♪ brent: this is "dw news," live from berlin. the deadly blaze in a london tower block shocks even the city's hardened fire chief. >> i have never seen a fire of this nature and i have seen many high-rise fires. brent: authorities say at least 12 are dead, a figure that is likely to rise as many residents remain unaccounted for. we will have the latest from london. also coming up, a senior u.s. congress when shot as he played baseball. republican steve scalise is in critical condition after he and

four others were wounded in a gunmen attack. the government was shot dead by police. in the united states, the federal reserve raises interest rates. chairman janet yellen says a strong economy and robust job market numbers make the hike necessary. it is the second in three months. the u.s. central bank is also going to start cutting its holdings of bonds. ♪ brent: i am brent goff. it is good to have you with us. tonight, the death toll in a massive blaze in a massive london high-rise fire has climbed to 12. that figure is expected to rise even further. 18 people are in critical condition and firefighters have rescued 65 so far. after going through most of the building, they say they are not

expecting to find any more survivors. london's fire chief says she has never seen anything like this in 29 years of firefighting. today, prime minister theresa may announced that an investigation will take place as soon as the last flames are extinguished. reporter: a 20 hours after the inferno broke out, firefighters were still working to put out fire in her to reach parts of the building. other crews continue to search for victims. incident commanders said they expected the told to climb. >> we intend to be here through the night. the fire continues to provide challenge, but i can confirm that our firefighters through their professionalism and their bravery have been able to search almost all of the building now. it continues to give us challenges. reporter: the fire started on one of the lower floors around

1:00 in the morning and quickly engulfed the 24 story building in flames and smoke. witnesses described dramatic scenes as people attempted to escape as firefighters battled the blaze. more than 200 firefighters and 40 engines were involved. the tower was home to an estimated 600 to 800 people. one activist group said it had been printing a catastrophe for years. this is 1 -- had been protecting a catastrophe for years. this is one image from their website. >> obviously tragic things have happened but when i want to report his we have repeatedly reported concerns, including fire safety concerns, which were not investigated. reporter: authorities have already promised a thorough investigation. but for now, community groups and churches organizing to help the hundreds of families who are now homeless. once again, londoners are

rallying together in the face of disaster. brent: we have heard many harrowing eyewitness accounts as residents tried to escape the flames. one woman tells of her neighbor's desperate attempt to save her baby. >> at one point during those few minutes, a lady appeared at the window, gesturing i'm about to throw my baby, please catch the baby. there was some sort of bedsheet, blanket. this was from the ninth or 10th floor. a gentleman ran forward and miraculously grabbed the baby. it was harrowing. torturing screams for help. young kids. people were reaching out, trying to grasp fresh air, struggling.

at one point, one window, about five heads squeezing through. it was honestly like a horror movie unfolding in front of us. brent: hard to imagine how many parents could go through that. we want to go to our correspondent max who is covering the story from north kensington. good evening to you. we understand the london fire brigade says the fire continues to be a challenge. what are they talking about? what makes the task difficult now? max: yes, the task is difficult for many reasons. the most obvious is that we're talking about a huge fire that has been going on for 20 hours and longer. we're talking about a 24 story building with about 120 apartments in it. some of these apartments, the pockets of fire are still ongoing. firefighters are still having

trouble to put those out. this is one of the reasons they are staying all might. -- all night. brent: what are you hearing in terms of a cause of the fire? max: that is not yet clear. one thing that has been ruled out is that this was an act of terror. there have been reports of a fridge that might have exploded that caused the initial fire. this is not been confirmed. there is a lot of speculation right now ongoing the one thing that is clear that whatever started the fire, it took over pretty quickly and set the whole building on fire in a short periof of time. brent: that is indeed -- short period of time. brent: that is indeed true. max, thank you very much.

i'm joined now at the big table by an expert in fire safety costs -- safety, fire protection. he is a fireman you want to have to make sure you never have a fire. unfortunately the people in this tower block did not have someone like you, it seems. when you look at what you have been able to see today, did this fire have to happen? guest: well, you cannot prevent all fires. what is important is to make sure the fire remains compartmentalized, in this case, inside the original apartment where it was first ignited. this obviously was the problem in this case. become part mineralization -- the compartmentalization did not work. it went all the way to the top of the building. brent: the material which was used for the facade -- it was a new facade, the renovation was

completed last year -- was flammable, which you say is not necessarily problematic. guest: in high-rise buildings it is problematic, absolutely. i don't know exactly what material was used but the fire gate has no -- fire brigade has no chance fighting a fire at this height. it is of primary importance to use non-flammable materials in high-rises. the firefighters can only fight the fire from inside and therefore are meant -- compartmentalization is important. brent: we're going to have to wrap it up there. we will be talking with you later on in the day. thank you very much. now to the united states, where a senior congressman is critical condition tonight after being shot during baseball practice in the state of virginia.

witnesses said that steve scalise was shot in the head. four others were wounded. the gunman was shocked at the scene and died later -- shot at the scene and died later. reporter: it was supposed to be a relaxing morning playing america's pastime. instead the u.s. capitol is reeling after a hail of gunfire. just outside washington, a gunman opened fire at this field, targeting a gathering of republican congressman and others practicing for a baseball game. he wounded several people before being shot dead by police. one of those hit was louisiana congressman steve scalise. a republican in the house of representatives. he underwent surgery at a nearby hospital. scalise's colleague and top ranking house republicans paul ryan plays the police response. he called for unity in the wake of the shooting. >> i ask each of you to join me to resolve to come together, to

lift each other up, and to show the country, to show the world that we are one house, the people's house, united in our humanity. it is that humanity which will win the day, and it always will. god bless. i yield. reporter: u.s. officials have identified the assailant as this man, 60 sees -- 66-year-old james hodgkinson from illinois. authorities say it is too early to say if it was politically motivated. >> you can't have the sort of political division in america. reporter: earlier mass shootings in the u.s. have often triggered renewed debate about gun control in the country. but it is unclear whether this latest incident will have a similar effect. scalise himself as a fierce

advocate for gun rights. previous debates on the issue have often only deepened political divides. brent: we want to get more on this now. we're going to cross over to washington. our correspondent is standing by. let's begin by taking a listen to how one of the witnesses describe how the shooting began today. take a listen. >> i actually left right before the shooting happened. i had an interaction with who i believe was the shooter. he asked me if the team practicing was a democratic or republican team. i said they were republicans, he said ok, thanks. i got an the car and left. brent: is it fair to say then that republicans were being targeted by this gun man? are we able to confirm that and are we able to say this was a political hate crime? >> the fbi so far warned that

the investigation is still in the early stages, so there is not a definitive call on the motive of the shooter. having said that, it seems quite clear that the alleged shooter had some major issues with the republican party and with president donald trump in particular. he was very active on social media, particularly on facebook. on their he was a member of a group called terminate the republican party. i checked out his facebook page, there were a number of very hateful posts, one of them from march saying trump has destroyed our democracy. it is time to destroy trump and company. looking at that, it seems quite obvious this man had major issues with the republican party can probably did not target these baseball players just because they were playing baseball. he was targeting them because they were republicans. brent: we have talked about this

many times. you are in the u.s., you hear it more than we do here in berlin, that the political rhetoric has become so inflammatory in the u.s., especially since the 2016 presidential campaign -- is it really that surprising then that someone would target politicians in with take it to a violent level? carsten: it is not the first time that this happened. in 2011, democratic congresswoman gabrielle gifford was shot by a gunman in arizona who did not like her liberal agenda. of course, there have always been assassination attempts against presidents, but also threats and attacks against lawmakers and other officials. but yes, since the 2016 election campaign definitely, the tone has gotten a bit rougher and definitely this country is very bitterly divided along

ideological and political lines. today as we saw, congress came together. paul ryan called for unity. nancy pelosi, the democratic minority leader, also said this was an injury inside her family. lawmakers coming together and reminding each other that they all came to washington at some stage to make this country better here tomorrow -- better. tomorrow, the baseball game, democrats versus republicans, will take place on thursday as a celebration of democracy. brent: all right, our correspondent on the story force tonight. thank you much. you're watching "dw news." still to come, the dark web is a threat to wildlife. in drupal reports that traded health and tusks and other elephant parts is now the fourth most profitable illegal business following illegal drugs,

weapons, and human trafficking. we will have a report on making money by killing the animals. that, plus business headlines with javier coming up in about 60 seconds. stick around. ♪

♪ brent: welcome back. he is a reminder of our top stories. at least full people have been killed in a massive fire in a west london apartment building. authorities are warning that the figure is likely to rise and they are not expecting to find any more survivors. a senior u.s. congressman, republican steve scalise, is in critical condition after being wounded along with four others in a gun attack. the 66-year-old suspect has died from his injuries after police shot him. javier is here now with business

news. the u.s. fed not really solving industry today. javier: not really. you almost have the feeling that you could predict the future this time. everyone was expecting to see with the federal reserve would do, and they have raised the key interest rate by a quarter point, a widely anticipated move. it will go from 1% to 1.25%. weak inflation and job -- it is clear the fed sees the u.s. economy is on the right track. reporter: america is doing just fine. the reasons for the rate hike were clear, as fed chief janet yellen highlighted wednesday. >> the economy is doing well, is showing resilience. we have a very strong labor market. an unemployment rate that has declined to levels we have not seen since 022001.

even with moderation in job growth, we have a labor market that continues to strengthen. reporter: the foundation is solid. but there are other worries about the future of the american economy. something that the director of the international monetary fund and -- highlighted in frankfurt today. >> proposed financial regulation modifications, which if generalized to the entire banking sector in a country like the united states, would be a cause for worry. reporter: she is talking about president trump's promise to repeal regulations drafted after the crisis of 2008. the fear is unleashing the banks once more could increase risks in the financial sector all over again. that could disrupt janet yellen's careful plan to keep the american economy on track. javier: let's get the latest on that from our new york financial correspondent jens korte.

hi, good to see you. although a rate hike was no surprise, we did see some movement in the markets after was announced. jens: yes. initially nothing happened, but then when the press conference happened, things started to move here -- moved. technology shares were hurt a bit. their shares are pretty sensitive to monetary policy. the main statement from janet yellen, i believe, was that she tries to start bringing down the huge balance sheet. we have to look at the 2008 when we were in the midst of the financial crisis. money markets froze and in the federal reserve started to buy treasuries. they now own treasuries in the amount of 4.5 billion -- $4.5 trillion.

now janet yellen things they should start selling the papers relatively soon and that made investors nervous. the industrial average was another record high. some movement in the currency market, especially with technology shares. javier: let's talk about janet yellen for a minute. her term ends in 2018. she was asked if she was good to stay and she did not answer. what does this tell us? jens: officially her term ends at the end of january of 2018. recently there have been some chatter if janet yellen might state, but now that looks less likely. donald trump and janet yellen really did not become best friends. the wall street journal came up here today with a story that maybe gary cohen, the top economic advisor of donald trump, might be a candidate to fill in, but not right now.

she will probably finish her term, then there is so much more time passing until february 2018, when he next chairman of the federal -- when the next chairman of the federal reserve will be nominated by the president. javier: it will sure to be one of his friends. thank you for the analysis. killing an elephant to get ivory does not sound like a sophisticated task. but the groups behind it are smarter than we may think. a study by interval -- interpol says smugglers are using the darknet as a platform for transactions, and it is paying off. trading with wildlife is the fourth most profitable illegal business after drugs, weapons, and people. reporter: four decades ago there was still an estimated 1.3 million l.a. -- elephants in africa. today that number is down to 350,000. poaching is to blame. elephant tusks fetch high prices

despite the international ban on the ivory trade. authorities in kenya confiscate and destroy hundreds of elephant tusks each year, potion ivory destined for the asian market. this find is only the tip of the iceberg. much more goes undetected. illegal trade in wildlife parts generates around 19 billion -- $19 billion u.s. each year. poachers killed around 3500 elephants and 1200 rhinos. asia remains the biggest market, especially for ivory and horn. a current report says the interview -- the illegal wildlife trade is increasingly taking place on the so-called darknet. more than 20 ads have been discovered on the dark web offering rhino parts and tiger parts for sale. those transactions are using crypto currencies like bitcoin, making money trails difficult to follow. that makes the fight against the illegal wildlife trade even more difficult for investigators.

javier: the dark side of technology. back to you. brent: thank you very much. i was way -- ai weiei is one of the world's most -- he went from working on the beijing you had asked to being in prison to three years later. after his release, he began the latest chapter of his career in berlin. a new dw film airing later this month documents that journey and looks at some of his most provocative work. reporter: the mediterranean. seeing of the biggest drum of our times. -- drama of our times. we have no idea how big the tragedy is.

reporter: since 2015, ai weiwei has been living and working in berlin. he brought this book that from the mediterranean -- boat back from the mediterranean. and these lifejackets. he come them in a memorial to the dead -- he hung them in a memorial to the dead. reporter: dw follow the artist in exile over the space of several months. our film, "drifting," had its world premire in berlin. >> the only way i think my life can continue is to develop, to have new ideas, or to put myself in even more difficult

situations. then force myself to answer some questions. reporter: for dw, the artist opened up his studio where he works. it is now impossible for ai weiwei to return to china and work as an artist. for a glimpse of his life in a file, tune in to "drifting" on june 24. brent: world champions in germany are in final preparations ahead of their confederations cup football campaign in russia. the cup is a precursor to next year's world cup interval pit a young german -- and it will pick a young german squad against champions from the six continental federations. reporter: one last training session in germany than it is off to saatchi. -- to sochi.

for the coaching team, it is all about letting the players learn. >> as a coach, i see the confederations cup is a chance to give young players tournament experience. other teams apart from maybe portugal have not taken this approach. reporter: the team will use the tournament to take a closer look at fringe players that might join the big names in next year's world cup squad. the young guns are already drawing praise. >> i have been very impressed by the togetherness of the players. that shows how much quality they have. from a footballing side, they have responded to situations on the pitch themselves without a seven to address them. reporter: this will be the germany squad's base for the first round of matches. but the young squad will do everything in their power to extend their stay in russia until the tournament's final day.

brent: here is a reminder of the top story where following for you. at least old people have been killed in a massive fire in a west london apartment building. authorities are warning that the figure is likely to rise. they are not expecting to find any more survivors. after a short break i will be back to take you through the day. stick with us. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪

♪ the south korean capital of seoul. within it is a central district called daehangno, an area long known for being a college town.