we will bring the latest ifo ratings at the top of the next hour.will hear from the ifo president, his first interview of the day just after the report is released. in russia, the st. petersburg international economic forum is in full swing with president them said to address later. ryan chilcote joins us from st. petersburg and he is standing by with a special guest. good morning to you. >> that is exactly right. we have the ceo of russian railways with us, a man who has been shanking -- sanctioned by the u.s. government, caught up recently in this conflict between russia, the united states, and the geopolitical situation. thank you for joining us. let's talk about the elephant in the room. the fact that you have been personally sanctioned by the united states. you cannot travel there. you do not have any money there, so that does not matter. otherwise, that would be frozen. how does it affect russian railways? >> from the point of view of russian railways, you are journalists and you know that even bad information is good advertising. this point,

german business confidence numbers, ifo coming out. we were expecting confidence to decline, but we are a little bit shy of forecasts. what do you make of the numbers? >> a little bit shy of forecast. the interesting thing is to look behind the reasons for that. what i want to know is what german businesses -- there are 7000 businesses which are surveyed here. what they are doing in reaction to what is going on in the ukraine and russia. are they delaying investment? are they delaying plans for employment? we are going to speak to the president of ifo later in the program and these are the sorts of questions i want to hear the answers from him about. the other thing that has been going on in the german economy, that i think is quite interesting, it looks like we are seeing the first signs of a rebalancing going on. we got the pmi yesterday. still above 50, but the interesting thing was going on with the services. they were really very strong. is that a rebalancing of the german economy, something that mf, the unitedi states has been as

but no longer accelerating. >> let's hear how they went down with investors on the markets. >> the ifo business confidence fell in may even stronger than expected, but the euro was therefore under pressure. it is evident the ukraine crisis already left its mark on german companies. unclear is what it means for further german-russian business. that is why traders are very curious about the outcome of the election in the ukraine. more important, for sure, the elections in europe. how strong will opponents of the euro and austerity be? what about the very important reform process? on monday we will see very strong reaction on the floor, but ahead of it the dax was higher. >> we are going to take a short break, but when we come back we will let you know what vladimir putin had to say about ukrainian elections this weekend. >> putin's pledge is how it is being described. back with more in just one minute. >> welcome back. ukrainians are heading to the polls on sunday, and russia is promising to respect the outcome of the vote. president vladimir putin made that pledge at an investment for h

i think that's what the ifo reflects as well. there are plenty of risks, usually quite fickle german investors and businesses tend to reflect quite strongly. ukraine being the biggest one and also the disappointment of the q1 gdp figures. there's plenty to worry about. bottom line is, germany is growing fast, based mainly on domestic demand, expeorts not - >> the pmi was stronger than we might have thought. if you look at it from a world rebalancing review, we'd like domestic demand to pick up for everybody. >> this is the new german growth trend, driven by domestic command, consumption, business investment, construction investment. that's good news for the rebalancing within the eurozone. they will buy more spanish, italian, even frank goods if these companies are competitive. that's good news. >> where is germany going to stand on the ecb actions on june? is the fact that we don't have major inflation in germany, are they thinking we could do with extra stimulus even though their economy is relatively okay compared to the rest

u finish, ifo try to not, i will plan to be right back. association has required its members to publish the names collection on or for their website and to link to privacy disclosure, is that correct? that of youre members? >> we do require notice and transparency. >> do you require your members to publish the names of the parties that do data collection website? publish on their website? we do require disclosure via a website. right.bsite, all do they identify on that website, which of the parties yourot members of association? >> so if you go to our choice tool all of those folks the d.a.te with directly or indirectly so all on there are certainly affiliated with us. members?cessarily >> we're not a membership organization. >> everybody on that website that is listed affiliated? there is a provision in there, as i understand it. you have a website called about ads. info. consumers can visit the page with a few clicks. i can see every company that is tracking their browsers. >> is a list of all participants that are affiliated with the da

the ifo did issue a statement again on monday threat enning attacks. of the worse attacks was at this car repair shop. a man drove his car, had a word with the mechanic, and said can you take a look at my car, i'm going to grab some lunch and i'll be back. workers have cleaned up the neighborhood. it's a sign of how common place these attacks are. what is more difficult to do is clear up the fear that these attacks cause. imran khan, al jazeera, bagdad. >>> late today the president will once again present the nation's highest military honor. kyle white set to receive the medal of honor at the white house. white helped with the evacuation of several wounded soldiers during a 2007 taliban ambush. al jazeera will be covering today's ceremony. >>> and coming up on al jazeera america, scientists say the antarctic is melting. and the drought, so bad in parts of brazil, they can't even afford to waste a single drop of water. ♪ >>> we're following breaking news coming out of baltimore. that is wmar tv, a person there has barricaded himself inside the station.

out, but ifo clock there's work still to be done, they will try to force us to work out and still do- clock out and still do the work. some people let them overpower them like that, but i'm on strike today for reasons like that. >> that is video from this morning outside a mcdonald's here in new york across the street from the empire state building. workers say they're planning another protest a mcdonald's annual shareholders meeting a week from today. for more we're joined by two guests. in new york, catherine ruetschlin author of the report, "fast food failure: how ceo-to-worker pay disparity undermines the industry and the overall economy." joins us fromise pt, kansas city public television. he has worked for burger king for nine years and plans to go on strike today. he is a member of the standup kansas city campaign. we last spoke with him in august, as the strikes were just beginning here in the u.s. we welcome you both to democracy now! terrance, you have worked at burger king for nine years. how much do you make an hour, if you don't mind me asking? >> divergent fast food for

trial, the presumption of innocence andn te due process toer everyone.ess toer for these reasons,yo ifon not nomination of david barron. even if the administration release as dozen barron memos i can not support barron. the debate is not about partisan politics. i have supported many of the president's nominees. the debate is not aboutan transparency. it is about the substance of the memos. i can not and will knot support a lifetime appointment of someone who believesom it is oky to kill an american citizen not involved in combat without a trial. now some will argue and say the president yesterday now has changed his mind. he is going to release these memos to the public. well that's true. why don't we wait on the vote and let the public read the memos? why don't we have a full-throated debate over this? why don't we actually see what the public thinks about the right to trial by jury? wouldn't you think that something with that over 1000 years deserves a bit of debate? wouldn't you think we take at least the time and realize this is not the position of the administration. this is the p