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NEWS STREAM

Reaction to Obama-Cameron News Conference

Aired May 25, 2011 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: And handshake between the two world leaders and an appeal for prayers from the U.S. president there for the victims of that deadly tornado in the American Midwest there.

We just heard comments live from the U.S. President Barack Obama and the British Prime Minister David Cameron now answering a reporter's question on the Middle East. Just then, Mr. Obama said that he is confident that a two state solution can be achieved. And he also made some pretty blunt remarks.

He said that the United Nations is not going to deliver a Palestinian state there referring to the Palestinian's plan to appeal to the UN for recognition.

Now the British Prime Minister, he answered in turn on the issue. He praised Obama's recent controversial Middle East speech as, quote, bold and visionary. But Mr. Cameron, he kicked off the press conference there in London by first praising Mr. Obama's leadership and courage. He also addressed terrorism saying the killing of Osama bin Laden is, quote, a strike right at the heart of international terrorism.

Mr. Cameron also mentioned Pakistan, saying Pakistan has suffered more from terrorism than any other country and, quote, must work closely with Pakistan to fight terror.

And lastly, the British leader also said this -- he also addressed the changes in North Africa, calling it a quote, "once in a generation moment for spreading peace and prosperity," while adding, quote, "Gadhafi must go."

Now a quick wrap on comments made by the U.S. president just then. In prepared comments, Mr. Obama said this. He said we, quote, "maybe leaders of different political traditions, but we see eye to eye." Now he focused on the campaign in Afghanistan. Mr. Obama saying, quote, "we plan to complete the transition by 2014 for an Afghan led Afghanistan."

And regarding the Arab spring, Mr. Obama said this, quote, "we will discuss with our G8 partners about building the framework for democracy at the same time strongly oppose the use of violence against protesters."

Now interestingly, Syria and Bahrain were not mentioned by name by the U.S. president, but Libya was.

Now the S.S. President said this, quote, "we will continue operations until Gadhafi's attacks cease and there will not be a let up in pressure." But he has ruled out ground forces in Libya despite the ongoing stalemate there.

Now Mr. Obama also called out Yemen telling President Abdullah Saleh to commit to political transition and to transfer power.

Now Mr. Obama is in Britain as part of a week-long tour of Europe. And Mr. Obama along with Mr. Cameron will travel next to France for the G8.

Now Brianna Keilar has also been watching his comments just now. And she joins us live from London.

And Brianna, it seemed just then these two world leaders were aligned in both message and in policy.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Certainly. And what they're trying to communicate, and they have throughout their whole visit really beginning yesterday with an op-ed in the Times of London is that this is an essential partnership, those are their words, they're saying it over and over and that it's an essential partnership between the U.S. and the UK for two reasons: economically to make sure that the global economy can recover. And two, and perhaps most significantly, and this is what most of their comments centered around, global security.

They're trying to communicate that they share sort of a unique burden as we've heard it put by the White House to really promote global security, especially at this point in time where we're seeing these historic events in the Middle East and in Northern Africa.

So a lot of what we heard them discuss is sort of a move towards the future as well, trying to talk about moving things along economically. And we heard them say that there are different challenges faced by both nations, but they're both trying to cut spending, they said, and try to make sure that future generations are able to enjoy prosperity as well.

But also on the Arab spring uprisings, Kristie, and as well as on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process which I think were some of the most interesting comments that we saw, because one of the questions here is this is one of the more thorny issues the President Obama visit -- President Obama's visit through Europe is how are European allies perhaps going to respond in September assuming the Palestinian coalition government tries to seek independence. Britain is more amenable to that, is the understanding. Of course the U.S. and Israel very much opposed to it.

Prime Minister Cameron wouldn't commit to that. He certainly said, you know, we're going to go -- we're going to talk amongst ourselves at the EU, see how we can leverage both the Palestinian -- leverage our influence on the Palestinians and Israelis. He wouldn't commit to that. But President Obama, the U.S. very much opposed to any idea of that, Kristie.

STOUT: Yeah, and the U.S. president just then very confident in saying that he is very confident that a two-state solution can be achieved.

Now Brianna Keilar, we're going to have to wrap it up there. Thank you very much indeed. Brianna joining us live from London.

Now we are going to bring you President Obama's speech to both Houses of Parliament. It's happening live 3:30 pm London time. You can join my colleague Zain Verjee, Richard Quest, Wolf Blitzer and Suzanne Malveaux for our special coverage again starting a 3:00 pm in London, that's 10:00 at night in Hong Kong. That is in about two hours from now right here on CNN.

You're watching NEWS STREAM. We'll be back right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STOUT: Welcome back.

You're been following our broadcast. You know it already, the U.S. president has just wrapped up a joint news conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Now the very literal fallout from the eruption on Iceland's Grimsvotn volcano has spread to Germany. Now major international airports were forced to close earlier as falling ash caused a potential flight risk.

Now this is the latest satellite image from the UK's Met office showing an eastward trail pushing toward the Baltic Sea. And you can track that journey just by looking at the flight cancellations.

Now Iceland's Keflavik airport was the first to close. Now UK airports, including Derry, Glasgow, and Edinburgh saw major disruptions on Tuesday, but are hoping for a return to normal on Wednesday.

But the ash earlier affected skies over Germany with airports in Berlin, Hamburg, and Bremen among those closed on Wednesday morning. Now they're now open again. And there's a bit of a silver lining on the cloud, it looks like its source has almost stopped erupting.

Now extreme weather has claimed another nine lives across the U.S. heartland. Now storms of historic severity raveled Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma just days after a tornado in Joplin, Missouri killed at least 125 people. And Joplin was hit again on Tuesday night when a lightning storm struck the town. But it was mercifully spared.

Scenes like this, a tornado ripping through Oklahoma, shutting almost everything in its path.

Now we have new developments ahead of FIFA's presidential election next week. An internal battle has erupted at the governing body of world football. Now FIFA, they have charged Mohammed bin Hammam, that's the man running against Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency, and Jack Warner, the FIFA Vice President with allegedly offering bribes in return for votes in the presidential election. Now FIFA acted after executive committee member Chuck Blazer reported allegations of bribery against the two men.

Now FIFA has scheduled a hearing in front of the FIFA ethics committee on May 29th. Now that is just three days ahead of the presidential elections in which bin Hammam is running against the current president Sepp Blatter.

And that is NEWS STREAM, but the news continues at CNN. "WORLD BUSINESS TODAY" is next.

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