brent: this is dw news live from berlin -- islamic state strikes at the heart of europe. the islamic terrorist group says it carried out the attacks in brussels. this is what it looked like just moments after two bombs went off at the city's airport killing at least 10 people. then an explosion at a metro station in downtown brussels. at least 20 people died there. we have team coverage tonight. it starts now. good to have you with us.

a black day in our nation's history. that is how the belgian prime minister described the bomb attacks that iraq russell's earlier today. 30 people died and islamic state has claimed responsibility. police have released an image of three men, two of whom they save lose themselves up at brussels main airport and killing 10 others. the third man seen in light is the subject of an urgent police search. another 20 were killed at a blast in a central metro station in brussels. we will hear from our correspondent in brussels shortly, but here is how the day unfolded. >> the check-in moments after the blast -- smoke fills the air and luggage lies abandoned as people run for their lives. there were chaotic scenes as passengers were escorted out of the terminal building.

the attack took place shortly after 8:00 a.m. in the airport departure hall. two explosions came in quick succession. ambulances rushed to the scene as a two kilometer exclusion zone was established. >> you felt the explosion? >> yes. >> it felt like a wave. >> i heard a gunshot and there was a man speaking in arabic. then i heard, and and norma's explosion. then, amid the chaos and confusion, the second shock. at 10 minutes past 9:00, a bomb exploded near the headquarters near the european union on a train. apap -- a passenger captured the moment people clambered to

safety in a smoke-filled tunnel. here, more dead and wounded. these are war injuries. i have more than 40 years experience on the job and i think this is the worst thing i have seen. on the street, brussels looked like a city at war as it went into a state of lockdown. the belgian prime minister spoke out against the violent and cowardly attacks and called for solidarity. >> at this dark moment for our country, now more than ever, i would like to appeal for all to be called and show solidarity. we are confronted with a difficult challenge and we must face it by standing united, showing solidarity and staying together. reporter: the belgian government has announced three days of

mourning to commemorate the victims. islamic state has claimed responsibility for the deadly attacks. security remains at the highest level. brent: let's go to our correspondent. good evening to you. we know islamic state has claimed responsibility and we know there's a possible suspect. what else do we know about this investigation? guest: there is a manhunt in full swing, but there are a lot of unanswered questions. how these attacks were conducted is still unclear. how many people are behind, what we know were three attackers at the airport, two of them are dead and one being sought. then we have the attack at the

metro station which is just a few meters away from where i am sitting. colleagues at the studio could feel the impact and it is absolutely unclear whether these were suicide bombers or bombs planted on the subway and then donated. brent: belgium is often portrayed as a center of islamic militancy. do today's attacks prove that? guest: to some extent, they do and are tough questions for belgian politicians and belgian security because how come it took them so long to find the key suspect in the november attacks? come there seems to be such a big network of support?

some have talked about the trouble and a stronghold for many islamists and how come this stronghold was not allowed -- was allowed to flourish and grow for so many years. brent: we know that hindsight is always 2020, but should belgium had taken stronger measures against terrorism before today's attacks? guest: there is no zero risk strategy. let's bear in mind that capturing the man was good and they made a strong effort with support from french authorities. at the end of the day, if a suicide bomber decides to look for a crowd -- and whether that crowd is in the entrance hall of

an air or tour a market or busy street, it does not matter. it is very hard to stop a person. brent: we are looking at these pictures as you talk and inside at metro station, it is hard to believe that is in the heart of a european city and it is hard to imagine people going back to their daily lives tomorrow or this week, but that is exactly what the belgian prime minister is encouraging people to do. how is that going in brussels? guest: i think what the belgian prime minister means and the belgian king who spoke to the people here said people should remain calm and people have come out because there was advice to stay inside. they have come out to the central square in brussels and showed their solidarity.

of course, it will the hard to digest what has happened here, but many people have said life has to go on and they don't want that the terroris should win at t end of e day. brent: safe and sound in brussels, thank you very much. world leaders were quick to condemn the attacks in brussels. germany's chancellor, angela merkel, said free societies would prove they are stronger than terrorism. chancellor merkel: they are terrorists without regard to humanity. the attacks in brussels particularly remind us the perpetrators are enemies of all the values for which europe stands and which we are jointly committed to as members of the european community.

on this day, we are even more committed to the values of freedom, democracy, and peaceful coexistence as self-confident citizens. >> i would like to express my solidarity to the belgian people and the belgian authorities going through this ordeal. to say to the families concerned that our thoughts are with them, we share their grief. president obama the thoughts and prayers of the american people are with the people of belgium and we stand with them in condemning these outrageous attacks against innocent people. we will do whatever is necessary to support our friend and allies in belgium to bring to justice those who are responsible and this is yet another reminder

that the world must unite. >> these are appalling and savage terrorist attacks and i've just spoken to the prime minister to give our sympathy and condolences to the belgian people and we absolutely stand with them at this very difficult time. these were attacks in belgium and could just as well be attacks in britain come in germany or elsewhere. we need to stand together against these appalling terrorists and make sure they can never win. brent: after the terror attacks in paris last november, multiple clues lead police to belgium. investigators launched a series of raids in brussels which culminated in last week's arrest. but it seems to be just one part of a complex jihadist network in the city. reporter: last friday, belgian

security forces finally caught europe's most wanted man. one of the main suspects in the harris terror attacks. again and again, investigators following leads found themselves there. it is leaved at least three paris attackers came from the troubled brussels neighborhood as did the moroccan who was overpowered during an attempted attack in 2013. four people were killed and attack on the jewish museum. one of the perpetrators of the dreaded train bombings came from the district. what exactly attracts islamists to belgium, especially here as a

hideout? security firms as -- have faced mounting criticisms since the attacks, accused of turning a blind eye to extremism for too long, allowing terrorist cells like this one to develop. investigators have been at lost because two of -- too few of them speak arabic. it took police four months to track the suspect town, yet he had been living just around the corner from the family home. belgian authorities were aware of them and question him but decided he did not as a threat. open borders within the eu are another problem. the freedom of movement means islamists can travel freedom from -- freely from country to country, allowing the surviving attacker sickly. islamic terrorism is an international problem and belgium is one of its hotspots.

brent: u.s. president barack obama has wrapped up his visit to cuba. he used the speech to appeal directly to the islands people. his trip was the first by a sitting president in almost 90 years. reporter: when u.s. president barack obama was invited by row will castro to speak, he promised peace and an end to half a century of hostility and sanctions. president obama: i have come here to there a the last remnant of the cold war in the americas. many suggest i come here and ask cuba to tear something down. but i'm appealing to the young people of cuba who will lift something up and build something new. [speaking spanish] reporter: many from the older

generation can hardly believe the long years of clinical isolation are over. >> it is so huge. there is no way to express how i feel. i never expected something so great in my life. reporter: but it is not all roses. they were unable to come to an agreement on human rights issues. in the u.s. embassy, obama meant -- obama met with cuban dissidents. some of them has been arrested shortly before his visit. he ended with the message with which he begun his presidency -- "yes we can." president obama: we can make this journey as family. together. reporter: obama announced the

first concrete step in renewed relations. direct flights will commence between the u.s. and cuba. that should bring in the tourist and their dollars. brent: we are going to take a short break and daniel will be back with business news. >> what do you get for $.50? >> for $.50? >> not a lot. >> did you know it cost $.50 to feed one hungry child for one full day? with the share the meal app, you can share the meal with children in need for just $.50 and a tap

on your smart phone. smart phone users outnumber hungry children 20-one. imagine the impact you and your friends can have. together, we can and global hunger. brent: welcome back. our top story -- the so-called islamic state has claimed responsibility for three bombings in brussels. the attack struck the city's airport and metro system, killing at least 30 people. police are hunting for a suspect they believe was part of a trio of homers at the airport. the blast killed 10 people for an explosion at the city's metro claimed another 20 lives. the countries -- country's prime mister called a black day in belgium's history as the country be tens three days of national mourning. daniel is here now with more on

the reactions to the attacks in brussels. daniel: authorities and companies scrambled to react immediately following the attacks. numerous airlines canceled travel to the belgian capital. security was used up at airports across europe and even the united states. travel restrictions are making it hard for people and businesses to work as normal. reporter: police officers patrol frankfurt airport. virtually everyone knows what happened less than 400 kilometers away. there is a strong sense of apprehension. flights to and from brussels are canceled. >> it is a strange feeling arriving in seeing the security and doing a flight right now. especially departing from an airport with so many security checks. >> it is like russian roulette. you never know what will happen that did state of gold

situation. >> also at other german airports, there was a visible police presence with tighten security. it is a similar picture across europe, like at the airport in amsterdam -- an important travel hub. or in rome. rail travel has been affected with trains to and from brussels suspended for hours. limited service is being resumed by the euro star which links london with russell's in paris. trains from germany will terminate. travelers who want to get to and from brussels will not be getting far easily unless they decide to drive. border controls have also been tightened and it may take longer than usual to get from one eu country to the next. daniel: let's turn to european

markets to get insight on the economic reaction. exchanges here fell after news of the attacks unfolded with travel related tocks the worst hit. equities staged a recovery. our financial correspondent has the story. reporter: the negative reaction on the broad stock market did not last long. shares of airlines and travel operators came under pressure significantly but the german dax which represents the broad stock market here made of early losses in the course of the trading day. losses on other forces were not very big. a certain amount of hope remains that the earnings of companies will not be reduced significantly due to fear and terrorist attacks. on the contrary, some of the institutions in europe, including the european central bank might be encouraged to do more to keep life and the economy going.

defiance of the terrorist threat is the prevailing feeling among financial people -- hope that the values of the western world will hope -- will prove to be stronger tn horror and instruction. daniel: and now our correspondent joins me from frankfurt airport. we have heard airports across europe are increasing their security. what are you hearing? >> what i would say is security measures are similar to what we would see in a regular day but definitely increase. i took an urban train to get to the airport as most passengers would do and nothing special occurred to me that was not what i would have seen on another day, but that changed when i entered the terminal. there are far more police officers and i saw a joe maddon who left the lot for five

minutes and there was a police officer sking if it was his. you can see the cars queuing to enter the airport. that was introduced today. every card debts inspected before it enters the terminal. while we are seeing security measures that are increased, there have been no special incidents today. daniel: terrorism aims to cause instability. have we seen any indicators on the stock market? >> we saw it at the very beginning but markets tend to react with a little bit of fear when they don't know what is going on. once it was clear that it was a terrorist attack, they sort of recovered because terrorist attacks normally do not cause

much of an economic impact. that might change if this is continued into a series of attacks in many different capitals, if we take into consideration that we are not that far away from the last attack in paris, that might eventually changed the perception of how safe europe is, but that is something we can only know further down the track and we do not hope that's going to be the case. daniel: that is it from the business desk. brent has more on the attacks in brussels. brent: the schoolchildren and brussels were called -- were caught up in the fear and uncertainty that gripped the belgian capital today. teachers grappled with how to exchange -- how to explain the latest violence, something many adults are struggling to

understand. reporter: a calm face and the soothing voice. this teacher encourages her fifth-graders to talk after today's terror attacks. >> with all the bombings, i'm scared that today or this week more attacks can happen. >> this morning turned into a very unusual day. we were going to go on a field trip to the forest but we cannot do that anymore. instead, with the city on lockdown, it is homework in the classroom. the kids would have taken the metro through mobile station were 20 people were killed. one of many scary thoughts for both balls and teacher. they had a lot of questions which we tried to answer and we tried to make them feel safe to which was most important, of course. >> i heard the transit stopped and my dad always takes the train to work.

now i don't know how he will pick me up after school today. >> we have to stay in here. i know that we are safe here. no one can just walk in here and that gives me a good feeling. >> at the airport, it is all broken. we cannot go there. if we could go there, i would be scared. we were planning to get to spain on saturday but now i don't know anymore. >> concerns with no easy answers, but today, these kids had a safe haven before returning to a city on edge. brent: some good school teachers there as well. in russia, a court has sentenced a ukrainian pilot to 22 years in prison. that is after it was ruled she was involved in killing two russian journalists during a military operation in eastern

ukraine. prosecutors said she directed the mortar fire that killed the two russians. ukraine and many western countries have condemned the trial as a sham. here is a reminder of the top stories we are following -- the so-called islamic state has claimed responsibility for three bombings in brussels. the attacks struck the city's airport and metro system, killing at least 30 people. police are hunting a suspect theybelieve was part of a trio of commerce at the airport. the blast killed 10 people before an explosion in the city's metro claimed another 20 lives. the country's prime minister has called a black day in belgium's history as the country begins three days of national mourning. we are going to leave you now with some pictures from brussels where people have gathered for a visual to remember the victims.

mourners are writing messages and lighting candles and defiance in the ace of today's terror attacks. we will leave you with that and after a short break, i will be back to take you through the day with more coverage of the attacks in brussels.

????ovív"ddhú#$

>> euromaxx highlights. >> a warm welcome to our highlights edition, coming at you from the heart of berlin with the following top stories: fine feathers make fine birds. costume designer sandy powell is nominated for two oscars. home sweet home. a designer and her family love their prefab home in southern norway. you are what you eat. the new nordic cuisine is based on seasonal and regional produce. europe did well this year when it comes to contenders for the coveted academy award, happening on sunday night in los angeles. it will be early monday morning here in berlin by the time all is decided. while european actors and films were well represented, sandy powell of britain