this is the w. news live from berlin germany a social democrats decide whether to team up once again with chancellor angela merkel's conservatives with hundreds of thousands of ballots now being counted actually leaders are optimistic that members will approve the deal so when germany finally get a new government could this be the start of a political crisis also coming up. it's been called a bombsite clone a mammoth winter storm batters the u.s. east coast at least five people have been killed the fierce weather has knocked out

power to more than a million homes. welcome to the program five months after the elections here in germany the wait for a new government could finally be over now members of the center left social democrats have voted on whether or not to enter a new grand coalition with chancellor angela merkel's conservatives the last batch of completed ballots have now arrived at the s.p.d. headquarters of almost half a million party members who are eligible to vote and the results will be announced on sunday. political correspondent kate brady is here with me in studio for more on this thanks for joining us kate so the counting of ballots has begun what's the procedure now exactly so throughout the rest of this evening in around one hundred twenty volunteers will be counting all of those ballots which have been

cast over the last couple of weeks by s.p.d. party members there's more than four hundred sixty three thousand members who are eligible to vote in the ballots but what who exactly will have taken part in the vote we don't know just yet back in two thousand and thirteen the turnout was more than seventy five percent and this year this time around that's expected to be at least the same if not more and the s.p.d. leadership seems to be rather optimistic about two more and getting these still approved in fact let's have a listen to what they had to say a little while earlier. whatever happens the outcome will be a result that contributes to the s.p.d.m. 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 it. is not only if there is a negative result tomorrow 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. the parliamentary party to this thing they expect good news but is it any indication of toil in terms of the polling numbers as to how this could go well we really have no prognosis at old just yet but we are expecting the result to be extremely close of course has been strong campaigns across germany for the past couple of weeks from both the groups for and against another grand coalition with merkel's conservatives now if we do see a yes result tomorrow then we will see very little change or at least immediately very little change in germany as of course is the same coalition government as we have right now but if the s.p.d. members vote against another grand coalition that is when we would see germany's political game change completely merkel she would also be left completely alone she would have run out of potential coalition partners and then she'd just be left with

two alternatives either she forms of minority government which she's already rejected on several occasions all we could still even see new elections in may and so in the event of you know a surprising no vote how would that leave america in terms of her strength politically here in germany well of course already in the past few weeks we've seen her lining up or at least reportedly lining up a new successor after i click karrenbauer was appointed to the general secretary general of the c.d.u. that's merkel's party so it is clear that merkel is already preparing to leave. but what's expected if there is a no result is that merkel could in fact form that minority government which she has previously rejected but then it's possible that we could maybe see her step down early and not actually hold a full four year term in office but there's a twenty eight year old gentleman kevin coonass who's the head of the s.p. d.'s youth wing and he's actually leading the charge to reject this deal with

chancellor merkel because over tubes and he's been canvassing voters across the country to vote no. he doesn't look like a revolutionary but kevin kuhn it may end up reshaping german politics the twenty eight year old head of the social democrats youth wing is leading the opposition to a continuation of the grand coalition in past weeks he has traveled over five thousand kilometers and packed event halls across germany. sponsored fact we only got twenty point five percent of the vote reflects the popularity of our policies as part of the government in recent years people can recognise the contours often s.p.d. in a grand coalition especially when there are seven parties. argues calmly not emotionally but he's touched a chord with many social democrats who fear that partnership with on the americans conservatives has completely rop the party of its identity and never have the

s.p.d. his poll numbers been so bad. when i look at france the netherlands and elsewhere where social democratic support has declined to sing the digits and so after they've been in governments that don't have much to do with social democratic ideals i think this is a clear warning after twelve years of angular america and eight years of grand coalitions we should not continue on this road rarely has the party leadership been forced to hold such intense discussions with the grassroots couldn't once the party to reform itself in order to become attractive to voters again the s.p.d. leadership believes that reform is possible with the party in the government can or thinks change is only possible in the opposition but he says he'll accept the will of the majority of the social democrats either way. for me and the s.p.d. youth wing it is clear that our place is in the. we believe that the conditions for

reform would be more difficult with an a grand coalition others don't agree but that doesn't mean we're on willing to devote ourselves to the pro. and claim a place with an a plus for the future may not be quite that simple for the s.p. these new young star party leaders want him to play a greater role in the is p.d. that's a huge responsibility for such a young politician. so kevin quinn of not convinced that the s.p.d. should be in a grand coalition why is there such a popularity with some members on this grand coalition but it really comes down to this identity crisis that they espied day is currently facing much like many other social democratic parties across europe right now but in germany what made it specifically worst of them was that they've been now in two michel legrand coalitions and many of their party members and also in the leadership feel that the party has lost its way and they're struggling to define themselves right now and

say exactly what they stand for of course under merkel moved her conservatives very much towards the center and in doing so she was able to poach a lot of the social democrats proposals particularly in the last four years of this current government and so you saw that the social democrats were really doing the lead legwork but not really profiting from anything and so right now there's a lot of s.p.d. members who want that they want them to take the time to redefine themselves and that is away from a grand coalition brady thank you so much for your analysis we wait to see what happens on sunday. well time now for some of the other stories making news around the world in slovakia hundreds of people attended the funeral of the journalist could see or hear his fiance were found shot to death in their home a week ago could see a cause working on a story an italian organized crime in slovakia before he was killed now seventy

tahlia nationals detained in connection with the murders have been released. italians are making final preparations for sunday's general elections three main blocks and leading the race they include a center right coalition and could by silvio berlusconi's force of italian party as well as a populist five star movement and the center left democratic party the economy and immigration policy have dominated the campaign. voters in switzerland will decide whether to scrap mandatory fees for public television and radio on sunday now opponents of the license fee say residents shouldn't have to pay for public broadcasting if they don't watch or listen to it but the government says scrapping them would harm the quality and true value of the media. a massive storm system has knocked out power for more than a million homes in the eastern united states the storm known as nor is still has

pounded coastal areas with massive waves and caused widespread flooding while in london residents had to do with heavy snow at least five people have been killed by falling trees or branches and federal government offices in washington d.c. were closed for the day. a plastic storm battering the beach towns of massachusetts. 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 eighty kilometers per hour

slammed to the east coast from washington d.c. to boston around one point six million homes were left without power. at least five people including children have died by falling branches. while buffalo in upstate new york and several other cities were hit by heavy snow fall. airlines had to cancel more than two thousand eight hundred flights bringing major airports in the northeast to a near standstill. in the bundesliga there was bad news for relegation threaten tom book as they missed a penalty in a nil nil draw a total two mines second bottom hamburg desperately needed a win against third last miles but it wasn't to be at the other end schalke a move to second temporarily with

a one no win over hetta beilin danny de costa helped funk foot climb to the thirds fought with a one nil victory over hanover leverkusen fifth now following a two want success a can only false but hoffenheim also won a way to a new bug three games are still to be completed with runaway does by in a tie book on sunday. in five years going to sleep again two clubs on the upswing met with play men visiting a snow be glad and the host stormed into a first half advantage at the rio with the opener on the way to a one nil to a two new gladbach lead but graeme and fought all the way back and are on your hands and equalize the field a two two draw now a major decision today for football's rule makers they've given the green light to the use of video technology in the game and the system is now set to be used in the world cup in russia. or video assistant referee is the instant replay system that

has been trialled in the bundesliga and other top leagues to review key rulings now the trial has proven controversial on many occasions but few of us president said he wanted it used for top competitions world wide in the polls roommates in body i sat has agreed that we are should now be prominent. now he was once called the world's most eligible bachelor the last surviving male north and white rhino his name is sudan and he lives in a twenty four hour armed guard in a conservancy in kenya but his recently gotten an infection and sudan's keepers fear that the future of these beautiful creatures may be in jeopardy. with. tender loving care for a dying species at this canyon conservancy these northern white rhinos are constantly under the rangers watch but even this might not save the subspecies from

extinction the only living male sudan is struggling to recover from a leg infection he's too frail and could not be filmed or photographed. together with these two females sudan is the last surviving specimen of northern white rhino keepers say he's illness is age related he's forty five in human terms that's over one hundred years old i'm feeling so sad about him and i'm very well since those that have welcomed me with him is a very gentle right know to this situation right now is not good condition because of age yeah but we have done enough and twisted trying to support him as recently as a few decades ago over two thousand northern white rhinos were roaming across east and central africa but like other reiner groups their numbers have dwindled due to poachers and loss of habitat now scientists hope to avoid extinction by using

female sodden white dryness a closely related subspecies has sarah gates to carry northern white rhino embryos to birth. that cod news right from did up in years here in berlin well coming up the top of the hour thank you for watching. those values in germany is a strong country. that we have achieved so much we can do this and if something hinders us we must overcome it. going where it's uncomfortable global news that matters to w. made for mines.