brent: this is "dw news," live from berlin. tonight in the united states, shock and outrage over a series of mail bombs delivered to top level democrats. who was the sender, and was the message intended to be political and lethal? >> acts or threats of political violence of any kind have no place in the united stateses of america. brent: president trump p promiss a full investigation. new york's mayor says the bomb sent to cnn offices in new york

was an act of terror. we will have the latest from manhattan and washington dc. plus, all eyes on riyadh. saudi arabia's crown prince makes his first public comments on the khashoggi killing. speaking at a high-profile business conference today, mohammed bin salman calls khashoggi's death a heinous crime. he also says that riyadh will cooperate with turkish investigators. ♪ brent: i'm brent goff. it's good to have you with us. u.s. president donald trump has promised to get toto the bottomf explosive devices sent to top democrats and their offices today, just days ahead of crucial midterm elections. the presidents of the perpetrators will be punished to the full extent of the law. in an unusual move, trump's wife

melania was the first to deliver her condemnation at the white house. >> we cannot tolerate those attacks and strongly condemn all who choose violence. i am grateful to the secret service as well as the local and federal law-enforcement for all they do on a daily basis to keep us safe, and encourage people across the country to choose kindness over hatred. >> i just want to tell you that in these times we have to unify, we have to come together, and send one very clear, strong, unmistakable message, that acts or threats of political violence of any kind have no place in the united states of america. reporter: one of the explosive devices was addressed to o the clinton residence in new y york. other suspicious pacackages were

sent to the timeme warner cente, where cnn has its new york office. the entire building was evacuated. donald trump has repeatedly accused cnn of broadcasting fake news. is not c clear if there i is ay link between this incident and the upcoming midterm elections, but new york's mayor is certain about the nature of this attempted attack. >> what we saw here totoday wasn effort to terrorize. this clearly iss an act of terr or, attempting to undermine our free press and leaders of this country through acts of violence. i want to make very clear that the people of new york city will not be intimidated. reporter: the all clear signal was given to the clinton's and obamama's. according to the secret service, the packages were immediately identified as potentially explosive during routine checks and were not delivered. >> we are fine thanks to the men and women of the secret service.

but it is a troubling time, isn't it? and it is a time of deep divisions. and we have to do everything we can to bring our country together. reporter: fbi investigators say the package sent to the former secretary of state appear to have similarities with the explosive device found in the no backs of entrepreneur and philanthropist george soros. the 88-year-old soros is a longtime democratic supportrter. in florida, a suspicious package arrived at the office of a democratic member of congress, representative debbie wasserman schultz. it was actually addressed to former attorney general eric holder. authorities have mounted a wide search for the culprits. brent: we have team coverage tonight.

dw's stefan simons is in washington d.c., and in manhattan, correspondent james reinl. to both of you, welcocome. ststefan, as we just heard, , te first lady was the first to speak publicly from the white house about what happened. that seems very u unusual in a situation that is this grave. stefan: you nailed it. i think everyone was surprised by that, that the first lady to to the microphone first and addressed what was going on here and said what the president should have said, and then actually did say afterwards to the nation, to the people in the united states. it was, in all fairness, a pre-organized event where president trump and his wife melania trump were supposed to

talk about the opiate crisis in the u.s. in what the administration is doing against that. however, the president took to the microphone a second after his wife, that was unusual. i cannot tell you that i have seen anything like that from any republican or democratic president as long as i have been here in a situation like this. everybody here, the commentators, the pundits, the observers in washington, are all saying the president said the right things, saying that the country has to unify and that these kinds of acts, attacks, are absolutely unacceptable. brent: james, officialsls there, the mayor of new york called what happened today a an act of terror. you have been there all day covering the story.

how have authohorities respondn? james: well, the latest from here, i am outside thehe time warnerer building. in the last 20 minutes or so the bubuilding has been reopened. througughout the day the police presence has diminished in the streets. ififou saw me e here one hour ao you would have seeee no traffic coming through. that hasas changed. this is an indication with the building having been reopened and most of the police trucks and siren stopping. it's an indication police are 100% sure there is no more danger inside the building. people started going back up. it is also an indication that all the evidence they needed to gather related to this pipe bomb explososive devicicand white

powder i in envelopes found in e cnn mailroom around d 10:00 a.m. ththis morning. they g got all the evidence they need for thahat. now the invesesgation will bebe looking at the evidence they have, looking at the device to see if they can trace where itit came from, whether it is connected these oerer devices acrossss the country. and ultimately, who or which ultimate -- organization is bebehind it. brent:t: we still do not know wo was responsible for this. what are you hearing from people in manhattan? are they concerned for their safety, concerned this willll hahappen agagain tomorrow, for example? jamemes: welelhe police prpresee has been q quite substantial. across thehe city y extra offics have been deployeded and they ae acting out of an abundance off cautn. we heard from hillarary clinton, donald trump, andenior officials all saying thahat all security serervices are trying o work out what has happened, who was behind it.

new yorkers, of course, these days there is a degree of unflappable he didid new yorker. sadly they are little bit too familiar with these kinds of incidents. obviously there was the 9/11 attack back in 2001, but that has not been the only thing that has happened in new york over the years. lastst year in dececember and ococtober there e were two atta. pipe bomb attack at a truck attack in downtown manhattan. also other incididents, times square bombing back in 2010. brent: stefan, what we do know tonight is everyone targeted by these mail bombs,, t they were demomoats. and we are less than two weeks away from midterm elections in the united states. i mean, all of this coming together, and we say -- see the president saying we have to unify now. based on what you see, is that going to happen? stefan: i don't think so.

and i don't think that anybody else has any indications that this event here or any other event, god forbid there is a worse event than this here today, would serve the purpose to unify the country within two weeks before the critical and crucial midterm elections. i want to add one thing, the investigators, fbi and secret service and aft, etc., were all under the umbrella of the joint terrorism task force. they are looking at the envelopes looking for dna residue, etc. interestingly enough, the pipe bomb which was sent to cnn was delivered by messengers, not by the u.s. postal service. the spelling of the name john brennan was actually wrong. back to your question, there is no way that anybody and anything

can unify this country. the political divisiveness, just two weeks before the midterms. brent: all right, our correspondence stefan simons in washington and james reinl in new york. to both of you, thank you. saudi arabia's crown prince mohammed bin salman has described the killing of dissident journalist jamal khashoggi as quote, a heinous crime. after coming under intense international pressure, riyadh has acknowledged that khashoggi was killed inside the country's istanbul consulate. but the royal family denies the crown prince was involved in any way. reporter: it was supposed to attract investors toto the kingdom. instead, the crorown prince waws forced to say he denounced the murder of writer and j journalit jamal khashoggi. >> the crime was really painful

to all saudis, and i believe i i is painful to every human in the world. it is a heinous crime thatat cannot be juststified. today, saudi arabibia is carryig out all legal things to finalize the invevestigations, to work ad cooperate with the turkish government, and to present the perpetrators to the court and take their judgment. reporter: he also said there will be no break in relations with istanbul. it is mohammed bin salman's first public address since khashoggi disappeared after entering the saudi consulate in the turkish capital earlier this month. his words seem to come on cue. washington says that the crown prince bears ultimate responsibility. he also spoke with turkish president recep tayyip erdogan on the phone wednesday. the two said they would bring light to all aspects of the case.

>> as a nation, we are determined not to allow the murder t to be covered up, and l of those responsible not to evade justice from those who gave the order to thosose who executed it. this is not only for the deceased, jamal khashoggggi, who was the e victim o of a bral mumurder witithin our country's boborders. at the same time it is a responsibility of the international public, law, and justice. reporter: the sequence of events is stranger than fiction. the butchering of a critic with the saudi hierarchy accused of having blood on their hands. khashoggi's son attended a royal reception for a handshake with the crown prince. brent: here are some of the other ststories now that a are making headlines arounund the woworld. pakistan has secured a b bailout packagee wororth within than 5 bibillion eueuros from saudidi . it will help cover the country's

massive debt. the prime minister signed the deal at the saudi international investment summit. he was one of the few world leaders to attttend following outrage over the killing of journalist jamal khashoggi. a japanese journalisists held hostage in syria for more than three years confirmed on wednesday he is alive and in neighboring turkey. japanese embassy officials have also reportedly visited him at an immigration center in southern turkey. thousands of central american migrants making their way to the united states have resumed their trek after stopping to rest for a day. the caravan has now reached the town of huixtla in southern mexico, more than 1000 miles from the southern u.s. border. the u.s. estimates that around 7000 people make up that caravan. another smaller group is now on the move through guatemala and

making their way towards mexico. this issue has become fiercely politicized in the united states, with president trump vowing to keep the migrants out . but just why are they fleeing their homes to begin with? here's more. reporter: the road to a new life has few comforts. and for this group of central american migrants, a small ledge on a moving car brings much-neeeeded relief. the trip h has also been long ad hot for this second group of migrants that has been working since saturday. their plan is to get to mexico across the guatemalan border. more than 7000 people according to u.n. estimates are slowly advancing towards the united states. a journey most wish they did not have to make. >> this comes from hunger, from the drought. it is for prosperity, for a better life. this is not political.

>> we are suffering for our families. for our children. they force our children to work in gangs. they kill our kids if we do not obey. reporter: it is a bloody and brutal life they have left behind. in honduras, gang violence is commonplace, with kidnappings and extortions reported regularly. in el salvador, the security situation is just as dire. huge drug busts like this one are a common occurrence. but t it is ththe alleged collin bebetween gogovernmentnt and ord gangs that has people leaving the e country in d droves. e unun's refufugee agency is calling g on the glol l communiy to pull its weight t to address the issue. >> the responsibilities that all countries have along this route is really the same. it is individuals fleeing

persecution and violence need to be given access to territory and to refugee status determination procedures. reporter: but the reaction from the u.s. has been less than welcoming. >> i am not letting them in. they are not coming in. they are not coming in. we will do whatever we have to. they are not coming in. reporter: the threats have done little to dissuauade these migrants i intent on getting to the u.s. bororder. for many of them, , there isoo choice. >> we are going to do what we have to do because we haveve to crososs. itit's betttter to die here thao go back there. brent: time now for business. stephen is here. if you own stock today was not a good day to look at your portfolio. stephen: it was a rocky day on wall street as shares got slammed in the last minutes of trading. the dow jones losing with a 600 points and stock markets erasing

gains for all of 2018. investors responded to disappointing earnings reports and don't with another fed controversy. the federal reserve has raised rates and is expected to push interest rates once more this year, and that has president trump rileled up. he has called the fefed the sine biggest threat to the american economy. it is not the first time he has attacked t the fed and its chairmanan to sticking to its on monetaryry policy rather than taking advice from the white house. cue to shed more light on this is jens korte, our financial correspondent in new york. the president has of course target fed chairman powell in the past about rate hikes and he has been criticized for it. so why does he keep doing it? jens: actually the president increased the pressure here on wednesday when he said he has the feeling that the fed powell jerome powell seems to be heavy every time he increases interest rates. donald trump often in the past

has claimed himself for being responsible not just for the good economy, but also that stock markets are going from one record to another. now that stock markets are under heavy fire, nasdaq lost more than 4%, so donald trump claims the federal reserve with those interest rate increases is the guilty party here ofor their heavy selling pressure on wall street. steven: so does the president maybe have a point? is the fed moving too fast? jens: certainly when interest rates are increasing, that can be a damper on the economy. actually, that is one reason why the fed increases interest rates, to prevent an overheating of the economy, to prevent inflation getting out of target.

so in that respect the president is not entirely false. but the big question is not that the federal reserve is increasing interest rates, but why. one big reason are the huge tax cuts from u.s. president donald trump that would lead to inflation tendencies here in the united states. so he is not entirely wrong, but actually he is the one who sort of put the federal reserve under pressure to keep interest rates from rising. steven: jens korte in new york, thank you. cuba was once a world leader in sugar production. at one time the sweetener accounted for 75% of cuban exports. now for the first time the communist nation is turning to imports from as far away as france. hurricane irma ravaged the island and its harvest, and that wawas followed by an unususually

long rainy s season. reporter: he quickly noticed the curious turn of events. sugar tends to be brownish, but the frenchch version is white. >> the sugar that has been now arriving is good. it is very sweet. not very differerent from cuban sugar. the main difference is the color. reporter: cuba's sugar industry was once the flagship of the island's agricultural exports. it illustrated the importance to the nation. the soviet union used to buy most of cuba's sugar. after the fall of communism in europe, trade figures dwindled. more recently, last year's hurricane irma twisted and large parts of the country. the subsequent harvest was 1/8 the size of 1990.

>> there is a lack of f sources and a lack of money. bubut i believe t there are also structural and organizatational factors. reporter: most of what does get harvested has to be shipped abroad. mostly to china, due to long-standing contracts. to meet domestic demand, 40,000 tons of french sugar were imported in the second quarter alone, symbolizing a broader change. sugar is no longer cuba's lifeline. tourism and immigrants are now the major driving forces of the island's economy. steven: becky brent with the news. brent: in the four years since the conflict in eastern ukraine began, land mines have claimed nearly 2000. lives today, the country sees more casualties from mines than almost anywhere else on earth.

one reason is no one knows how many mines were made in the chaos when fighting started. it is a problem expected to get worse as displaced people slowly return to their homes. our correspondent nick connolly has gogone to meet the people behind efforts to clear those landmines. reporter: it may look calm now, but just a few years ago these fields saw intense fighting between you canyon -- ukrainian troooops and russian backed separatists. over and over, the front lines shifted. each time the retreating troops left mines and booby-traps behind. it is now up to civilians to pick up the pieces. an international ngo in the world's largest mine clearing organization. >> w what makes s ukraine d dfet is we e have a real proroblem wh

tripwire traps. our organization has not come across anything like them in other countries. our expertrts have had to comomp with new ways of dealing with them. reporter: it is backbreaking work. a grenade in a tripwire is all it takes. if you summers after the traps were laid, weeds have grown, making them almost impossible to spot. cleaearing the traps is as much about touch as it is about sight. >> there is no way of predicting how far you will g get in a day. it all depends on the vegetation. sometimes you will mane 20 mersrs in a d day, somometimes t 10. safety is a priority in all this. reporter: in the distance, the shooting continues. the current frontline is just a few kilometers away. these people are searching for anti-tank mines.

anti-personnel mines are less widespread in ukraine. >> it takes 150 kilograms to set off this kind of antitank mine, so a person on foot would not be enough. reporter: what a tractor very much would. this may be e a war zone, but te farming continues. this is all that is leleft of te tractor t that he was u using to plplow back inn 2015. soldiers told him the field was safe. >> i lost consciousness. when i came a around i saw thati was s on fire. i tried to get out of the tractor but i i could not. they pulled me out from the back window and then put the fire out. when i woke up inn hospital, thy told me that only one minee had gone off and they were more of them underneath me. when thehey came to get me, they had to drive over the mines, too. reporter: he sustained 80% burns

on his legs. three years and several opoperations later, he is stilln chronic pain. it is s not clear whether or not he will everer be able to work again. back at the site, they found a grenade that had failed to go off. ngo's are not allowed to dispose of ordinances themselves. instead they must wait for the military to collect t them, an that couou take weeks. 10, 20, or sometimes five meters a d day. the progress here isis painststaking. nono o one c can sayayith any certainty how w long iwillll tae to fininall of thehe mines that were laid in the early y stagesf ththe war. leleft untntouched, the minesese the potential to maim and kill the people in this region for decades to come. brent: turning to science and nature, nasa cameras flying over antarctica have discovered an unusual sight. take a look at this.

a perfectly rectangular icecebeg is floatingg offff the ice s sh. the iceberg''s pear-r-shaped and sharp anglgles s show it is liky to have broken off just recently. the ice shelf is one of several along the coast of antarctica. shelves a and b have disintegrated in recent decades, likely due to rising global temperatures. you're watching "dw news," live from berlin. after a short break i'll be back to take you through the day. stick around for that. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.. visit ncicap.org]

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