22/03/2016 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at Ten: The worst fears are realised in the city of Brussels

after 31 people are killed and dozens injured in a series

Two bombs were set off in the city's main report.

At least 11 were killed and more than 80 injured as crowds

of passengers were checking in for their morning flights.

You saw glass falling down and people were running like crazy

but you don't know where to run so you go on the ground.

The third bomb exploded inside a train carriage

At least 20 people died here, many more were injured.

It's a dark day for Belgium says the country's Prime Minister,

as some of the survivors described what they'd seen.

I saw an explosion, a flash of light and then the whole Metro exploded.

So-called Islamic State said it was responsible.

These men were seen on CCTV at the airport before the attacks.

Belgian police say they're still hunting the man on the right.

And in the heart of Brussels tonight, many Belgians

are paying their own tributes to all the victims.

Also on the programme tonight: The Chancellor,

And unthinkable for so long, the American and Cuban presidents

side by side at a baseball game in Havana.

And coming up in the sport on BBC News - former World Cup-winning

captain and coach Franz Beckenbauer is one of six men investigated

for their part in Germany's 2006 World Cup bid.

Good evening from Brussels, as the people of Belgium start three

days of national mourning for the victims of today's terror

At least 31 people were killed at a Metro station not far

from here and at the city's main airport.

A few hours later, the so-called Islamic State group said

Today's events have prompted security alerts in other

This was how today's events unfoldled.

The first bomb went off in the departure hall of Zaventem

international airport at 8.20am local time this morning.

As people fled, a second, much bigger explosion,

happened, thought to be a suicide bombing.

At least 11 were killed and many were injured.

Around an hour later in the city centre during the morning rush hour,

an explosion tore through a train at Maelbeek Metro station,

Belgian police say they're still searching for one of the men

The attacks come just a few days after the capture,

here in Brussels, of the main suspect in the Paris attacks last

In a moment, a report from our correspondent who was one

of the first on the scene after the airport attack.

Plus, the latest on the investigation.

But first, our Europe editor Katya Adler reports.

When a shaky voice tries to sound reassuring,

calling out from clouds of smoke that it is OK,

out of the debris of devastation, you know it is not all right.

Seconds before this mobile phone footage was filmed,

these suitcases were in the firm grasp of crowds of travellers,

A busy morning for businessmen and women and families setting off

This evening, Belgian police released this photo

This is what the desks look like now. Julian and his partner were

about to check in when the blasts happened. We were running over the

debris from the ceiling and broken glass from where the windows had

exploded. There was people's baggage lying on the floor. Watch this

father grab his baby before running for cover he is not sure exists.

For survivors here bags and belongings no longer held any

importance, just their nearest and dearest and their own lives.

You have to go outside! And then there were the selfless and

the brave. This man is a baggage handler at Brussels airport.

TRANSLATION: I heard a gunshot and what sounded like Arabic, then I

heard boom. An ex-enormous explosion. Afterwards people ran to

the left and others took the escalators. Two old people who cave

towards me I saved them, I put them in the lift. I couldn't take them

with me there were too many people there.

But while he was saving lives, elsewhere in the city another group

of bombers was busy taking them. A nightmare come true for every

train traveller. People here were in between Metro stops when a bomb went

off in the central carriage. Panic survey sriefrs had to --

panicked survivors had to pick their way through the darkness.

Praying they would get to safety. Only once they got back to daylight

did the horror of what happened really hit.

TRANSLATION: I am in shock. I was in the first carriage. I saw an

explosion. A flash of light. And then the whole Metro exploded. The

windows came in. The doors opened. Everybody dropped to the ground.

TRANSLATION: When the people came pouring out of the Metro there were

children, people with burns and other injuries, some very serious.

People were in shock. The dazed and the injured covered

the pavements here, usually trodden with civil servants. This bombing

took place near European Union headquarters minutes from the

European Parliament. Brussels has turned into a city of

sirens and a centre of fear. These police cars are rushing to the Metro

station where the explosion went off earlier, unconfirmed reports of

casualties there, including deaths are mounting.

Questions for Belgian security apparatus supposedly on high alert

after perpetrators of last year's Paris attacks were found in

Brussels. As the number of dead and injured

rose, so-called Islamic State said it masterminded the attacks. The

bombers presumed message today - no one is safe, not here, not anywhere

in Europe. TRANSLATION: In this black moment

for our country, now more than ever, I call on everyone to show calm and

solidarity. We are facing a difficult challenge. We have to face

it together. TRANSLATION: This attack has struck

Belgium but it was Europe that was targeted and the whole world is

concerned. We have to realise the gravity of this terrorist attack.

Belgians are in no doubt as to the gravity of the situation today. As

in Paris after the attacks there, people here in Brussels say they're

determined not to give in to terror but many are scared. How are you

feeling as a mum, how are your children? As a mother it was very

scary because when we found out about the news our children were

already at school. When they're not with you you really are scared

especially since the attack was near our school. This man told me he is

now too scared to use public transport. He would rather walk

around Brussels, he said. transport. He would rather walk

But many Belgians don't have the option. Brussels is a commuter city.

Just hours after today's attacks, mainline train stations reopened,

with extra security checks. Because the Prime Minister here has

warned of more attacks to come, police tonight launched raids around

the city centre. They found explosives and chemicals.

But Belgians want them to find the people prepared to use them.

The main airport serving Brussels, Zaventem, is one of the busiest

in Europe, handling more than 25 million passengers a year.

The airport will remain closed until Thursday at the earliest

which means that thousands of flights will be cancelled.

Today's attacks happened at the height of the morning rush hour.

Our correspondent Ben Wright was at the airport as people fled

the scene and he spoke to some of them.

They arrived here for holidays and work.

Two explosions ripped through this hall. Survivors described the horror

inside. Yes, I was immediately on the ground

because we were in the one So you saw glass falling down,

and people were like You do not know where to run,

so you go on the ground. The man who was with me

was like looking, what is happening? All morning we saw ambulances,

fire crews and police pour Some of the injured were bussed

away for treatment. It is about three hours

after the explosions Emergency vehicles continue to go

towards the terminal. There is a constant stream of people

coming the other way, pulling bags - holiday-makers,

commuters, airport workers, who had a Tuesday morning up-ended

in terror and chaos. I had a dog and because of my dog,

they said to me, go And there we were when it

exploded behind us. It is a frightening experience.

were a basketball team from Antwerp You think it happens only in other

countries but now it is in Belgium. We have to make the best

of it and just stay calm, This woman and her family

were heading to Venice for a cruise. Although suffering minor injuries,

she is just relieved to be alive. Hundreds were taken to a sports

centre offered medical treatment. Howevers before, they had planned to

be far away from here. Outside, the sobering sight of cars

for the victims of this Tuesday morning of terror.

Ben, we will talk in more detail about the general challenge of

improving security in places like airports and stations. As someone

who uses this airport frequently what is your sense of the

arrangements that have been there? Well, people arriving here to check

in this morning will have seen heavily armed police, the Army in

military uniforms patrolling the terminal. They've become a familiar

sight in Brussels since the Paris attacks at airports, stations on the

streets, in the Metro, a reassuring if a nerving sight for many, the new

normal. Yet, three people could still walk into this airport and

cause the sort of carnage that we have seen today. It shows how

vulnerable airports are before people go through the security and

the gates. During the afternoon police said they had found a device

that had not gone off, it had not detonated. They're looking for a

third attacker who may well have slipped away from the airport along

with terrified passengers and airport staff.

Thank you. Apologies there, we have lost the

link to Brussels. World leaders have condemned

the attacks and conveyed their sympathy to the

people of Brussels. President Hollande said that a war

against terror was being fought And David Cameron urged

Europe to stand together. Our correspondent Lucy Williamson

has been talking to some of the residents of this city

as they react to what's happened. In the departure hall of Brussels

international airport, at least in 11 dead and dozens wounded. The

European Union, created in the name of peace, confronted in its heart I

scenes of war. At this Metro station, it was the emptiness which

spoke of violence there. Just blood and class to mark the path of

Brussels commuters heading not for office blocks today but hospitals.

Round the back, a hotel turned field clinic took in the 20 dead and 100

injured, sent to hospitals across the capital and beyond. 15 are being

treated here at this hospital not far away. Five are in intensive

care. We never know if there will be a second, a third, a fifth or sixth

attack. That is the reason why they spread patients across the

hospitals. So you are prepared for more attacks? Yes, we are. Last week

the same hospital treated Salah Abdeslam, the man arrested for

involvement in November court in Paris attacks. The risk of reprisals

has meant no-one is above suspicion. But are reprisals in fact what

Brussels is dealing with now? In front of the Brussels stock exchange

tonight, a vigil for those unsure of where to meet or how to mourn. The

loneliness and confusion of this city, sketched in the messages left

here on the ground. TRANSLATION: What happened today was very

serious. It hit my country. It is unbelievable, really. I laid down a

Belgian flag because we are Belgian. To stay inside today is not an

option. It sends out a bad message. Why do we have to stay inside? If we

do, these guys have won. The stories and faces of those who died here,

those whose lives have changed. But before the litany of names come the

tributes and the candles, those universal gestures of defiance and

hope. As the night has worn on, more people have come here to this square

to light candles and chalk their messages on the ground in front of

the stock exchange. One thing which is really striking when you read

these messages is just how many languages people are expressing

their emotions in. Italian, German, English, Arabic. President Hollande

of France said this morning that this attack hit the whole of Europe.

And it feels as if the whole of Europe is represented here in this

square tonight. Lucy Williamson, thank you very much. Right in the

heart of Brussels. As Lucy mentioned in her report...

As we mentioned, today's attacks happened four days after Salah

Abdeslam, a key suspect in last November's attacks in Paris,

There have been suggestions that these

latest attacks were carried out, either in response for his arrest,

or by members of a terror cell who feared they were about

The authorities here in Brussels have warned that the terror threat

is as menacing as ever, as our security correspondent

A manhunt is under way tonight. The man in the white, either,, seen in

this CCTV from the airport, shortly before the explosions. The two

figures next to him are thought to have blown themselves up, their

bombs hidden in bags on their trolleys. But his device did not

detonate and he escaped. Belgian police have been carrying out raids

today. In win Hartman and in the Schaerbeek district, they found a

flag belonging to the so-called Islamic State and a nail bomb. -- in

one apartment. In a statement, Islamic State says it was behind the

attack today. The Belgian capital has been described as the epicentre

of the terrorist threat in Europe - and it has now become its target.

When you look at the number of foreign fighters who have gone out

to Syria and Iraq, the number from Belgium per capita is higher than

anywhere else across the continent. They have a unique and pointed

problem. It was only last Friday that a key figure in the Paris

attacks, which were organised from Belgium, Salah Abdeslam, was finally

caught. He was found in the Molenbeek stripped of Brussels, a

notorious part of the city, seen as a hotbed for jihadists. It is

something critics say the authorities have failed to deal

with. He had been hiding their foot off the months. Authorities are

still looking for two men linked to him. Authorities say it is not clear

if today's attack is linked to the events in Paris. It could have

resulted from the remains of the Paris network hastening their plans

to attack amid fears the authorities were on their trail, or that Salah

Abdeslam was talking. The other today's strikes could have been

carried out by a completely separate cell. Either way, there remains

concern over the threat in Belgium, whether the authorities have a grip

on it and whether the intelligence is good enough. The security

services and Brussels have a bit of a problem. Clearly they have not got

a lot of intelligence. In fact it appears they are operating almost

blind and deaf. Tonight, France lit up the Eiffel tower with Belgium's

national colours in a show of solidarity. But yet again, a

European capital is dealing with the aftermath of a deadly attack, asking

questions about whether it could have been stopped and hunting for

those responsible. As we heard, Belgian police have

been carrying out a series of raids Could you bring us up to date on

what police have been telling you about the raids? Yes, we are right

behind the police cordon here in Schaerbeek. It seems as though the

under terror operation which has been going on all afternoon is just

winding down. Behind us there are still police patrolling the

periphery of this cordon with submachineguns. Use of the street

where, as we understand it, the raid took place earlier. Coming around

here, we can show you down this road. We have been speaking to

neighbours, some of whom have been evacuated. You can see people

waiting on the edge of this cordon. One of them showed us some mobile

phone footage which he said he filmed on his camera, which shows

police approaching an apartment behind us here with a battering ram.

He says that two people were arrested. Unconfirmed reports coming

from neighbours here. What we do know, as has been confirmed by the

Belgian prosecutor, is that during the course of those raids earlier

today, they found three the course of those raids earlier

significance - an explosive device containing nails, amongst

significance - an explosive device things. Also some chemicals. We saw

earlier when we arrived two helicopters circling overhead with

searchlights coming down on the rooftops. A decontamination unit

also left the scene, and Red Cross vehicles going in. And perhaps most

poignantly, vehicles going in. And perhaps most

also found one of those black standard flags associated with the

so-called Anna Holligan there on those raids

which have been taking place in the district of Schaerbeek.

Security has been stepped up at airports and railway stations

throughout Europe, including the UK, but security officials say attacks

on targets that are open to the public with little or no

security are almost impossible to prevent.

Our transport correspondent Richard Westcott reports on how

security at these targets, including airports

and train stations, might be improved, and what impact that

They are images that will inevitably frighten travellers.

The attackers focusing on soft targets - airports,

But can you ever make the

We are all familiar with airport security checks like these,

but, critically, the Brussels bombers

The thing is, there are still large parts of airports before you get

to security that are effectively big open public places where anybody can

walk in, carrying a bag and posing as a passenger.

It's the underground network, as well.

The reality is, it's nigh on impossible to keep the whole

Already you will see more police patrolling Britain's railway

The Prime Minister insisting they're well prepared.

If there is information that implies there is a direct threat

to the United Kingdom, then we'd raise the security threat

level even higher than it is today.

But it already stands at severe, which means we believe an attack

is highly likely and that has been the case for sometime.

So we will continue to keep the situation under review.

Some airports, especially in the Middle East, screen

passengers before they are allowed into the building.

Every time you come up with a solution...

The former head of security at airport says that can

The former head of security at Heathrow says that can

Then you would be building up queues outside the terminal.

You are then massing a group of people which are another perfect

target for a bomber or a drive-by shooter.

Is the reality there is only so much you can do to make these kinds

Wherever you get a large volume of people it's very difficult

to protect them from an unknown attack.

Intelligence is the key, but we don't always have that

intelligence and sometimes that intelligence

isn't shared to all of the people that should have it.

Tonight, the Government is warning Britons not to travel to Brussels

I'm joined now by our Europe Editor Katya Adler.

Just a matter of months ago, we were talking about those dreadful attacks

in the centre of Paris. You know this city very well, you live here.

Has this city responded in the same kind of way? Well, tonight, Huw, you

have that sense of anger and fear and sadness, like you had in Paris.

But what is very different is the absence of shock. This city has been

in a state of public jumping is an high security alert since those

Paris attacks, and the massive manhunt here for key suspects linked

to them. Back in November, the city was in lockdown for days, no Metro,

schools closed. That is not to say that there is a sense of

inevitability tonight about the bombings today. There is a sense of

public anger, to a certain extent, a feeling that there are government,

the security forces, should have done more to keep them safe and

should do more now. This evening, the Belgian Prime Minister said,

there are more attacks to come. It is when and not if which is haunting

people in Brussels tonight. We will speak later about the broader

European response, but that will be in a few minutes.

For more on the Brussels attacks you can go to our website which has

the latest developments and further analysis.

We'll be back in Brussels before the end of the programme.

But now it's time for the day's other news with Sophie.

The Chancellor, George Osborne, has admitted that proposed cuts

to some disability benefits in last week's Budget were a mistake.

He told the Commons that he had "listened and learned" and had now

dropped plans to make any more welfare cuts in this parliament,

following the resignation of the Work and Pensions secretary,

Tonight, MPs voted to approve the Budget.

Here's our political editor, Laura Kuenssberg.

There he is - the former military man who has fallen spectacularly

Quietly walking through Westminster today -

While his old political pals were at their weekly Cabinet meeting

trying to agree answers to his list of accusations.

getting used to the new ministerial car.

And George Osborne dealing with the biggest problem of all -

trying to make his Budget sums add up.

A Chancellor less than a week since his Budget having to explain

why he's already junked part of his plans and answer a political

I'm sorry that my right honourable friend chose

And let me here in this House recognise his achievements

in helping to make work pay, protecting the vulnerable

and breaking the decades-old cycle of welfare dependency.

There was no apology for confusion over capping

There was no apology for confusion over scrapping

disability cuts, or an answer on where cash will come

George Osborne DID acknowledge mistakes, but there wasn't much

And if you want a Budget for working people that helps them

save for their future, that freezes their fuel duty,

cuts income tax so they keep more of the money they earn -

that's the Budget we are voting on tonight.

It's a Budget that delivers security, that helps the next

It is a one-nation, compassionate, Conservative Budget and I ask

"More, more," they cried on the Tory benches.

But Labour knows this Budget has hurt the Chancellor's reputation,

and is only too happy the push the bruise.

The behaviour of the Chancellor over the last 11 days calls

into question his fitness for the office he now holds.

What we've seen is not the actions of a Chancellor,

a senior Government Minister, but the grubby, incompetent

manipulations of a political chancer.

But I certainly think for the sake of the country,

it's time for him to go.

Yet the Tory party managers seem to have done their job.

George Osborne and Michael Gove, relaxed enough to share a laugh.

No sign of the very real Tory doubts and frustrations about the Budget.

Had he listened to the advice of the party opposite

in the last five years, our national debt would be

..13 years in Government was a Post-it note saying there's

We've taken 3 million people, the lowest paid workers,

out of tax altogether.

He or she who shouts the loudest will always be heard,

MPs leapt to the defence of George Osborne today,

but they cannot repair his reputation in one afternoon.

And there are still serious unanswered questions

about the Budget that he can't escape for ever.

Nos 10 and 11 do tonight have their party under more control.

But after a dramatic few days, ministers would be wise to keep

I'm joined by our economics editor, Kamal Ahmed.

There's a ?4.5 billion black hole - how can the Chancellor fill it?

I think it is becoming increasingly clear to the Treasury, and to the

Government, that it is going to be very difficult to cut their way to a

budget surplus in 2020, which is their target. Why is that? Because

really he is boxed in. He has said there will be no cuts over the NHS,

to schools, to defence, to pensions, to overseas aid. He has not got much

further to further to go to see things he can cut. Yesterday, the

new ban on further welfare cuts means there is little further he can

go there. He has two other leaders, one of which is raising taxes.

Instinctively he is not keen on that. He has set himself whole load

of rules there. No income tax rises, no rises to VAT or national

insurance. His one big hope is that the economy actually picks up and

that news about the economy is not as gloomy as forecast, and that that

will increase government income and tax receipts and enable him to get

to his budget surplus on the back of better economic news.

Meanwhile, the Scottish National Party has said it won't implement

the Chancellor's tax cut for higher earners

if it wins the Scottish elections in May.

Mr Osborne announced that the threshold for the 40p

rate of income tax would rise to ?45,000 in 2017.

But the SNP says it would only increase it in line with inflation.

Our Scotland editor, Sarah Smith, is in Glasgow.

So, what does this mean in practice for Scottish taxpayers? It would

mean that some people in Scotland would for the first time be paying a

different rate in tax to people in the rest of the United Kingdom.

Specifically, anyone earning more than ?43,000 would have a tax bill

which was ?323 higher than people living in England, Wales or Northern

Ireland. The SNP say that over five years, this would generate more than

?1 billion to invest in health and education. First Minister Nicola

Sturgeon says she is pretty confident that Scots would not mind

paying a bit more tax as long as they see the money being invested in

better public services. This would be a historic change, but

nonetheless some of the opposition parties in Scotland have called the

move to timid. Scottish Labour and the Liberal Democrats both say that

they would put taxes up across all the bands of income tax in Scotland,

which leaves the Scottish Conservatives as the only major

party in Scotland saying that they do not want to increase tax and in

fact, they would cut it if they could.

On the last day of his historic visit to Cuba, President Obama has

urged Cubans to look to the future with hope.

Mr Obama said it was a moment to "bury the last remnants

He ended his trip at a baseball match in Havana, where he sat

side-by-side with Cuban President Raoul Castro.

From Havana, here's our North America editor,

President Obama has flown out of Cuba after a two-day visit that

has put relations between the US and his Communist hosts

President of the United States of America, Barack Obama.

Here is a vivid symbol of that - his keynote speech,

carried live and uninterrupted into every Cuban home by a network

I have come here to extend the hand of friendship to the Cuban people.

The President has met dissidents while he's been here and he spoke

candidly about the need for Cuba to open up.

The internet should be available across the Islands so that Cubans

can connect to the wider world and to one of the greatest engines

Baseball is a near religion in this country, and so huge excitement that

an American pro team, the Tampa Bay Rays, had

But with Barack Obama's visit to Cuba, he's hoping it's a win-win.

And these two men might have just pulled that off,

entering the Stadio Latino Americano to tumultuous cheers,

dressed down and ready for the first pitch.

But before that, the stadium fell silent for the victims

of the Brussels attacks over 3,000 miles away.

Two nations, who 50 years ago stood on the edge of nuclear war,

More now on our main story - the Brussels attacks.

Here in Brussels, King Philippe has urged Belgians to stand together.

He said they would refuse to be cowed by today's terrible events.

At least 31 people have been killed in attacks,

apparently carried out by the so-called Islamic State group.

Two explosions hit the city's main airport early this morning.

An hour later, a bomb was detonated at a Metro station in the heart

Police say they are still hunting a man seen here on the right on CCTV

pushing a luggage trolley at Zaventem airport

So, that is a summary of where we are tonight.

Our Europe editor, Katya Adler, is with me.

Looking back at the atrocities of last year, and we were talking about

what response it would prompt across Europe. The same questions today?

Except that we are a big step further now. We have had what

European leaders have long been fearing, an attack on a main

European airport, close to the main European institution buildings,

where we are standing now. You say what next? Absolutely. Whether it

was the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January last year, or the wider

attacks in November, and now, there are promises with the European

security services that they will work better together. On the other

hand, what really concerns European leaders are the thousands of

Europeans who go to Syria and comeback radicalised. There is the

worry about how to monitor them. While they worked that out,

Europeans across the continent go to bed tonight feeling that much more

exposed and that much more vulnerable. Catcher Adler there.

That's it from Brussels tonight, after the city's worst fears

were realised in today's terror attacks.

So far we know that at least 31 people have died. Probably 200

people or more have been injured. There's more coverage on the BBC

News Channel overnight. Here on BBC One, it's time

for the news where you are. But before we go, the latest images

of the Place de La Bourse, where people here in Brussels have

been gathering tonight to pay their respect

to the victims of today's attacks.