esther in support of the referendum and he had some rather choice things to say about people that participated in the view including including calling them traitors now that have been slapped with these charges of slander which we now seem see him answering for today originally the trial was supposed to take place last year but of course due to know of all these policemen with nova chalk they actually ended up in pushing it off until his return to the country earlier this year well is there any indication of when we can expect a verdict then and what that verdict might likely be. what we don't know exactly how the court is likely to rule but it does bear saying that russian courts have not often ruled and mr know all of these favor i've been paying attention to some of the the arguments that prosecutors have been arguing throughout the day and it seems that they are are not necessary. trying to focus on adding some more jail time to know all of the sentence but rather they seem to be focusing on some type of monetary compensation potentially for the veteran in question if you ask people

in the volleys orbit they say that this is actually an attempt by the russian government to hurt you know on his reputation more broadly within russian society you know veterans really do have kind of an almost sacrosanct status within the russian society so by convicting him of slandering one of them it would be a big knock against his reputation at the same time it also ties up his legal staff at a time when they are working very hard to try to free mr of all of the and get him out of prison so that's part of the reason they're saying that this is part of a campaign of illegal harassment directed against them now and russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov has said that moscow is ready to sever ties with the european union over the threatened sanctions let's take a look at what he had to say you see the mood. if we see again as we have felt more than once sanctions imposed in some areas creates risks to our economy including in the most sensitive spirit is such as supplies of parts and components i'm convinced

that with regards to the military we've become completely self-sufficient we need to achieve the same situation in the economy. yes once again we don't want to be isolated from international life when you've got you but we must be ready for that if you want to be prepared for war. group which need to go to school. some pretty determined words there how serious do you think mr lavrov is about potentially cutting economic ties. i wouldn't necessarily blow his comments out of proportion i mean you really think of the context that these comments took place and it was on a live broadcast from a russian firebrand journalist by the name of ludwig as a lot of you know now he's often referred to as one of the kremlin's chief propagandist he's very very critical of the european union and of the west in general and often helps the kremlin kind of shape their communication for the domestic audience in these were very very similar in his comments he was making

right there and that's kind of a statement or a sentiment rather we've been hearing from other parts of the russian government to meijer peskov letter putin's press representative actually walk back to the statements that lavrov made earlier in the day saying that he's been taken out of context he said that europe action or inaction europe rather russia wants better relations with europe and he was saying that lavrov was attempting to express the fact that they're ready from all possibilities if new sanctions are introduced but not but said that he didn't want to stress that the russian government was interested in ending a relationship with the e.u. and any time soon i am thank you aaron tilden in moscow. prosecutors in the u.s. congress have wrapped up their case in the 2nd impeachment trial against donald trump they urge senators to convict the former president for inciting the violent mob that stole the capitol building on january 6th democrats must be convicted to ensure they can be no repeat of the incident in a few hours time trumps defense team will begin presenting its side of the story.

so that the jurors a timely end to the day's hearings on the 3rd day of the impeachment trial of donald trump prosecutors made their closing pitch without using up their allotted speaking time of 16 hours. i wanted to start simply by saying that in the history of humanity democracies an extremely rare and frau dryland precarious and transitory thing this wasn't just an attack on the capitol building and the dedicated people inside it was an attack on what we were elected to preserve our democracy. for you. the prosecution made heavy use of video footage of the january 6th riots to prove that the former president had incited the violent insurrection. impeachment is

not to punish but to prevent we are not here to punish donald trump we are here to prevent the seeds of hatred that he planted from bearing any more fruit republican lawmakers who are quick to dismiss the arguments that argument today. i thought they were awfully repetitive. over the course. trumps defense team will make its case on friday the way to a final vote is expected this week and the 2 thirds majority is needed to impeach meaning 17 republican senators have to cross the aisle you know they haven't well let's go straight to washington now and bring in our correspondent stefan simmons he's following this story for us stefan today is the day for the trial of times attorney david shannon his legal team to make their case welcome we expect from them. you know one of today's defense team of. the

house impeachment managers the democrats had 16 hours in total that means 8 hours per day so theoretically they can draw this out today for 8 hours and then tomorrow again there will be a few breaks but what will the defense focus on 2 things mainly they have to not just refuse but defuse the case the democrats or the house impeachment managers made in the last 2 days which was very emotional very intriguing and loaded with details and facts now how will they do this i don't know we will see but the clear seems to be that from now on they will try to actually say or portray the democrats and the house managers as glorify violence by showing all those videos which had their effects they were very emotional they had an effect on senators who were sitting there and that's for sure we yeah you mentioned that finnish prosecutors obviously play large portions of that pretty chilling capital ryan footage how much of an impact do you think that's had on the senate. for the american

public that had a huge image i tell you it had a huge image on effect on me i was there on generator 6 and to watch this was was not an easy feat was quite. strange and challenging however for the republican senators who are there and as we mentioned in the piece the democrats need 17 to vote with them to actually find dull tromp guilty that is a tough task because most of the senators in the last 2 days or at least a large number of them were keenly does interested in listening in detail to what the house managers between houseman just had to say they do it all their read books they didn't even show up a few of them then came back so i don't think that it had a big impact on the republicans which the house impeachment managers need does it have a big impact on the american public for anybody who watched this definitely relived

the pain of that day because that was not what any american had every expected that was historic in their sense all right when it will be interesting to watch the events unfold and stephan simmons thanks very much for that. meanwhile u.s. president joe biden has confirmed he will take part in next week's new security conference becoming the 1st sitting american president to do so event organizers have announced in a tweet that the conference will be held virtually this year and broadcast live the munich security conference is a k. event for addressing international defense issues biden has attended in the past while he was vice president barack obama according to a white house press secretary biden is expected to push for greater cooperation between the u.s. and europe. let's turn now to some other stories making headlines around the world this hour for thora he's in india have air dropped relief materials to villages cut

off after a glace it collapsed in the north of the country really 170 people remain missing after a barrel of water and debris were released in the to come to date bridges were swept away and roads destroyed rescue workers have recovered 37 bodies so far. china's broadcasting regulator has banned b.b.c. world news it's a largely symbolic move as the channel was only easily accessible to foreigners britain had earlier revoked the u.k. license of china's c g t n watchdogs concluded the network was controlled by the chinese communist party. and china's space agency has released the 1st footage showing its 10 when one probe entering the orbit of mars after a 6 month journey the craft slowed enough to capture the to be captured by mars as gravity it's the 2nd spacecraft to reach the red planet this month.

the un's human rights envoy for man ma is calling for sanctions against the military regime which has seized power from the civilian government the investigators say there's growing evidence that security forces have used live ammunition against protesters the united nations human rights council has been holding a special session on the situation in man mom mass protests protests have continued and the army has detained most of the elected late is. the biggest street demonstrations in myanmar in over a decade protesters want the generals to step aside they're calling for elected leaders to be freed and they're calling for a new constitution. that's because the army says that an article in the current document allows the generals to take over. when the state of emergency is over we will hold

a free and fair general election according to the 2008 constitution and hand power to the winner but. it's a promise the people of myanmar don't believe. a telecoms and social media blackout days after the coup did not stop people organizing mass demonstrations to raise international support. the police responded. the military says it did not use lethal weapons on the demonstrators on tuesday but amnesty international says police recklessly targeted protesters with no respect for their lives or safety this video shows riot police trying to disperse a protest in the capital naypyitaw. a young protester in a red shirt wearing a motorbike helmet shelters with others at a bus stop. moments later she is slumped on the ground and fellow

protesters tried to help her. banners on the fly over capture that moment. doctors told reporters that a bullet penetrated her skull and her condition is critical demonstrators hold photos of what they say are her injuries. the army has banned large gatherings the authorities say this peaceful protest outside the chinese embassy is illegal. china supported me on mars military dictatorship for decades even as it was shunned by the international community over human rights abuses. conceded some power to a civilian government in 2015 but they never truly left memories of brutal military rule are still fresh in people's minds the military is also wrestling with

facebook over information access the platform is a key source of news for people here facebook now says it will limit content and profiles run by myanmar's military saying the army has continued to spread misinformation and i to bring in phil robertson now he's the deputy director of the asia division of human rights watch phil thanks for joining us both amnesty international and now the u.n. say there's evidence that security forces have used live ammunition against the protesters what's your organization finding out a we're talking about isolated incidents or is this sort of a systematic. well in the case in naypyidaw that your report contained it's clear that that was an instance where live ammunition was used that constituted illegal lethal force we have condemned that when we have also seen other cases where the. police are firing in the air there's been use of rubber

bullets there has been allegations that we are still investigating baiting other instances of live fire so it is quite clear that they are right on the edge and they have in number of cases gone clearly over into illegal activities it's important to remember that these protesters are by and large completely peaceful and so the actions by the police are to be condemned. now there of course fresh protests ongoing protests today demanding the release of aung sun suu cheney among other things how worried are you for the safety of the demonstrators. well the demonstrators so far have been very well organized they have been creative they've been intense but certainly. involved in a peaceful protest so i'm not worried about the protesters i'm worried most of me about the police and the possibility that some point will see the army come on to

the streets remember this is an army that in the past has use lethal force against many protesters in 2007 and in 1988 they have a long record of brutality and we're very concerned that if the army comes on the streets will see that he would be concerned for the safety of the protesters that. yes certainly and that's why we think that it's important for governments like the member states the u. of germany the united states canada and others to be now really moving forward with targeted sanctions against the military and their companies they have to recognize that they will pay a very high cost if indeed they do move forward with a larger crackdown day and now we've also heard that facebook is also getting involved now the company says it will restrict the distribution of content and profiles posted by man was military could this have an impact on the course of events going forward do you think well i think that there is been an

effort by the social media companies to try to stop the military from using its coordinated enough that it behavior networks to try to propagandize on their platform but let's remember that facebook is currently blocked in myanmar as is twitter and instagram people are having to use v p n's to get to those programs and we're concerned that the new cyber security law that is coming down the pike will be something that will be used to really restrict people's use of the internet all right phil robertson from human rights watch thanks very much for your time. thank you. governments across europe us scrambling to contain a new more infectious cove at 9 tame variance germany is introducing new travel rules for arrivals from the czech republic and austria as tirol region health minister sponsors the measure is a necessary because variance of spending will rapidly while infection numbers in

germany are dropping maintains the extra restrictions are unavoidable. when in fact if infection numbers drop enough originally further rolls relaxation is possible that being said we need to prevent more virus variants from entering the country that's why the german government yesterday decided to declare the czech republic the austrian province of 0 and slovakia as virus variant risk areas and this means that there is a travel ban now in place without exceptions tests must be taken before entering the country and quarantine is mandatory. german health ministry says the manotick quarantine and testing will only be a temporary measure but many people are asking whether the travel ban is too little too late the leader of the solvent german state of the various says taro needs to take tough action funny for china reports it seems like a deja vu we're driving through to roll the very same stage you know that was

a major hot spot in europe when the pandemic began is making headlines by becoming a hotspot again this time with a new variant from south africa and most cases stem from here shots a district in to rule 60 percent of at least 400 cases this makes the 2nd most infected country after south africa with the corona virus mutation. but with carnival season in full swing the people here don't seem to be worried much maybe only met up for a little fun and will be home again in an hour visit have it at the house of a big the kite this is this. it is the same thing that happened in ishqiya last year there is a concentrated move to look for someone to blame my c. for i know. this but we still blame anyway people's behavior

politics opinions are split over this question here and i hate this one feel. should have had buddha checks. much. far better you could also have been prepared much earlier a year when the grown elders trench orange yellow now read of. the restaurants and hotels remain closed and foreign tourists away there's plenty of domestic tourism austrians with holiday homes or even day trippers and when they leave to roll in many cases the virus leaves with them starting today people leaving to roll to other parts of austria must present a negative call the test pharmacies like this one have set up testing facilities to meet the demand but the south african variant has already spread beyond the state borders have to rule the measures to set up what if one fails now too little too late. as you say is just one measure out of so many i believe measures like these

cannot be put in place from one hour to the next because a logistical challenge. and a political one to austria is a federal state both the central government and the state governments need to coordinate how to respond to a crisis which takes time exactly what austria does not have. well some football news now and more cause for celebration for germany in munich the one to slay the champions edged mexico's take race to win the club world cup taking all 6 major trophies they could win in a 12 month period barcelona is the only other club to have done so back in 2009. out of the starting blocks to grip the show they had every intention of battling man well neuer put a stop to this attack. but it remained a physical affair throughout neither team giving ground easily. by an appeared to go up in the 18th minute. only to have the goal disallowed by

a video assistant referee for offside. leroy's sunday had a great chance but rattled the crossbar and the 1st half and it scoreless but biron got on the right side of the v.a.r. in the 2nd half benjamin tovah bringing the ball in and assistant referee immediately called it offside but with the match on the line video replay over rule the goal was good off the usa were commish cross one nil by and that's how it staged by in our club world champions and winners of a historic sex couple. now with most james and other sports venues closed it's no surprise that many people have given up their fitness retains but one german saying a citizen hasn't let the restrictions get her down she's been taking social media by storm with her fitness videos. no sign of

not town for t. h e one year old eric harris has become a star on instagram and to top. it all started with some videos she recorded for her family. looked only at and in the lockdown started and my daughter and i decided to do a video on to talk. and after lots. the positive comments and appreciation really just carried on i'm about to combust. the clips that mother and daughter recorded their living room have gone at the 100000 followers and nearly 10000000 views on to talk. and he's going to come into the kitchen in the morning i look at my tablet how many more followers how many likes have i got. erica's fitness videos if you can conquer the u.s. the wall street journal interviewed her and she has appeared on good morning america. and sometimes erica gets her husband to join her in some

moves. but i'll tell you it's funny sometimes she gets the choreography quicker than me also poor graffy. so to beat your look down fatigue get off the sofa and chill in erica. what a woman china has rung in the lunar new year kicking off a wake long nationwide festival colorful illuminations and red lanterns a symbol of good luck in china welcomed in the year of the ox it's the 2nd year in a row that covert 19 has cast a shadow over the celebrations the holiday normally sees the world's biggest annual migration as people across the country visit their families this year though the government is telling people to stay at home. you're watching datable the news here's a reminder of the top story we're following for you kremlin critic alexina valmy is back in costa mesa rising tensions between russia and the e.u. the valley is accused of insulting a war veteran after recently being sentenced to 8 years in prison on another charge

russia says it's ready to break ties with the e.u. if brussels moves on sanctions it's threaten to live in a valley state. as all we have time for this hour enviro program eco in india eco india is out next a change so that is the date of the news he's saying. eco

india. in a secluded valley in the himalayan mountains many people still live for the electricity. hydroelectric power is meant to solve the energy problem but these claim power plants are destroying local agriculture. and the population is starting to fight back. into. next d.w. .

going to an official estimates more than 1200000 venezuelans live in colombia legally and illegally. has already. returned a vast whaler. to visit friends is that i don't think i'd ever go back there to live you know what i live there again i don't know so i'm not sure. bearing witness global news that matters to make for mines. every day counts for us and for our planet. as it is on its way to bring you more conservation plays how do we make cities remark how can we protect habitats what to do with all our waste.

we can make a difference by choosing smart new solutions overstrained said you know we always play google ideas for the mental series of a move on the job and online. the global hunger for energy is only increasing with every passing year the united nations believes that journey towards a climate disaster will continue steady unless we make an image.