and pakistan. clinton just left libya. the visit there was the first by a cabinet-level official since the overthrow of moammar gadhafi. there are reports that turkish forces killed 15 militants in iraq. they were in pursuit of kurdish rebels. the fighters have waged a campaign for a separate state for several decades. france's president and first lady welcomed a baby girl wednesday night. a close family friend says she is doing well after giving birth to the first baby born to a sitting french president. nicolas sarkozy visited his wife and new daughter in a paris hospital a few hours after the girl was born. those are the headlines. i'm zain vergee and "world business today" starts now. good morning, from cnn london, i'm nina dos santos. >> and a very good afternoon from cnn hong kong, i'm andrew stevens. welcome to "world business today." the top stories this thursday, october 20th, you're looking at live pictures of crowds gathering in athens, constitution square, a day after strikes shut down greece but parliament approves yet more unpopular austerity measures. european lenders remain in deadlock, yet a debt crisis deadline is just hours or days away. and bangkok is bracing f for -- as businesses in thailand are left to sink or swim. first up, let's take a look at how the stock markets are faring and they've been trading for about an hour now. broadly speaking, red arrows across the board. it is greece and the european debt crisis that has investors worried. this was the scene in athens yesterday after a general strike degenerated into widespread violence. in the meantime, an eu finance minister decided to hold an impromptu meeting last night. that was, it appears, to no avail. you can see these two standing here, they said no differents has as of yet been solved. more details later on in the show. let's take a look at how this is playing out on the european market. the losses are quite pronounced in the first hour of trading. the heaviest losses coming from the cac 40. france is a market where everybody is concerned that the banks are perhaps more exposed to the greece effect. that's one of the reason it's down 1.66% at the moment. andrew? >> amazing what a drchs a day makes, nina. yesterday we were reporting between the rift between the french and german leaders. there's much more about the markets. the longer these two remain at odds over a european rescue plan, the more investors have to worry about. i'll bring you the numbers in just a moment. first, though, i want to look attica seen know shares listed here in hong kong. wynn missed forecasts and that had a big impact on many of the gaming stocks which are listed here in hong kong. these are macao ka seen knows. wynn macao down 3.7%, sands china 3.5%, sjm holdings, the biggest pfahler today, down more than 5.6%. how did that play out for the bigger picture? hong kong as you see dragged down partially by those casino numbers, closing 1.8% lower but also general concerns about what's going on in the euro zone prompting quite a lot of profit-taking as you can see there. australia down 1.6%, shanghai continuing for nearly 2% lower there and the nikkei in tokyo down more than 1%. one stock we'll be telling you about is olympus, the scandal about what went on with an acquisition rumbles there. that stock finished another 5% down today. down more than 40% so far since late last week. on wall street, an afternoon slide left the major indices in the red. if you take a look at the numbers now, how the markets actually did finish, the dow was down 0.66 and the nasdaq, the biggest hit, down by 2%. the markets in the u.s. are set to open slightly lower, trading starts in about five hours from now. we'll get the opening bell on wall street. is this is what the futures look like. the dow down another 0.25%, the nasdaq down 0.3%. these numbers can bounce around a bit as we get new developments during the next five hours or so. >> yes, and especially if we return to the situation in greece, that is, of course, the situation that is really moving the markets at the moment. if we go back to what's going on in greece, the country is bracing for a second day of possible strike action. we could see flare-ups of violence on the streets of athens. all of this comes as people protests against the government's latest salvo of austerity measures. this was the scene as protesters clashed with police in the streets of the capital. police say more than 70,000 people took part in that demonstration. its organizers put the figure at nearly double that number. the protesters stent into widespread chaos. both sides con front each other outside the house of parliament. on thursday, the lawmakers will be taking a final vote on whether to pass the latest round of layoffs and pension cuts across the country. we'll bring you the details in a moment's time. the police are planning to deploy around 3,000 officers on the streets of athens for the second day in a row. we are joined live from the greek capital with day two of this 48-hour protest. diana, how's it looking today? >> i anticipate that this is going to be a very large demonstration, bigger even than yesterday, which was in itself unprecedented in scale, at least 70,000 people on the street. police said, organizers said far more. today, the square in front of the parliament building is packed full of people already, singing songs from the dictatorship, chanting about workers rights, about the nature of democracy, about fighting for justice. you get a very real sense of the anger here amongst the people, what they've suffered over the last two years. i've covered quite a few of these demonstrations here. and each time i speak about, you know, the strength of their anger. i suppose what you feel now is the fact that there is a degree of helplessness. they feel intensity frustrated at the predicament they find themselves in after two years of austerity. they're not so much fighting against the specific of these measures going through the parliament. ironically, these measures are targeting exactly the kind of entrenched privilege of civil servants who won their seats by -- for political votes. it's increasing tax and pension cuts for higher earners. they're here fighting, really, against the measures that have brought them, squeezed them to the point of their very existence. but again, this feeling of futility that whatever they do, it's not really going to change much, nina. >> diana, the pictures we're showing our viewers at the moment are live pictures. it does seem as though things are quite peaceful for the moment. if your experience, especially when you covered the demonstrations that were quite pronounced in june as well of this year, is that usually how things start out? >> yes, that's how they start out. it's interesting, actually, because the riots that we've seen so many times here almost accompany the culture of protest in this country, they are just a minority of people who turn these demonstrations violent. if you read the local press today, for example, there's a lot of criticism of the rioters, the hijacking of what is something that's totally viable economic grievance, stealing the limelight from the plight of the nation. you know, that said, i would hate to second guess what may happen today. judging on what's gone on in the past i would expect there to be a fair degree of violence today also, nina. >> diana magnay joining us live on the television there. thank you for that report. andrew? that's the scene outside the greek parliament. let's head inside where lawmakers are set to pass the government's cost-cutting austerity plan later on thursday that diana was talking about. politicians will vote on the details of each measure after the measures were approved in principle on wednesday. if they're passed they will significantly reduce government spending by imposing widespread wage and job cuts in the public sector. they'll be raising taxes and making more people actually pay them. nina? >> let's get a sense of what all the fuss is about. how drastic are the proposed austerity measures they're debating for a second day in a row? 30,000 civil servants will be suspend as part of the package. a year later they may be laid off altogether. the threshold for income tax is being lowered from $11,000 a year to just $7,000 a year. that means an awful lot more low-income greeks will actually have to pay tax now. pensions worth more than $1,300 a month will be cut by 20% and the government is planning a wide range of other tax hikes, including wage cuts and public sector layoffs. there's also a property tax. this is what is meant for the average household. news agency reuters says that public sector employees will see their overall income slashed by about 20% if all of these austerity measured are passed today. floodwaters seeping into bangkok. for businesses outside the thai capital, the damage has already been done. one ceo tells us how he's coping on "world business today." with b vitamins, the first and only one to help support a healthy metabolism. three smart new ways to sweeten. same great taste. new splenda® essentials™. 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. you're watch be "world business today" live on cnn. parts of bangkok may have to be flooded to save the rest of thailand's capital. that's the dire warning coming today from the recently sworn in thai prime minister shiniwat. nearly 9 million people as a whole have been affected. millions of sandbags are being placed along rivers and canals to try and protect bangkok. the international airport is still operating normally. the flooding is having a devastating impact on thailand's economy and leading companies that make key parts of computers, other electronics and the car industry, which is very important to thailand's economy. the central bank now says that thailand's economy may shrink this quarter. saerl, some eye-popping numbers reveal the extent of the damage done so far. more than 1,000 factories swamped in the labor ministry says more than 14,000 factories and businesses are affected in more than 20 provinces. it also says the disruptions leave more than 600,000 workers at risk of losing their jobs and at least six sprawling industrial parks have been flood putting tens of thousands out of work. all that is very much on the mind of our next guest. richard han is the ceo of hannah microtricks. he has a factory in one of the flooded industrial parts. he joins us on the line from bangkok via skype. thank you very much for joining us. first of all, how much damage has your business sustained from the floods? >> well, our factory, which produces semiconductor chips, was totally flooded in the high-tech industrial estate. the water level in the estate is approximately 2 meters high and in our factory about 50 centimeters on the ground floor. the only way in is obviously by boat and obviously there's no power. and the whole place is virtually a sea. >> has this meant basically that your business has been halted by this? >> well, this particular factory accounts for about 35% of our group sales. yes, that business is totally halted. and probably will be out of action, i dare say, at least two to three months. we don't know how long it will take for the waters to recede. certainly there will be a lengthy process. this is a semiconductor operation, similar to a hospital in terms of clen cleanliness. it will be a big cleanup operation when we can finally get there. >> obviously hannah electronics among many other companies, is a key component provider in supply chains, not just in thailand but around the world. just how badly has the supply chain now been hit? and what do you think the impact is going to be generally on industry in thailand from these floods? >> well, people are now saying that the affect of this particular tragedy in terms of disruption in the supply chain will be worse than the march tsunami and earthquake in japan, simply because so many of those type of companies have located their manufacturing operations here. companies like western digital have been affected very badly. they're a large employer in thailand, over 20,000 people in one factory alone. our company, which assembles computer chips, and a number of companies are desperately trying to rearrange a small manufacturing operation, back in the head office where we have a vacant factory, amazingly and we're trying to get equipment in there to run skeleton operations to keep those critical parts going. the auto industry, of course, produces a lost components in the industrial parks. on the eastern seaboard where there's a huge cluster of car manufacturers, they are not going to get critical parts. so the affect in the supply chain will be very dramatic for a number of big industries. >> something you mentioned there, richard, you have -- you're trying to get a small operation up and running in bangkok now at headquarters. bangkok itself is in danger of being flooded. so this must be a little bit like deja vu for you. >> it's unbelievable, andrew. we were setting it up and then the waters coming down from the north, getting close to the old airport. we've stopped that already. on the ground floor we're in the process of lifting all the heavy equipment that we actually brought down from the flooded factory and putting it up on pallets about 1.5 meters high just in case the water gets that high. we hope it won't, but frankly, there's a lot of information and a lot of fear. obviously having one factory flooded, we can't afford to have another one. this is the only one we have left. we're lucky to have a vacant semiconductor operation, which happened to be -- were we closing it down because it was too small. it was vacant. we could actually do something here. we have to stop that because of the waters that may come through. >> richard han with hana microelectronics. one of the many victims of the flooding in thailand which continues. richard, thanks again. nina? the question is how long will the high water in thailand actually last and will we see more rain on the way? jennifer delgado is at the cnn international weather center. will the rain let up and the floodwaters eventually lee seed. >> the heavy monsoonal rainfall has been letting up. in the month of october we see the transition to the drier periods for november, december, as well as into january. the problem is, as andrew was saying and this gentleman was just saying, we're talking about flooding that will be happening for several weeks and river levels will be cresting at different times. the one that we're concerned about, the chao phraya river, in bangkok, we're talking about 15 million people along just in metro bangkok. all along the chao phraya river, this is making things worse. as we continue to see that through the weeks ahead, we're talking potentially thousands, if not millions of homes, potentially could be damaged by this and as i said to you, the rainfall is tapering off in the monsoon but we're still dealing with some afternoon showers out there. we'll get to that in just a moment. the setup right now, we have this big ridge of high pressure in place for china. and that is going to continue to allow things to dry out for southeast asia. that means that monsoon will be retreating and all that moisture will be shifted over towards the south as well as the west. that's beginning to give that area a break. the problem is, we still do have the afternoon heating out there. you can see off of the gulf of thailand, we're seeing a few showers and thunderstorms. keep in mind, a little bit of rainfall can make the situation even worse. the reality is there's a lot of moisture out there. that still will be in the forecast from time to time. the system over towards the west, that was actually a tropical cyclone, a tropical storm that moved over myanmar yesterday. that will bring heavy rainfall for the bay of bengal as we go through the next few days. we're going to see more showers out there along the gulf of thailand and right along the malai peninsula. this will be tough for the next several weeks ahead. nina? >> a situation we'll continue to monitor. jennifer delgado, many thanks for that. you're watching "world business today." still ahead, from the streets of athens to the kitchens of australia, many gregs are forging a new life away from the chaos of their collapsing economy. the troubles in their homeland are still close to their hearts. that's next, right here on cnn. instead of getting to know you they simply assign you a number. aviva is here to change all that. we're bringing humanity back to insurance and putting people before policies. aviva life insurance and annuities. we are building insurance around you. a warm welcome back. this is "world business today," live on cnn. >> it's a tumultuous time to be living in greece but for many people, a more stable life has beckoned overseas. almost 15,000 kilometers away from athens, is the city of melbourne in australia. it has the biggest greek population of any place outside greece. but despite the distance, one man tells us australian greeks are still very much attached to their homeland. >> my name is john pantelis. i'm a greek australian. i've been a chef for 15 years. i'm proud of my culture. i'm in charge of the kitchen at the greek community club. australia has 2 million greeks living on their shores. it's one of the biggest pop layings outside of greece. first you have athens and melbourne. the community here pretty much operates like in greece. and the difference being they become more australiaized, they've gotten out of greece. the one thing do i say, i say it over and over again, you can take the greeks out of greece but you can't take the greece out of the greeks. you have to look for greener pass tours. australia offers that. australia offers a balance for a greek. the financial crisis at the moment that's happening in greece is a big embarrassment, because every greek knows why. but i mean, it's not -- it's easy to say being outside the country but i don't see it from here. living there and seeing it, it was something that was inevitable. ♪ the embarrassment at the moment, that greek immigrants feel at the moment is huge. for example, where greeks are very proud people and holing up their flags and even put a flag outside the door, especially, for example, independence day, it's not happening any more as much. that embarrassment has hit home, hit here. you have people, for example, changing their sir names. getting rid of the i-s or a-s and becoming more australiaized. we're moving forward. this financial crisis has helped us to move quicker in that direction. up next on this very show, division in the face of a deadline. germany and fans is still at odds on how to rescue the euro zo