just as it began. will he stay or will he go? that's the big issue in the birth place of democracy as the greek prime minister, george papandreou and his government faces a crucial confidence vote in parliament later today. the outcome of the vote may have seemed a bit predictable just 24 hours ago. now it seems it's far from certain. after mr. papandreou backed away from a referendum on a debt deal he announced days earlier. all of this comes as leaders of the g20 are gathered. it's sure to be dominated with talk about gross's future and the escalating crisis that's gripping the euro zone. relief surrounding that possible aboutturn on the greek referendum is moving stocks but also the bond markets, because ten-year greek bonds are down just a little bit today, still yielding around 2 %. let's go live to athens where we can join jim bolden. the day is young over there in the greek capital. let's have a quick look at what we could see coming out of greece and this confidence vote, jim. >> reporter: well, it's a lot of different scenarios we could see today. at least we know today i think we will get a definitive answer, won't we, nina. by midnight athens time we should have a vote in the parliament for this confidence vote. that will decide many things, of course, it will decide whether mr. papandreou's government survives and also decide in many ways whether mr. papandreou himself stays as prime minister. he might win a confidence vote but there's a deal behind the scenes for him to step down anyway. then there's a government of national unity. last night the opposition leader rejected mr. papandreou's call for this coming together under mr. papandreou. they called again for him to resign and called again for snap elections. mr. papandreou is saying that's a disaster. we should not be having snap elections at a time when we're trying to become an economy. the debate hasn't started yet. it will be going all day and all evening, though. nina? >> to a certain extent, jim, what we have is finally the greek people seeing eye to eye with everybody else in the european union and saying perhaps we're confused, we didn't want to referendum either, it's bad pr for us? >> reporter: it's confusion, again, interviewing people yesterday, it's humiliation. some of the newspapers here in greece, you have one that says -- one of the more populous papers, he's ruining greece until his final fall. that's from one of the tabloids. other papers are saying -- this one says, i will give you everything for my empty chair. it's mr. papandreou's i'm not still sitting here in a chair, i am leaving this government. it's not just about me and my chair. some of the more stayed newspapers like these two says the country is walking on edge, the government is walking on edge. country at the drink. this one simply just says, again, walking on edge. so that's how the feeling is today, the newspapers understand, the people understand it's a crucial day in greece. of course it has so many more implications around the euro zone, don't it, nina? >> it does, you're getting the feeling, jim, where you aring with the greeks are contemplating a future outside of the euro zone at this point? >> reporter: well, you know, we've said it all along, haven't we? there is no way to lead the euro zone, technically. it's not within the treaty. everybody i talk to says we are europeans, we use the euro. i think they find that question insulting, some people, when i ask them that. they don't understand where that's coming from. they've been part of the euro zone for ten years, they were take noon the euro zone. one woman i spoke to yesterday said don't forget we qualified to be in the euro, we deserved to be in the euro. don't tell people that we are somehow lazy, that was her term, that we ruined it and want to get out of the euro. it wasn't us. it was the politicians. we deserve to be in the euro. that's the feeling i get here. >> jim bolden joining us live from athens. many thanks for your great reporting on the scene there throughout these current days which have been dominated by headlines about greece, not just on the scene there inside athens. george papandreou has been the lightning rod for criticism of greece and its role in pulling the rest of the euro zone into crisis. it's probably fair to say mr. papandreou's own job is one that not all that many people would actually want at this time. some of his peers are game enough for that. more on this story, let's join john defterios in abu dhabi. good to see you, john. who is interested in this job? it seems like a pretty tough call. >> reporter: it is a call indeed, nina. george papandreou is battling a tricky point at this point. he's made a huge u-turn. he's not forget, he went to cannes saying i need to build a consensus. if i don't have one, i will go to a referendum. he comes back into greece, builds a consensus within his own party but did not get the support across party lines from his opposition. had a blistering attack last night. one of the people he was able to get back on board last night is evangelos venizelos. also, it's worth noting here in 2007, he did challenge papandreou for the top job and didn't win it. in fact, he wouldn't want to see it go to a unity government. he'd like to have a crack at power. antonis samaras came out and took the stage, a blistering attack saying you need to go, mr. papandreou. then we can discuss a unity government. also worth noting that samaras and papandreou were college roommates in amherst in the united states, shared a dorm room and were in the political scene there. another option jim bolden eluded to here, if you have a caretaker government, lucas papademos, from 2002 to 2010 he served as the vice president of the european central bank along with juan claude trichet. he's built up a lot of credibility. when he was a banker, he worked to bring greece below the threshold. it was the first time they had the criteria of 3% of gdp. things unraveled after the olympics. eu development funds for roads and bridges, and to build up the olympics and tram systems, they spent a lot of money between 2002 and 2010 and that's when the budget deficit ran out of control and led to this crisis we see today, nina. it's not clear if papandreou survives for the sake of keeping greece into the euro or not. the market reaction so far is one of relief that the referendum is not going to happen. >> and when politicians take the helm, so much of it is dependent on the economic cycle and luck there, john, isn't it? it will take an awful long time for this recovery to take hold, if indeed it does, in greece. >> within we talk about the policies, you get caught up in the drama of the politics. behind the scenes here we have an economy that is crumbling. we're looking at an unemployment rate of 16 1.5%. you have youth unemployment of 32%. this is an economy contracting at 7% right now in the third year of a recession. look at the ten-year bond yield, it's at 26%. the two-year is trading for the first time in history above 100%. those are two indicators showing that they do not have confidence that greece, even though if they get a 50% haircut, can work out of this huge debt crisis they're facing today. nina? >> i was looking at those bond yields just before coming on the show and myself, john, i had the same reaction, i had to blunk. they were not just in the double digits but in the triple digits. john defterios in abu dhabi. markets broadly speaking doing quite a bit better in today's session thanks to, of course, not just the surprise rate cut coming from the ecb but optimism that greece will eventually manage to try and scrap that referendum. and now what we have is news confirmed -- now that we have that particular news confirmed what we have is the markets, as you can see, putting on cautious optimism. in particular, the cac 40. usually it's the dax. today we have the cac 40 up to the tune of 0.75%, partly because a number of the french banks are the ones that everybody is worried about. they're the most exposed to greek sovereign debt. we've also gotten over the strong performer in today's session. it is financial stocks. let's look into some of the french banks in particular. paribas up to the tune of 7.5%. is one of the banks particularly exposed to potential writedowns coming from greek sovereign debt, also deutsche bank as w l well. that bank up as well. one of the reasons we have the dax up 2, a little bit less than the cac 0. we have big rallies for the likes of alpha bank in greece and ing, this company is largely moving on the back of earnings forecast. it's third quarter earnings beat analyst estimates. as you can see it's up to the tune of 10% in the first 11 minutes or so of trading. in the meantime, let's move along and talk about asia. investors broadly speaking picked up on the positive sentiment we saw coming out of the of europe today to try and lead the stock markets towards a higher finish for the end of the week. japan's nikkei was up by 2%. a noticeable exception was sony, which slumped almost 8%, after its fiscal second quarter loss wa announced. the hang seng was up about 3%. the composite finished 0.8% higher and we saw a jump in mining stocks, helping the asx in sydney towards a higher close at the end of the day as well. we saw the japanese cameramaker olympus delaying the release of its second quarter earnings statement while an investigation continues into some of its past acquisitions. that's a story we've been covering today as well as other days here on "world business today," some of our view s may know. speculation is mounting that the greek referendum may eventually be dropped helped to boost the markets, too. the dow jones industrial average surged by 1.75%, closing just about the 12,000 mark, which is enough to close a psychological barrier, we should say. the nasdaq up 2.2% and the s&p up about 2%. robust gains for those two markets there. charging to europe's rescue with the surprise rate cut on just his second day of the job. after the break, we'll learn more about the new man in the top job at the ecb. some people call him supermario. hello and welcome back. you're watching "world business today." let's bring you the scene in cannes. it's in the second day of the g20 summit, the 20 leaders of the world's largest economies gathering there in the south of france at the time of unprecedented difficulty, especially for the euro zone. and france is hosting that summit. as you can see, we're seeing a number of the delegates arriving, the heads of state. we've had a head of state from india arriving and now we have other heads of state gathering there at the g20. now, he may not have stolen the headlines from greece but the new head of the european central bank did make a splash on his first week on the job on thursday. former goldman sachs executive mar mario draghi. max foster has more on the man they're calling super mario. >> reporter: new leader, new direction. it made just two days for mario draghi to make an impact. >> the governing council decided to reduce the key ecb interest rates by 25 basis points. >> reporter: from wall street to rome and now to the top of european economics, mario draghi's career has lived up to his nickname, super mario. his biggest challenge yet, running europe's central bank. >> i'm honored to be considered a candidate for the presence of the ecb. >> reporter: mario draghi held a string of top jobs, including at goldman sachs and the world bank. in 2005 he game governor of the bank of italy. managing inflation was his goal. then the 2008 crisis hit and the rules changed. dealing with the banks became his top priority. >> we have two leading projects this year, one is the capital on one hand and the other one is we have to roll back the moral hazard that still prevails in the financial services industry. >> reporter: renowned as a savvy but likable politician, draghi's knack for detail won his friends and admirers. he himself believes his policies at the bank of italy helped prevent the banks from going under. >> thanks for the bank of italia supervision and the changes ahead. no italian bank had any problem during the crisis. >> reporter: when the ecb job came up, draghi was by far the number one choice. and like his predecessor, we can expect a firm commitment to price stability. >> let me be even blunter, no sovereign debt crisis nor any persistent bank could ever make the ecb to deter from the price stability as an objective. >> reporter: draghi brings his own ideas to the table. he wants fewer partial or temporary solutions, more clearly defined objectives. what's clearest of all is that he has a tough task ahead of him. max foster, cnn, london. referendum or no referendum? europe watchers continue to ponder greece's future in the european union. in a moment i'll be speaking with a legal expert to see if the euro zone exit 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right now but the question is, what if it did? if it did so, the transition wouldn't be quite as straightforward as you'd expect. no country in fact has ever left this group before. here's a look at how it could actually happen. a few months ago, the topic of a greek default was almost a dirty word among political circles. now world leaders and world markets are resigned to the fact that greece will have trouble paying off its obligations. the next big taboo to tackle is greece's future within the euro zone. will it decide to leave the monetary block and can it do so if it wants to? this is unchartered territory and fraught with difficulties and legally complicated which is why i've come to the london offices of everett wildman to talk with a specialist and finance partner dealing with these kind of issues. charles, you have a copy of the european treaties here. which are the offending paragraphs? >> i think article 128 of the treaty makes it very clear that all of the members of the euro zone have delegated to europe the right to issue a currency. greece didn't have the a right to issue its own currency anymore. it's irrevocably dedicated that to the union. >> you have article 50 here, which is in one of our copies of the treaties. i'll read it to our viewers. any member state may decide to withdraw from the union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements. they're talking about the european union here, though, not the monetary union, the euro zone. >> certainly article 50 of the treaty on european union allows you to withdraw from the union as a whole but not just from monetary union. in order to withdraw from the single currency greece would have to withdraw from the union as a whole, which, of course, is a major step. article 49 allows it to re-apply but any such re-application is subject to the approval of all other member states. there can be no guarantee having left they'd be able to get back in at a later stage. >> out of all this framework we have, it's woefully inadequate. greece can't leave the euro zone of its own accord, is that right? and people can't expel it, either? >> in terms of the treaty, no, they can't force it to leave. of course, there are a lot of financial issues that can be brought to bear to impose pressure. but certainly in terms of the legal documentation there's no basis for member states to push greece out of the euro zone. >> so i suppose we need to add more stuff to documents like these. >> well, despite the length of this documentation, unfortunately, a departure from the euro zone is not covered, we're therefore working in something of a legal black hole. >> you know what that means. that means we could well see more pages added to a document like this. and that means more bedtime reading for people like me as the crisis continues. nina dos santos, cnn, london. i've also been writing a blog about whether greece can actually leave the euro. check it out at cnn pt kom cnn.com/business360. as always, we welcome your comments. the european stock markets are seeing a bit of weakness creeping in, especially the dax, which is down 0.1%. they opened about 29 minutes ago. that was largely on the back of optimism that greece may abandon a referendum on the debt deal, also some optimism with the ecb's surprise decision to cut rates yesterday. the italian prime minister silvio berlusconi is facing record low popularity numbers, also calls are mounting for his own resignation. if we look at the yield on the italian ten-year note that's been rising in today's session. currently trading at 6.2% at the moment. do remember that 7% is kind of the cutoff point at which economists generally agree that it is just too expensive for countries like this to sustain their massive debt loads. italy has a debt load of $2.5 trillion. that puts it into context. now, matthew chance joins us with the latest in rome about italy's financial woes. now, matthew, silvio berlusconi has been facing a lot of calls for him to step down. he's been facing those for years. could we really see him step down now? >> reporter: well, it's certainly a possibility. he's facing a no confidence vote, possibly as early as next week on his planned austerity cuts. we've seen over the past few days his majority in parliament potentially becoming a road, some members have defected from the other side. he's operating with a slim majority in the first place. there have also been extraordinary calls by -- messages rather from the italian president, saying he's been speaking to members of the opposition to see what their appetite is like for austerity reforms. as well as the banking federation in italy, saying that silvio berlusconi must push through these austerity measures now and step out of the way and allow somebody to move in to do what's necessary to save the italian economy. he has a no confidence vote possibly as early as next week. it will be a big test of his support in parliament. he's already survived, you referred to this earlier, he's already survived 51 no confidence votes since he came to power. so his owe list has a remarkable ability, remarkable sense of self-preservation even if they're not quite strong enough it seems to pass through the important significant legislation the economy needs. nina? >> in the meantime, those bond yields continue to go closer and closer to 7%. math withdrew chance, as always, many thanks there, joining us from rome. the political instability in greece has caused financial jitters throughout europe and beyond, of course, as world leaders meet in cannes, france, for the g20 summit. now the greek prime minister, george papandreou is facing a no confidence vote of his own later today. it's not just silvio berlusconi face nothing confidence votes in some of the teetering economies. when it comes to papandreou, he's facing calls to step down immediately. what does all this mean for the world's economy? let's go to the g20 sum knit cannes where we can join ali velshi subpoena is the sense on the scene that there's relief greece may have seen sense and plans to abandon the referendum could be en route? >> there's a great deal of uncertainty because these things keep going back and forth. everybody has their eyes on tonight, the confidence vote you just mentioned in greece. it's less tense than it was 24 hours ago or 36 hours ago. here's the bottom line, though, the conversation you just had with matthew about italy und underscores the problem. gross and italy have been fiscal messes for some time. there's a real fear that the outside world is looking at europe in much the same way the outside world was looking at the united states during the debt crisis saying is there the political will and ability to get these matters worked out? otherwise they're going to start to be, you know, harder times in achieving credit. you talk about the italian bond yields. all of that is the backdrop here in cannes. as you know, virtually none of this was part of the main agenda to be discussed at cannes. there's been such distraction because of what's going on in greece i would say your characterization is correct, it's a little less tense here. but the bottom line is, this is stille focus of everyone's attention. our colleague, becky anderson just came back from a conversation with manuel barroso, discussing the greek and italian situations. he made an interesting comment, he said parliaments work more slowly than economies do and markets do. markets are ahead of this idea and markets are telling us there are jitters about european countries getting their fiscal houses in order. it's not ending the way it was supposed to. nina? >> ali, as you're speaking, we're seeing live pictures there from inside the conference hall. excuse me. and there's two or three main protagonists that i want to point out. hu jintao of china, president barack obama and a gentlemen from brazil. >> right. >> they must be worried about what's going on in europe now? >> yes, interesting you point these characters out. generally speaking if you saw hu jintao and president obama at an event, they'd be central to the event. those two characters have been peripheral, the united states coming in saying they're offering technical support, advice and counsel to the eu and to greece, treasury secretary tim geithner is here as well. that's not the problem in greece. they've got all the technical advice they need. they have the money to solve the problems they need. theirs is a political problem and a problem of will. with respect to hu jintao, there's a lot of sense that the europeans would wrap up this proposal they came to on october 27th and ask for investment from other parts of the world. there's nothing to ask hu jintao for right now. the chinese are sitting back and watching this unfold. the u.s. is sitting back and watching it unfold. and the brazilians are watching it unfold. so the conversations that were supposed to be happening with them are simply not happening. i think everybody's found themselves with more time on their hands than they expected, nina? >> okay, ali velshi, you're not going to have too much time on your hands there. i bet you're a busy man in cannes. >> yes. >> thanks for your excellent reporting from the scene there. more than 11 million people live in greece but the ex-pat community is huge. there's a sense that the average citizen is paying a hefty price back home. [ chanting ] >> reporter: as the deepening economic crisis royals greece, members are gather here at this institute in london to talk about the problems they face back home. chris from a consumer advocacy group finds the situation untenable. >> people feel hopeless. there is a sense that there is some form of economic dictatorship going on in the country. there is a real impact on people's lives. >> reporter: the responsibility for greece's current position lie with the state or with the citizens themselves? >> the beginning of the greek stage, they have a relationship with the state. they expect something from the state. >> reporter: amid fears that greece might leave the euro, some greeks are choosing to move their money out of the country. >> i heard that big properties in london were bought cash. >> in cash? >> in cash. >> people wanted to get their money out of greece before the cuts. >> reporter: not everyone is pessimistic. >> during the short term we will remain in the euro. there is no alternative for either greece or the euro zone. >> reporter: greece represents about 2.a% of europe's gdp. so how does such a small economy affect the entire continent? >> the crisis that has far wider repercussions and maybe what is happening in greece now is just a prologue of things that may follow. >> i don't know where greece is going to be in ten years time but what i do know is that people of my generation are not going to be able to have a pension. >> reporter: anger in greece is growing as new austerity is being implemented. this group believes that ordinary people are paying a heavy price. >> when you make more cuts, people do not have the money to pay more taxes and so this is becoming a vicious circle. >> all the solutions to the problem, they're not really helping the situation. they don't hit the cause. >> reporter: the mistrust of government runs deep. in greece itself, some people are resorting to barter, others are leaving cities for villages, returning to a simpler way of life. some in this group are fatalistic but others are more hopeful. >> greeks won go down. they just don't go down. they'll survive somehow. >> reporter: dan rivers, cnn, london. if you want to comment on that or any of the other stories you've seen on this particular show, do drop us a line on our facebook page, you can access it at facebook.com/cnnwbt. over the recent weeks and months we've been keeping a close eye on bonds. today is no exception, as you probably guessed from the graphic behind me. mario draghi may be set to safe the euro zone but 007 is set to save the world. >> reporter: bond, james bond last seen on the big screen in 2008 in "quantum of solace" is back or will soon be in a new movie called "skyfall." plans were officially announced on thursday with the cast introduced at a crowded press conference in london. daniel craig returns as the british super spy, along with dane judi dench as his side. sam mendes takes the director chair. >> i remember the impact it had on me. i got excited when i saw my friend daniel play jals bond in "casino royal." i thought it opened up wonderful possibilities for the characters. >> i've been lucky enough to have really nice roles thrown at me. >> reporter: most of the plot details are being kept under wraps. but producers did say bond's loyalty to emis tested as her past comes back to haunt her. in keeping with 007's globetrotting legacy, the film will be shot in london, china, turkey and scotland with an estimated budget of around $200 million. look for "skyfall" in theaters in the fall of next year, just in time for the 50th anniversary of the bond movie series. fionnuala sweeney, swn, atlanta. >> fionnuala sweeney is a lucky woman. one of the lucky people to be covering something other than the greek debt crisis. that's it for "world business today." i'm nina dos santos. you're watching cnn, the world's news leader. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made. when i got my 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thousands of dollars. call this toll-free number now. this week on "marketplace middle east" islamic finance that oppose arab spring era. plus, egypt's economic woes. talks with the chief executive on the bumpy road ahead. libya's new acting prime minister is promising to build a nation that respects human rights but he's also asking for patience. the national transitional council this week chose the representative from tripoli to lead libya as it writes a new constitution and prepares for national elections. only recently the ntc's chairman called for the constitution to be based on sharia law, which would include the banking and financial sectors. we take a look at the path of islamic finance in the economies of the arab spring. >> reporter: the sweeping political change across the arab world may also bring sweeping change to how business is done here. as some countries consider extending islamic law to business and finance. the change would be significant. because under sharia law, interest is not allowed. banking must follow religious principles. >> islamic finance has existed in these countries before the arab spring. whether you take egypt, tunisia, they've been doing islamic finance for some time. >> reporter: until now there's been no islamic finance in libya. islamic banking laws could prevent price hedging in libya on which the country's huge oil industry depends. this man is global ceo for islamic banking with standard chartered. he says there are many misconceptions and this is one of the issues people don't fully understand. >> hedging is allowed for management of risk. hedging is not allowed for speculation. so to the extent hedging is taking place to fix the cost of production, sharia would consider that. >> reporter: libyan officials meanwhile have been attempting to reassure the west that religious views in the country are moderate and won't impact business. this man heads up the department. >> libya will not be the only oil producing country in the region who would have islamic banking. the united arab emirates is a country where the islamic banking is very successful. and this is an oil-producing country. >> reporter: habil also says even if libya implements islamic law, he believes conventional banks will be able to co-exist alongside islamic ones as they do in other countries in the region. international companies, he says, need not worry. >> libya will not be imposing restrictions on foreign companies to be sharia compliance the as such. it comes into the foreground when the company is willing to enter into the islamic finance business. there will be sharia compliance and conditions, only in such cases, if the company is willing to do islamic financing. >> reporter: still, in libya right now there are far more business-related questions than answers. uncertainty that worries already shaken potential investors. as concerns spread over the economic fallout of the arab spring, all eyes are on the future direction of egypt. as the country struggles to accept financial aid, concerns are growing over an increasing budget deficit. investor confidence has been dampened by a shaky political climate. it's an issue i addressed with the chief executive of the egyptian-based investment bank emg hermies and asked him whether the downgrade was justified. >> to be honest about it, it reflects the uncertainty that exists today in egypt and the transition into a democracy. you have parliamentary elections that are coming in december. you have presidential elections that will follow next year. so i think it's quite normal for agencies, given the level of uncertainty to revisit ratings of countries through transition. >> growth in egypt averaged 5% between 2005 and 2010. can the economy really grow 2% in 2012? can it make that sort of recovery? >> i think the fundamentals of the egyptian economy is still very strong. whether it's the ability to attract tourists, whether it's the receipts from the suez canal and egyptians working abroad in the arab world, for instance, your industrial exports specific to europe grew exponentiallexpo. all of the fundamentals are there. it just needs, i think, sound economic policies. >> it's vital for an economy like egypt, tunisia, morocco, libya to get foreign investment. i don't see global companies taking that risk right now. i think it's too risky. would you agree that fdi, foreign direct investments, will be pushed off for another three to four years. >> not three to four years. i think you're probably looking at a wait and see move by the global companies. so i think fdi should resume once we have had the parliamentary elections and possibly the presidential elections beginning of next year. >> something can didz i wanted to talk to you about. tunisia, libya, even in egypt, the new governments are coming in and saying we have to have sharia compliance for all investors that want to play in this market. what's the signal to that sense? can you have a moderate sharia compliance? it's all about interpretation. why the message now? >> i think it is more to appeal to the domestic voters. i think it's more about packaging as opposed to substance. >> as you know, europe's very important for the countries of north africa for exports. your view on whether this debt solution is a sustainable solution or different ideas have to be put on the table to boost growth again. >> strangely enough, i wrote an yard line article in one of the egyptian newspapers six months ago asking for the tahrir square attacks, 10% tax on individuals worth in excess of $10 million. just to give you the magnitude of the amounts involved, the proceeds as a result of this one-time tax is around 5 trillion u.s. europe will get as a result of that, 1.5 to 2 trillion u.s. and that can solve most of the public debt issues in europe. >> once again, hassan heikel is joining us from beirut. and up next, india, we take a look at the economic impact on the kingdom. saudi arabia has a new crown prince, an heir to the thrown. he's in his late 70s and will remain the interior minister, a position he's held since 197 aand will become deputy premier, a classified publication describes him as a conservative. king abdullah has been pushing a pricey economic agenda. could economic policy differ under the new to the thrown? leona lakhani takes a look. >> reporter: many people that oil producers face less economic pressure because of their enormous wealth but even in an oil-rich country like saudi arabia, the high cost of living and unemployment are still pressing issues. regardless of the politics, the economic needs in saudi arabia are urgent and king abdullah and his successor are aware they have to address them. otherwise it could result in political turmoil. saudi arabia is the gulf's most populous country but 70% of its population is under the age of 29. unemployment amongst the youth is at about 25%. that's a huge number. the government needs to create jobs to absorb all those people entering the work force and it has been putting some plans into place, for instance, it's building what it calls four economic cities to house and employee millions of saudis but these are long-term plans. there's no clear time line on when or how these cities will be created. we are seeing some from you trags. a lot of the kingdom's wellen hasn't trickled down what many people don't realize, for a country this rich, there are still many people below the poverty line. some say as much as 20% of the population lives in poverty. now, the government is trying to rectify that with $400 billion investment plan that was announced back in 2009. most recently king abdullah declared several new social benefits systemed to cause $36 billion and they include unemployment benefits, funding for education and housing. these are all long-running issues in saudi arabia but now in the spirit of the arab spring, they have become more urgent. we haven't seen protests in saudi arabia on the same scale as elsewhere in the region but we have seen ripples of dissent over the years, particularly amongst the minority shia population concentrated in the kingdom's oil rich eastern province. leoni lakhani, cnn, abu dhabi. other news hitting the headlines, abu dhabi is applying the breaks on its plan to be a cultural hub of the overall region. the guggenheim and the national museum were supposed to open in two to three years. that has been extended by a year now. the u.n. education and science agency, unesco voted to give them full membership. the u.s. and another country argued against that movement. that's it for this edition of "cnn marketplace middle east." i'm john defteriosdefterios, th watching. see you next time.

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