Of europe a reporter visits an austrian village thats been partly evacuated for fear of avalanches. The snow is accumulated its sitting there and it could fall off the mountain onto these houses at any time. Welcome to the program im married i havent seen. The death toll has risen to at least three in a powerful explosion and fire that ripped through a building in paris Spains Foreign Ministry says a spanish woman was among the dead this comes after a french official says that two firefighters have been killed the cause of the blast is not yet known but Police Suspect it was sparked by a gas leak. A scene of carnage in central paris a bakery bergmans as a woman cries for help from a force for a 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. We thought sold me false alarms we thought maybe it was a false alarm so somebody called the firefighters. 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 just like smoke. Glass. While hundreds of american see services walked 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 no one 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. The good news is that we must be careful since the investigations are intended to determine the precise origin of this dramatic fire and this explosion is that expose your control then its a tragedy that will serve as a deadly reminder of the danger that American Sea Services confront every day. Lisa lewis is at the scene of that explosion in paris i asked her a short time ago how sure authorities were that a gas leak cause the incident. Prosecutors office here in paris has opened an investigation into the match and well look into this more closely over the coming days and weeks but yes the authorities at seeming seem to privilege the theory that a gas leak really cool because the crew firefighters had been deployed to the scene just before the explosion they went into a building adjacent to the bakery and were investigating a gas leak where as the inhabitants were waiting outside not fund the explosion happened to look very likely at this really will cause that a gas leak and a gas explosion is really what caused this incident this morning and obviously this comes at a very tense time here in the french capital because across paris at this very moment the yellow protest is demonstrating for a nine such a day in a row. Thats right as well after all several weeks of these demonstrations thorntons were bracing for the worst fearing violence what are you hearing about how the demonstrations have been going so far today. The first two yards were quite peaceful the scenes and now we are getting first reports and first pictures actually from right the police limit the the area where you know purchased the can can move here and has kind of trying to seal the area around the uk. So that theyre staying on the this arc in the west of parents really but we will have to wait a little longer to see how it gets the government is hearing the worst really a new level of violence theyve got five thousand Police Officers here in paris and eighty thousand across all. Right lisa lewis reporting for us from the french capital many thanks indeed. And now a look at some of the other stories making news around the world a young saudi woman granted asylum in canada has arrived in toronto mohamed el clune first fled to thailand saying she feared her family would kill her for renouncing islam she used social media to draw attention to her plight between foreign minister Chrystia Freeland was on hand to greet her. In nigeria at least a dozen people are dead after an overturned oil tanker exploded in japan in the countrys southeast numerous people were scooping up a leaking fuel at the time of the blast Officials Say more than twenty have been taken to the hospital with serious burns. Serious says israeli warplanes have fired missiles at the capital damascus state News Agency Reports said some of the schools struck a warehouse near the airport but that others were shot down by air defense. Turning now to congo where an opposition candidate who came in second has asked for a recount in recent president ial elections supporters of runner up martin if i who protested outside Congress Constitutional court where for you looking to challenge the results are you who has been expected to win another opposition candidate felix chizik katie took first place the government has asked the International Community to back the outcome as it presently stands. For more on this were joined now by d. W. Correspondent Wendy Basheer whos 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. I will call it when the right. To the people of the caucus to ask them to recount again. The recent election and from now we go to this edition of the code that weve got the fight concept probably next week and this week we didnt expect or want them for the people on. Wednesday 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 its kind of very prevalent. But in some places you go for the cup so we have places where there we go just. To the only thing that we can say and for the reason. Maybe we have to wait for the next. Day everybody was waiting for my goal the people. Down in the street you needed that you just faded. To get the decision to recount the votes for the moment i think all of the mood or the next move of the beach all my title and. Well along with this president ial election there was also a parliamentary vote that took place and in that race the Ruling Coalition of outgoing president kabila one the one that won a large majority so what does this mean for the future of congo. This is the first that i could see where the majority of their ruling party have. All the people in the parliament then this is the first that also in the cold war that we would move from the police i mean if you go away you begin to brief them that the country would have a balance. Bettery sam and everybody i wait you out the way weve got and have already been Getting Better when were here because everybody is waiting for the new government big plate and start working and see how the change we come from all of it big and. 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 theres no sign that the situation will improve anytime soon more than twenty people have now died in what is some of the heaviest snowfall in decades and forecasters are warning up to a meter more could be on the way in parts of austria fresh avalanche warnings were issued overnight silence has fallen over the north side of altaf say this part of the village lies in the path of a potential avalanche that Authorities Say he could trigger without warning more than one hundred people have had to evacuate a few come back now and then to clear their roofs of driveways and a constant battle with the snow. It has been snowing now here for nearly two weeks the residents tell us they havent 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 its sitting there and it could fall off the mountain onto these houses at any time. Breaks in the snow fall have been only temporary here and say the residents are getting on with their lives even if that means hard work. Thank you used to a lot of snow bummer but its a bit rough this time because weve had so much at once to feel for my calling your boy in ruby over the shift were trying to clear just the top layer of the new stuff cause 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 and stayed Luxury Hotels like this one have opened their doors to evacuees free of charge. Here and ill tell say were there for each other all year round and the sibila if we have a best pipe or something here the volunteer firefighters step in so as local firms help out whether its plumbers electricians whatever it might be so who finance it more or less so now it was very clear to us that its our turn to make a contribution and to give Something Back to the community. See has pulled together before in two thousand and six they had to evacuate for a few days its that Community Spirit that local see will help them through again avalanche are not. Suitable use i mean s. F. 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 residents here of ill say are proud of their ability to deal with the snow they have all the proper equipment they have snow plows snow shovels snow tires on their cars but for some it has been a Part Time Job just to keep the streets and the roofs clear we talk to two men who are working on a roof that said that they said it took them two days working around the clock just to to keep half of the roof clear now for some the real danger is actually the possibility of an avalanche on a mountain nearby theres a pocket of snow sitting up there and if it were to trigger it would travel down a narrow channel and in this channel their houses now those people have been evacuated some are staying in this village but in other villages the towns are completely cut off from the outside world theyre living off the resources they have there 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 they now report theres one thousand five hundred people and some of these tribe villages the snow is still coming down another meter is forecast its 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. And before we go a quick reminder of the top story were following for you. At least two people have been killed in an explosion and fire in a bakery in central paris the dead are believed to have been firefighters dozens more people have been injured french Police Suspect the blast may have been sparked by a ghastly. Youre watching d. W. News coming to you from berlin well be back again at the top of the hour with another update in the meantime you can always get the latest news and information on our website just go to you dot com american every scene from all of us here in berlin thanks for watching. We. Dont. Want. To be