educate. the body. plane. to land. this is g.w. news live from far away in a surprise election results in the democratic republic of congo joy of props among supporters of opposition leader felix just a katie after he is declared winner of the presidential election if confirmed this will be the country's first democratic transfer of power in nearly six years but some candidates are crying foul also coming up in southern germany and austria are experiencing the heaviest snowfall in two decades we've reported on how

a group of german teenagers narrowly avoided death on a ski slope in the alps pots it was a robbery worthy of a hollywood movie heist the thieves who in germany he used to basically prevent to steal one of the most priceless gold coins in the world from a museum and for lent today the suspects are appearing in court. the lead. player. i'm sorry kelly welcome to the program. we begin in the democratic republic of congo where opposition candidate felix to security has been declared the winner of the country's presidential election the victory comes as a surprise in pre-election polls just a katie was more than twenty points behind runner up my tongue for you lou now if i use to says that he believes the outcome was very france has also questioned the result. was supporters of

felix just a k.d. euphoric then man is declared the winner. the opposition leader wasn't expected to win the presidential vote in the democratic republic of congo but he edged out his main rival pushing the country on course for its first democratic transfer of power in almost sixty years since independence. i know many of you will find it hard to accept. but i say it with sincerity i pay homage to president joseph kabila president of the republic. today we must no longer consider each other as adversaries. but rather as partners in democratic change in our country. some believe she's sick ain't the won by

cutting a deal with president joseph kabila who's clung to power for eighteen years although could be less preferred candidate and he came third the man expected to win martin fi ulu is among many contesting the results. soon. move of these results do not reflect the truth of the ballots so. this is obviously an acceptable electoral fraud of a nature that will provoke general good. across the country. it will be up to the country's constitutional court to validate the vote and while there is growing concern the da position to the result could turn violent for now g c k d supporters across the country are celebrating. for more let's bring in correspondent jonah scaredy who is standing by for us in kinshasa so what us

through the result and why it is being seen as so significant. so it's actually very significant because it's the first it might be the first official and democratic transition. in europe see you but if you think we really thought he would have been really happen. it's important because when you have a look at the last couple of years it was ruled by. dr terry and regime and even if you go if you would have asked people if there would be they should come out when they would accept that we want. to loan became the state of the opposition. what more can you tell us about the accusations that the katie struck a power sharing deal essentially with the ruling party. so there is no information whatsoever which could be confirmed but it's interesting that both sides so there will position. them their secretary general

she said that their deep interest in having a p. school and. them civilized shift of power and the other side the government spokesperson mend himself he also said that there is a time for everything and even a time for reunite and so there are a lot of clues but we don't have real confirmation. let's talk about something else that's just come out we have some sources saying that election observers including the powerful catholic church they actually have completely different results apparently showing that by you one is the church likely to make these results public you think. this is actually the big question so right now i'm sitting outside the press conference so they would start in a few minutes they would start the press conference where it will be where we see whether they will publish those and this is like the whole question of where the

future becomes will be constructed. to calm down the situation or whether they will say as they hinted at. in the last couple of days that it might be before you do so everything might depend on the seacoast if they would say now. then we would see a lot of violence and protests on the streets. getting in kinshasa thank you. expressed. now let's turn to some other news because a group of teenage skiers from germany have been pulled alive from an avalanche in the alps the school group was on a beginner slope in austria when they were suddenly hit by masses of snow another teenage gear in a different location was unfortunately not so lucky he was killed after being hit by an avalanche the news comes as parts of southern germany and the alps are dealing with the heaviest snowfall in two decades we'll have more from our

correspondent in the area in just a moment but first this report. in austria you have been put to work to battle the elements carefully clearing the especially damp and heavy snow fall to prevent house roofs from collapsing. some of austria's mountain regions have the highest avalanche warning level people are being evacuated from mountain harts many roads are closed. experts are 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 but more that they produce an extreme pressure wave reaches as far as the value of self and this significant impact can have disastrous consequences at the school from the only here for his. 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. total of six young people were dragged along with a few forward buried two were able to free themselves immediately and then helped rescue the others what they were she didn't. in bavaria to the or thora to use 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 yet 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 meter in the coming days then the people there will have no way out. and our correspondent on an s.f. is on the scene in austria. stop danger of avalanches this road is too dangerous to drive now beyond here lies one of australia's most popular ski resorts and access has been blocked until further notice now this is a common sight in austria signs like these just south of here in upper styria an estimated fifteen hundred people are blocked off from access to the outside world that means they're living on resources that they have in their villages the austrian military has come out to clear roost to clear roads to evacuate people

from villages like these but there's also been a massive community effort we've heard reports of doctors on snowmobiles delivering medicine to people in need the locals of course they say they've seen snow before but this is some of the most extreme snow they've seen they're trying to take this in stride but it is going to be snowing for the next twenty four hours at least for kerry a situation there a quick check of some other stories making news around the world yemen to keep rebels have carried out a drone attack that killed several people in the south of the country who thing in saudi reports say that the attack hitting a military base near on the odd tension in yemen has been rising again over how she implementing u.n. sponsored peace deal. australia's foreign minister says that there is no time frame for when australia will decide on in the silent request by a saudi woman. the woman. couldn't is in thailand after she fled her

home country out of fear that her family might kill her the u.n. says that she qualifies as a refugee. chinese t.v. has released images of president xi jinping meeting with north korean ruler conjunction and beijing observers believe that the two leaders discussed preparations for a possible second summit between the u.s. and kim returned to north korea late yesterday. and u.s. president don trump has called talks to end the u.s. 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 that trump had walked out of their meeting the shutdown is now nineteen days old with no end in sight. to belgium now where the trial opens today of a french national accused of shooting dead four people at a jewish museum in brussels and twenty four tame the defendant is alleged to be a jihad who fought in syria it is the first time that

a suspected terrorist who has returned to europe from syria has been put on trial. many people in brussels know exactly where they were that horrific moment more precisely after those eighty two seconds and i remember i was with my mom. my father just called me and he said where are you. with my family who told me that the shooting took place at the museum initial reports of gunfire in the street turned out to be this a gunman suspected of being french national missing the move entering the museum and shooting in his really couple and two museum employees. and this is his kids. and. then the gunman put his weapons in a duffel bag and disappeared all in less than a minute and a half the world kind of challenge for us not only jewish community the whole

population of parcels. was picked up a few days later on a bus in france still carrying what are thought to be the murder weapons lots of ammunition and a videotaped confession pledging more bloodshed on behalf of the terrorist group islamic state he's believed to have been in syria with the group in two thousand and thirteen french journalist taken hostage by us identified him as one of their jailers english then allegedly came back to europe. and here. was in context connected also to some of these all the french and belgian franks. there in syria who were later involved in the attacks in paris and brussels knew sean so faces charges in france for the hostage taking but now just a few hundred meters from the brussels jewish museum he's going on trial for the four murders there thomas renard says this first european trial ever returned foreign fighter is extremely important it's the first attack committed by someone

who came back from iraq and so it doesn't matter not only symbolically but also to to better understand what he's trying to rewards what his motives were and also to to bring some light on this phenomenon that was rather new at least in this extent not only for belgium but for the rest of europe the jewish community will be closely watching too for the next three will be very difficult and painful for everyone here of course but then we feel about all the work we've done since the attack and all the new projects that we have for the coming weeks and months skull follicle had says the museum has thousands more visitors now than before most are non jewish and many are muslim as part of a deliberate post-attack outreach by both communities and we know that we are on the good way and that justice will be done. let's bring in correspondent teri

schultz who filed that report for us she joins us from brussels where she is actually at the crown court where that trial has just begun terry what's happening there. hi sara well this morning what is expected to get underway is that the prosecution will lay out its argument and that's almost two hundred pages and that . is defense will then begin on tuesday was actually happening is that there been some procedural snags that have delayed things a bit but we do expect this afternoon that the prosecution will begin describing its arguments will begin giving more details more evidence of why they believe that we should be sentenced to life in prison for these murders at the jewish museum in two thousand and fourteen and when we talk about him specifically i mean prosecutors say that he came back from syria where he joined us what more do we know in terms of those details. the background of medicine which is

very typical of the european mostly men that we saw run off to join the islamic state in iraq and syria he had. unhappy childhood he committed petty crimes he went to prison where he was reportedly further radicalized and in fact met the man who is his codefendant here accused of providing him weapons so that was really not atypical of the islamic state converts that we saw leaving in droves and he was one of the early ones to do that what people are very interested in is what happened after that what kind of connections did he have before he left what did he receive instructions while on the ground from i-s. and therefore what plans did he have when he came back here and we really don't know much about that and those are going to be some very interesting details we hope will be coming out in the prosecution's case and this is really a big first because this is the first trial of an alleged islamic state where tourney here in europe just walk us through why that is so important.

well yes he was the first known attacker. as an islamic state returning so this is really key and from speaking with terrorism experts they really want to know more details because this seemed to have been a fairly uncomplicated attack he had the weapons it's not known whether he had a larger network here whether he got funding from islamic state there is a very interesting detail that we know about him and that is that some french journalists who were taken hostage in syria identified. as one of their jailers a particularly sadistic one in fact and they also identified as another jailer a man who later went on allegedly to commit the brussels attack. so in fact we do know that he had connections to this brussels cell and those are going to be things that terrorism experts are very much going to want to unravel as this trial goes on so yes everyone i've spoken with says this is

a very significant trial teri schultz for us in brussels where the trial of this french national accused of shooting dead four people at a jewish museum in brussels back in two thousand and fourteen begins today terry thank you very much well it was one of the most spectacular robberies in living memory in march of twenty seventeen in the middle of the night feeds in berlin somehow managed to steal a one hundred kilogram gold coin from one of the city's most prestigious museums today for suspects are going on trial in connection with that heist there's still no trace of the coin but there's been plenty of speculation as to where it might have ended up. it was one of the most spectacular heists ever seen in berlin a golden coin weighing one hundred kilos half a metre across and worth four million euros but what happened to the piece called the big make belief we asked goldsmith max korn what you could do with

a huge gold coin but first you have to cut it up to melt it i would use a circular saw you'd also be left with a pile of gold dust which you somehow have to melt down that it would all be very time consuming. melting the gold down mean it could then be cost into parts or brings but only by using specialised equipment that's a short melting is an expensive process it can be done sure but a furnace that can reach the right temperature to melt gold is not like you have an in your kitchen. the temperature of eight or nine hundred degrees celsius would be needed and they leverage affair like the heist itself the thieves walked across the train track running alongside the museum then used a lever to climb in through a window. they smashed open the display case with an ax and threw the heavy coin on to nearby parkland police were quickly on the case three members of

a well known criminal gang were arrested along with a museum supervisor traces of gold were found on their clothing and tools but there was no sign of the loot the big maple leaf. marks gone the goldsmith has got his own idea about what happened to it he. i think it was melted down into small bottles and taken out of the country and. he would have been used in some other business probably illegal. so you can't sell gold without leaving a trail of evidence he is the. best. the buddha museum is still hoping the precious original will resurface one day but for the time being there's a new this college build replica. of a court case that hope to expand a corporation's liability for its supply chain big story there. at least that's

right sara in the past hour a court in dortmund has rejected compensation claims aimed at retailer kick by survivors of a blaze at a textiles factory in pakistan in two thousand and twelve the court ruled that according to pakistani law the claim was no longer valid and kick was the main contractor at the factory where the fire occurred survivors accuse germany's biggest clothing discounter of being partially responsible for the fire two hundred fifty people lost their lives and many more were injured as a lawsuit had succeeded it could have set a precedent for claims against other german companies operating in low wage countries. and over to the auto industry where volkswagen and ford will join forces as they develop new technologies the two companies are set to unveil details of a deeper alliance at the detroit auto show next week and sources close to management say the carmakers are hoping to fend off rivals in technologies like electric

automobile driving and autonomous driving among them software companies like google of course another reason for working together the continuing trade frictions between the u.s. e.u. and china v.w. and ford have said in the past that and the alliance would not involve a merger. now let's dig a little deeper into the story with lee bars our correspondent the frankfurt stock exchange lead to big car companies one from europe one from the u.s. of the major players out there what are they getting out of what is this a partnership alliance. yeah we don't know yet the details according to the reports are set to be released when the detroit motor show gets going next week and of course everybody's interested what exactly this entails but we hear that it entails pooling resources in order to be more effective and more cost effective also getting into the future of the car business that is self driving cars and electric cars and that's

a huge challenge not only from the engineering standpoint but also organizing production perhaps reorganizing production and also of course stemming all the money that has to be stemmed for for financing all of this together i think the two see a chance to get ahead of the game for from other companies and especially from the v.w. side cost saving will be a big motive for entering into such a venture. and among those other companies in driving vehicles for example. we're getting conflicting signals today about plans to go public something that was a big goal for the past year what can you tell us. that's right apparently over filed for an i.p.o. confidentially with as you see in new york at the end of last year and now the c.e.o. of a cause for a rally is saying that well we don't really need the money you know if it's not convenient if it's not the right conditions then we could go without it for two

thousand and nineteen but you know people are valuing the company at the moment at a round hundred and twenty billion dollars that's more than g.m. ford and feed chrysler the big three in the united states are worth together so there is a lot of money at stake a lot of money possibly being. turmoil in the markets could cause for a prolonged asian of the i.p.o. putting it into the future perhaps we don't know interesting for everyone here so a lot of money at stake there a lot of money being talked about and as ever with a lot of uncertainty. there for us in frankfurt thank you very much really. now have you ever fixture washing machine can you fix your washing machine about your dishwasher at home appliances like these become more complex and digitally networked consumer advocates fear that normal users are losing the ability to make basic repairs and they push for a so-called right to repair and the regulatory committee is taking up the issue this month. the household appliance industry seems to have to develop

a love affair with new technology promising smart homes full of network refrigerators washing machines and other electronic devices but many consumers are actually pining for a return to the good old days when appliances lasted much longer and were easier to fix when they broke evidence is mounting that home appliances are breaking down earlier and becoming too complex to fix. in many cities activists are setting up volunteer repair shops to help people overcome what many see as planned obsolescence. people to use like with their famous leg listens more and more known for the social angry the band tree creates tricks so that we buy it with more stuff that's why the european commission is in the final stages of approving regulations to build repairability into the very manufacturing process.

the new rules would make it easier for people to disassemble appliances ensure that spare parts are readily available. and that repair instructions are provided. the european appliance manufacturers association says it is basically behind the new regulations as long as they are applied to all competitors and that amateur safety and liability issues are addressed. so don't get rid of your toolbox just yet here's a reminder of the top stories we're following for you. the electoral commission in the democratic republic of congo has declared opposition leader felix came to be the surprise winner of last month's presidential election a runner up martin who led pre-election polls by more than twenty points is calling the result an electoral coupe. and parts of southern germany and austria

are experiencing the heaviest snowfall in two decades several people have been killed and a number of communities are cut off authorities warn the risk of avalanches is extremely high and that more snow is expected over the next few days. and so for us we hope the weather is better where you are you're watching news from berlin or coming at the top of the hour and don't forget you can get all the latest news and information around the clock on our website at www dot com and. business you can also follow us on facebook and twitter i'm seeking thanks for joining us.

ana. entered the conflict zone confronting the powerful. this week in a special edition causing zone is coming to you from the bomb in policy form my guest is a veteran of the syrian chief negotiator south america. she sees dream of an independent state ever came true what would it look like a conflict so focused on a double. dealing window.

some days you call them some. nominees your months of fun. i'm running out getting cozy and plainly friends cheeks rosy. to winter. the romance means the students long d.w. . out to. discover a good concept discover it with a bounce house. a school. much and off to one hundred gives the ideals of the fox more relevant today than they were a hundred years ago visionaries who seems to come to the boss people understood the

sun as a way of shaping society. with ideas that are part of. the small. archimandrite starts january thirteenth on t. w. . the palestinians are deadlocked with israel and deadlocked amongst themselves so what do they do now this week in a special edition conflict zone is coming to you from the bollen foreign policy forum and my guest is the veteran palestinian chief negotiator saeb erekat if you dream of an independent state ever came true what would it look like.