he's also ordering lawmakers not to try to undue budget cuts that come as a result of the committee's failure. western powers are stepping up sanctions against iran after fears the country may be working on a nuclear weapons program. canada is banning all financial transactions. britain has ordered all financial institutions to stop doing business with iranian banks. the moderate father of a murdered british teen testified monday. they testified of phone hacking by the news of the world gave false hope she was alive. outrage over the scandal forced the closure of the tabloid in july. those are the headlines from cnn. "world business today" starts now. it's 9:00 a.m. here in london. i'm nina dos santos. >> and it's 5:00 p.m. in hong kong. i'm andrew stevens. you're watching "world business today". these are our top stories today tuesday, november 22nd. no deal on debt reduction. the super committee proves it's anything but. tear gases and tensions in south korea. a free trade agreement is finally approved. and at a time with the global economy could do something, we visit a workplace with plenty of bounce. first up though, so much for super to the surprise of few. the 12 politicians tasked with striking a deal on the debt reduction has come up short. a super committee may have been bipartisan, but members couldn't sort out the politics. as a result, automatic budget cuts will be triggered, shaving $1.2 trillion off federal spending off the next ten years. details in a moment. but first, here's the reaction of the u.s. president, barack obama. >> there's still too many republicans in congress who have refused to listen to the voices of reason and compromise coming from outside of washington. they continue to insist on protecting $100 million worth of tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% of americans. even if it means reducing the deficit with deep cuts. even if it means deep cuts in medicare. so at this point at least, they will not budge from that negotiating position. so far, that refusal continues to be the stumbling block that has presented congress from reaching that agreement to reduce the deficit. >> that tone of resentment, they offered a tone of resignation. in a statement they said, after months of hard work and intense deliberations, we have come to the conclusion today that it will not be possible to make any bipartisan agreement available to the public before the committee's deadline. andrew. they may have waited until after that closing bell to announce the death of the deficit deal, but wall street had already heard the funeral bell. stocks sank due to that ongoing uncertainty. add to that warning from china that the world is facing a chronic recession for certain. now the dow was down more than 2% at the close. the s&p and naz weren't much better either. just shy of that figure. futures currently pointing to a slightly higher open. lots can change in the next five hours. it's interesting. nobody really expected the deal to be done. what it does mean though is another year of uncertainty about spending cuts and taxes. we don't know where the u.s. economy goes from here. >> yeah. in a few moments, we'll be looking at whether life can fall because of this inpass. if you take a look at stock markets in europe, we're seeing for the first time indicating some rises. this is a market that lost about seven days in a row. as you can see, that went up by .74%. as you can see, these markets ended down about 2%. we'll have to go further in today's session before they manage to recoup some of the losses we have seen in the last few days. the so-called super committee's failure to reach a deal may not have shocked people, but it hasn't impressed people either. that's the worst form since august. it was down 1%. but it got into positive territory. hong kong banks suffering once again. not helped by a warning on france's aaa credit rating as borrowing costs continue to rise. in japan, exporters making up for lost ground. they were down yesterday making a bit of that today. not enough to avoid a new low for the year. the nikkei down by a fraction by about -- at the numbers at 83. that weighed on stocks in the australia market. the s&p down .72%. nina. while asia's markets take a hit, the blame game is in full force in washington after the super committee's inaction. republicans say democrats were unwilling to consider overhauling key entitlement programs without tax increases. democrats on their part say they doomed negotiations from the start by refusing to raise taxes for the wealthiest of americans. >> there's one big, big hurdle to get over. the republicans have been insisting that we make permanent and extend the tax cut to the wealthiest americans. we cannot, in good conscious, extend the bush tax cuts at the higher end when we're at a 60-year low in terms of the revenue coming into the government. >> our democratic friends say we won't cut one dollar more without raising taxes. that tells you a lot about washington. we went into this exercise in order to try to reduce federal government spending. when we get from the other side, we're not going to make anymore cuts unless you raise taxes. >> the question is, what happens next to reign in the ballooning $15 trillion worth of debt? the short answer is not too much. battle lines are forming here. the backup triggered to the super committee's inaction won't kick off until january 2013 after the presidential election. au automatic budget cuts will slash $1.2 trillion worth of spending. that's 2.6% of the u.s.'s total budget. $600 billion will be coming from the likes of cuts to defense spending. some coming from education and welfare and transportation. some budgets would be exempt from these cuts though such as social security and also medicaid. you heard barack obama talking about the fall. both democrats and republicans talking about modifying where the particular cuts will be coming from. all of this is just setting the scene for potential veto battle with the u.s. president, barack obama, later down the road. >> certainly see inging a lot o fighting and partisan squabbling going on in washington. but it's got nothing on what's been going on in south korea. look at the pictures from the south korean parliament. if you're wondering what they are doing there, they are waving away fumes after an opposition legislator exploded a tear gas canister inside the chamber there. he was protesting a free trade agreement with the u.s. he was wrestled to the ground and taken out of the chamber after that stunt of his. the trade deal being approved by an overwhelming majority. 151 in favor and just 7 against. many in south korea feel the benefits are one-sided. especially for those who run small businesses. we take a look at what they stand to lose with this agreement. >> reporter: this is a business he inherited from his father. and now runs with his wife. on his typical of the small farmer in south korea that fears the impending u.s.-korea free trade agreement will put him out of business. these pears are destined for the united states. they have to be grown and transported in these bags according to u.s. specifications. but only 2% of the national harvest makes it to the united states. it is a very difficult market for korean farm irs to break into. not so the other way, he fears. >> translator: i'm worried about the orange bomb. there's a 40% tar i have. i'm worried it will take over the need for apples and pears. >> reporter: the crucial different in farming is expensive small scale in korea versus cheaper mass production in the u.s. not surprising when you consider korea only has $4.2 million acres. the u.s. has 400 million acres. farmers have been protesting for years. this summer, they even managed to close off one of the main roads in seoul. the government will invest $20 billion over the next ten years to help soften the blow of the fda for korean farmers. in compensation and investment to boost competitiveness. but no one has been in contact with him. >> translator: there is no direct investment come iing to the farmers, to help us. the money they are talking about is to help people learn a new skill so they can change their profession. >> reporter: many already phased out over ten years. after that, he and his wife are convinced their family orchard will be out of business. paula hancock, cnn, south korea. >> still ahead on "world business today," high demand, high prices and high expectations. china's market has been a foundation of its emergence on the world stage. could it come tumbling down? medicare. it doesn't cover everything. and what it doesn't cover can cost you some money. that's why you should consider an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan... insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. all medicare supplement insurance plans can help pay... some of what medicare doesn't, so you could save... thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket expenses. call now for this free information kit and medicare guide. if you're turning 65 or you're already on medicare... you should know about this card -- it's the only one of its kind endorsed by aarp; see if it's right for you. all medicare supplement plans let you keep your own doctor, or hospital that accepts medicare. there are no networks and no referrals needed. help protect yourself from some of what medicare doesn't pay... and save up to thousands of dollars in potential... out-of-pocket expenses with an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan... insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. call this toll-free number on your screen now... for this free information kit, including this... medicare guide and customized rate quote. welcome back. live from cnn hong kong and lon don, you're watching "world business today." >> china's critics have said the property market is a bubble wait lg to burst. and now documents obtained by the financial times newspaper reveal a plunge in china property transactions that could ripple into the banking sector as well as the global economy. our asian business analyst joins us with more on this story. this could have major affects across the world. >> they describe this level of property transactions in china as dangerously low. that's weighing on china's banks today. that means developers taking less cash and that means rising default on loan payments. taking a look at bank stocks today, this is how they ended the day. bank of east asia was down 2%. china construction bank not too far behind. now at the heart of these declines is the fear that china banks are severely exposed to a property pop. it appears that government stress tests may not have adequately prepared the banks for the real world e scenarios they are in now. this past april, the china banking regulatory commission told banks to check how well they would hold up when property transactions fell by 30%. but for september, check this out. government data showed that property transactions fell past that mark to 39% compared with the year earlier. this is for china's 15 largest cities. and it's not just the number of transactions that are falling. it turns out, it's also the price of houses and property. this here is about half of the 70 cities monitored by the government. these faulting prices are really starting to parallel what we saw with the implosion of the u.s. housing market. looking ahead if china's property market goes off the deep end, it would slow for commodities. and china acts for more than half of the world's demand for iron-ore. it looks towards the banking sector. >> interesting stuff. thanks very much for that. if chinese investors were looking for better news today, courtesy of the world bank, china is in a good position to withstand the effects of the european debt crisis if its population keeps consuming. . that's key. the central bank has revised the growth forecast for this year upwards from 9.91%. and while it warns that all of asia will take a knock, it expects china's economy to grow by 8.4% in 2012. hp shares are down by more than 2%. on monday the computer maker announced a sharp drown in profits. if we hone in on those figures, hp's net income fell by staggering 92% from the previous year coming in at $239 million. the company says that weak computer sales and charges related to the closure of its mobile software business were things that hurt earnings. the man who was fired as chief executive of camera maker o'limb pus is set to attend a board meeting that he blew the whistle on. he will help police investigating the case. his agreement to speak with the board has prompted new hope that he will return to the company. they lost three quarters of its market value over the last few weeks. but the stock rose in tokyo of an outside panel said it hadn't yet found evidence of criminal involvement. a pretis jous hotel says so long. we'll tell you who is taking the controversial debt off the menu. stay tuned. nationwide insurance, what's up ? what's vanishing deductible all about ? guys, it's demonstration time. let's blow carl's mind. okay, let's say i'm your insurance deductible. every year you don't have an accident, $100 vanishes. the next year, another $100. where am i going, carl ? the next year... that was weird. but awesome ! ♪ nationwide is on your side at one of the ferries servicing the outlying islands around hong kong making its way into. the center of the city. it's just gone 20 minutes past 5:00 in the afternoon here. welcome back. you're watching "world business today" live on cnn. blanketed fog destructed flights in europe on monday. here in london, the airport was forced to cancel dozens of flights. now things should be running smoothly and back to normal. let's see how conditions are fairing right now. jennifer joins us live from the cnn world weather center. >> good morning. i know you've been dealing with foggy conditions in england and amsterdam. as i show you now, we're still looking at some problems out there. but these images are coming to you from yesterday. we had some cancellations after the fog. that was out of amsterdam. here's another one as well. so conditions are improving, but the problem is, we're still seeing some fog out there. look at amsterdam. visibility about a third of a kilometer. that's not very good. we'll see improvement as we go later into the morning. we'll get the mixing in the lower atmosphere. the problem is we're still seeing some reports of visibility issues coming out of eastern and south erin parts of england. 2.4 kilometers out of london. the problem is, you get this marine layer out there. this is what happens this time of year. autumn and early winter, you see fog popping up. we'll continue to see the problems through the next couple weeks ahead. things don't look so bad on the satellite. the area i'm watching is down towards the northwestern part of the caribbean. for areas including spain, this system is going to be moving pretty slowly. expect delays through tuesday as well as wednesday. through areas including parts of italy and east of the a dree yatic sea. temperatures cool over towards the east. you can see 3 for a high in kiev. other areas, we're talking about temperatures in the single digits as well. meanwhile out of the east, we have a hurricane. that hurricane is actually unusual for this time of year. we have only seen three others since 1949 to form this late. i leave you with video out of the u.s. state of california. this video showing you a part of the highway actually collapsing. you can see some of the coastal region and the roadway now in the ocean. this all started back in june. of course, the problem is this really can't be repaired. they will have to come up with a new route and build a new replacement for this busy stretch of the road. we're going to send it back to nina. but california doesn't have any money to be making any new roadways. >> that's an impressive picture. we're all amazed here. jennifer, thank you for that update. one of asia's most luxurious hotel chains has banned a popular and expensive dish from its menus. shark's fin soup. the owner of the peninsula hotel group says the dish will no longer be available beginning on january 1st in recognition of the threat facing the global shark population. shark's fin is seen as a delicacy in asia, especially here in hong kong. the demand is putting pressure on the species. 73 million sharks are killed for their fins every year. and around half of those fins pass through hong kong. just to give you an idea. one kilogram of shark's fin can cost up to $1,200 u.s. dollars. so far, the peninsula is the only hotel to adopt a full ban on the the dish. but it's a big move because the peninsula is seen as the top of the top hotel here in hong kong. one of the big businesses in hotels is weddings and shark's fin is seen as a staple for the menu. so that's quite a big move for the peninsula to ban it. it will be interesting to see if the other hotels follow suit. certainly, the pressure is growing. >> it's quite a lucrative dish to be serving. you wonder if people have already booked their banquet, if going forward, they are going to be able to get their hands on that delicacy. as the super employee fails to reach a deal, what what's next? from cnn lon don london, i'm nina dos santos. >> and i'm andrew stevens. welcome to "world business today." >> we're 19 minutes into the trading day. things aren't looking too bad. we're covering some of the lost ground we have seen over the last few trading sessions. some of the losses were pronounced. some of the markets already shedding gains. particularly, the last time we looked we were up. also some weakness entering the noneuros here. we're talking about the smi. britain, its markets recovering a bit. but andrew, we have plenty of way to go to make up for losses seen of late. >> absolutely. some of the markets, like the u.s., down six-week lows. the nikkei down more than a two-year low. a lot of ground to recover. hardly surprising though given what's been going on in europe and the u.s. interesting though. one quote i saw today was that at these sort of levels, the markets are pricing in pretty much a global recession. here in asia, the hang seng took its time to get into positive territory. it started off by going down 1%. crawled up towards the end of the day. helped, in part, by positive numbers coming out of the euro. if that's coming back, hong kong may be retracing steps by tomorrow. the s&p down the furthest by .72%. this follows a down street day on wall street. all of the three major indexes lost 2% on concerns over the debt problems in u.s. allison cost sick tells us what we can expect. >> a steep selloff to begin the week on wall street. major averages fell and never recovered with a combination of negative u.s. and european headlines dragging on sentiment. investors are concerned about the failure of the united states debt super committee to come to a deal with just the deadline two days away. the fact that it's a shortened trading week with the market closed thursday and opened half a day on friday is only adding pressure to the situation. at the close, the dow tumbled 238 points. it had been down more than 340 points earlier. some troubling news out of europe factored into the losses as well. moody's issued a warning about france's credit outlook and european banks may be forced to cut funding if the crisis worsens. coming up tuesday, investors will be looking for increased signs of life in the u.s. economy. a second revision of third quarter gdp is due before the open. the federal reserve will release the minutes from its most recent policy meeting shortly before the close. that's a wrap of the day on wall street. i'm allison ko sick in new york. they have pinned the blame on the anticrew sayser. he got people to sign a pledge not to raise taxes. john kerry, he told cnn that the democrats have it all wrong. >> the history of europe over the last 30 years is creating unsustainable social welfare states is a bad idea. that's what we're fighting against right now. our job is to not become europe. that's why the american people are saying to congress and specifically to the democrats and obama, we're not going down the road of france and greece and italy, which have much larger welfare states than the united states. can't afford them, and they are bankrupting their countries. we're not going there. obama wants to turn the united states into europe. we're stopping him. >> it's been a rough year for small businesses in the u.s. some have been telling felicia taylor how they feel about the gridlock in washington. >> reporter: they did it. the super committee failed to come up with a budget deal by the deadline. now a number of economic support programs are set to expire. number one. the 2% payroll tax reduction. number two. emergency unemployment benefits. by 2013, we're going to see a number of cuts automatically go into place. $98 billion worth every year. and an end to the bush era tax cuts. this is going to have an effect on businesses. we decided to take a look and ask small business owner how they feel about what's going on in washington. >> are you concerned about what's going on in the economy? >> yes. i'm very concerned. this is a 22-year-old restaurant. the last two years, we've been hanging on by a thread. the country needs to be confident. if the lawmakers were to pass this, it would give a confidence that we'd do more spending. everyone lost their money and their manners. now they just lost their money. >> people come in. they can't make their college loans, so they choose different things. in other words, if you have a dress and you were going to clean it today, you will wait a couple weeks. that's it. or laundry. people will wait a little bit. that's causing a problem for me. nobody buys any new things so my tailor has no business. >> it's really hard. a lot of people coming here don't have money to pay. or they complain it's too much. >> have you thought about having to shut down or layoff? >> no. but it's tough. it's not like before. >> reporter: clearly, this effects the bottom line for any business out there. what was even of more concern were the number of business owners we spoke to that had no idea what the super committee was and what they were trying to do with the budget. growth in the united states is going to be affected and much more sluggish. felicia taylor, cnn, new york. we're going to take a short break. you're watching "world business today." when we come back, it's more than a year since the gulf of mexico oil spill. we'll look at how the fishermen in the region are fairing. ( phone ringing ) okay... uhh. the bad news, it's probably totaled. the good news is, you don't have to pay your deductible. with vanishing deductible from nationwide insurance, you got $100 off for every year of safe driving, so now your deductible is zero. the other good news ? i held on to your coffee. wow. ♪ nationwide is on your side ( laughing ) it's actually a pretty good day when you consider. that's great. let's take a look at how stocks finished on monday. losing about .79%. but we have some rebounding of stocks on the mexican ipc index. more weakness for argentina and chile. some of these emerging markets were 35% cheaper. that's a look at how the emer emerging markets faired. live from cnn, you're watching "world business today." a leak from an oil well off the coast of brazil is creating public outrage and costing chevron millions of dollars in fines. chevron has been fined $28 million and could eventually have to pay more penalties. 5,000 barrels of oil spilled into the ocean. it's been more than a year since the bp oil spill off the coast of the gulf of mexico. many fishermen say they are still not recovering financially. a battle is brewing over whether those fears are unfounded. >> reporter: tom barry relies on the gulf of mexico for his livelihood. he's a louisiana crabber and shrimper, who since the bp oil disaster, has been losing lots of money. >> how scary of a time is this for you and your family? >> if we had a way out, we would probably get out. >> reporter: leaders in the seafood industry say catches are way down compared to before the disaster. there's just not as many fish. and there's also this. >> are you concerned about the saferty of the food? >> i'm very concerned. very concerned. >> so your concerned as a businessman and a father? >> correct. >> reporter: fishermen don't like to speak negatively of their cash crop. but you hear it from leaders, such as the president of the louisiana shrimp association. >> i eat it. >> did you feel 100% confident it's healthy? >> no. >> reporter: the food and drug administration says gulf seafood is safe to eat. >> i eat it every day. actually, barbecued some shrimp last week. it's safe. >> reporter: but other scientists disagree. >> there's a risk of cancer if you eat a lot of seafood. >> reporter: jena sullivan is with a national environmental group. he says a study indicates gulf seafood is safe for the typical adult, but chemicals from the oil make it less safe for children. >> kids who eat a lot of seafood could be at increased risk of cancer. if a mom eats seafood, her baby could be at increased risk. so what the chemicals in the oil do is they damage chromosomes. >> reporter: the fda says the data was miscalculated and the seafood is safe for everyone. >> you would have to eat 63 pounds of shrimp or 5 pounds of oyster every day for five years before they would exceed levels to be concerned about. >> reporter: when the bp oil well was capped, the story started fading from the memories of people. but not for the people whose livelihoods depend on this water. their fear only made worse by the lack of public attention now being paid. there will be more public attention now because of the fda dissput. and because of anecdotes like this. >> fish are bringing in shrimp without any eyes. it's something that they evidently have lost their eyes and are still alive. >> what does that tell you? >> it tells me something is wrong. >> you could have 30,000 pounds of shrimp come in? >> that's an average day. >> how many pounds today? >> zero. >> it's likely that the population declines in the shrimp are due to the same contaminants we're worried about if people eat them. >> reporter: no disagreement about how life has dramatically changed on the gulf coast. cnn, golden meadow, louisiana. >> on the other side of the water, 20,000 birds were killed as a result of an oil spill off the coast of new zealand. but on monday, 49 survivors were put back in the wild. these penguins were rescued in october. they will be monitored by microchips for the next year or so. it always brings a smile to my face looking at penguins like that. with the global economy in a slump, we could do with a lift. when we continue, we'll meet a woman whose job it is is about as uplifting as it gets. getting dark in hong kong. if you look closely, you'll see some christmas lights now on some of those buildings. there will be more and more as the weeks get closer to christmas. welcome back. you're watching "world business today" live on cnn. no christmas presents for the markets. let's look at how the european stock markets are fairing. we're 90 minutes into the trading session. this is how things fair. we have the ftse up only .36%. and weakness in the cac 40 index. these markets have had consistent days' worth of loss. a bit of light for the hong kong market this day. the hang seng backing the trend across the region. if you see there, you'll see the hang seng closing up .14%. it was in negative territory for most of the day. the nikkei down .4%. australia falling by about .72%. financial stocks and exporters taking some of the biggest hits this session. the broader index measures all the asia markets. we're down six days in a row. the markets, the economy all seem to lack a little bounce at the moment. but many are hoping the 2012 olympic games will give everything a boost. one athlete is training hard to make sure she flies at the summer games. she shows us why she loves her life up in the air. >> i've been trampolining 21 years. i've been doing it since i was four. it's what i do best. i just love trampoline. i love being able to bounce up and down. i have good spatial awareness. i always know where i am. i can always altar where i am on the trampoline. because it's such a technical sport, i need to have a lot of strength in order to be able to take off for the more difficult skills and make more difficult combinations when putting routines together. it's a really strange feeling. if you're coming towards the side or land towards an end, it goes in slow motion. there's been some competitions where i have gone, what did i just do? i know it's been because i've been completely in the zone. trampolining is very much having mental commitment and making yourself go for the difficult skills. it's a lot of preparation. i think my favorite is the triple somersault in a pike shape. it's a skill i start one of my routines with. i have to get around three times. i practice over and over. i just enjoy doing it. from a young age, my goal and dream is to be a part of the olympics. we're all pushing and striving towards being selected for that. it's like being on the world stage, you get to see the best people in the world. you always then try to be as good as them or better if possible. i love the fact that even after 21 years, i'm still learning new skills and trying to better my performance. i love the feeling of being up in the air and twirling yourself around and stuff. it's really good fun. >> that trampoline is making me feel squeequeasy. when one woman got tired of her husband playing the video game, she did what any sensible wife would do. she put him up for sale on craig's list. she wasn't inspired by modern warfare's act vision. her husband is free to a good home. her only advice is feed and water every three to five hours. sounds like there maybe some warfare in that household after that. feeding and watering everything three hours, i might put myself on craig's list. that's it for this edition of "world business today." i'm andrew stevens. >> and i'm nina dos santos. you're watching cnn, the news you're watching cnn, the news world leader. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com when i got my 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... with all you need to enroll. put their trust in aarp medicare supplement insurance. plus you'll get this free guide to understanding medicare. the prices are competitive. i can keep my own doctor. and i don't need a referral to see a specialist. call now to get a free information kit. plus you'll get this free guide to understanding medicare. and the advantages don't end there. choose from a range of medicare supplement plans... that are all competitively priced. we have a plan for almost everyone, so you can find one that fits your needs and budget. with all medicare supplement plans, there are virtually no claim forms to fill out. plus you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts medicare. and best of all, these plans are... the only medicare supplement plans endorsed by aarp. when they told me these plans were endorsed by aarp... i had only one thing to say... sign me up. call the number on your screen now... and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan. 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.