from berlin. the case for the defense of donald trump's impeachment trial -- his lawyer tells senators the former u.s. president is the victim of a witchhunt. trump's team denies that he incited the riot and calls the trial an act of vengeance. also coming up, the united nations human rights council calls for the release of the ousted myanmar leader. protesters against the military accuse the authorities of using excessive force. we will hear from the un's top diplomat on myanmar.

also coming up, kremlin critic, alexa navalny, and courts again come already jailed, charged with slandering a war veteran. tensions between russia and the european union over navalny's state are rising. and, mario draghi takes over as italy's new prime minister. now the economist is credited with saving the nation, ravaged by the pandemic, amid a crippling recession. ♪ i am anthony howard. to our viewers on pbs in the u.s. and around the world, welcome. we start in the usa, where president trump's defense lawyers are opening their impeachment defense by denying that trump played any part in inciting the capitol hill riots. they are decrying the case has political vengeance and calling it a witchhunt. their position is clear. trump holds no responsibility for violence of the january 6

riots. they say only those who actually stormed the capitol are to blame. >> the article of impeachment now before the senate is an unjust and blatantly unconstitutional act of political vengeance. this appalling abuse of the constitution only further divides our nation, when we should be trying to come together around shared priority. anthony: we are now joined by marie ziegler, law professor at florida state university. welcome. today it's time for trump team to mount their defense. what will be their strategy? >> it's been a kind of mixed message. his lawyers are asserting the entire proceeding is unconstitutial. because in their view, you can't impeach a former elected official. a private citizen. they are arguing the what are you, but what am i kind of defense.

that democrats have used words like fight, too. that it is unreasonable to blame trump for incitement. they are arguing that it was not eminent. he was not telling people to go march to the capitol right now. they are trying to portray democrats as a sort of disorder in american politics. saying essentially trump was a president of law and order. from what we have seen so far, it looks in large part that there has been a lot of rehashing of a lot of favorite trump's talking points. anthony: in between the words and video and to the angst, the numbers are still on trump's sides. democrats need 17 republican senators to join them to convict. just how likely is that? >> it is not very likely. we already have a sense that all but six of the republicans are on record as voting that the entire impeachment is unconstitutional. and we have no real reason to think they will depart from that.

so it is quite unlikely they will -- there will be a conviction. anthony: given the fact that trump will almost certainly not be impeached, what do democrats stand to win from this process? >> i think when democrats started the process, they were not sure that it would be impossible to win a conviction. it was a little bit of a role in the dice -- roll of the dice. now that the vote about the constitutionality of the proceedings has happened, democrats are really trying their case more in the court of public opinion and trying to find -- trying to define former president trump's legacy with the american public as one that led to insurrection, violence, and chaos. because to some degree, the american public is watching even if some gop senators have teamed up. anthony: thanks so much. >> thanks for having me. anthony: here are some more of the stories making headlines around the world now. dozens of tunisians have blocked

roads in the southern region in protest of what they see as broken government promises. last november, the government pledged to create hundreds of jobs and fund -- and a fund to support economic projects. those have not materialized, say sources. the ukrainian president has visited the frontline of the conflict in eastern ukraine after two ukrainian soldiers were killed in clashes with russia-backed separatists. zelensky said attacks had increased recently and accused of the separatists of wanting to disrupt a cease-fire agreed last july. china's space agency has released the first footage showing its probentering the orbit of ms. after a simonth journey, the crafslowed enough to be captured by mars' gravity. it is the second spacecraft to reach the red planet this month. the u.n.'s top human rights body is calling for the release of the ousted myanmar leader. in a special session, the council urged the military

leaders to restore civilian rule. he was detained by the military that seized power 12 days ago, blaming the civilian government of failing to properly investigate allegations of fraud in the november elections. the commission has denied such claims. -- the election commission has denied such claims. let's talk more about this now with tom andrews, the u.n. special rapporteur on myanmar, who took part in this meeting. tom, welcome. the resolution was adopted unanimously. russia and china, myanmar's staunchest supporters and actors, also agreed. how is that possible? >> [lauger] that's a very good question. as you know, china has just traditionally been the protector of myanmar for the united nations, particularly the security council, providing them with weapons and trade. it was, i think, a reflection of the very strong view of the world. looking at this outrageous act

by the military, of overthrowing a developing democracy, a fragile democracy, after and collection -- after an election on november 8, after the very day the new government was forming. so it was outrageous. and it was inexcusable. i think the aftermath of this, th the massi protestsnd the veryeavy-handed mess of -- heavy-handedness of the military, combined to make it very difficult for anyone, including china or russia, to vote against resolution. anthony: can you get the message through to myanmar's military leaders, and what do you think that will do and say in response? >> ty are saying they had choice. that they had to do this. ere were millions of voting irregularities. so for the good of the country they just had to overthrow the government. regardss of what kind of irregularities might

have existed, you do not address problems you have in an election by destroying a democracy. it is just cometely outreous. we have found in the past that myanmar generals would often say they are impervious to international presre, so don't even try. but when preure has be tried, particularly targeted economic pressure, sanctions, it's had an effect. and the progress that we've seen made in the democracy of myanmar is precisely linked to the sanctions thatave been established in theast. so i think give the international community can respond strongly, clearly, forcefully, and begin to build clear sanctions, economic sanctions, an arms embargo, diomatic -- it could have an effect. but it is critical that it does. because the heavy-handed tactics of the military on the ground is showing an increase.

we know what this military is capable of. so we have a lot of work to do. anthony: you draw the line at the sanctions. at the session, you called for targeted sanctions. how hopeful are you that we will see these come into play? >> i'm hopeful. the ited states has started this. there's active discussio going on with the european unionwith the u.k., canada, australia, many other countries. i think if we are le to coordinate theanctions, make them work together, the collective bite of those sanctions coulhave an imct. so i'm hopel. i'm certaiy more hopeful of that than i am of what the military might be doing and what they could do to people who are on the streets. they have, in the past, massacred democracy activists,

killed those protestg. we all know what they dia few years ago. the mass atrocity crimes committed against the rohingya, the ethnic minority. we've got to push this forward, the economic sanction plan. diplomatic pressure. and try as hard as we can to make it work. >> -- anthony: tom andrews, u.n. special rapporteur on myanmar, thank you so much. germany has become the latest country to revoke broadcasting permission for ctgn, china's multilingual cable news channel. they said the moveas triggered by an earlier decision by the united kingdom's office of communications to revoke the chinese station's permit. they had been broadcasting in germany under a license sharing agreement with the u.k. other european countries could also now remove cgtn from cable and satellite services. in response to that decision,

china has banned bbc world news in its territory. it's the latest example of how media networks are affected by geopolitical tensions. for more, i am joined by our dw reporter. joel, how did we get here? >> for the past two weeks, five international news channels have been banned in different parts of the world. let's start with cgtn. the u.k. regulator fnd the company listed as the owner of cgtn was actually not in direct control of its programming, required under u.k. law. rather, it said the chinese come in's party was in charge of the station. it had also investigated about fairness and accuracy on the hong kong protests. china's media regulator retaliated by blocking the bbc in its territory. saying the bbc had infringed principles of truthfulness and impartiality in journalism. they were particularly angry about some of the bbc's coverage of persecution against the uighur minority.

which is something that dw has also covered. the bbc was already heavily restricted in china. it was basically only available in some hotels and also on hong kong public radio. but it's been pulled off aaron hong kong, too. -- air in hong kong, too. anthony: we've also witnessed moves against russian news outlets here in europe. >> the ukraine pulled the plug on three russian television networks. president vladimir zelensky, he said they were splashing russian propaganda and were instruments of war. heavy criticism from the ukrainian union of journalists, who said it was blocking access to informationnd was an attack on freedom of expression. also, the baltics state, latvia, has blocked several russian language tv stations, saying they violated broadcast rules. anthony: areli they shutting do, stamping out propaganda, or blocking free speech? >> i spoke to the international press institute, the ipi. they monitor press freedom around the world. they say a media shutdown is a very serious decision.

it should only mad -- only be made through a transparent process. in the case of the u.k., the ipi says it does believe a transparent process was followed, but china's retaliation was arbitrary and didn't follow any rules. in the case of the ukraine, they said there are some concerns that not enough evidence was presented in the case against those russian tv stations. i asked the ipi's deputy director, scott griffin, why we should be concerned about these kind of media shutdowns. >> in general, you lose a voice. and media pluralism is a good thing in gener. it is a very severe measure. any time shut down a media outletr broadcaster, you are losing a source of information. that can be debated whether that information is credible or not, but you do lose that. large decisis like this that taet media outlets as somehow foreign agents and

presentatives of foreign governments,hat has a trickle-down effect. not just othose particular journals, who may now carry that label, but in general. it starts to generate this perspective in people's minds that all journalists have this so of idlogy the are puing, therepresent some sort of force, and that is a problem. and that is something that we e really everywhere at the moment, and we feel that it is what is driving a lot of the attacks on the streets against journalists, in particular by protesters and demonstrators everywhere. so this is a big issue. anthony: we should also mention that dw is actually banned in some countries, china and iran. that applies to the tv news coverage you are watching right now, but also digital news. however, there is a workaround. if you're using the dw news app, there is a button that says proxy, and if you click it, it will be routed through a mirror server. although governments may try to

stop news from spreading, technology usually finds a workaround. anthony: with all the answers, thank you so much. kremlin critic, alexei navalny, has appeared in court accused of defaming a world war ii veteran. the russian opposition leader is already in jail for violating his probation while recovering from a poisoning attack. eu leaders are calling for his release and considering sanctions on russia. the russian foreign minister has in return threatened to sever ties with the bloc. reporter: how russia treats this man and his supporters is affecting russia's relations with the european union. opposition leader, alexei navalny, was arrested in january on his return to russia and jailed soon afterwards. navalny is facing more court cases, which his supporters say are politically motivated. the eu is considering leveling new sanctions on moscow during

an interview with the russian youtube channel, russia's foreign minister suggested the country could break ties with the eu if sanctions become a reality. >> if we see again, as we have felt more than once, that sanctions imposed in some areas create risks to our economy, including in the most sensitive spres, sucas suppls of parts and components, i'm convinced with regards to the military, we have become completely self-sufficient. we need to achieve the same situation in the ecomy. yes, once again, we do not want to be isolated from ternational life. but we must be ready for that, if you want peace, we prepared for war. -- be prepared for war. reporter: a spokesman for the kremlin tried to play down the comments and said russia wants to develop ties with the bloc. but relations are at their lowest point since the cold war.

the european foreign affairs chief met with his russian counterpart in moscow last week to discuss navalny's case. and during those talks, moscow announced it was expelling diplomats from germany and other eu states. for attending protests by navalny's supporters. after the incident, he said russia's going down a worsened authoritarian wrote without room for democratic alternatives. some eu lawmakers say they do not believe the russian foreign minister would make good on his threat to sever ties. >> from my point of view, no one should be surprised about that. russia would be shooting itself

in the foot if it wants toreak off ties with the eu. reporter: and nordstream 2 is one of those ties. this gigantic pipeline project is meant to bring russian gas into europe and is almost finished. it's not clear whether ne sanctis would affect this project, worth billions of euros. the venture is controversial, and some eu member states support it, but berlin is committed to it. anthony: mario draghi has agreed to serve as a new prime minister of italy. the 73-year-old economist said he was ready to lead a national unity government designed to manage the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, which has ravaged italy and sparked a deep recession. he was asked to step in by the president when the outgoing prime minister resigned after being unable to build political consensus.

the new government is to be sworn in on saturday, with votes expected early next week in both houses of parliament. for more on this, let's go to our correspondent. what are the most urgent topics for the new pressman -- for the new prime minister, mario draghi? >> mr. draghi has made it very clear, taking of course his cue from the president, the first issue is dealing with the pandemic. dealing with the vaccination program, which started out well in italy, but then has been hit with many delays, differences in terms of different regions, how some are doing better than others. that is one key issue he will be tackling. and of course, that is the health crisis, but there is also the financial crisis, the economic crisis italy is facing. it was already in a recession before the pandemic. that has only been worsened. more than 400,000 jobs have been

lost in the last one year. so dealing with employment, the economy, and of course, most keenly, european union recovery money. -- recovery fund money. that is expected tcome in more than 200 blion euros, coming up with a plan in terms of how they are going to spend that money to help italy deal with all these various financial issues. so it is both the health and the wealth, if you like, in terms of the crises the country is facing. th is his most immediate task, at least that is what he said he is expected to deal with. anthony: what does the new cabinet tell us about the course draghi wants to take for the country? >> it is interting to note, looking at the cabinet he announced earlier is eveni, for instce, key posts like the health minister, part of the previous government, he will continue. as well as the interior minister

and the key posts of the foreign mister, the will remain the same. but we see a clear mix of executives, technocrats, if you like, but also a very stng political backing, with a lot of political gures across the board. so while italy has seen technocrats prime ministers in the past, this time around, you are seeing a clear mix in terms of a few executive and technocrats pos, but also many political parties. these are political parties that were rivals not too long ago, and now they are being forced to come together, to work together in this national unity government. anthony: thank you so much. the world health organization is set to publish the conclusions of its wuhan investigation in the coming week. the mission spent four weeks in china looking into the origins

of the covid-19 outbreak. speaking in geneva, it was said that who conducted a "very important scientific exercise and very difficult circumstances." here's a little more of what he had to say. >> some questions have been raised as to whether some hypotheses have been discarded. having spoken with some members of the team, i wish to confirm that paul hypotheses remain open and require -- all hypotheses remain open and require further analysis and studies. some of that work may lie outside the remnant and scope of this mission. we have also said that this mission would not find all the answers, but it has other important information to -- information that takes us

closer to understanding the origins of the virus. the mission achieved a better understanding of the early days of the pandemic and identified areas for further analysis and research. anthony: at the beginning of the pandemic, sweden decided not to follow other governments in imposing a harsh lockdown. sweden has suffered a high death rate than its nordic neighbors, but fewer fatalities than some countries that did close down. the relaxed approach is a magnet for young visitors, but many swedes themselves are not so sure. reporter: at first glance, this looks like life before the pandemic. friends, hugging each other, going on a shopping spree. in stockholm, we are allowed to do this. sweden hasn't imposed a lockdown. instead, authorities rely on people to use common sense. and these young people see this as an invitation to come visit. corey says he came from ireland two months ago to enjoy life and quickly found like-minded people. >> it feels good to get a

coffee, it feels good to be able to go to the gnasium, getting on a bus, getting on a tin wiout being costed by police members or possible security teams. it feels good to be alive and existing as a young person should be existing. reporter: many of the other guests in the stockholm hostel agree, they have come here from across europe, from italy, france, and germany -- many fleeing the covid-19 restrictions in their homeland. >> i simply discovered here, it was full of other ones like me, here for theame reason, to continue to be alive. reporter: they live in rooms like this with eight beds and the windows for weeks at a time. she came here after graduating from high school. >> when i came here weekend and a ha ago and saw people in restaurants talking and eating together normally, without masks, i thought i was dreaming. on the other hand, i cannot

forget what it's like in germany right now. reporter: sweden has both mandatory and voluntary restrictions. residents who can are asked to stay home. there's a ban on serving alcohol in the evening and masks are only recommended during rush hour. there have been more than 12,000 covid-19 deaths in a population of 10 million. this has left some doubtful. when this 82-year-old fell ill, doctors refused to give him intensive medical care. but after pressure from his daughter, he received treatment. >> i was angry. i wondered if this was really the right way to go. why are we doing this? it's not working. we know that young people can spread this disease. the whole thing is far from over. it will keep us busy for some time to come. reporter: but corey is enjoying the freedom of the swedish way. like going to a café or a bar. it is something the irishman no longer wants to do without, so he cannot imagine returning home

anymore. instead, he's looking for a job that will allow him to extend his stay in sweden. anthony: china has rung in the lunar new year, kicking off a week long nationwide festival. colorful illuminations and red lanterns, a symbol of good luck welcoming in the year of the ox. it is the second year in a row that covid-19 has cast a shadow over the celebrations. the holiday normally sees the world's biggest annual migration, as people across china visit their families. this year, the government is telling those same people to stay put. and a reminder before we go over the top stories we are following this hour -- donald trump's lawyers have opened the case for the defense in his impeachment trial. the former u.s. president is a victim of a witch hunt, they said. trump team denied he incited the capitol riot and called the trial an active vengeance -- an act of vengeance. the former european central bank chief, mario draghi, has agreed

to serve as a new prime minister of italy. he says he's ready to lead the government, steering italy out of the pandemic and the resulting recession. you are watching dw news. after a short break, i will be back to take you through the day. you can always get the latest news on our website, dw.com. you can also follow us on twitter and instagram, the handle is @dwnews. stay tuned. i will be back shortly with "the day." [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

thomas: hello. you're watching france 24, and these are the latest headlines. former president donald trump's lawyers tell the senate he did not order the riots which left five people dead at the u.s. capitol. mario draghi formally accepts the italian president's offer to become the next prime minister. the former head