authenticity of this. opposition activists say at least 5 the people were kill add cross syria monday and another 12 were killed this tuesday. more than 50 world leaders gathered in seoul, south korea to discover nuclear weapons casting a shadow on the summit is north korea's plan to launch what it calls a peaceful satellite next month despite pressure, north korean state media says pyongyang will not abandon the launch. 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. welcome to "world business today." the top stories this tuesday, march 27th. >> the u.s. signals support for the economy here to stay and investors are taken aback with a reason to buy. raising fuel prices and protesters are out in force. >> falling further from grace, former imf head dominique strauss-kahn is now being investigated over alleged links to prostitution. >> now, markets are rallying today despite the head of the u.s. central bank warning that the world's biggest economy is not as strong as it looks. federal reserve chief ben bernanke says robust jobs growth in recent months in the u.s. does not reflect the strength of the real economy. yet stock prices around the world are up sharply today. why? because investors are now betting that the u.s. central bank will once again step in to support the economy by pumping more cheap cash into the u.s. financial system. that is a move known as quantitative easing. the fed did it twice and even though bernanke gave no hint that he plans another round of q'ing investors are belting he will. stocks are rallying on his comments that the fed will continue its, quote, a accommodative policy because they can't be sure the u.s. jobs market will keep improving. it's strange, nina, when you have the head of the bank saying the economy is weak, we get this big pop in share prices around the world. >> yeah, and ali velshi has pointed out on "world business today" that ben bernanke is no strange story dousing these flames when they start moving and the markets get a little too optimistic he is often the first to caution, wait a minute, guy, let's have a look to see if there's more data to underpin this. let's look at the kind of optimism we're seeing on the economic markets. no guessing what bernanke has said or hasn't said that is moving them. we have a series of economic figures that came out in europe just yesterday. germany's biggest economy and coming out with an efo index of investor confidence that was better than people expected and that's been helping to lift markets particularly in germany but across the board it's still looking positive despite the fact that we've had some of these indices posting five consecutive days' worth of losses last week, some like the dax and cac 40, an excuse to buy. that's more or less what's happening. >> if you look at the markets in asia certainly getting a pop today, nina. got that positive number from wall street overnight. that was the follow-on through the asian markets today. to their highest level in six weeks. across the board except for the shank shy composite which tends to go its own way, the nikkei up 2.3%, big jump for japan. post tsunami high. the country's largest exporter sony closing up more than %, hong kong's hang seng index rose 1.0% and australia getting a boost of 0.9%. this is what happened to the u.s. markets and asia does tend to follow those movements closely. all three rallying on the bernanke suggestion. here's how the close was. the nasdaq 1.8, the dow 1.2, the s&p 1.4%. now, at another four-year high for the s&p. interesting, nina, what i was reading about, some of these comments, the point that bernanke did not explicitly talk about, qe3. a lot of angeliss are saying the markets may well be getting ahead of themselves so there could be pullback soon. >> there's been a lot of concerns, haven't there, over the course of the last year or so about moral hazard, andrew, when investors think because we've had one or two rounds of quantitative easing they're printing money so that money is worth less eventually when they have to pay that debt back. well, there's been a lot of argument that the markets are to a certain degree pricing in moral hazard and quantitative easing and a third round of that, not the first time we've seen one of these statements, andrew. it is difficult to know where to put your money to try to avoid the inflation bubble if people are still expecting governments like the united states to be printing more money. >> well, it's a good point. because if there is going to be a qe-3, it's implicit many acceptance that qe-1 and 2 have not worked so you get more money flushing around the system. what do you do when your money starts to lose money like that. we know what jim rogers would do? let's move on. thousands of demonstrators are taking to the streets in several indonesian cities this tuesday for another day of protest against a planned rise in fuel prices. opposition party supporters say anti-government chants from jakarta, protesters broke down a fence outside the country's parliament where a vote on the increase is expected to take place on thursday. around 22,000 security officers have been sent to control the rallies. protesters say that larger demonstration will take place ahead of the vote in two days' time. economists meanwhile, say slashing fuel subsidies will lower indonesia's deficit and free up funds to help the country's poor. infrastructure could also be dealt a boost by that money. many indonesians feel at least in the short term fuel price increase also take a toll on locals from all walks of life. account executive sissy torres' job requires driving to at least three clients a day. she spends just under $200 for gas every month. a 33% hike in fuel price, she says, will cut deep into her income. >> frankly, speaking i don't get gas allowance so it will affect that i can do my monthly cost for gas. but indirectly also there's going to be a price hike. >> reporter: indonesia has one of the cheapest fuel prices in the region. the government subsidizes almost 50% of its premium gas and diesel. in 2011 it spent $28 billion on fuel subsidy, rising global crude prices could increase that to 32 billion this year according to the world bank. >> they just spent 2.2% of gdp, the government did, on energy subsidy, sorry, on fuel subsidies and 1.5% on infrastructure and 1% of gdp on what we would call social assistance programs, okay, so there's an imbalance there that this move by -- this proposal by the government tries to correct. >> reporter: analysts say cutting subsidies which leads to a lower budget deficit will help their recent gains and say the money the country saves could be better spent on much needed infrastructure development and on education and health programs that benefit the poor. >> there's no doubt fuel subsidies help households but help the rich much more, okay. so that reason for trying to do -- for reducing fuel subsidies is try to find a better way of helping the bottom half of the population. >> reporter: but the price hike is expected to spike inflation by as much as 3 percentage points. economists say it will be temporary but hardest hit will be the millions of indonesians who live on less than $2 a day. in 2008, the last time indonesia hiked fuel price, the government gave cash handouts to about 19 million poor families. the government says similar social safety nets will again be put in place. but not all are convinced. labor and student groups threaten to stage large protests. until the government abandons its plans to cut subsidies. many doubt the government will use the money it saves on programs that will truly benefit the poor. >> translator: it depends on the government. the subsidies are corrupt the, it won't be effective. >> reporter: the challenge now is for indonesia to convince the public that higher prices at the pump will drive the country in the right direction. assad andrew stevens, cnn. now, certainly nina, this is not a dilemma unique to indonesia but same in india and china, facing this major problem, oil prices rise. petrol prices go up, what does the government do? do they bear the cost or pass it on to the consumer? you get unrest and a lot of discontent but keep the books balanced at the federal level which is so important. >> yes, some of these countries, one of the big producers of oil, we remember on "world business today" covering the strikes in nigeria when the country there tried to raise the cost of fuel and bring down those subsidies, they ended up having to backtrack. often what you see because the signs of social unrest are too significant but as you said, the oil price for the moment only seems to be going in one direction, it's a problem for governments worldwide. live from cnn hong con you're watching "world business today." coming up after the break. another scandal for dominique strauss-kahn, the former imf chief is facing serious charges of involvement in a prostitution ring. we'll bring you the latest after this. 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[ female announcer ] travelocity. get great deals on all kinds of beach vacations. welcome back. you're watching "world business today" live from london and hong kong. >> french prosecutors say the former head of the international monetary fund dominique strauss-kahn is facing charges of aggravated pimping. it follows a french racket and suspicions of regular involvement as a customer and also as a facilitator of this operation. it's just the latest in a series of scandals that have ruined dominique strauss-kahn's political career of late. for more on this let's go over to jim bittermann who can join us on the telephone or live from paris on the champs elise si. jim, remind us what the allegations involve. >> reporter: well, basically this is a prostitution ring which the police are investigating an hour north of paris investigating it for more -- almost a year since last april and towards the end of the summer, early fall last year, dominique strauss-kahn's name kept coming up and basically it kept coming up because he was a client and involved in parties, sex parties here in paris and also in washington where some of the prostitutes apparently were flown in. he says all along -- he says all along he didn't know these young women were prostitutes. but other people say otherwise including the eight other people who have been charged in this case. they are ready to implicate strauss-kahn as someone who was, in fact, in on the organizing of it. in terms of organizing a party, it becomes pimping and that is what the investigators are saying he is guilty of. of course, his lawyer says he's not guilty. here's the way he put it. >> translator: mr. dominique strauss-kahn has today been formally placed under investigation for pimping. he declares in the strongest terms he is not guilty of any of these acts and particularly that he was never aware of the fact that some women he encountered might have been prostitutes. something which mr. pardonkowski has confirmed after being detained for four months. mr. strauss-kahn could not have known about the details of these women's remunerations. >> reporter: being placed under investigation is not the same as being charged but it's one step below that and usually follows that if you're placed under investigation you are eventually charged and then a court date set near. >> jim, obviously following what happened in new york in may of last year when he lost his job as the head of the imf or indeed had to resign on the back of allegations of sexual misconduct yet again, this is going to leave his political career in tatters. any chance he could recover a couple of years from here on? >> reporter: i have my doubts, nina. he is in such disrepute and from this charge he could be sent away to prison for 20 years if he's found guilty of this charge and he could also -- have to pay a 3 million fine so i think his political career is pretty much in tatters at this point. he's out on bail right now, 100,000 euro bail. he cannot talk to any of the other people in the case and he can't talk to the press, so we're not going to find anything out about his real thoughts at this point, but it's hard to imagine that he would ever be able to get back into french politics again, nina. >> okay, jim bittermann joining us there live from the champs elise in paris. >> certainly an extraordinary fall. hundreds of flights are cancelled in germany. we've got the latest on a public sector strike when we come back and we'll take you to the break with a check on what's happening in the currency markets. not a lot of movement this tuesday, certainly a bit of movement after ben bernanke spoke and the dollar weakened. currently though seems to be holding around these levels, euro, 1.33. virtually flat against the dollar, the pound about the game. the yen up 82.75 coming off -- almost 84 last week and that's been what's obviously closely by japanese exporters. what makes the sleep number store different? 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>> yes, we need the rain obviously right to help the crop situation out here and also the cold temperatures did not help at all. let's break down what has been happening here across europe. can't catch a break, first the freeze that you probably don't even remember now. it's just been so warm in western europe over the last few weeks but we did have a winter and it was cold in february. in fact, it was so cold it killed 5 million tons of winter wheat if you recall. now we're talking about not the cold, it's warm but now we don't have rain and we haven't had rain in a very long time here. we continue to see the drought worsening for the region. i will leave you with this, late spring rains, we'll be talking about that hopefully into april and may. summer too late, forget about it so hoping for april and may and i'll tell you why. i don't think it's going to range until then. drought increasing here talking about portions of northern italy, france has been impacted. spain, england, as well and, well, where's the rain? it's coming from the atlantic, as it usually does but it's taking a trip to the north and then around because of this big dome of high pressure here and atmospheric traffic jam, if you will and these weather patterns will continue to or these weather systems will continue to move around that high and east bypassing the areas that need the rainfall here so we're going to continue to see very mild temperatures which everyone, of course, loves that, spring is here but the farmers particularly the wheat farmers here are in trouble and we are going to hope for this pattern, well, this pattern will break but we'll hope for some april and may rains to come in and save the crop by the time we get into those couple of months, otherwise, we are going to be done. it's going to be abysmal because by the time we get into summer it's too hot and too late. andrew, we'll hope for some rain here soon but i know you have been enjoying fantastic weather in london and you in hong kong, as well. >> no, the weather has been great but back to that story about the drought in europe, obviously that's going to affect food prices as well, ivan. it just goes on and on. thanks very much for that, ivan cabrera at the cnn weather center. nina. >> andrew, russian bankers currently in critical condition in a london hospital. the investigation into a shooting may lead back to moscow. full details when we return. from cnn hong kong, i'm andrew stevens. >> and i'm nina dos santos at cnn london. welcome back. you're watching "world business today." 90 minutes into today's trading session. a look at how the european markets are faring. second day of optimism on these markets and as you can see, many of them up to the tune of 0.8% or 0.7%. a lot follows xhiptss made by the u.s. federal reserve chief ben bernanke saying supporting monetary policies and low interest rates will continue for the next couple of years. when we zone in on the london ftse, one stock has been benefiting. world bank of scotland gaining more than 6% on the back of reports that the uk government now sell up to a third of the lender to ab du dhabi. it is heavily skewed towards the banking stocks but really it is the eurozone markets doing the best today. >> funny you should in emption that. hsbc getting a big pop today. up almost 5% a big move considering it's such a big stock on the hang kenge, on the back of comments by angela merkel talking about a new willingness to support the -- any other moves to tackle european debt problems. so the banks getting a boost here, the hong kong hang seng closing up 1.8%. it was all about the nikkei, up 2.4%, 10255. the country's largest exporter, sony, leading the way up by more than 3%. >> andrew, when it comes to the united states markets all three major indices on wall street rallied by more than 1% on the back of ben bernanke's speech. the dow saw its biggest gains in nearly three months. here's felicia taylor with a full wrap of the action on wall street. >> reporter: a rally to kick off the new week. the dow recorded its second biggest gain following a speech by ben bernanke. the fed chief said recent jobs data has been positive but it's still out of sync with the modest growth. investors pleased since that implies the bank will continue to hold interest rates low and keep the door open for further quantitative easing. at the close the dow surged 160 points to 13,241 recouping all of the 150-point loss the blue chips suffered last week. the nasdaq gained 1.75%. health care and pharmaceutical shares rose. pfizer, eli lilly and tenet gained as they began the consideration of president obama's health care bill. lionsgate shares gaine