security forces of not doing enough while victims were trampled and beaten. the country's military government has declared three days of national mourning. leon panetta announced plans on wednesday to pull all nato combat troops from afghanistan by the end of 2013. that's a full year earlier than previously planned. nato's training and support troops are expected to stay in afghanistan beyond the 2013 pullout date. those are the headlines. from cnn, i'm juanita raj paul. cnn world business today starts right now. hello. welcome to "world business today." i'm nina dos santos in london. >> the top stories this thursday, february 2nd. sony forecasts another eye-watering loss, as the one-time electronics leader struggles to get back into the black. we take you inside facebook's moneymaking machine, as the social networking phenomenon now prepares for its stock market listing. and shares of the australian miner linus jumped almost 20% after the company scores a big rare earths deal in malaysia. but not everyone's celebrating. while sony looked to the future on wednesday by naming a new ceo. but the electronics giant can't escape its troubled recent past. now, today, the company more than doubled the net loss it had forecast for the current fiscal year to $2.9 billion. natural disasters in japan and thailand hurt the productivity in 2011. the strong yen for the damaging exports. and the hacking scandal that affected the playstation network only added salt to the wounds. when he comes in, he will find this waiting for him. the company's stock has plummeted 51.0% over the last 12 months alone. for more on their troubles, we go to the japanese capital. how much did the natural disasters in japan and also in thailand account for the big losses? >> it's hard to exactly say what is outside forces and what's internal forces. what i can tell you is when you thumb through the third-quarter earnings results today and look forward to the forecast it makes for some depressing reading, especially if you're a sony shareholder. this company has significant problems. not only the outside forces you talked about. but internally, they have a lot of restructuring to do. the tv business is now looking at, again, an eight-year loss. so, it is going to be very tough. we did see for the very first time since the announcement at the press conference that did wrap up just a short time ago, howard stringer officially shaking hands with kazou hirai, saying this is the boss that will take over on april 1st. he has a huge to-do list. he is arguably stepping into one of the toughest jobs in corporate japan. he did say he will not pull out of the tv business. it's an important link between sony and the consumer. he also said he will pursue actively restructuring. he's going to look at asset writing. and he's going to make sure to make the tough choices. try to bust through the silos that are widely criticized that sony has. that they have to be a unified company working together. they must do that in order to cree it a future for sony. he is aware that there's a big to-do list. his in-box is going to be quite full. he is, at the age of 51, one of the younger ceos here in corporate japan. he's going to need that youthful energy from day one, andrew. >> and did howard stringer say anything in his farewell as the ceo? he's going to stay on as chairman of the board. but stepping down as ceo, what did he have to say? >> it actually sounded much more like a retirement speech. he wasn't just stepping back from the position. he was stepping almost into full retirement. he did seem quite a bit upbeat. but he did specifically say, if there were not these natural disasters. what happened in thailand. if they didn't have the pressure from the yen, they'd be looking at a year in the black. not a year in the red. he is saying, this year, these three quarters, this entire pressure economically, is really quite a bit due to the outside forces. not as much the internal forces. that's something i found quite notable. he also did say it was certainly just time. time for a generation switch at sony. >> absolutely. it's interesting. those external forces, certainly the yen, not just a sony problem. we have numbers that you've seen, looking at the other big electronicsmakers, just how hard they've been hit. good to talk to you. nina? >> we're going to be staying with the japanese theme here because a computer glitch disrupted trading in the shares of some of japan's biggest companies listed on the tokyo stock exchange just earlier today. the stock of some 241 firms was affected by the outage, including that of sony, as we were just discussing. also, hit taachi was one of the firms that was affected. trading did resume for the afternoon session. >> what do the numbers look like? certainly, a bad day for one company. sharp corporation, down nearly 16%. it was actually down as far as it goes. it has a daily limit. it can't fall anywhere more than 100 yen per day. and it hit that level today. why? it forecast an annual loss of $3.8 billion after a slump in tv sales. we just heard about weak tv sales at sony. very much the same story at sharp, if not more so. it had forecast an overall profit, going to a $3.8 billion loss. gives you an idea just how hard these big japanese electronic companies are doing it at the moment. the yen, certainly not helping. but also the tsunami. this is a unique year, looking forward for the companies in japan. hopefully they'll be looking at something a little more settled in 2012. that was the numbers. the nikkei, disspite that sharp number to eke out a 0.75% gain. news coming out there would be more support for small to medium companies in china. that gave a boost to shanghai. and hong kong road that story, as well. in australia, the s&p up by 1%. one miner, this is lynas. malaisian authorities granting the company to operate in rare earth refinery. that's a big pop for lynus. >> yeah. also something we've been talking about throughout the course of this week, let's hone in on the markets here. it's another big day for europe, with french and spanish debt sales on the cards today. it seems it really is the corporate earnings we're getting out of some of the companies that's dominating the agenda for once. let's hone in on this particular market. you can see the ftse 100 is the one that's falling the most. there's a large reason for this slump. it's a big heavywieght here on the markets. it's shell, the net income down from 6.8 billion this year before. these figures did miss estimates. it's largely due to disruptions of gas and oil supplies. we've had the arab spring disrupting. and nigeria. we know how that's gone. nigeria's been plagued by stakes over fuel subsidies and the removal of fuel subsidies over the last month or so. here on the frankfurt debt, that number is down 0.03%. we had a disappointing statement coming out of deutsche bank. this company, with a surprised pretext lost $462 million in the last quarter. it shows how companies like this are being affected by the situation in europe. and the hair cut that could be imposed for private sector investors in greek debt. here on the ftse again, just to point out, we had astrazeneca, one of the largest drug companies in britain, announcing it will be having thousands of job cuts. this market will be choppy for the rest of today. after two months of gains, we're back in the red again. >> okay, nina. let's turn, now, to the company that everyone is talking about. for a social network, it's been conspicuously private until now. a facebook share has involved a photo or a newspaper article. but that's all changing. now, the world's most talked-about website has asked for a thumbs up for a $5 billion ipo. founder mark zuckerberg is very much in charge. he expects to make a mint. expected on a valuation of $18 million, he could have a value of $22 billion. just as important for zuckerberg, though, he retains 57% voting control of the company. why buy the shares? well, in 2011, facebook took $1 billion of profits with revenues of $3.8 billion. that's up 65% on its 2010 earnings. pretty robust numbers there. 85% of the site's revenue comes from advertising. 12% comes from the games company zynga. interesting mark zuckerberg maintaining tight control on the company. it's not usual for companies to do this. in this case, it will be quite well received because he's such the visionary. he's the founder. and he's make nothing bones about the fact that he intends to continue to drive the company very much in the way he thinks it needs to grow. >> yes. some people have said he could be the next steve jobs of the world of social networking. of course, we know more about facebook than ever before. and at first glance, those figures look pretty promising, don't they? but recent history has told us that big tech ipos sometimes give way to big disappointments. should investors buy or shy away from facebook shares? what's to like and what's not to like? >> reporter: call it mark zuckerbergs most important status update ever. his 8-year-old company is looking to friend wall street with the largest ipo on record. but will wall street like what it sees? facebook claims to have 800 million users. they're on it at homes. they'ren it at coffee shops like this one in new york city. it's that popularity that has so many people excited about facebook's ipo. >> this is a company that is smart enough to figure out in the long run how to really turn their scale into a lot of profit. >> reporter: nate westheimer is a social networking entrepreneur based in new york. he says the facebook growth story is still in its early days. >> what's exciting about facebook is they haven't really pushed the gas on driving revenue. they're doing pretty traditional ads right now. they know they can try new things. and they can really try to push it harder. and they're not yet. >> reporter: even so, skeptics say facebook's stock is just not worth the risk. >> there's going to be a lot of advertisers that are already there. and more advertisers that are going to come. but the question is, of course, whether that can grow sufficiently to justify paying 50-times next year's earnings. >> reporter: what do you think? >> i think it's too much. it's the law of large numbers. the 800 million people on the 7 billion person globe here, that really like facebook, are already there. facebook would come back and tell you they've got all sorts of potential for data mining. there's more than advertising that can be done. you learn about all these users. that can be sold to all sorts of companies. that can raise privacy concerns. >> reporter: privacy remains a huge concern for some on facebook. they fear the company might try to sell their information to boost profits, despite facebook's insistence that users have control over how their information is shared. >> it is difficult to tell what they're doing with our information. it makes me a bit uneasy. but there's not really an alternative social networking space. >> reporter: some die-hard fans say they'll think twice before buying a share of facebook. >> i'd like to see what happens with it. see what the reaction is initially first. >> reporter: skeptical. a little skeptical. the debate rages on. is the facebook ipo going to be the next dot-bomb. or will it make more money than god? >> judging on the interest, there has been so far on facebook, i might go for the latter on that one. but we have plenty more on that story later in the show, including the philosophies of mark zuckerberg. he wrote an interesting letter to his shareholders about his philosophies. still ahead here on "world business today" -- >> no one from the outside could do this. it's a fallacy to think of it. but it's also, not only fallacy. but it creates a risk that in the end, this is pain imposed on us to punish us, not to help us. >> you'll recognize that face. the former greek prime minister, a pretty blunt message for outsiders trying to dabble in his country's affairs, just ahead. welcome back. the german chancellor, angela merkel is taking a break from meeting with european leaders about europe's debt crisis. instead, she is in china. but again, europe's debt crisis is high on the agenda. >> we feel that china and germany can work together to strengthen supervision in the financial market. we have more harmonization. in imf, we can play an important role. we can see that china is having more and more power in imf, because china is growing power, economically speaking. at the global level, china plays a more and more important roll. and at the same time, assume more and more important functions. >> mrs. merkel spoke to the chinese president and premiere about sanctions on iran. i'm sure that the word greece, can't been too far from discussions up in beijing today. >> remember the film? grease is the word. certainly is today in the markets. as you were saying, andrew, one of mrs. merkel's biggest headaches has been the situation in greece. she met with the former prime minister george papandreou before he announced his resignation. on wednesday, mr. papandreou sat down with israel's channel 2 television station. and he shared his views on where greece is going now. >> the name of your country, greece, has become recently a synonym for economic crisis. the economic crisis for state bankruptcy. how did you come to this point? >> we're not a poor country. we're a badly managed country. and when i was elected, i inherited a ballooning deficit, which had reached 16.5%. but also, almost a doubling of debt in the last -- the previous 5 1/2 years of the previous government, from $480 billion to $320 billion in those years. >> and you were unlucky enough that it all happened in your watch? >> unlucky is one word. but i also say i was lucky enough to be prime minister at the time of the greatest need of my country. the crisis, of course, in greece, was exacerbated by another crisis, which is the incomplete architecture of the euro zone. >> how long will be greek people be willing to receive instructions, not to say orderers, from brussels, not to say angela merkel from berlin? >> no one from the outside can do this. and it's a fallacy to even think about that. not only fallacy, but it creates a sense in greece, that this is pain imposed on us to punish us. not to help us. and i think it's wrong. >> do you think angela merkel should take a step back and be less involved? >> well, we are all involved now in europe. there's obviously different mentalities and different ways. i feel the more this is something seen as imposed, the less effective it will be. and in the end, this, of course, is going to be good for greece. but we have to all decide to take on responsibilities. if we decide that the pain is too much, let's say stop and go on our own. >> will the euro zone survive? >> i like to be optimistic. >> but you're not? >> i am. but it's something that i cannot not only in my hands, it's in the collective. if we have the collective will in europe, that's fine. if you ask any of the european leaders right now, they will say we have to keep the euro alive. and we have to strengthen it. and we have to take the necessary measures. >> that's george papandreou, the former greek prime minister. well, papandreou was in israel to speak at the 12th hertz leuen summit. and it is held in israel. that's one of the reasons why he was there for that interview. andrew? >> all right. now, just ahead, the ax falls on 13,000 jobs at american airlines. we'll hear what the unions are saying. don't go away.shif in what passes for common sense. used to be we socked money away and expected it to grow. then the world changed... and the common sense of retirement planning became anything but common. fortunately, td ameritrade's investment consultants can help you build a plan that fits your life. take control by opening a new account or rolling over an old 401(k) today, and we'll throw in up to $600. how's that for common sense? american airlines plans to slash some 13,000 jobs in a major drive to cut costs. right now, america's number three airline is under bankruptcy protection. it also says that it means to reduce its costs by some 20% just to survive. and that represents a saving of about $1.25 billion annually. american airlines reportedly lost more than $900 million during the month of december alone. the word came down in a company-wide letter to employees. but, andrew, so far, there's no word as to when those layoffs will start to be implemented. >> yeah. the american airlines boss, thomas horton says that crucial changes are needs to avoid, in his words, tens of thousands, multiple job workers. but the transport workers international union in america, says he worries about how the airline's restructuring will affect the quality of service. >> one of the biggest things i have with the cutting of jobs is the safety aspects of it. we do a large number. we do 90% of our aircraft maintenance in-house. i'm not sure how that's going to shake out and to what degree that's going to impact the workforce. and also, the areas where we have large groups of people. it's going to affect the community, as well. it's not just our members that's impacted. >> now, aside from the job cuts, american airlines is also hoping to save money by changing its pension plan, restructuring debt, grounding older planes and switching supplies. well, speaking of flying, for all of you business travelers out there, frigid temperatures will be greeting you across many parts of northern asia and also europe. now, before we get to that forecast of freezing snow and temperatures, somebody tells me it's your birthday today. >> oh, my goodness. it got out. >> happy birthday. a heartfelt happy birthday. >> it happens every year. incredible, time flies by here. if you are flying in the northern hemisphere, pack accordingly. it's unbelievably frigid. we're past cold here at this point. 23 degrees below zero. that's the reading yesterday morning in bucharest. we have been seeing low 20s below zero in many areas as this bombastic high pressure system that's been dominating our high pattern here. unprecedented here across western russia. continues to just dive into the south. it is going to begin to slowly moderate. but that's not going to happen until the latter part of this week. for now, we are in the chill. it has also come with areas of low pressure along the mediterranean. that's spun in some moisture here. so, we've been snowing. let's take you to ukraine and show you the conditions there. not only have they been dealing with the snow. but also, the frigid temperatures. the kind of cold that turns snow into rock. it's been difficult for crews to clear the frigid snow off the ground. it's just incredible scene there. not only in europe here, but showing you scenes in asia in a second. i want to show you the forecast map behind me. we're not done. it's still going to snow. we have another low moving in from the balkans here. look at some of the tallies here. 15, 25, and some areas, higher elevation, up to 50 centimeters not out of the question. here's berlin. temperatures below zero. you'll notice by the time we get into saturday, we're going in the right direction. things are beginning -- we can't say warming up. but less cold, right? 20 below in kiev. i want to take you to japan. sea-effect snow continues here. look at the scene from japan. new pictures on cnn from what is now, well, meters of snow. that's how much snow they're trying to get rid of there, as another sea-effect snow has been piling up on japan. an unbelievable winter for europe and asia. andrew and nina will be back with you here as "world business today" continues. welcome back to "world business today" on cnn. i'm nina dos santos in london. >> i'm andrew stevens in hong kong. >> let's update