investigation. he was among nine people killed in a mortar attack in a southern city. the reporter was covering a pro-government rally when it came under fire. that was gilles jacquier. nigeriians have been on a strike the past few days protesting a doubling in the fuel. a fuel subsidy was removed. those are the headlines. "world business today" starts now. hello, and a warm welcome to "world business today." i'm nina dos santos at cnn london. >> aim andrew stevens in hong kong. here are the top stories this thursday, january 12th. japan stands side by side with the u.s. with a pledge to cut its imports of iranian oil. a breakthrough for some, a gimmick to others. can tvmakers really convince us that 3d is the way to go? we'll hear the hard sell from the las vegas electronics show. and monuments to capitalism or hashi iharbingers of economi what the skyscraper tells us about boom and bust. japan says it's prepared to reduce the april of oil it imports from the republic. it comes a day after he urged china to scale back its own oil imports from iran. japan relies on iran for 10% of its oil, so this is a decision that will not have been taken lightly. kyung lah joins us from cokio. did tim geithner get everything he was after from tokyo? >> reporter: he got pretty much everything he was after. the only thing he didn't get was an exact time line. we don't know exactly when japan plans on reducing that 10%. what japan has pledged to do, though, is to publicly state they will fall in line with the u.s. request. u.s. secretary tim geithner has been going around through the region trying to get all the allies on board. what the united states wants is renewed pressure on iran, to get tehran to stop its nuclear program through other countries, basically stop buying their foreign oil. here's what secretary geithner and japan's finance minister announced today. >> we are working very closely with europe and japan and with countries around the world to substantially increase the amount of pressure we bring in iran. and we are exploring ways, as i said, to cut off the central bank from the international financial system and to reduce the earnings iran derives from its oil exports. >> translator: what i told the secretary is that we've already reduced iranian oil imports by 40% in the past five years. nuclear development issue is an issue that the international community cannot overlook. so we very much understand the u.s. action. >> reporter: the finance minister also did add that he didn't have a specific time line. he didn't have exact dates. he also said it would take a little more time for japan to back away from noncrude oil imports out of iran. now, this is a delicate dance for japan as a government. because you may remember, just months ago on march 11th of 2011, there was -- that took out the fukushima daiichi plan. that triggered an energy crisis across the country. the government has a delicate dance. they need to make sure they are falling in line with a very important ally, number one ally, the united states, but at the same time, make sure it has enough energy, enough electricity, enough oil to keep this country running. andrew? >> as you say, kyung, tim geithner coming to tokyo from beijing where he was carrying the same message. did he meet with any sort of success in beijing? >> reporter: we heard timothy geithner speaking so loudly here in tokyo about this particular step forward with japan is because the exact opposite happened in china. if you look at the readout of what happened out of beijing, you see he didn't get exactly what he wanted. in fact, china said what they import out of iran has nothing to do with tehran's plans for any sort of nuclear program. >> okay. kyung, thanks so much for that. kyung lah joining us live from tokyo. nina? let's have a look at how the european stock markets are faring where i am at the moment. obviously all eyes are focused firmly on two particular euro zone countries at the moment, italy and spain. we have coming up later on today, spain auctioning up the 5 billion euros worth of bonds due in 2015-2016 and italy selling back 12 billion euros worth of its own bills. we have the ecb deciding on interest rates today. it's widely expected to keep them on hold at 1.0%, pausing for the moment in terms of the interest rate policy for the euro zone. we have a couple of corporate earnings that are affecting things, particularly on this market here. the ftse 100. it's currently down by about 0.16%. we've had disappointing figures coming out of tesco. the country's largest supermarket chain. and also major change at rbs. that could involve the loss of 1,300 jobs. we have the likes of the cac 40 and the zurich smi up. >> pretty much green -- red arrows, excuse me, across the zone here today. the trading has been quite light, particularly in the china-related indexes because we are coming up to chinese new year and this does tend to be a quiet time between the christmas break and the chinese new year. the main story pretty much across the region, the one everybody has been focusing on, not just today but pretty much for the last 12 months, inflation. we have the december index out. inflation is easing down from 4.2% to 4.1% in december. that give an initial boost to the markets pretty much across the region. that soon faded. the attention turning to europe. shanghai, for example, down for the second day in a row by 0.4%. hong kong down by about a third or so of 1%. the reason for the disappointment as well with the inflation is that it was a little bit higher than analysts had been hoping. analysts had been looking for 4% even. they got 4.1%. inflation is now down for the fifth straight month. it is now at its lowest level in 15 months. growth, the economic growth picture in china has been slowing and that has been dragging inflation down with it. the expectation now has switched firmly to what the government will do to if it needs to at the moment get the economy, the broader economy going. while i'm talking about that i'll show you the december number for inflation. you'll see that there. the issue now here, nina subwith china comfortable with the level of inflation at around about its target? its target is 4%. or can we expect to see them make doubly sure that inflation is actually dead and buried before they start to turn their attention to boosting growth? this is going to be the balance that chinese policymakers are going to be wrestling with pretty much throughout 2012. most money says at the moment at least growth will come first. but certainly inflation has the potential to be an enormous issue in china. authorities will be careful about how they deal with that. >> they sure will. it's something that, of course, excuse me, andrew, they've been keeping an eye an as you were saying for a number of years now. that chart illustrates it. weaver had a look at the trading picture where andrew is in asia, we've had a look at the trading picture here, in europe where the markets kicked off about an hour or so. trading begins on wall street a little over five hours from now. let's have a look at the how the u.s. futures markets indicate the opening could go. it's difficult to get a grasp on what could happen when those markets start trading later on today. behind me, a lot of the markets basically flat to mixed. what we have is the nasdaq futures showing an upward tick at the moment but only by 0.05%. the other markets down by 0.1%. when it comes to the futures, anything could happen in the next five hours. andrew? >> indeed. still to come on "world business today," politics, private equity and pointing the finger. u.s. republican presidential candidates take their fight to south carolina. mitt romney's rivals keep his business background in the cr s crosshairs. that's just ahead. i want healthy skin for life. 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it's rich investors like pension funds, university endowments, wealthy individuals pooling their money together to invest in companies, in new technology, anything that can make them money. often they zero in on failing companies. the private money comes in, restructures, sells divisions, closes failing parts of the company and reaps benefits from the good parts. mitt romney says he has created 100,000 jobs this way. these are investments that bain made in staples, dominos. he's counting jobs even after bain was out of the picture. it's pretty much impossible to know how many jobs bain and romney created or lost in those private equity investments from 1984 to 1999. here's why. bain does not record payroll numbers. it's private equity. once a company is no longer privately listed, the books are close. reuters profiled a steel mill in kansas city that bain invested in that eventually failed with devastating job loss. newt gingrich is using the word looting to describe his business history and a superpack has a new 28-minute video called "king of bain." >> mitt romney, the ceo of bain capital. his mission, to reap massive rewards for himself and his investors. >> mitt romney and them guys don't believe who i am. >> he's for small business? no, he isn't. he's not. >> reporter: it's resonating. another candidate, texas governor rick perry says there's something wrong with getting rich off failure. what's not in dispute is that investors got rich. a "wall street journal" article says ten of the deals produced huge gains for bain investors. private equity is about making investment and making profit. it is the dna of american capitalism. but this is a debate among republicans, the pro-business party in the u.s. is curious. much of the debate in this country has been very negative about private equity. consider this, most private equity firms buy and grow businesses. a few examples, actually bain examples, dunkin' donuts has had a resurgence after private equity came in. the weather channel is part owned by bain. there are hundreds, if not thousands of examples of companies operating today that are backed by private equity. christine romans, cnn, atlanta. >> fascinating debate in the heart of the republican primaries, really interesting. second place, too, romney in south carolina and the man leading many of the attacks, the former republican speaker of the house, newt gingrich. he's certainly pulling out all the stops trying to keep his presidential campaign alive. he spoke to piers morgan, explained why he would make a stronger presidential nominee than mitt romney. >> the last thing you want is to nominate somebody who collapses in september who can't answer the questions. you'd better answer -- people want to attack me for my past, that's fine. i either will answer it and be ready to be the nominee or i won't. romney ought to have to meet the same test. >> he's been very scathing through these superpacks and also himself, pretty personal, it got pretty nasty pretty quickly. only now are you responding. what do you think of him personally as a man. >> i don't. >> you have no view? >> i have no view. >> do you like him. >> he's a competitor. i think he was unnecessarily negative and knows that some of the things he ran were not true but that's his decision. that's how he wants to play the game. >> and you can catch that full interview with newt gingrich coming up a little later on "piers morgan tonight," a little over an hour and a half from now. still ahead on the show, the biggest human migration on earth is under way. we'll tell you how many planes, trains and automobiles it takes to transport millions of chinese over the lunar new year break. you're watching "world business today." milk. want to cut back on fat and not compromise on taste? try smart balance fat free milk. it's what you'd expect from the folks at smart balance. morning because my back hurt so bad. the sleep number bed conforms to you. i wake up in the morning with no back pain. i can adjust it if i need to...if my back's a little more sore. and by the time i get up in the morning, i feel great! if you have back pain, toss and turn at night or wake up tired with no energy, the sleep number bed could be your solution. the sleep number bed's secret is it's air chambers which provide ideal support and put you in control of the firmness. and the bed is perfect for couples because each side adjusts independently to their unique sleep number. here's what clinical research has found: 93% of participants experienced back-pain relief. 90% reported reduced aches and pains. 87% fell asleep faster and enjoyed more deep sleep. for study summaries, call this number now. we'll include a free dvd and brochure about the sleep number bed including prices, and models plus a free $50 savings card. and how about this? 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[ female announcer ] the travelocity guarantee. from the price to the room to the trip you'll never roam alone. tim geithner swings through asia trying to convince the allies to cut back on ironian oil, the price of crude continues to rise. welcome back. you're watching "world business today" live here on cnn. as more trouble for foxconn in china. they manufacture parts for apple and microsoft as well as other high technology firms has confirm confirmed. they employ more than 1 million people. it was rocked by a spate of suicide at a plant in the shenzhen. foxconn did say 150 workers protested after a decision to transfer them to a different production line. several internet sites carried a conflicting report that up to 300 staff threatened a mass suicide. cnn has so far been unable to confirm that report. but microsoft has said that it is investigating this news. okay. staying in china but on a slightly more upbeat note, when the world's most populous country gets set for its most popular festival, the world's biggest annual migration begins. the lunar new year holiday's big business for china's transport operators, between those traveling home for the holiday and those taking vacations elsewhere, the government reckons that up to 3.1 billion journeys will be made. now, this figure covers the entire peak travel period from january 8th to february 16th. even though china may now be the world's biggest carmaker, public transport services will certainly be feeling the pressure, won't they, nina? >> they certainly will, andrew. nearly 17 million cars were bought in china just last year. despite that particular boom in the auto market, far more people, it seems, will be taking the bus. i dread to think what kind of scrums we'll see to get a seat there. >> you hit the nail on the head there, scrums. my experience is trying to catch a bus when a lot of other people are trying to catch it is anything but orderly. certainly bus operators will have their work cut out for them over the next five weeks or so. there's been a report come out from the bank hsbc. it says that no fewer than 840,000 vehicles will be put to work, making 2.6 million departures daily. that is a lot of movement. that's just the buses. now compare that with the railway system. china's railway network is growing rapidly as we've been reporting that only 235 million people will be traveling by rail over the holidays. just over 4,000 trains will be departing each day. now, that's more than three times, though, as many as ships. ships will take about 44 million people to their holiday destination. but think about that, boats, 44 million people traveling on boats. and finally, those who prefer to travel by air. this is the lowest number of them all, 35 million people will travel by plane over the new year period. hsbc says it will take an extra 14,000 scheduled flights to get those 35 million people to where they want to go. that equates to about 350 extra services every single day across china. spare a thought for air traffic control over the lunar new year period. nina? >> we certainly will. as with china and every story that's china related, the figures are enormous and often magnified by the sheer scale of people moving about. whether you're moving about in china or elsewhere, it's time to get you updated with the weather for you business travelers out there. we are joined live from the cnn international weather center. how's i