hello, everyone, welcome to the "journal" on dw-tv. the top stories at this hour, from pop to politics, u.s. president barack obama addresses both houses of parliament on day two of his trip to the u.k. >> it is official, billing for the top job at the imf. >> and germany began reopening its airspace as the ash cloud moves on, but what is the fallout for passengers?

on day two of a pact visit to london, president obama became the first u.s. leader to address both houses of british parliament. in his keynote address, it emphasized the importance of western leadership in a time of the world being tested by so many challenges, covering a range of global issues, in that stressing the importance of the west links with britain and its european allies. >> the president was greeted with top honors at westminster hall in the british houses of parliament. his appearance is a symbol of the country's close ties. >> i have come here today to reaffirm one of the oldest, one of the strongest alliances the world has ever known. >> he said the alliance is especially vital during this time of volatile change, when

nations like china, india, and brazil are growing in influence. >> perhaps, the argument goes, these nations represent the future. and the time for our leadership has passed. that argument is wrong. the time for our leadership is now. >> obama emphasized the world that the west plays and must continue to play in ensuring peace, prosperity, and the quality the world over. >> from north korea to iran, we have sent a message that those who do not follow their obligations will face strong sanctions. now we must back up those words with these. >> president obama also called on libyan leader muammar khadafy

to quit, a topic that is expected to be one of the main themes of the g-8 summit in france, which the u.s. president and british prime minister will attend. >> a short while ago, i spoke with our correspondent in london, who has been set following the events. i asked her what has been the general message of obama's visit to the u.k. >> the message the leaders wanted to get across was one of unity. they had stressed on several occasions they are seeing eye to eye, that they are united, tackling the problems of politics, that their relationship is not one of the nostalgia but really seeing eye on the day-to-day political message. there are some differences, of course, one of which is in libya. from the uk perspective, the u.s. is hesitant, taking a backseat. the chairman of the select committee on foreign affairs said before the talks that he

would be pessimistic as far as libya but is concerned. -- as far as libya is concerned. i think he feels vindicated for what president obama has said on libya. there's also the question of american helicopters. he said there would be no ground troops. i think the british government and many in the british political establishment would have hoped that he would be a bit more enthusiastic as far as the intervention of libya. also, there has not been any talks about if and when to talk with the taliban, with the british government pushing for talking to the taliban. the special relationship is there. i would not say the relations are strained, but there is certainly no convergence of opinion on every point of

foreign affairs. >> coming out in depth, i will have a closer look at the special relationship between the u.s. and britain. now we turn it over to steve. we're talking about who will be taking over at the imf. christine lagarde has confirmed she intends to run for head of the imf. she has been encouraged by support from a number of countries. some emerging economies have complained the job should not automatically go to european this time around. she's expected face competition from attack -- from mexico's central bank chief. for more on this, i spoke with our correspondent and paris, asking first for the french response to the bid to lead the imf from lagarde. >> she has the full support of both president nicolas sarkozy

and the prime minister. she is by far the most popular minister in their government, nothing short of a financial rocks starke according to an imf insider today. the opposition socialist party has also largely swung into position behind her candidacy. having lost their own man an unfortunate circumstances, you might have expected some gripes about his possible replacement, but the fact there are only a few rumblings of dissent is proof of lagarde's image as a consensus builder and extremely talented candidate who could if chosen go a very long way to restoring the imf. >> why is she considered so suitable? >> for one thing, the brand is extremely recognizable. both in 2009, she was already the 17th most powerful woman in

the world by forbes magazine. she is known as outspoken, charming, ferociously hard working, and extremely effective. she is a lawyer by training, not a career economist, and that may be a minor point for the imf job. germany, the u.k., and italy have come out in support of her candidacy, and we can expect more lobbying on her behalf. that will start at the g-8 summit tomorrow. we also spoke with our political correspondent in berlin. chancellor angela merkel must be pleased with the announcement. >> absolutely, chancellor merkel has publicly supported lagarde calling her an outstanding candidate and personality.

a government spokesperson said she would provide seamless continuity in their role. angela merkel wants a new head of the imf as quickly as possible, as to other governments, because the imf is a key institution in the response to the financial crisis in portugal and greece. the fires are burning in europe right now, and they believe it could be helpful to have the european leading the firefighters. >> it looks like the skies are clearing. >> perhaps for now. they say the worst of the chaos caused by the ash cloud from the icelandic volcanic eruptions appeared to be over. airspace over northern germany has been reopened after a shutdown at airports are slowly but surely getting back on track. scientists in iceland say the eruption appear to be slowing

down. >> all flights were canceled wednesday morning. high concentrations of ash in the air around a several hundred planes. more than 20,000 passengers were affected in hamburg alone. >> when you go by train, the driver struck, it is terrible. the best thing to do is stay home. >> i am surprised how quiet it is. >> berlin's airport also canceled flights. then there were delays as the backlog was cleared. >> i did not sleep last night. i am exhausted. i just want to go home. >> if i cannot fly, i will take the train. >> the ash moved over scandinavia and scotland before moving over germany. now it is dispersing and air travel should not be affected thursday. they learned valuable lessons

from the ash cloud last year. the german transport minister still sees room for improvement. >> a lot has happened on the european level. but european union member states still cannot manage to agree on common, reliable standards. >> mainly steam is coming from the greater up -- from the crater of the volcano now. geophysicists to say it is not producing hardly any ash at all. a german soldier in afghanistan has been killed by a roadside bomb, another soldier and afghan translator would it in the attack which targeted a patrol near the provincial capital in the north of the country. about 5000 german troops are currently serving in afghanistan as part of the nato-led international security assistance force. 49 german soldiers have been killed in afghanistan since 2002.

let's go back to steve. >> we go straight back to paris for fresh economic data. the organization for economic cooperation and development says the global economy is recovering. they forecast to% growth rate this year and next. -- a forecast 2% growth rate this year and next. the german economy is expected to grow 3.2% next year. they anticipate the volume of german exports to grow more than 10% this year alone. after a long series of economic reports that exceeded expectations, a new survey of german consumers shows the mood is growing cautious. the latest survey of consumer confidence for june showed a slight decline compared with may. >> the price of commodities has put a damper on consumer

sentiment in germany. food prices have gone up, fuel and energy prices remain sufficiently high, and rents are rising. higher inflation is also pulling apart. at the annual rate rose to 2.4% in april. analysts say there is no ground for pessimism, although consumer confidence is falling off. it is seen it -- it has been at a relatively high level for months and consumer spending remains strong. >> what is pleasing is domestic demand has played a bigger role in our economic growth and exports. this is a completely new development in germany, and it gives us good reason to be optimistic that this will be a good year for consumer spending in germany. >> the facts are encouraging. april was another good enough -- another good month for retailers. it sells have returned to levels not seen in three years. wednesday's market action,

european shares posted gains in the mid week session with a rally in banking stocks helping provide the upward momentum. our correspondent sent the summary from the frankfurt stock exchange. >> nervous trading the past few days. people had little undecided which direction the market will go. there are strong reports from the economy coming on corporate profits, so there is foundation for the share prices. on the other hand, there are a lot of risks involved in the euro debt crisis and other parts of the world. the power companies among the leaders of the pack, strong gains. there are reports the government in berlin is willing to forgo the tax on fuel rods from atomic energy plants. the deal would be that in exchange the companies would not protest against shorter running times for atomic energy plants and the money they save goes to more renewable energy.

staying in frankfurt for a closer look at the market numbers. the benchmark the dax finishing up by one-third. the euro stoxx 50 closing 0.6% higher. the dow jones closed at the top of the hour and finished with a good set of gains, 31% higher. -- 0.31% higher. now we go back to macon for news on while lots of people in germany are washing their hands in their food. consideconcern is growing at foodborne illness which has killed several women and left hundreds of others feeling sick. authorities did not know the source of the contamination. hundreds of cases have been reported across germany over the past two weeks. >> most strains are harmless, but this e. coli strain can be

deadly. officials are trying to establish how it entered the food chain. it's a raw or undercooked meat, unpasteurized milk, or vegetables contaminated by animal feces could be to blame. experts are advising people to steer clear of uncooked vegetables. >> we're advising people, especially in north germany, not to eat raw tomatoes, cucumbers, and green salad. we think this is just -- we think this is justified, considering the for quick nature of the list. >> over 450 cases have been reported so far. authorities think the outbreak may be receding. but they're telling germans to be extra careful. >> it is important in this extreme situation that we pay close attention to hygiene.

effort and vegetables in particular should be thoroughly washed -- fruit and vegetables should be thoroughly washed. >> the bacteria has already claimed its first victims. three people are believed to have died from the infection. another powerful storm system has descended on the central portion of the united states, killing at least 12 people, just days after a massive tornado ripped through the region. 80 people died in oklahoma and there are deaths in kansas and arkansas. authorities have issued new warnings for joplin, missouri, which was devastated sunday, when a huge tornado struck killing 125 people. 1500 people are still missing. astronauts from the space shuttle have completed the third of four scheduled space walks. they work on the international space station power supply and

extended the reach of the station's robotic arm. it will return to earth on june 1. -- the shuttle will return to earth on june 1. in death is coming up. way. -- in depth is coming out. don't go away.

u.s. president barack obama is in the middle of a six-day tour of europe. since he took office, the transatlantic relationship has been less tense, both europe and america are facing new challenges these days, including revelations in the arab world and the eurozone debt worries. the u.s. president has a packed agenda. >> barack obama is back in europe. on his first bout, the president meets some distant relatives - 1 his first thought, but there are more challenges and no end to the stormy weather.

obama's spectacular election victory to what great expectations, not just in the u.s. but far away europe. >> congratulations, mr. president. >> one of his big promises was to change u.s. foreign policy. he is clearly showing himself to be a pragmatist. an expert on transatlantic relations offer their insight into barack obama's world. >> president obama has a clear foreign policy and economic goals and it looks for the partners he needs to achieve these goals. if europe wants to participate, by all means they are welcome. if not, president obama will look for other partners, as will any other president who comes after him. >> i think it varies according

to where the interests of the united states why. is the interest in economics? europe is a big factor. is the interest in china? europe is less of a factor. if the interest is the middle east, the united states plays a dominant role, in europe as a backup role. it is a very spectrum. -- it is a very that spectrum. >> guantanamo bay detention center. europeans had a chance to play a central role here. back in his campaign, closing guantanamo was a high part of his platform. it went as far as to close it down in his first year in office, a feat he did not achieve. partially because of a lack of support from europe. >> the hopes were that european states would take guantanamo bay inmates, but europe did not give

obama much help. that is an example of the west needing your's help. it -- that is an example of the u.s. meeting europe's help. >> i think the europeans are schizophrenic on this. they say we should close guantanamo, but i don't see much readiness on the part of the europeans to take some of the people and put them someplace where they take them off our hands. >> the united front is always presented for the cameras, but obama as european partners failed to give him the support he needed to solve the guantanamo problem. europe and the u.s. also took a long time to agree on a unified approach to handling muammar gaddafi's murderous violence against his own people in libya.

germany was against bombing tripoli, what the french and british wanted to act sooner rather than later. you're clearly was not on the same page. bridget europe was not the same page. >> there are more divisions in europe and across the like. in some ways, looking at europe as a partner is a complicated game because we have to not only know whether they can act uniformly or whether it will be somewhat divided in its own responses. >> a few months ago, the whole world was treated to insights on u.s. assessments of european politics when wikileaks published at classifies the -- published classified diplomatic cables on the web, showing top european politicians been ridiculed. it also became clear other continents were featuring more prominent on the u.s. radar.

china is a key market for the west, not to mention it now seems to be the u.s.'s own personal banker. china owns almost $1 trillion of u.s. government bonds. >> the u.s.'s interests have turned to asia and latin america for the future. that means the u.s. will clearly have to invest more resources in building partnerships with states in these regions and will be sure to invest more with them because those countries are more important and europe has shown little support for u.s. policies. >> we still have a massive amount of investment in europe, and we will always have that for the foreseeable future. i think the question will be the united states will look east and west simultaneously, and it is not something that is an elimination game. we have to play both sides. we have to play in europe and

asia, but we need both perr. >> europeans have received serious competition. earlier, i spoke with the head of the berlin office of the european council on foreign relations and asked her what we can learn about obama's approach towards europe after his speech to both houses of british parliament. >> i think what we can observe is he had a truly international approach and he was speaking of a global order much more than transatlantic relations. he did not mention europe that much or transatlantic framing that much. he did mention that the west. he was talking about an international order for finances, regulation, international security, and that was pretty new in the way that he approached global affairs. >> it seems america's attention

is shifting towards asia and the middle east. hello important is europe for the united states? -- how important is europe for the that the states? >> in a way, europe gets less important for the west and the other way around. we're both looking to emerging countries. the real question is what is happening, europe and the u.s. to that are both getting less import in the world of tomorrow and there is a shift of power away from us. the real question is, are we going to go at things together or are we competing? i think obama is saying, look, we need to shape a new global order and everybody wants to do that with me is on board. >> germany has been left out of the agenda. is there any significance in that? >> i think the libyan case has damaged german foreign policy. we stayed out of the alliance,

we stayed far away from france, the u.k., the west is a big thing and germany is isolated by this. also, the fact that obama does not go to germany, although we have been the junior partner in the past, keeping the russians out, bringing the wall down, all of this, it is gone. this is no longer the topic of the 21st century. >> i think it is fair to say the u.s. has gained in popularity in europe under barack obama compared with george w. bush, but is obama doing things differently? >> yes, in tone and style. he has a different way to speak. he approaches global relations with different words. he talks about females, said the sense, not about nations. there is a different style and he tries to give more ownership

to other countries and nations. >> that was earlier. thank you for joining us on dw- tv. stay tuned. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--