in syria. these rikts are set to show demonstrations in dara last friday. although cnn cannot verify when the video was shot. an estimated 1,500 people are unaccounted for in joplin,h. nearly 100 volunteers are working to reunite family and determine who's really missing. the volcanic eruption in iceland that's disrupted air traffic in europe is finally ending. the ash cloud thrown up from the volcano is drifting east and dissipating and most of the airports closed are re-opening. those are the headlines. i'm zain vergee, "world business today" starts now. good morning, from cnn london and welcome to "world business today." i'm nina dos santos. and good afternoon from cnn hong kong, rhyme andrew stephens. the top stories this thursday, may 2 th. sony's bad run continues. it's now forecasting a profitable year ahead. even that outlook fails to impress. dominique strauss-kahn is now under house arrest at this luxury new york townhouse. >> i'm a leader by temper and attitude and professional experience. i'm also a person that can reach out and reach consensus. >> and business leader, lawyer, minister and mother, christine lagarde tells us why she's got the right resume to head up the imf. >> so plenty to come on today's jam-packed show. let's start out with the european markets and how they're faring, recovering quite a bit of ground after the heavier losses we've seen earlier in the week. the gains we've seen in the first hour or so, ftse 100, void by banking stocks and the hedge fund group, mann group. that company coming out with its results, lifting its stock. we have metals and mining companies lifting it as well. the laggard is the zurich smi at the moment. the pound almost flat, 1.63 against the yen, up a fraction 81.92. a bit of recovery in the currency markets, meaning the dollar is going back down again as risk seems to be coming back into the market. we saw that in asia as well, nina. more so is the emerging markets in this part of the world, recovery in most of the markets today. australia up 1.65%. you were talking about metal stocks going up. same thing here. bhp billitan up. the hang seng up by 0.67%. shanghai, down 0.25%. the nikkei up by 1.5%. in tokyo, canon's stock price up by 5.77%. the tap neesz office equipmentmaker rico says it will slash thousands of jobs. the company will cut 10,000 jobs, 10% of the work force, as it launches a three-year restructuring process that sent the share price up. it usually does when they talk about getting rid of staff. ricoh up by 4.1% this year. the share price by almost 30%. they definitely needed to do something. we've also got figures coming out after the close in tokyo. we knew not to expect anything great from sony's earnings. the company confirmed it lost $3.2 billion for the year to the end of march. but with that announcement came a prediction of return to profit in the coming year. albeit significantly less than expected. let's look at those numbers in more detail now. kyung lah joins us from tokyo. they are predicting a return to profits but a disappointing return, kyung. >> reporter: a bit of a disappointing return, in part because what we're hearing from the sony's earning presser which just began a few moments ago, andrew, let's look back on what's happened this fiscal year. sony is saying what they found was a loss. it is primarily a noncash loss. it doesn't have impact on cash flow. many of the experts will agree on that. part of some of the damage to sony is what did happen on the earthquake. that they do believe that even most of it will be covered by insurance. looking ahead to the forecast, the upcoming fiscal year. they do anticipate that the earthquake will continue to cost this company about 1.83 billion u.s. dollars. but if we could stress something, the real elephant in the room here, andrew, it is what has happened with sony and it's hacking. the hacking of its play station network and its curiosity network many of the play station network users are fuming over this time gap when sony actually learned about the hacking and when it started to actually communicate with the players. so because of that time gap, there's a bit of user anxiety and anger out there about how to treat sony as a network moving forward. if they want to put their credit cards in the hands of sony. sony has to figure out now how to make it up to the user. in part, this is financially important for this company. this, andrew, is what the company is considering in using one of the key pillars to succeed in the future. >> interesting it's become such an important part of sony, now it's online operations and how a string of it was pushing back before, saying we were quite quick, relatively alerting the customers to what had happened. that's not washing very well, kyung. if you look at what sony will be doing over the next year to try and get if back to profits, is it expecting big things from its bread and butter businesses, i guess you can put it? tvs and electronics stuff? >> yes, if you look at what they announced today, some of the details, what they're looking forward to is selling more lcd tvs and also relying on its network, content. this diversity as far as movies but also playstation network. what sony is looking at is what they've been working on, turning around this antiquated company. the sony walkman was a long time ago. they're trying to diversify and update. it's a process ongoing. many analysts say it's been successful internet leadership of howard stringer. the question will be how long will stringer stay on the job and can sony continue what it has started this last ten years? >> i think i have one of those walkman's kicking around the house. they might be worth a bit to some collector. thank you, kyung lah. dominique strauss-kahn has a new place to stay while he's under house arrest in new york. he moved from an apartment to a luxurious townhouse in a pricey part of lower manhattan. while he waits for his trial to begin, he won't want for much it seems. we're told the townhouse has four bedrooms, a hot tub and movie theater. if he gets bored he won't be able to open out when he feels like it. accord together terms of the $6 million bail agreement, strauss-kahn is only allowed to leave his residence on six hours' notice. mean while, the race to replace strauss-kahn is certainly intensifying. the bookies favorite is this woman, we're talking about christine lagarde. she's the french finance minister and could be the first ever female chief of the imf. jim bitterman sat down with ms. lagarde to ask her what she might bring to the imf's top job. >> i tell you what i bring, i think, to the fund if i was elected. i'm a lawyer by background. and i have that set of legal skills. i'm a leader by temper and attitude and professional experience. i'm also a person that can reach out and reach consensus. i'm a person that expects others to shine and bring their talent to resolving problems. on the top of which having been 25 years in private practice and having led a very large institution, although in the private sector, baker mckenzie, one of the largest law firms in the world, i've been the minister of finance for france for the last four years. you know, we've traveled the tempest, not too badly. the crisis did not hit france as hard as it hit other countries. >> in your announcement, why did you emphasize you were bringing your expertise as a lawyer and enterprise but also as a woman. what was the point of that? >> i made the point about my gender, because number one, women represent about half the population of the world if not a little more. and it's okay to actually be able to not represent but come from that majority which is often a minority. so i'm not suggesting that i should have any special favor but i will certainly bring my skills as a woman as well as a mother, too. >> will you do anything to change gender equality at the imf? >> wherever i've been, whether as chairman of baker mckenzie or minister of finance for the last four years, i've always tried to improve the gender ratio and the situation that women have in their work life so that it can help them just express their tall zblent four of the last ten directors of imf have been from france. does it seem like a likely prospect they'd turn yet again to france? >> as i declared candidacy i would hope that would be the case. i hope it's also done on the basis of merits, comparing talent in respect of circumstances. and certainly in an open and transparent process, which is what we've advocated. my president has stated yet again at the time when the managing director stepped down. >> do you feel like the organization has an image problem after dominique strauss-kahn? >> i will really commit to stay for the entire duration of the term. i know it's a frustration on the part of the staff of the imf that work is undertaken, projects have begun and the director has to go for whatever reason. my commitment would be to actually stay throughout the term. >> christine lagarde and the other contenders in the running to replace strauss-kahn will no doubt be a talking point at 9 latest g8 summit which kicks off today. the french prime minister or president nicolas sarkozy is hosting the two-day event in deauville in northern france. security is tight as leaders from eight of the world's most powerful and largest economies sit down to discuss an array of pressing issues, most notably, a multibillion dollar aid plan to support countries like asia and tunisia. emily reuben joins us now. good morning. >> good morning, nina. the g8 is meeting. as questions grow about how relevant the organization is. china and india are not a part of the summit. the french finance minister christine lagarde is now officially a candidate and has the support of key european countries. and the european commission. but the job's not entirely in the bag for her. the u.s. hasn't yet said who it will support, the french president nicolas sarkozy is hoping to security support from the u.s. president barack obama at the two-day summit. and the bric nations have criticized the unwritten rule that the leader must be from europe. the question is whether they can coalesce again a single candidate to represent them. let's look at the european debt crisis. the imf's position is to top up the bailout funds but how are able greece, ireland and portugal to pay back their staggering debt? some are calling for the dealts to be restructured. yesterday, restructuring was described as a horror. there's the u.s. economic policy for the g8 members to get their teeth into. they want to warn that america could default on bonds, social security or medicare. and then, of course, there's a discussion of aid to tunisia and egypt. the leaders of both those countries are at the g8, negotiate with them for aid to help their transition to democracy. nina, there's certainly a lot to get through in the next two days. >> yes, absolutely. especially after obama's visit to the united kingdom and ireland over the last two or three days. emily reuben, thanks very much for that. after the break, 1,300 kilometer line of severe storms on wednesday threatened to bring fresh destruction to the u.s. midwest. after the break we'll show you new dramatic pictures of the terror that thousands of people have faced. the sheer devastation these storms have caused is now running into the billions of dollars. coming up, we'll look at the financial cost of nature's wrath. stay with us. 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that made thousands of americans take cover. >> oh, my god! back up. oh, no! stop. >> chickasha in oklahoma. one woman rode out the tornado huddled in a bathtub with several other people. she said we started praying out loud and started screaming. you could hear the roar, she says. at least 1 people died on tuesday and wednesday in this latest round of tornados in oklahoma, arkansas and kansas. watches were posted for many communities along a 1,300 kilometer northwest line. let's go to jen delgado with more on that. it doesn't seem to be there's any decrease in the danger americans are facing from this threat. >> absolutely. sometimes it just doesn't matter what you do, andrew, sometimes you cannot survive a tornado. certainly you always take the precautionary measures. over the last several hours we had tornado watches out there. many of those have been able to expire. but some will last until 5:00 a.m. local time. this is the system causing problems across missouri, kentucky, arkansas, oklahoma and let's go to video of -- actually damage just from yesterday alone. this is out of ktsz sedalia, missouri. as you're seeing in the video, homes as well as buildings smashed apart. that is all due to the power of those tornados that have pushed through part of the u.s. as i take you back over, as we go through today, we'll see threat for severe weather, we're talking for areas anywhere you're seeing innio low. we have that slight risk. storms can produce gusty winds as well as large hail. large hail can be deadly. anywhere you're seeing in yellow is the area we'll watch through friday morning. joplin, you mention millions and billions of dollars in damage across the u.s., due to the active tornadoes we've seen over the last two months. this image showing you the path of the tornado that moved through joplin. notice as it starts over towards the east and you can see we go over towards st. john's hospital. that is what looked to be a well built building but as you can see right here, afterwards, really kind of fell apart and crumbled in many parts. over towards the area to the east of the hospital that was actually joplin high school. a lot of people go to high schools and schools for actually shelter when there are tornado warnings and watches out there. and this image right here, showing you some of the damage left behind. anywhere in tan, this is the total damage area. you see more green here, that's the moderate area. down towards the south, you can see the buildings, cul-de-sacs and streets. this is why it's so costly across parts of the u.s. andrew? >> wind speeds of what, around 200 miles an hour plus. >> you're talking 322 kph, 200. that's what we saw for the tornado that pushed through joplin, ef-5, the highest. >> extraordinary. jen, thanks very much for that. >> you're welcome. >> jen delgado at the weather center. >> you're welcome. we've been showing you pictures of the funnel clouds as they tear through the u.s. what would you be doing if you saw a tornado bearing down on you. take a look at this. everyone is going about their normal day, disregard warning signs to begin with. when they look outside, there's no ignoring the massive storm. that's when they quickly make their way to the back and just in time. this is what happened to the shop moments later. incredible footage. there's no audio. the noise must have been absolutely terrifying as well. but you can see there, just how quickly this happens. and just how devastating an impact something like a storm with a 320 kilometer an hour wind is going to have on a town or a city in the u.s. nina? >> absolutely shocking pictures, aren't they, andrew? everything seems to be whirling around the computer screen there. all tolled, more than 500 americans have died in severe weather this spring, making the most deadly tornado seas innocent united states since lack in 1953. it's also taking a huge financial toll. catastrophe risk models estimate the insured losses of $1 billion to $3 billion just in the tornado deaf state city of joplin, missouri. the kind of figures we're dealing with here. they also estimate the tornado damage from a series of storms in april in the southern u.s. will probably also cost between $3.7 billion and $5.5 billion. american airline is feeling the pinch as well. it's had to take 65 american and american eagle jets out of service on wednesday and that's specifically related to storm damage, andrew. >> yes. just incredible. it continues, too. as the oecd wraps up its 50th anniversary making in paris, the head of the organization tells us what he's making of the global recovery when we come back. policymakers at the oecd, organization for cooperation and development based in paris wrapping up their summit in this city. more than 30 countries are members of the oecd which is celebrating its 50th birthday this week, nina. >> andrew, one thing that did come out of the oecd sum sit an assertion that the global recovery, thankfully, seems to be firmly under way. they say economic growth has started becoming self-sustaining now with trade and investment replacing economic stimulus. now, what it said was that world gdp growth was likely to be 4.2% in the year 2011. that's slower than 4.9% growth for this year, 2010 and also 4.6 growth for next year. let's talk about some of the other things that came out of the oecd meeting. they said they're expecting, as you would expect as well, slow rfry for countries like japan that were affected by that march 1 th earthquake and subsequent tsunami that's really affected the production and supply chain there. they also said they're expecting bigger than expected slowdowns in places like china. also, oil prices and european debt crises are probably likely, they say, to weigh on investors' minds and economists' minds and potentially do some damage, let's say those are the risk factors for the recovery as it gets under way. they've been urging a series of rate hikes, particularly from some of the institutions like, for instance, the ecb and also the federal reserve. they're saying they could expect rate hikes coming from the fed in the next few months or so. one of the things that was very much discussed was the long-term inflation expectations for the united states. that would be one of the reasons why the policymakers would need to lift the cost of borrowing money. they did say there's no need for euro european and interest rates and japanese interest rates to increase because of the crises we've seen in the sovereign debt mark net europe, also the economic situation with japanese gdp really falling off a cliff after the tsunami. they did say that the ecb should raise gradually as of next year. one area of concern is still unemployment right across the region. here's what the oecd secretary general had to say about unemployment specifically. >> we have very low growth, we have very high unemployment. we have high budget deficits and high accumulates debt and, of course, we have created what, 10% in some countries, 9% in other countries with the unemployment. but for the youth, the unemployment is 20%, sometimes 30%. as much as 40%. and i'm talking in some of the most developed countries. >> so some countries around the world is teams, andrew, facing an inflationary bubble, some countries, of course, people are worried about the combination of high unemployment and high inflation which translates to stagflation. let's talk about what we have coming up after the break. up next, lockdown in france as g8 leaders descend on the town of deauville. from the cnn london, i'm nina dos santos. >> i'm andrew stevens, cnn hong kong, you're watching "world business today." leaders of the world's eight gig biggest economies are gathering in deauville to discuss some of the world's most pressing issues. the sum sit scheduled to last a day and a half, wrapping up friday afternoon. the g8 is the u.s., britain, canada, russia, france, italy and japan. >> france lists a number of challenges and priorities for the g8 summit. they include the likes of these kind of issues, international peace and security issues such as strengthening partnerships with african nations and institutions. also financially supporting the arab spring or the arab awakening recently. the transition to democracy and countries like egypt and tunisia will be paramount for these countries. other charges up for discussion include the impact on economic growth, the promotion of human rights and environmentally responsible growth and innovation. the delegates will discuss nuclear safety in light, of course, of the disaster of japan's fukushima daiichi nuclear plant. >> some 12,000 police and security personnel are in the town of deauville to keep the peace and protect the summit participants. it's a resort town on france's normandy coast. it's usually crowded with tourists at this time of the year. as our senior international correspondent dan rivers tells us right now it's virtually shut down. the locals are not happy about it. >> reporter: with the rolling normandy countryside on one side and the sparkling atlantic on the other, deauville is normally the genteel haunt of many. this week, this resort is in total lockdown, overwhelmed by police who are covering every inch of this tiny town. by boat, horseback, motorcycles, on foot, there are four police officers here for every resident. so far, protesters have been kept well away, a 45-minute drive away in le havre. they're all here like they are at every g8. there seems no chance of them getting anywhere near deauville. it's normally a bustling coastal resort of 5,000 people, but right now much of it is completely decertified. in some places, the only people you see on the streets is security personnel and police officers. there are 12,000 of those trying to stop protesters getting into the hotels where the leaders staying. for this floorest, helen duval, it's disastrous. she said she's losing 50% of her trade and this weekend is mother's day in france so it should be one of her busiest. this 78-year-old woman says she had to work 2 kilometers from the neighboring town after police turned back her car. she's not happy. francois runs a guest house nearby but has been refused entry to deauville to get there for his daily bread. >> for french people, if we don't have bread, we cannot drive. >> you cannot live without your bread. >> exactly. >> reporter: bread is almost a fundamental human right in france and so is demonstrating. in deauville, both are being restricted. this lone monk was the only sign to political protest. even he was stopped outside the city limits. dan rivers, cnn, deauville, france. >> gosh, that's an interesting take on it as the g8 gets under way today. let's take another look at the european stock market. about 90 minutes into the trading session. we're seeing a recovery compared to the early week's part of the losses. the dax, though, that one seems to be the only index that's teetered into negative territory. some of the gains have become more modest, especially in places like zurich where the smi is only up by about 0.1%. ftse 100 still powering ahead. banking stocks and also metal and mining shares very much leading the charge in the markets in london. andrew? a very similar picture here, too, nina. markets have recovered after a pretty ordinary past three or four days. mainly on the back of rising commodity prices. take a look at australia. the s&p up by 1.6%, the big resource company, bhp, rio tinto as well. hong kong is up by 0.67% higher. shanghai continues to be weaker, down about a quarter of 1%, nina. >> it seems as though with all the concerns surrounding euro zone's sovereign debt, et cetera and the change at the helm of the imf investors don't know where to be putting their money at the moment. let's take a look at the u.s. markets. they look set for a higher market when they begin trading later on today. this is where the futures markets pointing us at the moment. the dow jones industrial average future currently up by about t 0.5%. for the moment, bradley speaking it looks as though the futures markets indicate we could see a rise at the open. of course, anything could happen between now and the time when those markets open, andrew. okay, nina, let's take a look at a story that's being focused on by the hundreds of millions, if not billions of football fans across the world. it's a brewi ing scandal at the top of the sport. the challenger is fifa's presidential election for the presidential election is facing allegations of bribery, just a week before the vote. mohammed bin hammam will face questions alongside jack warner. bin hammam is bidding to set the fifa president from winning a fourth term as the most powerful man in the global game. they dismiss the accusations as a politically mote slated tactic by his election rival. in a statement, bin hammam says this has been a difficult and mainful day for me today. if there's the slightest justice in the world, these allegations will vanish in the wind. this move is molittle more than the tactic being used by those who have been emerging successfully from the election. worth putting out, they won the right to host the 2022 world football cup. nina? >> certainly did, didn't it, andrew? up next, the impact of china's worst drought in 50 years. welcome back. china is now in the midst of its worst drought in 50 years. beijing and 266 china's 31 provinces are being hit with enforce power rationing. that comes as thousands of farmers worry about their crops. ramy inocencio has the impact of that. >> the most obvious solution here revolves around a dam here. there's of course, the economic angle right here. want to show you a photo of the yangtze river outside of the largest city in china, about 30 million people. the water level in some places along the river is more than 5 meters below normal. of course, a low water level in the river leaves the goods that move along it high and dry. the river is used to transport 1 billion tons of cargo. we talked about the wheat prices jumping to their highest level since 2008. they've since fallen. prices are expected to rise in the second half of the year. if this drought continues, the same goes for rice, corn and cotton. this water pump needs electricity, of course, but the drought isn't just leaving the yangtze dry. it's drying up the three georges and the official news agency says the dam's water level has fallen to just about 152 meters, below the 15 mark, the lowest level for maximum power generation by its 26 turbines and you can see that over -- well, you can see that right here. it looks like we're having a little bit of trouble. here we go, hydropower supplies, 22% of china's electricity. less hydropower means more demand for other energy resources like coal. china gets about 70% of its power from coal. ubs estimates the country may import 1 million more tons of coal each week. that is to compensate for the loss of hydropower. coal is the dirtiest of all fossil fuels. s there an environmental impact from fossil fuel burning. we're seeing a huge financial domino effect from this chronic drought. china has tried cloud seeding but that hasn't produced more than a few sprunchs so far. >> it will be tough if the drought continues. ramy, thanks very much for that. nina? >> ramy and andrew, all this week we've been talking about china's growing influence in africa. we started out by telling you about the situation in sim bzim. it's a place where china continues to pump millions of dollars into sectors such as mining and tobacco. after that, we took you to uganda where chinese construction companies are involved in overhauling infrastructure there. some locals claim that cheap foreign later is stopping domestic jobs and south africa, they're courting more tourists from the world's second largest economy. this is the spending power of its european visitors starts to dwindle. today, we explain how parents in south africa is investing in the future by teaching their children mandarin. [ speaking mandarin ] >> they start at the very beginning. counting to ten. as they get bigger, they graduate to chinese etiquette and simple conversation. by the time they get to high school, these south african kids can't read and write simple sentences in mandarin. >> do you find mandarin difficult? >> at first, yes, but over the years, i've been here for three years, it becomes easier as you go along. >> how would you say, mom, what's for supper tonight in mandarin? [ speaking mandarin ] >> reporter: for some things they need a little help from their teacher. >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: the chinese school was established in 1934 to cater for what was then a small chinese community living in south africa. >> hello. >> reporter: today it has morphed into a picture perfect post card of nelson mandela's rainbow nation. >> what they should be able to achieve is read and write a simple letter. >> reporter: this school director says china's economic growth and huge investments in africa have had a direct impact on the school. >> we know of companies, big companies, offer iing things to children if they have mandarin. >> that's in mandarin. obviously i can also read some. >> reporter: this woman is confident her decision to bring her son and daughter to the school will one day pay off. >> they could go to the far east, they can study there. china is investing all over the world, in africa in particular, particularly so, they can have a great career with that skill. >> reporter: while many of the kids complain that writing and pronouncing chinese words is rather difficult, they enjoy learning about the culture. >> for chinese new year, for example, a lot of things symbolize different things. noodles symbolize something. the longer the noodle, the longer your life. >> reporter: last year, china-africa trade exceeded $100 billion, mainly to feed china's appetite for african commodities. ♪ while learning mandarin is something of an exotic rarity in south africa, it could be the smartest investment these kids make. ♪ cnn, south africa. live from cnn london and hong kong, this is "world business today." welcome back. the german brothers frederick and gehrke braun have built a replica of hamburg's airport. they transformed what most considered a hobby into a business that brings out the kid in all of us. they are breaking the mold. ♪ >> my dream was to become a fireman and when i look around, i think this is a better one, because i can be a fireman, a policeman. >> train driver, i can be everything in this layout. >> i went to zurich and i went around the small streets and there was a small staff of model trains. i got inside and five minutes later i had this idea. i called my brother in germany. then we built the largest model railroad in the world. >> the idea, playing with trains, making a model railroad was a good idea but not for a business idea. it there was a point i decided, yes, we do it. then i counted how much money we had to get from the bank. it was a problem. i called my bank. this guy listened to me two hours, seven days later they said yes. >> the bank says yes, i'll give you 2 million marks for your model railroad. >> when we started many people said it can't work. >> we were sure that we have to inspire the whole family, not only the men playing with the model railroad at home, the whole family, the kids, the women and so we thought about having a landscape city, moving cars. money is not important for us. we always start to build and when it's finished, we collect -- we would couldn't the what we needed. this was a problem, because when you told me five years ago we needed more than 3.5 million euros to build this airport, i don't really know if we started to build it. when you see it in reality, now in this moment you forget what it costs. >> the small details and the many, many things you can look around, it's more important for the visitors than the trains. my favorite time is the airport. it's brilliant. if you would ask this question, a half year ago i would say it's las vegas because of the many lights. when it's getting dark and there are 30,000 lights burning, it's crazy. if you close your eyes a little bit, you can imagine reality. this is a dream for me but as well for the visitors. 1 million person are coming inside and became child again. it's the same with our employers. they are all small childs when they build something that you see here, it's not a thing you can do if you're angry, old person. >> i think it's a dream, if you can make your hobby to your business. we are going to build italy. we tried to build great britain, later on africa. i think the next ten years we build these four layouts and we look around, what we can do. we need more space. the space is full in this area. when we get more space, i hope that i can build until i die. >> amazing. isn't that fantastic? can you imagine, nina, going to a bank in 2011 and saying can i build 2 million marks to build a model railway? i don't think so. >> who would have thought the results would be so surprising. >> i know. it's just -- as they say, brings out the kid in everyone, that one. we've been watching trains running on time. we better stay on time as well. you've been watching "world business today." thanks for joining us. i'm andrew stevens in hong kong. i'm nina dos santos at cnn in london. 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