aesthetically, but also people who create great families, i'm proud to be a part of that. >> thanks very much. >> thank you. i'm zain verjee at cnn in london, a humanitarian crisis is looming in thailand after the worst flooding in decades. relief agencies say all the standing water puts people at risk for diseases like mill layer yeah. airline passengers are dealing with delays after an early snowstorm slams the east coast. at least five people were killed when the storm hit over the weekend. more than four million people are without electric power. a truck bomb followed by a gun battle killed at least two

people in the southern afghan city of kandahar. it happened outside the international relief and development office. afghan officials say two people were wounded in that attack. taliban fighters set off a truck bomb, entered the compound and fired on security forces. closing arguments could begin in the next few days in the trial of michael jackson's doctor. on friday an expert witness called by the defense testified that jackson likely died from self injecting a powerful sedative while the defendant, conrad murray, was away. those are the top stories from cnn, the world's news leader. i'm zain verjee. "world business today" starts now. good morning from cnn london. i'm charles hodson. this is "world business today." our top stories on monday, the 31st of october. back in the air, qantas resumes flying after a 48-hour shutdown.

japan sells off currency to try to cool the yen's rapid rise. $7 billion and counting, we're looking at the challenges facing our planet's enormous population. due to the time change, european markets are only just opened. we'll have a look at those numbers in a moment. meanwhile asia pacific markets have mainly closed, ending in negative territory after last week's great gains prompted by the break through in terms of the eurozone breakthroughs. ramy inocencio joins us with the numbers. it sounds like there's a good bit of profit-taking going on there. >> markets ended broadly lower pulling back from the gains we saw last week. the nikkei closed marginally lower, down about .7%. it fell in the first few hours of trade, but then jumped up

about 1.5% after the bank of japan announced mormon tear easing in the yen. the rally had run out of steam by the close. the nikkei ended the trading day where it started. honda was down nearly 4%. more on the yen in just a minute. first off, the hang sang, the index here closed about .7%. banks and resource stocks led this gradual stock. icbc, the world's biggest bank down 3%. the shanghai composite closed .5% lower losing the least of the major indices. the asx 200 down about 1.25%. australia's all big four banks falling. back to the yen, as i mentioned, earlier today japan's currency hit a brand new postwar record

against the dollar coming in at 75.32 yen to the greenback. speculators were largely believed to be behind this move. because of this, the boj pushed back. the finance minister announced the intervention at about 10:30 tokyo time. that's when the yen weakened to about 79 yuan to the dollar. that's a difference of about 5.5%. he explained reasons for japan's third currency intervention in just this year. he said supply chains are finally recovering. the yen's appreciation might close down factories and i cannot tolerate that. meantime, exporters also cannot tolerate that. for example, a one yen move means a lot for exporter bottom lines. it's estimated for every one yen appreciation for the dollar, toyota loses as much as this,

$380 million. the yen central thenned 12% since the low. that means these and other exporters have lost millions of dollars to date. charles? >> make that $1.5 billion to the good in terms of toyota's bottom line. interesting statistic. ramy inocencio, thank you very much, joining us live from hong kong. let's have a look at the european stock markets. the same sort of picture, the optimism that followed last week's apparent break through on the eurozone debt crisis seems to have dried up. here is where we are at the moment, profit taking most pronounced here, off by more than .5%. off by 1.25%. these two, london and frankfurt, the two largest indices each moving down by round about a fifth of a percent. many investors too cautious to

join last week. if they did that, they might be left with losses depending on how things move over the next few days. how will wall street finish? traditionally it's, of course, a bad month. u.s. stocks have been on track for their best monthly performance in decades. on friday, investors did step to the sidelines and we did see the major indices with a mixed picture. the dow off nearly .2%. the nasdaq lost a fraction of a percentage point. the s&p 50 added a fraction of a percentage point. the dow closed out its fifth week of gains, the longest winning streak since january. this is where it stands at the moment with a loss of about 70 points there for the dow, just a fraction above 12,000.

let's move to australia where qantas has resumed flights two days after the company's ceo grounded et cetera entire fleet. we'll have a live report in a moment. first, let's take a look at how the news affected the company's share price. at the close of trade, qantas shares finished 4.4% higher at about $1.60. that was before moody's investor service said it would consider downgrading the airline's credit rating. we'll have to wait until tuesday to see any market reaction to that particular piece of news flow. shares in their rival, virgin blue, are higher by more than 4%. thousands of passengers are still stranded because of the many flight cancellations. with the backlog, it's started to clear. this is the first qantas plane to leave the tarmac in two days. flight qf 41 from sydney to

jakarta, indonesia. travelers will have to wait until wednesday for the situation to return completely to normal. clrksnn's andrew stephens has been monitoring the developments from the sydney airport. sounds like quite a queue fcoupe company. what's the situation for the travelers? >> reporter: a lot better now than it was 24 hours ago when there was no end in site to negotiations on trying to get a deal between the unions and qantas, eventually the commission stepped in, a government-appointed body and told both qantas and the unions to lift all action including the lockout by qantas and the industrial action by the unions and get back to work. as you were saying, we're starting to see the backlog clear. it took longer than expected because even after they gave the all clear to go back to work, it

took the civil aviation authorities a couple hours extra to clear the flights for safety reasons. passengers had to endure a couple more hours of misery. charles, i've spent the last seven or eight hours at the sydney airport talking to passengers, and it's much more relief than frustration. they have been venting their frustration when they couldn't see a way out of the problem. now that things are getting back to normal, they're saying, well, thank goodness. they're almost understanding or they appear to be forgiving of what qantas did and the fact that a lot of people are telling me, everybody, there certainly has been some outcry here and there. >> it will take some time to

clear the backlog. the other major domestic airline, virgin australia, have stepped up in terms of putting on extra flights. some of the backlog was being cleared over the weekend and today. but there was a considerable wait, particularly on the sydney to melbourne route which is the fourth busiest aviation route in the world. >> reporter: that's the australian transport minister talking about the backlog being cleared. as you well know, it's the eve of the melbourne cup, the biggest horse race in australia, the event they say that stops a nation. certainty qantas was going about laettner the

program. monday brings a change at the top. we'll hear from jean claude trichet about what he thinks may stabilize europe's economy in the long term. goes beyond 24-hour moisture.a it's clinically proven to improve your skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. for healthy, beautiful skin that lasts. i found a moisturizer for life. [ female announcer ] aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. and for healthy, beautiful hair, try nourish plus haircare. only from aveeno. what's vanishing deductible all about ? guys, it's demonstration time. let's blow carl's mind. okay, let's say i'm your insurance deductible. every year you don't have an accident, $100 vanishes. the next year, another $100. where am i going, carl ? the next year...

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there's a changing of the guard. jean claude trichet is returning as ecb's president. it's been forced to buy up tens of billions in sovereign debt trying to deal with the crisis that few anticipated. in a recent interview, trichet said the eu may need to amend its treaties so bad behavior can be punished. >> for tomorrow and the day

after tomorrow, you have to, in my opinion, have a vision of what should be done. that is my own personal sentiment. it's not the sentiment of the institution, but my own sentiment is that we have to go further and visit if necessary a change of the treaty to permit the governance of europe to put -- because a particular country would not behave properly, refused to behave properly, not apply recommendation. refuse one time, two time the recommendation, then we must have the capacity from the center to impose decision otherwise it puts into question the stability of the whole. >> you can see cnn's entire interview with jean claude trichet a few hours from now, early on tuesday if you're watching in asia, in a very internal edition of "quest means

business." a look at his successor, that's tonight at 7:00 in london, 8:00 in berlin and 10:00 in abu dhabi here on cnn. trichet leaves the ecb just days after european ministers reached a deal they hope will resolve europe's debt crisis. so this week's group of 20, the g-20 summit in cannes will make it work. they're hoping to secure investments from fast-growing economies such as china and brazil. all this week we'll be reporting live from the g-20 summit bringing you all the developments and decisions. spain is among the european countries wrestling with deep fiscal problems. on friday, the government said nationwide unemployment in the third quarter reached 21.5%. that is nearly five million people out of work in spain, three years after the housing

bubble there burst. as al good man reports from the mediterranean coast of spain, for those in the building trade, the best of times have become a never ending worst of times. >> reporter: they haven't stopped building new homes completely in spain, but they've got a glut. more than 600,000 new homes already built but unsold the government says, nearly 20% on the mediterranean coast, leftovers from a real estate boom before spain's deep economic crisis. >> translator: we're building very little compared to what we should be building, spain's real estate industry is busy with sales akivity but not busy producing new homes. >> reporter: this man is a third generation real estate developer and president of the regional developers association. >> translator: we fear a second

financial recession because the real estate industry is thoroughly tied to the financial situation. it is rare that a real estate developer does not ask for financing and it's rare that a home buyer doesn't ask for a loan. >> reporter: numerous homes are for sale by his company in the hills. it was mostly built before the economic crisis. now he's trying to finish it. he took us into a model home, 2100 square feet, all for just $930,000. the high end market is active while sales will slow for lower-priced homes. to help the real estate sector, the spanish government approved a reduction in sales tax from 8% to 4%, but just through the end of the year. it could mean a savings of $11,000 in taxes on a $280,000

home. >> translator: the tunnel is very long and you still can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. >> reporter: what you can see are the so-called ghost buildings, incomplete projects where money just dried up. spain first aims to reduce its housing glut. later it may try to finish these. al good man, cnn, spain. well, there may be plenty of the empty property in spain, that doesn't mean there's any shortage of people elsewhere. coming up on cnn, as the world's population crosses a big threshold, we take you to a company where the number of people is look to outstrip the people. that's just ahead on "world business today."

welcome back to "world business today." the united nations says the world's population has officially passed the 7 billion mark. that's a billion more people than there were only about a dozen years ago. the united nations says another billion are on their way by 2025. it's a number so large we might even have difficulty imagining it. one perspective, it's more than five times to population of china. china is, of course, the world's most populous country with more than 1.3 billion people. it may soon be eclipsed as the number of people in india surges. the government there says india's population will be bigger than china's within the

next two decades. joining us now for more is our correspondent in delhi. >> india is the most likely place for that 70 billionth child to be born. >> reporter: that's right. there's no way of telling exactly where that child will be born. a lot are saying it will be born in india. that's because 51 babies are born here every minute. there most populous state in india, it's the size of germany, uk and france combined. now, the good news is that the population increase rates has decreased over the years, but india is still set to overtake china by 2030. the main reason for this relentless growth is a

preference here for boys. families will keep on having children until they have boys. that's increased the rate over the years. charles? >> clearly that puts a lot of pressure. the rich estate in india is struggling with poverty. what about infrastructure. this is what many economists say is absolutely key. once you have a lot of people, you have a lot of strain on infrastructure and the economy is thereby hampered. >> reporter: that's right, charles. we're here in new delhi, just minutes away is old delhi, about 29,000 people living per square kilometer there. in new york city you have high-rises, but here the highest building may be five stories, so people really crammed together. it's taking a toll on the infrastructure. india has been trying to upgrade

infrastructure to make space for not just the babies being born, but the migrant workers. we see about a thousand people moving into cities like mumbai and delhi every day. that's taking a toll on the infrastructure. there's huge water problems here, even in the capital. people don't have running water. they have to wait for a water tanker to come once a day. india is trying to upgrade to meet this massive influx of people. they built a new metro. they have a new airport. even those places are looking very crowded now. >> okay. many thanks to you. nature meanwhile is playing havoc with things in the northeastern united states. the region's biggest october snowstorm in decades has left more than four million businesses an households without power, along an area stretching from maryland all the way up to maine. officials say it will take days to restore electricity to some

places. the storm is being blamed for at least five deaths. let's get an update. meteorologist ivan cabrera is at the cnn weather center. how did this come about? where will it go next. >> no question about it, a shocker of a snowstorm in october. here is a thought. this for a lot of places in the northeast is going to be the biggest snowstorm of the season. the season really hasn't even started here. if we get a bigger storm, that is saying something. look at this in jaffray, new hampshire, 80 current meters fell. some of these records have been ob lit greated and will stand for many, many years to come. there's western mags, the berkshires getting slammed, up to 58 centimeters of snowfall here. we have been buried to our knees and then some in some areas.

because the water temperatures in the atlantic are relatively warm. the major cities, say new york, along the coast saw mostly a rain and mix event. we did not get the blockbuster totals we got just a few miles inland. even in new york city, something they haven't done before in central park, that is accumulate 7.4 centimeters of snowfall in month of october. in fact, that breaks the record for any day in the month of october. what i want to do is show you a time laps video. this is going to tell you exactly why we had so many power outages across the northeast. you see behind me here, the leaves are still on the trees. as we roll one of our i-reporters here, you can basically see the snow coming in. watch what happens to the branches here, they essentially collapse. this is why we had so many power outages. the leaves that were still on the trees, added to the weight with the heavy wet snow that came down.

it was too much for the branches. of course, the power lines went down with it. upwards of 4 million people have been affected by this snowstorm as far as not having any power. there's still a couple million without it. an impressive know storm, no question about it. this would be impressive in the dead of winter, let alone in october. charles, indeed, a lot of halloween trick-or-treaters were to their knees in this snow o there. just an unsightly scene. it's going to make for a very long winter. temperatures have warmed up. so at least we're melting it at this point in a lot of places. >> as you say, it doesn't bode very well for a mild winter if people were hoping for that. ivan cabrera, thank you very much indeed. australia's largest airline got back in the air a few hours ago. it has significant labor problems on the ground. we'll go back live to sydney airport for a look at the tough negotiations that lie ahead.

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let's see what's going on in europe where the markets are about 90 minutes into the trading day. here is where they stand at the moment. i think we've actually got a problem with this xetra dax number. paris cac off by 1.5%, zurich down by .77%. the shine coming off the rally we saw last week. and if you like, profit taking

at the end of october which has been kind of to tradition, really a strong month for the markets. in terms of asia's stock markets, they've ended the day in negative territory. if we can have a look at those numbers. nikkei by about 69%, hang seng up by nearly .77%. despite gains for qantas, we'll come to that later on. shanghai off by about a fifth of a percent. while the markets have stabilized and rallied since the late summer slumps fshlgs many analysts are taking it with a healthy dose of caution. joining us to talk about where the markets might be headed next is mark conan. let's start with the intervention by the japanese authorities. the yen topped 79 to the dollar. what do you make of it? is this just a way of burning

speculators or is this going to have any kind of long-term effect on the value of the yen? >> clearly japan continues to suffer from a weak economy and at the same time rather paradoxically, its currency is a safe haven. so at times of increased risk, money will flow into japan and we've seen the yen test those postwar highs and prompting the boj, bank of japan, to come in and ease the pressure on the exporters. efficacy in the past has been short lived. we don't expect this to be a strategy that can be maintained for too long. japan still has to struggle to look for that catalyst for growth if it's not going to come from the export sector. >> that's interesting, isn't it, because japan is starting to shrug off the effects of the march earthquake. we are starting to see the economy getting back into its stride. what do you think about the japanese markets, do you think the interventions like this one -- they intervened about

three months ago, the bank of japan -- will manage to keep exporting shares looking attractive? >> for foreign investors, international investors, the export sector is clearly a lead indicator of general sentiment in the japanese equity market. it remains the case overall that the economy is struggling to reemerge from the crisis earlier in the year. manufacturing hasn't picked up significantly. the external sector has driven concerns in europe and a weaker economy in the united states still remains lackluster. it's difficult to see where that catalyst has come from. there were expectations that the stimulus package will be deployed more quickly. there's a frustration with the boj that money hasn't been deployed. that focused on stabilizing the domestic bond market to help fund their own deficits. >> one of the things that's been striking about the way global

equities have moved is the fact that they've been in lockstep really with european equities. do you think now that asian equities can to some degree decouple from europe and its sovereign debt crisis and find their own way particularly as global growth isn't looking as bad z a we feared a couple months ago. >> certainly, as long as global growth remains anemic, it means a small change to have a profound impact on investor sentiment. that's exactly what we've seen coming through the previous quarter. in august and september we had slightly moderating growth expectations or numbers, economic numbers coming to the fore which really impacted sentiment. as growth has gone back to where it was the beginning of this year, as it's gone back to that level, investors have become a little more encouraged.

whether asia, as an example, can decouple from the global economy, it remains to be seen. certainly investors sentiment is struggling to shrug off the effects. as a bottom-up fund manager it's extremely difficult to take advantage of these top-down effects. before that it was the budget discussions in the united states. there's much more still ahead of us in our opinion. >> as you say, that's exceptionally frustrated. thank you very much, mark conan, joining me live from hong kong. let's return to australia where the country's national carrier resumed flights on monday. a qantas flight from sydney to jakarta, indonesia, took off shortly before 4:00 p.m. local time. the australian government says the backlog of delayed and canceled flights won't be cleared until wednesday. in the meantime, qantas has been ordered to resolve the on going dispute with unions which is the

reason behind these travel disruptions. let's look at the way qantas shares finished at the close of trade on monday, up almost 4.4%. that's before moody's said it would consider downgrading the airline's credit rating. we'll be watching the market on tuesday for any reaction to that. for now it closed up 4.4%. as we mentioned, the root of the problems at qantas is the on going conflict with three unions that represent air and ground staff t. unions are pushing for better pay and working conditions while the airline is planning a restructuring of its international operations which includes outsourcing jobs and cutting local costs. let's go back to andrew streech stevens. it seems like a victory for the airline in their arm wrestling with the labor unions.

is that the impression you get from there? >> yes, i do, charles. i think that's a fair estimate of what's happened here over the past three days. there have been comments that alan joyce was looking to get some sort of government involvement in this, basically to force the unions to put up or shut up if you like. what we've seen is industrial action by the ground staff and the air staff over the past more than 12 months now, a slow drip, drip. a alan joyce has likened it to death by a thousand cuts. a big shareholder meeting on friday where the shareholders improved overwhelmingly in favor of this restructuring package to put, as alan joyce says, to ensure the survival of qantas. after that shareholder's meeting, the word was that they thought -- qantas thought the unions would step back a bit because there's been such overwhelming support for the

plans. in fact, the union said they were going to continue with their action. a lot of people say that's the reason that allan joyce then went for what's been described as the nuke yar tactic of doing a lockout and grounding the entire fleet. this is what alan joyce had to say after the government stepped in and after qantas and the unions were forced to abandon all their action. >> i have a good relationship with mr. joyce as the ceo. that's not to say that the government agrees with the decision to lock out the workforce they made and hence ground the airline. the government has made it clear we do not agree with that decision. but qantas is, of course, a private company. it's not a government-owned company. they made that decision, so the government took action to ensure that qantas was returned to the air.

>> reporter: that was actually the aviation minister there, charles. he was talking about whether he was happy with alan joyce's performance. alan joyce said a little earlier he thought this decision by the government was an enormous victory for qantas and its survival. he's happy. what happens now, of course, is there are three weeks of negotiation between the unions and between qantas. if they still can't reach a decision, a deal, then the fair work tribunal, the australian government steps in and makes a decision for them. one way or the other, this dispute is going to be dealt with within the next three to four weeks. >> the interesting thing here, andrew, is the extent to which the government -- notwithstanding the fact that we were hearing from the minister there. the government seems marginalized by this. they must be upset. they are a labor party, closely

allied to the labor unions and they dislike the process of hallowing out australia which is what, if you like, alan joyce is part of. >> reporter: that's right. the government -- it was very tricky hand they were dealt. the government was wary of becoming too involved once this lockout had happened and once the shutdown had occurred straight away to step in and say we will make the decisions for you, we will do this, we will do that. so they deferred to the fair work tribunal which is a quasi government organization. it let the courts f you like, the arbitration step in and take over. this really is a story of globalization. qantas, according to alan joyce was bleeding financially to its international operations, losing $200 million. yes it made profits of half a

billion, but on the international side it was losing. he said unless we restructure, we cannot compete. asia is where growth is. asia is our back yard. we have to do this restructure, there will xw a thousand jobs lost. the government has sat on the sidelines and said we're not going to get involved with this because there is a certain amount of truth in the fact that there is an iconic brand we're talking about. there's a danger it could price itself out of the market. alone joyce made this announcement which is hugely unpopular with the unions, but he says it's a survival issue. if you looked at reaction in australia, there was a poll, has qantas gone too far? and should they be doing this out source? >> more than 50% said yes, they should. they see that qantas needs to do something quite radical to stay competitive and certainly to stay in the race.

>> andrew stevens joining us from sydney airport. many thanks. perhaps we can talk about alan joyce, quite an interesting figure. as the arab spring became summer and autumn, governments from north africa and the middle east were challenged, shaken and over thrown. we'll take a look at dissatisfaction in jordan and how it's forcing the government to reexamine the economy. this lunch is a help, emotionally and financially. mm, it's true. i was surprised to hear there was no life insurance. funerals are so expensive. i hope larry can afford it. i know. that's why i'm glad i got a policy through the colonial penn program. it gives me peace of mind to know i can help my family with some of those expenses. you know, i've been shopping for life insurance. do you think they have coverage for me, something that would fit into my budget?

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the king of jordan has seen its share of street protests this year. although it's avoided the kind of demonstration that is toppled governments in tunisia and libya, that doesn't mean it's not facing big challenges. we look at jordan's solutions.

>> reporter: mirroring the causes of their arab neighbors, jordanians took to the streets in a series of protests this year calling for the government to tackle corruption and the high cost of living. while the protests have not been on the same scale of other countries on the region, they have forced king abdullah to dissolve a cabinet twice and push economic reforms n. the heart of amman, life goes on. beneath the surface is frustration, the cost of fuel and food are rocketing and they're heavily reliant on subsidies. 20% is spent on subsidies, a high price where the government's debt eats up more than half of its gdp. now in a season of revolution, jordan like the rest of the nation is under pressure to meet the welfare needs of its people. >> now it's a catch 22, doomed

if you do, doomed if you don't. we have to break the vicious circle. the best way to do that is limit subsidies. >> reporter: the kingdom imports more than 95% of its energy resources. this year it began the process to join the council. acceptance could mean a new economic plan that could ease jordan's energy costs, custom duties and provide financial support. >> right now 70% of our foreign income receipts come from the gulf states. in a way we are very much closely related economically and we also can give similar support to the gulf. we have very well-trained defense forces. we have excellent personnel. already we have 600,000 people working in the gulf. in a way we have very strong

relations. >> reporter: the unrest in the region means tourism is sharply lower as are remit tans from jordanians working abroad, particularly in the middle east. unemployment here is already high, officially at 13% and double that for those under the age of 30. many jordanians work outside their country in order to make ends meet. >> what's happening in the region will reflect for sure. working in the arabic countries especially. i think this will affect their work and family. >> stability is a major effect. what happens in iraq, lebanon, syria, out east, all these things are affecting jordan. the investments in jordan are highly affected by that. >> reporter: in the crossroads of the middle east, jordan has long been home to an influx of refugees from neighboring conflicts. now the need is urgent to get its own house in order.

there's plenty for investors globally to take in. when we come back, we'll tell you what's on the economic agenda. imagine... one scooter or power chair that could improve your mobility and your life. one medicare benefit that, with private insurance, may entitle you to pay little to nothing to own it. one company that can make it all happen ... your power chair will be paid in full. the scooter store. hi i'm doug harrison. 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.

let's have a last look at what's going on in europe where the markets are just shy of one hour in the trading day.

losses really across the board in the first hour of trading, getting on for 1.5% in the case of the paris cac. the others off by about 1% or so. in terms of what's ahead for wall street this week after the dow closed its fifth week of gains last week, right now u.s. markets do actually look set for just some very slight gains or perhaps a split picture when wall street trading resumes later today. we updated there. we are looking at off by about 80 -- i suppose roughly 1%, two-thirds of a percent for the dow. 17 points for the nasdaq, ten points again for the s&p 500, just under 1%. for a look ahead on this week's major events, let's head to the business agenda. ramy inocencio joins us from cnn hong kong with what's in store. busy week, ramy. >> definitely, chafrls.

first off tomorrow, november 1st, we'll watch the reserve back of australia. many analysts expecting it to cut in the cash rate. they're thinking it will go down 25 basis points to 4.5%. a rate cut could be a boost to the the economy amid falling home prices and rising unemployment we're seeing out of the country. also on tuesday, the u.s. federal reserve will hold a two-day policy meeting. this is going to be the second to the last meeting of the year. the feds expected to update growth, but no new major policies are expected. one more thing also on tuesday, november 1st mario draghi takes over for jean claude trichet. on november 3, draghi will chair his first european central bank meeting. then also on november 3, the annual g-20 meeting kicks off. this year it's in cannes,

france. finally, on friday it's back to the u.s. the late of the jobs numbers will be up for the world's largest economy, nonforeign payrolls are expected to report a gain of about 100,000 jobs or so. if true, that will not be enough to dent the u.s. unemployment rate. it's forecast to stay the same at 9.1%. charles? >> ramy inocencio, thank you very much, joining us live from long congress. if you want to comment on what ramy has been saying, go to face.com. that's it for this ed dilgs of "world business today." more from andrew stevens. i'm charles hodson in london. the news continues at cnn, the world's news leader. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com