soldiers in the syrian city of olelepo, according to syrian tv who described it as terrorist attacks. 350 people have been killed vaas syria in an escalating assault by government forces. country ha haest hit by europe's deadly cold snap, but across europe, hundreds are dead, people are snowed in and cars are stranded to the roadsides and even the danyu river is partially frozen, keeping many vessels stuck in port. those are the headlines. i'm monita rajpal. "world business today" starts right now. good morning from cnn london. i'm dina dos santos. >> and good morning from cnn hong kong. you're watching "world business today." the top stories this happy friday, the 10th of february. must try harder. eu ministers say greece's bailout deal is not good enough. almost a year after a deadly earthquake, the new zealand city of christchurch now looks to asia to help finance its rebuilding. and in a densely populated city like hong kong, space can be a luxury, but as flats get smaller, are some landlords putting tenants' safety at risk? first up, though, we've been waiting all week for lawmakers in athens to strike a money-saving deal and to secure themselves a new bailout for the country. we thought that one would lead to the other, didn't we? but greece came up short yet again this time. the deal by the greek prime minister lucas papademos on a domestic level came after days of torturous talks but apparently is not good enough for the country's international creditors. jean-claude juncker says funds will be withheld until another $430 million are saved and the revised plan becomes law. well, greece has just two days to make that happen. >> ministers are fully aware of the significant efforts already made by the greek citizens, but also on the line of further joined efforts by all parts of greece society are needed to return the economy to a sustainable growth path. despite the important progress achieved over the last days, we did not yet have all necessary elements on the table to take decisions today. >> lenders aren't giving athens any wiggle room, but while the greek government works overtime to stave off a default, it's already seeing an economic nightmare for the country. look at these staggering statistics. unemployment has risen across greece to a record high almost 21%. youth unemployment in particular stands at 48%. greece is suffering its fifth straight year of recession and the threat of more cuts has its unions, as you'd expect, up in arms. we're joined live from athens as a 48-hour strike gets under way across the greek capital. linda, this must be terribly disappointing for the greek government who clinched a deal on a economic level only to be rejected on an international one. >> reporter: well, that's very true. i mean, the deal was, of course, struck last minute, and a number of issues remain to be cleared out before the euro group can decide, before the europeans can decide what they want to do about it. from the greek people's point of view, the people were gathering on the squares and the mobilizations. a lot of this is actually very disappointing. they were hoping that this new package might come with less austerity and more promises of growth. the figures you just showed, the numbers are staggering. unemployment is exceptionally high. all the prospects do not show any growth coming their way, and this is the reason why the unions have decided once again to take to the streets, a two-day general strike with mobilizations culminating on sunday outside parliament, which is the day that the new measures need to be voted in by the greek politicians. the union leaders here say it's not that they necessarily wouldn't be prepared to work hard to bring the greek economy back on its feet. they just simply don't see how more austerity is going to result to anything other than recession, and this is very much the mood on the street here, and this is very much what the people i've been talking to this morning have been telling me. >> and elinda, greece has been in recession for the last five years. it's likely that even if the greek government does manage to come to more cuts that are possible for these eu leaders, the economy will shrink even further next year and the austerity programs will just have to be reinforced once again. >> reporter: well, this is very much the fear here. we've been hearing, you know, about businesses closing every day, more people facing a harder and harder time. euro start figures show that one in four greeks is now on the poverty line. headlines this morning about greece going 60 years back and striking images on the front pages from the second world war, you know, starving children on the streets. it's very much that kind of mood. that's the popular mood here, and this is why there's so much fear, and in many ways, lack of support for these measures and also just confusion of what comes next, you know. none of the solutions seem desirable to the greek people at this point. >> okay, elinda, many thanks for that, joining us live from athens. just a reminder, a 48-hour general strike is going to be kicking off in the greek capital. we will be monitoring that as the day goes through, but just a couple key dates to point out for our viewers. on monday, we've got a deadline for the private sector involvement haircuts being negotiated. we've also got on march 20th that crucial day when greece will have to be repaying nearly $90 billion worth, so they've got to hammer these things out and the time bomb is ticking. >> it is, isn't it? finally, the hard deadlines really are becoming hard. now, turning to asia. china certainly doesn't have the financial worries on the scale of greece, but it too cannot escape the europe effect. economic data released this friday might make for happy reading in beijing. take a look at these numbers. chinese exports -- these are broad trade numbers -- down by 0.5% year on year in january, showing just how much more difficult it's becoming for china to sell their products overseas, now particularly for someone like europe, which is such a key market. but look at the imports number there, down by 15.3%. that's the first recorded fall in imports since october 2009. now, these numbers are impacted by the extending the lunar new year holiday. trade surplus is at a three-year high of $27.3 billion, paling in comparison to the peak of 2008. but this is telling us that not only is the external environment for china getting tougher and tougher because of what's happening in europe, the internal environment is also getting tougher. people are shopping less, they're demanding less. that's why you're seeing a big fall in imports. the big question is just how much did the lunar new year have to do with that and just how much other circumstances in the economy is generally at play here. let's turn now to an overview of what's happening in the markets. in these times of huge economic uncertainty, it may surprise you to learn that the asia-pacific region only today ended its longest run of weekly gains since 2005, would you believe? take a look at how the msci here has performed, the msci asia-pacific index. we're close to eight straight weeks of rising stocks because it peaked just a few days ago, but greece was just enough to push the asian benchmark into negative territory for the week, bringing the most impressive run since 2005 to an end. okay, what happened today? here's the numbers on the ground today. you'll see there, three red arrows, one green arrow only showing higher. rather counterintuitive, you'll say, given the bad numbers from the exporters, also the importers. shanghai has been one of the worst performing markets this year. investors really stepping back, giving a little bit of time to see how these export numbers, these import numbers, the trade and also inflation numbers will play out over the next month or so. we had the bank of china and the bank of communications both taking a slide in hong kong. the hang seng down more than 1%. carmakers in tokyo, toyota, honda, taking a hit today. the nikkei down almost two-thirds of 1%, nina. >> andrew, i'll get to the european markets reacting to greece, but first, the cac 40 in paris. i want to show you the number of false dawns we've had when it comes to greece negotiating these kinds of deals and then markets falling back. around october-november, you'll remember that was that famed summit when negotiators came back to brussels repeatedly, the eu leaders, and sat all the way through the night until 5:00 in the morning to hammer out the last bailout for greece. and of course, right throughout these kind of periods, january to february, we've had those negotiations with international creditors. this is the kind of choppy picture we've seen on the markets over the course of the last few weeks. how are they doing today? you can see equally unimpressed, it seems, particularly across the eurozone with the kind of deal the greeks have put on the table. of course, the eurozone finance ministers meeting in brussels yesterday, telling the greeks to go back to the drawing board to make further cuts here, and that really has the cac and the xetra dax in frankfurt suffering from this because the banks and these two economies could suffer and take significant loss on the back of those greek bonds that they own. ftse 100, best of the bunch here. we had barclays coming out with its earnings. the stock is up almost 1%, despite the fact that we had a profit drop here which caused it to miss its target. we also had the french telecommunications company alcatel, that one's up about 15% in the paris session after it came out with its first profit in six years, coming in at about $1.5 billion. hasn't been enough, though, as you can see, andrew, to counter the kind of greek effect we're seeing on the markets today. greece also playing its role on wall street overnight. it was a pretty busy start to the day's session, investors cheering news of what appeared to be a final greek debt deal, but that early enthusiasm fading towards the end of trade as investors questioned whether the plans would actually live up to expectations, and as we now know, they haven't. let's look at how the markets ended the day. still ended in the red, although the gains were substantially higher earlier in the day. the dow up just a touch, the nasdaq up and the s&p, the broader index there, up. >> if early indications are anything to go by, seems like the market stateside, where they start trading in a little under five hours from now, could be taking keys from things particularly across continental europe. take a look at that. all the futures markets are down to the tune of about 0.5% so far, and of course, they could move further just depending what comes out of greece today. now, still ahead here on "world business today," the mayor of the earthquake-plagued new zealand city of christchurch is in asia to declare that it's open for business. it's nearly a year since a 6.3-magnitude quake hit the city. we'll look at the challenges of rebuilding a broken local economy, just ahead. hello, welcome back. you're watching "world business today" live on cnn. >> now, it's nearly a year since a powerful 6.3-magnitude quake rocked the city of christchurch in new zealand, destroying buildings and claiming 185 lives. some residents were given a fresh reminder of that day just today when several hundred more homes were declared unsafe. around 7,000 houses have now been condemned, and the cost of rebuilding keeps climbing. it's now estimated to be around $25 billion u.s. that's more than 10% of new zealand's gdp, its total economic output. now, perhaps unsurprisingly, given the disaster, tourism in the city has also been suffering. but that's something the mayor of christchurch, bob parker, intends to reverse. he's in asia to declare the city open for business. i spoke to him earlier today about the city's future and asked why it would be attractive to foreign investors. >> the scale of demolition and reconstruction in the heart of christchurch city is something unprecedented in western cities since the second world war. it's massive. i'm talking way over 50% in the core of the christchurch cbd that will be replaced, whole blocks completely clear felled. and we have a chance to build something utterly unique. we had a 19th-century city, which was a response to the reformist thinking back in the 1800s. >> so, what are you going to do? >> we're going to build a 21st-century city, a sustainable city, a green city, if you like. the writing is on the wall for that, looking at the impacts of the cost of energy, looking at how we treat the environment that we're in, the sustainable materials, looking at our carbon footprint and creating a new city that will resonate in the new century, particularly with young people. >> there's been a lot of discord, controversy over the rebuilding. the chief executive was offered a pay raise and yourself was called a clown by the recovery minister. >> that is true. >> he did later retract that. >> thank goodness. >> but all this adds up to not very attractive for a foreign investor dmoog this sort of controversy. >> i think you -- and that's right, i agree with you, those are things you'd rather not have happen. but if you look at any major event of this kind around the world on any scale, it's very rare for a council to still be there a year or so after the event and even rarer to have the same elected officials in place, so -- >> you're not pulling in the same direction? >> well, i think we are, but you know, i think for a start, there's a lot of stress, a lot of tension in the area. we've had a long series of earthquakes, and there's a ri rigorous debate in our community about what we should do and people are frustrated that it doesn't go fast enough. but one of the things we have learned is that the decisions we are making now will shape this city forever, potentially. those decisions have to be carefully thought through and they have to be decisions that will stand the test of time. that inevitably means things are a little slower than some would like. >> do you think you are now all on the same page? >> i don't think we'll ever -- this is politics, you know, you'll never have everybody on the same page. otherwise, we wouldn't need politics. we'd just have some other system working in there. >> how long is it going to take to rebuild christchurch to where it is complete? >> i think it will take many, many years. i think you're looking at probably decades in some areas. >> and how much will it cost? >> well, our estimate at the moment is around $20 billion to $30 billion of money we know is coming back into the city. >> certainly, the christchurch city council, nina, is looking for some of that money to come from asia. as bob parker points out there, they want to sort of rebuild christchurch very much as a green city, an attractive city for young people. as he says, we've got the first chance for virtually any city in the world to completely rebuild itself, reshape how it looks, how it operates for the 21st century. it's a big ask, but certainly, they think they can attract that money because they've got so much to work with in new zealand. it's interesting, and obviously, we'll continue to monitor this and see how they get on. >> yeah, he certainly made a very convincing case, didn't he there, bob parker? and andrew, coming up on "world business today" after this short break, a look inside hong kong's cramped living conditions. you can rent an entire house. money isn't their main concern. we'll explain why after this break. male announcer ] let's level the playing field. take the privileged investing tools of wall street and make them simple, intuitive, and available to all. still a that data. make information instinctual, visual. introducing trade architect, td ameritrade's empowering web-based trading platform. take control of your portfolio today. trade commission-free for 60 days, and we'll throw in up $600 when you open an account. time for a check of the world's currency markets now. both the euro and british pound have been falling back down against the u.s. dollar this friday as greek fears once again raise their ugly head. bad news for exporters in japan, though, because the yen is strengthening slightly against the greenback, trading at 77.59 to the dollar right now. hello and welcome back. you're watching "world business today" live on cnn. it's no secret that hong kong has some of the highest property prices in the world. many are forced to pay exorbitant amounts for very small spaces. that's especially true in subdivided flats. there is a local family living in one of them who say it's not just the high costs that are a concern, they also fear for their safety. i'm here in schramm chree poe, one of the poorer and older neighborhoods of hong kong. as you can see, there's a lot of outdoor activity here. it's very densely populated. not far from here, up there, a fire swept through an area very similar to this, killing nine people at the end of november last year, and that fire raised some serious questions here in hong kong about exactly what sort of accommodation do people have in places like this and just how safe they are. the focus of that concern is on what's known as the south-divided flat here in hong kong. we've come here to take a look at one. so, here we are on the fourth floor of this walk-up, and i'm outside what looks, obviously, like a pretty regular entrance on a regular hong kong flat, so let's go in. now, the first thing you notice, obviously, is that where the normal flat would be, there are four separate entrances to four different flats. hello. >> hello, how are you? >> hi. very well. nice to meet you. >> nice to meet you. >> hi. linda ho lives in one of these units with her two daughters. she pays $450 a month for this apartment, which is 100 square feet or a little over 9 square meters. "my home, look at it," she tells us, "there's absolutely no space to put anything. i can only put it on the floor, and last time, i put the boiling water on the floor, some got on the floor and almost hurt my baby." every available surface is used to store something. the corner table here doubles as a pantry, almost, plus it's got day-to-day utensils you need. all around, the stroller hanging from the pipes here, rice, bags of rice on the floor for storage, storage all through here, clothes, and of course, clothes hanging up from the ceiling as well. and if i put my arms out on this 100-square-foot flat, i can just about touch both sides, both walls. and through here is the bedroom. all three members of the family sleeping in the bottom bunk and the top bunk used for yet more storage space. it's just tiny. these flats are legal in hong kong, and the government says it enforces the same standards for electrical and fire safety as other housing, but the residents say the arrangement leaves them vulnerable, with overcrowding, narrow exits and escape routes that are sometimes blocked. "i'm very worried that there might be a fire here," ho says, "because even before, a lot of people have died by a fire in subdivided flats. they couldn't escape, so now i am very worried because it is very narrow here, too." she already spends nearly all her income on rent and her main hope for a better apartment is public housing. she's on the wait list, but a community group says it could be two to three more years before she gets a flat. it's not something you'd associate really with hong kong, or certainly the publicity of hong kong, nina, this public housing. it takes up about half of the hong kong population live in these government-provided flats. i mean, we all talk about the number of rolls royces per capita and the cost per square foot on places like victoria peak, but the hidden side, really -- and i