online. this is deja vu news live from berlin tragedy in austria as the death toll caused by heavy snowfall rises the bodies of three german skiers killed by an avalanche an opera covers about helicopter crews use a break in the weather to help clear the mountain sides but the risk of further avalanches from remains high also coming up patience runs out in thailand as protesters demand the country's military rulers to step down and hold free elections. and the u.s. ambassador to germany issues a stark warning to german companies stop working on

a controversial gas pipeline linking russia to germany or face american sanctions. plus the tennis world is focusing on bell burn where the australian open starts on monday it's the first grand slam tennis tournament of the year but it could be the last one of the sport's greats. i'm carl aspen thanks for joining us. more storms and heavy snow are forecast to strike across the alps and avalanche warnings are still in effect at least twenty four people are believed to have died in weather related incidents across the region. after a short break in the weather the snowfall in southern bavaria has been relentless this mountain prost was closed after an avalanche swept down from the austrian side

of the port it with germany emergency services rescued a group of skiis who sought refuge in a mountain restaurant. since image of equipment mountain rescue team in the police school today is down when the pass is closed you can't just make your own way down . most of the roads around the town of practice garden have been cleared the biggest problem is the massive snow pressing down on buildings the thought followed by more rain or snow could destabilize some structures and i must say in the thing we all eat around two hundred rubes a short while ago we could have said that's it we've done the job now we have to reassess and say we still got the third we've in two thirds to go in the four and. another five hundred firefighters have been brought in to reinforce the five thousand relief workers already battling the snow in the varian alps. austria two remains on critical avalanche alert links including the albert pass

above the renowned ski resort of sent anton shot an avalanche killed three german skiers on a road that was closed because of the danger from the huge piles of snow. in s.f. in southern austria where earlier today he told us rescue workers are likely to face even more bad weather in the next couple of days well there's another meter of snow forecast in some areas around here which is just unbelievable it's been snowing for two weeks we've visited some places where there's almost three metres of snow but one thing people are really worried about is when the weather conditions do get warmer and there's a melt or there's rain that makes no much heavier on roofs but also on slopes and causes even more of a danger for avalanches so that's what the military and also civil services are preparing for to make sure they can deal with that if that happens. now to some other stories making news around the world german police have launched

a series of raids against criminal clans more than thirteen hundred police officers were deployed in coordinating raids against them family crime syndicates in the six cities across northwestern germany the raids were focused on the shisha bars cafes and gambling been used at least one man was detained two firefighters and a spanish tourists were also killed in saturday's blast. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has confirmed that israel carried out air strikes on iranian weapons into mascot's he said the last attacks prove that we are more determined than ever to act against iran in syria exactly as promised netanyahu is comments mark a rare public acknowledgement of israeli activity in syria. it's been nearly five years since thailand's army took control of the country following a political crisis military leaders have been promising a return to civilian rule ever since but now they've pushed back the date for

elections once again just one month before they were set to take place that's brought people out onto the streets of bangkok. was there to hear their demands. they've had enough enough of thailand's military rulers enough of seeing their rights curtailed you know enough of promised elections being pushed back time and time again. now these protesters in the heart of bangkok say they won't back down until the government makes good on its promise to let the people have their say we're living with that parliament that has no opposition opposition by the last five years without any you know good governance not any no opposition like you know parliament so the way the election is very important the thailand not only to go back to democracy but also do this on the kind. three back again after five minutes

and to get their right to citizens back in the past five years the military government has used its powers to stop critics from speaking out. until recently protests like this one were prohibited by the strict assembly log file its military dictatorship put in place now that long has been lifted but in spite of that demonstrators are still telling me that they're being harassed by the authorities that if i can do it again i'm going to get what it got me and you get the idea when this can find me not but he's big and good and that. he. can be a good guy like a puppy. like that put me in a coffee shop was killed in the business and even if but these tactics aren't keeping the activists away they're afraid the government could play for time until the election deadline. constitution expires then there would be no telling when tide's would get to vote again. and washington's ambassador to berlin has issued

a stark warning to german companies over a controversial pipeline that would supply russian gas to germany while bypassing eastern european countries richard are now reporting both to several companies involved in the construction of the north stream to pipeline reminding them of u.s. sanctions on the russian energy sector the u.s. has long opposed the pipeline saying it undermines european security. well max and he's been following that story for us he joins me now in studio with more max there's really a lot of breakdown here first just lay out for us exactly who did the u.s. ambassador rights to and what was in the letters so using baster richard grinnell wrote a letter to several businesses which are involved in the construction of the north stream to pipeline and among the among these companies were the german firms winter show and you know pres well as the dutch british shell corporation now the united states opposes the project and could no make clear to the companies involved that

they could very likely suffer harsh consequences let's bring up a quote from the litter that he wrote here it says. i therefore request on behalf of my government that your company consider the danger this product represents to european energy security as well as the reputational costs and sanctions risks associated with our i guess the key word there is sanctions right i mean why would the us want to slap sanctions on germany over this one. the us ambassador raised economical as well as security concerns connected to the north stream to pipeline and this pipeline is actually supposed to carry gas from the russian coast to germany bypassing third countries and it is an addition to an already existing pipeline north stream this would allow russia to double the amount of gas sent to europe now there are fears in washington but also here in europe that this pipeline would give russia leverage over european countries and also do away with the need

to transfer gas via ukraine as it is doing now this is important because ukraine and russia have been in the conflict for the last couple of years largely over the eastern part of ukraine and despite the animosity until now russian gas still goes through ukraine serves as a gateway for russian gas and ukraine relies on transit through some transit fees from russia and also has some political leverage by them so it's interesting though to hear those comments from the u.s. ambassador to germany how seriously are grinnell's comments being taken so many have commented on the on the issue and say grinnell is overstepping his boundaries you can hotz who is the foreign policy spokesman of medicals cd you can service and problem and put it this way he wrote in his statement or he issued a statement which says that the u.s. ambassador is now turning to german companies with direct threats is a new and unacceptable one sided tightening of the tone in the transatlantic relationship so there has been no official reaction from the german government yet

however the german foreign ministry said their actions did not follow common diplomatic practice and berlin would address the issue directly with washington thanks for breaking that down thanks very much. two sports now and the australian open starts on monday and the first tennis grand slam turman of the year it will have some special meaning for some big names roger federer he's looking for a big milestone as he defends his men's title at the ripe old age of thirty seven germany's ungently caballe she hopes another triumph in melbourne can secure her the world number one spot. roger federer boasts ninety nine career titles a men's record twenty first grand slam success in a straight would make him the first man to reach a century in the a.t.p. two era. yeah i mean look you know it was really incredible number i could live

happily ever after you know but if you're so close and knowing that i'm going to be playing this season you know i'll give it a go but the defending champion will face competition from a resurgent novak djokovic. and old rival rafa nadal. andy murray has also long been part of the big four. but he tearfully announced that injury means this might be his final tournament. german twenty one year old alexander sparrow i have weights in the wings for his first grand slam title. among the women caroline wozniacki is defending the crown she would last january the dane believes she's well primed to add to her so grand slam trophy it's amazing i think you know it's something i've always hoped for and trap half and then being back here it just feels so great i feel like the first time i came in and hit on the

court so i think ok i feel at home i feel good i feel like these courts are suited for me serena williams is looking for equal the record of twenty four grand slam singles titles but needs to avoid the meltdown which caused the last year's u.s. open. well number one simona halep has a tough draw while germany's actually khabar is looking to kick on after winning wimbledon last year the battle is on to stop wozniacki sailing away with another title. if you're ever like me and you felt like smashing something after a stressful day at work there's something for you it's called a rage room also known as an anger room and it might be just what you need this is a space designed to let people vent their frustrations by destroying every day objects safely a new anger room recently opened in the chinese capital beijing and it's proving to be a smashing success. if you are the kind of person

who tends to both to not be over age then you may want to look at this. welcome to the anger room in beijing. it's a place where people can go to let off steam by smashing up every day objects this custom explains why it's such a good crack. to the legal course of this place gives you the pleasure of breaking things in other places after you smash the item you might find the stuff still there or you get fined but it won't happen here here you only need to pay the money. to do a lot of. the beijing anger in the set up by former p.r. executive john manning. customers sign a safety form before being allowed to electorate. jean says people visit the ngo room for many different reasons mainly to achieve being courage people to bring

their own stuff to vent their anger because we also see it as a place to say goodbye to a stage in life so excited. jean says the new space is proving so popular with the chinese that she's already planning on opening up a second venue in the city. i'm already looking for one here in berlin don't forget you can always get d.w. news on the go just download our app from google play or from the apple store and that will give you access to all the latest news from around the world as well as push notifications for any breaking news you can also use the d w app to send us your photos and your videos. you're watching the news from berlin there's more coming at the top of the hour we'll get all the latest news and information on our web site as well that's deep w. dot com thanks for watching.

letter we were. when we were. eighty percent of americans in some point in our lives will experience hardship listening. audience.