>> piers: tomorrow, i'm talk to condoleeza rice for a live, no-holds-barred interview. she was the ultimate bush white house insider, so i will ask why former vice president dick cheney attacked her integritity and why she threatened to resign after 9/11. condoleezza live tomorrow night. that's all for us tonight. "ac 360" starts right now. resin after 9/11. condoleezza rice live tomorrow night. that's all for us tonight. i'm zain verjee at cnn in london. here are the headlines. george papandreou meets leaders today. greece's cabinet supports the referendum, but other politicians oppose it. they face a confidence vote friday. officials say drownings and

ee electr electrocutions are mostly to blame for deaths. health officials say malaria could compound the disaster in the coming weeks. the floods are also taking a financial toll. finance ministry estimates the waters have caused $6 billion in damage. two pakistani cricketers have been found guilty of conspiracy to accept corrupt payments and conspiracy to cheat. the two players threw parts of last year's test match between england and pakistan. sentencing is wednesday. both players could spend up to seven years in prison. there may be new trouble at japan's crippled nuclear plant. tepco says it found signs that it may have started in a nuclear reactor. they're trying to prevent any reactions. those are the headlines from cnn, the world's news leader. "world business today" starts

now. the greek cabinet endorses a referendum on the eu bailout sending investors into a tailspin. this wednesday, george papandreou faces a crucial vote in parliament. will the greek p.m. survive that vote, and can greece really afford the leave the euro behind? these are our top stories. you're watching "world business today." hello, i'm felicia taylor at cnn in london. the scene is set for a showdown. in one corner, eu leaders still reeling from the shock of an eu bailout. in the other, george papandreou needs support to secure his political future and get greek back to work as he pushes ahead with painful austerity measures.

investors were certainly rattled by the developments in greece. asia-pacific stock markets continued their slide. also adding to the market jitters. japan's nikkei was dragged down by the automakers such as toyota and honda which both reported lower u.s. sales in october. the stronger yen also means that japanese expects are less competitive as auto sector stocks were off 3% to 6%. hang seng is up about 2%, the shanghai composite up about one-third. they both recovered to finish higher in the session and australia down after significant drops in mining stocks. japanese electronics giant sony also released earnings for fiscal second quarter. the news, though, not happy. a net loss of 27 billion yen, that's about $345 million. the company blames lower lcd tv sales and of course that stronger yen that i just mentioned. sony was late to come to the

market and continues to lag behind samsung and lg. sony's tv business is forecast to lose money again in march, marking the eighth straight year in the red. the results came out after the market closed. sony shares finished the session more than 3.5% lower. the european markets also taking a beating on wednesday pretty much across the board. germany and france were hardest hit, losing about 5%. futures indicating a stronger open and indeed that's what we'll be seeing. the main european indices after heavy losses on tuesday. some are calling this a dead-cat bounce. literally, the translation is even a dead cat from a high enough level can bounce off of its lows. and that's exactly what we're seeing is the markets are open just a few minutes ago, already beginning to pick up. in london, the ftse up about 0.5%. the cac up over 1%. and the zurich up. we also want to show you how

the stock markets in italy and greece have opened wednesday. both of their major indices tumbled almost 7%. let's take a look. things looking still quite dismal in athens. off about 7%. the dax -- excuse me, the ftse in italy up about 1.3%. the euro has recovered ground gensz the dollar after ordering. it's at 1.37, and against the british pound, it's at 1.16 and against the yen at 107. let's return to our main story, and that is in greece where if the prime minister gets his way, the public is going to decide whether to accept that bailout deal that was hashed out at last week's crisis summit in brussels. cnn's jim boulden has been following developments in athens. jim, what's the mood there now? are people as confused about what's going to take place with

this referendum? >> reporter: well, i don't think people here expected mr. papandreou to make such a public announcement about the referendum. it's just that it caught everyone really off guard certainly after we thought that all the big decisions had been made in brussels last week. the interesting thing really is is that now it doesn't even have to be january, it could be december. remember, the decisions made in brussels, there still have to be things worked out. it's just that the big picture was decided. and while it was dramatic, there was not a lot of detail, and that could take several months. i think the thought was for greece to vote on something, that would happen in january after the greek christmas. but there was talk yesterday it could even be moved up to december if everything was lined up. really surprising, of course, and people here very much divided i have to say. you get a sense that some people think it's great that they get a choice finally to vote on what's going on. others say you're the

politician. you should be the one making decisions. it's on your head, the tough austerity measures you pushed through and any agreement you make with the imf and it should be the politicians who make that decision, not the people on the streets. a very divided thought. >> jim, it's interesting because they haven't had a referendum since the 1970s. i mean, this is sort of 25, 30 years later that they get the opportunity to have some sort of a say in what's going to happen in their own government. is there any sense of what the question is going to be? because that seems to be the crux of the argument. what will the question be posed to the people and how significant is that? >> reporter: oh, it's very significant. you get the sense that the question is, do you want to be in the euro or not? it's that simple. and, of course, one person said, it's euro or drocma. it's the question about everything that's been decided and everything in the euro, do you really want to stay in the euro? there's really no way to leave

the euro, but it's so fundamental, they wouldn't be able to sort of vote on all the little details. so many people would probably find themselves having to vote yes for the referendum even if they don't like the government because they would be fearful of what would come next. the working wi iwording will bed the timing could be critical depending on how much the details are known by the greek people at that time, felicia. >> jim, standing from the sidelines, obviously, which is what i'm doing over here since you're there in athens, this is clearly a political move, though, for papandreou. how much of a gamble has this man taken in his political career? and what could be the fallout if he doesn't get a yes vote on this referendum? >> reporter: well, as we landed overnight, there was discussions. there were debates that the cabinet was meeting. there was thought, just thought, that maybe the government would collapse overnight, which it did not. some people in the markets were looking for that. it was such an unpopular move by

mr. papandreou and such a high-risk move that maybe this was his exit strategy and this would be the way he would leave power at least temporarily. this could come at any time. will this bring the government down? it has the majority of two. they did lose one of their mps yesterday who defected from the coalition. could it bring it down before friday? we have another vote in parliament on friday whether to back the government. that is coming forward as well. we'll have to see if he can survive that along with everything else. and then the decision after that is would the referendum still have to take place? i'm pushing ahead a little bit, but the markets have to think about these things because all of these possibilities are out there. >> yeah, things are on te tendhooks. jim boulden in athens, thank you. the greek government says that that referendum will happen as soon as possible. we've heard dates in january,

possibly now in december, but it hasn't actually set a firm date yet. several things have to happen first. prime minister papandreou will face the ire of the german chancellor and french president at an emergency meeting today. on friday, his government will face a confidence vote in parliament. the government expects to win that vote, but some members of mr. papandreou's party are strongly opposed. finally, the details of the bailout agreed in brussels last week. a greek government spokesman says the deal will have to be clear before the greek people can vote on whether to accept it or reject it. even if papandreou manages to keep his job after that confidence vote, the referendum could prus a no vote on the debt deal. a little earlier our max foster asked harvard economics professor ken rogoff what might physical if that happen follow if that happens. >> it's clearly in bankruptcy already, but it might really catalyze into something more

disorderly very, very fast as opposed to over another year or two. it's hard to know what direction it will go. certainly there's a distinct possibility that over the longer term greece will end up out of the euro back on the drogma. >> what impact would that have on europe and the rest of the world? >> you know, the big question is where is the firewall? where is germany going to draw the line? are they going to protect italy and spain in a? are they going to protect the banking system? so far their strategy is to say everybody's fine. they've even gone to absurd lengths to call the 50% write-down forced on greek debtholders voluntary in order to claim no one's being forced to do anything. they don't really have a clear plan of where to draw the line. that's the big problem in europe today. they've got to figure that out. and then ultimately, you need, i think, a new constitution. the system does not work. >> so what would happen if greece actually were to start to exit the euro zone? the big question is, i mean,

this wasn't something that the euro leaders thought about back when, you know, ten years ago they organized the euro zone because naturally nobody thought ten years later that anybody would be trying to exit. so the question is, is it actually legal for a country to do this? and the answer is technically it's not legal because that playbook hasn't been written yet. we're going to watch the eu leaders discuss whether and how a country could possibly do that. it's definitely going to be an unprecedenteded event. so we'll watch the euro zone, decide whether or not it's of anybody's volition to do something like that, or if they can be expelled by others. the one thing that is certain, that all 17 member countries would have to agree to watch somebody to do this. the other question is how expensive will this be? we'll have to watch, you know, member countries print their new currency. for instance, this is the drogma. they would have to start printing currencies once again as they get out of the euro. that would be extraordinarily expensive. would also have a new banking systems, new atms, new

individual banks. if you look at whether or not people are being paid in drogmas, let's say, for instance, they have a mortgage that was being paid off in euros. what's the disparity between that and where's the equity value between the two currencies? we don't really know what it would be valued at against the euro. that would be very difficult for consumers and individuals to have to face. the other thing that would be interesting to watch is right now we have what's called the european central bank. and that sets interest rates for the entire euro zone. if one of the member countries would have to be disbanded, they would have their own individual central bank. that, too, would become extraordinarily expensive. we've already heard about the esfs and having shored that up for over $1 trillion. this would cost even more to have to set up these individual banks amongst the member countries. so clearly this process is going to be extraordinarily expensive and very difficult for the member leaders to have to figure out how the process is going to work. coming up on "world business today," we're going to take you to italy. in a country that once em bodes

la dolce vita, the mood is sour. we also visit germany following the surprise referendum. stay with cnn. if you've just signed up for medicare or will soon,

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about aarp medicare supplement insurance plans, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. our top story this wednesday, a referendum in greece on the euro zone's debt deal. the greek prime minister's announcement took everybody by surprise. not least, german chancellor angela merkel. it's fair to say she wasn't impressed by the prime minister's announcement. joining us for more on germany's re reaction is frederick pleiken. i'm sure she was, like, we just got the deal on the table. >> reporter: what are you doing, second of all, why on earth didn't you tell me about this beforehand? one of the things that's going

to be happening today is that angela merkel and nicolas sarkozy and members are going to meet with prime minister papandreou, and they are obviously going to ask him very tough questions. one of the things that both she and sarkozy have made absolutely clear is that they fully expect that all of the things that were put forward at that euro zone summit about a week ago are all going to be implemented. and you can see this morning more than 24 hours removed from the first sort of announcement by george papandreou that political is starting to get to a state where it's sort of working with the situation, where whether or not this referendum is going to go forward. they're going to keep implementing the things that were debated at that euro zone summit about a week ago. they say the first thing is they want to come up with a timetable. one of the things we have to keep in mind about merkel is that yes, she was probably very surprised by what happened, but she's also a very seasoned euro zone politician. i mean, there's many people in germany who believe that germany actually voted no on the no-fly zone resolution in libya because merkel feared that she would

lose the regional election. certainly yes, she was surprised by what she heard, but she's probably heard worse things in her life, felicia. >> i'm sure she has, fred, that's great. as you said, she is a seasoned politician. and let's face it. i mean, papandreou needs the support of his populist in order to get re-elected again. we might see surprise elections. perhaps -- and i'm giving himg the benefit of the doubt -- perhaps he's saying, listen, trust me, i know what i'm doing. i can ask the right question and get a yes vote to get the populous behind me, correct? >> reporter: that's something that they're hoping. one of the things we also have to keep in mind is the germans are averse to a referendum. there's not very much experience with that in germany. the germans are taken aback by what they heard of this whole deal which, of course, was a very complicated one, one that was negotiated for a very long time and one that really did carry the handwriting of the german government, of angela merkel on it.

many people here in germany believe that was the best they were going to get. seeing all of that called into question is certainly something that did take many people here in germany aback. but it seems as though now again 24 hours removed that they are coming to terms with the situation and realizing that they're going to have to work with the situation any way that the greek people decide. felic felicia? >> frederick pleitgen taking a look at the german perspective. the latest twist hasn't done much for prospects in an economic recovery. a recovery is what's needed if europe is to find any jobs for its growing army of unemployed youth. paula is finding out how young people are coping with a new reality that seems bleaker than ever. >> reporter: the cliche is so well worn, even italians around buying it anymore. la dolce vita, the good life. it may be as italian as pizza

and pasta, but it's been spoiled. and many young italians now believe it will never apply to their lives. >> saving for the future, and we are very afraid for the future. >> reporter: youth unemployment in italy is running at about 25% amid a euro crisis that defines this generation's formative years while their parents and grandparents worry if they can hold on to their generous pensions and government benefits. many young italians are looking for an unprecedented political compromise that would compromise what is a greing generational rift. >> translator: we want to work, but they won't let us. we just don't have the opportunities. >> reporter: the so-called solutions on the table are far from perfect. one of them, raising the retirement age to save money would actually keep more of these professionals in their jobs longer.

>> this looks contradictory because we could reduce our pensions if we postpone retirement, but at the same time, this will block the labor market. >> reporter: that block could translate into higher unemployment for the young. something even older generations realize cannot be allowed to continue. which brings us back to that dolce vita. young italians may not be living it, but many seem oblivious to the fact that it's up to them to build the country's economic future. what has been taken for granted in italy for so many years, a kind of family bargain may have to be called off as the euro crisis takes a swipe at both young and old in italy. paula newton, cnn, rome. it's hard to imagine spending years getting a higher education, but yet the jobs just aren't there. well, the stock markets also remain volatile.

inflation is raising its ugly head, and housing prices are still pretty depressed. so where can you find double-digit gains? wealthy investors have artful ways to increase their balance sheets. we'll explain after the break.

the call for a referendum in gres came out of the blue, sent markets in a tailspin straight into the red. it's another reminder about how much uncertainty there is in the

marketplace and how news driven many of the conventional investment vehicles are right now. that has some wealthy people taking a look at a different asset class, one that has a more visual aesthetic. art. and some collectors are reaping the benefits. >> reporter: with stock prices that remain volatile and interest rates at historic lows and frankly housing prices still pretty depressed, some people believe the art market is the place you can really turn a profit. we're about to meet one collector that's going to tell us why. >> there's a fear of inflation. commodity prices are under pressure. it's this confluence of all of these negatives together which contribute towards making art the most desirable as an investment than it's ever been. i'm very interested in art that's undervalued or underappreciated at a given time. so when this piece was made was somehow not a warhol, it was less than the two. >> reporter: and roughly what did you pay for it? roughly what would it be worth in today's dollars?

>> paid well under $1 million and today it would be worth about five times that. >> reporter: a handsome product but other works of art may not have the same rate of return. >> the top end, you're going to see a very rapid increase in prices. in the middle and bottom end, i think you'll see prices either hold or drop. >> thank you very much, madam. now you've got them coming in and spending $1 billion to $2.5 billion. so they are looking at about a quarter of the market. you've got aub bub dabu dhabi ak you'll see prices at the top end perhaps hitting $2 billion. >> reporter: not even the financial crisis stopped record-breaking sales. >> so if you take the auction, where works have not been in the market for many, many years, and

obviously an attraction. we saw the best performance of any single sale to happen in history at the worst possible financial time. >> reporter: and it's the new high-end buyers who are changing the name of the game. >> i think it will hold quite well. i wouldn't say that art's necessarily going to produce stellar results. i mean, you might see 10% to 15% growth. but in this climate, that's pretty good when people are getting half percent on their money. >> reporter: pretty good indeed, but only if your pockets are deep enough. well, there are many greeks who won't be voting in the bailout referendum. that's because they've decided to leave their homeland behind. we'll take a look at the growing number of greeks landing in new york. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of your part b expenses.

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welcome back to "world business today." let's take a look at where u.s. stock futures are expected to open the market session after some pretty heavy losses on tuesday. we're looking at a higher indication pretty much across the board with the dow 0.5 and the nasdaq up about 1%. as for the european stock markets, they have recovered ground since tuesday's losses. pretty considerable, thafrankly. ftse is up almost 0.5%. the dax and the cac are recovering nicely, up about 1.5% and up 1.3%. zurich up ever so slightly about 0.3% of gre 0.3%. it is a sign of the times as the financial crisis takes its toll in many ways. and the ceo of lloyd's banks need a break.

he says he's suffering from fatigue and he's asked for a temporary leave of absence. osorio joined the bank in january. he's just 47 years old and formerly he worked with goldman sachs. he is expected to return before the end of the year, and an official announcement is expected later today. shares of lloyds bank off more than 1% on the news. let's take a look at how the asia-pacific stock markets finished day. dragged down by declines in auto and mining stocks thanks in part in certainly in japan thanks to that higher yen. financial shares were also weak across the region, but that certainly has been something that we've seen pretty much over the last few weeks. the nikkei down over 2%. the hang seng off -- excuse me, up almost 2% with the shanghai composite up 1.3% and the s&p down just over 1%. greece's cabinet is unanimously backing prime minister george papandreou's call for a public referendum on the euro zone's bailout plan. mr. papandreou's government does

face a confidence vote on friday in parliament where members of his own party are still quite divided. today the prime minister is holding emergency talks with eu leaders trying to get them to cancel that referendum. we asked the editor of greece's economic review about the difficult choices facing the country. >> well, in greece, everybody's under severe strain. both financial and our self-esteem is under acute pressure. but if, after all, the referendum takes place or if elections take place in spite of what the government or the prime minister tried to do with the referendum, in fact, we greeks will have to think twice or three times before saying no to a salvage operation that, in fact, would keep us somehow under pressure but into the euro zone because the alternative is going back to the drogma which is quite a horror story.

there will be three or four weeks of a difficult electoral period if we go for elections or if we go for the referendum with everybody around the globe shouting at us. and then maybe we will vote, or then they might even vote rationally. and this will decide our future. well, some greeks have already decided that their future depends on leaving their country. thousands are doing so to escape greece's record high unemployment. maggie lake has more. >> these are actually imported grape leaves from greece. >> reporter: costas sells a wide variety of greek delicacies including a dizzying array of feta cheeses in his grocery in astoria, queens. this summer he began noticing something extraordinary in his store. >> it's been three months now that on a daily basis, we have people come, new immigrants from greece, walking into the store.

asking for employment. >> reporter: it's an almost 5,000-mile trek from athens to new york. the unrest in athens and unemployment close to 20%, young greeks are trying to find a new life in the states. many begin here in the astoria section of queens which has one of the largest greek communities outside greece. one of them, 29-year-old eva, who came to astoria in the spring without a work visa. she spoke to us on the condition we hide her identity. >> like 500 euros in my pocket. that's it. it's like the decision of a lifetime. we are leaving everything back. we are here alone and you're starting from zero. >> reporter: eva says working off the books is stressful, but she says the trip was worth it. >> for me it's better to leave the country instead of staying there and, like, dying there

especially when you're young and you have dreams and you want to do things. >> so this is the machine, a famous tap. >> reporter: the owner of astoria's restaurant says eva is one of the luckier ones. many greeks who come to the area leave quickly without finding employment. >> people coming from greece are staying with friends or trying to figure out some sort of situation for them. and then they disappear, you know. you don't hear from them. or they will come back a few months later. or you'll find out that their brother came. and they left. >> reporter: many believe it's inevitable that more greeks will soon make their way to astoria. >> every day i have, like, five contacts, five people from greece that are asking me about new york and if they can come here and if we can help them to make a new start. i think in the winter it's going to be very hard. there's going to be even more people here. >> reporter: eva says she hopes to go back to greece one day. >> i think in the end we're going to make it.

we just have to be patient and go through this. >> reporter: until that time, these are the streets of dreams for many. who come from a troubled land thousands of miles away. maggie lake, cnn, new york. >> tough decisions. greece, of course, will be at the top of the agenda as g-20 leaders meet thursday in the south of france. also there will be thousands of protesters. our dan rivers is covering that side of the story. and he joins us now live from nice. dan, at the beginning of this week, you could have said that the g-20 meeting wasn't really expected to elicit much, but certainly now it's at the forefront of everybody's mind, hoping that there will be some resolution. >> reporter: absolutely. i think the whole story of what's happening in greece, the concerns over the future of the greek government is going to overshadow this g-20 meeting which, you know, was talking about kind of improving the financial architecture of the g-20, et cetera, and trying to, you know, reduce the volatility

of commodity prices and other issues. i think all of that is really realistically going to be largely swept away, and people will just solely be focusing on what is going to happen to greece and how can they save the euro. equally, in terms of the protests, the protests have been actually fairly muted here. we were out in one protest yesterday. you know, a few thousand people on the streets. no trouble. they're being kept here in nice, a lovely place, but a long way from cannes. it's about 30 kilometers from cannes. cannes itself where the g-20 is happening is completely locked down. as you would expect for the world leaders who start to arrive tomorrow for the beginning of that summit. and no sign so far of any of the kind of trouble that has marred previous g-20 and g-8 meetings. but i guess there's still time for that to happen. certainly, there are 10,000, 12,000 police officers along the riviera here trying to ensure that nothing goes wrong. >> and do we expect that there's going to be any kind of an

official statement coming out from the g-20 leaders, or is this really going to remain, as you've said, behind closed doors in terms of the discussions that are going to ensue? >> reporter: well, there will be a final communique at the end on friday. but i think in terms of the details of what they've discussed with the greek prime minister -- he is due to meet angela merkel, the german chancellor, and president sarkozy of france today. and i think, you know, clearly his decision to hold a referendum almost unilaterally, that will clearly be the hot topic of the conversation and the repercussions of that. he's already facing a no-confidence vote on friday which could see if it goes wrong effectively the greek government collapse and snap elections being put in place. and then frankly all bets are

off. until a few days ago, they thought they had done their best to shore up this problem with the bailout of 130 billion euros announced in brussels. now suddenly that's all in jeopardy because the greek prime minister is saying he wants to go and get a mandate from the people. and most opinion polls seem to show that the greek people are generally against these austerity cuts. they're quite how they vote in a referendum on this is not completely clear. >> yeah. i think about two-thirds of the people are not exactly in favor of what they've been discussing. and talk about keeping a secret under wraps. i have to say, following the g-20 isn't so bad even if you end up in nice, right? >> reporter: i can think of worse locations. unfortunately, the weather's gone a bit inclement here, but i'm not complaining, let's put it that way. >> yeah, i'm not feeling for you at all. thanks, dan. well, markets in asia may be sliding or at least mixed at

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shares of the tokyo electric power company plunged more than 2.5% in wednesday's trading. the company which is commonly known as tepco detected possible nuclear fission at reactor two of the damaged fukushima nuclear plant. just a day earlier, a somewhat nervous japanese lawmaker drank water scooped from underneath reactors number five and six to prove that the plant is safe. i would say he's a brave man. in an e-mail statement on wednesday, tepco said it began spraying boric acid on the plant's number two reactor to prevent any potential radioactivity. welcome back to "world business today." markets continue to be volatile throughout the world. but china's gambling hub of macau is managing to pull in record profits. our asia business analyst has the details from cnn hong kong

right next door. >> hi, felicifelicia, thanks. macau turns out it hit its biggest ever jackpot last month. new government data shows its casinos raked in this much money in october alone. this is nearly $3.4 billion. this is a 42% rise from october of last year when they pulled in $1 billion less, about $2.4 billion. now, the reason for that, well, this influx of money is because of an influx of mainland chinese to macau. it's also the only place in all of china where gambling is legal. not only that, the first week of october is golden week, a week-long holiday for international labor day and when much of china gets up and travels. after october's revenue numbers were released, macau's gaming stocks listed here in hong kong gained to close higher.

galaxy entertainment popped nearly 4% as well as sands china also rose there. looking ahead to 2012, fitch ratings says this amazing revenue's going to keep on growing. in a research note that they just released just last week, they said this. fitch sees no evidence that tighter credit conditions and slowing growth in china are pressing macau gaming demand. not only that, it's base forecast assumes revenue is going to grow by an additional 20%, at least that much more or next year. macau's tourism is this. it's called a world of difference. and it's trying to actually distance itself from its very famous american gambling rival, of course, that would be las vegas. one final fact that really underscores this difference. this year macau is on track to make five times the gambling revenue of its u.s. rival. felicia, you want to come on over here and try the slots? >> i have to tell you, i am not much of a gambler. i don't understand the idea of

intentionally losing money. but it made me wonder, during times of financial crisis, do people gamble more often? are they prone to sort of try lady luck and chance? >> well, i'm not sure about that, but based on the numbers that are coming out of china right now, you know, the revenue coming out of macau, it is coming from folks of china. whether or not it's the bad economy from the country, we still see these numbers coming in. >> yeah. listen, somebody's using those -- what are they called -- what are they called? the one-arm bandits. thank you very much. >> you're welcome. >> thanks, ramy. let's take a check on your international world forecast. meteorologist jennifer delgado is at the cnn desk with more on a tropical cyclone spinning in the arabian sea. >> i have to tell you, i've never heard of that one-arm bandit move. >> that's what they're called in

vegas. >> i've never heard that. i like the slot machines. it's easy. put a few coins in there and all of a sudden you're broke. let's talk more about the tropical cyclone on a serious note. we have a system spinning in the arabian sea off the coast of oman. it is a tropical storm, but the problem is, over the last couple of hours, we've seen a bit of weakening, but it's still been producing heavy rainfall in addition to strong winds. it's going to continue to sit and spin as we go through the next couple of days. as i show you on the graphic, just barely a tropical storm. winds at 65 kph. as i put this into motion, it's not going to be moving very much over the next several days. 72 hours out, you can see right near central yemen off coast. so anywhere along this path, we're going to be dealing with the heavier precipitation. the problem is, a very arid, dry climate. and that is going to lead to problems with flooding. and we've already been getting those reports in. and this model right here just kind of giving you the idea of

the potential track of this tropical cyclone. and notice it's really going to hug that coastline as we go through the next couple days. this is going to be our problem spot. in some locations they've already picked up a year's worth of precipitation in just 24 hours. so certainly that could be a bit of a problem and is in some areas. as we look across parts of europe, we want to show you a system moving in from the atlantic. you see bringing in rain for areas including ireland all the way down to portugal and spain. clouds starting to spread into parts of france. i know dan rivers is really struggling over in southern france. but the weather is going to continue to deteriorate. but over towards the east, we are talking about really dry conditions. and the other thing is, while that system is coming in from the atlantic, we're not going to see a lot of cold air ushered in with it. temperatures above average but we are going to be dealing with heavy rain across the region down towards the south as we go through the next couple days. finally, i leave you with video coming out of china. this one coming out of beijing.

and a bad day there. felicia, look at this video. you don't see much of the beautiful skyline of beijing because they are dealing with smog. and the smog is, of course, really bad for people who suffer from respiratory problems. well, the fog has been setting up because they've barely picked up any rainfall since october the 14th. of course, this region has been really struggling rainfall amounts over the last two or three seasons. and guess what, felicia? it's going to be another foggy day out there -- or i should say smoggy day through parts of beijing. no rain in the forecast again. now, for you, good news. high temperature of 15 degrees. you'll see a little bit of rain moving into your region. i know you're used to more new york weather. i'm sure you're adjusting just fine. >> i'm adjusting great because right now there's snow back in new york. i'm very happy to be in london. i just want to make sure. you said that was smog in beijing, not fog. >> yeah, smog. it all rhymes, but a big difference. >> it definitely is.

thanks, jennifer. you are watching "world business today." coming up, an enduring toy story. how the slinky came to be and still is one of the world's most popular children's toys. we're going to take you to its birthplace coming up next.

welcome back. live from cnn london, this is "world business today." it's been more than 60 years since the humble slinky was invented. and in that time one of the most

iconic children's toys has barely changed. despite a market raging with new inventions, the slinky has maintained popularity, selling more than 300 million worldwide. let's take a look at how this special toy story came about. ♪ >> every slinky sold in the world is made in hollidaysburg, pennsylvania. the slinkies in pennsylvania are manufactured on a number of machines that were built by the original inventor of the slinky, richard james. and he was a civil naval engineer. and his role was to design cushioning devices for destroyers primarily for the sensitive equipment on destroyers. and he was working one day, and knowing his son, i can well

imagine, he had a bunch of books piled up around his desk. and a coil fell off the desk and walked down the books to the floor. he was quite impressed by the movement of the coil, took it home to his wife, betty, and said, betty, i think we can make a toy out of this. >> a store in philadelphia gave us the end of a calendar, and we had 400 pieces, and we sold them in 90 minutes. so we were in business. >> the real explosion of business came when betty made a decision in the early '60s to put it on television. ♪ everyone knows the slinky >> i'm told that the jingle is one of the most popular advertising jingles in history. ♪ everyone loves a slinky >> when we acquired the company in 1998 at james industries, the average was 28 years. we have about 50 employees in that location. on an annual basis, they produce millions.

these are machines of proprietary design that we have maintained and enhanced over 60 years. to ensure that a certain level of quality of slinkies are manufactured around the globe. that work force is a fine work force that focuses on quality and production. and is an example of why we should continue to manufacture in this country. >> sometimes simple is best. that is it for this edition of "world business today." i'm felicia taylor in london. good-bye for now. there's no time like the present to consider all your health insurance options. does medicare alone meet your needs? would additional coverage be better for you? well, now is a good time to take a look at an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. get started by calling

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