>> if it hasn't, as luck would itv it, it just missed hong kong, which is good use for hong kong.it is the most densely populated city on the planet and damage would have been severe. it's gone just 100 miles to the northeast of us. at this point, it's directly above us. and the wind is whistling around the building of our studio, right on the harbor front now. the windows are rattling. it caused the deaths of two people as it mind landfall in sha shantal city in guandong province. it is expected to do more damage. the entire region has about 55 million people and it's expected mainly the rainfall will cause the problems with landslides and the like in that particular area. guhe but here in hong kong the have been few reports of damage and certainly none of injury. >> joining us from fujon province. stay safe. >> those storms in mexico and hong kong are a he reminder of how fortunate the u.s. has been so far this storm season. let's check on the current tropical conditions with our meteorologist jalelah someplace akmed. >> it's quite but we can't say the same along the south china

the good news is it did not take a hit on hong kong. it pushed onshore 80 to 100 miles east of hong kong. the storm will take a north-west track. when it made its way on shore as a category 2, the equivalent, it brings heavy rain and gusty winds blowing in the background a moment ago. we'll continue to see this take a north-west track. it will weaken in the next 24-48 hours. within the next couple of hours, around 3 o'clock local time, that's when the storm will be the strongest across hong kong. it will progress to the west and on the back side of the storm you will feel the gusty winds in hong kong and become a tropical storm bringing heavy wind and rain thursday through friday of next week. looking at the traffic - look at the atlantic - a quite day, and we are not expecting any activity within the next 48 hours. we had a bit of rain across the north-eastern portion of the u.s. when i woke up and walked outside in new york city it was raining because of the frontal boundary that has pushed offshore. we are looking at clear skies. it'

congress leeson joins us in hong kong. it is past 1:00 a.m. in hong kong. where is the storm right now? >> reporter: well, it's just centered directly above us about 50 miles to the north of us. it was supposed to have made a direct hit. thankfully, that didn't happen. it came to landfall about 100 miles to the northeast in shungwi and made it's way across the top of hong kong. it hasn't quite bypassed us yet. it has us in the grip of its rage at the moment. we just went outside to have a look at the streets, which are empty. that might sound not unusual on a sunday night. but in hong kong, it is unusual. most people are inside or at typhoon parties anticipating a day off tomorrow. at this stage, if the snapple number 8 stays up, the entire government will have a day off. all government departments will be closed. the stock exchange will also be closed and that will affect the airlines here so far, 375 flights have been cancelled. the airlines anticipate that they won't be able to resume normal flights until thursday. >> greg, how long does the city of hong

and said they will hold all flights in and out of hong kong.usands of hong kong people are away this holiday long weekend to celebrate the mid autumn festival. and this storm could cause massive transport delays for those trying to return. for those who remain, the weather observatory has raised the typhoon flag to signal the need to begin preparations and it has told the city to brace itself for what could be the worst storm to hit here in 34 years. craig leeson, al jazerra, hong kong. >> here is more inside about the typhoon. the winds are still very strong. >> yes, this storm is considered a category three hurricane as we track in to the next 24 to 48 hours it will down ground to a category one hurricane. let me talk about the winds for a moment. whatever we sit on the front porch and you feel a light breeze typically that's about 19 to 24 miles an hour. whenever you have a stronger storm and trees can be uprooted typical the storms speeds are 255 to 63 miles per hour. still nowhere near what we are looking at with usagi, a violent storm can

in hong kong the civil society in hong kong is acting. there are a number of restaurant, a number of businesses in the financial sector, a number of five-star hotels that have pledged that they will no longer allow shark fin soup to be served as part of their official banquets. >> are there statistics in place to allow consumers to know exactly what they're buying or eating? >> right now there is not. and so i think that's exactly why the hong kong government took such a broad expansive move with suggesting that no sharp fin is consumed. there are over 400 species of sharks. it is very difficult for a consumer to know that the shark that they're eat something perhaps critically endangered. right now scientist versus assessed that a third of all shark species are threatened or near threatened with extinction. the move that the hong kong government did in the example that they're setting is one being taken up by consumers, businesses, and so it really does, it's a game changer for shark conservation. >> jill, thank you for talking to us. ji

we are joined live now from hong kong by craig leeson. is hong kong prepared for this? >> in the philippines, they are beginning preparations, stock paying food, moving people out of villages that are quite exposed in the northern part of the island. in taiwan, they are issuing travel alerts and in china, they're issuing maritime alerts. the problem we have is that today is the mid autumn festival, a traditional holiday where people go away from the long weekend, from hong kong to china and visit relatives in taiwan. this is expected to hit hong kong on sunday, disrupting travel plans. >> i have lived in hong kong. there are tall buildings there, it's a relatively small island. are the buildings there built to withstand that type of storm? >> they certainly are. they're even designed to sway and i've been in the top of one of these buildings when it is moving. it's an unnerving experience particularly in a big storm like this one. this is a beast of a typhoon, a super typhoon is equal to a category five atlantic hurting. it's been packing winds up to 160 miles per hour,

it will make landfall in a town called shanwi about 85 miles to the east of hong kong. when it does push north of hong kong, it's going to certainly bring in some damaging winds in addition to damaging winds, storm surge is a major impact as well that we are looking to really have to deal with here in addition to that gusty wind a dangerous, life-threatening storm. hong kong observatory has actually really made -- excuse me -- they rose the warning level. it's a typhoon category 8. that means folks will stay home aez they wait out this storm. the last time hong kong had to deal with a storm of this magnitude was in 1979, called typhoon hope. it crossed the pacific, the strait, made a direct i mpact o hong kong and killed 12 people and causeds bills ions of dollars worth of damage. i will monitor this storm all through the course of the day and bring you the latest. back to you, morgan. >> thanks so much, jalelah. consoling family members of shooting victims and today, he is remembering the navy yard victims. >>> plus a new start for negotiations. iran's president signal

craig gleason, al jazeera hong kong. >> jelelah, the winds are still incredibly strong. they're still 110 miles per hour. >> yes rax, we expect the storm to continue to weaken as it makes its way towards hong kong but wind is a major factor. take a look at the graphic behind me. we do want to make a note about wind speeds. 19 to 20 miles per hour that's a light breeze, that will bring down -- sway trees that is. whenever a stronger storm passes through 53 to 60 miles per hour typically that request uproot trees. we're talking about a typhoon, equal to a category 1 hurricane. the land will be looking to be devastated by this system. typhoon wanda which according to the united states we would have compared this to being somewhat of a category 2 storm. that killed 434 people along the country side, and it was a major problem there. 72,000 people were uprooted from their homes. so it's a lot to note, this is a major storm and it's going to continue to barrel towards hong kong. we expect it to make landfall sunday night into early monday morning. we'll bring you the latest la

craig leeson joins us live from hong kong. craig tell us more about the preparations. >> well, it was a beautiful day here in hong kong. you wouldn't have expected that a super-noon was on its -- supertyphoon was on its way. the flag was hoisted about today but people went about their business as though nothing was happening. but that wasn't the case in the philippines and taiwan where the super-typhoon they were the first land masses for it to hit. the might of the u.s. navy's pacific fleet, the u.s.s. bonhomme richard, pulled out 24 hours before the typhoon usagi's arrival. it formed in the pacific early in the week and has tracked northeast through the luzon strait that separates the philippines and taiwan. in the philippines 100 families were evacuated from islands as torrential rain caused floodings in four regions. waves as big as buildings began smashing seaside and evacuation of thousands of people. china's southern coast is being prepared for the. worst. 24,000 fishing boats returned to port. so as we can see there, t

hong kong is now bracing for most powerful storm of the year. the typhoon the bearing down on the southern chinese city expected to make land fall late sunday or early monday. the storm already left two people dead and two others missing when it passed through the philippines in taiwan. our tron joins us now from hong kong. we understand typhoon is head for the chinese central region. are businesses there preparing for this hit? >> reporter: well that's right. everybody here is taking all precautions as you would expect. this part of the world is used to typhoons but given the strength of this typhoon is a little nor than normal. people have been prepared. businesses are closed or will be closing as this typhoon bears down. people are being evacuated from low lying areas. other people are securing the path of buildings. >> now, rob, it was downgraded from a super tie to a super typy but does that make it any less dangerous? >> reporter: it is. it is slightly less if you like some of the winds have been slightly mitigated. what happened with thes

hong kong is used to being hit by strong typhoons. city here was closed down completely in august when the typhoon at the time which was the most powerful typhoon of its type on the planet and that shutdown transportation. the stock exchange, one of the world's biggest stock exchange closed down as well. people just tend to let these things ride over the top of them. but this is going to be a direct hit. the last time there was a direct hit was last year and that caused not so much -- so many injuries but significant structural damage to the city. at the moments we are seeing boats heading in to the typhoon shelters some. shops are probably at least recording an increase in sales. but at this stage because of the warm weather and the sunny skies, people still don't have that sense of urgency. >> the calm before the storm as they say. craig leeson live for us in hong kong, craig thank you. for more on the path and the strength of the typhoon let's go to meteorologist dave warren. >> reporter: i am meteorologist dave warren tracking the

hong kong being to the south, that's excellent news.models here show winds around 105, congress congress 83. hong kong could get to 100 miles per hour. the folks have taken all the proper precautions. some of the scenes out of one of the grocery stores across hong kong, folks getting the preparations in line and the rainfall will be problematic as well. about 130 millimeters could come down in the next 24 hours. >> thank you, pedram, wheel fellow it quloesly. >>> the rest of bo xilai's life has just been convicted in a major corruption case. when it comes to his phi tour, the court seems to have thrown away the key. david mckenzie is live. we now know the verdict, hello, david. >> reporter: the verdict really wasn't in any question. we knew pretty much almost certainly that bo xilai would be charged guilty in these charges of bribery and abuse of power. he was a shoo-in in the communist party, brought down by a d a salacious scandal. the sentencing is interesting. a life sentence for these charges, a very severe sentence for this man co

, a couple of hours local time from now in hong kong. going to bring flooding downpours, torrential rain that could pose a threat, mudslides and continue to monitor that throws the day, richelle back to you. >> more than 100 people died in the landslide triggered by the country's twin hurricanes. villagers and soldiers have been using axes to chip away mud. hurricane manuel and ingrid have caused widespread damage across the country. outside acapulco relief troops are coordinating missions because so many people need help. dave, tell me what's happening. >> that's right. this is where the mission is being run from here. and you can see behind me there's dozens of helicopters, we just saw a few take off a few moments ago. it is in these mountains that are off to my left-hand side. this is where they're still trying to locate villagers that have been trapped. although the rain started here last saturday, one week ago, they are still finding people who have been affected who haven't had any assistance brought to them yet. i was talking to t

hong kong not only had a working-class minister did not pay i think the history of hong kong hear from [inaudible] and coming to that. 1949 when they fell to the chinese, hong kong which had previously been kind of a backwater was in receipt of millions of refugees and impoverished refugees very few of whom were middle class and had the wherewithal to act middle class. the situation was so bad that everybody in the community assumed hong kong would be a basket case into one of the reasons the government that came in after the war didn't go in and introduce the national health programs and income taxes and government economic programs was because they considered hong kong to be a lost cause. they figured it would be like the refugee camps on the west bank, permanent storage of people into the best we could do is barely keep them fed and eventually figure out how to give them back the mainland chinese or something. as a result of this, there was a young jongh copper wait that went out as a financial officer to hong kong and was a bit of a secret tory. when he got to hong kong he discover

also hong kong. very easy to access. we have to think about what is our advantage so we can position ourselves in is a certain position. the other challenge is we don't have a very strong image compared with the other cities or countries. our challenge is we need some time to build up our unique sales point and compare those two different countries. >> to attract more attention. we need to take our first break on our program. we will be right back. ♪ >> welcome back to the second segment of today's program here on "taiwan outlook." i am euros, wu ye ray-kuo. we continue our conversation with jason yeh, of the taiwan convention and exhibition association. according to the international commission associations, there is the ranking of the different cities that is preferred at the meeting city or meeting city capital of the world. which one is the favorite meeting city in the world? >> can you make a guess? >> new york. >> actually it is in vienna. >> for the reason yo? >> i think their are so many international locations h

that storm was heading also for hong kong ended up swinging to the south and missing hong kong but slamming through the philippines and into china and 159 people were killed. many thousands, many hundreds were missing and mistaken hundredses of thousands were displaced from that storm. this storm couldn't come at a worse time because today is the festival so mary people are traveling throughout asia to spend the weekend with their families. it continues on its track, stephanie, it is expected to hit hong kong directly on sunday. >> a direct hit. craig, what kind of operations are you seeing there in the region? >> well, taiwan was heard a travel alert. china, which, as i said, suffered from horrendous landslides and floodings due to about 13 tropical storms this year has issued a yellow alert. the state oceanic ministry body has issued the highest on the nation's response system. they are expecting more trouble to come from this. >> craig leeson, we will continue to follow this story. craig, in hong kong, thank you. >>> now, the death toll from the flooding in colorado has risen to 7 and co

hong kong is in its sights. 100 people died and major storm damage to the city. sunday airlines say they will hold all flights in and out of among congress. thousands are in the area to celebrate the mid autumn festival. for those who remain the weather observatory has raised the typhoon flag to signal the need to begin preparations and it's told the city to brace itself for what could be the worst storm to hit here in 34 years. craig leeson, al jazeera hong kong. >> for more now on this supertyphoon, let's bring in meteorologist glee jelelah ahme. >>> we could see downed power lines. we do know in manila we have flooded roadways, homes without any kind of power. look how massive this storm is, i told you yesterday the area it was covering thunderstorms are anywhere from boston all the way into raleigh, north carolina. where the orange is the boldest, the strongest thunderstorms are, reaching all the way to manila now. this storm has lessened as it crosses the strait of luzon. keep in mind hurricane sandy was not a hurricane whenever it made landfall. it was a su

this storm will be in the category 3 over hong kong. and as this weakness it makes landfall, it will be a category one at local time, so we're watching that closely, but it will weaken. we're talking about typhoons and hurricanes. >> dave, thank you. with just nine days until the government runs out of funding to pay its bills. a government shutdown seems increasing likely. a measure to fund the government past the deadline with one exception, president obama's healthcare reform law. president obama blamed republicans for, quote, economic pain on millions of americans. >> sum are actually willing to plunge america into default if it can't defund the affordable care act. think about that. they would plunge this country back into recession all to deny the basic security of healthcare to millions of americans. >> randall pinkston has been tracking the day's political reaction in government including a response from the g.o.p. >> the republican response to the president's weakly address, governor brian sandoval to, give president obama on a

hong kong is a transport hub. the airport has seen scores of cancelled flights for the foreseeable future, basically for the next 12 hours or so as this typhoon passes through. it also coincides with very high tides here this is the traditional big autumn festival, a moon festival. it's a time when we have full moons. with them come high tides. we are expecting high tides which will coincide with some of the winds being at the strongest. there is a lot of low-lying areas thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes. >> rob mcbride, thank you very much this morning. >> acmedium has been joining the storms. >> we expect the storm to make landfall about 3:00 a.m. local time in china. it's going to make itt its way on land in a town called shanway. then it's going to progress towards the west and push to the north of hong kong. but the impact will still be severe. >> that's due to the wind. take a look here at the graphic behind me. when you look at the winds, when you are sitting on your front porch and t

. >>> a super typhoon is barrelling down on the philippines, taiwan and hong kong.is packing 127-mile-per-hour winds and torrential rains, it is 680 miles wide, and has already caused major flooding in northern japan. >> in the philippines they are already making sure their villages are stocking up on provisions and getting out of the most exposed areas. last year a fie typhoon hit the philippines and kills about 1100 people. they are very much used to dealing with typhoons. the philippines will be first hit, and then as it moves, the southern part of taiwan will be hit, and at this stage it is on track to slam straight into hong kong where we are at the moment on sunday, and if that happens then it will cause a lot more damage in the southern parts of china in an area that has already been severely damaged by tropical storms this year. >> it is expected to weaken by sunday with wind speeds then of only 110 miles an hour. >> when you think about 680 miles, you are talk about the northeast, mid-atlantic and parts of the southeast. we're talking about an area as big a

we're expecting the storm to make land fall or get close to hong kong on sunday. but in less than 20 hour, we're expecting the winds to be 60 kilometers per hour hong kong. things will get worse and worse. the hurricane-storm winds are not the worst of it. you call it the hurricane inform forced winds. those are 100 kilometers across earth side so it's a huge storm. >> thank you onset for us. >>> a chinese court is expected to hand down its verdict. form rising star on sunday. he's on charges of take bribe, embezzlement and abuse of power. prosecutors also accused him of appearing in the investigation in to the businessman back in 201 # 1. 2011. >>> families separated for decades by the korean war won't be reunited next week. the reunions have been happening in 20 200. around a hundred families were due to to be reunited last thursday. millions were split by the korean war in the 1950s. harry is in seoul with the details. >> reporter: that's not the last time they have pulled out of agreements at the last minute in this way it's uncertain to say why they've done i

typhoon usagi is battling hong kong. officials raised the warning level as the powerful storm approaches. it left two dead, two others are missing when it passed through the philippines in

that has caused chaos in hong kong. transportation has been disrupted. 370 flights have been canceled. and they do not think flights will be normalized until thursday. it is expected that the government agencies will remain closed the stock exchange will remain closed, and it's expected in china it will cause many problems due to the rain. this system is moving very slowly at 15 mph. which means there will be potential for a lot of rainfall, landslides and more damage. >> tomorrow, vice president biden and his wife jill biden head to colorado. colorado is reeling after days of flooding. the long process of rebuilding has started along with the search of those missing. it has been two weeks since torrential rainfall led to mass flooding in colorado's front range. >> typhoon usagi continues to move through china. in fact, this is a satellite showing you the approach of the storm moving onshore and dumping rain. in the last hour th the observan check in hong kong measures the rain and that particular observation site has b

craig reporting live from hong kong.o keep us posted, thank you. >> a storm the of this size has not been seen in years. the last category five was hurricane andrew in 1992, costing $25 billion in damage, killing 44 people. we are here with a closer look at that super typhoon and the danger in mexico, just a lot of dangerous weather out there. >> very dangerous. right now, we are looking at a life threatening storm bailing toward hong kong, a city with millions. on the radar, the sheer magnitude, size of the storm extending from portions of southern taiwan into the philippines. this is northern luzanne, but the it's in between will bear the brunt of the storm's wrath. we are talking damaging winds and flooding dow downpours. this storm is on the move, look at how fast it's pushing toward the west northwest and it's going to continue to push into southern portions of china into southern hong kong, a city filled with millions. take a look at how large the storm is again, taiwan into portions of luzanne. this is a life-thre

hong kong accounts for half of the global trade in shark fins. also banned at state ban kets is blue-fin tuna. the numbers are down by almost 90% since the 1970s. black mosque too is on the list. harvesting is blamed for erosion. the decision in hong kong reflects a growing movement around the ethics of food. last year the u.s. state of california made far grois. they force-feed ducks and geez until their livers expand. similarly activists are trying to raise awareness, but indonesia is the most expensive in the world. the wild civet cat is caged and fed berries and it's passed on in the feces to be roasted as coffee beans. enjoyed by people at a cost to the animal's health. now hong kong is sending a message that designer foods, starting with shark fins, are becoming harder to stomach. >>> japan has just launched a new rocket it hopes is a cheaper way to send satellites into space. lifting off on saturday, an earlier launch last month was aborted because of a computer flich. >>> much more news on our website, aljazeera.com.

story but he came to moscow he was in the transit area and while he was still on his way from hong kong the u.s. revoked his passport so upon landing he couldn't even leave the transit area immediately that same day i suppose they did after he left hong kong by the time he reached moscow his passport was no longer valid camp rozental asylum that russia granted him be transformed into citizenship well not automatically according to russian law as an individual can apply for citizenship having resided in russia for five years. no free to stay here for five years oh yes he's provisional asylum status is a little for one year but it can be extended but i'd like to show a scan i was sent of some progress been sperm it. yes that's it. he said he's only id at the moment. yes that's his us is huge for a passport. and he can travel around russia with it right. yes but only inside russia but i think only in russia he can use it to buy railway and allied tickets. has he received any offers of citizenship from other countries as a matter of fact going back to your question as to why it took so long

he transferred some of this information to the media during his stay in hong kong well couldn't he maybe call them and stop them from publishing it that's impossible that's really impossible he did ask me for advice on that but that's really impossible to do. even if he gets some of the files back now they will still keep a copy so there was nothing we could do under such circumstances should we expect any. i think add a word will work as a human rights activist and as a human rights activist it will be up to him to decide what to do but i can only say that he strongly believes that he is totally unacceptable to use the war on terror as an excuse for massive surveillance intercepting private messages tracking phone and such. so i think. he may voice some concerns about this in the future that uniform that they do so he does have some material that haven't been made public yet certain because i'm i'm sure you've heard a lot of people say snowden doesn't have anything left anymore and no one really cares about him and why didn't russia get involved in this whole thing it got nothing out of

we are live in hong kong. what's the latest on usagi, craig?well, hong kong was blessed by this typhoon. it was predicted we would score a direct hit. that didn't happen. we were brushed by the typhoon, said by the weather observe atory that be the strongest in 34 years. transportation was disrupted, but everything came back on line, well most things,s reroped early this morning. transportation, local at least, buses came back on line. the stock exchange didn't begin trading until after the lunch in the second session and was down by .6%, but stocks across asia were still up on a four month high. hong kong very lucky with this particular typhoon, but not so lucky in china. >> craig, do we have any idea what kind of damage the storm caused since its hit over the weekend? >> several people were injured here, but structurally we got away scot-free. not so in china, where it hit. two people were killed almost instantly when it made landfall there, killed by falling trees. things got progressively worse as it went inland. so far, 25 people are said

it's to the east of hong kong and will gradually make its way to the north of hong kong then it will continue to make it forward. in tefrpls of what's going on, we have more in the philippines, you can see we have this large massive cloud and rain which is now making its way just to the east of the philippines and that's going to drive a small over the next couple of days. a clearly defined eye on the store is organizeed. it is likely to turn in but at the moment. i about 200 kilometers per hour. pushing up towards that eastern side of japan. ahead of that cloud and rain. tkpraert amounts of rainfall on this. the system will make its way through the start and allow -- you can see from the south there are the outer bands of our next tropical storm which will push it. ahead of that, temperatutures ae well in to the 20s here. make the most of what we have in japan in the next couple of da days. >> voting is taking place in germany's election. they will return to power far third term. she may struggle to keep her coalition majority in parliament. if election is being watched very closely

that is the latest from hong kong.back to you in washington. >> you might have extra money laying around. you could be the owner of this rare diamond. so the bees showed it off this week. it is a 60 caret pink diamond. asking price, $60 million. it is being referred to as an oval cut pink diamond, and will become the most valuable diamond ever to be offered at auction. in new york city, and for myself here, thank you for watching biz asia america. do not forget you can e-mail us. cctv news is coming up next. we will see you tomorrow. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- 

>> well, it's managed to make its way past hong kong. it has been downgraded from a severe typhoon to a typhoon, and typhoons in this part of the world are graded by wind speed. it has disrupted transpodisrupt transpore tags. >> it is mid-autumn festival. it would be like if a hurricane hit new york at thanksgiving. many of them are stranded at airports, many flights have been cancelled, flights are likely to be disrupted up until thursday been the backlog is clear. a significant storm but did not score the direct hit anticipated by the weather bureau. >> are we seeing damage right now, craig? >> there has been no structural damn, which was expected because of the direct hit. we are seeing a lot of flooding. the mid-autumn festival coincides with a full moon. there's high tides. hong kong is made up of 266 islands - many are experiencing storm surges. not as bad as what they experience in china, as the storm moves into guangzhou. it's slowed down. because of that it's dumping tonnes of rain over the region and they are expecting that to

that gives us an indication of where it is. 200 miles east of hong kong. it looks like it's trying to maintain its intensity here. now, a clear center developing, the intensity not going down much. it's till holding on to that went, 115 miles an hour, still making it a category three. it will loose intensity as the track takes it closer to land here. not a weak hurricane, minimal hurricane with winds about 100 miles an hour, still a major threat to hong kong with winds and rain. this will affect the area 3:00 in the morning, monday local time. we're watching the latest satellite information come in. right now, it still looks like it's a powerful storm. there's a typhoon slowly drifting to the west. >> in washington, congress and the president are facing another spending cries and fight over health care reform. house republicans passed a budget that would effectively kill president obama's affordable care and got. congress has a little more than a week to pass a budget or face the very real possibility of a government shutdown. the battle over the budget wa

it did shut down hong kong's international airport closing businesses and schools as well as hong kong'sock exchange for part of the day. >>> amazing stuff. >> very frightening stuff. let's bring in chad myers to look at this and what kind of season they're having in that side of the world. >> that was the biggest storm so far. anywhere in any ocean this year. now, there are some satellite indications. at least because they don't fly through their hurricanes or typhoons like we do. there's no real way to know what the pressure truly was. there's satellite indication that is it could have been the strongest storm in any ocean for many, many years. not just this year. it is a very -- was at least a very big storm. look at the eye right there. here's taiwan and the philippines. there is something going on here that we can't explain how it missed both of those islands. it went right in between. there are smaller islands in between. could you imagine at this point 162 mile per hour storm hitting the philippines or taiwan. that would have been absolutely devastating. it came on shore over the

. >> meantime in asia the most powerful typhoon of the year now heading towards hong kong. two people are dead and two others missing. the typhoon usagi is start to go slow down. and by the time it makes landfall is it's expect to down grade to the give went of a hurricane. >> the biggest ship pulled out of hong kong's port a day ahead of schedule. it was an ominous sign of typhoon usagi. it's said to be the most powerful on the planet this year. it formed in the pacific earlier in the week, and has tracked west-northwest through the lausanne strait. fotorrential rain, crops were destroyed and villages damaged. flooding and landslides have forced thousands of people to loaf their homes. china's southern cows is preparing for the worst. 4,000 people have already left ahead of the storm and 3,000 3,0 fishing boats returned to port. 1979 was the last time that a storm made a direct hit. today airlines warned against traveling on sunday and said they would hold full flights in and out of hong kong. thousands of people are away this holiday weekend to celebrate the mid amen fest

it's expected to hit hong kong late sunday or early monday.irline cafe pacific have canceled owl flights in cut off thout ofthe city. it has already caused widespread flatting in taiwan and philippines, robert looking miserable weather where you are. how is the island preparing for this onslaught? >> reporter: it is as you say weather has deteriorated especially in the last hour or so the weather has deteriorated badly is usagi moves closer. sheet is very much almost in a kind of a state of lock down if you like. the streets are becoming increasingly decertify. people are making their way home. they are taking pray changeses at home. taping up windows, san sandbaggg doors of businesses they are expecting flooding with the rains. down here at the harbor people are taking some of the last ferries home to be outlying islands here and as we know also obviously the airlines are going to be badly affected. we are expecting hundreds are people will be stranded at the international airport overnight. hong kong international is obviously a very dig tra

hong kong accounts for half. banned asked blue fin tuna.numbers are down by almost 90% since the 19 sent did. black mosk, too, over harvesting is blamed for desiccation and. >> it reflects growing movement around the ethics of food. last year, the u.s. state of california made foie gays gras illegal. it is produces by force feeding ducks and geese until their livers expand. similarly, act visits are trying to raise awareness but indonesia's most expensive coffee in the world, the wildcat is caged and fed coffee berrics, and then it's past in their feces to be reverted and coffee beans enjoyed by people at a cost dot animal's health. now, hong kong is sending a message that designer foods, starting with shark fins are becoming harder to stomach. >> it's already causing problems for mexico. coming up next, hundred ingrid makes its way through the gulf. hi, my name is jonathan betz, and i'm from dallas, texas, and >> welcome back. tropical storm ingrid is pummelling mexico's gust coast. cruise moved in to rural areas. the maximum winds reached

it looks as though it's going to miss hong kong. it's a densely populated city, and it would have caused a lot of damage. that hasn't happened. it's a bit too early to breathe a sigh of relief. it could change tact shortly before it reached the mainland of china. >> a rising star of the chinese communist party has been sent to life in prison for bribery and corruption. bo xilai is the highest profile leader to be convicted under the anti-bribery campaign. >> it was a verdict all of china waited for. bo xilai was sentenced to life imprisonment and seizure of personal assets for committing bribery crimes. the fate sealed for political princeling and rising star of the commaerty, bo xilai. he was found guilty of bribery, corruption and abuse of power. he's been ordered to pay $4 million, a figure he was accused of taking. and will lose a seaside villa in france. many belief it was because of defiance for him pleading not guilty. >> the government is cracking down on obstructions, and it is an important task, looking to tap the support

that shut down hong kong completely. transportation services were stopped, the stock exchange was stopped and thousands were stranded at the airport. that's the problem this time. it's the mid-autumn festival, many people leave hong kong, go to visit their families in taiwan and in china. if this typhoon continues on its trajectory it's going ocause massive problems on people's travel plans. >> are there going to be big evacuations there? >> if it continues, as it's planned to continue, it would be expected that evacuations will take place in the philippines. in fact, 248 people have already been evacuated. taiwan will probably evacuate people if it strengthens there and certainly people are on stand by in southern china, the typhoons that have raced across the provinces, 24,000 boats fishing vessels have been told to stay in port, and there is a high alert in the maritime areas. so this china is in fact just raised its flag i'm told from yellow to orange which is the second highest rating so they're expecting severe dam

then we have this direct exchange channel with hong kong stocks. that special economic zone, or the free trade zone, which is what we're talking about now is not working properly. so eventually, the hong kong direct exchange stocks with then was aborted. nobody mentioned about that now. instead, now we have a pilot sort of -- the shanghai free trade zone. we are looking forward to that kind of experiment. we're also looking for the details of the processing of that experiment. >> what's the government's aim in establishing the free trade zone? how will it contribute to chen's poli policy? >> okay. a free trade zone necessarily involves free movement in commodities. free movement of people. and then free movement of financial services, money, basically. so what we're looking for is that for this shanghai free trade zone, whether there's enough financial rede regulations. namely, we all have the other three movements. commodities, movement, people. but now with interest rate deregulation within free trade zone if that is ever exercised successfully a

that has caused chaos in hong kong. 350 flights were cancelled. cathay pacific being says it will remain closed, stock exchange is closed until it moves further into china where it is expected there it will cause many problems. due mainly because of the rain. this storm is moving 15 miles an hour, which means potential for landslides and areas within the quanchou province. >> and with more on weather around the world, let's go to rebecca stevenson. >> that rain is circling around it. china has had more than its share of rainfall this year. in fact we were looking at potential flooding in northeast china. when we look at the total storms this year we have had 20 this year and three of them have been typhoons. they have brought in an excessive amount of rainfall. moving across china. this particular storm is going to continue its track right across that southern portion of china. when we look at rainfall totals we had amounts coming up to about two inches at our observation stations. some of those observation stations could very well have just been