i am ruthless when it comes to business. >> how much are you worth? >> i would never discuss that. i'm zain verjee at cnn in london. here are the top stories. explosions rock the damascus suburbs early thursday. activists report heavy gunfire. meanwhile, arab league foreign ministers have given syria three days to end its crackdown or face sanctions. thousands of angry demonstrators have stormed the parliament building in kuwait. the incident happened after police and security forces roufd up protesters marching outside

the prime minister's home. demonstrators are demanding that he step down. fifa's president says he never meant to imply that racism isn't a problem in football. earlier seth blater said players who think they've been abused during a game should shake hands with their opponent and move on. blater released a statement saying he is committed to fighting racism. president obama and australian prime minister gallard discussed troops. he announced a deployment of 2,200 marines to australia. i'm zain verjee. world business today starts now. good morning. from cnn london, i'm nina del santos. >> and from cnn hong kong i'm andrew stevens.

top stories this thursday, november 17. china on his mind. the u.s. president outlines the new u.s. push into asia. the cleanup is under way in asia as factories get back to business as usual. yes, the camera does lie. benetton is creating controversy already with its new unhate campaign. it's already been forced to pull one of its images. first up, the european debt crisis. it's not a story that's likely to go away any time soon. france and spain prepare to sell billions of dollars of debt in separate bond auctions later on today. let's have a look at how the markets are faring at the moment. we're about an hour into today's trading session. red arrows right across the board. one of the markets in the big four hit the hardest is the cac in paris down .8%. this is how italian and paris

and french bond yields doing at that. the italian bond yield has once again passed that crucial 7% mark, beyond which many an economist say this really is unsustainable in terms of financing your obligations out on the open market. now we do have a fully technocratic government in place in italy, and they're getting down to work. mario monti, the prime minister there, will be presenting his new austerity plans and exactly how he plans to get italy out of its precarious financial situation in the italian senate later today. also, spain should be going to the polls soon. its bond yields already up towards 6.61% at the moment. even france edging higher at 3.78 as we speak. an true? >> that italian bond yield just gives you an idea of the size of the mountain that the market thinks monti and his team have to climb to get back on track.

certainly a daunting task. and that fear of what's happening in italy still playing out in asia. more of a mixed picture here. we've had two days or three days now of down movements, and today is a little bit more mixed. hong kong one of the most liquid markets in this region, down .75%. australia up by .25%. nikkei just above and shanghai composite just below. but we remain watchful until we get a decisive move on what happens in the euro crisis. nina? >> it's not just the euro crisis. i wanted to ask you about this imf statement that hong kong itself may slip into recession. how important is that. and why is it they're saying that? >> it's caught a few people by surprise. if you look at hong kong, you wouldn't think it's on the brink of recession. the shops are still continuing to buzz. because it's a trade hub and an international finance center, any hit on exports to the euro

zone hits hong kong hard. and exports from china to the euro zone has been hit. hong kong's economy is already down. it shrank nearly lly 1/2 of 1% the last quarter. the imf says for every one percentage point knocked off growth, nina, in europe, that means a drop of 1.5 percentage points in hong kong because of the outside contribution of trade and finance. take a look at what the hang seng has been doing over the last 12 months. gives you an idea of how investors have been viewing the hong kong economy. if you give -- it's a given that europe obviously is rattling investors. also, it's this slowing economic growth here. that's the four year. if you look at that, the market is down nearly 20% over the past 12 months, nina. >> it gives you an idea of how global this issue is at the moment, andrew.

let's focus in on u.s. markets because in wednesday's session, the picture in those markets wasn't exactly a cheery one either with all of the major indices epding the session in negative. some of the things that had investors royiled was a statemet coming out of fichl, a ratings agency, saying the u.s. banks could be affected themselves by the european debt crisis. and markets look set for a slightly higher open when trading begins later on today. that's how the markets closed yesterday. let's have a look at how the futures stand. take a look at that. pretty modest gains for the u.s. futures with the nasdaq up most. of course, we have a number of hours to go before the united states markets start trading. andrew, as you and i know, we have the italians going back to the senate for another vote. anything could happen between now and then. >> absolutely. volatility is the name of the game at the moment. the u.s. president barack obama spoke to australia's parliament a little earlier

today. he acknowledged the growing importance of the asia pacific region to the world and explained how the u.s. needs to be a part of that. president obama talked about building cooperative relationships with china and emerging east asian nations. >> the tide of war is receding, and america is looking ahead to the future that we must build. from europe to the americas, we've strengthened alliances and partnerships. at home, we're investing in the sources of our long-term economic strength, the education of our children, the training of our workers, the infrastructure that fuels commerce, the science and the research that leads to new breakthroughs. we've made hard decisions to cut our deficit and put our fiscal house in order, and we will continue to do more because our economic strength at home is the foundation of our leadership in the world. including here in the asia pacific. >> earlier, we spoke to channel

10 political editor hugh rimmington. he says, whether obama is talking about politics, economics, or the military, this trip is all about china. >> this was an important speech he delivered today that had three audiences. one was to australia, his host here, reaffirming the strength of the bonds, the alliance which has been formalized for 60 years. the second message was back home to the united states. he affirmed that jobs in the united states was his highest priority and that he looks to the asia pacific region and the growth that is coming here as being a key element in his plan to bring americans back to work. unemployment still stuck at over 9% across the united states. and his third audience, perhaps the most important one, is the asia pacific region, and most notably, china. he says that there is a natural draw down of the united states from the wars in iraq and afghanistan. as that takes place, there will be a shift towards the asian

region as the focus for the united states, that even as the united states goes through its budget cuts, its military budget cuts in particular, these will be somewhat quarantined in this region. he said that the asia pacific -- this is the century of the asia pacific, and the united states, he said, was all in. >> hugh riminton there. mr. obama's next step in the asia pacific is to the nation island of bali, where he'll attend the annual summit of asean, the alliance of southeast asian nationed. asean has become a much bigger voice in this region, particularly as north america and europe struggle with economic issues there. what does the president want to get from the asean group? >> reporter: andrew, president

obama has been very clear all along this trip that he sees the economic long-term future of the u.s. with asia. this is likely to be what we'll hear once again here in bali. he is going to be putting the economy very high on the agenda, not surprising when you see what's happening in the u.s. and also what's happening in europe. when you consider that asia is the one growth area in the world at this point. so the economy definitely is going to be front and center. the u.s. and also russia will be attending the east asia summit, just after the asean summit. it will be the first time ever that the countries have been involved in that, underscoring, once again, the u.s. commitment to this region. just four years old, the jakarta fashion week is already attracting international designers, a sign that this is where the money is. both the united states and europe are now relying on an economically strong asia to pull the world out of its economic

slump. >> the markets are here. consumers are here. they need to export more. they need to create more jobs. they need to trade more with east asia. we are sitting in the middle that have dynamic growth center of east asia. >> reporter: but financial stability does not guarantee security. the south china sea has seen escalating territorial disputes recently between china and some of its neighbors. it is a crucial shipping lane. it carries some $5.3 trillion in bilateral annual trade. $1.2 trillion of that is u.s. trade. so it is inevitable it will be high on the agenda here. the announcement by u.s. president barack obama of 2,500 military personnel being deployed to australia is seen by most as a response to china's military expansion. that and the u.s. and russia joining the east asia summit for the first time ever is being welcomed here as a deterrence. >> the chinese won't be so

aggressive and probably less violent if they know that we've got the support of the u.s., australia, and russia. >> reporter: but the fact remains the u.s. needs china economically if mr. obama is to reach his goal of doubling u.s. exports. while obama is expected to push china once again to revalue its currency and move towards a market based system, it will likely be a gentle push. one interesting thing we are looking at here, andrew, for the asean nations meeting here today for this thursday is whether or not myanmar will be given the chairmanship of asean in 2014. the country has asked to have the chairmanship, and we heard from the indonesian foreign minister on wednesday, saying he thought it would go ahead as they want to encourage myanmar to carry out more political reforms.

of course, the united states would not favor this particular decision. it also has many sanctions still in place against myanmar. the country has released about 200 political prisoners recently. according to amnesty, there's still 2,000 at least in prison still. that will be a controversial move if that happens, and there will be many critics to that. andrew? >> absolutely, there will. paula, thank you very much for that. paula hancocks, thank you very much live from bali. nina? andrew, after the deluge, the cleanup forced many thai factories to close down. we'll take a look at how companies are faring now. ( phone ringing )

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we're experts at getting you the power chair or scooter you need. i didn't pay a penny out of pocket for my power chair. with help from the scooter store, medicare and my insurance covered it all. call the scooter store for free information today. currency markets are faring. the euro rising .1% trading against the greenback, currently trading at 1.3473. the italian bond yields passed 7% for the third time in a week

and a half. the british pound trading at 1.5744 against the japanese yen now holding at 76.93. welcome back. you're watching world business today live on cnn. breaking news we've got coming out of the british press wires, citing the treasury here. the british government has agreed to sell northern rock. this is the failed mortgage lender that it nationalized back in 2008. it's agreed to sell it to virgin money. this is the banking arm of sir richard branson's empire. this is the quote coming from the reuters news agency. it says the sale of northern rock to virgin money is an important step in getting the british taxpayer out of the business of owning banks. they've attributed that comment to the chancellor of exchequer george oz borne. this is the northern rock we're talking about. former mutual that used cheap credit to grow quite aggressively back before the

british mortgage market had its troubles in 2008. it was one of the first of thousands of banks to be nationalized by the government. it was nationalized back in 2008 after they stopped lending to that particular company, and it had trouble meeting its short term and long term obligations. the british treasury will be selling it for a price tag of $1.2 billion. >> and the treasury will be very happy to get that sort of money coming in at the moment, nina. record flooding in thailand is taking a serious toll on the lives of people and also of businesses there. many foreign companies, like the japanese auto and electronics makers, have been forced to stop production because of flooded factories. toyota says it hopes to have things up and running again by next week. it all depends on the cleanup efforts. we go now to a thai industrial park to see how it's coming along. >> reporter: this is what a factory looks like after a massive flood, the ugly truth

that hits the balance sheets and likely consumer wallets. before the flood, there was lig light, and this equipment cranked out precision plastics, everything from car door handles to engine parts. japanese company takkei plastics wants to gear up fast, but this factory may be a write-off. at this major industrial seat, many other factories are taking stock of the damage. the floodwater may still be pumping out here, but now they're also sweeping it out. predictions are for many restarts by early december. full operations may be only second quarter next year. the flood costs will be clear when all is dry, but estimates already are more than $6 billion in damage to industry. the waters dropped here at western digital, but they won't predict when they'll reopen. one of the world's largest disk drive makers, the company makes

60% of its disk drives in thailand. both of its factories and many of its suppliers were flooded. the effect a major impact on supply. these hard drives are the key component to produce computers in general, and thailand is producing about 25% of the global supply. at the smaller factory land industrial park, they're tossing out the sand bags and scrubbing down the walls. with the flood lines gone, the focus is on the bottom line. some are rushing to restart next week. this company makes plastic parts for printers and vacuums. just weeks ago this factory looked like this. they've recently made major capital investments, but now expensive electronics will have to be scrapped. good news perhaps for the japanese suppliers who were here busy consulting. but if insurance doesn't cover the $2.5 million replacement cost, this factory might be finished. >> we don't know the proper

answer from the insurance company. we can collect, we cannot collect. we don't know. it's a big question mark. >> reporter: japanese semiconductor maker rome is relocating these thai workers to boost production at its plants in the philippines and japan. both its operations here were flooded. natural disasters like this one may force companies to take a hard look at diversifying risks. as the floodwaters drain from factories like this and the machinery starts to come back to life, the lingering question is can thailand show investors this could never happen again? liz neisloss, cnn, ayutthaya, thailand. coming up next on the show, beautiful game, ugly business. fifa's president seth blatter causes a football racism row. it's another trofrt the football body could do without these days. important phone call i mad. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too.

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hello and welcome back. football's governing body has become involved in another scandal, further tarnishing the league sport's biggest business. the fifa president seth blatter. the controversy began wednesday when blatter told cnn that racism on the football pitch didn't exist.

>> there is no racism. there is maybe one of the players towards the other, he has words or a gesture which is not the correct one. but also the one who's affected by that, he should say it's a game. we are in the game. at the end of the game, we shake hands. this can happen because we work so hard against racism. and discrimination in the whole world is aware of the efforts we are making against discrimination. and on the field of play, sometimes you'll say something on the field which is not very correct. then at the end of the game, the game is over, and you have the next game where you can behave better. >> for many the comments themselves are inflammatory enough but the timing unfortunate. just hours after blatter's interview, the league charged

snyder with racially abusing another player. the football association is also investigating whether chelsea captain john terry here racially abused another player back in october, andrew. >> certainly sepp blatter setting the cat among the pigeons. it wasn't long before those comments from sepp blatter were being retweeted by broadcasters and football fans all over the world. within hours after that, the fifa president issued a clarification of his position. he said, "my comments have been misunderstood. what i wanted to express is that, as football players during a match, you have battles with your opponents, and sometimes things are done which are wrong. but normally at the end of the match you apologize to your opponent. if you had a confrontation during the match, you shake hands. when the game is over, it is over."

"that being said, i want to stress again that i do not want to diminish the problem of racism in society and in sports. i'm committed to fighting this plague and kicking it out of football." >> fifa represents large amounts of money and represents people around the world. let me give you the background. it's a relatively small operation, employing around 310 people worldwide, but it boasts revenues that total almost $4.2 billion over the course of the last four years. the biggest expense for fifa was between 2007 and 2010 when we had the world cup taking place in south africa. the price tag alone for that particular event stood at $1.3 billion. however, what the organization got out of it, well, take a look at this. it's pretty impressive. tv broadcast rights for the tournament brought in almost $2.5 billion. fifa says that 70% of its total expenditures are actually

directly invested into football. also, the company's financial docket says that personnel expenses, or staff costs amount to no less than $251 million, andrew. >> nina, meantime fifa's been warned by labor organizations it faces an international campaign to move the 2022 world cup from qatar unless it ensures the host nation respects working rights. the world's governing body managed to meet unions africa tar and united arab emirates criticized what it called inhuman conditions. the world trade federation said unions are, quote, continuing to receive reports of unsafe working conditions and abuse of workers' rights as qatar sets out to build nine stadium ins ten years using mostly migrant labor. speaking of the labor market, they're called the scarred generation. the unemployed youth across europe who just can't find a job.

from cnn london, i'm nina del santos. >> and i'm andrew stevens from cnn hong kong. welcome back. you're watching "world business today." let's take another look at how the european markets are faring. we're 90 minutes into today's trading session, and we're seeing a sea of red on the european markets. a number of things affecting investors' attention. on one hand, more speculation we may see more quantitative easing, or money printing, in the united kingdom after the bank of england's disappointing

quarterly report thursday. the ftse down .66%. and company news to talk about. the uk treasury has decided to sell off northern rock, one of the first banks that it part nationalized back in 2008 as the credit crunch hit. the price tag for that is $1.2 billion is going to be going to virgin money. those are some of the things moving the markets today, andrew. moving the markets today in asia, nina, is really what's going on in europe, as it has been for some time now. certainly a mixed day actually as you look at the numbers at the close. hong kong down .75%, shanghai down by .2, and australia up by about the same amount. it's really what happens and sort of a step by step process in europe. markets responding virtually anywhere to the latest developments coming out of europe. so different in asia today. >> "world business today" truly

is a global show, isn't it? let's bring you up to date on what happened in the united states on wednesday's session. the markets had a dismal day, turning sharpley lower as the crisis in europe continued to spook investor confidence. also, a report from fitch ratings saying that some of the u.s. banks could be affected by that had people thinking twice about pressing the buy button. let's hear more from alison kosik. >> stocks on wednesday could never find their footing, and a report how the european crisis may affect the u.s. economy plunged the market into a deep selloff late in the session. wall street remains nervous the new governments in italy and greece won't be able to dig the region out of the hole it's in or begin reforms soon enough. that's only adding to fears of another european recession. at the close, the dow lost 190 points, ending at 11,905. the nasdaq and s&p 500 each lost more than 1.5%. abercrombie and fitch shares

tumbled 13.5% on the day. the retailer posted earnings that missed expectations by a long shot. inflation at the consumer level came in flat in october thanks to a sharp drop in gas prices. lower fuel costs alone helped americans spend $363 million less at the pump in october, freeing them up to spend that money elsewhere. a very good thing as we head into the holiday shopping season. coming up thursday, readings on housing starts, jobless claims, and manufacturing. the retail earnings continue with reports from sears, gap, and dollar tree. that's a wrap of the day on wall street. i'm alison kosik in new york. u.s. investors certainly not the only ones rattled by the debt crisis in europe. consider what's happening right in the heart of europe itself. germany, despite efforts of angela merkel to help greece stabilize, german businessmen are becoming increasingly reluctant to invest there. as fred tells us, that could ultimately hurt greece's chances of recovery.

>> reporter: operators react to an alarm in seconds at this security company in hamburg. the firm has clients not only in germany but also in greece. what's alarming the boss right now is that some of his greek clients, especially government institutions, are not paying their bills on time. >> in the past, they paid sometimes two or three months too late, and today it's half a year. >> reporter: power security also provides guards for many firms in hamburg's massive port, the gateway to the world for the german exporting government. german companies have created millions of jobs all over the globe, but business with greece has been sluggish to say the least. german export and industrial associations say they want to do more business with greece and help the country back on its feet. they say first the greeks must change their business culture and become more reliable partners for investors.

with the greek debt crisis and the social turmoil that came with the austerity programs initiated by the government in athens, german firms doing business in greece say credit lines are drying up, and some feel the situation is so risky that they will only deal with the country if they see cash up front. >> we have german firms whose trading partners are the greek states, hospitals, for instance, and they are getting paid right now not by money, and they are getting paid by governmental bonds. and then the german trading partners have to resell these bonds over the market. >> reporter: and selling greek debt bonds is no easy task these days, but experts agree greece needs massive foreign investment from countries like germany to overcome the crisis. this lawyer has been advising german firms doing business in

greece for decades. he says, while the risks might be higher, the rewards could be as well. but he acknowledges first greece needs reforms. >> what greece has to do is to have these companies, meaning very short decision to get the permissions and to the corporation must be better, stronger, and faster. >> reporter: power security alone employs about 300 people in greece according to the company, and it has no intention of giving that business up. after all, the ceo says, they still have many greek clients who do pay on time, and with the current uncertainty and concerns about more protests, one industry that should continue to do well is security. fred pleitgen, cnn, hamburg, germany. sobering figures out of the

uk on thursday revealed that more than 2.5 million people are currently out of work across the country. reporting now that young people are an especially large part of that number. >> reporter: a scarred generation -- that's the term being used in britain and elsewhere when it comes to rising youth unemployment. 19-year-old tyrone cunningham has finished school and is now trying to get his first job. >> the whole process has been tiring because you're like applying for 15 and you only hear back from 1. so currently, i'm just waiting. on the side, i'm applying for part-time jobs and maybe full-time to get my foot in the door. >> reporter: of course, people have varying views on how to get young people into work. >> the number isn't the issue. the fact is the jobs are not there, and a lot of people aren't actually motivated to get jobs. >> our generation doesn't really have the opportunities that the generation before had. it's really difficult being a student and trying to think, what am i going to do once i

graduate? >> i think youths need to get out and do more themselves sometimes. i think there's this perception now it's just too easy just to take the money, just to take social security and benefits. it's too easy for kids these days. >> reporter: the international labor organization estimates around 40% of the world's unemployed in 2009 were between the ages of 15 to 24. the ilo projects nearly 13% of the world's youth won't have a meaningful job this year. in the uk, that number is now close to 22%. in ireland, it's closer to 30%. in spain, more than 40% of the youth can't find a job. rajib day has been credited with matching young people with entrepreneurs and startup firms. >> today with the youth unemployment figures, if people have had an inclination to set

up a business, it would be a good idea to start your own business and making a job rather than taking a job. >> reporter: here in britain, there are growing calls for skittish companies to take on more youth, but firms want the government to loosen the purse strings and pay to hire youth out of work for more than six months. >> we need to see some targeted measures to help boost growth, for example, for young people. it will cost a bit of money, but it's money well worth spending. >> reporter: one bright spot is the 2012 summer olympics. thousands of young people have been in training to give them the confidence and skills to apply for work around the games. but with tough austerity measures imposed by the current coalition government, it means fewer government jobs in the future to go along with fewer private sector ones. so those looking to get their first step on the jobs ladder are finding ever more barriers to getting a decent job. jim bolden, cnn, london. >> you're watching "world

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get help paying for what medicare doesn't... and save up to thousands of dollars. call this toll-free number now. welcome back to "world business today" live on cnn. >> google has turned its business to the competitive online music market. laurchling its service on wednesday to compete with apple's wildly successful itunes. like itunes, the google service allows you to store songs on a server and play them from multiple devices. the key difference, the google service is free. users can store up to 20,000 songs in their online cloud. the google music store has a much smaller catalog of songs than apple.

8 million compared to apple's 20 million available tunes. that's a big difference, nina. >> indeed. while it may not offer as many songs as its rival, andrew, google's share of the android market is where it's got the bite on apple. mark is a writer for cnn.com, and he says it's the right time for google to make this business move. >> google, i think, felt compelled to have a music offering, be able to allow people to easily get their songs from a computer to an android phone and vice versa. android, the latest numbers in worldwide, they sell more than half of all smart phones around the world run android. so if there's any time, any opportunity for them to break into new markets, such as digital music, now is a pretty good time to do it. >> a tech writer for cnn.com commenting on this latest move.

andrew? the italian fashion label benetton reportedly is pulling a controversial advertisement featuring a fake image of the pope kissing a muslim imam. it's one of several images depicting world leaders as we've never seen them before. benetton launched its new campaign wednesday. they say the new unhate message is meant to promote love. but stirring up controversy seems the more likely outcome. the images, in case you hadn't realized, are unreal. one shows president barack obama kissing his chinese counterpart hu jintao. and kim jong-il locks lips with the president of south korea. the images were used and altered without the subject's permission. the images certainly grab people's attention, but do they help sell clothes? here's the president. >> one of the most important elements in the next few years

is going to be this dialogue between the two very important economies in the world, which is china and the united states, where culturally the americans are saying that everybody is invited and welcome to be american and the chinese on the other side are saying that they would like everybody to understand that chinese are different and they want to be respectful of that. these are two very different points of view which should find common ground. today with this campaign, we want to create a new energy toward tolerance, respecting the others, and finding the elements in common rather than the elements that separate you from the others. >> the obama administration has disapproved of companies using the president's name or image in ads, but mr. benetton in speaking to cnn insists he hasn't heard from the white house or the chinese leadership as well.

i expect that he won't. he might get a bit more publicity for that. >> it's a very provocative campaign. benetton isn't the only group running a provocative business campaign as well. next we'll get an eyeful of the spot by president putin's russian party.

after hitting an eight week

high after just a week or so, gold has been slipping back consistently over the course of this week of the it's now dropping even further away from the $1,800 an ounce mark, falling $3.29 in today's session. hello and welcome back. you're watching "world business today." anyone who flies undoubtedly has experienced the frustration that comes with flight delays or cancellations. but 80 passengers traveling from singapore to hong kong on wednesday took it to another level. after their hong kong airlines flight was delayed for nine hours, they refused to leave the plane for another five until the airline agreed to pay them more in compensation. the initial offer was $50 a passenger. the passengers argued it up to $150. >> here's a question for you. is voting sexy? well, maybe if you're voting for vladimir putin. that seems to be the message of a new ad released by his supporters. the russian prime minister is not the only one exploiting racy

themes. our jeanne moos has been taking a look at some eyebrow raising ads that are way out there. take a look. >> reporter: first, russia's leader couldn't keep his shirt on. and now vladimir putin's party has a get out the vote ad that shows a couple getting it on. getting it on in the voting booth. >> the tag line is let's do this together. >> reporter: herreman institute director timothy frye says the ad smacks of desperation on the part of putin's united russia party. >> it's clearly an attempt to make united russia look hip. >> reporter: the attempt to go after the youth vote spawned putin puns like she is is putin out. they're attempting to show the macho brand brimming with te testostero

testosterone. cleavage bearing women calling themselves putin's army strut their stuff much like obama girl did in 2008. ♪ i got a crush on obama >> reporter: at least obama girl didn't strip as this candidate for poland's parliament's girl in the ad did. you want more, it says, vote for sld. apparently, they didn't. the left leaning party got creamed. but the most orgasmic political ad ever came from catalonia in spain. voter excitement reaches new peaks. in this ad from the young socialists, it's a when harry meets sally moment as she savors dropping her ballot. [ groaning ] >> reporter: voting is a pleasure was the tag line, but the orgasmic ad spawned criticism that it was an attack on the dignity of women. and now a new benetton campaign

has had to withdraw an image called the unhate campaign. it features photoshop pictures of leaders kissing, mostly adversaries, like obama and venezuela's hugo chavez. prime minister mahmoud abbas and israeli prime minister netanyahu. but an image of the pope kissing a muslim imam that we aren't showing was considered unacceptable by the vatican. kiss that one good-bye. we unhate to see that one go. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> don't forget, if you want to comment on that or any of the stories you've seen here on the show, get in touch with the whole team via our facebook page, facebook.com/cnnwbt and let us know your thoughts. i'm sure there's plenty after that story. that's it for "world business today." thanks for joining us. act my age?

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