brent: this is d.w. news live from berlin. tonight, a wrenching sacrifice to save her plan. british prime minister theresa may says she is willing to resign. m.p.'s are voting on a number of options for leaving the european union. she says she's prepared to step down if it means getting her brexit deal across the finish line. we'll go to london for the latest. and the plastic plague and europe's effort to fight it.

the european parliament votes to ban plastics by the year 2021. and in the champions league, wolfsberg looked to defend but the french club proved too strong. i'm brent goff. it's good to have you with us. we start tonight with that political deadlock in the u.k. over brexit and the announcement that could be a brexit breakthrough. theresa may has told her conservative party that she will quit as british prime minister if her twice defeated brexit deal is approved by parliament this week which would leave her successor to lead the second phase of negotiations on britain's post-brexit relationship with the e.u. as lawmakers in london have been

voting on eight different options on how the country's withdrawal process from the european union should proceed. besides may's deal, other proposals voted upon include leaving the e.u. without a deal, remaining in the european union's single market and customs union, or holding a new brexit referendum. the plan is for the most popular ideas to move to a secondd vote, probably on monday, in hopes of finding one option that can command a majority in parliament. let's bring in our correspondent following events for us from westminster in london. good evening to you, charlotta. theresa may has told her fellow tories she will resign if her brexit deal is approved by parliament. what does this do to the brexit process? >> theresa may faced incredible criticism over the this past

week and came to the conclusion there is no way forward if she stays in office so she addressed lawmakers tonight, visibly emotional, with a shaking voice, and said i am prepared to leave this job earlier than i intended in order to do what is right for the country and our party. she did not name a time line but we are thinking that she will step down as prime minister if her deal gets through parliament, if a withdrawal agreement is agreed to, when the next step of the negotiations start so when they're talking about the future relationships between great britain and the european union and that could be some time in the summer or another tory leader would take over. brent: we understand on friday there could be a new vote on her deal that was already rejected twice by parliament. may's allies hope that will not happen. again, let's listen to what secretary amber rudd had to say

about that. >> hopeful that the speech she made will have helped persuade some colleagues of the need to vote because otherwise the alternatives they will like even less and i think that message went over and i hope we move forward now. brent: does that mean theresa may has the majority she needs for her brexit plan? charlotte: at the moment it does look like the numbers still don't add up in her favor. there are, of course, hard-liners from her party that she has convinced in saying she is going to step down, for example, boris johnson, former foreign secretary who has bashed this deal, her withdrawal agreement, over the past month and said he'd never vote for it. he came around and said now he will vote for it if she's willing to step down and she does so. but there is still the question of whether the northern irish coalition partner will come on board and that is very unclear at this point.

also, there is another hurdle. the speaker of the house has said he might not allow this vote to take place if there are no substantial changes to the deal. so a couple of hurdles here and chances still look very slim that it might make it through parliament on friday. brent: what's that going to mean for the brexit time table? we know the european union told theresa may you have this week to get a deal passed if you want a brexit delay. charlotte: if she gets the deal through on friday, then everything goes according to plan and then the great britain would leave the european union on may 22, one day before the european elections. if this deal doesn't get through, well, then we're back to square one, basically, and the deadline for leaving the e.u. remains april 12, the default option and we have to remember that at all times that the u.k. would leave without a deal, a no-deal scenario that could have disastrous

consequences for the people in this country but also in the european union. so that is still the default option and i don't dare predict how this will go down. brent: even as we speak, british m.p.'s are voting on other brexit options but in light of the announcement from theresa may tonight, are these other options, are they now meaningless? charlotte: no. i think they're not meaningless because if the deal -- if theresa may's deal after all doesn't get through, then there will be other options and lawmakers will decide on what way they want this to move forward, the brexit process. they want to agree on something and find a majority, but if this is in the end the way out of the brexit deadlock, i'm not sure. brent: that's the big question tonight. our very own charlotte potts in london with the latest brexit evelopments tonight. thank you. turkey is gearing up for local

elections this coming sunday. 57 million voters across the country will choose mayors, counselors and representatives. with the economy in trouble, the ruling party faces a stiff challenge and sunday's vote is seen as a referendum on recep tayyip erdogan's rule. our correspondent met up with one local politician with a familiar name. >> this tea house near istanbul is more crowded than usual because today recep tayyip erdogan is making a visit. this recep tayyip erdogan is 20 years old, political newcomer. he wants to be a neighborhood chief. he's not related to the turkish president but the name, he says, has helped him with his career

choicece. >> people often don't believe me at first and ask if i'm joking. then i show them my i.d. card. it's an honor for me to have the same name as our president. he's the respected and beloved leader of our country. people say they will vote for me, both because of my personality and my name. i believe this name will help me succeed. >> erdogan's namesake, the president, is also campaigning hard. he's making several speeches a day at huge rallies, even though he's not up for election. erdogan is hoping his popularity will make the difference because after a decade and a half in power, his ruling party is facing losses. that's mainly because of the worsening economic situation. last year's currency crisis sent

annual inflation soaring to about 20% and stopped growth. unemployment is on the rise. not just here in istanbul, people are now queuing for subsidized vegetables in state-run markets. solid growth and rising living standards have driven the president's electoral success in the past years but now turkey is in the midst of recession and voters say they're frustrated about the economy. polls suggest this could erode support for erdogan's ruling party, especially in larger cities, ankara and istanbul. losing them would be a symbolic blow. >> if the opposition wins istanbul or ankara, we may discuss the posossibility of snp elections in turkey. istanbul is strongly associated

with erdogan. he was elected as municipal mayor here and then became mayor of istanbul. after that, prime minister, and then president. if his a.k.p. is defeated in istanbul, it would be a political earthquake for erdogan reporter: back to the tea house where the young recep tayyip erdogan is trying to win some votes. he also hears many complaints about the economy. >> young people don't have jobs. it's become very hard for shop owners. nothing is good here anymore, nothing. reporter: the young erdogan says he wants to tackle these problems at least in his neighborhood but can't be sure of victory as he's facing two challenges. much is at stake in the local elections for both recep tayyip erdogans. brent: in algeria, the leader of the ruling coalition rnd party has joined calls for the ailing

president to be replaced. last night, the head of the army urgedd that abdelaziz bouteflika be declared unfit to rule. bouteflika has been in power nearly 20 years although has nearly appeared in public since 2013. algerians have been protesting in a bid to force him to step down. protests are not just taking place in the streets. algerians have been going online to keep up pressure on the bouteflika regime. carl is here with that side of the story. what's happening online in algeria? reporter: it's a social media savvy country, very young country. 70% of algerians are under 30 and understand social media. one of the most color protests we've seen started on a real wall. this is what we're talking about.

operation post-it notes, pting demands on sticky notes a placingg them. you can see the facebooook page dedicated to versions of those post-it notes. theye filled with messages like "we dream of a better tomorrow and together we will make our dreams come true." another one here, "down with the corrupt regime, down withhe patriarchy. the people's will is the only source of legitimacy." instead of a gun, a facebook symbol. clearly people see facebook as a revolutionary weapon for protestors in 2019. facebook is a huge platform in algeria. half the population uses it, and

that's where people go for information. brent: not just young protestors are using facebook? reporter: we're seeing it as a valuable tool for politicians. one, a businessman, has been banned from rning for offe ande's essentially livestreaming everything he does. take a loo at this video. he has nearly two million facebook fans. he's constantly streaming what he's up to. one videoeo showed his visit to the swiss hospital w where presidentt bouteflika is said to be recoverering. this video, he's escaping from house arrest, jumping off his balcony. you see supporters and policice greeting him. that was viewed more than 600,000 times. brent: that's how you get attention. i think for many it's tempting to compare this use of social media to what we saw during the arab spring. is there a parallel? reporter: yeah, these young people grew up watching the arab

spring. they saw what worked and what didn't. we actually spoke with a young woman behind that facebook page with the sticky note protest. here's what she told us about the arab spring. she says, the algerian movement is different from arab spring. we don't want this movement to be violently so we know we have to remain cautious. protests and demonstrations show algerian people are politically mature for radical change without violence and shows the creativity and sense of humor a lot of that creativity on display in the use of social media. brent: let's hope it stays creative and people and the military s stays on the side of the people, as well. thank you. here are some of the other stories making headlines around the world. india says it has shot down a satellite in a millions test. narendra modi made the announcement today weeks before the country's general election. pakistan issued a call against military threats in outer space.

that appeared on the country's foreign ministry website. the u.s. trade deficit narrowed by nearly 15% in january compared to the previous month. analysts say that's due to more soybean exports, fewer chinese imports to the u.s. amid a trade conflict between the countries also helpedd shrink the trade deficit. u.s. carmaker ford says it will stop producing passenger vehicles in russia. it plans to close three russian plants in a broader scheme to restructure money losing operations in europe. an economic slowdown and western sanctions have put a damper on the russian market. several hundred staff could lose their jobs. a chilean appeals court has ordered the catholic church to pay compensation to alleged victims of a former santiago priest. the ruling says that three men who say karadema sexually abused

them decades ago should receive the equivalent of 130,000 euros in moral damage. and health officials in mozambique have confirmed cases of cholera. the united nations is appealing for more than $280 million in aid. three million people in mozambique and zimbabwe and malawi have been affected by t e disaster. >> speed boats are still the only way to get help to people outside urbrban arereas in ththt hit a area. these portuguese marines carri medicine, food and drinking water settlementslong the still swollen river where an unknown number of people remain without aid more than 10 days after the storm. the storm devastated large areas

of south africa, leaving thousands homeless and destitute, like here in this makeshift camp. the world health organization is warning of what it calls a second disaster if highly infectious diseases like cholera start to s spread throuough crod camps like this one. >> i it's expected any spread disease will spread more e easiy in this zone. that's why it's important to have good medicical staff here o we can be alert for any kind of danger in the beginning. daniela: that danger is made worse by the almost total destruction of the regegion's medical infrastructure. >> most of the health strtructus hahave been desestroyed and this clinic has a lotot of space, we started setting upp tents to tae the l load off of otherer health centerers because t they don't e the capacity to deal the patients. david: the w.h.o. is scrambling

to fly in 900,000 doses of cholera vaccine and material and practical aid flows in fromm all overer the globe, like these tes set up by a kenyan emergency response unit, important, as the only nonmedical way to fight the disease is to improve living and sanitary conditions. these people have been robbed of everything. now even their physical health is at risk. brent: returning to europe's plastic purge. the european parliament voted overwhelmingly to ban plastics that pollute oceans and beaches. experts say the move is long overdue. >> disposable plastic was thought of as extremely convenient. you could use cutlery once at a picnic, then throw it away. but there are more

environmentally friendly alternatives such as paper straus that decompose quickly and don't endanger marine animals. pollution by plastic straws has been known to kill some sea life. 85% of the trash in the ocean is made of plastic and mostt is disposable items. experts fear that by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. in an attempt to slow that down, the european parliament voted by a large majority to ban single-use plastics by 2021. >> if we don't change our ways now, we will choke our oceans with plastic. scientific evidence is undeniable. so are the gravity and urgency of the problem. europeans care about this and want europe to show leadership across the globe. reporter: the manufacturers of all products will have to be involved in waste disposal. the e.u. wants to cut the

overall cost of environmental damage by 22 billion euros. brent: to a discovery that has left scientists surprised. a nasa study has found that in eastern green land, a major glacier that used to be one of the fastest shrinking ice and snow masses on earth is growing again. climate researchers have welcomed the news but they warn the trend is only temporary. >> reporter: this was the glacier in 2015, when these images captured, the glacier had been retreating three kilometers a year and thinning 40 meters annually since 2012, leading scientists to ring alarm bells. but a recent study by nasa shows that the glacier has begun to expand again at about the same rate. >> between 2016 and 2017, from two separate nasa airborne

missions, we found that near the front the glacier has thickened up to 30 meters. that's almost 100 feet in one year. and between 2017 and 2018, the same thing again. federica: scientists are looking closely at what's happening in greenland. there's enough ice sheet here to make global sea levels rise by seven meters. the latest finding at the glacier came as good news but authors of the study and scientists agree the trend is temporary. they believe a natural cyclical cooling of north atlantic waters likely caused the glacier to stop shrinking for now. >> what the measurements in the field where the glacier is demonstrated that when the glacier was retreating, the waters werere warm fed by warm waters in the ocean and when the glacier started to thicken, that warmth is no longer there. it's not to say the oceans

aren't warming but the transfer of heat from the ocean to the face of the glacier has stopped. frederica: too little, too late, that's the researcher's message. there's no sign that global warming is slowing down but what's happening is warning proof that the speed of change in ocean temperatures can affect the biggest glaciers. brent: moving now to an unlikely place to find kids playing and reading and it is thriving in the indonesian capital. despite choking car fumes and opposition from local gangsters, this open-air children's library in jakarta is offering kids a rare opportunity for reading and learning outside school. rererter: therere are no quiet rules at this library. it's all about play, reading and

entertainment. a shortage of public libraries in jakarta means this space has become a big hit with local kids. >> i like it because i love listening to story telling. stories are fun. it's exciting. reporter: just a few years ago this fly-over was strewn with rubbish and frequented by gangs but then armed with just books, paint and green astroturf for the children to sit on, the library's organizers got to work. severara murals and planter boxers later, the area's reputation began its transformation. >> wee want to make the image of this area under the bridge more positive to the people. before this place was perceived very negativively. there was a lot of rubbish. gangsters were here and made the locals living in the area feel anxious but then we arrived and provided free books because we wanted to bring books closer to the community.

reporter: the idea didn't go down well with locals at first. parents were afraid their children would be kidnapped or hit by a car. and the resident gangs needed persuading to find new turf but it worked and today it's not uncommon to see up to 70 children attending after-school sessions. >> because of where thiss place is, people who are passing by can stop and join in and children can play while also learning. reporter: there haven't been any complaints about the smell, rubbish, or traffic yet. but just in c case, they use a sound system to drown out the noise. brent: to the women's champions league now where two of europe's top clubs met in the second leg of their quarterfinals tie. wolfsburg hosting lyon with the

french club holding a 2-1 lead. >> eight minutes into the match, the fiery mood dampened for the women from wolfsburg. the goalkeeper underestimated the free kick that crossed the goal line. the german national player put lyon ahead. later in the half, another mistake. this time at midfield. and schuldt had no choice but to foul in the area. the referee awarded a penalty kick. she had no trouble and it was 2-0. meaning wolfsburg needed five goals to reach the semifinals. a couple of minutes later they got the first and then the score was leveled 2-2. wolfsburg was dreaming big. lasam of ere made it 3-2.

and later added another for lyon. brent: bayern munich have kept their promise to spend big money for talent, shelling out 80 million euros to sign hernandez, a world cup winner with the french national team. he will join bayern on a five-year contract. he's out with a knee injury but is expected to be ready for the start of next season. the u.s. space agency nasa is facing criticism for canceling what would have been the first all female space walk because they didn't have enough s space suits in the right sidide. astronaut christina -- seen on the left, was to be joined by her colleague, ann mclean. since only one medium sizeded st was available, a male astronaut will have to join her on friday.

it was only during her first spacewalk that she realized that the medium suit fit her best. you're watching "d.w. news." after a short break, i'll be back to take you through the day. tonight, we'll have exclusive and complete coverage of british prime minister theresa may. she always says brexit means brexit. tonight, it may mean her very own political exit. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org.] on france

twenty four and france twenty four dot com. it's nine pm here in paris that you're watching live from parirs you're the headlines this evening. trees may says she will stand down if she gets her withdrawal agreement approved. involved with british prime minister made the announcement to conservative and peas. if the deal gets box she won't leave the country to the next stage. of negotiations more not. coming up in the next half hour. now in algeria the head of a coalition partner in algeria's government is the latest high profile figure to call for president beautifully get to stand down. on it yeah yeah follows the army chief guide saleh who made a similar statement on tuesday we'l'll talk