. >> i'm charles hodson in london. thanks for joining us. top stories on monday, december 5th, it's make or break in europe. leaders have five days to save the single currency, it seems. >> beijing's fears about social unrest grow as more signs emerges that the economy is cooling. >>> and a dozen supercars are smashed to smithereens in japan. amazingly, no one is seriously hurt. >>> well, the countdown continues. five days remain to save the eurozone as it approaches a raft of key meetings are in the diary. the british prime minister said many years ago is a long time in politic, andrew. >> i suspect it'll feel like it's endless. let's take a look at some of those meetings ahead. in a little over three hours, the french president sarkozy and german counterpart chancellor merkel will meet in paris under pressure to impose new budgetary constraints on the eurozone problems. on tuesday, mr. sarkozy will speak to tim geithner, who is also flying over. the u.s. president barack obama described it as a series threat and europe drawing to a close w

i'm charles hodson in london.

i'm charles hodson. >> we'll forgive you for that, charles. good afternoon from hong kong, i'm andrew stevens. you're watching "world business today." the top stories this wednesday, december the 28th. as japan eases its self-imposed ban on weapons exports, we'll look at how its defense budget adds up. >>> it's already been a volatile year in the euro zone. now nervous banks have deposited record sums with the yeaeuropea central bank. >>> and today we say bye-bye to the boss. now time in the corner office is coming to an end, but not before some final questions. >>> stock markets in asia finishing broadly lower after another day of fin trade. that followed a quiet day on wall street. and in europe where an italian bond auction will be in sharp focus, the open was mixed just a short while ago. let's get straight to the numbers. charles, how's europe looking now? >> well, here's the overall picture, obviously, andrew, kind of mixed, really. most of these indices are close to the flat line. certainly the ftse playing catch-up, having been closed

i'm charles hodson. welcome to "world business today." our top stories on tuesday, the 27th of december. hospital patients are put in pearl in india. 10,000 state doctors are on strike for a seventh day, calling for higher wages. >>> rue pert murdoch's media empire made its own headlines in 2011. we explain why the phone hacking scandal is not all bad news for news corp. >>> everybody loves a dame. a musical performer tells us how he plans to play a she in a pant mine stage play. >>> it's not only the season of goodwill, but the time of seasonal diseases or little afflictions. i've got one of them. but bear with me. it sounds a lot worse than it feels. we're seeing thin trade on the world's markets at the moment, stock markets, that is, with many investors obviously having taken time off. asian markets closed down today. in europe the festive cheer or whatever there is of it seems still to be in the air. let's have a look at european markets. forget the ftse. that's closed for a holiday today. the rest of europe, it's business as usual. w

i'm charles hodson. >>> good afternoon from cnn hong kong. i'm andrew stevens.elcome to "world business today." the top stories this thursday, december 29th. while north korea observed a moment of silence for kim jong il, economists are talking about how the economy will fair. >>> china accuses lal ways z of rampant mismanagement after a fatal crash in july. we look at how the industry is trying to rebuild its reputation. >>> stolen goods are discovered in sydney. we'll tell you how much this lot is worth. we begin with the markets this day, and in asia, the losses were extended, all the markets pretty much finishing lower today. that tracked the losses on wall street. in europe, something of a positive start to the day. charles, the underlying story here, the strange one, we had some pretty good news coming out from italy on the short-term bond auctions yesterday, but investors are sort of ignoring them. >> we are seeing a built of buying here, andrew. i suspect we've had in this rather thin trade over the holiday period, we've had a lot of buying or a lot of g

i'm charles hodson in london. >> and i'm pauline chu in hong kong. the top stories. a time of transition as people pay respects in north korea. the world waits to see what shape succession will take. >> the struggle to save europe's single currency continues as an emergency cash drive falls short. >> if you've still got last minute presents to buy, we've got the gift guide for you. >>> in north korea, it's a time of deep mourning. in the rest of the world, it's a time of deep unease. one of the world's most cyclic nations, one with nuclear capabilities is undergoing only the secondhandover the power in 60 years. the future policy direction is hard to guess. the son and anointed successor of kim jong-il looked at his fathers's body. the media outlets are now calling him the great successor. >> despite that, south korea's stock exchange and currency are largely shrugging off fears. the kospi closed up. it shed 3% on monday. there was a real dip as the announcement of kim jong-il's death was made public at noontime local time on monday. you might remember, it fell almos

i'm charles hodson. >>> i'm andrew stevens from hong kong. welcome to "world business today." the top story this friday, december 30, the final wbt of the year. >>> penultimate. anyway from austerity measures and anger on the streets to bond yields going from bad to worse, it's been a rough year for the eurozone and there could be more of the same to come. >>> traders have had a turbulent time of it, too, as major stock markets slumped. we'll take alike at the best and worst performance. >>> and it's been a quiet christmas for occupy london protesters, but eviction from their central london camp looms in the new year. >>> and as the year draws to a close, we have seen a modest rally here in asia following those gains on the u.s. overnight and ahead of a higher open in europe, charles. things at least in the final trading day are looking a little better. >> yes, i think we are seeing a certain amount of buying going on here. it doesn't take much to boost these indices. clearly the trade does continue to be thin. now we have seen a continuation of the gains we saw on thursday fr

what is not sufficiently appreciated is original undersecretary who became secretary, jim hodson, was an enormously capable man, too. and jim did a wonderful job. i had the pleasure of serving as his undersuck tear. -- his undersecretary. unfortunately, he attacked george meanie. which destroyed his effectiveness. because george meanie responded, i don't pay attention to the janitor as long as i can talk to the owner of the building. which was a reflection -- which destroyed jim's effectiveness. and it's a shame. because he was enormously capable guy. in any event, finally, i would end by saying it was a pleasure to have mike as my deputy. i recruited him out of the white house as a labor economist. it was he who convinced me that the minimum wage laws were injurious to the country. and we actually proposed a youth differential partly because of mike's insistence. bill killberg was a wonderful teenager. [laughter] and he is still only barely older than that. a one-and-onerkind and he took over -- a wunderkind and he took over on the affirmative action and i'll leave it up to him now.