well. as for japan, a slightly different story. we do see the march 11th plunge over here because of the quake and tsunami but since then the nikkei has only been able to weave up and down this 10,000 mark over the past few months. news that the country's back in lee session, too, because of the quake and tsunami is only adding to the worries. that comes on top of today's news that the annual growth is slowing down. overall it's not been a happy picture for the asia pacific. europe does need to get its zone in order. and the u.s. has to figure out their debt problems and that will help keep asia afloat. the euro zone crisis continues to threaten some of the bigger euro economies and, of course, the u.s. looking waeshg these days. ramy inocencio, asia business editor. let's talk about the u.s. a bit more. as we mentioned a moment ago, the debt crisis ntaking center