably had wish they done -- customers were

bitten bit bug and they bit into these bugs en masse. sadly, the department of health swatted the concept and swatted it dead. what do you think of that? >> i don't think it's sad. my mom told me about this as well. they banned them. there's nothing worse than the sound of cicadas. they come out over 12 or 18 years. you hear the hissing and the humming. who wants to eat that? if you're going to get ice cream, get something with chocolate. you don't have to get the cicadas there. i think there's nothing worse. maybe a locust. >> i wonder whether it's the chocolate they dipped them in that had the customers salivating rather than the actual bugs themselves. >> i don't know why but i guess they put them to good use. that's about it for this edition of "world business today." i'm nina dos santos in london. see you again in another few hour's time for our later

edition of this show. in the meantime, "world one" is next.