this is the w. news live from berlin and the results of the presidential election in congo is being called into question opposition leader felix to katie has been declared the winner but the catholic church in the country and france are now just puting the official results the candidate who thinks that he should have won the poll is also crying foul calling the vote a coup also coming up southern germany and austria are experiencing the heaviest snowfall in two decades the report on the communities cut off in the worst hit area

that it was an attack that shock to europe five years ago a man said to be a foreign fighter in syria guns down for people at the jewish museum in brussels is trial begins today in that city. i'm sorry kelly welcome to the program thanks for joining us. the international community is calling for restraint in the democratic republic of congo after the catholic church disputed the result of the presidential election authorities declared opposition candidate felix just a katy the winner but the church said that their results did not tally with the figures of the election committee now the runner up martin for you lou also said that he believed the outcome was rigged. 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 our adversaries. but rather as partners in democratic change in our country. some believe she sick eighty one by cutting a deal with president joseph kabila who's clung to power for eighteen years

although could be less preferred candidates and he came third the man expected to win martin fire ulu is among many contesting the results. soon. moved him 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 chaos across the country this year. it will be up to the country's constitution or court to validate the vote and while there's growing concern that opposition to the result could turn violent for now just a k.d. supporters across the country are celebrating yet. and let's get more now we are joined by correspondent going to scaredy who is joining us from

kinshasa so the powerful catholic church which monitor the selection has just given a press conference we understand tell us a little bit more about what they're. so i just left the press conference and we just need to remind ourselves that the catholic church deployed forty thousand personnel to the observation mission of the election so they have a pretty good picture of he who has actually won the election so it will be interesting that they said that their results in the end that is the. actual president the elected president but they didn't say it because i'm allowed to say it but you can read between the lines that it's not inflamed yeah exactly they're effectively disputing the results as we can see here what does this mean for the outcome of the election and for the country. to directly we would have some would have some consequences because the catholic church will now go to the constitutional court they would file a complaint and it might be possible to be electoral results might be overruled

by them so this would mean that we would need to start all over again though the constitutional court has the reputation of being. close to. the current government so let's see how they would react this is like the first thing that could happen but definitely now all kinds of activists will contest the results we're talking about militant youth activists we're talking about the law muka the young with the tents of the opposition party or marching for you look so this so-called peaceful transition might be in danger right now how do you see of the chances of the outcome potentially changing here. it's actually hard to say because no one really knows how the constitutional court will rule and so. we will see it's going to going to be difficult to say how they how they really how

they would. getting joining us on concerta thank you. across europe the heaviest snowfall in two decades is bringing daily life in alpine regions grinding to a halt a total of sixteen people have reportedly died across europe from weather related causes in the past week austria has been especially hard hit more on that in a moment but first this report from across the border in southern germany. it has been snowing for thirty six hours in the province of varia seventy centimeters of fresh snow have fallen and more than eight hundred inhabitants here have been trapped because the access roads are closed. the risk of an avalanche is simply too high day to day life is at a standstill an ambulance is on standby to ensure medical care the state of emergency could last for days. in the district of me this is the fourth day in

a row of disruption the authorities can hardly keep up with the task of clearing the snow schools a shot. in the far south east of bavaria an emergency alarm was declared the very a isn't alone other parts of germany have also been affected by the snow on the motorway near. bourke traffic came to a complete standstill after trucks got stuck on the snow bound road emergency services supplied drivers with blankets and warm drink this in the thirty five kilometer long traffic jam that has been at least one fatality a fifty four year old woman died alone in her car according to police the cause of death is still unknown. and in neighboring austria the consequences of the snow fall have been even more dramatic some areas have announced the highest avalanche warning ever and fast moving masses of snow have already proven deadly a group of teenage peers from germany was rescued after they were suddenly hit by

one avalanche another teenager also a skier in a different location was not so lucky and was killed while skiing with his family. and he did every as i'm in s.f. is in the heart of the blizzard where fighting the falling snow is a constant battle. 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 let's get a quick check now of some other stories making news around the world yemen's who could rebels have carried out a drone attack that killed several people in the south of the country and saudi reports say that the attack at a military base here on it tensions in yemen have been rising again over how to implementing a u.n. sponsored piste on. australia's foreign minister says that there is no time frame for when australia will decide on asylum and asylum request by sounds of woman. hop i'll canoed 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. australian police saying that they have arrested a man suspected of mailing thirty eight threatening packages to foreign consulates in three cities the forty eight year old has been charged with sending dangerous

materials by a postal service the packages allegedly contained as fast. 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 kim returned to north korea late yesterday while president donald 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 the mexican border wall the democrats left the white house saying the trump out of walked out of their meeting the shutdown is now nineteen days old with no end in sight. u.s. secretary of state my father was in egypt for talks with the government of president sisi cairo is the latest stop on tour of middle eastern capitals is briefing allies on american policy in the region after president donald trump

announced that he was pulling u.s. troops out of syria. 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 fourteen prosecutors say that the assailant killed an israeli couple in two people working in the museum is the first trial in europe of the suspect alleged to have carried out an attack after returning from training with the so-called islamic state in the middle east the attack is also the first of a series of terrorist incidents in europe attributed to riots. and earlier i spoke with our correspondent in brussels teri schultz also sent in to what she had to say. 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 . defense will then begin on tuesday was actually happening is that there's 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 mehdi is very typical of the european mostly men that we saw run off to join the islamic state in iraq and syria he had an 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 guess 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 return a 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. you're watching d.w. news still to come on the program a german court throws out a lawsuit against a clothing chain dashing hopes for some compensation for victims of a deadly fire at one of its suppliers factories. kristoff has all that and

more after a short break i'm sara kelley in berlin that you so much for joining us here on t w i've agreed to. sleep. carefully.