this is deja vu news live from berlin a surprise election result in the democratic republic of congo joy romps among supporters of opposition leader felix and janie after he's declared winner of the presidential election there if confirmed this will be the country's first democratic transfer of power in nearly sixty years but some counters are crying foul also coming out. of southern germany and austria are experiencing the heaviest snowfall in two decades we report on how

a group of german teens narrowly avoided death on a ski slope in the alps. eyebright thomas thanks so much for joining us supporters of the opposition and democratic republic of congo have been celebrating after their candidate felix is she katie was declared winner of the presidential election there so she k.t. was not expected to win but the electoral commission says he received thirty eight percent of the vote now if confirmed this will be the country's first democratic transfer of power since independence in one nine hundred sixty it will also end the rule of president joseph kabila but the runner up for you lou has denounced the outcome as an electoral clue france is also questioning the result. for more let's go to our correspondent livy auckland who joins us from the capital

kinshasa olivia there's been some disagreement over who won this vote what's the perception where you are. yeah as you said it was surprising when for just a k.b. it's very exciting for many people here that the opposition won a lot of people expect this to be this candidature dari to win. but before the election there was a lot of. a lot of information going around for months and for you but one there's a group of catholic will that represents catholic bishops which they deployed forty thousand of us right the country on current day and they get our entire news they came to the conclusion they well they declared that they had a clear when us they didn't say exactly what it was but they tipped off a few people that the clear winner was loved by you do they spoke to various ferret diplomats. and serve on external surprise or to the case it was think that when i'm ok along with the surprise is there any idea as to why she should katie one

selection. suspicion people of the special that. mystical bit of wouldn't want her to win because. it will be more difficult to control they think the post a picture to katie could have entered into some kind of agreement this is a this is this is a theory that. it could have been arranged the opposition are crying foul and saying it wasn't wasn't free and fair and it was the can was fiddled that. the ruling party wanted to katie to win because he will be more easy to control and you're protect their interests more than for you they would have some ok now you are so so be contesting this result so what happens next. yeah because it's known this is a preliminary results they know they oftentimes think that the constitutional court

if you can just. put that. i. remember through just about very unlikely to happen because your record is unlikely event out of this election and i think a lot of people are. fighting for them over this will come of that has got inside there i don't think foreign powers all the recovered will react much i think people were probably just accept it you went and carry on with it libby auckland forrester i thank you very much. a group of teenage skiers from germany have been polled alive from an avalanche in the alps the school group was on a beginner's slope in austria when they were suddenly hit by masses of snow another your different location was also lucky he was killed after being hit by an avalon the news comes as parts of southern germany in the alps face the biggest snowfall two decades while more from our correspondent in the area in a moment first we have this report. in austria me have been put to work to

battle the elements calf and he clearly can be especially damp and heavy snowfall to prevent house reefs from collapsing some of austria's mountain regions have the highest of launch warning level people are being evacuated from mountain huts many roads are closed. experts particularly concerned that sooner or later the loose snow could fall in so-called dust avalanches. the thing about dust avalanches as not so much that they bring in extreme amount of snow amounts but more that they produce an extreme pressure wave reaches as far as the valued self and this significant impact can have disastrous consequences at the school for mainly here for he said to the close and. ski operators have shut down the lifts as a precautionary measure insane tant on a sixteen year old skier was caught and killed in an avalanche in another part of

the alps a group of schoolchildren was caught up to but managed to escape it was a traumatic experience and do some good and six for a total of six young people were dragged along a few four were buried two were able to free themselves immediately and then helped rescue the others what they were she didn't lead me to. in bavaria to the or thora these have taken precautionary measures roads have been closed and there is also the threat of falling trees a number of schools in the snowbound areas are closed for the time being. for child safety is a priority i heard earlier that there were probably two bus accidents with school buses in bavaria and we definitely wanted to avoid that that snow could cause such accidents for the safety of the children is our priority and that's why we have made these decisions. some villages are almost completely cut off some can only be reached by special vehicles in the small variant area of the canal roads have been

blocked by fall and trees after days of snow fall a forest road became the last rouge available the fire brigade used this emergency route to bring food to the village but if snow continues to fall forecasters expect about a metre in the coming days then the people there will have no way out. for the very latest let's go live now to our correspondent in s.f. he joins us from a hard hit area in the austrian province of parole see it snowing where you are i mean what's what's the situation right now. well it has been snowing for the past ten days without letting up and it is still coming down we were out here last night as you can see there are snow drifts this is snow up more than a meter two meters perhaps we've seen snow drifts of up to four meters is really everywhere it is a complete white out here we're actually just down the road from overtown which is

one of the most popular ski resorts in austria and the road is closed there is no access to the to the ski resort is actually people in this hotel right here who are holed up playing board games but we met a family from holland who came here to ski they can't get through and there is waiting for the roads to open up again but of course it is not all about cancel big cations because there are villages just over here in a region called upper styria there's an estimated fifteen hundred people who are completely cut off from the rest of the world i mean they're living off the resources that are found in their small towns ok well you know what about them the people who are cut off how are they coping are they getting food well of course they have resources in their towns there's but the austrian military has been helping to evacuate people as fast as they can but there's still some villages that are blocked in and. yeah there are still some villages that are blocked in and we heard a story about a doctor who is using

a snowmobile to deliver medicine to people in need because of course medicine even more important food when you're trying to last out a snowstorm like this it's really been a community effort there's actually thirteen thousand bags at it which is a german word for mountain emergency personnel these are volunteer people that are going in to clear roofs clear roads get people food use their snowmobiles whatever they have to come together and help people in these villages ok volunteers so important right now briefly if you can if you could the forecast isn't isn't good for the next few days as it. no that's right it's still coming down still accumulating it's supposed to snow at least like this for the next twenty four hours maybe a let up tomorrow but then you more snow cut forecast for the weekend that means higher avalanche warning which is already on the highest warning level in most in a lot of parts of austria and that is extremely dangerous for tourists there's still three thousand tourists up in overtown and they're still skiing and of course

as we've seen there have been deaths and avalanches this is very serious the locals know that they have some way of dealing with this but the tourists maybe not ok well here's the issue out in all that snow there joining us from going to town in the role thank you thank you. let's get a look now at some of the other stories making the news today yemen's who the rebels have carried out a drone attack that killed a number of people in the south of the country who's in saudi reports say it tackett a military base there although not tensions in yemen have been rising again over how to implement a u.n. sponsored peace deal australian police say they have arrested a man suspected of mailing thirty eight threatening packages to foreign consulates in three cities a forty year old has been charged with sending dangerous materials by postal service packages largely contained especially as chinese t.v. has released images of president xi jinping meeting with north korean ruler kim

jong un in beijing observers believe the two leaders discussed preparations for a possible second summit between the u.s. and north korea can return to north korea yesterday. president trump has called talks to end the government shutdown a total waste of time after democratic leaders again refused to provide money for a mexican border wall the democrats left the white house saying trump had walked out of the meeting the shutdown is now nineteen days old with no end in sight. well here in germany prosecutors have refuted an initial account of an assault against a lawmaker for the far right alternative for germany that's sparked outrage here prosecutors say video images showed victim frank magnets was not attacked with wooden bars as initially claimed the party knowledge that the initial reports of the incident appeared to be mistaken frank magnet's left hospital on wednesday

he says he doesn't remember the attack only what someone told him who helped him at the scene. first a little blue tooth and there was blood everywhere i asked what happened and he said it looked like it wouldn't plank or something was used he didn't know either but that's where the information about the plank comes from. this was the version of events from the f.t. via facebook it reads they knocked him unconscious with a wooden plank then continued kicking his head as he lay on the ground. if he co-leader alexander galland even spoke of attempted murder the party now admits the initial report was wrong video has since come to light captured by c.c.t.v. prosecutors say it shows the entire incident. we can't see any of the suspects wielding an object it any time the video we have to is not shared that. it also does not show any kind of kicking or blows delivered

by the suspects to the victim's body. what we do see is the suspects fleeing a mediately after the attack. of forty five taken from the. prosecutor's of treating the attack as grievous bodily harm for his part frank magnate still believes it was politically motivated. in belgium the trial opens today of a french national accused of shooting dead four people at a jewish museum in brussels in two thousand and fourteen prosecutors say the assailants killed an israeli couple and two people working in the museum it's the first trial in europe of a suspect alleged to have carried out an attack after returning from training with so-called islamic state in the middle east the attack was also the first of a series of terrorist incidents in europe attributed to islamic state. some sports now an international football's governing body has asked thailand to

release a bahraini player facing extradition to his home country hakim. was arrested in bangkok two months ago on an interpol warrant issued it bahrain's request all arrived he has been convicted in bahrain of vandalizing a police station a crime he denies having fermented he has refugee status in australia where he plays where a second division team. and in football's asia cup used edged out oman with a late goal to seal a two one victory and four time champions japan battled back from a goal down to beat took man to stand three two that thanks to two goals from brame striker yo saku and qatar posted a two nil win against levon on that after a scoreless first half. this is news live from berlin don't forget you can always find out more about these and other stories our web site

that's d.w. dot com you can also follow us on twitter on facebook for now though for me brian thomas and the entire news team thanks so much for being with us i'm sorry kelly will join you again at the top of the hour by. letter we were. when we were. in the percent of americans at some point in our lives will experience hardship. for.