you're fantastening, but take a tip from my mother who told me, keep a handshake firm and brief. anything more is just awkward. that's all for us tonight. hello. i'm monita rajpal in london. here are the headlines. protests are under way in athens less than 24 hours after eu leaders rejected greece's proposed bailout deal. european finance ministers say they will withhold rescue funds until another $430 million are saved and a revised plan becomes law. greece has just two days to make that happen. we'll have more on that on "world business today" in just a moment. two explosions have killed and injured civilians and soldiers in the syrian city of

olelepo, according to syrian tv who described it as terrorist attacks. 350 people have been killed vaas syria in an escalating assault by government forces. damascus says forces are targeting armed gangs and foreign terrorists, and amateur video posted on the internet continues to show intense bombardment reportedly in homs. in the past hour, a singapore judge has ordered four people to be extradited to the united states for trial on terror conspiracy charges. the u.s. says they smuggled electronic components from an american company to iran and that those electronics were used to make roadside bombs in iraq. ukraine is the country ha hardest hit by europe's deadly cold snap, but across europe, hundreds are dead, people are snowed in and cars are stranded to the roadsides and even the danyu river is partially frozen, keeping many vessels stuck in port. those are the headlines. i'm monita rajpal. "world business today" starts right now.

good morning from cnn london. i'm dina dos santos. >> and good morning from cnn hong kong. you're watching "world business today." the top stories this happy friday, the 10th of february. must try harder. eu ministers say greece's bailout deal is not good enough. almost a year after a deadly earthquake, the new zealand city of christchurch now looks to asia to help finance its rebuilding. and in a densely populated city like hong kong, space can be a luxury, but as flats get smaller, are some landlords putting tenants' safety at risk? first up, though, we've been waiting all week for lawmakers in athens to strike a money-saving deal and to secure themselves a new bailout for the country. we thought that one would lead

to the other, didn't we? but greece came up short yet again this time. the deal by the greek prime minister lucas papademos on a domestic level came after days of torturous talks but apparently is not good enough for the country's international creditors. jean-claude juncker says funds will be withheld until another $430 million are saved and the revised plan becomes law. well, greece has just two days to make that happen. >> ministers are fully aware of the significant efforts already made by the greek citizens, but also on the line of further joined efforts by all parts of greece society are needed to return the economy to a sustainable growth path. despite the important progress achieved over the last days, we did not yet have all necessary elements on the table to take

decisions today. >> lenders aren't giving athens any wiggle room, but while the greek government works overtime to stave off a default, it's already seeing an economic nightmare for the country. look at these staggering statistics. unemployment has risen across greece to a record high almost 21%. youth unemployment in particular stands at 48%. greece is suffering its fifth straight year of recession and the threat of more cuts has its unions, as you'd expect, up in arms. we're joined live from athens as a 48-hour strike gets under way across the greek capital. linda, this must be terribly disappointing for the greek government who clinched a deal on a economic level only to be rejected on an international one. >> reporter: well, that's very true. i mean, the deal was, of course, struck last minute, and a number of issues remain to be cleared

out before the euro group can decide, before the europeans can decide what they want to do about it. from the greek people's point of view, the people were gathering on the squares and the mobilizations. a lot of this is actually very disappointing. they were hoping that this new package might come with less austerity and more promises of growth. the figures you just showed, the numbers are staggering. unemployment is exceptionally high. all the prospects do not show any growth coming their way, and this is the reason why the unions have decided once again to take to the streets, a two-day general strike with mobilizations culminating on sunday outside parliament, which is the day that the new measures need to be voted in by the greek politicians. the union leaders here say it's not that they necessarily wouldn't be prepared to work hard to bring the greek economy back on its feet. they just simply don't see how

more austerity is going to result to anything other than recession, and this is very much the mood on the street here, and this is very much what the people i've been talking to this morning have been telling me. >> and elinda, greece has been in recession for the last five years. it's likely that even if the greek government does manage to come to more cuts that are possible for these eu leaders, the economy will shrink even further next year and the austerity programs will just have to be reinforced once again. >> reporter: well, this is very much the fear here. we've been hearing, you know, about businesses closing every day, more people facing a harder and harder time. euro start figures show that one in four greeks is now on the poverty line. headlines this morning about greece going 60 years back and striking images on the front pages from the second world war, you know, starving children on the streets. it's very much that kind of

mood. that's the popular mood here, and this is why there's so much fear, and in many ways, lack of support for these measures and also just confusion of what comes next, you know. none of the solutions seem desirable to the greek people at this point. >> okay, elinda, many thanks for that, joining us live from athens. just a reminder, a 48-hour general strike is going to be kicking off in the greek capital. we will be monitoring that as the day goes through, but just a couple key dates to point out for our viewers. on monday, we've got a deadline for the private sector involvement haircuts being negotiated. we've also got on march 20th that crucial day when greece will have to be repaying nearly $90 billion worth, so they've got to hammer these things out and the time bomb is ticking. >> it is, isn't it? finally, the hard deadlines really are becoming hard. now, turning to asia. china certainly doesn't have the

financial worries on the scale of greece, but it too cannot escape the europe effect. economic data released this friday might make for happy reading in beijing. take a look at these numbers. chinese exports -- these are broad trade numbers -- down by 0.5% year on year in january, showing just how much more difficult it's becoming for china to sell their products overseas, now particularly for someone like europe, which is such a key market. but look at the imports number there, down by 15.3%. that's the first recorded fall in imports since october 2009. now, these numbers are impacted by the extending the lunar new year holiday. trade surplus is at a three-year high of $27.3 billion, paling in comparison to the peak of 2008. but this is telling us that not only is the external environment for china getting tougher and tougher because of what's happening in europe, the internal environment is also

getting tougher. people are shopping less, they're demanding less. that's why you're seeing a big fall in imports. the big question is just how much did the lunar new year have to do with that and just how much other circumstances in the economy is generally at play here. let's turn now to an overview of what's happening in the markets. in these times of huge economic uncertainty, it may surprise you to learn that the asia-pacific region only today ended its longest run of weekly gains since 2005, would you believe? take a look at how the msci here has performed, the msci asia-pacific index. we're close to eight straight weeks of rising stocks because it peaked just a few days ago, but greece was just enough to push the asian benchmark into negative territory for the week, bringing the most impressive run since 2005 to an end. okay, what happened today? here's the numbers on the ground

today. you'll see there, three red arrows, one green arrow only showing higher. rather counterintuitive, you'll say, given the bad numbers from the exporters, also the importers. shanghai has been one of the worst performing markets this year. investors really stepping back, giving a little bit of time to see how these export numbers, these import numbers, the trade and also inflation numbers will play out over the next month or so. we had the bank of china and the bank of communications both taking a slide in hong kong. the hang seng down more than 1%. carmakers in tokyo, toyota, honda, taking a hit today. the nikkei down almost two-thirds of 1%, nina. >> andrew, i'll get to the european markets reacting to greece, but first, the cac 40 in paris. i want to show you the number of false dawns we've had when it comes to greece negotiating these kinds of deals and then markets falling back.

around october-november, you'll remember that was that famed summit when negotiators came back to brussels repeatedly, the eu leaders, and sat all the way through the night until 5:00 in the morning to hammer out the last bailout for greece. and of course, right throughout these kind of periods, january to february, we've had those negotiations with international creditors. this is the kind of choppy picture we've seen on the markets over the course of the last few weeks. how are they doing today? you can see equally unimpressed, it seems, particularly across the eurozone with the kind of deal the greeks have put on the table. of course, the eurozone finance ministers meeting in brussels yesterday, telling the greeks to go back to the drawing board to make further cuts here, and that really has the cac and the xetra dax in frankfurt suffering from this because the banks and these two economies could suffer and take significant loss on the back of those greek bonds that they own. ftse 100, best of the bunch here. we had barclays coming out with

its earnings. the stock is up almost 1%, despite the fact that we had a profit drop here which caused it to miss its target. we also had the french telecommunications company alcatel, that one's up about 15% in the paris session after it came out with its first profit in six years, coming in at about $1.5 billion. hasn't been enough, though, as you can see, andrew, to counter the kind of greek effect we're seeing on the markets today. greece also playing its role on wall street overnight. it was a pretty busy start to the day's session, investors cheering news of what appeared to be a final greek debt deal, but that early enthusiasm fading towards the end of trade as investors questioned whether the plans would actually live up to expectations, and as we now know, they haven't. let's look at how the markets ended the day. still ended in the red, although the gains were substantially

higher earlier in the day. the dow up just a touch, the nasdaq up and the s&p, the broader index there, up. >> if early indications are anything to go by, seems like the market stateside, where they start trading in a little under five hours from now, could be taking keys from things particularly across continental europe. take a look at that. all the futures markets are down to the tune of about 0.5% so far, and of course, they could move further just depending what comes out of greece today. now, still ahead here on "world business today," the mayor of the earthquake-plagued new zealand city of christchurch is in asia to declare that it's open for business. it's nearly a year since a 6.3-magnitude quake hit the city. we'll look at the challenges of rebuilding a broken local economy, just ahead.

hello, welcome back. you're watching "world business today" live on cnn. >> now, it's nearly a year since a powerful 6.3-magnitude quake rocked the city of christchurch in new zealand, destroying buildings and claiming 185 lives. some residents were given a fresh reminder of that day just today when several hundred more homes were declared unsafe. around 7,000 houses have now been condemned, and the cost of rebuilding keeps climbing. it's now estimated to be around $25 billion u.s. that's more than 10% of new zealand's gdp, its total economic output. now, perhaps unsurprisingly, given the disaster, tourism in the city has also been suffering. but that's something the mayor of christchurch, bob parker, intends to reverse. he's in asia to declare the city open for business. i spoke to him earlier today about the city's future and asked why it would be attractive to foreign investors. >> the scale of demolition and

reconstruction in the heart of christchurch city is something unprecedented in western cities since the second world war. it's massive. i'm talking way over 50% in the core of the christchurch cbd that will be replaced, whole blocks completely clear felled. and we have a chance to build something utterly unique. we had a 19th-century city, which was a response to the reformist thinking back in the 1800s. >> so, what are you going to do? >> we're going to build a 21st-century city, a sustainable city, a green city, if you like. the writing is on the wall for that, looking at the impacts of the cost of energy, looking at how we treat the environment that we're in, the sustainable materials, looking at our carbon footprint and creating a new city that will resonate in the new century, particularly with young people. >> there's been a lot of discord, controversy over the rebuilding. the chief executive was offered a pay raise and yourself was

called a clown by the recovery minister. >> that is true. >> he did later retract that. >> thank goodness. >> but all this adds up to not very attractive for a foreign investor dmoog this sort of controversy. >> i think you -- and that's right, i agree with you, those are things you'd rather not have happen. but if you look at any major event of this kind around the world on any scale, it's very rare for a council to still be there a year or so after the event and even rarer to have the same elected officials in place, so -- >> you're not pulling in the same direction? >> well, i think we are, but you know, i think for a start, there's a lot of stress, a lot of tension in the area. we've had a long series of earthquakes, and there's a ri rigorous debate in our community about what we should do and people are frustrated that it doesn't go fast enough. but one of the things we have learned is that the decisions we are making now will shape this city forever, potentially. those decisions have to be carefully thought through and they have to be decisions that will stand the test of time.

that inevitably means things are a little slower than some would like. >> do you think you are now all on the same page? >> i don't think we'll ever -- this is politics, you know, you'll never have everybody on the same page. otherwise, we wouldn't need politics. we'd just have some other system working in there. >> how long is it going to take to rebuild christchurch to where it is complete? >> i think it will take many, many years. i think you're looking at probably decades in some areas. >> and how much will it cost? >> well, our estimate at the moment is around $20 billion to $30 billion of money we know is coming back into the city. >> certainly, the christchurch city council, nina, is looking for some of that money to come from asia. as bob parker points out there, they want to sort of rebuild christchurch very much as a green city, an attractive city for young people. as he says, we've got the first chance for virtually any city in the world to completely rebuild itself, reshape how it looks, how it operates for the 21st century. it's a big ask, but certainly, they think they can attract that

money because they've got so much to work with in new zealand. it's interesting, and obviously, we'll continue to monitor this and see how they get on. >> yeah, he certainly made a very convincing case, didn't he there, bob parker? and andrew, coming up on "world business today" after this short break, a look inside hong kong's cramped living conditions. you can rent an entire house. money isn't their main concern. we'll explain why after this break. male announcer ] let's level the playing field. take the privileged investing tools of wall street and make them simple, intuitive, and available to all. distill all that data. make information instinctual, visual. introducing trade architect, td ameritrade's empowering web-based trading platform. take control of your portfolio today. trade commission-free for 60 days, and we'll throw in up $600 when you open an account.

time for a check of the world's currency markets now. both the euro and british pound have been falling back down against the u.s. dollar this friday as greek fears once again raise their ugly head. bad news for exporters in japan, though, because the yen is strengthening slightly against the greenback, trading at 77.59 to the dollar right now. hello and welcome back. you're watching "world business today" live on cnn. it's no secret that hong kong has some of the highest property prices in the world. many are forced to pay exorbitant amounts for very small spaces. that's especially true in subdivided flats. there is a local family living in one of them who say it's not just the high costs that are a concern, they also fear for their safety. i'm here in schramm chree poe,

one of the poorer and older neighborhoods of hong kong. as you can see, there's a lot of outdoor activity here. it's very densely populated. not far from here, up there, a fire swept through an area very similar to this, killing nine people at the end of november last year, and that fire raised some serious questions here in hong kong about exactly what sort of accommodation do people have in places like this and just how safe they are. the focus of that concern is on what's known as the south-divided flat here in hong kong. we've come here to take a look at one. so, here we are on the fourth floor of this walk-up, and i'm outside what looks, obviously, like a pretty regular entrance on a regular hong kong flat, so let's go in. now, the first thing you notice, obviously, is that where the normal flat would be, there are

four separate entrances to four different flats. hello. >> hello, how are you? >> hi. very well. nice to meet you. >> nice to meet you. >> hi. linda ho lives in one of these units with her two daughters. she pays $450 a month for this apartment, which is 100 square feet or a little over 9 square meters. "my home, look at it," she tells us, "there's absolutely no space to put anything. i can only put it on the floor, and last time, i put the boiling water on the floor, some got on the floor and almost hurt my baby." every available surface is used to store something. the corner table here doubles as a pantry, almost, plus it's got day-to-day utensils you need. all around, the stroller hanging from the pipes here, rice, bags

of rice on the floor for storage, storage all through here, clothes, and of course, clothes hanging up from the ceiling as well. and if i put my arms out on this 100-square-foot flat, i can just about touch both sides, both walls. and through here is the bedroom. all three members of the family sleeping in the bottom bunk and the top bunk used for yet more storage space. it's just tiny. these flats are legal in hong kong, and the government says it enforces the same standards for electrical and fire safety as other housing, but the residents say the arrangement leaves them vulnerable, with overcrowding, narrow exits and escape routes that are sometimes blocked. "i'm very worried that there might be a fire here," ho says, "because even before, a lot of people have died by a fire in subdivided flats. they couldn't escape, so now i am very worried because it is very narrow here, too."

she already spends nearly all her income on rent and her main hope for a better apartment is public housing. she's on the wait list, but a community group says it could be two to three more years before she gets a flat. it's not something you'd associate really with hong kong, or certainly the publicity of hong kong, nina, this public housing. it takes up about half of the hong kong population live in these government-provided flats. i mean, we all talk about the number of rolls royces per capita and the cost per square foot on places like victoria peak, but the hidden side, really -- and it's not that hidden, to be honest -- is these people living hand to mouth, living in places like that, and there's no real sort of way out for them sort of immediately. as she said, it's going to be two to three years before she gets to a slightly better grade of accommodation. and meanwhile, the city continues to grow. >> i have to say, when you said

nine square meters, my mouth absolutely fell open. i stood there aghast. and you were talking about rolls royce, that's bigger than nine square meters inside and that poor lady living with two children inside that small area just doesn't bear thinking. coming up next on "world business today," though, a diplomatic dilemma over oil. we'll tell you which country's royalties are torn these days now that the u.s. and europe have imposed sanctions on iran's oil trade. that's just to come here on "world business today." do stay with us, if you can.

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

hong kong. welcome back to "world business today." >> let's take another look at where the market's going here in europe. we're about 90 minutes into the trading day. of course, greece's future in the eurozone hanging in the balance this friday after eurozone finance ministers rejected a plan that the greek government had managed to put together to try and cut into the austerity budget and also try and make more cuts, notably, on contentious issues, like for instance, pension cuts. wasn't good enough for eurozone finance ministers and they've rejected the plan and it's back to the drawing board, giving the markets a sense of nervousness after yesterday's euphoria. the dax is down 0.9% and the cac and just the ftse holding up, though just a third of a percent, andrew. >> there's a lot of expectations built into the fact that greece will sort out this issue, hasn't there, nina?

and they're certainly taking it to the line, two more days and we would hopefully have a result. now, here in asia, the greek concerns also weighed on the markets here, a very similar pattern here as there was in european markets, three down, one up. the one that was up was shanghai, rather prisurprisingl because trade numbers showed imports fell sharply, biggest fall since 2009, which suggested that the domestic economy is slowing down. also, exports slowing. they fell by about 0.5%, which shows you the sort of impact that the greek problems and the general eurozone weakness is having on exports for china, so, some pretty bad numbers there, but the shanghai composite shrugging that off, up just a fraction, australia down and hong kong down by more than 1%. nina? andrew, u.s. markets finished with some modest gains on thursday's session as investors digested the latest news coming out of greece.

alison kosik has more from new york. >> reporter: stocks on wall street wavered thursday as enthusiasm over the pending greek debt deal fizzled out. investors are concerned that the details attached to the plan will fall short of expectations. at the close, the dow picked up six points, ending at 12,890, the nasdaq gained 11 points, and the s&p 500 added 2. shares of pepsico lost almost 4%. the beverage giant is cutting about 9,000 jobs in 30 countries or about 3% of its global workforce. it's part of a broader cost-cutting plan designed to save pepsi about $3 billion. pepsi and other beverage-makers face higher commodity costs and changing u.s. consumer tastes that are shifting away from sugary sodas. soka cola also announced cost cuts but no layoffs. apple shares took off wednesday after a website all things d announced they will introduce the ipad 3 in march.

shares reached a high during the session and closed at $493.17, a gain of 3.5%. coming up friday, investors will dig into the government's december report on imports and exports, and we'll get the first look at the university of michigan's index of consumer sentiment for february. that's a wrap of the day on wall street. i'm alison kosik in new york. so, that's the day that was on wall street. let's have a look at the final trading day of the week, how it's shaping up. we've got about five hours to go before these u.s. markets start trading, and the premarket action shows us that we could see a bit of a down beat open. what we're seeing at the moment is the futures indicating about 0.5% decline when things start trading in about 4 1/2, 5 hours from now, andrew. okay, it is, indeed, nina. let's quickly take a look at, i guess you'd call it the world's most important commodity, certainly at the moment, brent crude, oil, of course, easing

back slightly, but still pricing, just over $117 a barrel. brent especially sensitive to international events in the middle east at the moment. it's been rising steadily since the pastart of february over concerns over the greek debt and iranian oil sanctions tighten. sanctions haven't stopped india's oil trade with iran. india was the world's biggest buyer of iranian oil last month. jill doherty reports on their independent relationship and how it affects the rest of the world. >> reporter: iran's oil exports are under pressure from sanctions driven by the u.s. and while countries in europe and asia are on board, one key ally isn't. this january, the biggest buyer of iranian oil turned out to be the united states' friend and ally, india. >> we are working with countries around the world, including india, that maintain strong oil relationships with iran, encouraging all of them to reduce their dependence on

iranian crude. >> i don't think you're going to see india pulling back from purchasing crude from iran, but this will force iran to discount. >> reporter: china, the biggest buyer up to now, cut its iranian imports in half last month, driving a hard bargain, knowing tehran is feeling the heat. india has had close economic and commercial ties with iran for years. it imports more than 70% of the oil it uses and 14% of that comes from iran. many indian refineries are geared up to using the type of crude that iran exports, and changing that would be difficult. in fact, india's oil minister says the country might even buy more iranian crude because it's now a better deal for india, at least. but as our new delhi correspondent sarah sidner found out, india and iran are having to work around u.s. sanctions. >> an indian government official

who did not want to be named told us that india and iran are trying to work out a payment for iranian oil in indian rupees instead of u.s. dollars because of the u.s. sanctions. keep in mind, the rupee is not a freely convertible currency, which could mean iran would be forced to use that money only on indian goods and services. >> reporter: iran is under pressure from all sides. the european union announced it's banning imports of iranian crude oil and will cut off all shipments as of july. japan and south korea are considering oil sanctions. and the obama administration has sanctions against foreign and commercial banks that do business with the central bank of iran. if india keeps buying iranian crude, it will be an irritant in relations between the u.s. and ind india, greg priddy says, but iran's paying for bargain basement prices could be washington's gain. >> that crude is going to get

sold somewhere. it's going to hurt iran a lot, but it's not going to hurt us very much. >> reporter: the u.s. is urging india and other countries to buy less iranian oil and to find alternate sources. everyone understands, if all iranian oil were taken off the market, that would cause a spike in oil prices, and that would end up hurting the united states. jill dougherty, cnn, the state department. now, here on "world business today," for many days, we've been telling you about the deep freeze gripping parts of europe and europe's busiest waterway, the danyu river, remains frozen in parts particularly from india to the black sea. now we go to the weather center to find out what to expect over the next few days. hey, ivan. >> hey there, nina. a lot of cold air on the way, colder than what we've seen. i'll start with the picture behind me, the canals in venice frozen over. just amazing stuff. but the important thing here is, again, you're absolutely right,

the danube, a big transport of goods not getting through, over 90% covered with ice. this is just a mess here, and we're talking about the livelihoods of a lot of folks being affected here. close to ten countries, the second largest river in europe. the problem is because it's vital for transport, power and irrigation, we are going to have a significant economic impact because i don't think we'll be able to resume here for you wup of another week. look at the temperatures here, minus, minus, minus, not cracking zero. and the ice blocks in that frozen river will continue to be with us over the next several days as temperatures are going to be below zero and we're going to continue to see this freeze in europe, temperatures in the minus 20 to 25-degree range. i'll leave you with pictures of the danube, but continuing to freeze over and we'll get the ice thicker and thicker as the

temperatures plummet. temperatures will get colder and go all the way down to the mediterranean. in fact, on top of that, well, we can add a nice snowstorm, how about that? yet another one here is going to be dropping in. in fact, it's already getting going. you can see it behind me here beginning to spin up, and it is producing some significant amounts of snow, upwards of 20 to 25 centimeters again, nina, for the same areas here. and again, the danube is just going to continue to be iced over with these frigid temperatures, so that will continue into next week. nina? >> okay, ivan cabrera, many thanks for that and have a great weekend. andrew. that just about wraps up the show. before we go, though, a bit of a sad day here at "world business today." we're losing our producer, in fact, our founding producer, the woman who steered the ship of state that is known as "wbt" -- there she is -- through our new look, our revamp well over a year ago now. you're looking at the back of

paula sayles now. yes, she did turn around. nina, it's been fun, hasn't it? >> it has, and i've only been on the show for about a year, as many of you and our viewers know, and paula's been a wonderful, wonderful producer to work with. [ applause ] really excellent. you can hear the round of applause going on there in the back. and she's actually telling me to wrap, which means in television language, stop talking nina! >> i think that's a wrap for paula, not so much for us. it's paula's final wrap. we'll miss you, paula. all the best. nina and i will see you on the next edition of "world business today." stay with us. i don't want healthy skin for a day. i want healthy skin for life. [ female announcer ] don't just moisturize. improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula goes beyond 24-hour moisture. it's clinically proven to improve your skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. for healthy, beautiful skin that lasts. i found a moisturizer for life. [ female announcer ] daily moisturizing lotion.

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this week on "marketplace middle east," the ties that bind, as russia continues to stand by syria's president, bashar al assad, we take a look at the relationship between the two nations. plus, from arrests to travel bans, egypt continues its crackdown on ngos and businesses. i sit down with the presidential hopeful to talk about re-engineering egyptian government. the international community is growing increasingly frustrated with the failure to end the daily bloodshed in syria. france, italy, spain, belgium, britain, the united states and germany have all pulled their ambassadors from damascus and

now the golf cooperation council has joined them, recalling their a.mbassadors and asked syria's envoys to leave, but syria still has friends, notably russia. sergey lavrov made a visit to the country saying he and bashar al assad are working to end the crisis. we look closer at the relationship between the two countries. >> reporter: the russian delegation's visit to damascus came as a brutal crackdown showed no sign of abating. opposition groups say government forces have bombarded the city of homs, killing hundreds in recent days. the united nations said the total death toll is now upwards of 6,000. russia and china have come under a barrage of criticism from the international community. both countries vetoed a u.n. security council draft resolution condemning the syrian regime's bloody crackdown.

it's the second time they've vetoed a resolution on syria. russia and china have also blocked a western initiative to impose sanctions on damascus. russian foreign minister sergey lavrov's meeting with bashar al assad is symbolic of the historic ties between the two countries and moscow's message is clear, it will not be seen as betraying an old friend. >> translator: syria's president has assured us that he fully supports ceasing of all violence, wherever it comes from. with that in mind, syria has informed the arab league that it is interested in its observer mission to continue and their team expanded in order for them to be in all hotspots and register any violations of the concept of ceasing of all violence. >> reporter: syria has long been a key strategic ally in the middle east. it houses russia's only military base outside of the former soviet union in the port city of tartus. there is no guarantee that

syrian opposition would allow moscow to keep it, should there be a change to the assad regime. syria is also one of russia's most important trading partners, especially in terms of military hardware, signing contracts worth about $4 billion in recent years. most recently, it signed a $550 million deal for combat training jets. aside from weapons, moscow's also invested into other sectors of syria's economy, including energy. russia's total investment is said to be worth around $20 billion. all that could dissipate, should there be a change in the assad regime. for moscow, there is too much at stake. it can't afford radical change in syria. leoni will i khani for "marketplace middle east," abu dhabi. up next, uncertainty in egypt as businesses continue to be targeted, creating a cause of concern for the community. i sit down with presidential hopeful mousa and ask him about the shaky economic climate throughout his country.

an egyptian crackdown on nongovernmental organizations

has american lawmakers threatening to cut more than $1 billion in u.s. aid to egypt. it's all over accusations that these ngos, some of them american, are funding protesters in the country. cnn international correspondent ben wedeman has the story. >> reporter: egyptian authorities are pressing ahead with their legal case against foreign, nongovernmental organizations. in this handwritten document, the justice ministry lists 43 people, including 19 americans, who are being charged with operating unlicensed organizations and receiving and spending funds from abroad without official permission. leslie campbell of the national democratic institute, one of the accused ngos, flatly denies the charges. >> we do not fund political parties, we do not foment protests, we do not fund the protesters. we're here to support the democratic process, which was designed and is being implemented by the current leadership. so, if i could send them a message directly, and i've tried

to meet with them and they don't meet with me, but if i could, i'd say we're here to help and we're here to support the process that you're trying to carry forward, a transition to democracy. >> reporter: in the last year, they say they've trained more than 6,000 people, including hundreds of members of the muslim brotherhood's freedom and justice party and the nohr party, which make up more than 75% of the egyptian parliament. ironically, both parties support the ngo investigation. a lawyer for another american ngo under investigation, the international republican institute, says the case is being played out in the egyptian media. he has yet to receive formal charges against his clients. >> then at this moment, i have no formal document from the investigation judges about this. i took my information, some of them from newspaper or some of them through what i call

friendly chats with the judges, which they are cooperate with us, in fact, have tried to help. >> you haven't held one piece of paper in your hand? >> no. >> reporter: several of the accused u.s. citizens have taken refuge in the american embassy in cairo, including the son of u.s. transportation secretary ray lahood, sam lahood, who heads the international republican institute office in cairo. the legal campaign against the foreign ngos is having a chilling effect on u.s./egyptian relations. officials in washington say the case threatens the more than $1.5 billion u.s. aid package to egypt, much of which goes to the egyptian military. egyptian officials aren't just going after foreign ngos, they also have their sights on egyptian civil society groups. the egyptian initiative for personal rights fears the ultimate objective is to silence

critics of the ruling supreme council for the armed forces. >> this is not about putting u.s. citizens on trial and it's not about u.s. organizations. this is really about cracking down on the human rights community that has been the only consistent and outspoken source of criticism and documentation and exposure of military abuse over the past year. >> reporter: in short, it appears to be a sweeping political crackdown under the guise of legality. ben wedeman, cnn, cairo. crackdowns on civil society organizations and businesses are creating an uneasy climate in egypt. investors are keeping a wary eye on events unfolding in the country. i caught up with a presidential hopeful, amr moussa, and asked him about egypt's bumpy economic road. that lies ahead. >> i confess that i am worried, as all egyptians, or most

egyptians, and even others for egypt, that to be worried is one thing and to be pessimistic is another thing. i am not pessimistic. i am not pessimistic. and as long as we have already agreed on a roadmap, on a time frame, and we all know and feel that we have to be serious in dealing with the problems we have. you have politic, unemployment, the social situation, education, health care, et cetera, you name it. we need to address all those issues in order to get egypt back on track. >> let me be candid with you. the last five years of the mubarak government saw a lot of foreign direct investment come in, nearly $50 billion. he did not reform for the first 25 years, started that process extremely late. would you go with a similar economic policy or would you radically change it to address poverty faster, and how would you do so? >> the point is that in the last five years, when the investments were active, the people did not get anything out of it, they did

not feel that their life changed. >> it didn't trickle down. >> it didn't trickle down. it just went year after year and the poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer. so there was something wrong. this is the thing that we have to address. >> egypt's a market that most innant national investors don't want to be out of. 80 million consumers at the heart of bellies. >> absolutely. >> they want to be there. they're very scared at this juncture, as you know. so, how long does it take to rebuild confidence amongst the international community? >> building confidence will take time, but i think it grows gradually. you will build some confidence and get some investment and do more, and the success breeds success, stability breeds stability. so, it is not an impossible proposition. the point is that we have to be serious. the five years you talked about, by the way, more than five, perhaps ten years or so, they were not serious. it is a case of mismanagement, a case of bad administration. we have to avoid that.

it has to be good administration, good management, focusing on the poor people, who are over 50% of egyptians. >> the cooperation council has provided some support as well as the imf into egypt, but how do we get from this period now, which is probably 12 to 18 months before stability arrives, and a sense of urgency for the golf cooperation council to provide funds for the international community or international community to get through what is a current crisis? >> we haven't yet addressed these problems, but when the second republic is established, which is around the corner. we are talking about the first of july. then we have to address the medium-term, the long-term, and of course, the short-term. at that juncture, i believe the gulf countries, the arab countries and the rest will come to discuss with the government of egypt what are your plans. >> once again, amr moussa.

that's it for this edition of "cnn marketplace middle east." thanks for watching. thanks for watching. we'll see you next week. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com