live from berlin. the battle lines are drawn in europe over hungry's controversial new -- hungary's controversial new lgbtq law. it has been called homophobic and equates gays and lives beings with pedophiles. the man behind it is defending the elation and.

-- and he will not repeal it. plus confusion, grief and anger in florida after a seaside apartment building mysteriously collapses. dozens of people are unaccounted for and rescue crews fear the death toll could rise sharply. after unleashing a wave of rainbow resentment, uefa has found another way to infuriate fans of the beautiful game. i am brent goff. to our viewers in pbs, welcome. the two letters -- questions creating division. what to do about vladimir

putin's russia and what to do about a new law in hungary that critics say is homophobic. angela merkel urged the european union to start its own dialogue with the money and not to rely solely on washington but it is hungary's new law that is taking most of the oxygen at the summit. more than half of eu leaders condemned the legislation, calling it discrimination that runs against you values. >> as summit begins with a cold reception for hungry's prime minister. -- hungary's prime minister. >> i am a freedom fighter in the commonest regime. homosexuality was punished and i fought their -- for their freedom and their rights. i am defending the rights of the

homosexual guy but this is not about that. this is about the kids and the parents. >> the law makes it illegal to allow children and teenagers to allow access to books and films which depict any kind of sexuality aside from heterosexuality. for some, it goes against everything the eu stands for. >> for me, there is nothing for hungry in the year -- hungary in the european union. i can only force them out with the support of other member states. another figuring -- figure in brussels has loomed large. the eu says it is time for them to hold a summit with vladimir putin. >> it is our possibility to have a demanding dialogue defending our interests as europeans. you will define european unity

-- we will define european unity. we will not give up on our values or on our interests. other leaders, including from the baltic states are not convinced the summit will be worthwhile. the last 2 summits, we had a discussion about russia. what has changed? what is the purpose of this? i am really key to listen to what they will say about this and why it is up on the table now. we will see. >> moscow ys it will wait for more details on the proposed summit before it agrees to participate. brent: for more, we want to bring in gwendolyn. she is the eu parliament repertory. also a french member of the

french parliament lb gb dequeue -- lgbtq committee. why doesn't this law aligned with the eu values -- align with the eu values? >> it is about the question of sexuality in general. it says you cannot show content or read content or gifted children under 18. any content that gives them the idea of what is question your sexual identity or what you want to be in life. the idea behind it is that until 18, you should only see content that only shows you the heterosexual way of living in a

very conservative and rigid way. brent: we heard from the dutch prime minister and i am quoting him here. hungary has no place in the european union because of this new law. do you agree? >> theroblem is there is a big differce between the hungarian government and the hungarian people. when they are surveyed in hungary, the problems of the government and these governments have grabbed for years now money from the european union to get power. they have killed all the ways of having as if in and physician media and even independee. now, of course, they have a very authoritarian -- they have all the power means. they can decide whatever they

want, even after consulting their own people. when this log goes out, you have a huge demonstration in budapest area it is a bit easy to say that hungary has no place in europe. it is the hungarian government. the member states, they should have been acting for years now. brent: we have the leaders of 16 eu members signing a protest letter. that is a clear majority but it means we have 11 countries that did not sign. does this tell you that the european union is very divided on the hunt gearing question? >> less and less. one year ago, you would not have had all of these member states acting. some of them are silenced but they do not want to discourage. one year ago, you would have had

maybe not even 10 member states. we had four states who decided to have sanctions against the hungarian government. we need is member states to be courageous enough to say that enough is enough. we will not allow hungary to do that, there are plenty of things that can be done before you get out the country in the member states. sorry but we did not act or do what was needed before and more and more member states are ready to do so. we hope that member states will act now and do what needs to happen. brent: what needs to happen? this is déjà vu, we had a lot of

political outrage at first, a lot of complaining and then at the end of the day, nothing is done. will that happen again? >> that is my great fear. it has been 10 years, a decay since we started alerting and parliament. i was not in parliament at the time. now it is the chief of governments that need to do their job and the commission and commissioners, they have not acted a lot either in these last two years. yes, i am afraid that there is a lot of shouting and then nothing. it is my job to put pressure so that once again, you go further with all of these little steps and they are easy steps to go to . hungary, if it starts asking for your money, we will have to make

sure that this european money will be well used. brent: we will follow the story to make sure -- to see if there is any action. gwendolyn, we appreciate your time and your insights tonight, thank you. >> thank you. brent: at today's summit, eu leaders agreed to impose wide-ranging economic sanctions on minsk for the first time. this targets made -- the main sport industries. meanwhile, a trial behind closed doors began with the opposition leader. he has one of six people facing charges including inciting social hatred. he was arrested last year after announcing h candidacy to challenge alexander lukashenko in the presidential election. his wife then took over her

husband's campaign, supporters say that she won the vote in august and not lukashenko but that led to months of protests across belarus. earlier, we spoke with svetlana who lives in exile and we asked her for her take on the trial against her husband. >> i can't call it a trial because it is a fake trial. fake judges and fake executors. this trial is going on not in the court but in the present. no diplomats, no relatives were allowed into this court. no one could see how i and other political prisoners are strong.

they can give as many years as they want, 15, 27, it does not matter. the idea is to release all political prisoners and not let them seize as much as they could seize. >> we also asked svetlana about the new eu sanctions and that she thinks this will help other imprisoned opposition figures. >> all of the responsibility for belarusians relies on elevations themselves -- belarusians themselves. the european union, we are really grateful to them.

since august, we havtried to think of ways to diplomatically appeal to the political machine. --egime. democratic countries are with us and they will fight alongside belarusians against violence and those sanctions can have impact on the decisions that are made in t regime. we want dialogue and negotiations with the regime about future elections but these political prisoners have to be released. i think sanctions can help. brent: that was svetlana speaking with us earlier from lithuania.

here is a look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world. newly released bodycam footage shows the chaos and violence plays officers faced during the storming of the u.s. capitol building. a mob forced its way inside on january 6 as congress was certifying joe biden's victory on the presidential election. rudy giuliani has just lost his license to practice law in new york for supporting donald trump's big lie about their presidential election. this is a bitter blow for a man who was once the mayor of new york city. britney spears has asked a judge to end the conservatorship of her state. her father has had control of her finances and her personal life for more than a decade. spears described the legal

arrangement guardianship as abusive. rescue teams are searching for close to 100 people who are believed to be trapped under the rubble of a 12 story apartment building that collapsed near miami, florida. a large section of the building crumbled mysteriously, killing one resident and injuring several others. the community wants to know how a modern building simply collapses. >> it was around 1:30 in the morn when firefighters arrived at this beachfront condo. at least 55 apartments collapsed. many residents are still unaccounted for. >> i have been calling them nonstop.

i have been ringing their cell phones as much as possible to help with the rescue. >> the building shook and then i looked at the window and you could not see. i thought it was like a storm coming in. it was back two thirds of the building, it was gone. >> hundreds of rescue workers are searching the building. they have managed to find some missing residents. officials have warned structural damage is severe. >> the building is literally pancake. there are feet between stories where there were 10 feet. that is heartbreaking because it does not mean to me that we will

be as successful as we would want to be in finding people alive. >> the condo was built in 1981. officials doubt this caused the collapse. >> i know they will have engineers working with this. you're not going to have those answers immediately but i know they are going to be diligently working. displaced resints have found shelter with the red cross for now. brent: the number of people using drugs has increased in the past decade. the trend is inspected to continue with africa. the number of people taking drugs there is projected to rise by 40%. lockdowns and travel restrictions have forced dealers

to find new ways to sell and deliver their drugs. cannabis or marijuana remains the most widely used drug and it is stronger than ever before. more and more young people are unaware of the potential health risks. earlier we spoke with angela from the u.n. office on drugs and crime and she emphasized that young people are especially at risk. >> it is clear in the last 25 years that cannabis has quadrupled its potency in the united states. it has almost doubled in europe. clearly cannabis is more potent. it has also become more harmful. they link the level of thc with

young people on the users. what we have seen wh young people is there is this mismatch between the reality and the information can be quite dangerous. brent: one country that has been damaged by drugs is afghanistan. it is the global trading hub for heroin. in our next report, we meet a woman determined to help users break the cycle of addiction. >> on her way to mother cap. it is one of the few privately run addition facilities run in here. she passes this area where many

drug addicts live. >> when i saw the bridge for the first time, it was like looking straight into hell. i thought this is what hell looks le. people were lying on the ground like animals. they were dying, they could have had promising liv, co doctor -- they could have become doctors. >> this woman found out that her brother was living under that bridge. she wanted to help her brother and the others living under that bridge. her rehabilitation center is located in western kabul. this man was an addict for many years. he suffered from heroin dependency but he managed to kick the habit.

>> he is not an addict. he has been here ever since he was found in a garbage can on the side of the street, most likely abandoned by his family. there is a lapko costly medicines to ease their symptoms so patients usually have to make do with cold showers. there is also music sessions. >> she runs the restaurant. all employees are covered addicts. mohammed hussein is one of those who managed to turn his life around. >> this is a special place for afghanistan. we can feel pretty safe here.

i am very happy to work in this place bause here in the restaurant, it is just different, most like a family. almost like a family. >> some take offense to the venue. the restaurant deceives threats from extremists because it is run by a woman. she managed to build what she set out to build but the situation in afghanistan is out of hand. >> i am pretty pessimistic about afghanistan's future. it seems hopeless. the only ones who can look confidently towards the future are the taliban. radical muslims are there inherence, not afghani women. >> the future is uncertain.

brent: wednesday's roller coaster game against hungary had fans on the edges of their seats. germany was on the verge of elimination but wild celebrations were sparked after a goal was scored to secure a two-to -- 2-2 score. that will be a game to watch and with all of the group stage games, we have asked anthony to take stock of the tournament. >> so far, so good, we up or 10 that we like an underdog story.

last night, i left my home scores 1-1 against hungary. i figured i would go and enjoy the parties that work moving onto the streets. by the time i got back, hungary had moved back in front and it looked like a morgue. then they scored and everything was back on again and in the age of streaming, we are not watching and international broadcast anymore. it is one goal and it goes on one tv. down at the other end of the street, it happens again but i think that is the big take away. the first time i saw a crowd back together, i wondered is this legal for me to do this?

brent: a good case for broadband for everybody. >> yes, it is a right. usa versus ussr, back in the cold war days but the boycott p eriod mentioned they did not get together a lot. miracle on ice, maybe, yankees versus red stocks. there has been last-minute goals, it is all about the english press building of hopes and winding up those old german clichés on the back page of the paper and then they get to a magical tournament and it all collapses. england are watching through

their hands on tuesday. he needs to unleash them. he is going to play a tight brand of football. brent: this is one of his final appearances. >> this could be it. brent: uefa made a nice announcement today. what was that? >> they are giving up away goals. if munich plays madrid and they both went a-game, that will be decided, you don't have to play extra time. today, they decided to end it. at the end of the game, instead of the broadcast being over, they will play 15 minutes each side with a commercial break before. then they change sides and more commercial breaks.

that is the bottom line. brent: you are saying it is all about the money. at least you're telling the truth. thank you for telling the truth. you're watching dw news. after a short break, i will be back to take you through the day. the long goodbye for angela merkel begins. where would your without her -- europe be without her? stick around.

>> welcome to "live from paris," will news and analysis fromris," france 24. prime minister trudeau says he's terribly saddened by news from the province of saskatchewan. it is believed many of the dead were indigenous children taken from their families. the eu's morning the delta variant of covid-19 will become dominant throughout the continent. russell's -- brussels