this is d.w. news live from berlin at least three people are dead in a gas explosion in paris forty say a spanish woman died along with two firefighters who were busy evacuating people from the scene dozens more are injured some of them critically that's french police investigating we'll bring you the latest also coming up. a saudi teenager who fled her home after she were announced arrives in canada to start a new life. alchemy when was granted asylum there after her client drew pulled wide

attention to. supporters of the runner up in congo's election take to the streets as martin for you who goes to court to challenge the results of a vote he says he won. and heavy snow brings chaos to parts of europe our reporter visits an austrian village that's been partly evacuated for fear of avalanches. the snow is accumulated it's sitting there and it could fall off the mountain onto beast houses at any time. i married to evanston it's good to have you with us. the death toll has risen to at least three and a powerful gas explosion and fire that ripped through a building in paris spain's foreign ministry says a spanish woman was. among the dead this comes after french officials said two

firefighters had been killed. in. a scene of carnage in central paris a big career as a woman cries for help from a phosphor balcony and a car lies overturned bewildered peroration has come to get a closer look before the police move them on. a nearby hotel walker said he saw firefighters on the street early this morning investigating something. for so long that we thought maybe it was a false alarm so somebody called the fire fighters. we thought ok we went back then one hour later out of nowhere i heard a big explosion and then a lot of pressure came out of me and black smoke and glass.

glass. while hundreds of a marriage and she services walk through the debris trying to fight the blaze the scale of the devastation started to a marriage victims received aid while being rushed to hospital scores more people were injured many critically. two firefighters are known to be among the dead. people were naked from the blast we managed to carry them these people were unconscious and on the ground but their eyes were still open not closed. despite a heavy police presence around the scene authorities have confirmed that the blast is not terror related. he says at this stage we can say that it is obviously caused accidentally by a gas leak. that we must be careful since

the investigations are intended to determine the precise origin of this dramatic fire and this explosion does it expose your own children it's a tragedy that will serve as a deadly reminder of the danger that american see services confront every day. oh paris was already on edge with more demonstrations by the so-called yellow vest protesters rocking the french capitol police and demonstrators clashed around the arctic where security was tight in anticipation of major protests tens of thousands of demonstrators and riot police were on the streets of major cities across the country it's the ninth weekend in a row of demonstrations protesters say they want changes to economic policies in france which they say favor the rich. correspondent lisa lewis has been following the protests from paris and she joins

us now for more so lisa is the ninth week in a row of the protests we've seen there's been violence but how serious are today's clashes. well there have been clashes as you said in paris but also another country other cities like wall to lose in the south of france but these clashes have started quite late in the day if you look back at the beginning of these protests eight weeks ago you know they started a thirty nine o'clock in the morning nine thirty at least here in paris and they went on for hours and hours and hours today the first clashes in paris between protesters and the police kicked off at about three four o'clock in the afternoon so it looks like these violence at this level of violence that was actually feared by the government they were saying they were expecting a whole new level of violence today and they have deployed their full five thousand

police officers and military personnel in paris and eighty thousand across the country and looks like that the clashes haven't really reached that level at you at least not yet. and yet it must be said the government has repeatedly offered concessions and yet the protests are continuing so what is the government's plan now to finally put an end to these protests. well absolutely the government also announced when it made these concessions late last week late last year that they would launch a so-called national debates now that national debate a space to kickoff next tuesday there will be talks that will be held in several weeks across the country and these schools are supposed to take into account the grievances of the people here in france because obviously the support although that is only about between thirty and fifty thousand people in the streets today there's still a lot of high level of support amongst the french for the protesters and the government wants to take that into account in iraq can the president has even pushed back the

debate about a constitution role for reform that was the place to come to parliament in january it's will now happen later so that the parliamentarians will be able to take into account the outcome of the debates. correspondent lisa lewis reporting from paris thank you very much. now a young woman who fled her home in saudi arabia after she renounced islam has arrived in canada where she's been granted asylum mohamed al canoing arrived at toronto airport canadian foreign minister christian friedland was there to greet her canoe and said she feared her family would kill her if she returned home she first fled to thailand where she escaped deportation after drawing attention to her plight using social media. afterwards freeland said canada had decided to grant her asylum because the un's humanitarian agency said alcoa noone would be in

real danger in saudi arabia u.n.h.c.r. did feel that she was in a dangerous situation and so far was looking very urgently for a place where she could find asylum. we were involved in those conversations as were other countries and canada was glad that we were able to act quickly. turning now to the democratic republic of congo where an opposition candidates who came in second has asked for a recount after his shock loss in recent presidential elections supporters of runner up martin for you who protested outside congress constitutional court where for you had come to challenge the results for you had been expected to win but another opposition candidate felix's the k.t. took first place the government has asked the international community to back the

outcome as it presently stands. for more on this we're joined now by d.w. correspondent wendy basheer who's in the congolese capital kinshasa so wendy the runner up for you lou has just appealed to the constitutional court asking them to know the provisional result so what happens now. yes i was there at the call when i grew the right to see the people of the cockpit collective to recount again at the. recent election and from now more quickly go to diffuse the situation of the code that we have you know to fight myself i'm probably next week and we didn't expect or want them for the people of florida. but went to the u.n. security council held a meeting to discuss congo last ninth and it calls on all sides to remain peaceful

after numerous quite violent protests just how great is the risk of more civil unrest looking forward. for the moment i think the reason you know it's kind of very prevalent gesta but in some places you go the cut so we have places where there we go just. to the only thing that we can say and for the reason you there and maybe we have to wait for the next. day everybody was waiting for my that why don't we. go down in the street that you just say that you had to get the decision to recount the votes for the moment i think all of the move or they make moves quickly and of the beach all month and how you will and people. will along with this presidential election there was also a parliamentary vote that took place and in that range the ruling coalition of

outgoing president kabila once the one that won a large majority so what this is mean for the future of congo. this is the first that i could see where the majority of the ruling party have. all the people in the parliament then this is the first of all go into court that we would move from the political. meaning there what if you go where you are going to prepare that the country will have a parliament battery. and everybody i waiting out. we've got and have already been getting there. everybody is waiting for the new right thing and start working out the change we come from all of it big. all right d. w.'s wendy bashi reporting for us from kinshasa thank you thank you days

of heavy snow have brought chaos to parts of europe and there is no sign the situation will improve anytime soon more than twenty people have now died and one is some of the most heavy snowfall in two decades and forecasters are warning that up to a meter more could be on the way in parts of austria fresh avalanche warnings were issued overnight a silence has fallen over the north side of the this part of the village lies in the path of a potential avalanche that austerity say could trigger without warning. more than one hundred people have had to evacuate if you come back now and then to clear their roofs or driveways in a contest with the snow. it has been snowing now here for nearly two weeks the residents tell us they haven't seen anything like it in over a decade is a break in the weather now the sun is out but even if the sun shines it does not mean the danger of avalanches is gone the snow is accumulated it's sitting there

and it could fall off the mountain onto these houses at any time. brakes in the snow fall have only been temporary here in lower altos the the residents are getting on with their lives even if that means hard work. thank you i'm used to a lot of snow but it's a bit rough this time because we've had so much at once so far my calling you're going through the overnight shift trying to clear just the top layer of the new stuff so it's cuz if it rains into this then it will become really heavy things that will hopefully move to the village is normally packed with tourists at this time of the year instead the luxury hotels like this one have opened their doors to evacuees free of charge. here and say we're there for each other all year round and. if we have a bus pipe or something here the volunteer firefighters step in so as a local firms how tight whether it's plumbers or electricians whatever it might be

. so now it was very clear to us that it's our turn to make a contribution and to give something back to the community. has pulled together before in two thousand and six they had to evacuate for a few days and it's that community spirit that locals say will help them through again avalanche or not k w e n f it sent us that report from southern austria and a short while ago he gave us the latest on some of the communities trapped by snow in the mountains there the towns are completely cut off from the outside world they're living off the resources they have their early in the week there was two thousand two hundred people in some of these trapped villages but the austrian military is on top of it the now report there's one thousand five hundred people and some of these trapped belugas the snow is still coming down another metre is forecast it's no one knows when this is going to stop but it seems that austria is

taking it in stride and keeping on top of it. they're up to date now on day w. news will be back again at the top of the hour omarion evans teen from me and the entire team here in berlin thanks for watching. germany state by state. the most colorful. the most traditional. minded all at any time.