from the besieged arab red crescent. western diplomats say that iran is trying to clean up something at its military base. inspectors believe the site may have been used to test triggers for nuclear bombs. this is what a solar flair looks like up close. the flair erupted and was captured by scientists in this dramatic video by nasa. we should be feeling its effects today as radiation distorts the magnetic field possibly disrupting the gps signals. those are the headlines from cnn. i m juanita raj paul. world business today starts now. good morning from cnn london, i m nina dos santos. and a very good afternoon from cnn hong kong, i m andrew stevens. welcome to world business today. the top stories this thursday, a boom town in the midst of devastation. we ll tell you about a japanese city doing brisk business as its neighbors struggle to rebuild. the deadline for the greek debt swap is fast approaching. the signs so far are good as people sign up to push the dea
as search and rescue attempts continue, the focus moves 0en to who is to blame for the sinking of a giant ocean liner off the italian coast. and we ll tell you which production houses is big at the golden globes and what these awards tell us about the upcoming oscar ceremonies. first up, though, if the new year promised a new europe, well, some people could be disappointed. standard & poors last week had other ideas completely. to nobody s great surprise, this particular influential company decided to downgrade the credit scores of nine countries across the euro zone on friday. these particular downgrades apply to a large swath of central and southern europe. it is this country in the center here, france, that is commanding all the headlines today. this after france lost its treasured aaa rating. that in turn, some economists say could undermine the a aa rating of the total esfs. one country as well that s hitting the headlines, one country that will ill afford any more b
china s economy cools slightly, but still hot enough to beat the forecast. uk lawmakers close ranks to try and block news corp s bid for bskyb. first up though here in the italian capital, the government is preparing to speak to parliament for a marathon debate over the next couple days, designed to gain the necessary approval for painful austerity measures. these are ones designed to prevent this country from becoming the fourth eurozone nature to go cap in hand to the imf, the eu and the ecb. pauline. european stock market investors are watching italy s debt crisis very closely. here is where they stand at the moment. let s take a look at the moment. the london ftse making some gains, so is the xetra dax t. zurich smi is pretty much flat at the moment on this wednesday morning. nina? pauline, of course, the effects of italy s debt crisis are being next right across the board. let s have a look at where the ftse is. the milanese has lost about 4,000 points in the last
stan, thanks very much for that analysis. stan grant joining us live from cnn beijing. later this day, thursday, mr. hu will be heading to capitol hill in washington to address members of the congress. we ll continue to cover this story. wall street ended the day lower on wednesday in the u.s. after what was seen as lackluster earn innings goldman sachs. at the close the dow was off 0.1%. the dow and the s&p really took a beating. the s&p 500 fell 1%. shares in goldman sachs fell almost 5% after the firm reported its third straight decline in quarterly earnings. still not bad, though. they reported earnings of $2.4 billion in the fourth quarter. that is just short of last year and forecasts. they blame slowdowns.
year but the company still reported a $25 million loss on increased sales and marketing costs. chinese media are reporting that intellectual property rights will be a hot issue during mr. hu s u.s. visit. what s that mean for internet companies like youku? the founder and ceo victor ku joins us now from cnn beijing. victor, welcome to the show. just before we get on to ipr stories, what is it like now for a chinese businessman with a company listed in new york doing business there? are you worried that the increasing political tensions are starting to affect people like you? that s why we think that the visit for mr. hu jintao to america is so important. i think communication and dialogue between the two companies is critical to the mutual understanding and business development is built on the basis of mutual understanding. have you personally though detected any change in attitude