places great importance on thinks relationship with the chinese. once a darling of the west, the southern african leader has in the last decade fallen out of favor with many of his country s traditional trading partners. a violent crackdown on opposition and a bloody land redistribution program have prompted foreign investors to leave in droves. but the chinese appear to be doing just the opposite. they re now the biggest buyers of zimbabwe tobacco, a key foreign currency earner and they ve invested in some of the country s mines. china also recently granted zimbabwe a $700 million loan. the loan that china has granted zimbabwe will be used mainly to import chinese equipment. chinese vehicles, chinese materials. reporter: some economists believe that at their request, the chinese have been exempted from the country s controversial
canceled flights in scotland and northern england. mr. obama will be visiting buckingham palace where he ll spend two nights. the president left ireland for the uk ahead of schedule last night due to that cloud of volcanic ash. in the u.s., the tornado that blew through missouri has claimed 116 lives and left a trail of destruction. the u.s. national weather service says it was the most deadly tornado in more than 60 years. those are the headlines, i m zain vergee at cnn in london. world business today starts now. good morning from cnn london, i m charles hodson. and good afternoon from cnn hong kong. i m andrew stevens. you re watching world business today. the top stories on tuesday, may 24th, under the weather, travel trouble looms as volcanic ash blows towards europe. meanwhile, investors on the continent have caught debt contagent fever. the scramble in the cockpit to save the airliner. they don t have ability to go anywhere. they don t have ability to