correspondent ivan watson. an enormous amount of activity there. reporter: that s right. it s very clear that a lot of the organization of these deadly paris attacks appear to have taken place here in brussels, the capital of the european union, john. we re learning more about the suspects in the attacks. for example, the mayor of the neighborhood of molenbeek has told cnn that just eight days before the attacks authorities here shut down a bartha was registered to the name of brahim abdeslam. he s one of the suicide bombers in the paris attacks. that bar shut down for drug-related offenses. now, his brother, salah abdeslam, a 26-year-old, born here in brussels, is the number one man most wanted man in europe right now, at large. we ve learned from the belgian prosecutor s office he these
warrant for salah and abdesalam. french police questioned him a few hours after the attacks and released him. we touched on that with our fred pleitgen but our cnn international correspondent ivan watson is in brussels with more on this angle of the story. tell us a little more about this suspect. the fact french authorities had him in custody, released him. what happened there? clearly there was some sort of failure in gathering enough information to keep him in custody. that s right. well, apparently, hala, the french authorities did not have salah abdeslam on any watch list to speak of but in the aftermath of the attacks the belgian prosecutor s office tells cnn that they are focusing a lot of their investigations on salah ab dechltslam and two of his
neighborhood that has come up more than once in this investigation. and in fact the belgian interior minister asked out loud, why is it that this neighborhood, molenbeek in brussels, more than once has been involved in international terrorism investigations? it does appear that some of the militants who carried out this attack in paris had previously lived in this neighborhood of molenbeek, an area with a large immigrant population, a large muslim population, that has also been to some degree a hotbed for islamic radicalism and has been involved residents of that neighborhood have been implicated in other violent acts of terrorism such as an attack on the jewish museum here in brussels in 2014. hala? all right. the belgian connection. thanks very much, ivan watson. as we continue to follow the
ivan watson talked with people who used their smart phones to help save their lives. setting out to sea, motoring out to the turkish coast on what could be a relaxing cruise and we are following the trail of tens of thousands of migrants and refugees trying to reach europe. here s what s crazy about the economics of this wave of human migration. it cost us 600 euros to charter this private sailboat to carry our entire cnn team from turkey to gross. smugglers are charging syrian refugees exactly double that per person. 1200 euros to board overcrowded ruby dingies to take them to that greek island. this is what the migrant voyage it greece looks like. it isn t just more expensive, it is also dangerous. we find floating in the sea aa
rescue effort and clean-up continues after flooding forced thousands out of their homes. a live report from scene minutes from now. facing life and death situations are turning to today s technology to keep them safe. our ivan watson talks about the use of social media. and presidential candidate donald trump is taking shots at media and now some of them are starting it take shot the them. hello an welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i m george howell. i m natalie allen. you re watching cnn newsroom. good day to you. our top story this hour. gentleman opinion s nhk news