>> this is dw news live from berlin. tonight, breaking news out of belgium. poce in brussels say they have shot a man inside the city's main train station. there are reports of an explosion being heard. the area around the station has been evacuated. we will go live to brussels for more. coming up, russia's foreign minister accuses the united states of russia-phobi beyond ala beyond all bounds.

christians and condemnation after the death of the 22-year-old american student otto warmbier. he died barely a week after being sent home from north korea. today, president trump imply barack obama -- impleied barack obama was responsible for the tragedy. ♪ >> item brent god. -- goff. it is good to have you with us tonight. police shot a man at brussels central staon. there was also a sll explosion causing panic inside the station, which has since been evacuated. the area around the station and the area around the city's main square have been quartered off. the situation is under control, police say. belgium has been on high alert since suicide bombers killed 32 people on the brussels subway and at the airport last year.

we are going to bring in our correspondent in brussels. good evening to you. what more can you tell us about what has apparently just happened? >> the crucial facts that i really on the table is basically that a sort of explosion has happened. apparently, fire forces have confirmed that because they were called in on that notice that a small minor explosion took place. we have unconfirmed local media reports apparently based on a police source that have set a person -- said a person was neutralized by soldiers. ever since the attacks that took place in march 2016 last year, where 32 people died in brussels, we had a heavy military presence in subway stations throughout town. apparently, soldiers took down a person, so the local media has

it, was carrying a suicide belt. unconfirmed information. the only thing the police have said is the situation is under control for the moment. >> the first reports that came across mentioned a possible explosives belt being on a suspect. the suspect was neutralized. do we know anything about that person? >> no. there is no information yet about that person. what i can tell you is i talked to one of the residents by phone that is living close to the main square here in brussels. she said hundreds of police have been out in the streets. the city has been, for the past year, very tense. a lot of security here. i was a couple of days ago with my cameraman driving around town in a car, and we were stopped because police were under impression that the camera we had in the car may have been a weapon. we were stopped by a dozen police forces in special vehicles.

that gives you a vehicle how tense the situation is since the attacks. police were quick to react. >> our correspondent with breaking news coming out of brussels tonight. we will go back to you if we get more information in this half hour. thank you. in other news, russia's foreign minister has accused the u.s. of what he calls russia-phobia. that is after washington beefed-up sanctions against russia over its role in the ukraine crisis. lavorov call the sanctions "regrettable." washington's move came a day after the european union said it was upholding its own sanctions on moscow. they were imposed as a protest against russia's annexation of crimea from ukraine back in 2014. as moscow criticized the u.s., ukraine's president was in washington with the u.s.

president. he held talks with u.s. president donald trump in the white house. he described america as one of his nations's most reliab source -- nation's most reliable allies. trump called the talks very good discussions. concerns over russian aggression have prompted nato to prepare r the worst, vasion of eastern europe by moscow. led by germany and the u.s., alliance members are taking part in military exercises in the media. for the first time, they are focusing on lithuania's border with poland. russia is expected to carryut its own exercises i september simulating an armed conflict with nato. nato secretary-general attended the wargames today. speaking to dw's terry schultz,

he said the increased nato presence in the region is because of recent russian aggression. he also addressed u.s. concerns that russia ha europe has not bg its weight when it comes to collective defens. >> we are standing i lithuania, which has a german led battle group. is this a case where the europeans are stepped up and taking more responsibility in european defense? >> the battle groups that nato has deployed is an example of how both europe and north america are stepping up together. we have germany being a lead nation in lithuania forne of the battle groups, but we also have canada and the u.s. being lead nations for battle groups in poland and latvia. i think the important message we are sending with these battle groups is that europe and north america are standing together,

and that is the best way to preserve the peace in europe. >> you just practiced what could happen if russia came across this border. russia will be practicing to do exactly that in september. how worried are you something could go wrong? that russia may not even mean to come across? that there could be accidents, an escalation beyond what you can predict? >> increased military activity, including more exercises close to our borders and the nee undes the need for transparency. therefore, nato continues to call on russia to respect the vienna document, which established rules for international inspection and observation of military exercises. we will monitor and follow that excise very closely. one of the reasons why we are increasing our military esence in this part of europe is that we have seen over the years a pattern by russia. more exercises.

more investments in military capabilities. also, the use of force against their neighbor in ukraine. >> crimea, you are thinking possibly it is a model for what could happen here? >> there is a very big difference. that is that the baltic countries are members of nato. nato is there to protect and defend all allies. the message we are sending with the battle groups we are deploying to the baltic countries is an attack on one ally will trigger the response from the whole alliance. by sending that message, we deliver credible deternce. deterrence is the way we have prevented conflict in europe for almost 70 years. >> that was dw's terry schultz talking with the secretary-general of nato. a u.s. warplane has shut down what the military says was an armed pro-syrian regime drone. it says the unmanned aircraft was bu bearing down on his

forces near the syria-iraq border. the base is used to advise and train local ground forces. it comes days after another u.s. plane shot down a syrian fighter jet. tonight, south korea's president says that pyongyang bears a heavy responsibility for the death of the american student otto warmbier. with the president stopped short of saying that north korea killed him. he died several days after returning to the u.s. in a,. h-- a coma. he spent 17 months in north korea. his death is being inspected by the corners office in his home state of ohio. >> otto warmbier was on the way home when north korean authorities stopped him. that was in january 2016. he apologized on camera and repeatedly begged to come home. >> i made the worst mistake of

my life. >> the college student was accused of stealing a propaganda banner, probably a prank which ended up going horribly wrong. authorities sentenced him to 15 years without labor. they sent him back just over a year later, but his family discovered to their homror he was in a -- horror he was in a coma. >> even if you believe that isolation of botulism and a sleeping pill causing the coma, and we don't, there is no excuse for any civilized the nation to have kept his condition secret and denied him top-notch medical care for so long. >> in his hometown, the mood not surprisingly somber. >> i would like to ask that we take a moment of silence in otto's memory. >> donald trump condemned north

korea as a brutal regime, saying washington will protect the innocent from governments that did not respect human decency. pyongyang's only ally, china, called it an unfortunate incident and called on both sides to resume talks. the north is holding another three u.s. citizens and six south koreans. >> we went to pull in our correspondent from washington. he is on the story for us tonight. good evening to you, carsten. what kind of reactions are you hearing from the white house and the public? >> well, as we just heard in the report, ha donald trump has strongly criticized north korea for the treatment of the student, condemning the brutality of the regime, and saying it was lacking basic human decency. in the senate, some senators even went further, calling the

death of mr. otto warmbier murder and said the regime in pyongyang should be held accountable for that. a question is, how? because the united states does not have a lot of leverett with north korea -- e -- leverage wih north korea. the only country that does is china. president trump hoped china would help. but so far, nothing has come out of that. there is not much the americans can do. they resorted to some symbolic moves today, setting supersonic bombers to fly over the north korean peninsula. the one concrete thing that might be done now is a travel ban for american citizens who want to go to north korea, or at least restrictions for travel to north korea. that is currently being discussed in congress and in the government here.

otherwise, of course, the public in america has reacted to the latest developments with a mixture of shock and sadness, particularly in the home state of the young man in ohio and also in virginia, where he went to university. >> today, we heard from the u.s. president. he said that if mr. otto warmbier had been released earlier that he would still be alive today. he implied that former u.s. president barack obama is responsible for this tragedy. has there been any reaction in washington? >> not really. of course, we do not know if that is really true. clearly, this whole case is a mystery because, according to reports of other u.s. prisoners who had been held in north korea and were released, normally, these kinds of prisoners are kept in isolation, but they are not physically harmed or

tortured or anything like that. for the regime in north korea, those are bargaining chips, if you excuse that rather cynical term. normally, the regime has no interest in harming these people, but of course, there are exceptions, and this is a very brutal regime. otto warmbier is a victim of that regime. >> all right. our correspondent on the story for us tonight in washington. thank you very much. you are watching dw news live from berlin. still to come, in a world of self driving cars, would be to blame for a crash? should a computer decide whose life is more important? a german government ethics commission has presented guidelines today. helena is that the business desk. she will be here with the details on saving lives when no one is behind the wheel. we are back in about 60 seconds.

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>> they both need training, skills, innovation, and dedication. this is one game we cannot afford to lose. the world program fights anger worldwide. helping people help themselves. my goal is zero anger. ♪ brent: welcome back here with dw news live from berlin. our top stories, belgian troops have shot a m at the central railway station in brussels. police say there was also a small explosion, which caused panic inside the station. the area has been evacuated. police say the situation is under control. we want to go to our correspondent in brussels on this breaking news story for us tonight. what more can you tell us?

what have we learned in the last couple of minutes? >> the fact that are on the table for the moment is that police just confirmed that indeed military personnel in the subway station the center of brussels not far away from the central square in brussels have shot a man following a small explosion. there is local media reports that have said this man apparently called "allahu akbar" and exploded a small device. there are unconfirmed images on social media that show a small explosion on site. with police have confirmed is the situation is under control. a number of barriers have been already taken away. from what i understand, the central square is still closed. the whole area is evacuated. if i look out the window, you can see a lot of helicopters. you can hear sirens.

and police forces on the ground to secure the situation. >> we are looking at pictures of the area. you can see there is a heavy troop presence right now. what about the suspect in this, the person who was neutralized? do we know anything about him or her? >> no. there is hardly any information about that person. ere is some iormation from localedia, unconfirmed, that the person had cables hanging out following the small explosion, and that is when the soldiers in the station ever since the attacks a year ago where 32 people were killed in brussels, police and military services are on high alert with hundreds of soldiers in the subway stations. people got used to that. the soldiers took the decision to take that person down, to neutralize that person. apparently, there was a suitcase next to him. there is some speculation whether there could have been further explosives in a

suitcase. brent: ok, our correspondent there on a breaking news fo story for us tonight from brussels. thank you very much. time for business news. has ford pulled a fast one on trump? helena is that the business desk to give us the answer. helena: certainly increase of news that is unlikely to please the u.s. president. american carmaker ford has announced its next generation of cars are to be imported from china. there areroduction lines there for the first time in 2019. this comes aer ford aounced it is moving its production away from mexico, a move which very much pleased trump. that pivot to china is probably not what the president had in mind. ford maintains no american jobs will be lost as a result of that move. for more on this, let's go to new york now and check in with

our financial correspondent. tell us more about this plant move and what is behind it. >> well, first of all, i would say this is certainly not good news for mexico. if you look at the u.s. car market, small cars are just not really that big over here in the united states. ford announced they will invest more money in trucks and suvs being built in the u.s. it was expected the small vehicles, the ford focus, for example, were not built in the u.s., so now china, first of all, it is definitely not good news for mexico. the stock of ford traded to the downside by a good 1%. helena: thanks for that. stay with us because we want to come back to you. we have some more news, and it is a sigh of relief for tesla. investors say the company is not

to blame for the death of a man who died in a crash while driving its s model in semi-autonomous mode last year. the ntsb says that the autopilot system, the driver only had his hands on the wheel for 25 seconds. that is despite seven warnings to return his hands to the steering wheel. another government report has also found that tesla's system was not to blame for that crash. back over to you in new york. what is the market reaction to that? >> well, i mean, at least when the market opened, we saw a good 2% gain in the stock of tesla, even if we did not close on the day on high. the question is, was that really a response to this report, or was it because it is some speculation that may be even this week tesla may announce to start its first production in

china? there we are again. in the last year, revenue in china for tesla has more than tripled, but exporting cars to china, there is a tax of about 20% to 25% of producing cars in . producing cars in china may be better for tesla, meaning they can ask for lower prices in the chinese market. that may have helped the stock as well. in the stock of tesla since december has more than doubled. helena: good to talk to you. it seems safe to say the auto giants are yet to master the autonomous car. of course, there is a lot to consider when it comes to safety, but there is a lot to think about regarding ethics. allowing a computer to decide whose life is more valuable. the german transfer ministries ethics commission has presented its guidelines on the topic today. >> fully autonomous cars could

be on the market in five years, according to german transport ministry estimates. but how are the cars supposed to react in hazardous situations? should they have to choose between the life of the driver or another motorist? the ministry's ethics commission says priorities like these should not be programmed into the cars. for nine months, the commission worked on the world's first guidelines for self driving car computers. they include principles like insuring only material damages are incurred instead of human injuries. the german transport minister said autonomous driving could actually be safer than a human at the wheel. >> this is why one of the most significant points the ethics commission made is that autonomous and connected driving is an ethical imperative. >> but members of the opposition are not convinced. >> ther he is overly optimistic

and promises the moon just to be able to push what with the auto industry's interests. >> still, the minister wants to recommend the guidelines to regulators around the world. helena: germany has taken back at request for government loan guarantees. berlin ceo told reporters on tuesday that the aid was no longer needed. they are making progress restructuring the airline, which has lowered the price of leasing aircraft. that saved some 50 million euros. two weeks ago, air berlin requested assistance in order to service its debt. that is the latest from the business desk. back over now to brent. brent: thank you very much. firefighters in portugal say they are slowly getting control over wildfires that have devastated part of the country.

the planes have been raging since saturday. they claim the lives of at least 64 people as dry conditions and high winds fanned the flames. >> exhausted fireman catch a bit of sleep wherever they can. on this third day of the inferno, many of them are at the end of their energy reserves. smoke hangs heavy in the region along with the smell of burnt wood. hundreds of firefighters worked through the night, but obstacles remain. >> a hotspot is burning ferociously. it is causing tremendous problems. we are focusing our efforts there with all we've got. >> firefighters have about three quarters of the blaze under control, but high winds are still spreading flames, and despite warnings, people are reluctant to evacuate the area. >> to everyone out there, please follow instructions. do not disobey them, especially if you have been told to leave your home. -- homes. >> emergency services were able

to return to a few villages today. they fear they might find residents who did not survive. other portuguese are helping where you can buy history with supplies and setting of donation centers. brent: here is a reminder of the top stories we are following for you. belgian troops have shot a man at the central railway station in brussels. police say there was also a small explosion which caused panic inside the station. the area has been evacuated. police say the situation is now under control. the prosecutor's office says there appeared to be no civilian casualties. nato' secretary-general has tolds dw the alliance cannot be divided. speaking during nato exercises in lithuania a said the important message of the exercises was that europe and north america are standing together, and that was the best way he said to preserve peace in europe. don't forget, you can always get dw news on the go.

just download our app from google play with the apple store. that would give you access to the latest stories from around the world and push notifications for any breaking news. you can also use the dwi to send us -- dw app to send us photos and videos. after a short break, i will be back to take you through the day. an in-depth look at the death of american otto warmbier. that and more in just minutes. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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laura: welcome back, you're watching live from paris on "france 24." tensions continue to rise over syria as a drone is shot down. it's the third such incident in recent weeks. the united states condemned north korea over the death of armbiern student otto w who was flown home in a coma and died last night. emmanuel macron's government hit by allegations of financial wrongdoing. another minister is demoted and a third is u