>> hi, everyone. welcome to "the journal," here on dw-tv in berlin. >> and i have the business news for you. >> here is a look at our top story this hour. president obama in ireland at the start of his european tour. the eruption of a volcano in iceland promise warnings that european travel could be disrupted again, if and 89 dead and a town devastated as a tornado goes through the midwest.

we begin in ireland, where president obama has begun his six-day tour to europe. he got down to business soon after arriving, holding talks with the prime minister. those talks are said to be centered around the debt crisis and economic recovery. the president then visited a town where he had distant relatives. this trip is aimed at emphasizing the strong historical bonds between the u.s. and ireland. [cheers and applause] >> a cheering crowd gathered in central dublin to gather for the president's speech to the irish people. >> hello. [cheers and applause] hello, ireland. [cheers and applause] my name is barack obama. [cheers and applause]

>> obama launched into a folksy address which at times seemed almost like a campaign speech, focusing heavily on his irish roots. disconnection goes back almost 200 years. the president's great, great, great grandfather was born in a sleepy village in 1830. obama paid tribute to his irish roots with a visit to the small town. thousands came to see the famous distant cousin, who also had me to meet some long-lost relatives at a local pub. if obama came to ireland with a message, he emphasizing long- standing close ties that connect to the u.s. and ireland. he restated this in his speech in dublin. >> we are bound by history and friendship and shared values. and that is what i have come here today. [cheers and applause] ♪

>> this was his first dog on a european tour opinion >> i asked our correspondent -- this was his first stop on a european tour. >> it was quite a tour the force by anyone's standards come in in a way, -- by anyone's standards, and in a way, it had something like eich ein berliner in it. bear in mind, all of the controversy over the president's birthplace over the past couple of weeks, so he kicked off the speech with his name and said how he was coming back to regain the' that was lost to his surname.

-- the apostrophe that was lost to his surna. the city understands that ireland is korea rates of time but that ireland candidate difficulties, like america. -- heaid he understands that ireland is going through a tough time but that ireland can handle the difficulties, like america. >> around 20 armed militants were in karachi sunday night, killing at least 10 personnel and destroying surveillance aircraft. a taliban spokesperson says the operation was revenge for the killing of osama bin laden. >> wreckage of an aircraft destroyed in the attack can be seen on the karachi naval base. the pakistan security forces fought with militants before regaining control of the facility. the base is normally one of the

most heavily guarded in pakistan. questions are now being asked about how the militants were able to carry out the raid and whether they had inside help. the assaults began late on sunday, when militants armed with rifles and hand grenades attacked the naval base from several sides. there was a series of explosions, during which the militants destroyed two planes, including a sophisticated american surveillance craft. >> the main installations in pakistan and, of course, pakistan is at war. >> the attack has left many residents of koran to worry about their safety. >> these terrorists can get into the naval base -- the attack has led many residentsf karachi worried. >> the incident has revived concerns in pakistan, which

possesses nuclear weapons, that even the most well-guarded installations remain vulnerable to militants. >> reports from the yemeni state television that the state news agency has been attacked. at least six people were reported killed in gun battles between troops loyal to the yemen president and his opponent. fighting erupted monday after one once again backed out of the emirates-brokered peace deal. it would see one step down in return for immunity from prosecution. thousands of people took to the streets demanding he resign. the european union has imposed sanctions on the syrian president assad over his regime's crackdown over anti- government protesters. this was at an eu meeting in brussels of foreign ministers. it was said the eu would not stand by and watch as they trampled human rights. the european lawmakers criticized a decision earlier

this month to impose sanctions on top syrian officials but not on president assad. air-traffic three u.k. airports is likely to be disrupted on tuesday as volcanic ash clouds from iceland heads to the area. iceland and parts of greenland had to temporarily shut down their airspace because of the russian. authorities say it probably will not be as bad as last year when another rock'n of corruption in iceland caused havoc for travelers all over europe -- last year when another eruption in iceland caused havoc. >> it was plunged into darkness and smothered with ash. residents were urged to stay inside. so far, no plans to evacuate the population. it burst into life, spewing smoke and ash 20 kilometers into the air. it is feared this latest eruption could cause widespread

travel chaos. last year, the ash from another volcano in iceland ledo the cancellation of nearly 100,000 pounds -- flights to and from europe, with the biggest shut down in airspace since world war ii. this direction -- this eruption has ash particles that are not as fine, and the wind is blowing to the north. although, that could change. >> there is expected to be a change in the wind direction, so it could come down towards europe. >> since last year's travel disruptions, authorities have that more relaxed rules on flying through volcanic ash, but in the end, it will be up to each european country to decide whether it is safe enough to fly. >> definitely not something to look forward to this summer. staying in europe, greece and italy are putting more pressure

on the euro. >> a pretty bad date is monday. athens is feeling mounting pressure from brussels and european central bank to cut deficits and push forward on refos after falling behind targets set in its 110 billion euro bailout plan. on monday, it unveiled new austerity measures aimed at another 6 billion euros. the government also says it will immediately sell off its stakes in the country's airports as well as the telecom giants, the main source7, and the bank, to help reduce its debt. the country's power utility and rail operator will also come under the hammer. the measures still have to be approved by parliament in early june. >> no one is talking about selling the acropolis yet, but greece certainly has other state-owned assets to sell. in an interview, the euro group chairman had already said he

would like to sell more assets been planning to and would even surrender control of the privatization program. the greek government originally said it was considering selling 50 billion euros worth of assets, but some other countries say that is not enough, and they have been pushing athens with plans. the finance minister concedes that privatization should be sped up. >> if there is no more time to lose. everything that needs to be done needs to be done and done now. we have to move quickly. >> but there could be major legal problems. informed sources say it will be very hard in many cases to prove whether or not the greek state to actually owns its harbors, airports, enterprises, in a real-estate. >> well, italy has tried to shrug off its situation, but investors have been taking e warning seriously and took them as a reason to sell off shares this monday. standard and poor's downgraded the italian credit rating outlook to negative, saying

concerns that political gridlock could prevent the country from continuing painful debt reduction measures. the italian treasury moves quickly to say the pl will stay firmly on track and that the economy in italy continues to strengthen, but all of that failed to halt the market plunge. italy is the third biggest economy in the eurozone, and if the s&p warnings turn out to be true, it would dramatically intensified euro zone debt crisis. concerns over the euro zone debt problems or weighed heavily on the markets this monday. germany's dax went to its lowest level in one month. our reporter has this summary of the monday trading session from frankfurt. >> people here on the floor know that italy is not greece. the situation in italy is much better economically. still, the warning from the rating agency made people here extremely nervous, nervous that the contagion could be there, that the euro debt csis could spread way up to italy, as well.

there were a big losses for the board. lufthansa one of the biggest losers. there was the huge ash cloud over iceland, fears that it could disrupt the timetable of the planes again, and again, cause losses for the airline industry. the biggest loser of the day, suffering from the second part of its ipo, wanting to raise money to pay back state aid. >> our reporter in frankfurt, where we can stay for a closer look at monday's numbers. the dax closed at 7,121. the euro stoxx 50 was down by a similar amount, 2794. in new york, the market closed at the top of the hour, finishing at 12,381. and in the currency markets, europe has dropped to a two- month low against the dollar. it is currently trading to $1.4051.

and the country's currency in belarus has been devalued by about 50%. the totalitarian former-soviet state faces a severe economic crisis with a growing scarcity of foreign currency needed to purchase imports. the currency rapidly draining from the country's reserve, the president, alexander lu for chicago, had a bailout loan regent -- it the president -- president alexander lukashenko. spny -- sony is continuing to work on an attack that

compromised millions of its users. that is your business update. now, back over to meggin. >> aide to mr. what through missouri, three-quarters of the buildings destroyed -- a twister went through missouri. >> this is how the town of missouri looked after the tornado passed through. between 25% and 35% of the town was destroyed by the twister. the tornado went through this hospital, killing four people. the surviving patients had been moved to emergency shelters. >> it had taken a whole place out. you could not identify anything. >> rescue crews picked their way through the rubble, looking for survivors. at least 600 people were injured, and treating them has put a strain on local medical

care. the governor has mobilized the national guard to help with the cleanup. the tornado was one of 46 storms which ravaged the u.s. midwest over the weekend. experts say the one that went through this down was the single most deadly tornado to go through the country in nearly 60 years, and it came nearly one month after a series of similar storms devastated parts of the u.s. >> the german museum of history is open to the public after updates. the museum now covers a broad spectrum from the german post- war past and conflicts around the world. the german president was on hand to catch a first glimpse of the new expositions. >> an original vw bus from the era of free love, flown in all of the way from california. the museum hopes things like this will help those who were not there to experience it firsthand, and that includes the

president. >> i was just too young to experience this time period. >> alongside the exhibit from the 1960's were testaments to the sometimes bloody struggle for freedom. here is a tank which helped crushed -- crushed the uprising. an here, obstacle -- and here, an obstacle. this sculpture embodies the discussion over immigration changes in germany. it was created 30 years ago for a small town in western germany. it could not be called the foreigner but was given the name the traveler instead. what was once a taboo is not discussed openly. >> our country has become more colorful than we ever could have imagined. that still scarce a lot of people, but it does not need to if we handle it smartly. i believe that, given our recent

history, we have to say that diversity makes us stronger. >> the new exposition is far from a one-sided luggage german history. rather, it is a look at world history -- far from

>> welcome back. u.s. president barack obama has started a six-day tour in ireland, which will later include britain and france. situations have improved since the president took the rain, and he is still more popular over here that his president to drop -- his president george w. bush ever was. -- than his previous president, george w. bush, ever was. >> what it is like to be the most powerful man in the world. >> i would like to know what he

eats. >> all of the wars that the u.s. is involved in. >> nuclear power. if america also plans to phase it out. >> i would like to know how he intends to resolve the crisis. >> will we be able to travel freely to the united states? >> i would ask him if he is a proud of what he has achieved so far. >> i would ask him if he is going to close guantánamo. >> i do not believe it. >> osama's death. >> why did they not managed to capture osama bin laden and put him on trial the normal way -- why did they not manage to? >> he did not like it. would he do the same thing?

>> barack obama and the greenhouse gases, what he is going to do about it. >> a real specific, detailed plan to invest more in renewable energy. >> international aid. that should be high on the agenda. >> he should focus more on europe, asia, the middle east. >> he got the nobel peace prize straight away, so people thought, "wow, the savior has come. things will be ok in the united states now." >> i would like to know how

much the u.s. president has the ability to do what he wants or if there are limits set in the white house. >> i wish him luck. i hope he gets reelected so he can do what he set out to do. >> some questions and opinions there. for a closer look, we talked to it --to a member of the european parliament's foreign affairs committee. we asked him if there was anything he would like to ask president obama. >> what is pretty obvious, how does this present plan to get finances in order. right now, the situation is pretty dire. >> have united states and europe gotten closer in the post-bush era?

>> absolutely. people talk to each other in a different way. nato. in afghanistan. even in the criminal court. there are a number of issues. one issue, one area, diplomacy, europeans have a very different approach than the american congress. they are not giving the president any wiggle room there. >> the popular uprisings in north africa changing the global landscape. the u.s. and europe became rivals. >> on the country. i believe this is the next big transatlantic project. central and eastern europe, that has been our common task. that has been achieved. we have to deal with this now.

right on our doorstep. we have a revolution, a freedom of democracy. this is something that they should undertake together. neither of us can do it alone. the challenge still remains. >> you mentioned earlier that the u.s. congress is being difficult in regard to climate issues. what about the european parliament, and how fruitful is it? >> we have a delegation with the u.s. congress. we exchange views on a number of issues, like, for example, more protection. also, climate change, so there is a regular exchange of views. sometimes it leads to better results.

there are policy areas in which we deal with. so talking to one another makes a lot of sense. >> thank you very much. >> now, when the u.s. prident decides to head overseas, it involves a lot more than just firing of the engines on air force one. journalists and secret service are always along for the ride, and the security alone can be pretty expensive. our next report takes a massive look of the logistics and the estimated cost of the trip to europe. >> president obama boards air force one alone. it is the common image that you see in the media. the mo powful man the world is surrounded by people when he heads overseas on the boeing 747. when an american president's travels, and this has been true for a long, long. of time, large numbers of people travel with him or around

him. 2in 2010, obama visited india in the company of his wife michelle and about 900 others aveling on other planes, including executives, journalists, and 600 security personnel. that is because the u.s. president is considered the world's top target for terrorists. his security detail is huge and highly trained. journalists accompanying obama are often informed of upcoming events at the last moment. >> they want to give the press and of information but also do not want the information leaking out to the broader public so that people who would want to do harm have time to do that. >> the president's customized cadillac, in its name the beast, is armor plate with bulletproof windows, built to withstand bombs and chemical attacks. it is equipped with guns and tear gas and even a small blood bank.

if the skies are safer than the roads, the president often uses his helicopter, marine one, instead. the cost of all of this are not disclosed. the obama visit to dresden in 2009 is said to have cost the german authorities 25 million euros. the u.s. president was there for all of 15 hours. in 2010, obama spent 20 days touring asia, with stops in indonesia and south korea. a source claimed the trip cost $200 million per day. that was picked up by the media and the critics of obama. the white house responded by calling that absurd. the u.s. air force has said that each hour air force one is in the air costs $100,000. by comparison, german chancellor

angela merkel travels cheaply. the government airbus costs tend thousand euros an hour to fly because the 10,000 euros an hour fly. -- costs depend thousand euros an hour to fly. -- costs 10,000 euros an hour to fly.