you can see hong kong is such a tiny spot in such a big country. why hong kong is so unique? because it enjoys the best feng shui. >> nury vittachi is an internationally syndicated columnist and author of over 30 books, including several about feng shui. >> one of the great things about hong kong is that it's very rational and businesslike but at the same time, we believe in magic and we take it very seriously. >> feng shui is about more than tall buildings. people here practice it in their apartments and gardens and in their lives. >> feng shui means that it is an ancient chinese knowledge which is talking about how the environment will affect people's well being. so the chinese has discovered in their environment that different kind of energy. some are good energy, which make you improve your health, improve your relationship with people and also improve your money. and there are negative energy which will do the opposite. >> mr. lo views himself as a scientist who, with the right tools, can actually measure good and bad energy. >> of course this is an instrument we need. t

in hong kong, that means a boom in the wedding business.e'll see how romance is set to rule in 2012. stay with cnn. for a limited time, passages malibu will be giving away free copies of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. this is a live view of the hong kong's victoria harbor where in over two hours' time the sky will be lit up with a huge fireworks display to celebrate the start of the year of the dragon. zooijts it's the second day of the lunar new year in hong kong. it's time for fortune telling. every year an elder from one of t the villages draws a fortune stick which gives an indication of what the year ahead may hold. this year, the fortune teller said the stick drawn on tuesday signals perilous times ahead for the city's economy and not a very good year at all. hmm. hong kong may be in for a bad patch but romance is riding high. it often does be actually. it's inversely related to the state of the economy. it's the year of the dragon. an auspicious time for relationships. that means a big year

hong kong up by 3%. now, europe's difference to the s&p credit rating down on friday also helping to firm up the mood in this part of the world, as well. the key factor in that turn around. so looking at the market, hong kong up by 3.24%. it was the banks and the commodity companies who got the real big hit today. gives you an idea of the expectations that china growth will be a little stronger than expects. nina? >> and it certainly does. investors clearly like what they see. but whichever way china looks at it, gdp is on the way down. cnn spoke to one economist from hsbc who remains weak momentum. you did say this, china should crucially avoid a hard landing. and that is on the provee sew, though, that beijing proceeds with its policy of easing monetary policy. a credit swiss analyst is cautioned with the promising signs saying on the other hand, we would warn against taking this month's sales data at its face value as this year's chinese new year takes place earlier than usual and boosting december an

he joins us here in hong kong. new year to you. >> you, too. >> a story ran, nina was saying it's been half a century since a u.s. president was elected with unemployment over 7.2%. do you think it will be at 7.2% in november for barack obama? >> it's difficult to see that happening. growth in the u.s. is a bit better than we might have expected. we imagine the u.s. will slow over the next six months. the republican field a decent candidate, obama will really struggle. if unemployment drops below 8%, obama has a chance. >> you would call romney a decent candidate? >> well, i think in erm its of the general election he has a decent chance. he's probably the only one at the moment. >> let's move on. i want to talk to you about global economic cycles if you'd like. in 2011 did you see the economic cycle hit bottom, in europe and in asia, are they still to hit bottom? >> europe and asia was still to hit bottom. though i would say for the u.s. we could be at the start of yet another sike. depending on what happens in eu

live from hong kong and here in -- hong kong and london, you're watching "world business today." this is a city where land is very limited. there's not much for the living, let alone the dead. as pauline chiou explains, it's resulted in a market for unlicensed funeral parlors offering to solve the problem of finding a permanent resting place. >> reporter: in a city as dense as hong kong, the living have to deal with limited space and so do the dead. because land is scarce, public grave sites are expensive and have a six-year time limit before the body is disintered and cremated. most hong kongers choose cremation in the first place. just finding a space to honor loved ones is becoming a problem. andy ting is grappling with the dilemma. he paid $60,000 for his father's ashes. the temple didn't have the a license for burial niches. the hong kong government has warned families they may have to find another location. "of course i'm sad. we used our own money to buy this niche. there's a chinese proverb that says once someone passes away there should be a place to bury them and it's d

hong kong was up by 1.5%. nina?>> well, speaking of things on a downward tra true and correct ji, andrew. this is a truly incredible story. a 22-year-old australian tourist is lucky to be alive. 25 meters above the zam beez zi river her bungie cord snapped sending her plummeting head first into the water below. with her legs still tied she was stuck downstream towards raging rapids. the young woman was only rescued after she managed to make it to rocks near the river bank. she was covered in bruises but thankfully suffered no major injuries. that's it for this jam packed edition of "world business today." thanks for joining us. >>> still watching those shots. i believe the river was full of crocodiles as well. i'm andrew stevens in hong kong. thanks for joining us. if you're watching outside the u.s. we'll see you later for the opening bell on wall street. we'll look forward to your we'll look forward to your company then. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

hong kong up 2.5%. the bse, the mumbai index by 2.6% after strong numbers coming out of india as well. that's it for this edition of "world business today." excuse me. i'm andrew stephens in hong kong. >> i'm charles hodson in london. you're watching cnn.

that's next. >>> live from cnn london and hong kong, welcome back.you're watching "world business today." >>> president sarkozy saw it coming but friday's s&p downgrade of french debt will still surely have hurt. the last of the prize aaa rating crown may prove to be testing for france and its government. as mr. sarkozy meets the spanish prime minister to discuss the ongoing crisis, well, he's keen to show that he still belongs to the euro zone's top tier. let's get more on that crucial meeting from jim bitterman joining us live from paris. jim, first up, let's talk about france losing its aaa crown. that's surely going to have hurt. france already had a tense relationship with the ratings agencies months before. >> reporter: absolutely, nina. they've been talking about this for the last six weeks here at least. this morning, the downgrade has brought the newspaper headline together. everyone says the shock wave talking about the loss of aaa and figaro says the crisis of the euro is reshuffling the cards. one of the decks of cards that's being reshuf

it was in the cnn hong kong newsroom this tuesday.oking at a traditional line dance they help to welcome the lunar new year. 2012, of course, is the year of the dragon, considered the luckiest sign of the chinese zodiac. this is cnn around china. seeing the lion dancing performed. all of us wishing prosperity. the producer there of news stream. close up and personal with that line. welcome back. you're watching cnn hong kong. and cnn london. "world business today." good stuff. >> it is. i've got to say a couple of the the producers look terrified of the dragon and the cameras as well. which is as we know often the case. it's often said that life imitates art. but in this case. the opposite could be true. in germany they dramatize the crisis and the greek tragedy, this one a musical. from berlin, here's more. >>. ♪ ♪ >> it was only a matter of time before the doom and gloom of something as dry as the eurozone debt crisis became the stuff of satire. ♪ >> turned into stage material by a business journalist who felt the crisis was slowly

. >>> hello, i'm andrew stevens in hong kong. you're watching "world business today." >> and i'm nina dos santos in london. these are the top stories. >>> $1 trillion, the imf puts a price on fixing the world's finances. >>> political turmoil brings economic hardship in syria. we speak to the people who are feeling the pain. >> and the captain of the capsized cruise ship in italy reportedly says that he abandoned ship after tripping and falling into a life boat. >>> first up, though, the imf says it needs more money to safeguard the euro zone and the wider global economy. but in order to keep a large chunk of the developed world affront, it seems as though developing world countries will be footing much of the bill here. the imf is hoping to raise an extra $500 million in the short term and may double that over the next few years to come. $200 million has been pledged by eu nations but with washington refusing to prop up the euro zone and, of course, uk wavering on its own contribution, the lenders calls could yet go unanswered a

he at one point went from hong kong to japan to recuperate.the one that wanted to be an artist and wanted to paint. i thought about that because it must have been hard growing up in hong kong to be far away from everything and have a dream and get sick at this point. i thought u is there a story here? that's the way it begins for writers. people think things jump out and we have it in our head. it's the opposite we have nothing in our head. we turn on the machine and praying for something to come. with women of the silk i researched for 6 amongs and read and read and read. inone book i found 2 lines about the woman silk workers and knew immediately that's hai wanted to write about. it came to me like a dream that every writer prays for that you just knew you wanted to write about this. with the second book it was difficult i sat down and didn't know what i was going to write for about 6 months. which was fearful for me because of the fact i knew i didn't have the second book. steven's story, i asked myself questions. a lot of writers do that t

this is hong kong i'm talking about here.s gone up something like 50 over the last ten years or so. running out of room. sign of the times. what happened in asia? stocks down pretty much across the region as they are in europe. the concerns in europe are weighing on the markets across asia. not the only concerns though. also as you'll see hong kong and shanghai down 1.5% each easily leading the losers. that came in after disappointment that beijing didn't take any measures to ease some of the tough austerity it's put in on its own economy to try to take the heat out of the inflation story. expecting things to ease back over the chinese new year. that didn't happen. in japan, meanwhile, it's been run by moody's. quick on corporate news, cannon is reporting q 4 operating profits, earnings up by 14%. nina? >>> andrew, let's take a look ahead to the new week on wall street. first off, here's a preview of what's going to be moving the markets over the next five days to come. >> the first report on job growth in 2012 and a slew of

hong kong doing well. trading resuming here. closing high. now there's this optimism around about the fed's projection of these interest rates. there are also some major market movers to speak of in asia. a bounce in property stocks following the fed's announcement on interest rates so closely linked. tepco is up. we all know the problems that tepco has been having at that plant, the nuclear plant over in japan. >> the annual world economic forum is currently well underway. the topic on everybody's lips is the european debt crisis. that's a problem that still remains unresolved from the last time that the world's leaders and business chiefs gathered in davos, switzerland, a year ago. at the heart of that crisis is, of course, greece. overall the mood appears to be one of doom and gloom, but germany is still being seen by many as a leading light. angelo merkel attempted to lead the charge. on wednesday, the day after the international monetary fund, decided to lower its outlook for the global economy, she opened the proceedings with a warning

i'm andrew stevens in hong kong. >> i'm charles hodson in london. here are the headlines. it's jobs friday. u.s. economy is showing signs of picking up but just how is that translating into employment growth? we look at what's expected. >>> making new inroads into india, ford's allen moulally. >>> caution has crept in before the week is out. european markets are marginally out, asian markets are marginally down. futures are flat. the predicted number of new jobs is around about 150,000. many say that is better but charles still not good enough. >> no. i think that's very much going to be what is dominating

a massive disinfection operation underway at a government building in hong kong after high levels of bacteria that cause legionnaires' disease were found in water samples. inspectors say failing to drain contaminated water before the building was open may be eight suriname me decision and political activist -- a musician and political activist has said he will stand for election next month. he said he was responding to requests to run against the

and that includes in effect -- but the presence of the chinese army in hong kong. i have since then started articulating, which i've shared with the chinese on other occasions, that ought to evolve into one china, several systems. in other words china and hong kong one kind of arrangement, china and macau another kind of arrangement, china and taiwan another kind of arrangement specifically in that case, excluding the deployment of the chinese people's army in taiwan. >> host: have they been receptive to this? >> guest: reception is a process as i said earlier. it is a historical process and if you have a perspective and they do, and we should, they have existed 6000 years and it is going to work out but you draw sharp lines towards immediate change, neither will work. >> host: certainly the one country two systems model seems to have worked in hong kong. seems as if the hong kong economic system has been allowed to prosper. >> guest: prosper and i can envisage, given my formula one china, several systems. >> host: let's just talk a little bit more about what the u

three percent of you have the industry's up two percent in hong kong they hang saying is gaining things to energy stocks including petro china and china petroleum chemical corp. two hours ahead of the opening bell here are both the mind set something r.t.s. finished monday's trading session in the red the arch yes lost more than one percent of them my sex was only eight percent down. russia's economic expansion is losing steam the g.d.p. rose point four point two percent last year according to a mid january estimate by prime minister vladimir putin the final figures coming out later on tuesday retail sales. wage increases industrial production growth cut costs to four percent as the euro crisis tighten the demand for exports. sam soon will open more than one thousand branded corners and russia's top mobile phone retail euros set the south korean giant hopes the move will help it secure its heavyweight status in the market each department will be from three to twenty square metres it will require to just fifteen thousand dollars of investments you know set says the number of the departme

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. >> and i'm andrew stevens in hong kong. welcome. top stories this day, apple fans in china turn angry and skuffle with police after sales of the new iphone are shelved. >>> kristie will he gallon tells hungary to get its finances in order before it cuts a check. >>> and can japan's new cabinet push through the unpopular changes needed to fix the economy? >>> first up let's go straight to the european markets. they've been open for about an hour today. as you can see, this is how the main indices are performing on track to have four straight weeks of gain. when it comes to the broad 50 index which tracks 50 leading stocks around this particular region, i can tell you that it's at its highest level in two months. when it comes to the volatility index which measures fear based on the euro stocks 50, that has been going in the right direction. it's fallen to its lowest level in about five months on the back of worries about the eurozone decreasing, let's say. investors cheered the success of two particular events in yesterday's session.

we can get out of this crazy world and start fresh. >> hong kong? >> brazil, south africa, what matters is us. would you please do the courtesy of looking at me when i am talking to you? this is exactly what i'm talking about. if you have any kind of matters you would -- >> we spent a lot of time talking about "body heat." it looks just as good, does it not? >> i think it stands up. tavis: we have to start with "romancing the stone." >> sometimes when i am kind of blue i might slip that film in and watch a few minutes of it. it cheers me up. tavis: you took the words out of my mouth. i like that movie because it makes me smile. there are some things ipop in on any given day when i want to just smiled. atched "romancing the stone" more times than i could count. it is such a beautiful movie. you played that role so wonderful. >> that was a struggle to get that role. tavis: a struggle, you played it brilliantly? >> she was sexy. then she could prove that she could be funny. how do we know that she could play this? for heaven's sakes, gentlemen, it is c

this popular charlie hong kong is either crazy or ahead of its time. months ago the owner banned the plastic bags. >> it's the right thing to do. somewhere, you just say okay. we're going to do it and going to be known for this. >> perhaps ironically, the traditionally liberal city doesn't have a ban on plastic bags but santa cruz county has one for unincorporated areas supposed to include restaurants that. is when steven joseph with the save the plast yig bag coalition stepped in and sued. >> there is a safety issue. if you have hot liquides and grease and oil and foods, and it spills it goes through a paper bag. people have been injured because of that kind of thing. >> supervisors supported their plastic bag ban with a vote but say the lawsuit is forcing them to reconsider. mark stone says he has a promise if the county drops the restaurant portion, the lawsuit will go away. >> this leaves us room to do the right thing in the bigger picture but it's not going to holdup implementation in the near term. >> supervisors will take a look at options and g

as of the hong kong economic system has been allowed to prosper. >> one china, several systems. >> let's just talk a little bit more about what the u.s. should be doing or is perhaps doing wrong bell. you made a reference to deployment and u.s. marines and australia somewhat dismissively but as i understand this is part of a very concerted effort at alliance building by the obama administration in asia renewing ties with the philippines even hillary clinton's visit to myanmar, the first visit to that country under its military recently was described to me as part of an effort to build up ties with a circle of countries that have had a somewhat rocky relations with china. the chinese have not reacted well to this official and semi-official. they see this encirclement in the containment. do you think this is not a wise policy that is being pursued or do you think that it can be conducted better? >> i would say that it is an unobjectionable policy, on objectionable. if it is not a vulgarized by wordings which if it connotations which are in my judgment not in our interest and probably not i

in hong kong to be licensed and started articulating the point of view which i shared with the chinese and other locations that ought to evolves into one of china, several systems, in other words, china and hong kong, one kind of arrangement, and then another kind of arrangement to get china and taiwan another kind of arrangement specifically in that case excusing, excluding the deployment of the chinese people's army on tie one. it's a historical process and if you have the historical perspective and they do, and we should, they existed 6,000 years and then 200 years. and it's going to work out. but neutral the sharp lines or insist on the immediate change neither will work. >> host: the system seems to have worked in hong kong has allowed it to prosper. >> guest: i can envision quite literally in keeping my formula one china and several systems. >> host: let's talk a little bit more about the u.s. should be doing or perhaps doing wrong now the deployment of the u.s. marines in australia somewhat dismissively but as we understand this is a part of a very concerted effort at the allian

i get letters from brazil, hong kong. it is absolutely extraordinary. they are, in some ways, comforted by this. i wonder, do we lose nationality when we lived in this virtual world, where our friends can be in hong kong? i got an e-mail this morning from somebody who is going for one month to rotterdam, somebody suffering from this disease. she said, it does not matter, i can do what i do. she is a writer. i can do this anywhere in the world. does this mean we are not attached to the communities we live in? are we in another community physically? >> there is no one way ticket anymore, the way they're used to be. wmd you remove your body, but you did not move your mind -- >> you move your body, but you do not move your mind. >> immigrants in the united states used to be out of touch, by letter -- letters to take weeks to get across the atlantic. >> if ever got there at all. >> now you have e-mail, a country of origin media, so whether you are from el salvador, india, you can listen to and watch television news. >> we also have this interesting thing in

we're seeing about the 20 mark for tie pie and hong kong. a couple of 9's in hong kong. cool in beijing at 3 for the high. let's go now to north america. many of you again seeing a fine and uncomplicated day weatherwise across the belly of the united states. we do have a pacific system here. this one probably bring some heavy rain to the coast. inland areas maybe seeing some freezing rain, mountain snow. what you'll certainly moats is going to be the wind. gusts up to 100 kilometres per hour with this system. down here to the south we've got another couple of things going on. anywhere from eastern texas up through the mid-atlantic you've got rain, thunderstorms. it's going to be most severe for the gulf states. and then to the west of that system we're talking about new mexico as well as western texas you're going to be seeing some significant snow. maybe ten to 20 centimeters. 20 centimeters in some places. as for the system up here in eastern canada that's going to be some widespread snow showers through ontario and quebec. fairly warm day for you in toronto at 5 degre