attack. one person has been killed by gunfire in daraa. the group says three members of the government's security forces were also killed in clashes with army defectors. business leaders in los angeles is preparing to roll out the red carpet for the man expected to become china's next president. xi jinping arrives in california for a two-day visit hosted by state governor jerry brown. visit will include a tour of the port of los angeles, china shipping terminal, which is undergoing an upgrade as sign of u.s. trade continues to grow. those are the headlines from cnn, the world's news leader. i'm monita rajpal. "world business today" starts right now. good morning from cnn london, i'm nina dos santos. >> and good afternoon from cnn hong kong, i'm andrew stevens and you're watching "world business today." the top stories this thursday, february 16th. the accounting scandal surrounding olympus escalates. seven arrests are made regarding the billion dollar fraud of the jab these cameramaker. greece's finance minister has been ramping up the rhetoric suggesting that some key eurozone players want to see his country default on its debts. and qantas shares fly high as the company unveils cost-cutting plans. it's bad news for 500 staff who face losing their job. seven men have been arrested in connection with a $1.7 billion fraud at olympus. the company's exchairman and two other former executives are among those detaineded. today's arrests are the first since the scandal was exposed by ex-ceo michael woodford in october. his subsequent firing opened a can of worms that is still opening as kyung lah reports. >> reporter: the arrest of seven people for allegedly cooking the books at japanese cameramaker olympus. three former olympus executives and an outside financial adviser have been arrested in addition to three outside consultants for an alleged $1.7 billion accounting fraud. the tokyo prosecutor's office says it has arrested the former chairman, a former auditor, a former vice president and the financial adviser. they are charged with submitting false financial reports. prosecutors charge they overinflated takeover costs, then buried the losses in the books in 2007 and 2008. olympus admitted last year that the three executives colluded to hide the losses beginning in the 1990s. the financial trickery was blown open by michael woodford, olympus' ceo, and blew the whistle after being fired last october. analysts say these arrests are ultimately good news for global investors. >> i actually see this as a turning point for corporate japan. >> reporter: what do you mean by turning point? >> up to now this would have been glossed over, swept under the rug. this has made such a commotion, a lot of businesses are realizing, to even get the global respect one needs to address this issue and they're on notice. and they will change because of that. >> reporter: olympus released a statement saying it was concerned about the seriousness of this situation and that it would fully cooperate with law enforcement in this investigation. kyung lah, cnn, tokyo. >> and on the tokyo stock exchange, olympus shares were down by almost 2.5% in reaction to those arrests. while that will do little to dent the big gains in the stock so far this year, olympus share prices are still worth a little more than a half of what it was 12 months ago, nina. let's update you on the european stock markets, just over an hour into the trading session. what we have here is negative economic data being one of of the major factors weighing on these markets. the greek bailout still hangs in the balance. that's adding an amount of nervousness to the markets. we've seen spanish gdp coming down 0.3% for this year. the ratings agencies moving these markets majorly, particularly in the likes of the cac 40 and the dax there in frankfurt. this is because moody's has been putting 100 financial firms on review for credit ratings review. that as you'd imagine is a hit to the banking stocks but follows on the back of worse than expected earnings at one of the big french banking giants listed here. we're talking about societe generale. earnings falling to the equivalent of $130 million from $874 million just a year earlier. they are down to the tune of 3% in paris trading at the moment. we also have the fed's indication on wednesday that it won't be engaging in a third round of quantitative easing for the moment. that has been putting a dammaner on stocks as well, too. >> by the fed not doing that, it does show a vote of confidence in the u.s. economy but obviously there's a negative twist as far as the markets are concerned, nina. let's take a look at what happened in asia, red arrows pretty much across the board here. still concerns about the possible greek default that's driving most of the negative sentiment here in asia. the banks are down particularly here in hong kong. the hang seng was down 0.5% and that came on the back of mood kiz flagging that possible downgrade. obviously finances are a big part of the hong kong market here. the weaker yen helping exporters in tokyo. the electronics and auto firms were higher but that couldn't drag the nikkei up, that down about 0.25%. in sydney, the market down 1.7%, the biggest pfahler, the big markets here. that came despite better than expected jobless numbers. unemployment hit 1.5%. fears growing, there could be an interest rate rise as the australian economy picks up. qantas airways, a standout performance today. qantas up more than 6%. now, they're up about 30% so far this year. and nina, you can tell us why they've been reacting positively today. >> i certainly can, andrew. this particular stock balance for qantas has come after the airline announced big cost-cutting plans going forward. that will it help counter a backlash. qantas' net income the first half of the year as you can see here plunged to the tune of 83% for the same period last year. now, it plunged from 83% to a total of 45 million u.s. dollars, from nearly six times that figure just 12 months ago. a lot of this is thanks to higher fuel costs and flight disruptions. also they had a series of labor disputes that were partly to blame for the shortfall in the earnings here. qantas' ceo, alan joyce, is saying the airline will manage to weather the storm. he's going to be announcing a whole series of cost-cutting plans, including, as you'd imagine, cutting jobs. he's planning on cutting spending to the tune of $750 million over the years to come. >> we anticipate there will be 500 positions affected by the immediate changes that we have announced today. but let me clarify, that there will be no jobs, no jobs going offshore. not one. but as i said, at the outset, the hugely competitive market and tough global economy in which we operate mean that we must change. we need to be ready to take tough decisions and we must become more flexible and more productive. >> alan joyce there, the ceo continuing on the concerns of the competitive environment for qantas. amelia adams is a reporter for australia's 9 network. she joins us from sydney. first of all, the 500 job cuts, where are they going to come from and what sort of reactions are we getting from the unions? relations between qantas and the unions must be close to an all-time low at the moment, i think. >> that's right, andrew. the job cuts are across the board, 52 pilots, 122 cabin crew, 65 catering staff, 225 engineering staff and 45 ground crew. obviously the majority of those 500 jobs will be gone from maintenance. qantas has three heavy maintenance bases here in australia. it's an anxious wait tonight for workers across those factories. as far as the reaction from workers go, it's been pretty varied. there have been rumors of these job cuts for past week or so. many were expecting it. unions as well as are short-sighted and unnecessary. they have agreed to take the airline up on its offer to have a 60-day consultation period before it moves into the next phase of the massive restructure. they blamed last year's industrial dispute and you'll remember, it was mentioned, just in your earlier cross, that the entire fleet was grounded. now, that cost qantas $194 million. fuel costs going up, as we heard there, $444 million is the blowout there. that's a lot of money. and more than 80% drop in the profit today. ceo alan joyce was very, very adamant he wanted to promise that none of these 500 jobs, nor the 2,000 that are now under review, will be moved offshore. andrew, that's been a particular sticking point for the workers here over the past 12 months. >> you mentioned that restructuring and that did seem to be a key point in restructuring about moving offshore. alan joyce had been outlining a few months ago now, plans to launch a whole new airline, a whole new premium service that would be based somewhere in asia. any more news on that? >> this premium airline as you said was announced in august last year. it was supposed to compete with singapore airlines in that very, very profitable chinese market. he didn't mention it today in his press conference. he was much more focused on jetstar, the budget carrier and particularly pushing that into the japanese market which is obviously, extremely profitable. it's worth noting as well in the profit announcement for qantas, it did rely on jetstar, the budget carrier in the last six months and it's also popular frequent flyer program to get its profit up. so there's been a lot of reaction. obviously this is a huge story for us. it affects a lot of australian workers and one independent senator summed it up by saying alan joyce's legacy will be turning the flying kangaroo into kangaroo stew. that's a very australian take on situation if you'd like. >> certainly a lot of ill feeling there about alan joyce's plans. amelia, thanks so much for that. nina? andrew, still to come on "world business today," it's a case of deal or raw deal as some might say? politicians accuse their leaders of driving them towards a default. building trade means building trust. china's vice president tells barack obama it's good to talk. stay with us here on cnn. golly, that is deep snow! can you get me out of it? of course. travelocity? that's amazing! but i'm still stuck. come on man, dig it! [ female announcer ] travelocity. get great deals on all kinds of beach vacations. the continuing troubles with greece, continuing to hurt the euro once again this thursday, down about 0.5% against the u.s. dollar. back under 1.30 to the dollar, 2.2990. it's also weakening against the greenback and the pound and the yen as well. down about a third against the yen. the yen down 78.74. welcome back. you're watching "world business today" today live on cnn. reassurances are running out and some eurozone leaders seem just prepared to let greece hang out to dry. athens in turn, it seems is biting the hand that was all set to feed it originally and any doubt that this debt crisis might be getting personal is fading fast. alongside the patience on both these sides. on the one side, many perspective lenders overly skeptical today about athens ability to meet its credit lending criteria. this man, the german finance minister has now suggested that greece delay its elections and instead replace its current political leadership with a technocratic government that includes, get this, no politicians at all. behind the scenes, he's thought to be working on a scenario whereby greece's private lenders get their share of the bailout and on the other hand that would see athens starved of its own funds. as you'd imagine, this isn't going down well in greece. on the other side, we have this man, the greek finance minister. he says some would be benefactors would now prefer to see greece fail altogether. he's accused the eurozone leaders of playing with fire. >> translator: we face a peculiar situation because we had new terms and new conditions. this is because there are apparent forces within europe that play with the fire, because they estimate that it is not possible to apply the agreement of the 26th of october of the european council, that we won't abide by the standards that we have agreed. perhaps they want greece out of the eurozone. >> translator: the eurozone crisis has given rise to too much resentment, has created too many stereotypes, has split europeans down the middle, has split us up into central european states and the outer most states. we need to decisively say no to any such distinctions. >> monti's plea could be too little too late here. the threat of a disorderly default here is no longer such a peril for greece's neighbors. take a look. it's been three years since the start of the eurozone debt crisis in greece. as such, many would have thought by now a lasting and credible solution would have been found. after a bailout and a second on the cards, greece remains the thorn in the eurozone's side. the country could be one month away from defaulting on its debts and in the balance hangs a $170 billion aid package. as such, many are now saying this could be the start of a new phase of isolation for greece. the eurozone's bond markets were once hypersensitive to the events in greece. in november, yields across the continent soared. italian ten-year bonds surpassed 7%, a level which risked pricing the country out of the open markets. tloo months on and with a greek default looking more likely than ever, those yields have since fallen back nearly 2%. spain, another heavily indebted nation also saw its yields rise last year, only to drop back to a more manageable 5.2%. and all the while, the almighty german bond today hovers just below 2%, close to its years low, making it cheaper than ever for the strongest eurozone economies to borrow money. why the change in sentiment? it's in part thanks to the ecb's decision to buy troubled country's debt. the question that remains unanswered is whether or not the eurozone will one day lose greece as a member. andrew, if we go back to the comments that have been coming out of germany, the paymaster of the eurozone which has been steering all of these discussions over the last two or three years to solve this greek crisis, well, you can understand to a certain extent why the greeks may be getting upset about this. just a month ago we heard from the germans that perhaps they could have the power of veto over budgets put forward by some of the eu countries, notably greece and now they're talking about putting a technocratic government in charge with no politicians. that's not going to go down well. >> not going to go down well but to be honest, greece has not done itself any favors, has it, nina? it has not enacted some of the original conditions of that first bailout package. germany's been at odds to point out you're not living up to your end of the bargain. therefore, if you can't carry through with what you said you'd do, we'll have to get someone who can. i can see where they're coming from. the politicians in greece are doing what politicians do, they're twisting it around and blaming everyone else but themselves. what i find interesting is more and more people expect greece to default. and we'll enter the next stage of the euro crisis which will be one -- well, anybody's guess what happens then. still to come on "world business today," the latest on the cold snap in europe, including how the icy conditions are affecting the region's agriculture. and foxconn, you might be perplexed at the initial impressions of the investigation. the details next on cnn. medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement 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... 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you'll get this free information kit... and guide to understanding medicare, to help you choose the plan that's right 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. welcome back to "world business today," live on cnn. welcome back. in europe, the recent blast of snow and bitter cold has taken its toll on agriculture across the region. let's get the details from meteorologist ivan cabrera. he's standing by at the cnn weather center for us today. good morning to you, ivan presumably crops suffering from the frost, and that could affect things a few months down the line. >> absolutely. travelers have been affected. as you well know we've lost lives in europe as a result of just the bitter cold and livelihoods will be impacted as well as a result of the frigid temperatures. not so much the snow. i'll explain in a second here. the temperatures are what we're afraid of as far as the significant impact on european agriculture. it has been bitterly cold, seeing temperatures between 25 and 30 degrees below zero, an unbelievable range of temperatures and they continue to be well below average, 5 to 10 degrees below average. we're back to normal across the west. it's the central and eastern part of europe that we're concerned with here, particularly the wheat crop that's been impacted from france to poland here. citrus also has been impacted across the mediterranean. in the eastern europe, the snow that has fallen has been beneficial. what we don't want is for the crop to be exposed to the temperatures that are between 25 and 30 degrees below zero. when you get that blanket of snow, the temperatures remain at the ground where the crops are at a pretty steady range there. that's what we've been seeing there in russia, belarus, western ukraine. that hasn't happened in southern ukraine. there we have had not as much snow. we've had the exposure to the very frigid temperatures. the other problem i'm going to foresee heading into the next couple of months as we get into spring, as i believe you with an unbelievable picture in romania, this is snow. this is the way we're getting around in romania, we're tunnelling through. that snow has to go somewhere. it is going to eventually melt and what we want is a gradual warmup into spring. if we get a significant bump in the temperatures, we'll see the crops impacted not by the freeze but then by what is going to unfreeze here in that we could have significant flooding. we'll watch that very closely over t