tokyo's nikkei dropped a fraction while hong kong's hang seng ticked up slightly and oil fell from a two-year high but still remains above $105 a barrel. >>> today, wall street gets the february durable goods report and a look at the weekly jobless claim numbers. on wednesday, a late rally kept stocks on the upside. the dow closed up 67 points to hit its highest level in two weeks. while the nasdaq gained 14. >>> the disaster in japan is forcing toyota to slow its production here in the u.s. the world's biggest automaker told employees and dealers wednesday that due to supply disruptions from asia, it expects to halt production at some u.s. factories. the company did not indicate the size or pace of the slowdown, but it is expected to be somewhat limited since most toyotas made in this country use parts made in america. >>> new worries this morning about the housing market, after sales of new homes fell to the

first this story from hong kong. unesco announced one of the winners of this year's women in science award is hong kong chemist. the announcement made on friday. the 47-year-old chemistry and energy professor was nominated for her contribution in developing light emitting materials and innovative ways of tapping solar energy. the award is given to five outstanding female scientists around the world. the other four winners are from kuwait, sweden, mexico, and the united states. >>> the prime minister says his government will take all measures to put an end to illegal immigration to australia via malaysia. he made the remark on thursday during a three-day visit to cambria. representatives from africa and south asia are using malaysia to enter australia at a transit point to enter on rickety boats. an australian plan to set up a detention center for refugees will be taken up at a meeting in bali next week. the meeting is devoted to combating human smuggling and related transatlantic crimes in the region and beyond. >>>

explaining to my friends in hong kong what that meant. that was extraordinary for them to understand as well. by no means is if international event. it is what gavin has often told us. it is several world series events, several super bowls put together, strung together. i also know that it is not just a one-day event, as you all been educating yourself about this fantastic boat race. we will have entities from a round world building their boats here, coming here with their entourage, beginning now, actually, taking a look at the course and understanding what it is to build a boat here and then executing what they have to do to make sure their boats are ready. this happens now. it does not happen a year from now. they are all beginning to come now, so our restaurants and all of the businesses, the procurements of what they need to support their staffs coming over here. they are all beginning now. that is part of that $1.4 billion economic outlook that we had when we made this decision and got the award. 9000 jobs -- that is a heck of a lot

boeing has locked in $10 billion in deals with air china and hong kong airlines, and more sales could be on the horizon. china expects to order more than 2,000 aircraft over the next five years. sprint nextel and t-mobile pair and deutsche telecom have revived merger talks hoping to keep up with wireless rival verizon and at&t. warner brothers has teamed up with facebook to test out streaming movie sales on the social network. "the dark knight" is the first flick to be offered up. $3 worth of facebook currency buys a two-day rental. the threat of a new rival in the online rental market sent shares of netflix nearly 7% lower. finally, had enough of warner brothers' ex employee charlie sheen popping up online? there's an app for that. the creator claims his charlie sheen browser blocker will hide most sheen related texts and images from your browsing experience. now, that is winning.ç >>> coming up, a milestone for kobe. a broadcaster wants back on the field and the strangest soccer red card you'll ever see. plus, lebron tries his best to stop the heat from wilting. your early morning

the deal was announced in hong kong on tuesday. hong kong airlines will buy a 32 of boeing's 787 streamliner jets. air china has submitted an order for five jumbo jets. the chinese aviation market is one of the fastest growing worldwide. industry analysts say it couldi need some 400new aircraft over the next 20 years. >> that is a whole lot of people and a whole lot of money. today marks the 100th anniversary of international women's day. if they had of the new un women's agency says there has been a -- the head of the new uns women agency says there has been remarkable progress, but there is still widespread lack of opportunity. today, at women gathered in manila to protest for better wages and better health care. other women held a party in the streets of the capital to marke the event. it is a controversial subjects here in germany, the genetic testing of embryos. one genetic test on embryos is now up to the parliament to decide how much design can really be allowed in designer babies. >> politicians had been waiting for the eth

hong kong's hang seng and shanghai's key index for major blue chips both down about .2%. and in shenzhen the sse composite is down .8%. >>> the earthquake and tsunami have dealt a heavy blow to japan's auto industry. parts shortages have affected carmakers and their suppliers across the country. >> reporter: this factory in yokohama city south of tokyo is a key link in japan's auto parts supply chain. it processes transmissions and other metal parts. a high temperature oven is used to strengthen the parts to improve durability. but many clients are based in the quake-hit to hoch yue region. shipments have dropped by half since the disaster. the factory holds a crisis meeting. >> shipments from some of our clients are down 20% or 25%. >> output of one client is only 20% of the pretsunami level. >> reporter: management decides to shut down a quarter of its ovens. in addition, it asks 6 of its 46 employees to stay home. >> translator: the situation is brutal. we can't predict what will happen. our clients don't know what to expect, either. >> reporter: the loss of orders is

the ritz carlton hong kong opened its doors for on tuesday. all 312 rooms have city and harbor views. there are also six restaurants, a spa with floor-to-ceiling windows and an indoor infinity pool. if you're afraid of heights, might not be for you. i'll take. >> i'll take it. wow. >>> next on this wednesday, a bullet pierces an airline full of passengers. >>> how about this? swallowed whole by a sink hole in her backyard. and it's happened before. >> wow. >>> plus, cleveland's revenge, as lebron james takes on his former team. we have the highlights, coming up. it's pain relief without the pills. no pills, no pain. how can you get pain relief without taking pills around the clock? try thermacare heatwraps, for all day relief without pills. i was surprised, thermacare worked all day. you feel the heat. and it relaxes and unlocks the muscle. you've got to try it. [ man ] thermacare, more effective for back pain than the maximum dose of acetaminophen, the medicine in tylenol. go to thermacare.com today for a $3 off coupon. thermacare. no pills.

kong stocks falling as investors sold down shares across the sectors in the wake of the earthquake and japanese quake is sending aftershocks to europe and russia and russia both the indices are down at the moment europe is also falling so we'll be keeping an eye on the market's performance and we'll bring you the latest in the coming hours. ok bill thank you very much for that update corrina well let's move on now to other news european leaders will hold a second round of emergency meeting on friday to discuss the libyan crisis now they are expected to demand the resignation of colonel gadhafi who we know has ruled the country for forty two years and it follows france's official recognition of libya's opposition as well as the invitation of two anti gadhafi rebel and voice to paris bushell is following developments between the e.u. and nato in brussels. france has officially recognized becoming the first major power to recognize libya's rebels as the legitimate rulers germany has distanced since itself from those views but there is a general falling in line with seeing here all of the

brings us to the market's unsure as a result of rising three point nine percent in hong kong on his decision on their roles by about off a japanese stocks followed u.s. equities higher in early friday trading with expert focus shares outperforming on the better than expected to as jobless claims report and the nikkei finished up one percent hong kong shares also climbed all unsoldered overnight gains on wall street with banks and energy producers among the bank gave us. and european forces opened high on friday as an upbeat mood and wall street on thursday and asia overnights brush to european about stars in investors' eyes also on the key u.s. employment data to signify growth in the world's largest economy the u.s. department of labor is set to release its monthly jobs report with every one. in two. hundred russia they are she has in the my six off loss to positive in the trade shares mixed let me remind you that the r.t.s. across the psychological benchmark of two thousand points and eighty one point seven percent. on thursday. and mazda is considering building as fast as some of the plan

kong shares also climbed all the overnight gains on wall street banks and energy produced this among the big paydays. and in russia there are g.s. is up in early trade the option is was also seen in russia on thursday the r.g.s. crossed the psychological benchmark of two thousand points and gained one point seven percent in my six and of the day at a polish point four percent on the right mark rubenstein for a much more live see says the upcoming trading may see some profit taking. we have been seeing the markets going hard this week after their short correction last week and earlier there's where you and we could face a situation where you know the rumors sell the fact so we might see some profit taking a number comes in very strong on the other hand i still think if we're susan crawford taking the boers are wired to step in and if there is indeed profit taking correction or their decline is going to be very mild. that's it from me to date now. download the official t.m. placation on the phone the i pod touch from the on cue sounds to. munch on see life on the go. video on demand on

kong. moving on and friday we'll see . orders need to decide the fate of the joint venture between b.p. and was snapped and she was size concluded the deal in january but forced to put it on hold after a rb russian partner in the joint venture to be claimed the deal violates its exclusive agreement with the british oil majors in a final bid to end the conflict. russian will venture heart owned by b.p. said it can raise the financing it may need to replace the british oil giant in an alliance with state run snatch all correspondent has the story. k. b.p. wants to pour the british out of the rosneft deal chief financial officer jonas to new york claims they can easily raise the eight billion dollars plus needed the trouble is both rosneft and the russian government wants b.p. not seeing k. b.p. because only its has the expertise to develop conditions stockholm of attrition called suspended that b.p. was left agreements while they sort out their dispute p.p. spokesman led to me boyan of says i

kong money. once a hundred off the nuclear crisis has been criticised by the us saying it's had to prevent a meltdown appear to be failing but it's only tax that's pointed out that the focus will react is how designed by iraq is general and not for company and that the rest go through was true to how things house. right now a lot of people are wondering who they can point the finger at whether it's general electric who actually designed these nuclear reactors or the operator which in this case is tepco tokyo electric power company and actually when you take a deeper look into japanese law general electric will actually not be liable for any of the accident or damage that happened at these nuclear reactors which could save them potentially tens or hundreds of billions of dollars so they're probably breathing a little bit of a sigh of relief right now actually tapped the operator of the nuclear reactors would be responsible for those liability because now many people are saying that in fact they're

because of this, the recyclable bottles are transferred to hong kong and china. it means that there is a lot of oil that is getting used for the recycling of the bottles. we have a presentation from the youth commission. they are the representative of district 7. she is asking for support that we need to get to her, at a public-private exchange program. she was in the mission district. she is there under a scholarship. realize that her school, we don't have enough interaction with each other. we have all of these-stigmas about each other. she is asking for support with this exchange program. at the last cabinet meeting, there was also a video. a person from the department of public health heyman and shot a psa with us. >> handsome youth commissioners have come by to tell us about financial empowerment workshops for high-school students. there are workshops where they can learn about getting financial aid preventing identity theft, avoiding death traps. it will be april 30 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.. also, they are going to be having our annual youth summit whic

., between europe, inside europe, why are those countries different than singapore or hong kong that seem to still have this vibrancy and rapid growth. >> guest: first of all nobody really knows how as economists we don't have a sort of solution for all countries for sure. and it's quite fascinating to look a bit different approach between britain and united states addressing the initial crisis. britain adopted a very few the purchase was resolving the issues of its deficits and its debt. they've adopted a different approach and it's become quite fiscally waxed as we know with the qe1 and qe2 and there's this discussion of the interest rates rising across europe and britain is a different policy stances and obviously we don't really know how that plans out. but i think boeing to the conduct the framework and i am not by any means saying this is the sort of complete picture, but again, looking at capital and productivity, you can see why these emerging economies are actually in a good place. they have a lot of money and they saved our jubilee too much in terms of labor that his great

., between europe, inside europe, why are those countries different than singapore or hong kong that seem to still have this vibrancy? >> first of all, nobody really knows how as economists we don't have a solnit solution for all the countries for sure, and i think it's again quite fascinating to look of the difference between britain and the united states addressing the financial crisis. it adopted a very fair approach towards the result of issues deficits. the united states has adopted a very different approach. it's become quite relaxed and as we know the monetary environment is good interest rates quite low and with europe and britain quite a different policy stances and obviously we don't really know how that turns out. but going back to the fundamental framework and economists use, and by no means am i saying that this is the complete picture, but again, looking at the productivity you can see why these emerging economies are in the place. they have a lot of money and perhaps economists argue too much. in terms of labour they have great dynamics in terms of numbers of people an

the deal was announced in hong kong on tuesday. hong kong airlines will buy a 32 of boeing's 787 streamliner jets. air china has submitted an order for five jumbo jets. the chinese aviation market is one of the fastest growing worldwide. industry analysts say it could need some 4000 new aircraft over the next 20 years. >> that is a whole lot of people and a whole lot of money. today marks the 100th anniversary of international women's day. if they had of the new un women's agency says there has been a -- the head of the new uns women agency says there has been remarkable progress, but there is still widespread lack of opportunity. today, at women gathered in manila to protest for better wages and better health care. other women held a party in the streets of the capital to marke the event. it is a controversial subjects here in germany, the genetic testing of embryos. one genetic test on embryos is now up to the parliament to decide how much design can really be allowed in designer babies. >> politicians had been waiting for the et

this is richard schuster for abc news on campus, hong kong. >> i love it. i like that he didn't want to spend the rest of his life at a job he didn't like. he was working in the video game industry. he said, this is enough. and had such a great time on vacation, he turned it into a lifestyle. >> that's something i would normally make fun of, but that after the news we've covered for the last three weeks, if that brings you joy, smile and happiness, dance on, folks, dance on. >> mumbai to hong kong. dig it. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement nsurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to " 80% of your part b expenses. if you're already on or eligible for medicare call now to find out how an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan / insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company, helps cover some of .the medical expenses... / not paid by medicare part b. that can save y

a third opens in hong kong in 2012. >>farthing: there are many visionaries on the harrow school board who see the value in transliterating a qualityharrow-branded service into new markets. at a commercial level, there is a return from the international schools as well which goes back to help maintain a level of fee structure at a school like harrow to the benefit of that school too. >>reporter: harrow international school is a private company backed by a hong kong investor; it operates under alicence from harrow school in the uk. as for the maths, the beijing operation has over 400 students - with annual fees for the eldest, 28,000 us dollars. >>in the city of tianjin (pronounced tee-en jeen), another famous british name, wellington college, opens its doors in the autumn of 2011 - in a campus funded by a local property developer. a relative latecomer to the overseas market, wellington has big plans to catch-up with the competition, first in china, then india and the middle east. >>cook: they believe firstly that they ha

now in other asian markets, hong kong's hang seng is in the positive, up almost 0.3%, but shanghai and shenzhen in and out of negative territory this thursday, both currently in positive territory. >>> toyota motor says supply chain disruptions in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami are preventing it from resuming full production. on wednesday, toyota decided to postpone restarting output at most factories until friday next week at the earliest. the decision will extend the production halt to nearly a month except at two plants in central and western japan. the automaker restarted the assembly of three hybrid models there on monday. toyota says it's still unable to obtain 500 kinds of parts, including electronic components. the disaster damaged the facilities of many of its suppliers in the northeast. toyota's latest move underscores the serious impact of the disaster on japan's corporate output. >>> honda motor has announced it's going to reduce vehicle production at its five plants in north america from wednesday. this is due to an expected shortage of car parts from japan. honda

we've got 18 degrees in hong kong. 12 in shanghai. 11 beijing. not too bad. average here. and chilly 5 in seoul. now for the americas. a major storm system is moving across the central portions of the u.s. this is going to be bringing widespread snow again across the midwest and is separate system across the pacific will be spreading plenty of snow across the pacific northwest. so british columbia, canada looking at 15 centimeters of snow and also across the great lakes looking at significant snowfall again. now, further to the south, things are going to be severe here. winds are strong. looking at the threat for severe thunderstorms, tornados not out of the question and do watch out for damaging winds as well as large hail in louisiana and also mississippi. now, all of that precipitation then heads toward the eastern third of the country. we've already had reports -- numerous reports of minor flooding in the region along the mississippi valley and also in the northeast due to the recent rainfall and the snow mount. as that precipitation heads to the eastern third of the c

[applause] and of course the woman who was your lifeline from here to hong kong when you were trying to escape this awesome responsibility, rose pack. [applause] fire chief of the city and county of san francisco, joanne hayes white. and a man whose work as an architect in three or four administrations, a man that i got from the board of supervisors years ago, he became deputy chief of staff and then chief of staff under mayor newsom, steve koba, chief of staff. and as always, you're in good hands of public safety, but only if there is a police chief, and there is one here, the acting police chief, jeff godong. [applause] the controller, a man who could cook the books or make it very difficult for you, ben rosenfeld. [applause] and from oakland, california, an asian person that beat you for mayor of the city by five minutes -- >> a little more than five minutes! >> by five minutes by my account, this is san francisco. gene quan, the mayor of oakland, california. [applause] and the city attorney and one of my lawyers, john russo. [applause] oakland. from the board of education, emily

taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei climbed 244 points while in hong kong, the hang seng rose 15. >>> after three days of losses, thursday wall street made a luke warm comeback. recent drops brought out the bargain hunters, but volume was low and options activity shows investors hedging against another fall in stocks. volatility could resume today as the so-called quadruple witching period ends. quadruple witching involves the monthly settlement of various stock options and futures. signs of an improving economy helped cool japan fears. a mid atlantic manufacturing jumped to the highest point since january 1984. new applications for unemployment benefits last week fell more than expected. ongoing claims dropped to the lowest level in 2 1/2 years. bellwether fedex forecast improved revenue on strong demand, lifting shares more than 3%. on the down side, consumer prices edged higher than forecasted in february. oil rose along with stocks, up 3.40 a barrel to over $101. the group of seven industrialized nations agreed thursday on a coordinated effort to h

then in hong kong the hang seng rose 96. >>> given the vast extent of last week's devastating earthquake in japan, not surprisingly companies that do business there as well as nuclear related businesses look to be the most vulnerable this week on wall street. tokyo's stock markets spiraled downward today its first day back in business. the central bank has injected 15 trillion yen, $183 billion into money markets to try to defend the fragile economy. here at home, keep an eye on the nation's two biggest nuclear operators. also watch shares of comico and uranium one. edison international and pg&e which operate nuclear plants on california's earthquake-prone coast also may be in play. >>> expect u.s. listed shares of japanese companies like auto manufacturers toyota and honda, which have shut down many of their japanese factories, to trade lower. friday major insurers and ç reinsurers with exposure in japan were down and companies like aig and ace limited could be hit again today. overnight in asian trail, oil fell sharply on investor pessimism that global economic growth will slow thank

kong, the hang seng was up 391. wall street is still in a wait and see mode saw its second lowest volume of the year tuesday, but at least stocks rose. they started lower after home prices dropped for a seventh straight month in january. only washington, d.c., saw gains. because of that, and the surprise profit for the later quarter home builder lenar fell 3%. investors shrugged off consumer confidence in march, falling for the second time in six months. oil surged to just under $105 a barrel, 20% higher in just a month. oil stocks rose for a fifth straight session with that sector's value at its highest since august 2008. ge, a large stockholder in this network, is buying 90% of convert team, a french energy equipmentmaker for more than $3 billion. tuesday, japan's automakers said it would stop ordering parts. starting today, it will be cutting north american production. know yo and blackberry warned due to disrupted supply it faces troubles. home depot jumped almost 3% on its billion dollar stock buyback. amazon.c

in other asian markets, hong kong's hang seng is up 0.04% at 22,694.6. the shanghai's key dimension for major blue chips fell 0.64% at 6,665.51. and in shenzhen the sse composite is down 1% at 1,272.83. >>> now, japan's central bank has provided another 2 trillion yen, or about $24 billion to the short-term money markets on tuesday morning. commercial banks have been keeping extra cash on hand since the earthquake. the bank of japan says it has supplied a total of 40 trillion yen, or about $490 billion, over the past six business days. the central bank says it will continue to provide extra liquid ity as long as necessary. >>> the world bank says damage from the disaster in northeastern japan could reach $235 billion. this far cheeds the losses from the kobe earthquake back in 1995. the estimate comes as the devastating earthquake and tsunami have disrupted theation's production networks in the auto and i.t. industries. the problems at the fukushima nuclear plants and the economic impact from rotating power cuts are not factored into the calculation. the

. >> i think i'd feel fine ordering sushi whether i was in new york or hong kong. >> reporter: but she says she'd think twice before ordering the sushi right now in tokyo. i'm david wright for "nightline" in tokyo. >> some reassuring words from david tonight. thanks for that. >>> coming up next, we'll try to lighten things considerably with a nationwide poll to answer the pressing question, what was the best movie kiss of all-time? if your racing thoughts keep you awake... sleep is here, on the wings of lunesta. and if you wake up often in the middle of the night... rest is here, on the wings of lunesta. lunesta helps you fall asleep and stay asleep, so you can wake up feeling rested. when taking lunesta, don't drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase the

taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei rose 107 points, while in hong kong the hang seng shot up 286. investors betting big on the jobs front pushed wall street to its best one-day rally in three months. the labor department said first time claims for unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level since may 2008. hopes are high that this morning's report from the labor department will show unemployment rates fell below 9%. investors heard more good news, hiring has hit a new high in areas like health care and financial services. upbeat reports from the a number of retailers added to the day's gains. meanwhile, the recent surge in oil pushed prices at the pimp another 4 cents higher yesterday. the national average is now $3.43 a gallon. meanwhile, the global food price index hit a new record high for the third straight month. despite rising costs, however, the company behind fast food restaurants wendy's and ashby's added 7% after beating earnings estimates. mazda has announced what has to be the creepiest recall ever, recalling tens of thousands of 2009 and

while in hong kong the hang seng plunged at 667. >>> the ongoing nuclear crisis in japan on top of the earthquake and tsunami disaster has rattled tokyo stock market to its core. yesterday's 6% nikkei drop saw $700 billion in value wiped away. this morning adding insult to injury the nikkei notices dived another half a percent losing another half a trillion dollars. >>> one fund made up of uranium and nuclear energy stocks slumped. nuclear projects with hitachi dropped more than 2% the dow's biggest loser. fund trading in alternative energy shares jumped over 7%. toyota which announced suspension of production at all its japanese plants fell over 4%. since japan accounts for 11% of global luxury sales, that sect or was stung. both tiffany and coach dropped more than 5%. aflac, the nation's and the largest foreign insurer in japan fell 3%. on the brighter side, caterpillar gained over 2% on trader's assumptions that it will benefit from japan's rebuilding. apple was also up after selling close to a million ipad 2 units on the updated tablet's computer debut weekend. looking ahead the fe

they are leaving, evacuated by the british embassy, on a flight to hong kong. alex does not want to leave. >> i feel like i am abandoning people i have known for two and a half years. i care about them. i am attached to them. i feel like i am abandoning them by getting out. >> alex is not the only one who is reluctant to leave japan. of the 7000 british who live in tokyo, fewer than half showed up to leave tonight. these are the new heroes of the hour. >> we expect a lot of difficulties with the mission. it is a dangerous assignment. the reputation of japan and the lives of many people rest on your actions. >> these tokyo firemen have volunteered for the biggest and most dangerous mission of their lives. the crisis at the fukushima plant has now been upgraded to a level 5 emergency. this spraying operation is perhaps the last chance to head off a major radiation leak. on tv tonight, the prime minister sounded increasingly gloomy. >> i must tell you that the situation at the fukushima and nuclear power plant is not good. >> it is not a surprise that tokyo and th

taking a look at overseas trading this morning, the nikkei lost 188 points while in hong kong, the hang seng went down 95. >>> it's a simple formula. oil goes up and stocks go down. as civil unrest escalates in libya this week, traders will continue to keep an eye on those rising crude prices that we mentioned earlier have pushed gas prices up 33 cents in just the past two weeks. traders shrugged off friday's payroll report that showed unemployment dipping below 9%. this week we'll find out just where the jobs are in this economy when the government releases its jobs opening and labor turnover report. we'll also get the government's take on february retail sales after retailers reported a 4% rise last week. louis vuitton is said to be in talks to acquire bulgari, a sign the luxury goods market continues to bounce back. elsewhere, james river coal has agreed to buy two coal companies international resource partners and logan and kanoa for $475 million in cash. >>> apple starts selling its new ipad 2 on friday and since the company lowered the price on the original ipad, if you bought one

kong, the hang seng rose 58. easing oil prices and signs of a strengthening economy put wall street back on firm footing monday. oil prices fell to about $97 a barrel on news saudi arabia was boosting exports. data showed consumer income rose by the largest amount in nearly two years in january and factory activity in the country's midwest hit a 22 1/2 years high this month ahead of today's national report. also help berkshire hathaway's warren buffett saying he is itchy to make more big acquisitions, as if on cue, deals broke out all over. ventis, which owns senior housing communities, is buying nationwide health for $5.8 billion. health care reit is buying the assets of gensess health care for $2.4 billion. and late last night blackstone group announced buying 588 u.s. shopping mall assets from australia's centro properties for $9.4 billion. elsewhere, the u.s. has approved the first deep water drilling permit in the gulf of mexico since last year's massive oil spill. today, fed chief ben bernanke delivers his

looking at hong kong's hang seng, sharply lower. in london, the ftse fell 1.7% yesterday. and on wall street, the dow down 242 points, wiping out most of its gains for the year. the nasdaq fell 50 points. >>> some good news for toyota. the automaker is restarting production at plants making replacement parts for vehicles on the road. but it is extending a shutdown at assembly plants through next tuesday. that affects about 95,000 vehicles. >>> apple has responded to parents' complaints about their ge bills on itunes. apple now requires that users re-enter their password when making app purchases. that should prevent kids from inadvertently buying virtual goods while playing games on iphones and ipads. >>> food prices have been rising rapidly. it doesn't look like that will end anytime soon. wholesale prices jumped last month. the highest jump in 36 years. and you'll see those increases in grocery stores and restaurants. everything from green peppers and lettuce. and also to meat and dairy, will cost you more. >>> when it comes to cola wars, coke is it. diet coke is now the

kong, the hang seng plunged 347. fears mideast unrest could undermine the economic recover rattled markets once genetic. oil uncertainty resurfaced by renewed counterattack forces in libya while reports iran was cracking down on anti-government protesters added to investor fears. oil shot up more than $2 to settle just under $100 a barrel. investors shrugged off ben bernanke's testimony before the senate banking committee that higher prices could impact the recovery, but only temporarily. as for february, new data shows retail sales were up despite rising fuel costs and those nasty winter storms. auto sales are bouncing back with sweeter deals and discounts pushing february sales up an average of 20% over last year. house lawmakers welcomed word from treasury secretary tim geithner that the obama administration plans to resolve -- dissolve failing housing giant fannie mae and freddie mac. he warns that it has to be done gradually over the next several years. >>> the former director of goldman sachs and procter & gamb

taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei gained 20 points while in hong kong the hang seng zoomed 398. >>> it's a pretty safe bet that oil will be the big story on the street once again today. oil settled above $105 a barrel in new york monday as libyan unrest shows no signs of letting up and reports surfaced about planned protests in saudi arabia. copper took a big dip, driving down free freeport mcmoran copper and gold 3%. meanwhile, chip stocks were hit by a downgrade to the semi conductor sector. communications equipmentmaker see anna fell 9% after a weak sales forecast. even a big corporate deal failed to ease investors' fears. western digital agreed to by hitachi's disk drive operation for $4.3 billion. confident consumers took on more loans for a fourth straight month in january while credit card debt hit a new six-year low. after chevron was found guilty in ecuador for massive pollution, a new york judge ruled that they cannot go after chevron's assets in other countries. southwest is raising domestic fares by 10 bucks each way. call it recall monday.