he called it an inadvertent error. that has not quieted the protests in afghanistan. the taliban's calling on muslims to seek revenge. who's going to be the prime minister of australia come monday. the stage is set for a showdown. the governing labor party will vote on monday. rudd says ms. gill lard can't win the next election. we'll have more on that story in just a moment. i'm zain verjee. "world business today." good morning. from cnn london, i'm nina dos santos. this is "world business today." these are the top stories on friday, february the 24th. greece's debt burden has been lightened but its debt holders are about to see the value of their bonds drop. the u.s. takes on organized crime in japan imposing sanctions on high ranking members of the yakazu. what does google know about you? new privacy policies make it harder to keep your information under wraps these days. first up, to our top story today. today is the daze day that greece finally unveils its proposal to swap existing government debt with new bonds worthless than half the value of those previously issued. greece's creditors are bracing themselves for a hit of some 53.5% on just the face value of the investments that they hold, however, the actual loss here that'll be implied will be closer to 70%. this is largely because the new bonds will have lower yields and also maturity. the writedown is a voluntary one. it's not officially a default for greece, but some of greece's big creditors aren't exactly thrilled by this deal. take for instance the chief of come mer rants bank. one of the biggest lenders. it says this writedown was, quote, about as voluntary here, the chief executive martin blessing has been saying, as the spanish inquisition. on thursday they released earnings which revealed billions of dollars of losses on exposure to greece's debt. but if greece's creditors had signed up to the deal at gun point, so, too, it seems has athens. a report by the financial times says the european creditor countries wants 38 specific changes including taxes, wages, and spending. these changes must be made within just the next five days to come. one on the list quoted in the newspaper also says that the measures are so sweeping that they amount to the kind of state building seen in the world's developing countries. as a look at how this is affecting the european stock markets, 19 minutes into today's trading session. this is where we stand. largely a positive picture with the exception of the zurich smi. we've also had some german gdp figures coming out of europe's largest economy. they're showing a contraction of.2%. the fall was largely driven by a decline in exports of this country. those exports dropped by .8%. we should focus on ftse 100. we've had fourth quarter gdps that will come out in 1/2 hour. in light of that, a little bit of nervousness on the ftse 100. that market is only up by .1%. that's a look at how things are fairing in asia on friday's session. these markets, of course, have now closed for the week. they managed to put on a gain in the final hours of trading supported by better than expected jobs and housing data coming out of the united states on thursday. there was some positive news out of south korea. the consumer confidence had been climbing to the highest level. the surging price of oil has helped lift some of the asian energy as well. now let's take you over to wall street and see what happened there on thursday. the major indices all closed in positive territories as investors reacted to better than expected data on u.s. employment. the dow jones industrial average ended .3%. it was shy of the 13,000 mark closing. level of 12984. remember, it surpassed that crucial psychological level on tuesday's session. that brings us back to the levels we've seen before the credit crunch in 2008. when it comes to the s&p 500, the broader indej, that edged up by .4% and ended .8%, the nasdaq. they'll add to some of those gains when they get trading in five hours from now. the final session of the week looks like this, at least according to the early indications of the future markets. all three of those trading in positive territory. the s&p putting on the biggest fwan at least for the moment. now in australia there's a power struggle a the the very peak of politics. the former foreign minister kevin rudd has announced he's going to be challenging the prime minister for the leadership. she replaced him as prime minister in 2010. it seems as though it's pay back time between these two. >> reporter: he is back and he is running. >> julia has lost the trust of the australian people and starting on monday i want to start restoring that trust. >> reporter: kevin rudd says he wants to finish the job he was elect today do in 2007. without him, he says, labor is doomed. >> if we're honest to ourselves, all indications are that we're heading for the rocks at the next election. >> reporter: he flew in this morning still teasing about whether he would challenge at all. after barricading himself at home with his wife and key advisors, he emerged to declare he alone can defeat tony abbott, the most negative political force we have ever seen. >> beating mr. abbott is vital and beating mr. abbott is achievable. he's entirely beatable. >> reporter: the prime minister was among community workers who recently gained a major pay increase under the fair work process. >> isn't that fabulous? >> reporter: kevin rudd has called for people power, for voters to urge their labor people to back them. she dismissed that with barely concealed contempt. >> this is not an episode of celebrity big brother, this is about who should be prime minister. >> reporter: later she made her pitch as the leader who was delivering hard reforms. >> talk is easy. getting things done is harder and i am the person who gets things done. >> reporter: julia gillard repeated that phrase getting things done numerous times. she had another crack at kevin rudd over undermining her government and she won't be written off as a loser. >> i am confident i can lead labor to a victory at the next election. >> reporter: julia gillard believes she will win on monday. the prime minister is holding around 70 caucus votes with 29 solid for kevin rudd and four undecided but that is fluid. so what if he loses? >> i will go to the back bench and i would not challenge julia a second time. >> reporter: that is what they all say. hugh recommending ton, 10 news. still to come on "world business today," things may be grim in greece, but in europe's economy one industrial giant is celebrating. stay with us on cnn. i don't want healthy skin for a day. i want healthy skin for life. 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[ female announcer ] daily moisturizing lotion. and for healthy hair every day, try new pure renewal hair care, with balancing seaweed extract. only from aveeno. yoyou u wawalklk i intna coconvnvenentitiononalal ms ststorore,e, i it't's s ry nonot t ababouout t yoy. ththeyey s sayay, , "w"weleu wawantnt a a f firirm m bebn lilie e onon o onene o of ff yoyou u wawantnt a a s sofou cacan n lilie e onon o onene o " wewe p prorovividede t thet inindidivividudualalizizatat yoyourur b bodody y neneede. wewelclcomome e toto t thehe slsleeeep p nunumbmberer . nonot t jujustst o ordrdininaran sasalele, , bubut t ththe e bn chchanangege y youour r lilifef. ththe e slsleeeep p nunumb. ththisis i is s yoyourur b bodo. yoyou u cacan n sesee e a a lile prpresessusurere i in n th. nonow w yoyou u cacan n fet hahappppenens s asas w we e rarr slsleeeep p nunumbmberer s seted alallolow w ththe e bebed d totr toto y youour r inindidivividud. wowow!w! ththatat f feeeelsls r reae. itit's's h huguggigingng m. itit's's n notot a abobt sosoftft o or r fifirm. itit's's a aboboutut s supuppope yoyou u fifindnd i it t momost. huhurrrry y toto t thehe f fif ththe e ulultitimamatete s slelr evevenent,t, w wheherere n mamattttreresssseses n nowot jujustst $ $59599.9. anand d sasaveve a an n asag 5050% % onon t thehe f fininalat ofof o ourur i innnnovovatae lilimimiteted d ededititio. yoyou u cacan n adadjujustst i r yoyou u wawantnt s so o yoyoue toto w wororryry a aboboutg ththe e wrwronong g mamat. ononlyly t thrhrououghgh s. ononlyly a at t onone e ofo0 slsleeeep p nunumbmberer s. that's a look at thecurrent price of brent crude, the main european contractors. you can see it's down abo about .23%. prices have been climbing by more than 5% over the course of the last week. that's due to the ongoing concerns about iran's nuclear program and also oil supplies coming from that crucial country. hello. welcome back. you're watching "world business today" live on cnn. now the corporate axe hit the chopping block for two companies. the u.s. postal service agreed to close postal plants. these changes will be affecting up to 35,000 jobs and the move is all part of a strategy trying to save the company $20 billion over the next three years to come. we also saw the household goods giant proctor and gamble saying that it was going to be slashing some 5700 jobs. those kind of cuts will be coming by june of next year. this company is well known because it owns several household brands such as tide, gillette, and pringles. the layoffs will be saving it around $800 million by the year 2014. we also had shares of proctor and gamble finishing about 3% higher after that particular announcement. a whole raft of job cuts there. on the other hand, we did have better than expected employment figures coming out of the united states yesterday as well. that helped to mitigate those kind of issues. now in another part of the united states big recruitment drive is underway. several asian airlines have been taking part in the all asia pilot job fair in florida. the event aims to entice pilots. they're offering pretty lucrative salary packages worth around $170,000 per year. the u.s. bureau of labor statistics says the average american pilot earns about $116,000 a year. asia is the fastest growing aviation market. to meet the demand they will need 180,000 new pilots over the next two decades. >> coming up on world business, the united states treasury has sent a message to the god father of japan's most powerful mob family yamagu ch hi. we'll tell you what they said on "world business today." 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"world business today" live on cnn. welcome back to the show. now there hasn't been much good news coming out of europe these days. one bright spot is in the corporate sector. it's released its latest earnings. basf. its net earnings here up almost 36% year on year. this company also managed to squeeze about $8.2 billion out of its sales and those sales were up about 15% from 2010. this result comes in that dip in german gdp. it's also encouraging news for europe's biggest company nonetheless because basf is a huge player. for more on these figures let's go to the chief executive of basf, kurt bach. thanks for coming on "world business today," mr. bach. >> good morning. >> let's start by digesting these earnings figures. earnings up, as we were just saying, and also your sales up. you managed to squeeze more money out of those sales. how are you managing to do so when german gdp is falling? >> let me just say we finished 2011 with record sales. we increased our dividend very nicely by 30 cents. i expect our shareholders will be quite content with that decision. 2012, we are cautiously optimistic. we expect the global economy will continue to grow at last year's level. we see europe is in a slump muddling through. north america is regaining some strength. in asia, frankly, it's too early to say. we have just finished the chinese new year. our assumption is good 8% growth in china. if that happens we will be able to grow our sales and we also strive to increase earnings. what is not possible, frankly, is to beat the record numbers of earnings of the first half of 2011 when we had a restocking effect in the global economy because actually what we saw in q 4 was decreased of volumes and now they are coming back very, very slowly. >> i haven't actually -- >> if we get some tail wind over the course of 2012 then we should finish the year strongly. >> i hadn't gotten to the issues of dividends. let's talk about the high input prices. we've had the price of oil staying at a very high level because of the concerns surrounding iran. also significant currency factors here. how are you managing to weather that kind of storm at the moment? >> i think the oil prices is our biggest concern. the oil price has gone up as we all know. it's our biggest input factor. it has squeezed our margins a little bit over the course of the fourth quarter and we are fighting very, very hard to get our prices before volume strategy. i think that's very important to continue to be a healthy company. our assumption for 2012 is that the oil price will be at about $110. if it goes above that level significant lib, i think that will change the picture quite a bit but, again, it's too early to say. currency fektsz really not that important for basf. we have a fair balanced global structure. we basically produce where we sell so we are not really that much affected by those currency disruptions. >> okay. the chief executive of basf. thank you for joining us. japanese investment firm aij has been ordered to suspend business for a month because of concerns that it's lost most of the 2.6 billion u.s. dollars in pension funds it manages. they belong to more than a hundred japanese firms. public investigators says aij could have been covering up losses for years. it's prompted an investigation which will assess the finances of 260 such similar companies. this comes on the same day as the united states again a crackdown on the funds of organized criminal gangs in japan. the u.s. treasury is going after the financial interests of gentlem yakuza. >> reporter: he is the god father of japan's most powerful mob family. a swaggering, law scoffing, and always hat-wearing crime sind kate leader. now 70 year old kinichi shinoda. they are blocking them from any u.s. trans be actions in an effort to freeze them out of the global financial market. the treasury department announced the crackdown in order to flush them out of global markets. >> there is also a dark side to globalization. while the world now seems smaller and commerce and transactions have become freer and faster, trans national criminal organizations have exploited these advancements to expand their operations and influence and to evade justice. >> the first message is to the yeah ma gu chi and to the yuza. we won't tolerate this. we will come after your money and you. >> reporter: jake addle steen is an investigative journalist in japan and the author of "tokyo advice." he tracks japan's mob. the two mob leaders operate so openly in japan fan magazines and comic books are dedicated to them. their syndicate, the yeah ma goo chi has a far reaching presence. he refers to that as goldman sachs with guns. >> the yakuza set up their own auditing firms and investment houses. they are japan's largest private equity fund. when they're being manipulated, that's not a fair deal for u.s. investors. >> reporter: do you think that this move will be effective? >> as a symbolic gesture it will have an effect, but in real time without the aid of the japanese government it won't have much of an effect at all. >> reporter: japan's national police agency says it is sharing information with the u.s. about organized crime, but japan doesn't have a system to freeze the assets of crime cindy cates like the u.s. does. the u.s. treasury estimates 80,000 mob members operate here in japan using front companies to work in the areas of finance, construction, and real estate. cnn, tokyo. as temperatures in europe continue to rise these days, so do concerns about major flooding along the danube river. we're monitoring these conditions from the cnn weather center. ivan, we've been talking about this. it seems the big thaw is underway. >> it's a big postponement of what could be a disaster for southern europe. at some point all that snow has to melt and go somewhere. you have to get some flooding. now the -- essentially the level of flooding that we get, that's going to be determined by how fast the temperatures warm up. the last few days it has not been good. take a look at this. this is our temperature map here. we have been talking about now the temperatures in southern europe. the warmest we've seen in about a month. that's saying a lot. we do have some cooler air that will return i think towards the latter part of this week and into next week. that will halt a little bit as far as the quick thawing which would be the problem here. this is the danube. of course the main water way here in europe. all that snowfall that has fallen here across the region, the record snowfall, once it melts it's going to go into this water body and that essentially eventually will flow into the black sea. as that happens those river levels could rise dramatically here. the worry is is that areas that don't have significant flood management infrastructure are going to suffer here some great economic losses if not life as we take you into the next few weeks as a result of all of that melting. so we're going to monitor those river levels very closely here. we'll keep you posted through the next couple of weeks. again, temperatures here normally we would be in great shape because this is great warmup here that we are deserving after a horrible winter. again, the problem is that melting down of the south and so we have to halt that. i think we will begin to see temperatures cooling off a little bit with that surge from the north, nina, as we take you into the latter part of the weekend there. i know in london you have been basking in sunshine out there with temperatures about 17 degrees you hit on thursday. just unbelievable here. we don't want those numbers down to the south. too soon too quick. >> yeah. we certainly have had some pretty mild weather here, although as usual, true to form, ivan, it never lasts for the weekend. on that note i'm going to wish you a very good weekend. we'll see you at this time next week. now in our connected world we leave digital footprints everywhere we go these days. next we'll take a look at why google's tracking of our internet use is shocking experts. i'm always looking out for small ways to be more healthy. like splenda® essentials™ no calorie sweeteners. this bowl of strawberries is loaded with vitamin c. ee b vit coffee doesn't have fiber. unless you want it to. line of sweeteners with a small boost of fiber, or antioxidants, or b vitamins in every packet. mmm. same great taste with an added "way to go, me" feeling. splenda® essentials™. get more out of what you put in. hello. i'm nina dos santos at cnn london. welcome back. you're watching "world business today." let's take a look at how the european stock markets are fairing. we have germany fourth quarter gdp figures confirming a contraction to the tune of .2%. that's not affecting the dax or the frankfurt. that market is putting on a gain of some .8%. now we should also mention that the united kingdom will be having gdp figures out later on. imminently, in fact, in the next couple of minutes. despite that you can see the ftse 100