activists or government. u.s. officials say the american soldier who allegedly shot and killed 16 afghan civilians was acting alone. the unidentified staff sergeant turn himself in after the shootings. officials have not said whether he had mental health issues or what his motive may have been. meanwhile, the taliban have issued a statement vowing to take revenge against, quote, american invaders and savage murders. security officials and medical sources say israel launched a new round of air strikes in gaza early on monday. they claim at least 30 people were injured. at least 18 people have been killed in israeli air strikes since friday. israel says it is responding to more than 100 rocket attacks from gaza. those are the headlines from cnn. i'm monita rajpal. "world business today" starts right now. good morning from cnn london, i'm charles hodson. good afternoon from cnn hong kong, i'm andrew stevens. welcome to "world business today." our top stories this morning, european finance ministers gather in brussels and it's greece and growth at the top of their agenda again. from housewife to business magnate and political power broker, we meet a woman embodying china's economic growth. and it's not euros being traded in this shop in germany. we look at the rise of alternative currencies and their benefits for communities. well, greece and the continuing process of the deal are at the top of the agenda as euro group finance ministers gather in brussels a few hours from now. they're expected to sign off on their part of the $170 billion bailout deal for athens second bailout deal. paving the way for that was last week's agreement by bond holders, private ones, to take a big hit on their investments in greek government debt. we could also find out this week if -- how much the international monetary fund will contribute to the bailout. imf managing director christine lagarde has said she will back a $36.7 billion loan. but the drama in greece certainly isn't over. both moody's and the international swaps and derivatives association, isda, you've seen that a lot in the headlines of late, they say greece has technically defaulted by effect ofly forcing bond holders to take part of in its debt restructuring deal. let's take a look at how this is playing out on the stock markets. we are seeing more or less what we expected, perhaps more negative than we thought. off by a third of a percent, quarter percent in the case of the dax. the broad picture really is pretty much the same. we were expecting flattish markets. i suspect a lot of this has to do with what has been going on in asia. we'll have more on that from andrew in a moment. we'll have more analysis on where the trading action will be going with our market analyst michael houston. andrew, i think asia isy your big story. >> i think you're right, it is today's story. surprising given the fact we had such strong job numbers on friday out of the u.s. that we have this sort of reaction in the asia today. usually we'd expect to see strong green arrows across the board on the back of the fact that the world's biggest economy, the u.s., is growing robustly, especially in the jobs sector, which is important. the nikkei was up at more than 2% at one stage today, before finishing down 0.4%. shanghai down by a fifth. hong kong, a small gain. australia down by 0.3%. the story behind this, the story charles is talking about coming out of china once again, it's reported its biggest trade deficit in years for the month of february. now, let's take a look at the deficit. it's certainly raising new concerns about a slowdown in the world's biggest economy. beijing reported a trade shortfall of $31.5 billion for the month of february. that's the biggest deficit china has seen in more than ten years. it also follows on from a $27 billion trade surplus the previous month. usually when we talk about china, we talk about surpluses. now we're seeing these big, big trade deficits. the reason, it's simple case of exports falling behind imports. exports rose 18.4% up from a year earlier. sounds pretty good but by chinese standards, that's a weak growth export number. compare that to imports. they jumped by 39.5% in the previous year. that's where you get your deficit. now, the numbers are slightly skewed because the affect of the lunar new year holiday which came early in china, came in january. analysts still say that a surplus over the entire year of 2012 is likely, charles, but all this is pointing, if we tie it in with the numbers we saw on friday, everything, the weaker inflation, the weaker industrial production, it's all pointing to a slowing chinese economy and the question becomes, when will the authorities take the next step to try to ease policy? we actually had the central bank saying in an unusually open statement that they have plenty of firepower, they have plenty of things they can do to underpin economy. we don't usually from from the bboc in quite such explicit terms. people are expecting the chinese authorities to act sooner rather than later to underpin the slowdown in the economy. i'm going to go to michael houston, who is standing by for us. he's a market analyst at cmc markets in london. morning, michael. >> morning, charles. >> clearly, greece, we have to talk about it, at least for a moment, in terms of the european finance ministers later on. can we agree that actually the markets don't need to obsess with greece anymore and that hopefully this process will go ahead? >> i think that's right, charles. over the past six months it's been all about greece. certainly, the bond swap last week and the initiation of a credit event by easter, i think hopefully will probably draw a line under it, as long as the euro group finance ministers ratify the bailout today. >> meanwhile, it's interesting because one of those finance ministers, miking noonan of ireland is reported to be talking about help from the european union, the european central bank and international monetary fund, four irish banks who are strugging with some of the mortgages they've given far too favorable terms for mortgage borrowers. is this a question of the others wanting one, too, having seen what a generous deal greece has got? >> i certainly think so. i think it's a question of fairness. ireland has played by the rules with respect to this bailout, implemented all the austerity measured asked for them. the economy is growing. i don't think it's unreasonable for them to expect some sort of quid pro quo. and eu finance ministers have to really think about whether or not they want the irish to pass this referendum on the fiscal compact. i think they need to play ball on this. >> of course they do. other interesting issue is portugal. many people are saying portugal are the next people who maybe will need a second bailout. >> yes, i certainly think that's right. i don't think we need to obsess about it too much. i think they are fully funded till later in the year. more interesting than that, people talk about second bailout for portugal. when the new greek bonds start trading in real time, i think you'll be interesting to see what sort of yields they come out with, because i think on the gray market at the moment they're projected to come in around 20%, which suggests the market thinks they probably will need a third bailout. >> let's move on to what seems to be the big issues. clearly that news out of china is disturbing for those who are thinking the world's second largest economy would be its main locomotive. is there a big question mark over growth at least outside the united states, michael? >> i don't think so, charles. i think this has been slightly overhyped. china cannot grow at its current rate without overheating. i think a slowdown or a slight touch of the brakes is more than reasonable here. let's not forget that china has been growing at a significant rate for quite some time now. i think we need to keep an eye this week on the fomc meeting tomorrow. andrew touched upon the unemployment figures friday and they were very, very good, especially considering when you think about what we were expecting. i think bernanke has to talk up the economy rather than talk down the economy. >> thank goodness, andrew, greece is no longer the word. i guess growth is the word. >> i know. charles, i suspect, though, there's going to be a little bit more talk to be had on greece before this thing is finally done and dusted. a lot of people are saying it's still a matter of time, isn't it, that greece has bought time. i don't know what you think about this, greece has bought time but there are still a lot of problems to go, would you agree with that? >> very significant what michael told me at the top. we don did the need to obsess about this anymore. clearly if things go badly wrong on any of these issues if we come unstuck and start looking at a third bailout or second bailout for portugal, markets will get frightened again. for the moment, there are issues and monetary authorities and what they do is going to be the most important thing. that's my guess and i think that's what michael was telling us as well. >> yes. interesting night about ben bernanke. the federal open market company meets this week. usually in the leadup to that there's not much action in the market, certainly investors like to be fairly careful about taking a position ahead of that and ben bernanke is obviously closely watched and listened to these days. this is what the futures are looking like ahead of market opening in 5 1/2 hours from now. as you see there, the dow down a quarter. around 0.25%. but we still have more than five hours to go. charles? coming up on "world business today," 20 years ago, crystal wein was a housewife. now she runs a global business empire. we meet one of the women changing the politics in china. and one year on from japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami, the nation stops to remember its dead. those stories just ahead. uncover stronger, younger looking skin. [ female announcer ] new aveeno skin strengthening body cream helps transform dry, thinning skin, by strengthening its moisture barrier, for improved texture and elasticity in 2 weeks. reveal healthy, supple skin. aveeno skin strengthening. lead paint poisoning affects one million children today. if you're pregnant or have young children and your home was built before 1978, you could be at risk. learn how to protect your family. to find your home's danger zones, the health effects, or just to find help, log on to leadfreekids.org. welcome back. you're watch be "world business today," live on cnn. now in china, the number of women in top jobs has dropped in the past year, according to an annual survey. the grant thornton business reporters found women in china held a quarter of senior management positions in 2011 compared with 34% the year before that. that's still above the global average of 21%. one woman who's breaking the mold in business as well as politics is crystal wong. stan grant met the former housewife turned high powered executive. >> you're a good player? >> not very good. >> reporter: no one can beat the boss lady. >> crystal wong is not used to losing, not in ping-pong and not in business. she's part of a new breed, female capitalists who wear high heels but whitted to the communist party. >> i have an important skill. when i have problems i turn to the government for help. and they did help us overcome all the initial difficulties. >> reporter: in 1994, wang founded newland technologies. how many staff did you start with in 1994. >> only 18. >> reporter: the rise mirrored china's emerge enas the world's second biggest economy, rapidly closing in on the united states. as china's economy continues to diversity, newland is at the cutting edge, tapping into food safety and green energies. >> when i go to the shop and they swipe this, it's newland? >> newland, in china, yes. also in other countries. >> reporter: newland develops software, chances are whether they are aware of it or not, people in china are using newland-based products every day. now she's branching out, doing deals internationally and opening offices in the u.s. and europe. she sees herself not just as a businesswoman but an ambassador for her country. >> translator: at the beginning, our technology company's target market was china. but later we found we should develop our overseas market, our business partners are surprised about china's development nowadays. >> reporter: you have very interesting friends. it doesn't hurt either to have friends in high places. crystal wang not only knows china's president hu jintao but is on first name basis with his likely successor xi jinping. >> he's very kind. >> translator: vice president is a very kind person. i'm a businesswoman and he's a high-ranking official. i should have felt the status gap between us but i never did. >> reporter: as governor of a provinc province, hu championed people like crystal. she's now emerging as one of the more powerful women in the country. when german chancellor angela merkel visited recently, wang was the only woman invited. when you were young did you think you could do this? >> oh, no, no, no. >> reporter: you never dreamed of this? >> no. >> reporter: crystal wang's dreams have come true, an example of girl power in what is still very much a man's company. as the economy slows, will the next generation of crystal wangs be able to dream as big? stan grant, cnn, china. now in beijing, china's mpc, the national people's congress is in full swing. among the many issues in the country's legislature is addressing is the wealth gap in china. the salary of the leicgislators who make up that, ramy has some numbers. >> looking solely at china's legislature, you may get the idea that china is one of the richest countries in the world. it turns out they have more than 3,000 legislators. just the richest 75 of them pulled in this much money. more than $90 billion. and this year is more than half of greece's latest bailout. this is the legislature's richest man, zong qinghou. his net worth is almost $11 billion. if you've been to china, you've eaten or drunk something that his company has made, like their distilled water in the ybottles right here. he runs the wahaha group. looking at this from another angle, in a 2011, the richest six dozen npc members made more than the net worth of the u.s.'s 600 top politicians that includes the president of the united states, all of the congress as well as the supreme court. their average declared net worth in 2010 was less than this. less than $5 billion. compared to the 90 billion that we just spoke about. and this man right here, representative darrell of issa is congress's richest person. he were in china's npc, his rank would fall from 1 to 41. you see a very rich image of china. this is probably a picture beijing doesn't want to boast about right now. >> it's interesting to dig up these numbers. it shows what sort of people are running the country. the npc is one of two meetings going on in beijing at the moment. other is the chinese people's political consultatice conference, cppcc. how are they doing on the rich scales? >> basically they're just as rich as the folks over the npc. the top 70 or so legislators pulled in more than $100 billion last year. and they're not actually afraid to flaunt the bling that they can buy with these new-found riches. let me take you to some pictures that have been making the rounds on the internet. first up this one. there's this burberry bag. it goes for 800 u.s. dollars. then there is this cow hide belt that was spotted around this man, the chairman of evergrand, one of china's big property companies and it came in at about $950. then there is this one, a mark jacobs bag, as you can see, it retails more more than $10,000. with pictures like these floating around the web, a lot of critics are asking how representative actually are the people's congress of the people? the answer right here is perhaps not so much. >> pretty hard to escape that conclusion,en is it, ramy? what's the annual income, per capita income in china, $4,500, $5,000, legislators there car carrying a $10,000 bag. interesting stuff. charles? still to come on "world business today," india backtracks on its export ban after feeling the heat from china. we'll explain, just ahead. you're watch be "world business today." welcome back. airbus and eight of europe's top airlines say the european union's plan to carbon tax could have dire economic consequences. they warn the tax on carbon pollution could put thousands of jobs in jeopardy and cost them billions of dollars in lost aircraft orders from china, among others. the aviation companies are making their unhappiness very public, sending letters to the leaders of britain, france, germany and spain. the eu wants to regulate the output of carbon dioxide to combat global warming. airbus says it's already feeling the impact of that. the planemaker says three chinese airlines are refusing to finalize orders for 45 airbus long haul jets worth $12 billion. that's a lot of dollars. and also a lot of jobs behind them, andrew. >> absolutely. it just should be pointed out, too, charles, it's not just the european carrier complaining. virtually every carrier in the world is complaining about this carbon emission tax. it starts from the moment the plane leaves the ground, they start paying a tax to european officials. this story certainly gaining a lot of traction recently. let's turn now to india and india is during a u-turn on its cotton policy, the world's second biggest producer of the fiber has reversed a ban on cotton exports that's barely a week old. the commerce ministry implemented the ban on march 5 after domestic textile companies said they were losing businesses to international rivals because of rising cotton prizes in india. china, which is the biggest buyer of indian cotton, strongly criticized that ban and indian farm farmers, too, protested. the government is responding to the interest of the farmers, the industry and trade. should be pointed out that the minister of agriculture in india was not even aware the ban had been imposed. let's see how the rollback of the ban has been impacting prices. may delivery, falling, currently 89 cents per pound. when you want the new ipad when it's released on friday, you'll have to brave the crowds and get in line. the new tablet is due for release in some countries this friday. but due to overwhelming demand, customers in the united states and canada who placed their orders early will now get their new ipads later, a few days after the store release in other countries. the wait could be a couple of weeks for a product that apple, of course, andrew is call iing resolutionary. >> that's not going to do well. >> they're asking for punishment. if they pay the price they're willing to wait. >> well, yes. let's face it, do they really need that ipad? long story there. okay, you're watching "world business today." we'll be back in just a moment. from cnn hong kong, i'm andrew stevens. >> i'm charles hodson at cnn london. a warm welcome back to "world business today." let's see how the european stock markets are trading. 30 minutes into the session here's where the leading indices stand at the moment, off by 0.25% to 0.3%. the focus is is no longer on greece. that ill, the second deal will be -- second bailout deal for greece will be discussed by eurozone -- european finance ministers in just an hour's time. the big issue upsetting markets is the fact that china saw a big trade shortfall. andrew, i think you have more detail on that. >> yes, absolutery, charles. that was a big trade, shortfall as well. $31.5 billion for the month of february. exports falling. they're still growing but not nearly as fast as they were. imports were raising sharply as well. it's interesting to see them reveal such a big deficit in its conditions, its terms of trade. that is rolling on to the markets around this side of the world. the nikkei down 0.4%. the nikkei was up quite a lot at the start of the day's session. as the other markets opened and there's a distinct lack of enthusiasm despite the u.s. jobless numbers on friday, concerns about the state of the chinese economy seeming to weigh down all the markets. the hang seng finishing up by 0.25%. now, a nation joined together in mourning on sunday. the one-year anniversary of the killer earthquake and tsunami that slammed into the east coast of japan's main island was marked this sunday. across the country, tears, prayers and silence in honor of the 20,000 inhabitants who lost their lives when disaster struck. the largest ceremony was held in a theater in tokyo where hundreds gathered to remember the dead. the emperor and empress of japan were in attendance there. the prime minister, yoshihiko noda was among those publicly expressing their grief. after the service, citizens and government officials laid flowers in memory of those who lost their lives. away from tokyo, residents reflected on the tragedy of march 11. kyung lah visited the town of notori in eastern japan where locals paid tribute to the one in ten hinhabitants who perishe in last year's tragedy. >> this is notori. if you were to arrive today, it looks like undeveloped farmland. over here, just rural wasteland. but this is an area that used to be home to 7,000 people. all this land you're looking at, those are the foundations of homes, hundreds of homes were washed away in an instant when the tsunami came ashore. one out of ten people in this community died. so this community paused yesterday to remember what happened a year ago. it's very difficult to tell but it looks like this may be the floor of a small business or perhaps a home. it's been turned into a shrine. over here, this is now a family grave site for the watanabe family. you can see there have been fresh flowered placed here as people pause to remember what happened a year ago. 350 square miles of northeastern japan was decimated by the tsunami, people paused here in japan to remember, to reflect, and to mourn the dead. this is march 12th now here in japan. but it is also thought of as the first day of the second year as japan continues to rebuild. kyung lah, cnn, natori, japan. >> it certainly brings it home when you see that sort of devastation of towns just wiped off the face of the map. now in addition to the tragic human cost of the quake and the tsunami, the disaster dealt a severe blow to japan's economy. damage to factories and crippling lack of power took a major toll on production with key industries like chipmaking and manufacturing among the worst affect. today, however, the japanese economy is on the mend. take a look at how the benchmark nikkei 225 index has been performing over the past 12 months since the disaster struck. after losing 15% of its val yaw in the four days following the catastrophe, the nikkei was then caught up in this summer global share sell-off there. it hit a 52-week low in november. 8,106 yen. there has been fairly spectacular gains there. it's trading at 9,961, up about 20% from the low point in november. that's the broad picture. this to show you one particular stock which has been very much at the center of what's been beginning on as far as this disaster has been concern. this is tokyo electric power company, better known as tepco, the owner of the crippled fukushima daiichi nuclear plant. the stock price plunging in the days after the disaster. after its own nuclear plant went into meltdown which sparked major fears of contamination. a year ago, the company share price was 16.21. today its share is down at 230 yen. that's a drop of some 85%. certainly that has been a huge fall and not surprising given the problems that tepco has experience and also the way it managed the whole crisis about dealing with information, getting information out there. since the disaster last year, tepco has actually been force ed to borrow from the government, a total of 680 billion yen. that comes in at $8.25 billion. $8.25 billion tepco needs for cleanup operations, charles, which are nowhere near complete at the moment plus the running costs as well. >> coming up on "world business today," south korea joins the u.s. campaign against iranian oil and we'll have the details of its multibillion dollar deal to secure an alternative crude supply, just ahead. this bowl of strawberries is loaded with vitamin c. and now, b vitamins to boot. coffee doesn't have fiber. unless you want it to. splenda® essentials™ are the first and only 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. nato is holing a press conference at this hour in afghanistan. we believe it regards an american soldier who allegedly shot and killed 16 afghan civilians. let's listen in. >> and in particular, the short distance between the incidents that we've seen in the recent weeks are a burden and are of concern for isef. >> that strategic partnership document will be the foundation for longative term support, longative term partnership between the united states and afghanistan to secure a stable afghanistan. and of course it's in the interest of afghanistan, the united states and the international community that such partnerships and many other bilateral agreements are continued to be signed in the coming months and years. >> okay. we just very briefly caught the tail end there of that press conference. that was in afghanistan. we're looking for some comment there which we didn't hear following the death of some 16 afghan civilians allegedly shot by a u.s. soldier in the south of the country. that's been called an unforgivable crime by the afghan prime minister -- president hamid karzai who has been on the line to the u.s. president over details and just what happened in this attack. the soldier in question is now said to be in custody. we'll obviously bring you more details 0en that story as we get them here. certainly no word there from that brief isef meeting. charles? well, andrew, let's move back to what has been the dominating story in terms of the business and markets ajen da. that is the $31 billion trade deficit that it turns out that china recorded in february. let's look at oil prices. they were lower, amid concerns about slower economic growth there. not by much, just by about a third of a dollar. still worries at the same time, i think, about iran, its dispute with the west over its nuclear program. that is if you like putting a floor under oil prices a little bit. and we are seeing the price still at about $125.50 for brent crude for april delivery. south korea has become the latest country to join a u.s.-led economic blackade against iran, announcing its diversifying its oil supply away from iran. they signed a multibillion dollar deal with the uae. the ceo of the korean national oil corporation spoke to paula hancocks about the agreement. >> there's a lot of competitions still many companies, many countries are trying to enter that i know. that's why great things for us. we can be real, i mean, major player. so we say the premium. we just entered into the premiere league. >> the united states is actively trying to pressure south korea as well as other countries to try and lower the dependence on iranian oil to be in line with the u.s. sanctions. are you able to lower your dependence? >> maybe i think the government can make it possible. actually we can have alternative sources very easily. for example, we have iraq. if there is any crisis, they are ready to support us. the agreement has been made last year. so i think the government can make alternative sources. >> what other sources around the world do you actually have at your disposal to be able to plug up the gap from iran if you have to? >> we have produced in many countries, including vietnam. we are producing oil in the north sea in the uk and also norway and denmark and netherlands. we can -- in the worst case we can mobilize all our own products to support our demand. >> so south korea is the world's sixth largest oil importer. how concerned are you at this point by the rising oil prices? >> well, understand that 2008 when the oil price comes $140, the time, i mean, it has been totally negative. so maybe -- we also may face such difficulties, actually higher price is very much a threat to the economy. it is true. after several weeks of unrelenting rains across australia, the north is bracing itself for a tropical cyclone. we have a meteorologist standing by. >> the conditions across australia, new south wales, reports of possibly $1 billion in damages left from the floods there. and then you take a look at what's developing to the north and to the northwest, not a good story. tropical feature and a potential for development, plenty of moisture there, we have circulation there and low chance of development across northwestern portions of australia, around the city of port headland and exmouth there. now, good news, it's a sparsely populated area but it is the autumn season. this is the time of the year folks head out there. we know a lot of camp grounds, a lot of areas for recreation, especially when temperatures begin moderating. certainly a potential for a lot of damage exists here with pretty persistent area of moisture and heavy rainfall possible from the kimberly coast to the pilbrook coast. we think 8 to 10 centimeters of rainfall in the forecast. australia, new south wales, just a few high clouds. it's been a nice setup over portions of new south wales as the cleanup operations begin here. high pressure going to remain in place and the temperature will remain on the mild side amid-20s, the upper 20s for this time of year, not too bad. quick glance across portions of asia, china in particular, it is dry. looking at sunny skies and mild temperatures to return, charles, for much of china, especially to the south around hong kong. >> okay, pedram, thank you very much. joining us live from the international weather center. andrew? a school project has given way to a thriving local currency in germany. we'll tell you why some are saying it could provide a model for one of europe's most debt-ridden countries. just ahead on "world business today." i think i'm goin-... shhh! we find that we don't need to sleep that much. there's an easier way to save. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. [ female announcer ] new aveeno skin strengthening body cream helps transform dry, thinning skin, by strengthening its moisture barrier, for improved texture and elasticity in 2 weeks. reveal healthy, supple skin. aveeno skin strengthening. at meineke i have options... like oil changes starting at $19.95. my money. my choice. my meineke. the currencies as they stand this hour, the dollar currently trading against the euro at 1.31. seen a bit of a pop in the dollar. look at the yen. that's interesting, 82.2. only a few days ago we were still flirting around 77 yen to the u.s. dollar. a bit of respite in japan certainly helping the exporters there. welcome back, live from hong kong and london, you're watching "world business today." >> it's been changing hands in the eurozone nations for more than a decade. as confidence in the euro continues to falter, there's a renewed interest in local currencies. suggestions have even surfaced that debt-ridden nations like greece should consider adopting these kinds of currencies as their own. from germany, diana magnay has more. >> reporter: it's a strange looking currency, more like a lunch token than cash. one ki in. go is worth as much as a euro, much more to the local community. this commons bagger sells mostly local things in her store, much of it bought and sold here. >> it encourages you to think about where you buy your produce from. products like this cheese, half mare, half goats milk, made half an hour down the road at this farm, from mare's bread specialty for their milk. >> it means the money we use in the region stays in the region, the farmer tells me. >> reporter: it will cost you. it devalues every three months and costs 2% to extend the note. this man who came up with the idea that says that's to keep money and, therefore, goods changing hands. >> the reason is that money shouldn't be horded. it's not speculation object. but it's medium exchange, media of exchange and because of that we want that. >> reporter: this economist who wrote a report for the bundesbank says they only work in regions where consumers can afford them. >> this is the traditional argument for subsidies. but there's a huge literature, huge agreement between economists that subsidies in the end only in favor to produce this but lead to additional costs in terms of foregone possibilities on the consumer side. >> reporter: at a time when people are losing their faith in the euro and in the monetary policies of their governments, local currencies can seem especially attractive. boosting community values and giving local people control over the way their community cash circulates. but it would seem they remain a luxury item. pegged to the euro, but in reality, a fraction more expensive. diana magnay, germany. now, it's not news that you pay top dollar for living space here in hong kong but now it is the world's most expensive place to rent an office. the research -- research from the property group knight frank, this search says the cost of taking up prime office space soared 28% during 2011 to around $150 a square foot. now, that's more than other financial centers. it's around $10 more per square foot than london and more than double the cost of office space on new york's manhattan island. now, knight frank says the uptick in rents reflects the growing appetite among banks to secure a presence in asia. of course, the beautiful weather has a lot to do with it, too charles. >> tell us what that is in euros per square meter, andrew. i can see that as clearly as you can see hong kong on that picture. the bottom line is it's costing more and more for poor old cnn to keep you in the manner to which you're accustomed in your roomy office and roomy secretary's office. >> they're not giving me nearly enough for the manner which i'd like to be accustomed to, charles, sadly. i don't think that's going to change. >> i know you won't let it. let's have a look at the european markets. we are seeing a little bit of a sell-off there. worries about chin in and pace of growth will come back a little way, monetary policy, i think very much in focus. and greece kind of moving a little bit towards the back burner now. that's it for this edition of "world business today." i'm charles hodson in london. i'm andrew stevens in hong kong. charles and i will be back with ali velshi a little bit later this day. we'll see you then.