he was arrested wednesday after turning out what to be fake explosives from undercover officials. amanda knox's attorneys begin closing arguments today. the american student was convicted of killing her roommate, meredith kircher. "world business today" starts now. good morning from cnn london, i'm charles hodson. and good afternoon from cnn hong kong, i'm andrew stevens. welcome to "world business today." the top stories this thursday, september 29th. >> vote yes to say the euro. angela merkel takes the eu rescue package to the german parliament. >> while politicians rangel over the future, normal people are faced with radical new cuts. and can the kindle fire set the tablet market ablaze. okay. we'll start with the markets. we'll start with the asian markets today. a bit of a change here. we want to show you these pictures straight away. the hang seng index was closed for trading today. this is the reason. this is the result of typhoon nesat. it brought with it pretty strong winds, not to mention driving rain. this is the same storm that claimed some 34 lives in the philippines. it passed about 350 kilometers south of hong kong, quite a long way but not far enough to stop a severe weather warning issued resulting in the closure of schools and businesses, including the stock exchange. that was just hong kong. around the rest of the region, though, it was business as usual. as you can see there, a fairly mixed picture as well. the standout, of course, the kospi in seoul, up 2.7%, samsung electronics there among the main winners. the s&p losing most of its gains from yesterday and sydney down about 0.75%. commodity stocks taking a hit. the nikkei up by 1%. second day of gains for the nikkei. getting a boost from a weakened yen there, charles. that helped companies like toyota and sony. >> i didn't want to preempt jennifer delgado but there aren't any typhoons i'm aware of here in europe but i'm not a meteorologist. the markets are open today. they're all pointing downwards at the open. here's how things look, just an hour and four minutes, 64 minutes, into the trading day. we are seeing a tiny bit of continued strength, actually. up by about 0.25% for the xetra dax. paris cac current up by 0.5%, zurich smi up by 4%. we are seeing losses on the london ftse. the markets think that angela merkel will win that vote. we'll come to that later on. in the past hour, nokia of finland announced it's slashing 3,500 jobs by the end of 2012 and that's sent its share price down 1.3% in helsinki. i think one can safely say, andrew, unfortunately, that is a star in the descendant. >> absolutely. 23 y if you look at that share price cut, investors don't think nokia has the turnaround on the table quite yet. in the u.s., all three indices closed down on wednesday. there are fairly significant falls, too, the euro zone remaining in the spotlight. the dow down 1.6%. tech stocks taking a hit. the biggest hit yesterday as you see there, down over 2%. the good news is at least at this hour, the markets look set for a positive opening when trading begins in about five hours from now. that's what futures look like. the dow up by 0.a%. the s&p up around about the same. still quite a long way before they raise the gains of yesterday. charles? >> okay. let's turn to the euro zone and that's what's driving the markets at the moment. perhaps i should say dragging the markets at the moment. with a few big days ahead, investors will be paying close attention. now, the pressure obviously is on the german chancellor angela merkel, ahead of a key parliamentary vote that could change the shape of the europe onunion. meanwhile, greece is facing an audit of its finances. the eu and imf are sending inspectors to athens to check on the implementation of the government's latest austerity plans. more on that in a moment. let's go to germany where fred plightgen is standing by. what's going to happen on voting more german money for the european financial stability fund. >> i think you mentioned the most important one. nobody believes this vote will fail, fall through because the main opposition parties said they will vote in favor of the measure. the big question sin deed going to be whether or not angela merkel can mobilize enough people in her over governing coalition from the christian democrats and the liberal democrats to pass this vote with her own governing majority. if she's not able to do that, then this would seriously weaken here not only here in german and her capacity to govern here in germany but also a leader within the euro zone as many countries, many leaders around the world look to germany, look to angela america toll take on a significant role in saving the euro. at this point in time, it looks as though there's going to be about 17 to 18 decenters within the governing faction pap that would mean she'd still have enough votes to pass this measure. the debate is ongoing at this point in time. just to give you a flavor of what's going on, it isn't an emotional debate going on right now. it is very matter of fact. you kans sense politicians from both aisles are very much aware of the fact they do wear a great responsibility of what's going to happen, not only in european politics but also the market reaction that is going to come after this vote. charles? >> yes. i mean, i suspect, fred, we're already looking in terms of where the markets are standing, the assumption is that ankle merkel will get through with opposition votes. i'm interested in what this means in terms of german politics because the liberal free democrats, who have been playing the skeptics, have been a drag on the government, even though they're part of the coalition. the opposition at the moment, it welcome suggests that she will be more comfortable going back to the arrangement she had before, governing with the spd and leaving the free democrats out in the cold. because they have become severe electoral liability, haven't they? >> they certainly have. that certainly is something that has been discussed at length here in german politics as well, whether or not you might see something like the grand coalition come back which we had in the past legislature. at this point in time it doesn't look as though this coalition will break in part, simply because the liberal democrats are far too weak to fare on their own. if there were early elections in germany, they would be so weak they wouldn't make it back into parliament. the social democrats for their part, the opposition party, have said they would not form a coalition with angela merkel's christian democrats. it looks as though at this point in time the coalition will stand. as you set, this is putting a big strain on angela merkel. this is making it very difficult for her to govern this country. it has been the liberal democrats, also, of course, driven by the fact they've gotten bad election results in in-state elections. the last berlin elections, they got 1.8% of the vote. that's nothing for this party. that has started to drive them to take more measures and make it difficult for angela america toll govern here and assume her leadership role within the euro zone, charles. >> i think we have to assume she's presiding over a lame duck government at this point, fred. anyway, that's a further discussion. fred pleitgen joining us. that key vote will happen later on this afternoon. many thanks to you. andrew? there's a lot riding on what happens wrenn officials from the so-called troika, the imf, the european commission and central bank meet the greek government today. depending on the outcome of that meeting, greece's bailout could be renegotiated. john defterios joins us from athens. just on the troika, what are they going to be looking for from greece to get the next bailout or the next part of the bailout through? >> there's two-pronged approach here, near term the troika, which started its fill day of work here after arriving last night has to come up with a draft for the euro zone finance ministers meeting on monday. that's to deal with the sixth installment of the previous package. that's about a $10 billion payment. they don't see any major hurdles on that. they talk about negotiating the july 21st agreement, negotiation would mean they need to close a gap for 201, 2013, 2014 of about 10 billion euros. that's the hard work from this point forward. you have the 7th, 8th and 9th installments. prime minister poppis in a meet. a final decision has not been made. they're also expecting to hear a comment in athens after the vote in germany. they are saying that chancellor merkel's comments after that vote are important in terms of the tone it sets here in athens in this austerity drive. >> austerity drive is the name of the game in athens and across the country. john, we've seen a spike in the unemployment rate. we've seen economic activity contract in the wake of the austerity measures. just behind those headlines, gifs a sense of how big an impact this austerity measures are having on the ordinary gr k greek. >> you can't really understand it until you come in to athens and get the tone of the entire country. let's take a look at the latest report to give you a sense of how bad it is. this is from the labor institute of general workers. we know the unemployment rate for the second quarter is 16.3%. they're making projections for 2012 that the unemployment rate beyond just the hard numbers could surge when people stop looking for work to 26% in 2012. a 10% -- a ten-point increase in 201. we just came back from a hospital, for example. you have the administrators taking a budget of nearly 200 million euros in terms of overall spending and bringing that down by 90 million euros because they have to work within the existing budget they have. there's been a 20% cut in overall pension payments and salaries. they cannot stay off state workers. this is the bone of contention. the private sector is up in arms that they're sacrificing. state workers have not been laid off, although 30,000 are being furloughed right now. administrators in the state departments are having to make good on this new reality on the ground. >> i can imagine. and there's also more measures in the pipeline, aren't there? this is not over yet. >> i think we have to clarify where we are. pension cut of 20% to 40%, depending on your retirement age, seeing state salaries down by 20%. the property tax passed this week. then there were measures floated around yet which prompted rallies here in the square where we're in our hotel balcony on a won't pay movement. the finance ministry was suggesting you'd have to report, perhaps in 2012 and 2011 100% of your spending. a 20% pay cut for state workers, we've lost 800,000 jobs in the private sector, now you want to us account for 100% of the income that we already earned. how will the tax authorities keep pace on the ground? some are saying what's wrong with this? this is bureaucracy starting to take hold during this period of austerity. >> it seems an enormous amount of extra red tape for going after tax cheaters, i suppose. that seems like a cumbersome way to go about it. more pain for gross as the age of austerity continues. you're watching "world business today" today. still ahead, a new kid on the block in the tablet computer market. amazon has released its answer to the ipad. we'll tell you how they compare. insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of your part b expenses. if you're already on or eligible for medicare, call now to find out how an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company, helps cover some of the medical expenses... not paid by medicare part b. that can save you from paying up to thousands of dollars... out of your own pocket. these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans... exclusively endorsed by aarp. when you call now, you'll get this free information kit... with all you need to enroll. put their trust in aarp medicare supplement insurance. plus you'll get this free guide to 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for you. as with all medicare supplement plans, you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts medicare, get help paying for what medicare doesn't... and save up to thousands of dollars. call this toll-free number now. the answer is yes. it's called kindle fire. >> even among hardened tech journalists, jaws dropped when amazon ceo jeff bezos announced the cost of the company's new kindle fire company. it's $199. that makes it less than half the price of the market leader the ipad. bezos unveiled the new tablet on wednesday. the kindle fire is much smaller than the ipad but the company says its performance is a platform for electronic media is second to none. cnn's maggie lake spoke to michael guytonburg, about how the kindle might shake up the tablet market. >> i don't think this is going to affect the ipad. it's a $499 device. it's designed for constant creation, constant consumption, a 10 inch screen, more memory, bluetooth, designed for communication. this will appeal to a different audience. someone who said i don't need all the features of the ipad, it's attractive but i don't need everything, maybe i can't afford it. it's $499. this is $199. the key is amazon's built out all of the services required to make this device successful before launching the device. >> amazon is taking orders for the kindle fire. the tablet won't be in stores until november 15th. >> the interesting thing is, they're also cutting the prices already on a whole bunch of the existing models and making them much cheaper, particularly at the bottom end. in the meantime, samsung has been forced to further delay of the release of galaxy 10.1 tablet in australia because apple is seeking to block the sale of the device. two companies are fighting a global pattern battle over whether samsung copied the designs of apple's highly successful ipads and iphones. an australian judge will hand down a decision adjustment week. apple has successful stopped the sale of some samsung products in germany and the netherlands. the legal battle between the two companies has spread to six different countries on three continents. paula hancocks has been tracking the tablet wars from there. >> people, it's time for a better tablet. it's time to tab. >> reporter: a global marketing push by samsung for its new 10.1 tablet. scuffled by its main competitor, apple. legal battles spanning three continents have kept samsung's answer to the ipad off the shelves in certain countries. the main target of apple's legal battles is this, the samsung galaxy tab 10.1. according to apple, it is almost identical to its ipad. it is the same size and apple says that it infringes on its design patents. samsung counts that apple infringes on its technology patents in the ipad, a newering with smaller version of the samsung tablet was pulled from an exhibition, one of the world's largest electronic shows because of a court injunction in apple's favor. a blow to samsung according to analysts but not a knockout. >> translator: samsung is suing aprille with a technology pat enthe. samsung supplies parts to apple so they cannot go all out in the lawsuit but they have the upper hand with the technology patents adesign patents are hard to verify. >> the reliance of the two companies on each other is what could settle the disputes. >> translator: apple doesn't have a reliable parts supplier without samsung. if samsung is unable to win their pat eneent they won't be to sell. >> reporter: for now, the legal jostling for position in the highly lucrative tablet market shows no sign of abating. paula hancocks, cnn, seoul. a powerful storm closed many shops and businesses in hong kong. more on the progress of typhoon nesat when we come back. you're looking at live pictures of the hong kong water front, a fairly low gray sky there as you can see. manufacture the bars and restaurants not to mention sin has doing a brisk trade here today. business virtually closing down after typhoon alert was raised. when that happens, the stock exchanges and the banks have to close. there has been a day off for many people in hong kong. a little bit of damage from high winds, nothing too serious, though. let's go to meteorologist jen delgado at the cnn weather center. this is what we're looking at typhoon nesat, 300 kilometers away from hong kong. where's it headed. >> to the west, just to the north of heinen island. people going to the movies, apparently people going to bars, when there's a typhoon. big difference from what happens over here across the u.s. let's go to some images coming in from hong kong. this is showing you victoria harbor. guess what? cloudy skies out there. but a lot better than what it was a couple hours ago and especially last night when the winds started to kick up. as i take you back over to our graphic, the winds at 120 kilometers per hour, that would be on the weak end of a category 1 you put it in the atlantic. that center of circulation, right towards the northeast of hainan island. it moves towards the west. right now it's a typhoon. it makes landfall in vietnam tomorrow. while it will weaken it will bring heavy rainfall for areas just to the west of hainan. we're talking about vietnam. on the satellite imagery, the center of circulation is just to the north. it will continue to weaken and spread towards the west. there are heavy rains and squalls through areas along the coast lining, especially down towards the southwest and streaming down towards vietnam. what can we expect as we go throughout the remainder of the day as well as into the evening in the winds, 43 in hong kong, 40 in haikou. it will be quite gusty and rough along the coastal regions. certainly not a time to be out in the water. let's go to video to show you what it looked like through parts of hong kong. look at the damage left behind. you can see some of the wood snapped and some of the boats as well. that's after rough surf, wind that typhoon was moving just so close by. as i take you back over to our graphic here, we're talking about 25 centimeters of rainfall roughly, about 9 inches. there will be problems with flooding. but we're not out of the woods yet. we have another typhoon that's just to the west of the philippines, of course, nesat made its way through the philippines before making its way towards china. the bad news is, it looks like it will be passing to the north of luzon as we head into the weekend. . >> the philippines always seem to be in the front when it comes to tie foonz. >> always. you feel bad for them. they had a deadly storm just three years ago. >> thanks for that. >> you're welcome. >> charles? one of america's biggest companies is bullish on the economy. the chinese economy that is. we'll show you what general electric