♪ is provided by... developed by over language specialists 10 babbel teacheal life conversations in spanish, french, babbel's 10 to5 minute lessons are available as an p, or online at babbel.com. bee keep a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well anned.

the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions f america's neglected needs. and by contribut to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. washington. this is "bbc world news america." after a two-year long power struggle, nicolas maduro emerges triumphant in venezuela. he controls all political institutions. that leaves the nation's opposition in tatters. we speak to juan guaido lawmaker and self proclaimed interim president abt what is next. britain's prime minister well had to brussels for face-to-face talks after the president of the european commission says the

conditions for a trade agreement are not there. and sticking their neck out. areconservationists rescuing a group of stranded giraffes in kenya.♪ ♪ kay: welcome to world news america. two years ago, global headlines were dominated bavpolitical up in venezuela. we reported extensively on what looked at the time like the end of the maduro regime. only still in power, he has won a major electoral victory, giving him back control of the nationalism billy. turns out -- the turnout was low and the pol was criticized internationally is fraudulent. but its d give mr. maduro complete control of the country's political institutions. the opposition is now in peril. our south america correspondent reports from caracas. surprise. these results were no

with the vast majority of candidatede loyalty pre nicolas maduro, there was only going to be one winner. the nationalism billy had been the last raining branch of government controlled by the opposition. now, president maduro has caught -- has consolidated his power. >> we have compiled the constitution. five years on, i come out and say that we have a new tionalism billy as a result of the popur vote. people have elected their lawmakers and we have had a tremendous and gigantic electoral victory. reporter: at the voting stations, precautions were taken to prevent the spread of covid-19. social distancing and masks obligatory. but in many places, crowds were not a problem. turnout was low. among those who came out to vote, there was a feeling of duty. >> dependent of a person's

political position, votinis a civic duty. they teach us that wn we are young and sixth go de. you have vote. reporter: the opposition led by juan guaido boycottee elections. instead, they are holding their own version of a refereum this week, asking people how they want the future of venezuela to be decided. s but itvote that has no legal basis and holds little appeal to a population that has grown tired of politics. people are fed up and despond. with food and fuel shortages and an economy in freefall, what matters to most venezuelans is how they can survive another day, and they don't beeve politicians on either side have the answer. with a new assembly, either, si they don't work together, we can't move forward. reporter: the new national assembly will be sworn in on january 5. juan guaido, until now it's leader, will be out of a job.

what will happen to him? will he stand in caracas and ri arrest? or will maduro feel too in bold and -- too emboldened to care? these elections feel difrent than before. usually -- usually a polarized a country, they more people who agree on not liking any of the options then wanting to choose a side. katy watson bbc news in caracas. katty: it is catastrophic for venezuelans at the moment. so world leaders are calling the election of political sham. u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo says america will continueec tonize juan guaido as venezuela's interim president. earlier i spoke to mr.hi guaidot home in caracas, and -- in following these elections, what is the position at the moment of the opposition in venezuela? mr. guaido: t most important

ing at this moment for theem venezuelanracy, the democratic movement, is to have a legitimate supporter of the people in ordeti to find a so. the demand of our cause is to havere presidential and parliamentary elections. nicolas maduro's fra it was defeated. not only in the streets, but it was seen by the international community, which saw that there should not be conditions for participating in the process. the right to elect and be elected, it is simple. i cannot be part of that process as i was disqualified. but neither could 300 other venezuelans, because they were being jailed or persecuted. tieir p were made illegal or disbanded. that is why the whole world rejects that process and venezuelans keep demanding their right too choose, s that the persecution does not keep growing. it is not going to stop us from demanding our rights. katty:re are t up -- other opposition leade have gone in exile. if it looks like you might be

detained, will you follow them? mr. aido: [speaking spanish] translator: there is a hi risk for me every day. it was a year ago that i was kidnapped, and that was the second time that has happened while fighting maduro's dictatorship. in spite of all this, the political turmoil, while fighting a dictatorship, i will find solutions and other alternatives along with the international community. the venezuelan people are not satisfiedng and are looor alternatives. katty: thank you very much for joining us. mr. guaido: thank you. katty: mr. guaido speaking to us from caracas in an exclusive interview with the bbc. in 24 days, the brexit transition process will end. for the first time, residents of the k. will start to feel the real-life impact of a decakion that was more than four years ago. in a process that has seen negotiation after negotiation and deadline after deadline, wt still don'ow exactly what that means.

will the.k. leave the european union with somf kind trade and political deal in place? or will it fail to find common ground and leave in what is lalled a hard brexit? to e it all, joining us now is rob watson, political correspondent. has brexit happened? in america, when is brexit happening? is this ever going t end? are we there now? is this it, is this the week ere we get some kind of conclusion? rob: i was going to ask you, what do youay back to them in reply? katty: i say i will talk to rob. rob:t is my job to try to provide --ig. it is my job to try to provide some answers. to make it as clear as one can, britton left the european union officially on the first of january of this year. it was any tsonsition, so tely nothing has changed as he say. we still trade exactly the same way. essentially, a year wased all to transition in which the u.k.

and e.u. would work out their future relationship, particularly trade, but other things as well. it is a bit like you have asked your kids about their homework, and they have left itto the very l minute to hand it in, and that is a situation we find ourselves in.extruder narrowly t -- extraordinarily, we still don't know what the future relationship will be. katty: and what would be the big difference for the people of b e u.k.ween having some kind of a deal that they might reach this week, and not having any deal? rob: that is a very good question there is this bread-and-butter kind of answer. so if you ok at the hard economics of it, it will be much more disruptive to have a new deal. there may be shortages of certain items in some of the shots. all of the independent forecasting suggests whilefo any of brexit will be damaging, more damaging than the covid, pandem a new deal brexit

would be even more damaging. tink there is something else which is a bit less tangible. and that is, imagine this, imagine this everybody watching this, if there is no deal, there is a good chance the u.k. and the eu would be not friends. sort of enemies. and that would have been unthinkable if i said that to you five years ago. you would have set i was nuts. i think that is what people would notice. the practical things, it would be difficult in a new deal in terms of shopping, jobs, economics. but there would be the other issue ever britain and the eu being rivals, almost unimaginable. katty:be so th seems t critical week, and we have heard boris johnson is going too to brussels to try to hammer out a deal. does it look to you, having observed this as you have so closely for the last four years, that we are going to get to some kind of last-minute deal between the two? rob: an easy question, which i

-- which is i have absolutely no idea. i suspect if you were to ask boris johnson and the leaders of the eu, they would not know. i'm glad you raised boris johnson because, here's the thing. the referendum in 2016.vot in but in a funny way, what happens next, that future relationship all rests on one man, and that man is boris johnson a populist leader and some mit say in a turn of exquisite irony, this populist politician is facing two choices. it really is down to him, both of which potentially would leave him rather unpopular. fit of all, he could go for a no deal brexit, which many in like, but whid could be very disruptive. or he could do a deal with brussels which wouldave many in his own governg conservative party saying, you trader, you sold us out to brussels. katty: and maybe, just maybe, we might find out which way he goes

this week. rob watson, thank you very much. i was having that htiework conver last might with poppy, and yes, she left it very late. south korea's handling of the coronavirus used to be seen as a good example of how to handle this pandemic. warned of a medical collapse as it faces a spike in the number of cases and deaths. soul is described as a covid-19 war zone. mark labelle h the story. reporter: up to n, south korea has been dealing with the pressure of the pandemic with flying colors. like the students taking important exams in these even more challenging times. achieving top marks with their tough testing and contact tracing. but the latest assessments don't now that daily cases have risen to a nine-monthigh. >> the third wave was different because it is happening from the community spreading event from the daily activities.

so it is more difficult for agencies to do contact tracing. because of theature of the community spreading event, it could create a future cycle of a fuher spreading. reporter: like other countries witnessing a resurgence in this crisis, it is introducing new tuesday in the capital seoul and surrounding areas, gatherings will be limited to 5le. restaurants and some shops will close at 9:00. in gyms and karaoke bars will shut. as the country prepares for empty stadiums and a curtailed nightlife, the prime minister says south korea is facing a against covid-19.fight the countries health minister warns the medical system could reach its limit. >> he concluded this is a dangerous situation on the verge of expanding into a nationwide pandemic. reporter: president moon jae-in

is mobilizing the military and servants to help expand testing. he wants more drive-through testing facilities and longer opening hours to help coisat th rise in cases. as the country bears down to battle the virus in this third wa, it seems a somewhat more urgent effort than before. rkabelle, bbc news. katty: even south korea having problems. a look at other news from around the world. officials in the indian state of andrew per -- identify mysterious illness after the number of people affected continues toise. 300 pple of all ages have reported symptoms in the last two days. that includes seizures, dizziness and vomiting. e man has died. indonesia says it is examining its first consignment of a chinese coronavirus vaccine ahcad of distribution to me workers and high-risk groups. the country with the worst outbreak in southeast asia has received 1.2 million doses,

which has been undergoing tests since late august. six coronavirus patients have died in a hospital in pakistan after oxygenupplieran too low. a delay and delivers meant more than 200 patients in the spal in the northern city were left for hours on reduced oxygen. officials blamed the shortage on the supply company. several staff have now been suspended. let's get more on those brexit talks. earlier, we got the view from the u.k.t let's lookat is happening in europe. our reporter has been. following negotiations from brussels she joins me. thank you for joining us. we hearing from rob watson on what he thought the likelihood was of a deal from the u.k.'s point of view. what are the people in the eu thinking? do they think they can get a deal on brexit? >> i think the hope is still there. the mood in brussels wa as gloomy as the weather this morning.

i mean, really hard to see your way fward. we had the eu's chief negotiator briefing and batted her's representing the 27 states.ber then moving onto the european parliament and saying i really am not sure that it is possible to have a deal. but there has been lots of diplomatic activity today. you he angela merkel and emmanuel macron of france and opthe en commission or president having a video conference. they were going to do that anyway because there is a eu leader summit on other matters. they were talking about -- about brexit. you heard good news about e.u.-u.k. efforts to implement the brexit divorce deal. all of those complicated arrangements on northern ireland. there is movement here, and nsen the fact that boris j is coming here in person, that does make a difference. of course, the eu does not know what he is going to say. when you talk to deployments

here, they are n sure boris johnson has made up his mind either. the fact that he is coming here means those who want a deal, hope that all hope is not the -u not yet gon nobody thinks the deal is in the bag. katty: we were hearing from rob on why it is important for the u.k., the whole issue of brexit and getting a deal or not getting a deal. how much of ay prior it for the eu at the moment, given they have a pandemic to deal with and a whole ton of other things on their plate at the moment? >> that is right. we definitely had a government members earlier this year suggmiting that the eco devastation of covid-19, it has devastated obviously the u.s. economy, economies across europe, but this might makeu to get a brexit deal. the needs hat we have actually see in the last couple of weeks has been individual member states who are represented by the european commission. that is the commission building behind me. but individually, they have been

not getting a deal, but about possibly getting a deal at what they see as two -- too high a price. if you look at the big sticking points in these negotiations, it is competition regulations andth governance of a final deal. it is the last two that are a primary importance to the eu. because what they are saying to the u.k. is ok, we will give you preferential access to our single market after brexit, but not if you have an unfair competitive advantage over os. own busines let's agree to some, competition principles. and because there is little mutual trust and because this is a legal document, the eu has been saying ok, let's make sure we have a mechanism in place so that either of us break our word, there can be swift legal painful action taken against the eu or u.k. whoever breaks it. euthants that in place. that is what we are hearing from

the member states. they don't want in tohurry to agrehis deal if it is not in their long-term interests. they did not choose brex, they said. they did not choose this timetable. it was boris johnson who wanted a deal by the end of the year. covid-19 or no covid-19. us the eu is ner it would rather have no deal then a bad deal. we hear that same argument as you will have heard from rob from the u.k. too. katty: ok. artty adler there with y in the fog. thank you for joining us you are watching "bbc world news america." still to come on tonight's program, turkehas put a new lockdown and nightly curfews in place. but doctors are concerned over the alarming rise in covid cases. ♪ katty:f residentscoastal resort town on a popular australian holiday islanolhave beento leave immediately as a bushfire worsens. fire crews are battling to control the fire on fraser

island which is a heritage site it was sparked by an illegal campfire in mid-october. here's our correspondent. reporter: it has been going for a whileowsince mid-october, because of the illegal campfiret ink what is making everyone nervous now, the reason why thee alert vel has gone to emergency and people have been urged to leave, is because simply, when you get the right weather condit fn for ae, the fire becomes uncontrollable. and we have been getting really, really high to mergers, really, really dry land, and all it takes is and gust of and you get this fire traveling at a speed that frank, firefighters have been struggling with. and this is why we areting these re warnings. this is why they have been trying for weeks now. ♪ katt doctors in turkey are accusing the government of

covering up the true scale of the pandemic in the country. amid a surge in infections, they are now new restrictions in place including week lockdowns and nightly curfews. from istanbul, here's our correspondent. reporter: she was full of life, but shes e of the latest victims of covid-19. turkey.w raging across she had a rare genetic condition. but relatives told us the toddler was doing well, until she got the virus last month. they sent us this videoakf her heartbg final days. her and says she only got a suitableen intensive care bad someone else died. at every turn. system failed >> [speaking forgn language]

reporter: on thets outskir of istanbul, silent witness to turkey's. second wa critics say until recentlgo the rnment was burying the truth. after pressure from the opposition, the authorities are those who test positive.or all not just those with symptoms. officially, there are around 32,000 new infections every day. two more victims of the covid virus have just been buried e.re, side-by-s now that the goverent is

releasing more complete data, it isey clear that tus in the grip of a huge new wave of infections. but about as the official figures are, doctors here believe they don't reveal the full extent of therisis. >> 50,000 new cases per day. reporter: that is the real fire according to the head of the turkish doctors union, which tells me the governmttt has been g lives at risk. >> they didn't reveal the truth. they don't reveal the truth, pele can feel more comfortable and just take risks. they k did nw that they took risks because there were truths shared by the government. reporter: you are speaking out very openly re now. do you have any concerns that the government will take action against you? >> we know they have the capacity. to intimidate and to start some investigations against o members. reporter: every death is an agony.

the authorities here deny there has been a cover-up, telling us that is a baseless aegation. but turkey's main opposition party says the death toll, officially around 15,000, is actually two or three times higher. it says the government cannot manage the pdemic, so managed the figures. bbc news, istanbul. katty: before we go, a team of conservationists in kenya has begun the daring rescue ofight rising floodwater.ed by especially adapted barge was used to flow the animals to safety, one by one, afterpphey became t on an island east or the country. tim altman has mfor us. tim: like a carefully planned team began their w, the rescue first priority,af find a g.

waiting through theloodwaters, soon eugh, they did. said to be the most vulnerable of the animal stranded here, they are known as rothschilds giraffes,ng an ered species rsat was only reintroduced to this area 10 yeago. they are believed to be about 3000 of them left in africa and around 800 in keny once she was subdued, she wasto led barge so she could be transported to the mainland. this had been a peninsula, but the rising levels of t w lake meant now an island. these giraffes needth space, hee need for this rather picturesque rescue. seemed perfectly content tor who watch the world go by. back on dry w land, s released to her new home. so far, too giraffes have been -- two girafs have been

rescued. anotthr six will be moved in coming months. a big day for. the moment of triumph for her rescuers. tim allman, bbc news. katty: nice job to have. i'm katty kay. thanks so much for watching "bbc world news america." i will see you back here again tomorrow. ♪ narratpr: funding for this entation of this program is provided by... language spespalists teaching ish, french and more. raymond james. the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and by contrutions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

[bright music] - pbs americanait is... - a plrm whe a anyone can comend share their stories. - there's a whole great list of prompts to get you started. - when i was 18 and joined the marine corps. - when i decided to accept myself and excel. zi- and it's been an a journey ever since. - this project can help bring us together. - to listen to each other. - to undd what it really means to be an american. - you should be a part of pbs american portrait... - because your story is powerful. - because it may inspire a change in life for others. the american story wouldn't be complete without your story. - to join, go to pbs... - .org - /americanportrait - join us, and be a part of history. ♪

♪ judy: good evening. i am judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight-- covid relief. congress moves closer to passing a long-awaited response to the pandemic's financial toll. then, balance of power. with control of the u.s. senate at stake, two veferent debates are held in georgia. and, searching for justice. we kick off a new seith one man's story of life after prison and guiding others on re-entering society. >> just because a person has traveled down a th and made a mistake, that this mistake won'v label them f and that you can change, there's room for redemption. tonight's "pbs newshour."n ♪