dublin, the inhabitants of manegal have a special reason to celebrate. deadly tornado leaves behind a trail of destruction, you're looking at what's left of the town of joplin, missouri, and oh no, not again. iceland's active volcanos are worrying european airlines. does this new eruption mean fresh travel chaos? we want to begin in southern pakistan, where government forces are continuing to battle it out with taliban militants at a naval base in karachi. at least ten militants stormed the site late last night, armed with guns and grenades, witnesses say that they've heard numerous loud explosions. a plane was set on fire and smoke is billowing up from the building. now it's not exactly clear how many people have been killed, but the afp and the "reuters" news agencies say 12 pakistani commandos are dead. more detalsz from our senior international correspondent, stan grant who joins me from islamabad. what's the latest on the situation right now? >> reporter: yeah, as you sketched this, it'sed on hour after hour since the militants turned up with hand grenades and launchers, as well as weapons and they breached the security, got inside the naval base. and there have been multiple explosions since then and running gun battles with navy and army commandos, special forces units that were sent in there to try to root out the militants. the target i peered to be a p3 orion plane. two of them have been damaged or destroyed as a result of this raid. and the militants are holed up there inside. the real questions here apart from the fact that the number of people who have been killed or injured is just how this could have happened. and of course the taliban claiming responsibility, zain, saying it's in retaliation for the ongoing operations against them by the pakistani military. >> how secure are other installations in pakistan? is the pakistani military up to protecting them? or up to fighting these militants? >> reporter: it's precisely a question that's being asked right now on pakistani media. we've heard from the interior minister saying that the pakistani military, the pakistani government is up to this fight. they are not going to be deterred. he said the pakistanis are paying for this in their own blood. when you look at the thousands, tens of thousands of pakistanis who have died over the past ten years, it shows you how much they are caught in the crossfire here. the taliban have made it very clear, in a statement from the deputy commander just last week that they're going to go after u.s., nato and pakistani military targets. now that's because they believe the pakistani military is doing the dirty work, if you like, of the united states. and the taliban says killing civilians. we've had this attack today, and cast your mind back a little over a week, there was another attack, a double-suicide attack, outside another military facility, a training school outside of peshawar, they're showing people they can strike when and where, going after these high-value installations. president barack obama is in ireland, kicking off a week-long tour of europe. they touched down about half an hour ago in the capital, dublin. in just a few minutes they're going to be heading to the residence of the irish president for a guest book signing and tree-planting ceremony. the highlight of the u.s. president's stay will be a special trip to the small village of manegal, where his great-great-great grandfather lived and worked as a shoe-maker nearly 200 years ago. brianna, tell us about this visit and the tiny village that he's going to? >> reporter: well you know we focused so much on the president's kenyan heritage, because he is the first african-american president. but it is so interesting that he can trace his roots back here to ireland. even though he's only 1/32 irish, one of the reasons he's here is to reconnect with his ancestral homeland. it's the tiniest of places that his great-great-great grandfather is from. from manegal came over from the u.s. to ohio in 1850. this is a place that has about 300 people. judging by our reporting and talking to the residents there. they're pretty excited, sprucing the place up. they've been painting the town, seriously, literally, painting the up to, putting up the american flags. they're eagerly awaiting a visit from the president. it's not completely official, but don't tell the people from manegal that. they'd be very disappointed. he said he's going to come and hoist a pint with him, zain. >> ash cloud willing, the president is going to be traveling here to the uk and poland and france, what are some of the main goals for this trip? >> a lot of it has to do with the economy, no doubt. he's going to be obviously going to the uk, he'll be in london after his visit here in ireland. then he's going to duvielle, france, for the g-8 economic summit and finish off in warsaw, poland. a lot of it has to do with keeping up relations with european allies, certainly economically as well as politically. one of the big issues in ireland is going to be the economy. the property boom here went to bust during the time of the global recession. there was an imf intervention. and leaders here that president obama will be meeting with are hoping for some better terms as they look to repay some of their loans. but at the g-8, we're going to see the president no doubt addressing global economic challenges with allies there. we're also expecting that the mid east and north africa, the arab spring uprisings, as well as the palestinian/israeli peace process and the renewed debate, is going to be one of the issues in the more thorny debates he has with allies. >> brianna keiler. this is one of the live pictures we're seeing here, president obama and his wife, michelle arriving there at the presidential palace, this is the president, mary macaleese, welcoming him to dublin. it will be a 24-hour visit to ireland. they're going to spend a little bit of time here at the residence, there's going to be a guest-signing ceremony and the president will go to a tree planting event a little bit later he'll meet with the prime minister, anda kenney. >> see, the sun's coming out. i can feel it. >> the president in a good mood there. the sun is coming out, he says. this is a sentimental visit, really to ireland. a little bit later this afternoon, he's going to be going to manegal, to visit the ancestral home of his great-great-great grandfather to emigrated to the united states in 18 50. well the internation the international monetary fund is getting ready to replace its former chief, dominique strauss-kahn. the imf is now accepting nominations for that top job. europeans have traditionally held the position. but mexico's state media is reporting that the country's central bank chief, augustin carstons have put forth himself as a candidate. dominique strauss-kahn is hidden away under tight security in new york, cnn's lena dosantos got us exclusive access do a letter that strauss-kahn sent to the former imf colleagues. in this personal note, he explains the key reason for his resignation. he writes, i cannot accept that the fund and you dear colleagues should in any way have do share my own personal nightmare, so i had to go. so he also went on to praise the staff for helping him grow in his role and made a pretty surprising admission. he said i come from a place painfully aware of the slide from economic damage to political strife to war, destruction and human misery. but i had only the vaguest ideas about how to go about the task. the hot favorite to replace strausz strauss, christine la guard. the acting imf director, john lipsky is also there. let's go to cnn's jim bitterman joining us from paris. let's talk about the letter from dominique strauss-kahn to the staff. that's pretty interesting. >> it is. it's a very personal letter when you read the whole letter. he sign it is "dominique" at the end. and very personal, it tells the staff to be proud of their accomplishments over the last three and a half years under his leadership and never, ever admits anything to close to guilty. he said he's going to be exonerated of all of the charges. in any case, that's what the tone of the letter was, was basically to the staff, who he had worked closely with over the last three and a half years. now onto the g-20 meeting this morning. labor ministers who are meeting here, president sarkozy said he was going to make sure they focused on labor and social issues, as well as food and markets. that sort of thing. did he that this morning in his speech to the labor ministers, telling them they should concentrate on unemployment problems and suggesting that markets have to be regulated. he said that all the way along. it's the kind of thing we've heard from his government from the very beginning here. that was the same sort of thing. with the new parts of this was that there was a focus on christine legarde. she's the front-runner in europe in terms of the imf job. and pretty much all of the european nations have lined up behind her, including great britain and germany, holland, have all said she should be the european candidate. the question you raised, though, is whether there's going to be another european candidate. the europeans have had the imf directorship for ten years. for ten directorships and four out of those ten directorships have been french directorships. so whether or not they'll turn to france once again for another director is an open question. zain? >> jim bitterman in paris. you're watching "world one." live from london, facing the floods. >> it's really hand comprehend how much water is coming through here right now. >> we travel down the mighty mississippi after it reaches its highest level in decades. and a fatal force of nature, a tornado cuts a swath across america's midwest. this is "world one" live it london, our top stories -- a firefight is raging between pakistani forces and taliban militants at a naval base in karachi. the militants stormed the site yesterday evening, armed with guns and grenades. several loud explosions were heard and a plane was set on fire. afp and "reuters" says a dozen security commandos are dead. u.s. president barack obama is in ireland where he's kicking off a week-long tour of europe, as well as holding talks with the irish president and the prime minister. mr. obama will be heading to the small village of moneygall to trace his ancestral roots, his great-great-great grandfather lived and worked there as a shoemaker almost 200 years ago. after his 24 hours in ireland, barack obama will head to the uk, france and poland. record high water levels along america's mississippi river have caused huge problems for people living on and near its banks. but as jean mazerve reports, the swollen u.s. waterway is posing real dangers for people on the river, too. >> reporter: along the mississippi, even those who work on the water are under water. but vidalia dock and storage isn't out of business. one of its tugs is headed down the river, though the river has never been like this before. >> mind-boggling. it's really hard to comprehend how much water is coming through here right now. i'm in awe of it. i have tremendous respect for it. and i have a lot of fear. >> reporter: the betty m. jenkins is heading south to meet up with another tow boat and help it maneuver this stretch of the mississippi. >> it's usually easiest part of the river to navigate. >> reporter: but not right now. >> not right now. >> reporter: because of all this water and all this ground? >> exactly. >> reporter: they push up against the current. together their engines put out 3600 horsepower, but at points they fight to go one mile an hour. >> the water will go out and come in like an ocean tide and we have never seen that before. i've never seen the current whitecapping off the piers like it is on the bridge right now. never seen that in my life. >> reporter: only speed can keep the current from smashing the boats and barge into the bridge between vidalia and natchez. >> very nervous, very. >> reporter: they are close doer the bridge's piers than they like and can feel the river fighting for control. >> james, you feel it sliding? we're breaking into a slide right now. >> reporter: but they make it. and a little further upriver the boats untie, the tow boat, jock, heading north alone with its cargo. right now the river is flexing its muscles. it is so big and so strong there is little doubt the tow boat will need other assists. before it reaches its final destination. jean meserve, cnn, louisiana. eruptions and interruptions, another icelandic volcano flares up as safety officials say, watch this space. and the hat with a heart -- how a single fashion accessory could transform the lives of thousands of children across the world. there can't be fiber in ! it's actually got about half a day's worth of fiber. 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[ male announcer ] to get the flights you want, sign up for a venture card at capitalone.com. what's in your wallet? uh, it's okay. i've played a pilot before. european travelers are keeping a nervous eye on this -- look at that long, plume of ash. this is happening in iceland. this is the grimsvotn volcano, it's belching out ash and smoke. right now only the airspace over iceland is closed, but officials say it could erupt trans-atlantic flight by mid-week. it's not predictable right now. last summer, air traffic across europe was totally paralyzed for six days when another icelandic volcano erupted. a deadly tornado swept through america's midwest, part of a wild weather front stretching from wisconsin in the north to texas in the south. in joplin, missouri, homes were platened and cars were tossed by a twister. a red cross official says that three-quarters of the city has been wiped out. the national guard has been sent to missouri to help search for the missing. >> it's total devastation. with the hospital down, the high school down, other areas, the bottom line is we declared a state of emergency, we have guardsmen boots on the ground there now. we've also brought in a search for survivors. with the number of buildings that are down, we brought in task force one, a group out of columbia, missouri that helped in 9/11 to search for survivors, has worked throughout the world. we want to make sure if there are folks that are injured, but covered, that as the night gets dark that we're out there making sure we can get as many survivors as possible. >> for more on the deadly tornado that ripped through the u.s. state of missouri, let's go to our meteorologist ivan cabrera. ivan? >> we're talking about an incredible tornado here. this is a town-erasing tornadoes, the kind we had in alabama. the national weather service crews have been out there, from the pictures, i wouldn't be surprised if this going to be on the ef-4, ef-5 scale. when you have 75% of the town completely eblit rated here. those are the kinds of wings we're talking about. we'll pay attention to what the survey crew says. there are the explosion of thunderstorms that we had through the day on sunday. weather front continues to move east. the weather front diminishing significantly. so the good friends in joplin will be recovering with just some scattered showers behind this. certainly not expecting severe for today. so excellent news here. we'll keep you posted on what the survey crews find. this is a radar, zoomed-in radar perspective, the classic hook echo that we're used to seeing. i've circled this here. that shouldn't be there. that's not a hail core or rain, that's debris as did got picked up by the radar. as it got picked up by the tornado. that's why your neighbor's house can end up several miles away. incredible scenes coming out of joplin. the other story is the developing tropical storm. with the latest computer model forecast, a little more concerned about the philippines, you must pay attention if you're watching from southern luzon. we're talking about the potential for a category 4 typhoon. and it is, i mean this is things going to get this close to the northern tip of luzon. and if it's a big storm here. the damaging wind could be certainly onshore. this is about 72 hours and it's going to take the hook up east of taiwan. heading up to the ryuku islands, it will get its act together over the next 48 hours. you see the wind core becoming more significant. first typhoon of the season. we're going to be following that. and then the ash cloud as well. going to be a busy week here at the weather department. this is for the uk, we'll see the ash cloud first. this is for tomorrow night and spreading further south and east. we'll keep you posted on all of it. zain? >> ivan, say it ain't so? >> i know, ashmageddon ii. here's some stories we're talking about. to most people, it was just worth a laugh, this contraption on her head, a fascinator. but to one person, that hat was worth $130,000. that was actually the winning bid for princess beatrice's flesh-toned fascinator, after it was auctioned off on ebay. now that hat caused a really big sensation when it popped up at the royal wedding last month. and it attracted all of these comparisons to an octopus, and a toilet seat. it also attracted a cult following. yup, with a dedicated facebook page. boasting more than 140,000 fans. for that hat. now the money raised is going to go to children's charities. if you're too lay citlazy t off your couch, there's an app for that, air run. it asks strangers to do things for you. what you want done and how much you're willing to pay for it. just wait for some cash-strapped stranger to offer to do it. and if you can't pay them because you left your wallet upstairs and it's too far, it couldn't be bothered, hire someone else to run up and get it for you. finally an american director has picked up the top prize at the cannes film festival. or at least he would have picked it up if he had actually been there. filmmaker terrence malleck is famously reclusive and failed to show up to collect his award after his family drama, "tree of life" won best movie. another director was missing after he was tossed out of a festival because of a joke about nazi sympathies. you're watching "world one" from london. ricking their lives to bury the dead. a day off from a fatal attack at a funeral procession, mourners take to the streets once more. and a rape from libya. an reporter shares harrowing stories from women. hi, this is "world one," live if london, i'm zain verjee, here are our top story. gun battles are still going on at this naval base in pakistan, between government forces and taliban militants, these are pictures of a burned-out plane that appear to be the target of the attacks. ten militants stormed the site in the southern city of karachi late last night, armed with guns and grenades. the afp and "reuters" news agencies say that 12 security commandos are dead. u.s. president, barack obama, is in ireland where he has just kicked off a week-long tour of europe. as well as holding talks with the irish president and the prime minister, mr. obama will also be heading to the small village of moneygall, to re