you. tube. this is the w. news miles from berlin at least three people are dead following a gas explosion in paris a spanish woman and two firefighters were killed in the blast and dozens more injured some critically low grades later. also coming up it's official the u.s. is now suffering from its longest government shutdown in history hundreds of thousands of government employees go without paychecks or we need the workers taking on new jobs just to make ends meet. and supporters of the broader robin

congo's election take to the streets last march and they will go to court to challenge the results of a vote he says he wants. a little. i'm calling aspen thanks for joining us. three people are confirmed dead after a powerful gas explosion and fire ripped through a building in paris this morning spain's foreign ministry says a spanish tourist is among the dead two firefighters were also reportedly killed while back waiting people from the sea. and shaper is united would suddenly transformed into a fiery inferno five by the struggle to bring a blaze inside it by korean to control the explosion happened early on saturday morning many will woken by the jolt from the blast those who are awake felt its terrifying force that. destroyed everything in the alleyway first i heard

people shouting at one another they wanted to know if it was an attack and when we went outside we saw that all the windows were broken and there were people screaming. hundreds of emergency services worked in the debris trying to fight the blaze and evacuating those caught up in the emergency some were lucky to escape well i was well less fortunate. ten people were critically injured dozens more suffered wounds and two firefighters were among the dead. the people were hof 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. the family . despite a heavy police presence around the same authorities believe the blast is not terror related assist the move. he says at this stage we

can say that it is obviously caused accidentally by a gas leak do. you foresee if we don't use these and we must be careful since the investigations are intended to determine the precise origin of this dramatic fire and this explosion does that excuse you but what's clear is it's a tragedy one that will serve as a deadly reminder of the danger that emergency services confront every day. paris was already on edge as more so-called yellow vest protesters clashed with police in the french capital police fired tear gas water cannons to clear crowds near the off the trail really two hundred fifty people were arrested this saturday and tens of thousands turned out in major cities across the country it was the ninth straight saturday of demonstrations demanding changes to the economic policies in france which protesters say favor the rich d.w.

correspondent lisa lewis is following the protests i least this is now week nine of these yellow vests protests how serious were today's clashes. well there were some clashes and the government was actually expecting a whole new level of lyons they had deployed eighty thousand police officers and military personnel across the country five thousand of them here in paris many a shops had barricaded up and indeed it came to clashes but if you can compare what happened today in paris but also in other cities across the country too what happened at the beginning of the movement about two months ago is actually not that serious indeed actually in on the first one to three saturdays the clashes started at about eight thirty nine o'clock ten o'clock in the morning and went on for the whole day today the first reports of clashes it got through to us at about two three o'clock and they went on for a few hours yes but here in paris the situation has now gone back to normal and you

know cars are circulating again and the activity on and this one's easy have been cleared. the government there they have repeatedly offered concessions to the protesters is there a plan in place for ending these protests. absolutely the government is trying to calm down the protesters there is a so-called national debate that will start next tuesday that's you know nationwide talks in different cities that will go on for several weeks the government says it wants to hear the grievances of the people and take these grievances into account and indeed the government has pushed back the debate on a constitutional reform that was planned for in january and it's been now been pushed by back to later on to take into account the outcome of these nationwide talks however when you look at one recent poll and according to that poll seventy

percent of the french think that this debate will not lead to any ease her majesty remains to be seen if the government government will really be able to calm down prejudices and then maybe expecting a tenth straight weekend of those protests to be a correspondent lisa louis and paris for us thank you very much. now look at some of the other stories making news around the world in serbia several thousand people have turned down for a sixth week of street protests against the country's president alexander whistle blowing crowds marched through central belgrade despite freezing temperatures to many which its residents resignation the protesters accuse him of restricting media freedom and intimidating the opposition. heavy snow has paralyzed parts of central europe for yet another day in austria fresh avalanche warnings have been issued while in germany the weather service also borne of more heavy snowfall to come on sunday in all these twenty one weather related deaths have been reported across

europe in the last ten days. the new york times says the f.b.i. opened an investigation in twenty seventeen into whether donald trump had been working for russia during his presidential campaign the paper said the probe began after he fired the agency's director james comey trump tweeted that the f.b.i. acted for no reason and with no proof. staying in the u.s. now where the partial government shutdown is the longest in the country's history is entering day twenty two with no end in sight to the dispute over funding for president trump's border wall as a result some eight hundred thousand government workers aren't getting paid so they're now scrambling for a temporary paycheck our washington correspondent reports. even when the rent is due you got bills and there's no sign of a paycheck coming anytime soon so maybe if you're a government worker it's time to find a second job the fairfax county school district outside of washington d.c.

has a shortage of substitute teachers and fairfax county now has an excess of furloughed government workers problem solution at least temporarily. twenty percent of the population in the greater d.c. area works for the federal government that's now one in five people with no paycheck and nothing to do for. who knows how much longer but even with the dire predictions coming out of capitol hill this local community saw an opportunity to do something for their people but when the school district advertised the event it filled up to capacity within twenty four hours the interest was so overwhelming that they added a second and then a third hiring day well it usually takes a few weeks to be approved as a new substitute teacher these people will all be processed and ready to work in just a few days the school board says it's really the least they can do for employees here really realize that we have a community in need right now we have many displaced federal workers and as part of our caring culture this is just

a small gesture to be able to be out and help and support our displaced federal workers and give them opportunity to substitute in our schools and earn a paycheck we've heard lots of teachers in the classroom are actually thrilled to have this influx of talent as you know we have people in the federal government who have all sorts of skills whether they're in mathematics statistics in medicine so just bringing that into the classroom will have a big effect on our students. the shutdown could and any time many federal employees at the event said they're doing ok for now but in the meantime they want a contingency plan and the whole situation is disheartening nine hundred twenty thirteen shutdown over the affordable care act. that was a little bit different the situation there was more talking between the president and congress in the senate so this was all first starting because there's really no . no discussion or very little discussion here i'm frustrated.

because i think. services to the citizens are being compromised there and even behind the scenes when our government is shut down people don't realize even when you. we have serve the national parks we reserve the museums we never know what unobservable things are not getting done and i don't know right now it's looks like it's at a standstill so i don't know if i'm not get a great vibe but you know hoping and praying and before accepting a come through soon. you know it's unclear where the federal government is stuck in the mud and its employees are moving on and this local government is stepping up to help someone or actually in the democratic republic of congo opposition candidate martin fuel who has asked for a recount after his unexpected loss and recent presidential elections polling before the election was predicting a landslide victory for fellow but another opposition candid felix sic eighty one

the vote. we're not giving up martin for you lou arriving at court surrounded by supporters they say the election was stolen that the current government engineer the result and made sure its preferred candidate won. inside the court philo had harsh words for the head of the electoral commission carney and secured it is what you say published results have been fabricated i'm telling you mr naga has violated the electoral law and his lawyer told the w. he was confident the recount would paint a different picture. north among the but when the votes are counted again we'll see that martin got the biggest total we demand that the court name him president of the republic. he stood in the. meanwhile outside the court tensions were high. there have been several deaths in other parts of the country since the election results were announced thursday. feel lives lost to another opposition

candidate felix just a kitty is just the latest twist in congo's long running political crisis current president joseph kabila has ruled the war torn country since two thousand and one he was supposed to step down two years ago but has delayed action since then many congolese feel they are not getting the change they want. is it just security he's just prolonging could be that he was the second heir of can be us and i'm telling you the truth we're fed up with them he's not our rival but we need a change of regime. some would say others say for you should just accept the results. will see you in this they're not careful we risk falling into a tribal war. this is what we're trying to avoid that we have only one country but one heritage which all of us must protect. the court has eight days to act on for you this complaint. the electoral commission meanwhile says there are two options

the official results can be accepted or the ball is in old keeping cabul in power until another election that's an outcome many kong movies are desperate to avoid. the saudi teenager feeling alleged abuse by her family has now found safety in canada it's been a long odyssey for mohamad all k'naan she was planning to seek asylum in australia but was stopped and root at the bangkok airport and threatened with deportation after days of uncertainty it was canadian officials who offered her a new home. are. perhaps all canoe and briefly appeared before the press at toronto airport but was too exhausted to take questions after edger matic journey she's finally safe in her new home and in the flats that you bring able to eat and it's too long red beans so you are pretty cheap at lest your needs are and on every single person easily

lives here on january fifth the eighteen year old arrived at bangkok airport from kuwait she defied thai authorities by barricading herself in a hotel room to avoid being returned to saudi arabia she said she feared for her life after her family threatened her for renouncing islam an accusation raf's father later rejected rafa drew attention to her plight on social media quickly rallying tens of thousands of supporters all over the worlds. i'm not leaving my job until i see it you an edge see our island asylum. her calls for help quickly reached the united nations refugee agency after examining her case the un decided to run for half the refugee status and began talks with several countries to find her new home after days of uncertainty came

the good news canada was ready to grant her half asylum now alcoa noone can start a new life meanwhile she's become a symbol of the struggle for women's rights in the saudi kingdom you're watching d.w. news from berlin more coming at the top of the hour and for the latest headlines around the clock check out our web site that's g.w. dot com thanks for watching. bursts. power. of speech. the words if you. get those are big changes and most start with small steps or back to global ideas tell stories of create this people and give a distant objects or.