may have to step aside, john huntsman, decided not to show up tonight, he might also have to take a second look at his one-state strategy, just compete in new hampshire. he might als have to take a second look at his one-state strategy of just competing in new hampshire. hello, i'm monita rajpal. a showdown is under way in southern england where authorities are trying to evict a small nomadic group known at travelers from land that the group has claimed for years. for the latest let's go live to essex and our reporter. nemma, what's happening where you are? >> reporter: well, monita, authorities have managed to go in around the back. there have been altercations between them and residents and activists, but the main gate, the front gate, that you see

behind me which is the most fortified entrance into dale farm is still currently at an impasse. we understand it's because some residents have chained themselves on the inside of that gate. last time when there was threat of an eviction, there had been concern that some of the residents had chained themselves by the neck to the gate, which is one of the reaps that police are trying to move very slowly here, monita. council said they wanted this eviction to be as safe and dignified as possible. we're past the point of dignified where already we've been seeing these altercations, but safe is still something they're hoping can be brought about here. >> nima, thank you very much. well, there's been a deadly attack today in southeastern turkey. authorities say kurdish guerrillas struck security forces and military sites in hakkari province that borders iraq. reports say guerrillas fired rockets and opened fire with automatic rifles. cnn turk is reporting at least

24 people have been killed. and reuters has been reporting that turkish planes have bombed kurdish rebel bases in northern iraq. tuesday's republican presidential debate in las vegas looked more like a fight night than a discussion. texas governor rick perry frequently targeted milt romney over issues like immigration. perry is trying to win back some support after dropping to third in the polls. those are the headlines from cnn, the world's news leaders. i'm monita rajpal. "world business today" starts right now. good morning from cnn london, i'm nien that del santos. >> and good afternoon from cnn hong kong. i'm andrew stevens. you're watching "world business today." the top stories this wednesday, the october the 19th. >> united against austerity as a general strike begins in greece. we'll take a look at how the crisis has affected the national psyche.

goldman sachs posts a loss for only the second time in its history as a listed firm. but what does it mean for companies' bonuses? and how is australia managing to weather the global slowdown? we'll hear from its prime minister, julia gillard, later in the program. first off, let's get straight to what's moving the stock markets especially here in europe. largely it is due to optimism over the euro zone debt crisis. well, "the guardian" said late on tuesday that germany and france were about to reach an imminent agreement to try and beef up the rescue fund for struggling euro zone nations. although reports seem to dismiss elsewhere that any deal is actually near at the moment. the efs says according to this "guardian" article, it's likely to receive a boost. let's remind you that the euro zone bail yountd fund currently stands with a lending capacity of 440 billion euros, but it could be boosted to about $2 trillion -- excuse me, 2

trillion euros, that's about $2.7 trillion. that would be the new lending capacity to try and shore up any country, for instance, like italy or spain that could have troubles. and in the meantime, what we've had is ratings agencies again coming out with more downgrades. s&p has downgraded 24 italian banks. we've also seen moody's cut the spanish debt rating by two notches down from "a" to "a" 1. the question is how it all this affecting the markets? cautious optimism across the board. cac 40 and the dax, again, the ones that are the most pronounced on the up side, largely thanks to optimism that the leaders of france and also germany can come together to try and hammer out some kind of agreement to ring fence the greek problem and prevent contagion from spreading elsewhere. andrew. that "guardian" report reverberating around the global financial markets, nina, it's interesting that the u.s. markets got a big pop right towards the end of trading

basically on the back of those reports from london. and that, in turn, rolled on to asian markets. stock markets ending moderately higher across asia. i'll bring you the numbers in just a moment. it was a lot of financials getting quite a decent boost. before we go to the broad numbers, i want to talk about one specific number, and that is olympus. now, if you look at what happened today, that stock was down 2% as the war of words continues. this is the former ceo, michael woodford. he was fired last friday after he aired concerns overpayments made during acquisitions before his tenure. now, olympus has fired back. they say that woodford's research includes, quote, assumption and speculation. but certainly at the moment, if you look at what the markets are wanting to believe at the moment, they seem to be coming down pretty much in favor of what mr. woodford has been saying. this is a chart going back just over the past few days. it was down, as i said, 2% a day.

he was fired on friday, you remember. that was there. started trading on friday, and since then the stock has fallen 44%. and that is certainly hurting -- well, it's hurting olympus stock, obviously, and pulling back the income kay on the broader 25 index. the nikkei closing up by about 0.35%, hong kong, up 1.3%, shanghai down about 0.25%. the question is whether or not that "guardian" report is right or not. >> yeah, it's very difficult, isn't it, to eclipse the corporate agenda. we've certainly seen these companies earnings figures are basically pushed by the wayside, andrew, because all the focus is on sorting out the euro zone. a turbulent session on wall street ended with u.s. stocks surging during the final hours of trading on tuesday. and that again came largely thanks to traders reacting to indications that the european

bailout fund might be getting a boost to the level that economists generally say would be enough to solve the euro zone's problems. when it comes to the dow jones industrial average, that market rallied about 180 points, a pickup of more than 1.5%. pretty much the same percentage gained for the technology of heavy nasdaq and the s&p had risen just over 2% by the close of trade. so, again, you're seeing the follow-through today. this is what it's set to do when trading opens a few hours from now. that's the futures, as you see there, all red arrows. the dow down 0.3%, nasdaq by 0.75%. looks like there could be a bit of profit taking, nina. back to that top story of the day, to greece where the parliament is set for a first vote on a new round of austerity measures later today. and the battle line's already being drawn between the government and greek workers as a 48-hour general strike gets under way. diana joins us live from athens,

a city that seems set to grow to a halt as many sectors in the economy prepare to walk off the job. diana, what's the atmosphere like at the moment? are we going to see any violent protests here? >> reporter: well, it would be, i think, interesting if you didn't see violent protests. all the strikes that i've followed here in greece since that first bailout was agreed may 2010, also the second bailout in july this year, there has been really quite a lot of violence. so i think that that is something that can be anticipated. but generally that violence is provoked by a small group who come specifically to provoke. the vast majority of people out on the streets are here to protest against further austerity. and here where i am, this is the union. and interestingly, they are the people who say that greece should have left the european

union a long time ago, and that that is the only solution to greece's problems. i've got to add that they are not in a minority. two-thirds of the greek public believe that greece should and must stay within the european union. and it's the eu's responsibility to help greece out of its current problems and to try and alleviate the austerity which these people say is crippling them and which will be further enforced if parliament does actually vote through that bill in today's session, nina. >> to the average viewer, we've heard so many bits of different information about different austerity votes and greece. is it still the scenario where the greek economy is shrinking so much that they have to keep reinforcing the austerity measures to pass those deficit targets for the imf? >> reporter: well, that's the trouble. the troika when they came here a couple of weeks ago and their

latest assessment of whether greece was fulfilling its obligations in terms of cutting the public deficit, they said the recession is far deeper than we anticipated. growth is simply not coming back to this economy. and the debts are accumulating more than was anticipated in that second bailout back in july. and the greek people feel, you know, this is a never-ending cycle of debt. how are we ever going to pay it backes specially if there's no growth? so the sort of arguments you're hearing from the unions is that cuts have to be made but in different ways. you know, the average worker zn does not want to feel he's being squeezed whilst the so-called fat taxes are still evading their taxes. they say the rich should be taxed. we are being squeezed and we can't cope with it anymore. in fact, there were some interesting figures from eft yesterday that said if you look at the average household here in greece, the austerity is cutting their income by 14%.

that's twice as much as in ireland or portugal, for example. >> diana magnay, many thanks for that update. as diana was just reporting, austerity measures in greece deeply unpopular. as the cuts take more hold, people are increasingly worried about their financial future on the ground across various areas of greece, not just the capital. in a few moments' time, we'll be taking a look at the effect that's had on people in greece psychologically speaking. how a once happy-go-lucky people has turned instead into a nation of worriers. and later on as tourism in greece gets a boost, we'll be asking the greek tourism minister if this is just a one-off or a vital life line for greece's ever-so-badly battered economy. andrew. let's talk about a company that's been in the headlines a lot lately. it is no doubt the darling of the tech world, of course i'm talking about apple. and apple has just missed its profit estimates for the first time for at least six years.

now, even though apple set new sales and profit records for its latest fiscal quarter, its fourth quarter, investors were not impressed. and the company's stock was actually down more than 6.5% in after-hours trading on the nasdaq yesterday. that's after closing daytime session trading at an all-time high of $422.24. now, it's largely down to its flagship product. and i am, of course, talking about the iphone. if you look at this, this is iphone sales. now, they had been climbing during each of the previous three quarters of the financial year, breaking the 20 million iphones sold for the quarter. that happened in the third quarter. and apple had been expecting to sell 20 million iphones for the fourth quarter. but this is what happened. sales falling well short of that 20 million figure, coming in, in fact, at just 17 million. and that's because many people delayed buying an iphone instead

of waiting for the new model to be released. even though analysts were let down by the figures, the company's net income, remember this for the quarter, up by 54% from last year. it still brought in $6.6 billion. nina. andrew, let's stay with the earnings pictures stateside, cleaned out by the crisis. for only the second time since going public 12 years ago, goldman sachs has actually posted a months. loss. it's quite a big one at that. goldman sachs lost some $393 million in the third quarter. most of its operations did pretty much okay, but the problem came from its own investments. and that led profits to be down about 120%. in just three months, the bank's lending and investment unit lost about $2.5 billion in total. and that includes $1 billion on the stock markets alone. now, the chief executive, lord

blankfein, has been blaming the uncertain economic picture, and that uncertainty has hurt goldman sachs' own share price in recent months. let me show you how much it's hurt the share price. when the financial crisis originally hit back in 2008, the u.s. government actually helped bail out goldman sachs to the tune of no less than $10 billion as part of that t.a.r.p. program. later on that year, goldman sachs actually reported its first ever quarterly loss as a publicly traded company. that loss coming in at $2 billion. and take a look at what actually happened to the share price since that date. well, within a year, it seemed as though the good times were back again and rolling. record numbers, this company posted for the first two quarters of 2009. but this is where things get interesting. recently as you can see, goldman sachs' shares haven't been putting in a stellar performance. they're actually down by about 40% in 2011 alone. so it just goes to show, who says that goldman sets the tone?

>> if you add that into a banking stock, you know you've got problems. goldman drew the attention of the world when it said it was paying colossal bonuses as well as compensation payments just months after it was helped to be bailed out by the u.s. government. now, there's no denying that many banker bonuses are huge, but there's also evidence to show that they are now on the slide. 2006 was a boom year for goldman sachs. take a look at this. goldman sachs pocketing an average of $540,000 each in the first three quarters of the year. fast forward four years. which is after the bailout, obviously, 2010. and goldman bankers' payouts were still looking pretty healthy, $370,000 each. and that came from a $13 billion bonus and compensation worth more than $10 billion in bailouts. now, this is what they're getting 2011 over that nine months.

$292,000 each. that's down 22% on last year. but bear in mind that goldman profits for the first nine months of the year, down by 75%. now, the bank shareholders will not be too happy with that. you're watching "world business today." we're going to take a short break. we'll be back after this. i don't want healthy skin for a day. i want healthy skin for life. [ female announcer ] don't just moisturize, improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula goes beyond 24-hour moisture. it's clinically proven to improve your skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks.

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to help you choose the plan that's right for you. as with all medicare supplement plans, you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts medicare, get help paying for what medicare doesn't... and save up to thousands of dollars. call this toll-free number now. welcome back. you're watching "world business today." greece is at a standstill this wednesday as a two-day general strike takes hold. critics of the government's harsh austerity measures say spending cuts and layoffs have largely strengthened the battered economy. it wasn't always this way. at the start of the millennium, it was boom time in athens. as john defterious reports, it's taking a toll psychologically on the greek people. >> reporter: from many a vantage

point, athenians could look to the acropolis to find inspiration from their rich past. but on the streets of the capital, three years of deep recession, unemployment and resistance have shane the foundations of its people. enter the city's central market, and you'll find michael. he has numerous pots on the stove preparing classic dishes for lunch. >> translator: i don't know if this side of us, that flame of hope, is being extinguished. at some point we hope we'll come back to our old way of life, but we believe there is no hope. >> reporter: michael, like many others in the market, reminisces about the short window in time. after entering the euro in 2001 and just before the olympics in 2004. >> translator: what i'll tell you is very simple. if you had come to this restaurant in 2002 at this time, there would be nowhere to sit. there wouldn't be a chair for you to sit and eat.

you would have to wait 10, 15, maybe even 20 minutes. >> reporter: the central market has served as a meeting point for athenians for generations. the same sort of concept sprung up just a few blocks down the road. it is going to be the hub for artists and new media types. it blossomed during the olympics with all of the development funds coming in. now it's a bit tarnished. in this neighborhood, a bakery famous for its pastry, shares the same building with one of the city's most well-known designers. this once uber trendy part of athens is showing obvious signs of economic strain. behind the very public and vocal protests to the salary cuts and rising taxes are those who have tipped over the edge. this man was an assistant chef at a hotel and a homeowner. a product of the boom times after the euro when loans were

easy to get. today he serves food to fellow homeless residents at a shelter. >> translator: if someone told me just a year and a half, two years ago that i would find myself in this situation, homeless, i would tell them they're joking with me. finally, i realized it in a very ugly way. >> reporter: those in the shelter are part of the new dark trend that social workers call the neo homeless, middle-class people who have joined the rank of those who can no longer cope. >> greeks were not desperate ever. it's a climate, it's a culture, that i have always been hopeful. right now because i don't work anymore, i am skeptic. >> reporter: and it is getting worse. as suicide rates in the country, according to the charitable

organization, soared 40% in the first half of the year. >> we did not expect to face this kind of trouble. therefore, our mental services as a country did not expect to be so overburdened. >> reporter: in athens' oldest and largest state-run hospital, a new reality has set in. unable to trim doctors, nurses and staff due to labor contracts, its chief executive is trimming costs by working more effectively. he's reduced operating expenses by $100 million, about 40% in the past year. >> we have about 50,000 patients per year. it's a real worry. it's a real worry to see these kind of reductions and to support the system, to support the hospital to work productively. >> reporter: it's all part of an effort to try and cope in today's greece.

john defterios, cnn, athens. later on on "world business today," bucking the trend. it's an economy that held up during times of global uncertainty. and now australia's prime minister, julia gillard, is using the country's cash to pay for its carbon footprint. we'll be speaking to her next. where there's magic. and you now understand what nature's been hiding. ♪ at dow we understand the difference between innovation and invention. invention is important. it's the beginning. it's the spark. but innovation is where we actually create value for dow, for society, and for the world. ♪ at dow, we're constantly searching for how to use our fundamental knowledge of chemistry to solve these difficult problems. science is definitive. there is a right answer out there.

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currencies are faring. still rembe surrounding the euro falling slightly against the u.s. dollar. japanese yen trading at 76.82. welcome back. you're watching "world business today" live on cnn. okay, let's bring you up to date on what's happening in the weather. parts of europe and the u.s. are bracing for a cold snap. let's go to jen delgado who can tell us all about it. how cold is it looking, jen? >> andrew, coldest air of the season moving into parts of europe. the morning starting off with temperatures in the single digits. and by tomorrow morning, it's going to be even cooler. as we look at the radar right now, we have some showers and thunderstorms out there. you can see a lot of those developed ahead of a cold front. we're also still looking at some light precipitation in northwestern parts of england. as we go through the morning, things are going to try out for the uk, but we still see storms

arrive spreading into parts of switzerland and austria. another problem spot is right over turkey as well as greece. we'll see strong storms there. behind the system over towards the west, as i said, some of the coldest air of the season. and as i said by tomorrow, we're talking about frost in some p t parts of the uk, so be today temperatures running about ten degrees cooler than yesterday. today only a high of 12 degrees in london. 12 degrees in berlin. if you want some warmth, go down to the south. now, through areas including parts of the southeastern u.s., we are still dealing with some heavy rainfall as well as some strong storms. we do have a tornado watch in place. that is going to last until 6:00 a.m. local time. but that rain is going to be moving up towards the north. and as it does, of course, it's going to mean some rainy conditions for the northeast.

but we did see some problems yesterday coming out of florida. let's go to the video to show you some damage for some homes out of plantation, florida. we've had three reports of tornadoes possible through the region. of course, you have to wait for the national weather service to go out there and survey conditions as we go through tomorrow. i take you back over to our graphic. this is the area we'll be watching on thursday. and we're also going to be looking at much colder temperatures well below average for this time of the year and for wednesday, of course, the start of the world series, we're expecting temperatures running about ten degrees below average. 11 which works out to about 51 degrees and cold and cloudy. and then the sun returns as we head into thursday as well as into friday. right now let's get more news in just a moment. stay with us.

from cnn london, i'm nina dos santos. >> i'm andrew stevens from hong kong. welcome back. you're watching "world business today." let's take a look at the european stock markets. we're about 90 minutes into the trading session. we've got cautious optimism out there across the markets. this is largely because "the guardian" newspaper has been reporting later on tuesday that an agreement between france and germany on beefing up the euro zone rescue fund could be imminent, although other reports elsewhere seem to dismiss the idea that any deal is near as we head, of course, towards the brussels summit this weekend which could be pivotal. the european financial stability fund according to "the guardian" is likely to receive a boost. this is the euro zone bailout fund. it now stands at a lending

capacity of 440 billion euros. but a new deal could see its effective lending capacity boosted to 2 trillion yur yeuro. we've also had the ratings agencies coming out with more downgrades. the s&p downgrading 24 italian banks. moody's becoming just the latest to cut spain's debt rating by about two notches down from "aa 2" to "a1." it's the same story, the euro zone crisis dominating the markets. >> absolutely. interesting because the asian take on the news today, you've got downgrades on one hand and then an unsourced report quoting unnamed european diplomats on the other hand saying the bailout fund will be bigger. investors called the unsourced report because there was a rally on wall street due to the same story. the nikkei up about 0.35%.

exports gaining ground. the s&p up 0.64%, shanghai down about 0.25%. nina. in "the boss," the trick is in the details. take it from francis lui. he's still focusing on what he needs to improve and what he also needs to ditch. here's what we found out when we tracked him on "the boss." >> reporter: previously on "the boss," a good sport. france sis francis lui gives bao the local community. >> it's not for everyone. we need to connect with the kmoont. community.

♪ the deck of the galaxy resort in macau is a haven of relaxation. but for francis lui, this isn't time to dip one's toes or put his feet up. today he's putting his team through their paces. >> if these people want to have a drink or a snack, how's service? right now since this is only the fourth month of operation, there are still millions of things we think we could improve on to make our customers' experiences better. how do we actually measure and how do we improve, this kind of thing? i would say that we meet on a weekly basis to make sure that we go through some of the suggestions and make sure that we check upon all these decisions, how do they make plans, how do they execute it

and the end result. >> reporter: with its wave simulator, sandy beach and landscaped garden, the pool deck is the jewel in the crown of the galaxy resort. and francis knows it. >> nobody would imagine in an urban city like in macau, suddenly you have all this lush landscaping done. like i said, close your eyes and you're in phuket already. >> reporter: for francis, this is a major victory over the competition. >> we know that we have to maximize the size of a piece of land because this is one of the biggest advantages we have over our other operators here in macau. and this is why we built a 52,000 square meter of the grand resort deck which basically half of the size is going to be our pool. and this is one of the biggest pools in the world. ♪ >> reporter: in this instance, size matters. four months on from the launch of galaxy macau, this boss

admits to having missed a trick. >> on a high day, usually we could find almost 3,000 people who want to come and use the pool. even on an average day, it would be 500 people wanting to use the pool. so if you ask me if i'd do it again, i'd want to make the pool even bigger. >> reporter: the pool deck has other problems. getting guests from "a" to "b" efficiently has proved difficult. >> the short-term solution is pretty simple. we're going to build some boxes around certain areas so that we could be able to divert traffic and make sure that they come in and out in the right directions, which is working very good for us for the moment. i think a longer-term solution is that we might have to make some changes as to how people enter the pool deck area. but we think we've got a solution. we've got a plan. we're going to work on it this wintertime. by next year, we think the pool

deck is going to be more effective. a lot of people fall in love with this part of it. >> reporter: in an ever-changing market, francis knows he has to assess his strengths and his weaknesses. >> we are asking the guests -- >> reporter: push his product further and never rest on his laurels. >> i think in the future, nongaming is going to be a major battle on our operators. i think the customers coming to macau get used to just gaming. i think they are wanting more. other than gaming, what else the property could be able to offer them to make sure that they want to come back. >> reporter: next week on "the boss" -- >> e-harmony has sometimes intended in its messaging to be openly serious. and we've got a little bit ahead of ourselves. when talking to the end user. >> reporter: he knows what he

wants. but can shawn cornwall crack the code of love in a tough new market? that's next week on "the boss." >> can't miss that one. well, despite its troubles, greece is reporting an increase in tourism. straight ahead, we'll find out what's behind the tourist boost. you're watching "world business today." that's a recipe for failed investing. open an e-trade account and open doors, seize opportunities, take action with some of the most powerful yet easy-to-use trading tools on the planet all built to help you maximize the potential of every dollar you invest. successful investing isn't done by throwing ideas against the wall and hoping. it's done by lowering your costs and raising your expectations by using unbiased research and powerful screeners to build a diversified portfolio with stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and every etf sold. and we'll help you every step of the way. with 5-star research and free education

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could be an option to get the coverage you need at a competitive rate. so don't wait another minute. be sure to call today. call now for your free medicare guide and information kit about aarp medicare supplement insurance plans, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. welcome back. well, it's been arock few mo months for this woman, australian prime minister julia gillard. she's battled questions and led an unpopular campaign for a national carbon tax. but one thing that has remained resilient in global uncertainty is the economy. she spoke to our reporter about the state of the country that seems to have defied economic gravity.

>> we're not immune from world events. clearly we're not. but if you look at the circumstances of our economy, i believe that the resources boom we've seen will continue. i'm very confident about the ability of our nation to continue supplying resources to china for its urbanization and growth. so that will continue to be a strong part of our economy. that means it's likely that our dollar will continue to be high. that puts pressure on trade of exposed sectors like manufacturing and tourism, and we are working very strongly within australia to enhance growth and opportunity for those sectors of our economy as well. i'm very determined as prime minister that in the days of the resources boom and the days that lie beyond it, we have a diversified economy that is offering opportunity for all. i want to come out of this period of transformation and change with a more diversified

economy, not a less diversified economy. and our economic strategy is increasingly calibrated to do that. things like the resource ring tax, a part of that using a part of the economy to foster growth in other sectors. and of course i want us to have a clean energy future, too, which is why we've been so determined to put a price on carbon. >> reporter: we went to the election last year saying there would be no carbon tax. there is now a carbon tax. it certainly was a win in parliament. but as far as your credibility goes, it's certainly taken a hit. the majority of australians do not want a carbon tax. how do you think you will be judged? >> big changes are about the right thing for the nation's future. i mean, you don't step up to the position of prime minister to run this as a constant opinion poll, asking the australian public what they want and just saying, well, whatever today's opinion poll turns up, i'll do, even if tomorrow's opinion poll

turns up something completely different. that's not what leadership is about. leadership is about designing what is right for the country's future. and i've always believed putting a price on carbon was the best way of us facing the challenge of climate change and that climate change is a real risk to our country's future. so during the election campaign, i talked about an emissions trading scheme. in this parliament what we have achieved is a fixed price on carbon, effectively a tax for three years followed by an emissions trading scheme. and i'm happy to be judged on it. >> reporter: what do you say to people who believe that why should australia have to pay for a price on carbon when the big polluters, it's india, china and the united states? >> well, see, that's misunderstanding the actions that are happening around our world to cut carbon pollution, including being taken by the united states, by china and by india. i mean, we live in a nation where we generate more carbon

pollution per population than anybody else in the developed world. and the real risk for us is that we get left behind with an old-fashioned economy that generates a lot of carbon pollution whilst the rest of the world moves on. so from an economic standpoint, we've got to start the transition to a cleaner energy future. from an environmental standpoint, i believe most australians say climate change is real. we are causing it. carbon pollution is causing it. and they want to do something to address that climate change. >> australian prime minister julia gillard speaking with our reporter. nina. well, andrew, greece may not share the same economic circumstances as australia, but perhaps there is a little bit of a flicker of light among all the gloom that we've seen there recently. it's coming in particular from the tourism industry. and this year so far, greece's tourism business is better than

expected. it rose by more than 14% in the first seven months of the year compared with the same period last year. john defterios sat down with the greek tourism minister, and he asked him what's behind the uptick. >> we had no growth in 2010 in tourist arrivals. this year we have double-digit growth. and that's very positive. >> reporter: is that a one-off because of the arab spring, or how do you sustain this? >> the benefit of the growth of greek tourism, we would attribute 25% of it to the arab spring. we do not like to see our neighbors' problem as an opportunity for us, and that is why i immediately went to egypt when they had these problems, and i suggested that we work together for the long-haul markets. >> speaking there to our very own john defterios, the greek tourism minister talking about

greek tourism benefiting from the arab spring where people went to the mediterranean who suffered from the political upheaval in that region. andrew. we're going to take a short break. when we come back, england licks its wounds from this year's rugby world cup and prepares to play host in 2015. >> at the end of the day, we want to fill our stadium. we want everybody to come along. we want to make sure that it will be the largest attended rugby world cup ever and it will deliver revenue which will be invested into the world game. >> we'll be speaking to the ceo of the organizer of 2015 about the challenges that lie ahead on the eve of this week eend's new zealand/france final.

this weekend the cnn freedom project presents the premiere of "not my life," an unflinching and unforgettable documentary about modern slavery around the world. you can see part one on saturday and part two on sunday. it airs at 7:00 a.m. in hong kong/4:30 in new delhi. welcome back. live from cnn hong kong and london, this is "world business today." for the past 5 1/2 weeks, rugby fans have been glued to their tvs watching the progress of new zealand's world cup. but for this man, the tournament

has been a steep learning curve. paul vaughn is the ceo of england 2015, and his homeland is the next country to host the rugby world cup. cnn's alex thomas caught up with him in auckland. >> reporter: one of the most important things of any major sporting event is for the organizers of the next one to learn as much as possible. that's something paul vaughn has been doing, ceo of the 2015 tournament. you're going to host the world rugby teams in four years. what have you learned? >> this is the world's third largest event after the fifa world cup and the olympics, this is number three. and we're going to make it into the biggest event we possibly can. new zealand is a small country, and they have done an amazing job and actually embraced the whole thing across the whole country with 4.5 million people behind it. a stadium of 4.5 million is brilliant. they've embraced it in terms of

changing the holidays, they've changed the oyster season so it works for the world cup. they've gotten behind it so well, it is amazing. i don't think we'll be able to do it as well as that, but we'll have to do it differently. i've been learning a lot of what they've done in terms of how you engage with people and how you engage with the fans and how you look after the teams. the teams are the important piece, but the fans are also just as important. and, you know, we've got to make sure that they're in great places, great venues, people enjoy themselves and actually come together once every four years from around the world. >> reporter: the one thing that new zealand's excelled at is the mood and the spirit. but we've got to live in the real world, and the bottom dollar is also important. do you think that's somewhere england can excel at? >> it's important for us to actually make our numbers work. we've got to keep our costs under control, but we still want to deliver the best possible tournament, which is why we're going on the strategy of delivering about just under 3 million tickets available to the public.

and at the end of the day, we want to fill our stadium. we want everybody to come along. we want to make sure that it will be the largest attended rugby world cup ever. and it will deliver revenue which will be invested into the world game. the money will go into coffers. they will invest it into the game worldwide, which is actually a fantastic thing for the sport. >> reporter: are you confident they'll give you the right to work with them? >> yes, very much so. we've got a working relationship with the chairman. we've already been working together for two years, which we have, since 2009. so we've been gently working through a lot of the early issues and putting structures in place that will actually help us deliver a fantastic tournament. we've got the benefit of everything they've done here in new zealand. we've also got the benefit from france. we've got all the information, we've got the documents and hopefully we'll add to it and pass it on to japan in 2019

because it's obviously very key that japan do a better job than we did. >> certainly looking at that video of the fans there, it's easy to see why the tournament has been such a success here. but on sunday new zealand will play france in auckland in the grand final. i suspect the stadium will be fairly full of supporters. don't forget, if you want to comment on that story or any of the stories you see on the show, just get in touch with the whole team via our facebook page, facebook.com/cnnwbt is the address. let us know your thoughts. that's it for this edition of "world business today." thanks for joining us. i'm andrew stephen stevens in o. >> i'm nina dos santos from london. from the two of us, it's good-bye for now.

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