they're investigating the cause. 11 of the 28 people in the mine shaft survived. few chinese mines adapt to regulations and accidents are common in the country. in the michael jackson involuntary manslaughter trial, prosecutors focused on three of murray's girlfriends. the married doctor had conversations with three women he was dating on the day jackson died. prosecutors are trying to use the women's calls and text messages to establish a time line leading up to the singer's death. those are the headlines from cnn, the world's news leader. i'm zain verjee, and "world business today" starts now. good morning from cnn london, i'm nina del santos. >> i'm andrew stevens. welcome. the top stories this wednesday, october the 5th. >> a rally on wall street keeps the u.s. out of bear market territory. shares sink in korea and japan while better than expected retail sales boost the aussie market. and european investors are in a buying mood despite a downgrade of italian debt. let's get straight to the european stock markets now. they've been trading for a touch over an hour. and investors appear to be shrugging off that italian downgrade by moody's late on tuesday. the ratings agency slashed the nation's credit ratings by three notches to a-2 and said it could cut further. but clearly it's not affecting the markets. they're following the markets stateside in yesterday's session. that is helping to lift european markets today when they start trading. one of europe's 20 largest banks and belgium's biggest, dexia, faces being broken up. it's supposed to isolate its assets. assets could be sold off or nationalized afterwards. it's a familiar story for dexia which was bailed out back in 2008. those two countries' finance ministries just yesterday said that they would take, quote, all necessary measures to protect the bank's customers. dexia's stock price has been plummeting about 22% yesterday in brussels. as you can see, though, this is how it's trading at the moment. it's bouncing back just slightly today in france, as you can see, up by about 4% at the moment. the governments of france and belgium are taking some steps to contain the crisis. it's still down by about 61% so far this year. the stock. and they've also written a comprehensive blog if you want to read up on that topic, you can access my blog at cnn.com/biz360. let's look at how this is affecting the currency markets. we had the eco meeting yesterday of the euro zone finance ministers. the euro's actually down by about one-fifth of 1% against the u.s. dollar, and that's thanks to talk to the european central bank will be implementing a fresh set of stimulus measures to boost the struggling economies. the dollar is also up against the british pound. it has lost ground, though, against the japanese yen. when it comes to the yen, that currency is strengthening again, 76.64 is where we are at the moment. andrew. a mixed day here on the markets in asia. hong kong and shanghai closed today for the national holiday which did skew things somewhat. in fact, the shanghai composite is shut until next monday because there is a golden week holiday here. so that was the picture. still trading in india, but that's the picture of how it looked today, mainly down. the biggest loser, 2% for the second day running. the nikkei reversing earlier gains. both those indices down amid the renewed concerns about europe's sovereign debt issues. that's after italy's credit rating was downgraded by three notches to a-2 by moody's. as i said, the sensex in mumbai still trading at this hour, down just a fraction. and the main aussie benchmark gaining almost 1.5%. resource stocks getting a boost as commodity prices rose. it wasn't just the resource stocks getting a boost, though. the much hit retail showing signs of life. it does show that australians are opening up their wallets just a little more than expected. retail sales up by more than forecast in august to .6%. it matches the earlier month and comes off june where you saw a contraction in retail spending here. well ahead of analysts' expectations, this latest number. they're expecting it to rise 0.2%. the rise came as australians spent more on household goods as well as eating and drinking out. nina. let's move over to wall street and have a look at how things fared on tuesday's session, andrew. it ended with u.s. stocks staging a strong recovery in the final hour of trading. reacting to encouraging news coming out of europe. the dow jones industrial average closed up nearly 153 points. that is equivalent to nearly a 1.5% rise. the nasdaq rose by 69 points, nearly 3%. and the broader s&p 500 index up 2.25% higher at the end of trading. u.s. markets look set for losses when the trading day begins later on today. this is where the futures stand. the premarket actions shows us that we could be poised for a decline for most of those markets. just the nasdaq composite futures that are virtually flat at the moment. i guess that's hardly surprising considering that one of the biggest economies in europe has just been downgraded by moody's and you've got a bank which is on the wreck at the moment. perhaps just a one-hit wonder for investors in the u.s. now, on tuesday, the fed reserve chief, ben bernanke, offered a pretty grim assessment of both the u.s. and global economy, saying the recovery is close to faltering, quote. but there are actually some economic forecasters out there who say that a double-dip recession is not inevitable. cnn's aerin burnett asked tim geithner if he thinks that might be the correct assessment. >> i think it depends really on two things, first on how affected the europeans are in dealing with their financial crisis. because that's putting a severe burden on growth around the world. and it's a very serious, grave crisis. so it depends on what they do in europe, but it also depends on our ability as congress to do something to make growth stronger in the united states. >> obviously there's been a lot of fighting today in congress about the jobs bill. republicans may be pushing it, knowing it would fail, eric cantor saying it won't pass. how much are you willing to give saying that the bill wasn't a political push by the president but a real effort to get something done? >> let me just say, it is very important that congress will do things that make the economy stronger now. we're very vulnerable to what's happening in europe. unemployment is still very high in the united states. and the overwhelming response we have is to do more now to strengthen the economy. we put on the table a very smart, very strong, very powerful package. people may have better ideas, but we have not seen a plan that would do nearly as much for the economy and be as effective as strengthening the economy and getting more americans back to work that has any chance of passing. >> tim geithner keeping the blame fairly and squarely on congress to get their act together to get the u.s. economy moving. it is, though, getting towards election season. nina. >> it is indeed. let's move to technology news, andrew. apple fans and much of the media worked themselves into a lather over rumors of an iphone 5 launch, but today it seemed as though they were underwhelmed as apple has said a souped-up version of last year's iphone 4. the 4s does have an enhanced camera, faster processor, also a voice interface, but it didn't impress investors on tuesday. in fact, apple's share price fell by nearly 5% after the unveiling before recovering to end the day slightly, though. that was albeit thanks to a rise in almost 3% in the nasdaq. so that last-minute rally we were talking about very much helping apple stock even if the unveiling of the iphone 4s didn't, andrew. there's a lot of talk in the analyst community about the performance of tim cook, the new ceo replacing steve jobs. a lot of people watching to see how he would fill those enormous boots of steve jobs. but, as you point out, investors not particularly impressed by the iphone 4s. neither was samsung. samsung confirming that it will ask the courts in italy and france to doctor the sale of the iphone 4s in those two countries. the company says apple has continued to, quote, free ride on our technology. the two firms are locked in a global battle. samsung claims the iphone 4s e uses two patents that belong to them. india is set to reveal what it's calling the world's cheapest computer. you're looking there at a stereo -- a prototype being displayed by india's human resources development minister. it's a tablet designed for students that runs on google's android platform. and the price, $35. pretty compelling stuff, nina. >> it is indeed. still to come on "world business today," the search for a woman duped into labor uncovers a chain of deceit. >> all the women say they can't leave until their debt to the agency is paid off. >> cnn's freedom project aims to put modern-day slavery out of business and 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insurance plan... insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. call this toll-free number on your screen now... for this free information kit, including this... medicare guide and customized rate quote. live from hong kong and london, you're watching "world business today." now let's get back to things here in europe where it's a series of doom and gloom messages. moody's investors service has done nothing for the mood. not only did it downgrade italy's credit rating yesterday, but it also says that the euro area's debt pressure has yet to reach peak point. in a statement the ratings said that the weak market sentiment will likely persist for some time to come. one country under increasing pressure is spain. unemployment rose last month to more than 4.2 million people. that's equivalent to 21%. this means that this country has europe's highest jobless rate, largely caused by widespread unrest across the country. several protests and strikes. and in part, it's also due to the end of the summer holiday season. and the season, obviously, generates many jobs in spain. but the government's also been implementing some pretty swede widespread job cuts all part of tight austerity measures it has been introducing just like greece. in greece, austerity has made a severe recession worse. the jobless rate there stands at 16% by comparison. and speaking of people being out of work as a result of the economic downturn, well, a study has revealed that stress is actually the biggest cause of long-term sick leave across great britain. the institute of personal development says stress has now overtaken cancer and also musculoskeletal problem in the 12 years it's been publishing this survey. the institute says that increasing job security fears and growing workloads are all factors that are to blame as, of course, the labor market continues to deteriorate further. certainly no shortage of reasons to feel stressed at the moment not only in the uk but pretty much anywhere you look. let's look at the business stories making headlines in asia right now. australian federal police are investigating a series of addle death threats made to senior executives at the national airline qantas. media reports say that the ceo, allen joyce, was one of those targeted. the staff have reported damage to their cars as well as their homes. now, the reports come amid an ongoing industrial dispute between qantas and thousands of union workers. joyce says that bullying and intimidation are unacceptable in the workplace. now, turning to macau, casinos have enjoyed a bump, rising by some 39% in september compared with a year earlier. and that's despite a big fall on not only the hong kong stock market but also a big plunge in casino stocks themselves towards the end of the month. now, macau, as you probably know, overtook las vegas as the world's biggest gambling market. visitors pour into the territory during the national holiday which, of course, runs for a week. and a day after the new iphone launch, a copycat is trying to steal apple's thunder. china's official state news agency says five people have been arrested in shanghai for making and selling fake versions of the apple device. the iphonenys were made using discarded ipods along with other compone components. they were selling only a little less than the original. iphoneys. i love it. coming up on "world business today," billionaire investor warren buffett talking about the state of the u.s. economy. has his positive outlook been shaken at all by the recent downturn in global markets? we'll look into the crystal ball with the oracle of omaha. that's just ahead. ner with b vitamins, the first and only one to help support a healthy metabolism. three smart new ways to sweeten. same great taste. new splenda® essentials™. 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[ female announcer ] only from aveeno. welcome back. all this week "world business today" is taking the lead in the cnn freedom project, our campaign to step stamp out modern-day slavery. it's the ugly side of business, but between 10 million and 30 million victims worldwide, we're covering everything from human trafficking and sex slavery to how consumers are complicit in the global slave trade. and we aim to open your eyes to a huge but hidden crime. yesterday we brought you first series in series of exclusive reports from southeast asia. it's part of the world where slavery and bonded labor still remain. cameras went to cambodia to see how thousands of workers are being manipulated. at the heart of his investigation, a young woman trapped in bonded labor in malaysia while her mother struggles to bring her home. >> that's right. well, in today's report, dan's investigation takes him to malaysia to look for her. what he discovers there is a system that's skewed against the workers, former bonded labor that the authorities seem willing to ignore. >> reporter: our search for the victims of modern-day slavery took us to rural cambodia. there i met a mother who showed me a photo of one of her daughters we're calling chinari who is still trapped in a factory in malaysia, unable to return until she pays off her debt. we visited the agency in phnom penh before our departure was hastened. all right, we're going. it was time for us to go to the northern city of penang. this is the booming center of malaysia's high-tech industry. they built millions of computer hard drives around the world. this is the end of the night shift at one factory here in malays malaysia. you see all the buses are lining up to take hundreds of workers home after an exhausting 12-hour shift. the workers appear to be from all over asia including many cambodians. i suspect one of them is chinari, the young woman who i'm looking for. and through an intermediary, we finally track her down and make contact. >> purple. >> reporter: after a little persuasion, she agrees to meet us along with three coworkers, all worried if they're seen talking to us, they'll be punished. over breakfast, they tell me they were promised $250 a month by the agency in cambodia, but 50% of their wage has so far been deducted to cover agency fees. after other deductions, they say they only receive about $100 a month, barely enough to feed themselves. their passports have been confiscated by the agency, and they only have a foephotocopy. she tells us they already tried to escape once but were caught by police trying to cross into thailand without a passport, a sign of how desperate they are to go home. >> reporter: her friend says she's just 17 years old and claims she was given a passport by the agency with falsified information showing she was 21. it's illegal for under 18s to work here. all the women say they can't leave until their debt to the agency is paid off. the women work at this electronics factory, jcy, which makes computer hard drives for major international clients including western digital. but in fact, the women are subcontracted by another company. so legally, jcy is not responsible for them. so chanary and her friends were the first part of a complex chain, recruited by the agency but then employed by a middle man along with dozens of other workers at this factory which is owned and operated by jcy. we decide the best way to help the girls is to hand over their case to a local aid agency which specializes in helping migrant workers. >> okay. >> reporter: case worker robin fernandez says their situation is bleak. >> one of the reasons why this is happening is because of outsourcing. when you outsource, you're not responsible for your employee. so the company washes its hands for whatever responsibility this agency supplying the workers. >> reporter: in theories workers at factories like jcy are free to go whenever they want. in theory, their employers are legally obliged to land over their passports whenever the workers ask for them. but in practice, it is the employers who sign off the workers' exit visas. and without that signature, they can't leave the country, meaning they're stuck here. jcy refused to do an interview but told us most workers willingly give their passports to their respective agents for safekeeping and are able to obtain their passports at any time upon their request. the statement went on, "all workers in our plants have free access to our human resource department and our management to report any grievance they may have. we try to resolve all grievances in a fair and equitable manner. as far as we're concerned, workers are free to leave their employment in our company at any time." these women may not have a ball and chain around their feet, but they are saddled with a huge fee that they must pay off before they can leave. and what's amazing is that all this is legal in malaysia. meaning some people get stuck here for years working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week to pay off their debt. in the final part of our investigation, why is this allowed to continue in malaysia? slavery? >> you could say modern forms of slavery. >> reporter: and the computer accessories you use that are built with debt-understabonded . dan rivers, penang, cnn, malaysia. live from cnn london, i'm nina del santos. >> and i'm andrew stevens. welcome back. you're watching "world business today." let's take a look at how the european markets are faring at the moment. we've had a positive start to the day. investors shrugging off concerns about italy after moody's decided to bring it down three notches in terms of its credit rating. we should also mention that the banks are staging quite a bit of a recovery in europe. this is largely thanks to news that the european central bank will be moving to try and recapitalize the banking sector after dexia became the latest bank to perhaps nee