the way. this world. documentary starts january thirteenth on w. . this is d w news live from birth lead to a court in the on barbara jackson appeal by two borders journalists sentenced to seven years in jail neon mark uses the reporters of trying to undermine national security they say they are innocent and were framed by police but the judge sets their punishment is suitable also coming up snowed under people in alpine regions

in germany and austria struggle to clear record amounts of snow some villages are cut off and emergency workers warn of danger from avalanches and some two months ago this woman the wife of one of norway's wealthiest man who vanished without a trace police have now gone public for the first time since that with details we have the latest on the mysterious disappearance of. i'm sarah kelly welcome to the program we begin with a developing story that we are following for you here in germany courts in several cities have been evacuated after a series of bomb threats were made in the last several hours affected courts were and are foot keogh magna bork these spavined and the city of pottstown just outside of berlin police said that the e-mail which was sent anonymously warned of attacks

across the country. and thomas sparrow our security correspondent is joining us with the very latest so thomas what more do we know sorrow what we know so far is that at least five regional courts in germany in the cities that you mentioned were evacuated all those courts received an anonymous e-mail which mentioned possible bombs in those courthouses to lease have since then evacuated those court how do they have also been searching them with dogs and in two of the cases police have already mentioned that they did not find any suspicious objects those are the aspects that we know so far we don't know so far what police is also investigating is whether it's the same e-mail or whether it was different e-mails who was behind that or those e-mails and also whether in the remaining cases there are suspicious or dangerous objects this is important to mention because a few weeks ago there were also courthouses that were affected by similar threats

authorities were not able to find anything suspicious so they are obviously investigating the case very carefully and in two of the cases they have already mentioned that they weren't able to find anything suspicious and that the courthouses will be able to resume their activities as normal shortly but it seems clear they are taking this very seriously taking all precautions tom aspera with the very latest following these security developments thank you so much for your reporting it's. on how australia and germany are struggling to cope with the heaviest snowfall in two decades at least seven people have died in alpine regions in the past week authorities are warning that the risk of avalanches in the mountains is extremely high some communities in bavaria have declared a state of emergency and forecasters warn more snow is on the way. you know what. it's become a military operation german soldiers called in to help battle his garden where

a state of emergency has been declared the bavarian town hasn't seen snow like this for years and the dangers are all too real. and we have many requests to help clear the roofs of buildings in the town of but if i can help thirteen years ago fifteen people died many of them children when a roof collapsed it's important to keep a close eye on the roofs and secure any that pose a danger. heavy snow fall has completely cut off the southern german town of yaquis now it may look like a perfect picture postcard but there are increasing concerns that food supplies are running low. in switzerland guess we're lucky to survive an avalanche that came crashing through their hotel photos on social media show the devastation as the three hundred meter avalanche swept into the building at this fuck up mountain pass injuring three people. in the mountains around innsbrook in austria

they too are on avalanche standby there are concerns that if the weather improves people may take unnecessary risks there are so few fruitless the feeling here is that people will say well there is a lot of snow the weather is better. and our experience from the last thirty years has shown that the first day of improved weather is really dangerous it's where most avalanche accidents happen. most of the roof are. more than four metres of snow has already fallen in this region for those living here the hard work looked set to last some time yet. and you'd have to use on an essay is covering the story for us from austria which is struggling with extreme snowfall well it's not again last night and i wouldn't be exaggerating if i said that this city this town is completely buried when you go through the streets of gives the impression of

walking through a tunnel i mean the walls of snow are literally twice as tall as i am the headline this morning in the local newspaper was hope and trepidation hope would probably describe this side of the village and i'll say which has had some of the heaviest snowfall but the villagers are really dealing with it the bakeries open the hotels open people are walking through the streets there's not snowplows their own house no plows here actually they have they have shovels steam shovels going through the streets literally carrying the snow because there's nowhere to put it they have to put it in giant piles down the street now trepidation would describe the other side of this village about a kilometer down the street there they have been evacuated it's completely closed off no one's allowed to go there and that's because of the danger of avalanches austrian authorities have history highest avalanche warning for that area even the mayor had to evacuate his house i don't know if you can hear but there's

a helicopter flying overhead and all those helicopters are doing are checking the situation to see if an avalanche is about to to go down and so people had to get out of that area. well now we are heading to myanmar where a court has rejected an appeal by two journalists serving seven year prison terms while known and quasi who were arrested in december of twenty seventeen after investigating the massacre of ten bow hinge of boys men during the army's brutal crackdown on the muslim community the two warders journalists were later sentence for breaking the official secrets act by possessing classified documents their lawyers argued that they were entrapped in a police state. on the line now from young is journalist dave group thank you so much for joining us dave the reuters flora spondon stay were arrested while reporting on the ethnic cleansing in neon mar you have been covering this story how difficult is it today to work in myanmar and get an accurate account

of the situation for the road into. so the area where this counterinsurgency campaign has been going on by the military which is a northern arc and state that's basically closed off you only get to go in there if you're on a government supervised trip so then you're only seeing what they like to see and have access to that they give you access to they've as they've made out a very highly restricted area. as far as reporting here certainly from the local press and you talk about the local media that's based here or of the myanmar press i mean they will tell you the degree of this case has just put a chill over all of that because what these reporters did was to journalist it was an incredible groundbreaking investigation that had documented proof of the murder of and the growth in demand by the security forces were joined by some civilians even the military admitted that this is what happened it was an incredible

investigation and now they were essentially entrapped they were entrapped and set up and then placed in jail and sentenced to seven years so this is basically a warning from the military to the journalists here that if you cross certain lines you could be next so that has put a chilling effect on the local press the stars the international press the door media. certainly everyone is getting trying to do their best there is some very aggressive reporting going on by the foreign press and they brought out a lot of great stories but still not having complete access makes it tighter to get to all that i mean so how does all this make you feel because we understand that you have been working there as a journalist in myanmar for many years now what's your reaction to this verdict are you worried for your own safety. i mean i don't sit here worrying at night that i'm going to get arrested. i think it's you know you can't rule anything out but i think it's different you know i have a u.s.

passport and it's certainly different than say for me m.r. citizen who although there are many international diplomats and ambassadors here that are lobbying on their behalf the fact is they do not directly represent me m.r. nationals and i think for me i'm our national it's a different story than for a foreign reporter i can tell you someone who's been here for the better part of of five almost six years during that time this is the worst case for press freedom that i seen and we know that in this case in particular that the sentencing has been condemned by organizations by governments around the world so you're not alone in sharing those thoughts going about journalist working there in myanmar we thank you so much for joining us this afternoon to share your reaction. well now let's get a quick check of some other stories making news around the world german chancellor angela merkel has laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier on the second day of her visit to

greece she last visited athens for talks in two thousand and fourteen a key topic is neighborhood macedonia's upcoming name change prime minister alexis tsipras may face a vote of no confidence over the issue. the u.s. led coalition against the so-called islamic state has started the process of withdrawing from syria a spokesperson for the u.s. military confirms the move but would not discuss specific timeline spoke ations or troop movements out of concern for operational security president trump announced the planned withdrawal last month. and president trump's former lawyer michael cohen will testify publicly before a congressional committee next month cohen is expected to face questions about his ties to russia and hush money payments that he arranged on trump's behalf to keep extramarital affair allegations out of the news during the twenty six thousand presidential election. china has released the first panoramic images ever taken of the far side of the moon the pictures were captured by its probe which

landed there on january third the panorama was created by stitching together eighty photographs taken by a camera on the probe scientists are now analyzing the terrain in the images. to norway now where police say that the missing wife of a billionaire has been kidnapped in an unusual twist the alleged abductors are insisting on a ransom being paid in crypto currency similar to bitcoin investigators admit that they have no idea what may have happened to the victim or where she is. sixty eight year old elizabeth haagen has not been seen since last october but police have only now revealed that she's missing. the search for home and surrounding woodland in a wealthy suburb outside the capital also has failed to turn up any useful evidence police say the kidnappers have used only digital technology to get in touch with

them. they order it but until there's not been any verbal contact yet there's not been any sign that she's in life but neither is there any sign that she's dead or for no mother. the victim is married to tom haagen a property and energy tycoon and one of norway's richest men detectives want to talk to a pedestrian and the cyclist filmed outside the businessman's office on the day his wife disappeared the suspects have not yet been identified i behaved but if i had i'm surprised in horrified that something like this could happen here i also feel great despair for the family it's a terrible situation is that the. local media say the kidnappers are demanding a ransom equivalent to nine million euros to be paid in the cryptocurrency more narrow similar to bit calling the police are advising the family not to pay any

ransom they're working on the theory that mrs holl gun was at home when she was abducted but officers admit the investigation is making little progress. tennis superstar andy murray has announced that he will retire this year saying that a persistent hip injury is causing him too much pain to carry on playing at an emotional press conference in melbourne murray repeatedly broke down in tears he said that he will play at the australian open when it begins next week but also that it may be the final twenty minutes of his career the british athlete has won three grand slams along with two olympic gold medals. now to the united states where authorities have requested a d.n.a. sample from football star christian or naldo as part of an ongoing rape investigation involving the superstar were nadal was being sued for allegedly raping catherine mayorga in las vegas back in two thousand and nine she has filed a lawsuit seeking to avoid

a non-disclosure agreement but she says she was pressured into signing her naldo has always maintained the encounter was consensual. you're watching news still to come on the program as japanese prosecutors filed more charges against her nose c.e.o. the carmaker says that it finds no evidence of wrongdoing. safe here and for that and a whole lot more coming up in just a minute with stephen beardsley from all of us here at the w. and from myself sara kelly in berlin thank you so much for watching have a great day. to you. when your family is scattered across the globe. with the insisted you do the easy to be good forces returning back to the roots to get a minute of the. bush on traveling from somalia to rogue.