The capital has been hardest hit as a second wave of the virus sweeps across the country. And making a difference the alternative nobel prize for human rights is announced. We will take a look at those honored for their activism. Im brent goff. Two viewers watching on pbs in the United States and to all of your around the world, welcome. We begin tonight with the question who speaks for europe . At a summit in brussels, eu leaders are trying to agree on an answer. Sanctions against belarus, a joint approach on turkey, and how to distribute coronavirus recovery funds those are some of the issues demanding attention and unity. Delegates are hoping the summit will help break a deadlock over sanctions against belarus. He has become the unlucky center of attention. The president of cyprus has caused a big sterling leap. Cyprus has long been the only european state opposing sanctions against belarus, and the eu requires a unanimous decision to post those measures. The eu risks losing credibility if cyprus continues to block the sanctions. The situation in belarus is deteriorating. They have continuing violations of human rights. Cyprus says it is only willing to agree to sanctions if fellow eu governments also sanction turkey because it is drilling for gas in an area of the Mediterranean Sea that cyprus sees as its territory, but the bloc is split on this. German chancellor Angela Merkel says she is in favor of finding a diplomatic solution to the dispute. I point out that our relationship with turkey is obviously very complex. The European Union has great interest in developing a constructive relationship with turkey, despite all the problems. We support turkey hosting so many refugees. The economically powerful bloc still has to position itself clearly and not only on regional powers like turkey but also when it comes to finding a common decision on emerging superpower china. Europe has to better protect its indepependence and resilien. It has to be seeeen as a geostrategic power. Several foreignpolicy disputes are currently dividing the eu. Different members are blocking progress, posing the question if the union is really able to exert united influence on a global level. Brent every question. A big question. Its a long list of issues to go through. Lets start with turkey. Is the European Union headed closer to solving the Mediterranean Gas dispute . It doesnt seem thats the case. Right now, we are hearing that the german chancellor and french president are speaking directly with greece and cyprus to try to break the deadlock on that matter. However, we are also hearing that the first draft of conclusions of the matter was rejected by greece and cyprus according to unconfnfirmed reports, the draft was saying that the European Union was ready to use all instruments at its disposal to make sure the sovereignty of greece and cyprus is respected and calling on turkey to stop its actions in the eastern mediterranean. At the same time, this draft was reportedly offering a positive euturkey agenda, and that was rejected by cyprus and greece. They said that it is too much caret too much carrot and not enough stick. Brent we have to keep in mind that cyprus has effectively linked two issues here. Thats the problem. With cyprus not giving up its blockade of the belarus sasanctions, we are not going to see anything on the ground on this matter, and this is, of course, very embarrassing for the European Union. Theyve been talking about sanctions againstst belelus officials for weeeeks now. Nothing has happened so far, and the longer that continues, the mo europes commitment to upholding certain values such as democracy and the right to vote in free and Fair Elections is called into question. Brent thank you. The u. K. s departure from the European Union may become a matter for the courts. The eu launched legal action against britain after the u. K. Refused to drop controversial legislation that would violate the Brexit Agreement and break international law. The European Commission president announced the move in brussels ahead of todays summit. Brussels had given london a hard deadline. Europes british friends, as ursula von der leyen puts it, had been given until wednesday to revise their proposal. Because london did not react, brussels is not doing so. The commission has decided to send a letter of formal notice to the u. K. Government. This is the first step in an infringement procedure. The letter invites the u. K. Government to send its observations within a month. The british lower house only approved the controversial internal market bill on tuesday. It would nullify the border agreement on Northern Ireland in the already existing brexit treaty. The earlier deal was meant to avoid a physical border with eu member ireland. London says it will add to the letter in due course. This dispute puts a further strain on talks with it and over and free trade deal. If no agreement is reached, theres the risk of a heart exit and the reintroduction of custom duties. Brent charlotte is covering the story for us from london. Charlotte the eu lauaunching legal action against the u. K. Certainly makes for dramatic reading. This, aftfter all, could end upn the european courts for justitie and shows the eu means business. The big question is will this disputute derail ongoing t trade negotiations. Ththey doesnt look like it yet, anand the legal timeline will be key. The eu and u. K. Have said they want to see a trade deal done, and in the words of the Irish Foreign minister, the contentious issues within the u. K. Internal market bill will become largely irrelevant if a deal is done. Not a game changer yet, but there are v voices on both sides who say at the very least, this controversy will undermine trust in the u. K. Brent lets take a look at some of the other stories making headlines araround the world. Prototesters in the mongolian capital have demanded the release of ethnic mongolians who were arrested in china for criticizing and language policy in schools. The requirement to teach certain subjects in mandarin rather than in mongolian has sparked protests weeks of protests. Thursday came a visit by u. S. Secretary of state mike pompeo. Police in hong kong have arrested dozens of activists who were defying a ban on protests. It comes as the city marked the 75th anniversary of the falling of the peoples republic of china. Officials cited security concerns and coronavirus restrictions. Russian Opposition LeaderAlexey Navalny has accused Vladimir Putin of being behind his poisoning with a soviet era nerve agent. Navalny has posted comments online as his recovery in germany progresses. In his first interview, navalny said, i dont have any other versions of how the crime was committed. At least f four people have b bn killed and a den other injured in wildfires in ukraine. Authorities in the youou in e Luhansk Region say forests have been destroyed by fierce flames. Residents are being evacuated from the area. Spains government has ordered the capital madrid back into lockdown amid a surge of coronavirus infections. The countrys Health Minister said new cases in the madrid region accounted for almost 44 of new infections across the country in the past 24 hours. The Regional Government had opposed the measures but now says it will comply and instead launch a legal challenge against the lockdown. This hustle and bustle could soon become a thing of the past. As madrid prepares for its second lockdown. s disaster rating not knowing what will happen tomorrow, but i understand that given how cases are increasing in madrid, a lockdown is the only solution, so we will have to do it. The Spanish Government had little choice but to act. Conservative regional leaders fiercely oppose plans to lockdown the capital. After weeks of political infighting, they finally agreed on thursday. For now, they agreed measures are mild compared to those spain and forced throughout the entire country in spring. This time, residents will not be restricted to their homes but will still be able to venture outside to go to school or work or to go shopping. Crossing borders for nonessential reasons will not be allowed, but ours and restaurants will be permitted to operate at 50 capacity, though they will have to close early. Some fear this could be too little too late. The measures the Spanish Government have proposed are in my opinion insufficient because they are minimal, but they could contribute to preventing the collapse we had in march. The economic consequences the coming lockdown could have on those already in dire straits are also a concern. If we have a new lockdown in madrdrid, sales will drop by 30 or 40 , but health comes first. The measures seem fine to me if we can continue Economic Activity inside the city. As long as we can keep that up so people dont lose their jobs and the crisis does not become worse than the epidemic. The coming weeks will show if this frail political compromise will suffice to turn the tide of madrids rising infections. Brent lets take the story now to madrid. Our generalist is inside the zone in this new lockdown. Has anyone offered an explanation how the spanish capital has become one of europes corononavirus hototspos yet again . N . W well, theres manyy possibe exexplanatations. One of themm is a lack of c cont tracing that t this region hasas been l lacking. Probabably the main explplanatin might be the slow w respononse,e delay. The measures shohould have been taken weeks ago. For example, catalonia had a very high transmission rate, and now they have a around 200 ls than 200 cases per 100,000 people. Madrid has been inspecting andnd watching how they knew coronavirus cases were piling up, and thehey were not reallyy ready to take clear action. That also had to do with the fight between the Central Government of the socialist party and conservative government of the madrid region fighting onn who is goining to e the blame for t the meaeasures d who will t take the blame forore high transmission. That might be one of the main reasons. Still, wee dontt have thosese measures in placace after two weeks. Brent its just astounding considering what madrid, what spain went through earlier this year that youre in this situation yet again. The Regional Government, as you were saying, wants to challenge this new lockdown by going to court. What do youou think thehe chancs are of the regioional gogovernmt winning . G . Welell, is complicated. Judges here in spain most of the time have backed restrictive measures aimed at controlling the virus, but this is a different situation because at the bottom of all these problems is how the decision was taken in the Regional Council of Public Health that governs the regions in spain and the Central Government. The g governmenent of spain saie decision should have beenen takn by consensus, and the e ministry ofof health s says the ministrys the abilitity and the power to rulele. They h have not yet filed a case in the suprememe courtrt, so wel stilneeded to see what the judge is going to say, if h hes goiog to stotop this mission or r lett go. Brent correspondent Jaime Velasquez reporting from madrid tonight where that lockdown is going into effect. Thank you. Lets move now to the coronavirus developments. The latest developments around the worl. There was a 61 increase in positive covid19 cases in england. The latest weekly data reports from the countrys test and trace scheme show more than 331 thousand people tested positive in midseptember. In italy, a proposal has been put forward by the Prime Minister to extend the covid19 state of emergency until the end of january 2021. Germany has classified individual regions in 11 eu countries as high risk areas belgium, iceland, wales, and Northern Ireland are now included on the list. The new University Semester starts today here in germany, and for lots of students, that means learning from their laptops rather than inside the lecture hall, but the pandemic has also left many in precarious situations, especially those from abroad who receive less state support. Others planning to study abroad have not been able to get to their universities at all and are even having trouble across different time zones. This was not how he imagine student life in germany. This whole first semester canceled. He came from berlin to o study d a still here, though the pandemic has also cost him his student job. He worries that means his resisidence permit wilill not be extended. We have to show 10,0,000 eurs in our bank account to get visa. I dont know how i w will manage this 10,000 euro. Theres no job. Im not getting any help from government. Hes studying for a a doctore in economics at university of australia. She wanted to be there in the spring but is stop in berlin. She has to keep up with her lectures online. 12 00 p. M. Theheir time is 40 a. M. Our time inin berlin. If i have classes at 10 00 a. M. Their time, i havave to be awawe at 2 00 a. M. M. Despite the regular hours, shes gotten used to online learning. At any point in time, if i want to go back too lecture, i can just do it. I can click a button anand rewah the e lecture. It gives me a little bit of support when you think about it. She gets financial help from relatives and is trying to make the best of things until she can finally get to australia. He did not like living on his own in empty student housing, so he has moved in with friends, but he still has to pay 300 euros a month in rent. He feels germany has let down foreign students like him. All this money is going to the economy. Maybe somehow they should find a way to o give us soso bacack ine situation. s whole family in bangladesh has been infected with the coronavirus. His parents have lost most of their income and are counting on their sons education. For him, thats a big responsibility. My dream of pursuing a Higher Education to fulfill my goals, they all can be jeopardized. I do not tell them these things because if i tell them, it will be more stress for them, and i dont want this for them. Hes s hoping to find a new b and renew his visa so he can get on with what he came to germany for to study. Brent its known as the alternative nobel prize for human rights. The winners of the right livelihood award were announced today. Organizers say the activists were picked for their dedication to fighting for democracy in their communities. It highlights the increasing threats to democracy globally. Its high time that all of us in favor of democracy around the world stand up and support each other. Brent as we said, organizers of the right livelihood award have announced this years winners. They were chosen from a list of 180 two nominees. The nomination process is open to all individuals and organizations for contributions to sustainability, equality, and peace. One of the awards is a joint honor for the Human Rights Center and its chairman. You see right there, he campaigns for freedom and democracy in belarus. Another recipient is the iranian human rights lawyer who is currently behind bars. She was put in prison after defending women who were arrested for protesting against irans compulsory headscarf laws. Another winner was a lawyer from the mosquito intimate indigenous group. She defends Indigenous People in nicaragua as they fight for control of their land and resources. And another laureate is a leading civil rights lawyer who has dedicated his life to the pursuit of racial equality by challenging institututional racm in the United States. Thats where we want to go right now. Joining me from my camera, alabama, is one of the four recipients of the right livelihood award 2020. Its good to have you on the show. Tell me, what did you think when you heard you were one of the recipients . I i was reaeally honored. When i found out who the other rerecipients were, i w was evene honored to be in the company of people who were doing such exextraordinarary things to prot basic human rights around the world at great personal cost was very affirmiming, and im energized and excited t to be recognized in this way, particularly at this m moment in the u. U. S. When n we are dealing with so much complexitity and challenge and fear about the future of our nation. Brent you were quoted in the new yorker as saying that changing the way we police, prosecute, judge, and punish is the essence of criminal justice reform. Theres a lot in that sentence, and its hard in the United States to find consensus on how to make that reform move forward. What needs to be done right now in your opinion . I think we have to first recognizize that the fact thahae haveve the higighest rate of incarcrceration in ththe world a problem. Our prisison population has gone from about 200,000 throughout most of f the 20th century to or 2. 2 million today. We have some 6 Million People on parole. Therere are 70 million americans with arrest histories, which means they try to get jobobs or loans, they are disfavored, creatiting a permanentnt undercs in the country. We been terrible things to o won over the last ququartercentury. All of these things colollide wh the larger problem of raciall inequalility, this history of racicial injustice, and d the bu of justice projected in 2001 that one in three e black mamale bababies in america is expectedo go to jail or prison, and there was no response. I thinink the first thinwewe hae to do is acknowledge that we have a very y serious problem ad we havave to reckon with this lg history ofof racial ininequalitd currrrent on this s problem of r incarceration. Brent how do you do that, though, when you have an attorney general, a u. S. President who both say that they do not agree that there is any type of i