this is d.w. news live from berlin germany social democrats decide whether to team up once again with chancellor angela merkel's conservative ahead of today's vote count party leaders have said they're optimistic members will approve the deal so will germany finally get a new government or could this be the start of a political crisis also coming up. time's up for italy's election campaigners political parties have made their final appeals to voters to cast their ballots tomorrow but with no clear front runner who'll italians choose to navigate

their country's turbulent political landscape. and it's being called a bomb cycle on the winter storm pummeling the eastern united states at least five people have been killed as rain snow and hurricane force winds battered the country's east coast the fierce weather has knocked out power and more than a million homes. and welcome to the program five months after elections here in germany the wait for a new government could finally be over members of the center left social democrats have voted on whether or not to enter a new grand coalition of anglo americans conservatives and the result will be announced on sunday. and party leader olaf scholz and parliamentary party leader

has made a statement before a vote counting gets underway later this afternoon. as it was whatever happens the outcome will be a result that contributes to the s p t s continued unity because there will be a lot of people who took part in it through their vote and there have been an unbelievable number of people who have joined in the discussion within the s.p.d. this really brings us together and i think you can already feel that. his knowledge is if there is a negative result tomorrow or we have a political crisis hopefully there will be no negative result and i don't speculate about that at all on such a nice sunny day we should only expect good news. as we thank god. now this vote has pitted the social democrats old guard who are pushing for that grand coalition against its strong youth wing were adamant that working with merkel's conservatives is a big mistake for the party if asked beattie members block the coalition deal america will have to go back to the drawing board or germans will end up back at

the polls. at the social democrats headquarters there's only one topic on everyone's minds the s.p.d. members vote the future of germany's next government now lies with the s.p.d. on saturday evening a truck when they arrive here carrying what must surely be germany's most important mail delivery hundreds of thousands of answers to the question should the social democrats join a coalition with mackie's conservatives they will be counted here overnight with the result of the count far from clear germans have been patient for weeks exploratory talks coalition negotiations party congress has for some the suspense is now reaching its climax for others they've had enough and just wanted to be over . which i hope that the s.p.d. votes yes we'll have to wait and see if they had to make avenged i wish they'd have

hurried up and finished all this soon but it is like it is it's. i don't care if they have to figure it out amongst themselves the more i assume there is vote yes oh i don't so find it exciting to see what happens if they don't agree i wouldn't worry too much about the impact. never before has there not been a government in germany so long after the election put an end to this insight. burdens politicians and politics watches holding their breath one hundred sixty days after the election they will find out whether germany will be governed but another grand coalition if the answer is no the most likely alternative is something that has not happened here before a minority government led by anglo-american now another european nation italy is actually heading to the polls tomorrow in an unpredictable election where migration has been the biggest issue driving voters the vote pits

a right wing coalition led by former prime minister silvio berlusconi against a center left alliance led by another former prime minister matteo renzi the other main player is the n.t.'s dalgleish mint five star movement with polls pointing to no clear winner most observers expect a hung parliament. with less than a day to go until elections almost one in three italians still don't know who they'll vote for the polls show that no party has a clear majority and have not decided and so can feel as if i go home. and i'm able with a side they don't know lease which is their right to vote for free it's the first election under italy's complicated new electoral law which has increased the chances of a hung parliament across the country parties held rallies to make their final pitches to voters former prime minister matteo renzi is pushing his track record he says his democratic party took italy out of economic crisis and helped desperate

migrants. we are proud of having saved hundreds of thousands of human lives and not to have played on the fears of others but his party is trailing behind those who have put fears migrants at the heart of the campaign the extreme far right falls and way of all marched in rome raising their hands in nazi style salutes and demanding an end to immigration and other far right party leader formally the northern league has increased its support across the country. they're in a coalition with the party of former prime minister silvio berlusconi the eighty one year old is barred from office but he may end up playing kingmaker. in the populist five star movement could gain the most votes though not enough to govern alone now being on it i just read one poll and i can say that we are just one step away from victory. one step or a few days the results of this most unpredictable election may not be known until

early next week. now to some of the other stories making news around the world slovak police have reportedly released the suspects detained over the murder of journalist he and his girlfriend were shot dead last weekend because the act was working on a story about the influence of the italian mafia in the country tens of thousands of people have gathered across live akio to protest his murder. families of passengers from malaysia airlines flight three seventy have marked the fourth anniversary of the plane's disappearance they're still hoping the world's biggest aviation mystery can be solved m h three seventy vanished in march of two thousand and fourteen while flying from kuala lumpur to beijing with two hundred thirty nine people on board malaysia has offered a u.s. search firm up to seventy million dollars if it locates the aircraft in sydney

hundreds of thousands have gathered in the streets to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the city's gay and lesbian mardi gras parade it's the first time the parade has taken place since australia legalized same sex marriage the parade started forty years ago as a protest against police violence against the community. now a massive storm system has knocked out power for more than a million homes in the eastern united states the storm known as a nor'easter has pounded coastal areas with massive waves and caused widespread flooding well inland residents had to deal with heavy snow at least five people have been killed by falling trees or branches and the federal government offices in washington d.c. were closed for the day. a perfect storm battering the beach towns of massachusetts. here

waves higher than two story buildings have flooded the coast. and left entire streets underwater. people that have been doing this longer than i i have been doing cannot recall a time in which we have seen such widespread spread flooding across our entire east coast and into the north side of the cape winds topping ac kilometers per hour slammed to the east coast from washington d.c. to boston around one point six million homes were left without power. by least five people including children have died hit by falling branches. while buffalo in upstate new york and several of the cities were hit by heavy snowfall. airlines had to cancel more than two thousand eight hundred flights bringing major

airports in the northeast to a near standstill. the national weather service says rain and snow should slowly come to an end early saturday. here in europe much of the continent is dealing with a winter cold front of its own the beast from the east and while the storm has caused travel chaos and misery for many some at least are enjoying the chill and amsterdam skaters have been out on the canals after they froze over that's a rarity in the dutch capital but it was brought on by record low temperatures in the thirty hour the cold snap is nearly over with high temperatures expected on sunday. good. a major decision today from football's rules makers they've given the green light to the use of video technology at the upcoming football world cup in russia the

v.a. our video assistant referee is the instant replay system that helps officials in the bundesliga and other top leagues review key rulings it was bowled out on a trial basis and has proven controversial on many occasions as the first president has said he wants it to be used for top competitions worldwide and football's rule making body agrees the v.a.r. should now be permanent. joining me now is a lemo taki of our sports department to talk about this further. this is going to apply potentially to some of the best football leagues around the world what is new for the sport it's a good sign it means that football is keeping up with the times we sometimes really sometimes even i as a football fan i think that we still live in the stone ages when it comes to football was so behind compared to other sports and if you for of course in later in march if they approve this decision it means that russia will become the first

world cup to use. and anybody that has been following football especially the world cup knows that that's a tournament that has been home to a lot of controversial decisions in the past and one of them of course being the infamous hand of god goal by mark donna in one thousand nine hundred six and i think anything to avoid that sort of plunder is always a correct step and but let me also point out that some of the leaks have also said that they will not immediately follow suit to for example the premier league they really not in favor of the system and neither is the champions league with us for president saying that regardless of today's decision they still believe that it's still to come but it's still too confusing da odds so if you have to see how every league penson adapting to me ah eventually they all have to yeah i mean it's confusing it's controversial you mention that. other sports for centrally specifically we mean the american pro sports the n.h.l. the n.b.a. they actually already use this they've been using for years why is such

a big deal in football in europe you know it's almost like there's something very holy about football when it comes to the flow of it so the flow of the game it's what makes a lot of people it's the beauty of the game it's what makes it so unique and a lot of people believe that anything that disrupts that flow you know we shouldn't you know at that to this at that to the game and also some players have come out at a pace and then saying that they believe that the emotion and the passion of the game because of v.a. are isn't always there because when a goal is scored sometimes spectators as well as a play as they don't win you know we celebrate or should we not celebrate is that a goal is that not a goal we also obviously don't want is happening at the world cup this summer how are world cup organizers going to ensure that this is a seamless transition without these kinds of issues that's of board that's going to be so tricky for them just because you also there's a lot of leaks testing b.a. are and there's also not a lot of officials a lot of referees available that i experience in v.a. odds are that would be a really difficult task for fifi especially because you just have

a few more months to go but i think she also has to find a way to cut down the time of the replay because if you're a fan or if you're a player and you have to wait one or two minutes for a decision to be made going back to the point of the flow is so important but i also think that the fans in the stadium i think people also owns a sense of a sense of transparency to them just because if you're on the stand and replay happens we do know that the ref often makes that rectangular that square box high so we know a replays about to happen but the fans don't see anything the screens are in the stadium so it would be nice if the the ref actually if you see the replace being played in the stadium on those screens and if the ref can actually explain their decision like it's like the way they do in cricket and in rugby while some months of the world cup yet and still some time for improvement obviously our sports department thank you very much. sticking with football now the brain does leave guys match day twenty five kicked off on friday night with two clubs on the upswing

braman visiting a snowy munching gladbach and the host storm to a first half advantage dennis acarya out with the opener on the way to a two nil gladbach lead raymond though fought all the way back and aaron johansson equaliser left a two two draw. you're watching live from berlin join us again at the top of the hour thanks for watching. my first by state was a sewing machine. where i come from women are almost by this social influence even something as simple as learning how to ride a bike is that those isn't. since i was in the room but i wanted to advise a lot of my home and into the midst of until. finally they gave up and went to buy in the end i say this but returned because the sewing machine sewing i suppose was more appropriate for goods than riding a bike.