brent: this is "dw news," live from berlin. tonight, the european union and new sanctions against russia. a threat or a promise? foreign ministers of eu countries say they back punitive measures aimed at those responsible for the jailing of kremlin critic alexei navalny. we will go to brussels for the latest. also coming up tonight, more eu sanctions, this time on myanmar's military. it comes after hundreds of thousands of demonstrators take to the streets amid a general strike.

plus, boeing grounds dozens of its 777 aircraft following a catastrophic engine failure that left a denver suburb littered with plane debris. and from global warming to a glacier warng. how climate change is melting away iceland's famous landscapes, possibly forever. ♪ i'm brent goff. to our viewers on pbs in the united states and to all of you around the world, welcome. tonight, europe is holding russia to account. today, foreign ministers of the european union agreed to sanctions against four senior russian officials who they say are responsible for sending opposition alexey navalny to prison. the sanctions are expected to be formally approved by the eu in march. russia has called the move unlawful.

reporter: protesters in brussels reading aloud just some of the names of the nearly 400 people they say are behind bars in russia for political reasons. they gathered outside the european council headquarters ahead of monday's meeting to demand the eu do more. inside, one particular case was said to be discussed in detail. how best to respond to the jailing of opposition leader alexey navalny. >> here in brussels today, we will discuss whether to order the imposition of new sanctions on russia. in particular, as a result of the conviction of navalny and the fact that he has to serve his sentence in a labor camp. reporter: the result came fairly quickly, with the bloc's 27 foreign ministers voting unanimously to clear the way for fresh sanctions.

the measures are expected to include asset freezes and travel bans for high-ranking officials involved in the imprisonment of navalny. the move is likely to set the eu on a collision course with russia. moscow has previously threatened to retaliate, or even cut ties if new sanctions are applied. despite this, navalny's supporters believe targeted sanctions are the only way forward. >> the strongest measures that could be taken are targeted sanctions against close allies. the most important parts of the oppressive regime he has built. unlike central sanctions against the russian economy, these personal sanctions could not be deemed by russian propaganda for their favor.

reporter: the details of the sanctions are yet to be worked out, but will be announced in the coming weeks. only then will it be clear just how effective they may be. brent: for more now, i am joined by dw's brussels correspondent teri schultz. she is on the story for us tonight. good evening to you, teri. so, what more do we know about the people who are being targeted by these sanctions? teri: well brent, the does not rease the names of the people list until they are vetted, approved, and published. but we do find out about the identities from other sources. and what we know about these first four people is they are going to include the prosecutor general of russia, the head of russia's investigative committee, the head of the prison service, and the head of russia's national guard. now, these people are by no means nobodies. they are pretty high up the food chain in the kremlin. but they are not as close to russian president vladimir putin as supporters of alexei navalny would have liked. in fact, they gave list of 35 names that they would have led to see sanctions being put on,

and those include these wealthy inner circle of russian president putin, the oligarchs. the reasoning behind that is if you make president putin's inner circle uncomfortable, they will put pressure on him to change his ways. but the eu high rep said that is not that easy. let's hear how he explained it. >> when you say punish the oligarchs, well, maybe we don't like the oligarchs, but we have to prove that these people that are going to be sanctioned has a direct participation on the fact that we want to sanction. when we deal with sanctions on the case of navalny, we have to sanction the people who are directly related with his arrest, his sentencing, his prosecution, or his poisoning. brent: so teri, what impacts are we hoping to see, or is the eu hoping to see by taking these

sanction moves against these four people? teri: this is a really important move, brent, because it is the first time the eu is using its global human rights mechanism to punish perpetrators of human rights abuses. so, of course they hope that the direct message is you cannot simply poison your political opponents. you cannot detain 11,000 people simply for expressing their political views. it remains to be seen whether russia does anything differently because of it. it may just ignore this. at the same time, the eu says consistently it wants to have a better relationship with russia, that it wants to return to a constructive relationship, but it does not look like things are going in that direction. brent: and we heard earlier that russia was threatening to break off all ties with the european union if there are these new sanctions. i mean, is that a realistic threat? teri: we may well hear more bluster from the kremlin along those lines. they certainly will be very unhappy that these new sanctions will be going into effect next month.

at the same time, the kremlin really can't afford to cut all ties with the eu, certainly not all financial ties. it's the number one natural gas supplier to the eu, and frankly, brent, it can't afford to turn off that money tap. so we may hear more harsh words but we are unlikely to see a complete breakage of ties. brent: teri schultz with the latest tonight from brussels. teri, as always, thank you. the european union has also agreed to sanction myanmar's military over the coup that took place three weeks ago. diplomats say the sanctions could target companies controlled by the army. the u.n. secretary general antonio guterres has called on the army to immediately halt what he calls its brutal force and repression. thousands of pro-democracy protesters again flooded the streets of major cities on monday as a general strike shut down businesses across the country. the marches continue despite threats of lethal force from the generals.

reporter: rallies across the country despite threats of violence. ahead of monday's general strike, myanmar's military rulers raised the stakes, warning demonstrators they were risking their lives if they continued their, quote, riot and anarchy. undeterred, tens of thousands again flocked to the streets in the biggest act of defiance yet seen in this standoff. [chanting] reporter: scenes like this have been nonstop since a coup ousted democratically elected leader aung san suu kyi three weeks ago. the killing of three people by police has only served to make many protesters more defiant. many have put their jobs on hold to keep up the fight. and they say it is worth the cost. >> today is a day for countrywide protest. we don't want to stay under the control of a military dictatorship, so we came here to

join the protest regardless of lost salaries. nothing will happen to me if my salary is cut, but if we stay under the control of a military dictatorship, we will become their slaves. reporter: it's a sentiment felt in all corners of the country. in the capital naypyitaw, the same defiance. >> i am joining the nationwide protest as a citizen of the country. we must join the protest in this time without fail. so i've closed down my factory and joined the demonstration. >> i am joining the protest to fight against the junta. we don't want to be governed by the regime. it is not worth working for the sake of a group of people. we will fight against them until we win. i will join the protests every day. reporter: a generation unwilling

to give up their freedom and return to a military dictatorship like the one they were born under. brent: earlier, we spoke with journalist dave grunebaum, and we asked him what makes it so different this time that protesters in myanmar are willing to face soldiers and willing to take the bullet. dave: first off, keep in mind that these people got a taste of democracy these last few years. it was not great, there were a lot of problems. democracy was struggling to transition to democracy, this country, after 50 years of military rule, but they got a taste of it and they also saw the economic opportunities that were starting to open up, and they don't want to go back to that. and the parents and grandparents of today do not want their children to grow up the same way that they did. secondly, one of the signs you see protesters hold up is you messed with the wrong generation. and that goes to this smart, tech-savvy generation which has been live-streaming demonstrations out, even when local data networks have been

shut down. some of these demonstrators have foreign sim cards getting that video out. the generals are keenly aware of this. and the generals realize if they were to open fire on mass numbers of demonstrators, that video, that information will get out relatively quickly. whereas in 2007 and 1988, they could try to suppress that for a while. brent: that was journalist dave grunebaum there on the resistance in myanmar. let's take a look now at some of the other stories that are making headlines this hour. in israel, thousands of volunteers are working to clean up a massive oil spilled that has forced beaches to close. authorities are investing getting the source of the spill, which has affected wildlife such as turtles and sea birds. it's been described as one of israel's worst ever ecological disasters. former u.s. president donald trump has lost a supreme court appeal against his tax returns being released to prosecutors. the manhattan district attorney is investing trump for possible tax and insurance fraud. despite the court ruling,

secrecy rules mean the tax returns will not be made public. russian president vladimir putin has hosted his belarusian counterpart alexander lukashenko for a winter sport-filled meeting in sochi. the pair went skiing and rode snowmobiles in the black sea resort, and when they were warmed up, lukashenko thanked putin for supporting belarus financially. british prime minister boris johnson has set out plans for easing coronavirus restrictions in england. measures will be lifted in four steps, starting with the reopening of schools on march 8. johnson says the threat from the virus remains substantial. he said the route out of lockdown should be cautious, but irreversible. let's take a look now at some of the other developments in the pandemic. the death toll in the united states is expected to pass 500,000 today. u.s. president joe biden will mark the grim milestone with a moment of silence and candle

lighting ceremony at the white house. slovakia has called on other european union countries to help with its quote, tragic coronavirus situation. slovakia's foreign minister has requested an advance vaccine shipment as the country battles a record number of cases. and the world's biggest vaccine maker, india's serum institute, says it has been told to prioritize its production of the astrazeneca vaccine for india. it asked other countries to, quote, be patient. communities of exiled uighur muslims in turkey fear that china's recent ratification of an extradition agreement with ankara could see them deported to china to face trials or even imprisonment and torture. turkey hosts the largest exiled population of uighurs in the world, 50,000 of them. they are now urging turkish lawmakers not to approve the extradition arrangement.

reporter: her father, her uncle, her grandfather. several members of her family were arrested or detained in china because they are uighurs. for weeks, she's been joining protests in front of the chinese consulate in istanbul. everyone here has missing relatives. everyone here is hoping for a sign of life. >> these photos are all we have. we're not dangerous, we just want our families back. i don't understand why they are not being released, and why nobody talks to us. maybe they are afraid of us, or afraid of the truth. reporter: stories like hers can be heard by the dozen in the streets. the istanbul district is the center of the exiled uighur community in turkey. but now, tir safe haven seems to be threatened. turkey could soon ratify its

extradition treaty with china. for decades, uighurs fleeing persecution in china have found sanctuary here in turkey. the country hosts one of the largest uighur diaspora l mmunities in the world. like this man.uiur restaurant. the thought of possibly being deported worries him. >> if turkey sends us back to china, they will p us in jail forever or shoot us dead. reporter: this lawyer represents many uighur refugees. he has a folder full of extradition requests from china. there have been no deportations so far, he says, but pressure from beijing is growing. >> especially during the coronavirus pandemic, chinese investments have become very important for turkey's troubled economy.

two major chinese mobile phone companies have recently announced that they want to invest here, and turkey relies on the chinese-made vaccine. i think china uses all of that to exert pressure on turkey. reporter: china has given turkey massive financial pport in recentears, with investments in infrastructure, in ports and bridges, but also with credits and loans. however, this has not affected the turkish position on the uighurs, the ruling party says. >> this extradition treatyith china is about criminals. we have similar agreements wh 32 other countries. it is extremely wrong to present it as an agreement between our uighur brothers and sisters. reporter: she says she has always been grateful to the turkish government for its support of the uighurs. but should the extradition agreement with china be ratified, she fears her name could also appear on a

deportation list. >> i'm now an activist. the fact that i am searching for my father d other relatives makes me a criminal in china's eyes. now i'm afraid what has happened to others could one day happen to me. reporter: but she does not want to give up her protest. be silent. disappear in the crowd. she wants for the fate of her family to not be forgotten. brent: the aircraft manufacturer boeing is facing another setback. airlines have grounded more than 100 of its 777 jets worldwide after a jet engine caught fire over the u.s. city of denver over the weekend. large sections of the engine broke off and fell down onto a neighborhood. boeing says 777's with that engine type should not fly until an investigation has been carried out. reporter: momes of horror for

the 231 passengers and 10 crew members aboard the boeing 777 200 en route from denver to honolulu. one of the plane's engines exploded into flames and debris rained down to the ground. >> and it was like, the worst 20 minutes. i was just praying and i was like, this cannot be it. i was in disbeef tlihat all this vacation we had planned for months, and my life will be ending like that. reporter: the plane made an emergency landing in denver. no injuries were reported, but united airlines announced that it would ground 24 aircraft until the national transportation safety board finished its investigation. a total of 128 boeing 777's are affected. the large twin jets are grounded for the time being. most are older models, and that includes the 26-year-old united plane.

all of the boeing 777 200's in question have pratt & whitney pw 4000 engines. boeing has delivered 1600 of the planes. japanese authorities have now issued a flight ban as a precaution, affecting japan airlines and another. this has not been the first problem with the boeing 777 200. on december 4, there was a similar engine failure. brent: i want to bring in journalist and aviation expert julian bray. he joins me tonight from cambridge. mr. bray, it is good to see you again. let's talk about this 777 in question. the pilots of these planes, they are trained to be able to fly these planes with just one engine. is that correct? julian: that is correct. and in fact, not only did they fly this plane with one engine,

but they also flew it with the other engine in flames. and they very calmly did the routine checklist and checked everything out and realized that they could not extinguish the problem, so they requested that they return to denver airport, and they did, and they landed 23 minutes later. nobody was hurt, everybody got off. and would you believe, the aircraft itself was largely undamaged. it was just e area around this particular engine. brent: yeah, i mean, it is amazing. as people were saying, it is a miracle they were able to land and no one was injured. what about, though, the reputation of boeing right now? this definitely has to be another blow for the company. julian: well, it's the reputation of pratt & whitney, because these 777's, they either have the pratt & whitney engine. this is theitrademark, i can show it to you here, and it says on it, dependable engines. so i am afraid they e going to have to change that.

or you could have the option of rolls-royce engines. now, u.k. airlines do have these aircraft, but they are fitted with rolls-royce, and the rolls-royce-powered version of the aircraft is not grounded. so, i should say that the u.k. has also excluded this particular aircrt, or itscent the investigations are complete. so, it's quite a thing. it's going be a major investigation. already the black boxes, that is the flight data voice recorders, have been recovered, and they have been taken to a laborory in washington, and they are going to be decoded. and so, you'll find that throughout the world that everybodis checking these aircraft very closely. brent: we understand over the weekend there was a similar

incident with the same type ofe netherlands. i mean, it's rather bizarre that you could have this type of accident happen the same weekend, the same plane. what does that tell us about these engines? julian: well, these engis are state-of-the-art, and they have fans, rbo fans. the fans inside are hollow, and it's peculiar to this type of engine. normally they are solid, but these ones are hollow. and what seems to have happened is that one has fractured, one fractured right at the base, and that is actually knocked into another one, and that pushed another one through the side faring, and then through the front cowl. so, these bits of the engine were detached and they fell into the neighborhood, as we have heard. luckily nobody was hurt there, but that's the problem with that. meanwhile, the eine is still

operating normally with flames coming out of it. but they actually got back to denver airport. brent: yeah, and luckily no one was hurt. aviation expert julian bray. as always, it is good to talk to you. we appreciate your time and your insights tonight. thank you. make peace with nature. that is the call from the united nations environment assembly tonight. representatives from nearly 200 countries are meeting virtually to address urgent environmental issues. most pressing are global warming, pollution, and protecting nature. reporter: in a district of nairobi, this environmental activist and his youth group are planting trees for the climate instead of waiting for politicians to take action. the trees have all been donated and the work is voluntary. >> if you can do big things, do big things. if you can do a small thing, do that. but don't do nothing.

that is the worst thing you can do. reporter: the u.n. would like to see more people plant trees and join in the fight against environmental pollution. the amount of garbage produced worldwide has doubled in the past 10 years, according to a new report by the u.n. environment program. biodiversity is also under threat. around one million animal and plant species face extinction. and the ongoing climate crisis is having serious consequences. the u.n. environmental organization has called it a war against nature, and strongly advises the world to make peace. the two-day meeting is taking place online rather than at the u.n. headquarters in nairobi due to the coronavirus pandemic. one of the most important questions will be what will happen to the many billions of euros from the global covid-19 aid fund. >> as governments, we arfaced with a choice. we can perpetuate our old economic a social structures with traditional econoc recovery plans. or we can invest in sustainable and inclusive future.

reporter: germany had already committed an additional 68 million euros last year to support developing countries during the pandemic. brent: in iceland, the effects of climate change are plain to see. melting ice has resulted in radical changes to the island's famous landscape. scientists are now sounding the alarm over the pace of global warming and its effects on the country's glaciers. they fear that iceland is approaching a glacier-free future. reporter: the beauty of the glacier lagoon is breathtaking. baby icebergs bob up out of the water. it's as though time has stood still, and we are seeing the earth as it was in the great ice age. but appearances can deive. the lagoon is less than one-century-old, and it's expanding every year because of global warming. the lagoon is filled with water melting from the glacier.

>> when you know what is happening here, you have a vision of, well, it is very beautiful, it is very attractive, but the glacier is disappearing. reporter: he and other glaciologists explain the glacier is retreating rapidly, leaving deep gorges which fill up with its meltwater. >> 10 years ago the glacier was here, and i just walked here, and this was the surface of the ice here. so, i remember it very clearly. reporter: the lagoon has increased fourfold since the late 1970's. >> it's quite different in these 40 years. i think it has gone back about two kilometers. and even not going back, it has

also been less and less. reporter: melting has left holes inside the ice. caves, where we can see the ice dripping away. if global warming is not tackled, this huge, ancient glacier will disappear over the next few hundred years. brent: and we have been warned. after a short break, i will be back to take you through "the day." tonight, easing england out of the coronavirus lockdown. we'll be right back. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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>> welcome to live from paris. world news and analysis from "france 24" these are the headlines. out of lockdown. boris johnson announces a four stage plan to be out of restrictions by june. with a warning that many more may die. iran has gone through with his promise to block snap inspections of nuclear facilities. as the supreme leader says they might enrich uranium. discussions continue. italy's