job. but they take it to heart. >> pretty good preparation for the white house isn't it if you do decide to run? you need to have a pretty thick skin. >> any job in politics. you're right. as you mentioned before,adly, it's gone beyond just having a passionate debate about things. in the end people make it so polarizing and intense. and we just try to get things done. you need to have a thick skin. >> governor, it's been a pleasure. thank you very much. >> it's great to talk with you. i'm zain verjee at c nn in london. libya's rebels have come out with an estimate of the human cost of the war against gadhafi. the national transitional

council claims 50,000 people have been killed since the uprising began in february. so far cnn is unable to confirm that figure. rebels are giving gadhafi loyalists until saturday to surrender the town of sirte and others they control. sirte is colonel gadhafi's hometown and one of the places he may be hiding. the ntc says it's trying to avoid bloodshed but threatens an all-out attack if the loyalists fail to disarm. syrian opposition forces say security forces cracked down on anti-government groups around the country. six people reportedly were killed in the city of dara. those are the top stories from cnn the world's news leader. i'm zain verjee and "world business today" starts right now. good morning from cnn london. i'm nina dos santos.

good afternoon from cnn hong kong. i'm andrew stevens. you're watching "world business today." the libyan rebels oil and finance minister tells us the country's oil production could be back to full strength within a year. >> you have big dreams? >> of course. >> you want to be president one day? >> maybe. meet the mongolian sumo wrestler with dreams of making it big in business. a new report puts zimbabwe's capital at the bottom of the world's most livable cities. we'll tell you what's at the top. let's get straight to the markets here. here in europe about an hour into the trading sessionally, broadly speaking things are moving steadily higher. we have some pretty substantial

gains at that time likes of the cac 40 in paris despite the fact that one of the stocks is the lagout on that industry after coming out with its first half figures showing the company posted a loss. also the dax is up about 1.1%. checking on the currencies, this is how the main currencies are faring against the u.s. dollar at the moment. a number of them, as you can see, trading higher. we have the euro up at 1.4437. 1.6299 and the japanese yen up to 76.54 at the moment. andrew? >> asia's trading day is winding down. it's been a pretty volatile month. let's go to ramy inocencio with the numbers. >> it was renewed concern over the u.s. economy that hurt investor sentiment here in asia today. as you can see behind me, we did manage some gains.

figures overnight showed persistent weakness in u.s. consumer confidence. the only thing offsetting those figures was the pro it my need to more economic support. japan's nikkei, 2.25, barely made it into positive territory, a bit of profit taking after four good days of gains. new industrial out put figures up by .6% in july. a similar picture in shanghai, a lackluster session. the hang seng did close up 1.6% here. down in australia, the gains get slightly better heading down there with the s&p asx 20, pulling back from earlier gains, up .06%. also south korea, want to mention, was one of the clear winners, the clear winner of the day with the cos spee up about

2%. industrial out put there grew at its slowest pace in ten months. >> andrew, u.s. markets look set for small gains at the open of trade after edging higher on tuesday's session. this is where the u.s. futures stand at the moment, many hours before the start of trade. on the other side of the atlantic, pre market action shows us all of these three markets are currently rising at the moment when it comes to their futures and the nasdaq is gaining the most. alison kosik as tuesday's market wrap-up from new york. after wavering for much of the session, stocks on wall street eventually ended the day higher. the mindset against the american consumer. at the close the dow edged up 20 points ending at 11,559. the nasdaq added 50%. the s&p 50 tacked on .25%. the u.s. central bank debated

what tools it had remaining to boost the u.s. economy, while settling on a pledge to keep rates low for two more years. three of ten members dissented saying the guidance should focus on the economy, not specific dates. it was the strongest internal opposition in almost 20 years. meantime consumer confidence plunged in august to the lowest level since april of 2009 before the recession ended. the drop came largely because of worsening views on business conditions, jobs and income. it's worrisome since consumer spending is the main driver of the economy and spending can't start without confidence. there's more data due wednesday when investors weigh figures on manufacturing along with the adp report on private sector jobs in july. that's a wrap of the day on wall street. i'm alison kosik in new york. how bad has this month been for the markets? let's start with the s&p, the broadest index in the u.s.

down 5.75% this month. you'll remember, of course, this was as you can very clearly say there, a month of huge volatility, enormous swings. the ftse for the month down by 8.76%. basically this is all being led by the u.s. and you'll see pretty much mirror image of what happened in london after what was going on in the u.s. here in long congress, pretty similar picture as well. hong kong actually down even more, down by 9.5% in august. nina? >> andrew, still to come on "world business today," we'll get an official opinion on what the future holds for libya's oil production. getting the resource back on track will be critical to the success of the country's new government. stay with us.

now for a check of gold prices. they're on track to record a monthly gain of around 12% this august. let's take a look at what they're doing as you see down $1.20 at $1828 an houounce. the end of the gadhafi regime in libya means the return of profits from the country's most valuable asset, oil. the minister is optimistic about how long it will take for production to get back on track. minister tarhouni spoke to us from libya. >> i think the damage for key installations, for example, zawiyah. in brega we were afraid there would be a damage. ras lanuf is the same thing. i would say overall, it varies

from one place to the other, but the damage is about 10 to 15. the production of gas will start in actually a few days. the production of oil, crude oil, will start, my guess we're talking about a week, ten days or something. >> how long before you're up to, let's say, half a million barrels? >> i would say about three months. >> and back to full strength in about 1.2 -- >> less than a year. >> so the question is what is full strength for libya's oil production? it's dropped to nearly zero since the fighting broke out earlier this month. but before that libya was actually producing more than 1.6 million barrels of oil every day, equal to about 2% of the world's total supply. the potential is even greater in the future. with proper investment, some analysts say libya could produce up to 3 million barrels of oil a

day in ten years to come. the country has proven oil reserves standing at billions of barrels. that means it has the largest oil reserves in the whole of africa. andrew? giant exxon mobil is making a big move into the arctic. have had ladd mere putin was online to sign a deal with rosneft. giving exxon access to vast arctic deposit, the partnership gifts rosneft a leg up in cutting edge oil technology. it comes months after a similar day between rosneft and bp was blocked by the oil joint's russian partners. the reuters news agency is reporting that russian officials are searching the offices of the offices in moscow. a duty officer says he doesn't

know the reason for the search. reuters quotes a lawyer saying it's linked to a lawsuit brought by minority shareholders over bp's failed bit to team up with rosneft. cuba believes it may have more than 20 billion barrels of recoverable oil in the untapped portion of the gulf of mexico. havana is kicking off a new era in offshore oil exploration. as cnn's shasta darlington reports, u.s. officials are expressing concern. >> reporter: undaunted by last year's massive bp disaster on the other side of the gulf of mexico, cuba plows ahead with an ambitious oil drilling plan. the island currently produces 60,000 barrels of oil a day, about half its needs in onshore wells like this one. now full scale offshore exploration is gaining momentum.

in 5,600 feet of water, deeper than the bp pell, other companies have also set their sights on the rig. the iadc has held numerous talks with cuban oil company, kupet. >> they're providing seven wells over the next two to four-year period. >> estimates for the oil shore reserve range from 5 billion to 20 billion barrels of oil. foreign oil companies, none from the united states, have leased 21. in the wake of the gulf spill some in florida are worried about cuba drilling so close to home. >> ultimately if there is a spill, say, in a cuban operation, its impact would be fully felt by the entire gulf region, actually the entire eastern seaboard potentially. there's not a lot we can do about it. >> for the iadc it's time to

work together to prevent spills and quickly tackle disasters. >> with cuba drilling 40 miles from key west, we can't change that distance, so we better take a look at our attitudes. >> reporter: the u.s. trade embargo prevents american oil companies from operating in cuba, both in terms of exploration and eventually providing equipment in the case of a spill. the results could be disastrous, for marine life and beaches on both sides of the florida straits. tourism is a major money maker for both economies. as one expert put it, it would be a long trip if they also had to bring in an emergency rig from asia. shasta darlington, cnn, havana. still to come on cnn, betting on what it takes to please top dollar customers at a gaming house in macau. we'll introduce you to a boss who says paying attention to the small details has given him a winning hand on the business front. [ woman ] jogging stroller. you've been stuck in the garage

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looking at world currencies, especially watching the yen now that the japanese are getting a new prim minister. welcome back. you're watching "world business today" today live on cnn. a leading company in the world's top gambling destination is reaping jackpot profits. the reuters news agency reports that the macau casino operator, galaxy, expects revenues to rise

by more than 30%. francis lui is one of the ceos we've been following in "the boss." here is this week's installment. previously on "the boss," room for improvement. >> you got a little lost and confused when you go over there. either it's too bright or too dark. >> reporter: francis lui tells his executive team they can do better. >> even though we're achieving great results right now, i still think we can be better, much better. >> reporter: festivities are under way at galaxy macau. dedicated asian slot machines will feature asian game themes. to help draw in the crowds,

francis has brought on board a familiar face, one of hong kong's most recognizable movie and tv stars, and the face of the five ghosts slot machines. >> this is the first time we have a celebrity that is doing a promotion event for our slot machines. our celebrity is eric dunn. >> reporter: right on the casino floor with him are his vip customers. >> most of the customers would have to come from asia because of the logistics. i think mostly the customers would be from china, especially southern part of china, hong kong, japan, korea. they will be looking for top-notch, first-class services. >> reporter: francis has spent a lot of time and money on this particular customer. he's created ten vip gaming

salons so his customers with gamble privately. there's reason for all this attention. these high rollers bring in the big bucks. >> in macau we have a split between 80-7 to about 20/30. 80 represents zip revenue and 20%, 30% would come from mass revenue. i think here we are no different. right now i think the split is about 70/30. but we're hoping by having a fully integrated resort, we hopefully will be bringing more nongaming players as well into the property. >> reporter: having them visit once should be easy. the real challenge is getting them to return. and that's where every detail counts. >> i think i am a person who likes to attend to every detail

by nature. but i also know that to run a huge property such as galaxy macau where you have 8,000 people working at the same time, that you need to dedicate most of the day today decisions to your team. >> reporter: francis may be happy to delegate, but that doesn't mean he's not across every allegatispect of his busi. >> i'm a perfectionist by nature. i like to attend to details, that's how you can tell it's done properly. i think my team is perfectionists, too. >> reporter: this drive for perfection comes with its own set -- >> everything is fast track. most of the time -- of course, we have our heated arguments, but it's all good natured. >> reporter: for this boss, this is what teamwork is all about, discussion, debate and working

together through every problem and being ready for the unexpected. >> you really have to look into every aspect of unfor seeable issues. there are so many issues that we thought would never be an issue, but it was. i'll give you an example. the door mats. we never thought the door mat was a problem, but the door mat could be a problem on a rainy day. we don't have enough. this is why we have to pay attention to detail. if you oversee details, it may hurt you one of these days. you never know. >> reporter: next week on "the boss" delivering on a promise. >> at that time we were about -- i think about 50,000 barrels or something like that, of production. we said, when we get to 100,000 barrels we'll take everybody on a trip to europe. >> reporter: so to europe they went, all paid for by their

boss, steve hindy. that's next week on "the boss." the american and canadian labor day holidays are coming this weekend, those people pause to rest and pay tribute, some say the days of the labor union in america are numbered. poppy harlow looks at that just ahead. .

from cnn london i'm nina dos santos. >> i'm andrew stevens at cnn

hong kong. welcome back to "world business today." let's take a look at how the markets are faring in europe, 90 minutes into today's trading session. broadly speaking, more or less all positive. there's a reason for this. it's because the release of the minutes from the latest federal reserve meeting in the united states indicated some of the members there on the rate-setting committee could be favorable towards more financial and fiscal stimulus. that is what has the markets up. as you can see the cac 40 pouring ahead up 1.5%, despite the fact that the largest retailer in france has come out with a loss in his figures. not enough to bring down the cac 40, that market up to the tune of 1.5%. similar gains for the dax in frankfurt. andrew. >> those sentiments about what the fed will do next having some echoes here as well, nina. it was a fairly mixed picture at the end of the day. take a look at the numbers there. the hang seng up by 1.6%.

in fact, as you see there, quite clear, not that mix at all, all arrows pointing up. interesting dilemma. fascinating reading those minutes of the fed that, as your point out, there are members of the fed who say that ben bernanke didn't go far enough when he announced on august 3rd they were going to keep interest rates low until at least mid 2013. then there are three members of the fed who say they don't agree with that. so you really see the dilemma for policymakers on how to tackle this u.s. economy that just refuses to get going again and just what sort of medication you give it now to pick it up and make the recovery finally sustainable. enormous policy issues facing ben bernanke and his team at the moment. >> the qe2, the second amount of quantitative easing didn't have the same effect as the first round a couple years ago. markets in the united states ending the day higher for a

third straight session. yesterday the u.s. federal reserve's latest meeting, as we've just been telling you, has been giving an indication that some fed members have been favoring more stimulus measures for the world's largest economy. as andrew has just said frnls it's hard toe see what else they have in their tool box. this kind of news has managed to encourage investors a little bit and help offset new figures that show that consumer confidence had been falling sharply across the u.s. all the major indices still in negative territory for most of the year. this is how the united states markets closed. as you can see, it was the nasdaq that powered ahead the most. andrew. >> let's turn to australia and qantas attended government mediated talks with union officials to try to resolve an ongoing dispute over pilots' pay an working conditions. they failed to reach an agreement despite 12 months now of negotiations. the union is demanding that long haul pilots who fly for the budget carrier jetstar be paid

the same as their qantas counterparts. qantas says that would cost more than $150 million over four years and that would lead to job losses and higher airfares. the half year numbers for the swedish automobile own saab are due to come out. with cars stalled on the assembly line for the lack of parts and employees waiting for late wages, it's not likely to be good news. rumors of possible bankruptcy are continuing to swirl. saab says it's looking at all options including a reorganization of the company. the situation has been stagnant. andrew. >> the u.s. labor relations board has just issued several new rulings favorable to the national -- to the nation's unions including one likely to make it easier for health care workers to unionize. the rulings come just before

america's labor day holiday this weekend. and at a time when some wonder whether unions still have much of a future in the u.s., poppy harlow reports. >> this is basically my office. >> reporter: roger young junior spends his days in manholes, splicing cables for verizon just like his father did 40 years ago. >> are you a union proud family? >> definitely. >> reporter: lately it's not the phone lines they've been focused on. it's the picket line. verizon and its unions have been bargaining hard over issues that include contributions towards health care premiums, freezing pension plans and job security. >> verizon can hear us now. >> reporter: but have unions lost their voice? >> are you afraid unions are dieing in america? >> i don't think they're dieing. i think they're ill. >> reporter: once a part of the american way of life, membership has declined by the decade. in 1950, one-third of american

workers were unionized, today it's a mere 11%. union members say outsourcing and technology have both contributed to eliminating some union jobs. >> there's no doubt unions overall have less bargaining power than they had 30, 20 years ago. they have less political power than they've had because, you know, they've shrunk as a share of the workforce. >> do you ever feel like you're fighting for the survival of unions for your kids one day? >> i think i'm fighting for the survival of everybody's kids for unions because these are great jobs. >> unions made this country great. >> reporter: unions points to higher wages, guaranteed pensions for most members an better health insurance than nonunion counterparts. all that, unions say, make them strong contributors to overall economic growth. >> our economy is 72% driven by consumer spending. unless people have in their pocket money, they can't create that demand.

we know that we can't have a low-wage, high-consumption society. >> there's a decline in the middle class, but that's directly related to the decline in unions. >> reporter: and that's the bigger question. >> if unions were stronger, i think the evidence from other countries and from history is we wouldn't have an extreme polarized income distribution the way we have now. >> reporter: today negotiations continue between verizon and the unions. the workers returned to work, but without a contract and still divided on key issues. the unions says the strike las shown workers are serious about getting what they want. in new york, poppy harlow, cnn money. u.s. president barack obama is fighting to keep his job. unemployment is up. his approval numbers are down and he's running out of time to change the current scenario. as jessica yellin reports now, a new jobs plan might be his best

hope with the emphasis on "might". >> reporter: even during a speech to the american legion in minnesota, the president couldn't resist a preview of his highly anticipated jobs plan. >> next week i'll be speaking the the nation about a plan to create jobs and reduce our deficit, a plan i want to see passed by congress. we've got to get this done. >> reporter: it's an effort to jump start the economy and shore up his dwindling poll numbers. a recent cnn/orc poll shows only 37% of americans approve of how the president is handling unemployment. next week he's rolling out a package that's likely to include an extension of a payroll tax cut for workers set to expire at the end of the year. also possible in the plan, businesses could get a tax break for each new worker they hire or even an additional credit for hiring the long-term unemployed. outside policymakers consulted by the white house say other

possible ideas include a program that gives the long-term unemployed job training experiences with local businesses and new spending on infrastructure. it could bring back build america bonds which could make it cheaper for cities and states to build roads and bridges or fund school renovations and programs to make low income housing more energy efficient. the white house is tight lipped on the details. we're told that's because the president still hasn't signed off on a finished product. >> he is still having conversations and meetings as he works to finalize his plan. >> my sources tell me in addition to proposing this plan, the white house will also make separate recommendations to the congressional super committee for spending cuts which the white house says will offset any additional costs of the jobs plan. they argue that would make this jobs package, if passed, revenue neutral. jessica yellin, cnn, the white

house. after the break, our eyes are on mongolia. >> the man you're looking at is one of the most successful sumo wrestlers of all time but he's left the ring to build an empire. bengay cold therapy. it's pro-cool technology releases armies of snowmen masseuse, who cuddle up with your soreness and give out polar bear hugs. technology. [ male announcer ] new bengay cold therapy. the same technology used by physical therapists. go to bengay.com for a 5-dollar coupon.

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mongolia. >> manning goal yeah's economy has traditionally been driven by the agriculture sector. gdp, the broadest measure of the economy grew 7% in 2010. that was largely due to exports. more than three-quarters of mongolia's exports go to china. the country was hit hard by the global financial crisis, the unemployment rate soaring from 3% to more than 11% in 2009 as the global economy slowed rapidly. but the mongolian economy is starting to take off. domestic investment and savings rates are among the highest in the world. mongolia plans to further tap its vast natural resources. they include, gold, copper, coal and rare earth metals. nina? >> one man looking to capitalize is the former sumo wrestling champion, asashoryu akinori.

he's revin entering himself as a property tycoon. stan grant has the story. >> reporter: he's a big man with big ambitions. >> you have big dreams? >> yes, yes, of course. >> you wants to be president one day? >> maybe. >> reporter: you shouldn't laugh too loudly. in mongolia no one is more famous than asashoryu. that's his japanese sumo name. for 15 years as a grand master he dominated the sport. now retired and back home, locals call him simply the champ. is he the symbol of the new mongolia? there's that laugh again. >> maybe. >> my whole generation, he says, has experienced the opening of mongolia. so i feel a great honor to be alive in this new free country. the big man has slipped down, once 170 kilograms, he now taps

out at 130. his appetite for success is as big as ever. it's difficult to say if i'll became a world famous billionaire. assume more and business are completely different, different worlds. it is my ambition to become a big business plan. we should all strive for success, especially as mongolia has such a bright future. from the back of his expensive black merc, they show off just how much he owns of mongolia's capital. >> you have a lot of land. >> this is my land. >> this will be a major residential, commercial and entertainment complex. >> how much money to build this development? >> $250 million to $300 million. >> it's a boone town.

new hotels are springing up, restaurants are doing a roaring trade. asashoryu isn't missing out. he owns a circus. >> there's going to be a 20-story building here. this park bears his name. to finance it all, he started his own investment bank. asashoryu has made it big in japan, but he also made waves, criticized for being too brash. he retired in 2010 after apologizing for attacking a man outside a nightclub, but none of that has hurt his popularity at home. president one day? don't laugh. stan grant cnn. certainly a very persuasive character there. china is the world's largest consumer of copper accounting for nearly 40% of world demand. recent data shows demand may grow even more. we pay attention to the price of gold and oil.

but on a daily basis, we haven't been following copper as closely. ramy inocencio joins us once more. i guess the first thing we should say is copper is a pretty important commodity. >> you're exactly right. we should care about it because copper is pretty much in everything around us that's modern out there. the red metal, for example, is used in construction, in the electrical wiring in homes and offices, for example. it's also in anything that pretty much channels electricity. in our increasingly wired world around us, all of our gadgets have copper and we need it for transport. talking about cars, planes an trains. they have copper in them, too. guess which country has been building more new homes, driving more tech, that is china. take a look at this graph of china's imports over the past three months. here you can see this consistent rise that's been happening. this july number over here, 194 kill tons of imports was china's

high northwest the past year. i spoke with three analysts earlier this year and they all said they can only expect this trend to keep going higher, specifically andrew driscoll at clsa here in hong kong told me china actually has a high dependency on this copper imports, 87%, in fact, based on how little they produce and how much they consume. along with this higher demand, of course, what do you expect? higher prices. in fact, we are already seeing that. since early august, earlier this month, the price of copper has jumped 9%. if you couple that with a weaker u.s. dollar, china will see an opportunity to increase its stockpiles of this commodity. martin when key of teich group told me that copper could be considered a future safe haven. how does the thought of red gold sit with you? >> we've got black gold, the real stuff, why not red? if it could be a safe haven, people will be watching for

that. ramy, thank you so much for that. ramy inocencio. so far we've covered all those elements into the show. we're only 47 minutes into the hour. you're watching "world business today." these are live pictures of hong kong, a city that ranks 35th on a list of the world's most livable cities. which are the best and which are the worst? we'll tell you if you stay tuned after the break.

now for another check on gold prices. you can see it's up about 30 cents from the troy ounce trading at $1,829.85. welcome back. live from cnn live in hong kong. this is "world business today." here is a question for you. where do you think the most livable place in the world is? this new report out by the economist intelligence unit. it ranks 140 cities based on their stability, health care, culture, education and infrastructure. taking first place, melbourne, australia. the report found the city had one of the most efficient transport systems as well as a vibrant and safe social scene. i guess if you've been out to a party, you easily get home. in second place, we have vienna in austria with one of the lowest reportable crime rates of any capital city.

bringing in the third place, and this is a city that used to be ranked first, vancouver in canada. the standout there, health care and education services. seven of the top ten cities are, would you believe, in either australia or canada. the other end of the list, the least is papua new guinea, bangladesh and the capital of zimbabwe. >> so australia and canada pretty much take care of the top ten spots between them. what i'm interested to know is which country is the top in each region? i'm assuming the united kingdom doesn't come the top of the list because our weather is, frankly speaking, usually atrocious. >> i'm not going to argue with that. you're absolute lit right. we know vienna is the topic in europe. hell sin key in finland takes seventh. in asia, japan's osaka comes in

at number 12 ranking. in the middle east is abu dhabi at 78. joe lance berg is africa's most livable city, but that's way down the list at 92. finally, the report found that buenos aries is south america's best place to live overall. it ranked 62nd. so now you know where you need to live. let's turn our attention to what's been going on in the weather picture. a tropical storm swept into southern china on wednesday bringing heavy rains and causing damage. let's get to jen delgado at the cnn weather center. certainly this storm does seem to have a long life span. >> absolutely. we've been talking about it for well over a week. we do know it caused flooding problems through taiwan as well as the philippines. it was a deadly storm. we saw flooding in china when it made landfall around 2:30 local time. it also created very strong

waves right along the coastal areas of china. let's go to the video. look at what's happening there. you can see the waves. this actually -- talking about the tropical storm, made landfall and was approaching right around high tide. that created waves we're talking roughly about 65 feet. 20 meters if you can believe this. this is zip oh from there. not capturing how high some of those waves were. we had some damage and you can capture the damage out of that storm system. keep in mind it was just a tropical storm. now, as i take you back over to our graphic, i want to show you what's happening along the coastal area of china, still dealing with clouds there. also picking up heavier rainfall through taiwan as well as the philippines, an area that doesn't need anymore precipitation. the storm behind me is the tropical storm with winds of 102 kilometers. we're watching that because it looks like it's likely to become

a typhoon as it gets closer to japan by the end of the week. you can see the winds going up to 130 kilometers. by friday everybody needs to have some type of plan across parts of japan as that storm system looks like it's going to continue to get its act together. meanwhile, across parts of europe, i know they said hell sin key is a great place to live, but rather cool for this time of year. we have this area of low pressure just to the north. that's keeping conditions rather cool for northern parts of france as well as into germany as well as over towards poland. that's going to stay through today and then by thursday as well as friday, this warm, milder air down towards the south is going to start to surge back up. as nina mentioned, she said, hey, she wondered how london ranked. you're right, weather not so hot across that region. let's look at temperatures for today. 22 in paris, 24 in vienna. berlin, very cool for this time of year, 19 degrees. madrid with 28. typically you usually see the

mid 30s. finally i'll leave you with some video coming out of singapore. andrew, you're really going to like this. this is part of the annual lantern festival. it kicks off on monday. this will last through september 12th. of course, it takes into consideration the traditional chinese culture. you can see some of the lanterns are very beautiful and colorful. it looks like a fun time through parts of singapore. >> huge time for the kids as well. they love those festivals. lanterns on the water, it's beautiful. >> it is. you must be pretty proud of australia right now. >> always. >> livable cities. >> australians, i tell you who won't be proud of that ranking, the people who live in sydney. don't forget, if you want to comment on any of the stories you've seen on the show, all you have to do is get in touch with our team on our facebook page, go to facebook.com/cnnwbt.

that's it for this edition of "world business today." i'm andrew stevens in hong kong. thanks for watching. we will be back, nina and i joined by maggie lake later in the day with the next edition of "world business today." we'll see you then. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com