took a lead after round one are still ahead. election process has months to go. it's scheduled to wrap up in march. beljan -- belgian police have ruled out terrorism. authorities are puzzled about the reasons for carrying out this gun and grenade attack in downtown. those are the top stories from cnn, the world news leader. i'm zain vergee. "world business today" starts now. hello and welcome to "world business today," it's thursday, december 15th and i'm nina dos santos at cnn london. and in hong kong, these are the top stories. export angst, disappointing stock day and manufacturing malaise sound alarm bells here in asia. cracks are appearing in the eu's agreement that was men to the save the single currency. and chinese internet senses are way in as anger over a land grab continues. debt and economic distress have dragged western economies down over the past few years, it seems as though asia had been appearing to defy gravity. now it seems the signs are that things could be changing as the euro zone's debt crisis sends a chill through the world's global economy. let's have a look on japan first up. we've had interesting figures out there. japan's quarterly survey came out showing a grim outlook among big japanese manufacturers struggling, on the one hand, strong currency of the yen and slack export demand. we saw a preliminary number from china's hsbc's purchasing manager's index and that in turn showed that manufacturing in the world's second biggest economy is now contracting. the financial times reports that chinese exporters of stocks have been particularly badly hit, especially those who export to europe. two of hong kong's biggest ipos this year fizzled today. >> we're going to get to those disz appointing hong kong ipos in just a moment. first, the asian stock markets finishing low across the board. investors reacting to all of that negative outlook that we've, particularly in terms of economic indicators that nina was talking about both out of china and japan. and take a look at the impact pfr here's the shanghai composite, down sharply, more than 2% a session. the nikkei down more than 1.5%. and generally, yes, if you're in europe you're famous because everybody's talking about the crisis in continental europe right now. really impacting the markets quite heavily, nina. >> manisha, it seems the euro zone crisis has been hogging the highlight, many investors say, for way too much time now. perhaps it's best not to be considering floating your company. we saw what two disappointing debuts on the hang seng in hong kong. uchina life and chow tai fook lost almost $2 billion each. we know so much of what's going on with the markets and the ipos as well is about sentiment, what people think, pessimism is dragging down the business mood in japan, in particular, a key survey of sentiment among the country's largest manufacturers came in worse than expected this quarter. it's the tankan. they were expecting a reading of negative 2. this is how it compares to the previous three quarters. japan is still trying to recover from it's devastating earthquake and tsunami earlier this year. global economic uncertainty, of course, and a strengthening currency really impacting on sentiment as well, nina. >> manisha, let's hone in on that particular strong currency that's been persisting and affecting japanese businesses that export to the united states for quite some time now. the strong yen has been an ongoing headache for policymakers. look how much it's gained over the u.s. dollar over the past year. the lower the number, the stronger the currency. the bank of japan updated its asset-buying plan in october. in an effort to reign in the rising currency after it touched a record of 75.35 against the u.s. dollar. it seems the rally has been taking the heaviest toll on japanese exporters. as you'd imagine we have significant exporters in japan like toyota and nissan. here are some of the worst performers so far this year. we've had the likes of toyota motor corporation down 20% with steeper losses for honda, sony and panasonic which are significant exporters to the united states. every time these companies sell an export to the united states, what they bring back in dollars is worth less and less as the yen strengthens. >> they're really feeling the krurnlg. let's look at stock-specific news now. take a look at this. we've had shares of olympus plunging this year, down nearly 47%. it was the worst performer on the tokyo stock exchange today. it lost, take a look, more than 20% by the close. investors were not best pleased with the company's revised balance sheet for first half of the year which came out after close on wednesday. it showed a net loss of nearly $415 million. again, on that stronger yen. it's having a huge impact on the company and weak camera sales. now that olympus met the critical deadline to prevent delisting. the company is focusing on future leadership. >> translator: it is certain that mr. woodford is one of our options but we'd like to make a proposal. it is possible to leave the final decision about it to the shareholders' judgment on the new management team. >> let's take a check on how european stock markets are faring at the moment. we're about an hour into thursday's session. you can see, we're putting on healthy gains, mine you they're not above the 1 percentage point mark. this is the focus here. how to save the single currency. also how to save the 17 countries that operate within that and to get their budgets in line. as you can see, we have the dax up to the tune of shy of 1%. similar picture for the cac 40. ftse 100 and zurich smi, outside the euro zone are the ones that aren't going quite as well, manisha. let's, with all of this in mind, take everyone back to what happened on wall street. yep, the bell went and stocks on wednesday tumbled as the crisis in europe continues. the weak euro means less return for u.s. exporters as well which led the losses on wednesday. at the close of trade, the major indices were off by as much as 1.5%. with those in mind, let's see where things stand right now in terms of the futures and what we can expect later in the session. i told you a lot of this is about psychology and sentiment. it really hasn't changed much later. we do have the futures right now pointing higher. let's keep an eye on what happens, of course, in europe, as the day goes on and how that might impact these futures. >> throughout europe's attempts to deal with the sovereign debt crisis, the german chancellor, angela merkel has stressed the need for unity. it may have come as some surprise when her own secretary general abruptly resigned on wednesday. it was over the question of a vote for a bailout fund for europe. >> translator: we have decided to correct constructional mistakes that were made at the beginning of the economic an monetary union, the path to a fiscal union in terms of a stability union has not been finished but we have started it and i think we will not turn back. >> despite mrs. merkel's determination to press ahead with the fiscal union, the german government, it seems, is not the only one which is in strains over the project. and that has been put forward here. let's take a look -- excuse me. less than a week after european leaders agreed almost unanimously to deepen their economic integration, questions about this particular plan have already begun to arise as jim boulden now reports. >> reporter: it's reality time back home. in warsaw, protesters rally against poland's tacit agreement to lose some sovereignty to join a fiscal compact. while poland doesn't yet use the euro. in london, bickering continues after cameron vetoing the treaty for fiscal union. >> isn't the sensible thing for him to do is re-enter the negotiations and try and get a better deal for britain? >> first, i make no apologies for standing up for britain. >> reporter: so no cracks in the british government's determination not to sign up. but difficulties are appearing elsewhere. ireland for one may have to hold a referendum to agree any changes. prime minister told parliament there is a lot of detail to be worked out. >> it is, of now, a political agreement. obviously given what's involved here, there are detailed technical and legal considerations that will need to be carefully teased out or analyzed by experts before any legal text is adopted. >> reporter: sweden's prime minister said tuesday since the country didn't use the euro it will not agree to all the euro zone discipline rules. the czech government says the proposed pack is still just a blank piece of paper. and that it won't just sign that blank paper. >> we would like to be present at the able when it's debated. we are not ready to sign up to it at this moment. >> translator: german chancellor angela merkel told the bundesta goo the euro dipped to its lowest level in 11 months and italian bond yields are on the rise again. eu leaders promise to sign off on the fiscal compact at their next summit in march. but will the markets give them that time to fill in the details and fill in the cracks? jim boulden, cnn, london. as jim mentioned there, some european member states are sounding a note of caution about the fiscal deal struck last week in brussels. some of the most hess tan the players those countries in the european union but outside of the single currency. anders borg explained this to richard quest a little while ago. >> we think the legal obligation and sanctions should be primarily directed towards the euro countries. for us it would not be acceptable if we would be forced to change the constitution to be able to join, so we would not accept the constitutional change implied by the depth break. eventually we could see strong advantages for a country like sweden to be a part of these meetings. >> that's the finance minister of sweden which is one of the ten european union member states outside the euro zone. it's unlikely to be the only one of those countries unwilling to submit itself to the kind of disciplinary action that's been mooted for countries that does not use the euro. nina. still to come on "world business today," when land grashs have been a bone of contention. this latest one has led to a village under siege. we just wanted to show you that beautiful winter sunset dipping below the hong kong skyline on victoria harbor. this is us live on "world business today" in hong kong and london. welcome back. starting today, u.s.-made vehicles exported to china will be slapped with a hefty duty. on wednesday, beijing announced duties on u.s.-made cars that will increase the price by 21.5%. big move there. this comes amidst rising tensions between the two nations. this is how ford and general motors ended on wednesday. investors are fearing the worst with both stocks down more than 3% when it comes to ford that one was down 3.15%. a a slightly heavier loss for general motors. u.s. vehicle exports to china were worth about $4.2 billion as you can see on this particular big number we have behind me. and for the first ten months of the year. and that means it makes it the third largest market for u.s. vehicle exports behind only the likes of canada and also germany. so there's plenty of money on the table here and about 4.2 billion is the figure that's at stake. >> that is quite a number. now, in china, it started as a land grab. then there were protests and a death and ransom demands and now internet sensors have blocked villages in the south of the country where authorities are holding residents under siege for a fifth day. it's happening just 100 kilometers or so from right where i am, hong kong. in a fishing village where the population of about 20,000 in the southern chinese province of xuandung. the disagreement began over village lan taken by the local government. after days of protests against the land grab with a man died in police custody on sunday. police say it was a heart attack, others murder. residents fended off a police advance, defending with barricades. there are claims that authorities are offering to release four men they hold in custody in exchange for an end to this standoff. one man who has been following this from the start is malcolm ford. this is really a remarkable story and i think this is something that unfortunately china's very familiar with, this idea of land grabs, unfortunately, particularly in places where there are a lot of poorer farmers. what exactly do you think is happening here? >> reporter: it is a familiar story. the difference in this case, the village managed to drive out the local communist party and drive out all the police. we were there earlier this week, i spent two days in town and there were no authorities beyond the villages. how long can they hold out for? the police have encircled the town and cut off their food and watt and are basically sitting back and letting the village sweat it out. >> tell me about your experiences there. why did you leave? >> reporter: we left the town basically because the villagers told us it was a bit of a devil's pact allow is us into the village and speaking to us. on the one hand they were worried when the issue is resolved the local government will come after them and punish the people who let us in. on the other hand, they said they didn't have access to the chinese media to get their story out so they need us. once the story did get out, then, you know, the question was how to minimize that risk. we felt this is the right time to stand back for a little while and see how things unfolded and not put the village into any more risk than they're already in. >> we mentioned this before, the fact that you know, china is all too familiar with stories similar to this, the land grab story. there's a discrepancy to some extent between what the local authorities are doing and what's happening centrally. can you explain that for us? >> the problem that the villagers have is with their local officials. they feel that that party secretary and that deputy party secretary had basically sold off their land from underneath them and embezzled the money and hand paid them the compensation they thought they were due. those two men are now under investigation by the local government. for the past few months, the villagers have been negotiating with the local government asking to have their land returned. but at the end of the day, the local government decided, so far, that that's not going to happen. it's a judgment of solomon type affair hoping beijing will see the local government is also corrupt and will rule on their side. >> could be a big turning point. malcolm moore, thank you for that. >> manisha, let's encourage our viewers to stay with us here on "world business today." after the break we'll have more on the warm weather picture we've seen here in europe. don't go away. who need imagine... one scooter or power chair that could improve your mobility and your life. one medicare benefit that, with private insurance, may entitle you to pay little to nothing to own it. one company that can make it all happen ... your power chair will be paid in full. the scooter store. hi i'm doug harrison. we're experts at getting you the power chair or scooter you need. i didn't pay a penny out of pocket for my power chair. with help from the scooter store, medicare and my insurance covered it all. call the scooter store for free information today. time for the weather now. let's go over to jill brown for the latest forecast. >> we have had stormy weather the last few days. looks like we have a few more days with wind and rain and snow and ice as well. that's probably going to cause delays at the airports. so far things aren't so bad today. 15 to 30-minute delays, mannly due to wind. we have a few locations reporting low clouds. that's caused some delays, brussels starting to get in on it. 60 to 90-minute delays. except more of that across central europe. i'll tell you why. as it spreads a swath of snow from switzerland to austria and poland, it will mix in rain and ice. once you get ice in there, that can cause delays. the snow we're expecting isn't necessarily going to be heavy but with a little bit of ice that will bring some problems. we may get some severe storms, especially on friday. rain and the strong winds continue to follow this. we have more reports of wind advisories today. the last few days we've had reports of wind gusts over 100 kilometers per hour. we might have a few more of those. look at the rain coming in here and heavy downpours. there's your snow or rain and snow mixed. the higher elevations will have the heavier snow, maybe up to 20 or so centimeters. the lower elevations, we're looking at 1 to 4 centimeters of snow. not a huge swath but with gusty winds it will feel miserable out there, damp and miserable. munich, you may get a little sun for today. after that it's snow for the next few days to come. london, snow mixed in at the end and then it dries out. rome possibly getting in on the chance of severe thunderstorms with this one. want to take a quick look at the tropical storm. by the way, it's back to a tropical storm now, coming into the philippines, heavy rain expected for the next 24 hours and stronger wind gusts until this gets back out into the south china sea where it should diminish. "world business today" continues after this. from cnn hong kong, i'm i' manisha tank. and i'm nina dos santos. you're watching "world business today." let's take a look at the european stock markets. it's those euro zone markets in particular, the dax and the cac 40 that are doing the best today. again be the euro zone is hogging the limelight. manis manisha? >> that's a rebound market-wise, i have to say. it was a down day in asian trade. exporters, manufacturers, both areas lower in tokyo in particular. japan's quarterly tankan survey showed business sentiment amongst large manufacturers was worse than expected. it was negative 4 versus negative 2 in previous quarters. that particular sentiment index coming in worse than expected. people do get very unhappy. you can see the impact across the board. we also had more inklings about what we can expect out of china, really putting pressure on the shanghai composite in the euro zone. two of the year's biggest ipos here in hong kong failed as well. this didn't help matters. china's third largest life insurance company, new china life, down 10% and chow tai fook lost more than 8%. it was all pomp and pageantry as they celebrated the listing. by the close its performance will no doubt have taken some of the shine off the proceedings. it may be unfamiliar to most outside asia but chow tai fook is the world's largest jewelry company by revenue and it has big plans for the future. ramy inocencio explores what's demanding asian deman f mamand that glitters. >> reporter: let your eyes adjust to the shine. this is chow tai fook, the biggest jeweler you may never heard of. half of their profit comes from gold, the other half from silver. this ring retails for $64,000 and from diamonds. this here is a 25 carat diamond. it retails for more than 2.6 million u.s. dollars. if i may. and i have to admit, that i have never held something as expensive until this day in my life and i probably never will again. but if luxe like this is too rich for your blood, a piece of the company itself might be easier on the wallet. it sold for less than $2 a share in its initial offering last week because of fears of a global slowdown, yet some analysts forecast stability in the stock. >> there's no reason to think this ipo will fail in terms of collapse. there's a lot of vested interest. >> reporter: one of those reasons is gold's rising value. year to date, the price of the safe haven has surged nearly 11%. another reason is that mainland china has been on a spending spree. indian consumers spent