this is al jazeera. this is a new life window coming up the next 60 minutes the u.s. senate votes to ban banks from doing business with chinese officials implementing hong kong's new security little. more protests in ethiopia as a singer whose murderous days of violence is laid to rest in his hometown.

maxwell a close friend of the late accused sex trafficker geoffrey epstein is arrested in the united states also. a rival palestinian groups come together to voice opposition against israel's annexation. and. all the. french open organizes that fans will be allowed to attend this is still a tournament. now the u.s. senate has passed a bill targeting china over its new security law and home called the bill aims to penalize banks doing business with chinese officials who have implemented the new law it will be sent to the president donald trump for approval it comes a day after house of representatives passed it without opposition. it is nothing

short of an all out effort to negate the rights of the people of hong kong in violation of the agreements made under the one country 2 systems we were concerned of what it might be and it exceeds even those harz the law is a brutal sweeping crackdown against the people of hong kong intended to destroy the freedoms they were promised thanks to you to the committee for holding this hearing was asked the question is this the end of the one country 2 systems or let's talk to she have returns is standing by for us on capitol hill in washington d.c. she have tell us more about this bill and the effect is likely to have. well it is as you mentioned it sanctions individuals and financial institutions who do business with individuals who are deemed not to be following the basic law that was passed that was agreed upon the handover in 1970 that means those who are in acting

this new security security law if and when it is signed by the president the state department the treasury department will then identify individuals in financial institutions who are deemed to be falling afoul of this law and and then those people must be must be sanctioned the question is of course is donald trump going to sign this law because as we've seen in the past and all trump is quite open about this when it comes to china because of the trading relationship between china and the u.s. because of the enormous importance of the phase one trade deal that has been signed between the u.s. and china don't trump does delay as he did with the sanctions bill on china because of alleged human rights abuses in sion jagging over the over the week is he quite open about that he delayed that because the negotiations were still under way and china has warned the u.s. that there are red lines of the u.s. shouldn't cross and the implication of that being look you know if we drop out of

this for this trade deal it would be disastrous for donald trump's electoral platform particularly to rural states in the united states the year that china has agreed to buy billions of dollars of agricultural exports having said that though this does seem to be on the lower end of sanctions that the u.s. could be imposing on chinese officials there was unanimous bipartisan support in congress for it mike pence the vice president last year as has been very outspoken against china pump air has been very outspoken against china and as always we don't quite know what all truck will do until he does it i mean and there are other other policies already underway as a result of what's going on the hong kong hong kong special status is being reconfigured it may actually be able to take exports of. high tech and defense goods and there are already sanctions on chinese officials because of what's going on at hong kong we have called the white house to see well. and we're awaiting a response but if it is at the low end you have to wonder just what effect is likely to have on china's terms go ahead with all this what

we just yeah it's very. it's difficult to say you know what's lower and what isn't and clearly there's a psychological impact of all of this it certainly looks like you know the u.s. is being terribly tough however i think it was interesting of those those meetings that compare had with a very senior chinese official last week it did appear that when china talks about redlines there seems to be an understanding that there will be pressure on the u.s. government to act in certain ways and there's always seem to be an understanding of the domestic constituencies of both the u.s. and china have in their negotiations and in their global relationship so you've got one always wonders whether you know this is obviously seen as a force for bipartisan policy against china from from the u.s. thought that combine forces of the u.s. government but when you look through this bill it is rather vague as to who may be sanctioned and. she had thanks very much indeed she returned to their own capitol

hill well as we were just discussing despite the mounting pressure from countries like the united states china is refusing to back down or the new law to be kampala reports now from hong kong. then usually enacted national security law has already been used against some of the thousands of protesters who defied warnings and took to the streets on july the 1st the 23rd anniversary of the handover from british colonial rule many are questioning the legislation's reach and how it's going to be enforced chinese president xi jinping passed the law after it was drafted in record time in beijing hong kong's legislative councillors legal experts and academics who would normally be involved in writing the law saw the text for the 1st time after it was and acted legislative council and barrister tanya chan is concerned that the law could be open to interpretation by police and prosecutors based on the chinese

national security law national security covers a very wide range of activities including something related to economy religion. education and media internet all these things will be included the law targets crimes defined as subversion sedition terrorism and collusion with foreign powers with the maximum penalty of life in prison but because of all bunkum needs national security law to suppress those troublemakers those traitors i believe we need the national security law to stay prosperous hong kong and the chinese government say the law is necessary to restore order in the special administrative region where anti-government street protests made the headlines worldwide the government and parts of the business sector have been trying to rally support for the new law saying it will bring stability to the city in fact the floating banner behind me celebrates the enactment of the law but there. concerns that it could put

the city status as an international financial center at risk at least $27.00 countries have echoed concerns that hong kong's freedoms and rule of law are at risk britain's prime minister says the legislation is a serious breach of the 1997 handover agreement which guaranteed freedom and autonomy for 50 years and china's warning of consequences if the british government changes overseas passport rules to offer a path to citizenship for nearly half of hong kong's population. we reiterate that home called affairs of china's internal affairs and foreign countries have no right to interfere for many in hong kong it's a new era one which brings the way they're governed and the legal system closer to the rest of china the bigger pollen al-jazeera hong kong. to ethiopia now where tensions remain high days after a popular singer and activist was killed by an unknown gunman

a child who has been buried in his hometown was an icon for his country's biggest ethnic group the order and his murder spot days of protests more than 80 people were killed in the violence mohammed today reports now from nairobi. the funeral for theo paean singh a child who was held in his native town as under arrest over his death spread from the region where he was seen as a hero. the crowds of morris' were not as big as and dissipated many say they had been turned away by police and is in the funeral procession could turn into one of the protest. but the single was that in the couple of the suburb on monday the motive for his killing remains unclear the musician and activist embodied dust but issues of ethiopia's largest ethnic group the roma the songs focused on the rights of all more people and became an thumbs in a series of protests that led to the downfall of the previous prime minister in

2008. and is that we wouldn't north have the kind of what a vision that we had between 20502018 you know me at the bottom where you put it in we would not have hired the political change that have happened when each unit brought the current prime minister to power dozens of been killed in protests in or only this is such a loose killing 3 days ago along with others he had recently become critical of prime minister ahmed to rule the musician had been imprisoned for 5 years when he was 17 for taking part in protests many like him fled into exile fearing persecution but he remained at home encouraging young people to speak out about the plight of with your present largest ethnic group somo have long complained of being sidelined. prime minister be himself on or on was released political prisoners allowed greater freedom of speech and lifted

a ban on several position groups but many would almost say they continue to be marginalized so far the government's handling of this situation has really exasperated the situation instead of giving people the space to more and. be more in last year's nobel peace prize for his efforts in brokering and to a decades long standoff with neighboring added trade domestic conflicts of proved harder for the prime minister to smooth over though millions of ethiopians have been forced out of their homes on them now concerns that hostilities in the almost region could lead to bloodshed if current efforts by the prime minister to cull fail then he appears 1st attempt at 3 democracy could be dividend before the next elections are held. it will be kenya what as we heard in mohammed's report they were say they've suffered a long history of being oppressed and marginalized by the central government dating

back more than a century plans to expand the capital addis ababa using a room of farmland in 2015 triggered 3 years of protests and violent repression this eventually forced the ruling party to replace the prime minister without help and himself in a room but many now say that he's neglecting his own community just like the leaders of the past. we spoke to bill ain soon who is from the ethiopian prime minister's office and she addresses some of the calls for political reform that have come out of these protests. the government over the past 100 years has been taking or undertaking critical reforms now one of the things we have to bear in mind is that this administration has a very broken system and a lot of grievances that had been accumulating over several years and these grievances have not had a chance to express themselves within the past 202829 years so this administration having come into place over the past 2 and a half years has been really trying to unlock

a lot of the next the situation right now the government is in control there are functions of a submachine law and order are in place as well the and deliberate. intentional action for the government to be dispensing its responsibility of meeting rule of law and stability. to the united states of arrested a close friend of under-age sex offender jeffrey obscene delay maxwell is accused by many women of recruiting them for epstein and his wealthy friends to rape and abuse financier is reported to have committed suicide or the weight control laws or ghost in new york after developing a report with the victim's maps was then tried to normalized actual abuse with a minor victim were prices known as grooming for example maxwell would discuss sexual topics with the victim and dress in front of the victim or be

present for sex acts involving the minor victims and after. mass was present as an adult woman put the victim. as maxwell epstein intended this grooming process less than minor victims susceptible to sexual abuse. it's on who's joining us from new york this whole story saw this dreadful story had kind of gone off the radar a bit hadn't the tell us more about it and the rest of the charges. that's right it had gone off the radar but the f.b.i. says that they have been tracking maxwell for many months now and arrested her about 2 hours north of boston massachusetts in a rural area in the state of new hampshire where she apparently paid cash to buy a sprawling home in a very remote area there. arrested her without incident early on thursday morning

she is facing 6 charges now 2 for perjury for lying to investigators previously 2 conspiracy counts and then 2 other charges of enticing minors to engage in sexual acts and enticing them to travel to different locations to engage in illegal sexual acts now she claims for many years now that she was just a friend in a business partner of the financier jeffrey epstein this convicted sex offender but prosecutors here in lower manhattan say she was much more i think she had much more sinister ties to epstein and she basically lured all of these young women many to epstein with no way that they would be part of basically being trafficked for illegal sexual acts that prosecutors say she not only did this but also participated as well and this is an international case because maxwell is the daughter of

a very wealthy. british publishing executive and she had very close contacts all the way up to the royal family there are photographs of prince andrew with maxwell and a young woman that i phrased all sorts of suspicions the young woman in that photograph claimed. that she was actually trafficked from maxwell to prince andrew prince andrew to nice that for the last you could nice all accusations of that nevertheless prosecutors here when asked about that said expect they would welcome prince andrew to cooperate in this investigation something prosecutors say so far has not. arguable thanks very much like everyone is on to the new york plenty more still ahead on the news hour including new job bliss numbers south of the u.s. show a small amount of code but real fears remain many positions will be gone for good.

illegal price of luxury jewelers sufis one of the worst money dissolves in recent news. we got spoiled coming up to you would explain why this sri lankan cricket legend spent hours being questioned by the police. now the latest us unemployment figures showed some positive signs of the world's largest economy $4800000.00 jobs were added in june more than expected and close to double the total in may the latest unemployment rate well that's fallen to just over 11 percent but the number of americans seeking unemployment benefits fell only slightly well u.s. president donald trump was quick to claim the job creation victory and he said the new employment numbers prove the economy is roaring back to life. this is not just luck what's happening this is a lot of talent all of this incredible news is the result of historic actions my

administration has taken working with our partners in congress to rescue the u.s. economy from a horrible event that was formed took place in china and came here and they could have stopped it they could have stopped it nobody likes to write that but they could have stopped it they know it and i know it but we're going to talk to our white house correspondent can be how it could in just a moment but 1st let's have kristen tsunamis report from new york. dining in a sidewalk cafe a pleasure new yorkers have been denied for months restrictions imposed to control the spread of the coronavirus are gradually being lifted an attempt to bring the stalled economy back to life finally yes there's a reason i feel so good to be out here with my family. you know feel good the down interact with people and not take my takeout to the park only outdoor seating is allowed however forcing restaurants to adapt their business model jeremy the lot is

scott a special permit to allow tables in the street in front of his establishment but he and the public are still trying to figure out how it's going to work its care complete chaos but i give the city credit for a time thing to do something we need something that's the only and only small business for us to survive so far he's been able to bring back less than a quarter of his harvest kitchen staff for going his own salary while trying to keep his 6 restaurants afloat there are some 27000 restaurants in new york city alone the mare here says allowing outdoor dining is a way to help keep some of them afloat while mitigating the impacts of the coronavirus sale not all will be able to maintain news social distancing requirements and still be profitable the writing is on the wall says bar owner peter walsh after 35 years in the business last month he closed what had become a neighborhood institution in new york's washington heights i mean after what's

gone on here are people going to run out and said oh i want to be in a crowded bar right now and people are a customizing to what their own lives and teaching them right now. and people surviving bars and restaurants aren't the only sectors of the economy likely to see a slow recovery as many as 40 percent of jobs that have been lost in the pandemic may never come back says economist nicholas blum and sickly business travel i just a lot of that i don't see coming back are you know maybe dining restaurants maybe you know. james movie theaters are cruise liners they say it's not so much through parts as a lot of basically industries that have a lot on face to face interaction particular in tight spaces he predicts that it will take years for the u.s. economy to fully recover and it will look much different when it does christine salumi al-jazeera new york. let's go live to our white house correspondent kimberly halakhah in complete things that improving to

a degree in the surprise the donald trump very quick to leap on this. leap on it and attack his opponent he's facing off with in november to try and win reelection in the white house donald trump touting these numbers as saying that the only thing that could ruin it is electing a bad president referring to joe biden the presumptive democratic presidential nominee saying that he wants to raise your taxes it's true he does want to raise them at least in some sectors of the u.s. population becomes to corporations and also high income earners but joe biden hearing all of this retaliating in response saying that essentially donald trump is sort of celebrating prematurely the reality is there are still tens of millions of americans out of work and they wouldn't have been out of work of donald trump or done his job when it comes to preparing the country for covert 19 got a little bit political but pulling back from and just looking at these numbers the reality is that this is an encouraging sign this is especially good for people who

work in the industries such as hospitality whether it be retail or restaurant but here's the catch in all of this and that is that these numbers are based on data from a couple of weeks ago when things were looking a little better the economy was reopening across the nation and since then things have kind of taken a turn in the wrong direction in other words some of that rio is opening is had to be scaled back their real problems in states like texas georgia florida arizona they're seeing record spikes and in fact in the last 5 days there's been a steady upswing of new cases yesterday hitting another record that was 50000 new cases in the united states so this is a big problem we're heading into the holiday weekend here in the united states the independence july 4th weekend and this is what a lot of americans get together with their families and they celebrate well what lot of local officials are doing now is discouraging that they're doing things such as the miami beach they're putting in place

a curfew new york city is even slowing down some planned restaurant reopening so this is certainly caution optimism but at the same time it appears that donald trump is celebrating it might be somewhat prematurely debris thanks very much could we hope that the white house. rival palestinian groups must in fact have said they'll work together to fight against israel's annexation plans for the occupied west bank fattah secretary-general jabril rajoub has been speaking in ramallah where he said there is a national consensus against an extension of the comments coming day after the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu was due to launch the process well that has been delayed as high level talks on the issue continue to be held we are united and we will. the tactics on the ground the tactics on the field according to the his that are eagerly actions

this is that are really behaviors that is that are eagerly way of trying to. destroy it trying to do this coalition and so on as therefore intifada for us is it means the end is to in the occupation the end is to end and to remove the annexation from the table let's hear now from nida abraham who's in ramallah and says the issue is being seen as an opportunity for the 2 palestinian parties to cooperate. they say that annexation is an existential threat to perfect their mass and also the whole palestinian national project and that's why they say that they expect that this would be an instant or this this would be a chance for them to get over their differences and unite they say that talks between them are not new they've been discussing for

a wild ways to stop the israeli plans they said that not only is that the israeli plans are dangerous on the national cause on a regional level but also on the palestinian people who are going to be pushed out of the land because israel is making life for them so unbearable that they have no option but to leave it but on the ground the rift between the 2 parties is still ongoing they said that they acknowledge that they still have points of differences that rift is more than 13 years old and there has been many attempts to bridge the gap and have palestinians reunite but it's proved every time they meet that they couldn't implement these decisions or some came up between the 2 but. really the have massed neither speaking from beirut said that they're going to be overcoming these differences that this is an instant for them to really go because it's they said it's going to be the end of the 2 state solution so it does seem here is a chance for the 2 parties to mend their gap of course there is

a lot of skepticism and many journalists in the press conference addressed that but both of the there is said that they are annexation is a threat it's an existential threat and that's what is going to make the 2 parties unite and work on mechanisms ones netanyahu announces his annexation plans well let's explore this further we're joined by how to build in arlington virginia he's the director of a program on palestine and palestinian israeli affairs of the middle east institute and also a former advisor to the new leadership i'm still going to go. into the program so for years fatah and hamas have differed on approach such as the imminent nature of annexation now that they've been brought together but the rift as we've just been hearing is still ongoing if you think they can now cooperate with effect. well i think both factions realize that they really don't have much choice at this

juncture as we heard in a press conference from both the mouse and. the officials be an expansion plan and the trump vision represents an existential threat to the not only to a future a 2 state solution but a general palestinian national movement itself and that division and i think many people recognize this 13 year old division inside that house and in camp is one of the things that has allowed. the israeli occupation and its i don't in project to be so successful. and so this is an attempt i think to at least take back out of the equation so. he expressed this hope that one of us would as he put it during the struggle with the utmost harmony in unity and he wants a strategic vision. but what vision would that be that would that would move this

process forward and that would also be acceptable to both israel and the united states. well at this point neither israel nor the united states is really on board with the idea of a 2 state solution just so you know a palestinian state in the west bank and gaza with a capital in jerusalem on the basis of 1967 you know battle has been the palestinian consensus that is the international consensus and so he's ariel and the united states are outside of that consensus but i think that you know that said. you know the palestinian factions are trying to reassert that goal it's i mean it was important that both have now sent by the officials were speaking pretty much in identical language when it came to support for a 2 state solution and i think that's significant and and it seems now adays

given where the israelis are both israeli politics and israeli society. in a constant hands are really the only true believers left in a 2 state solution but there would be many palestinians who would also argue that the annexation is merely a formality for what's. been happening on the ground already fia's know it's true what it does when you go from a defacto annexation which israel has been doing for 53 years to formal or be sure a manic station is a sort of rule is that mask it takes the veil out of the the you know there's no longer any pretense that we are moving toward a 2 state solution or that a palestinian state is somehow around the corner and so as long as it was simply defacto all of those facts on the ground were theoretically were zokol but why does israel 'd takes the stand both formally an exciting parts of the west bank then.

you know officially takes the goal of a palestinian state off the table. good to get your take on this holiday speaking. thank you. now the worst mining disaster for years a 1000000 more has killed at least 162 workers with more missing drowned it happened at a jade mine in the park hunter region priyanka gupta has his report. a torrent of mining waste collapsed into a lake the landslide triggered by heavy monsoon rain creating a wave of mud and water hundreds of jet miners had no time to skip dozens were swept away as rescue workers started piling up body bags to identify the dead skin of the disaster became more clear especially during the rainy season when heavy rains. and. we're seeing more and more

landslides every year fortunately landslides and cuts in state are common more than 50 miners were killed in the same region of northern maine man last year. and another mound of mining wisc labs 5 years ago killing $120.00 workers the world's most valuable j. despond here officially worth around $750000000.00 between 2016 and 2017. but the value of the trade is expected to be much higher because of the huge demolished in china it is made to ditch our own hands. tried to escape poverty come here often as day laborers to look for the precious mineral in 26th in the government actually suspended the issuance of a new license and extending your speculations and try to begin a process of reforming and regulating the industry unfortunately despite a new law and policy there developing we continue to see the government's inability

to regulate the environmental and social impacts of mining sector remains controlled by powerful armed groups the military itself and crony companies which are operating outside of the control of the government. the miners who died have braved the bad weather. disaster again struck me and most secretive. trade. still ahead here al-jazeera going for gold britain's highest court rules against venezuela's government in a case worth billions of dollars. i will tell you why one of the world's great monuments is once again at the heart of an ideological battle. and in sports we'll take a look at how the ball saving lives and superstar study a man is inspiring a new generation of footballers in this country.

no surprises in the weather across the middle east hot dry and sunny sums it up rarely we all can see a little more cloud just pushing towards the far south of a monument even catch a little bit of light drizzle here as the seasonal damp weather starts to push its way towards salada and beyond further north there we go dry and find temperatures getting up to 48 celsius in kuwait of last very very hot sunshine 42 here in doha what a brisk wind around as we go on through friday more so into west saturday little bit of lift it doesn't sound certainly a possibility by this stage but further south you will see wanted to show us so that western side of yemen on the other side of the red sea shells that we have through our trash. pushing across the heart of africa some well be right still in

place there across western parts of cameroon southern areas of nigeria still seeing some intense downpours and there's heavy rains pushed right across west africa over towards liberia pushing up towards sierra leone and also through guinea heading towards the gambia as we go on through the next couple of days to sell in africa here it is a lousy dry lots of sunshine coming through basin places the class connecting with the far south portal is about with a high of 70. join our global community because the price is just slapped is the phrase blessing upon my thing upon my human. health keeping you up to date for situation where we have a human rights prices that persist beyond the health crisis your questions is. just nothing we are now approaching a crossroads this is an opportunity that we must not miss the stream on al-jazeera

. presents on down the time junior was promised a damaging information about neil reed allegation. like to see an investigation sit down to see did the trump campaign collude with russia did you at any time of the merge the former f.b.i. director james comey in any way shape or form to close sort of back down the investigation into michael flynn and also as you will know. next question octal field washington on al-jazeera. and again you're watching out 0 remind about top stories this hour and the u.s.

senate has passed a bill targeting banks doing business with china it's aimed at officials implementing the new security law in hong kong. there are more protests in ethiopia 3 days after a popular singer and activist was murdered a child in her dresser who has been buried in his hometown of is an icon for his country because a new group you know only. f.b.i. agents in the united states arrested a close friend of the sex offender jeffrey epstein played maxwell is accused by many women of recruiting them for up sign and his so wealthy friends to rape and abuse. venezuela has abandoned plans to expel an e.u. ambassador and the belgrade hunted for him to rosa was given 72 hours to leave the country on monday after the e.u. slapped sanctions on venezuelan government officials stories about is covering the story for us from one as it is and 1st of all tell us what's why is there such

a change of heart do you think. well a telephone conversation between venezuela's foreign minister and a high representative of the european union earlier this morning is what got them to agree and to ease the tensions between the european union and venezuela in a joint statement they said that they're going to work together to promote dialogue and to work to improve the diplomatic relations later on the foreign minister of what he. says that this was a big gesture from venezuelan government and that they were waiting for something in exchange meaning that they were hoping that the european union would lift the sanctions that have been involved in venezuela it all started back on june 29th that's when president kilometer was announcing that he's government was expelling their european union ambassador after the you announced it was imposing sanctions on but it's well known 11 individuals from the venezuelan government later on my

little announced he was expelling the ambassador we know that the ambassador right now is in caracas and will remain there this is all happening in the middle of the as the government announced that parliamentary elections will be happening in venezuela later on in december they're also announcing that they will increase the national assembly in the country from $167.00 members 226670 7 members the opposition is already saying that they won't participate in what they say i fraudulent elections the supreme court a few weeks ago announced that they were reforming the electoral council in there that will control the elections there and they're also saying that that the opposition is saying that that electro caus council is field with. supporters and that's why the opposition is saying that they won't participate elections that will not be free and fair or its residents very much indeed true as we're reporting there is another important story out of venezuela britain's hard court has blocked

the venezuelan president nicolas maduro central bank from getting out. sista gold well it's a round about a $1000000000.00 the bank of england where the gold is kept is refusing to release it president material once it saying he has every right to the assets and it will help venezuela fight the coronavirus crisis but officials working for madeira as rival that's your position on quite a made a competing claim to the gold to monday that stay in london and the judges ruled in favor of those saying that britain and many other countries recognize him as venezuela's president rather than during cullinan harding is a latin america analyst in the former latin america editor of the british newspaper the independent and he says i'm a darrow desperately needs a goal to help venezuela's crippled economy. but he had an o.l. which is the usual source so it sounds like international expansion of an israel or their production is now down to less than a 10th of what it was a few years ago before major came into office and i think it's just collapsed term

and so there are of course the price of international price of oil is very low at the moment so international revenues that was well have got right down and gold which is produced in tennis right as well as the reserves and held in london are a source of of foreign exchange for them 'd that means selling their gold particularly to turkey to to russia to the russia arab emirates and it is torture to iranians were out of that meeting secretly shipped to iran which of course is against the sanctions on those countries imposed by the united states and this is the way the 'd madura government is trying to transfer nonsense its operations that it's in a very bad economic state that the economy is actually collapsed gold is one of the few things that has to tend to. collin harding that now schools in england to reopen in september children will be grouped in smaller classes or were being

called bubbles teachers have been told to help kids who have to send their knowledge because of the lockdown and with the introduction of mandate 3 attendants parents will face fines if they do not send their children back to school at the start of the autumn term. according francis fans of the government responsible for birth defects a link to an epilepsy drug up to 30000 children were affected after doctors prescribe the drug difficult to pregnant women the state has been ordered to compensate the families of children with congenital malformation of the pharmaceutical giant so no free which produced the drug and doctors who prescribe it were also found to be responsible. now if you've been interested at all there's a very good chance you've either seen or visited this most famous of the highest of fear it is these days a museum and has been since 935 but it was once the biggest christian cathedral in the world for nearly a 1000 years in fact before it was turned into

a mosque and that could be where its future lies too because the government wants to reopen it as a mosque a move that adding to tensions with neighboring greece and the orthodox church turkey's top court is holding a hearing on the plan which the foreign minister cite as a matter of national sovereignty or seen as this report. once a church later a mosque and now a museum i also feel has always been precious and sacred for both christians and muslims built as a church in the 6th century they are sufi i was converted into a mosque after the conquering of what was constantinople in 1453 that turned into me as seen by my stuff i can my utter following the foundation of the turkish republic in 1923 now the turkish government wants to alter its status from b.c.m. to mosque reopening of warship means and

demonstration of respect on our site for the world which established these indictments. it's the same time it's a token of gratitude and loyalty to the spiritual person i wish of fulton fathi the conqueror. i also feel i support of the unesco world heritage which forms the stumbles famous skyline it's been a museum since 1935. there are many in church and turkey stays by a sufi as should be open to worship for both christians and muslims and your thoughts christian church is concerned that the transformation from birth of your soul we drove was really bizarre paul millions of researchers around the wall and the us will feel relieved you reads this is a vital. worth is is

a member is the worst really for up to this to. present trajectory fired on say is i also feel i can function like the nearby blue mosque open today the prayers and tourists at the same time became took part in turkey a muslim country we are free to worship anywhere we want no one has any say on it. petitions were signed by turks to support the conversion but their opponents usual that i procured them this is sad a blow to our tourism i believe is not good for turkey mccomb original point is sophia to a mosque is a popular discussion in turkey and has support from the public along with the nationalist and conservative parties until last year president add on state out of the debate have ever he is very vocal about it now many believe it's a political move especially given the rising tension between turkey and greece and the is certain mediterranean after part of the court on about contests was resigned

to deny a sophia last month the greek foreign minister said it insult the religious feelings of christians the turkish government says i also feel is a domestic issue not to be interfered with solo al-jazeera a stumble well it's paid now to mystify cole who's in washington d.c. he's a religious scholar and senior fellow at the cato institute welcome to the program so 1st of all how much support do you think there is for this idea amongst the muslim community at large while the polls show that the majority of turks support reopening harbor so as a mosque or be converting it into a mosque and especially in the religious conservative segment of turkish society i think there is very broad support but i should say that there is a minority opinion and more enlightened mr immunize should say which think sides while conversion was not even made right in the 1st place but whatever happened in

the 16th century we should respect the pull reality of the building. in the n.b.a. if you're going to reopen to worship it should be for muslims but also christians who have reclaimed rights and so. on the shrine. how would that practically work. well that would be difficult but it would not be impossible this is a huge building and not every spot has christian imagery which is a problem from an islamic world if you so if there was political will and so social support a section of the building without any christian image or any i conus could be devoted to muslim worship on fridays for example and another part could be devoted to christian mass on sundays so that would be to pluralistic their solution there were more people who are sympathetic to this idea in turkey maybe 10 years ago but turkey growing the has become more religiously nationalist and unfortunately this

is not a very popular idea. and it's going to say the truth is that your your idea your pluralistic concept doesn't look like it will gain any traction is likely to to proceed as net and if it does what implications do you think that has. yeah i'm not optimistic about the future of that little stick idea as well and by the way i think this little stick idea is needed in istanbul or quarter or jerusalem everywhere in the world or you have communities with claims of history what will happen it is not certain but it is very likely that president that iran will open reopen i guess ok as a place of worship and i personally as a muslim myself i'm not offended by the idea of. a muslim community worshipping him in the building but the biggest question will be what will happen to the christian heritage there are these priceless christian pressed those images of jesus and mary

and right towards that direction of could lead to prayer towards mecca so i would worry that they would be closed down somehow a comfort somehow with some curtains maybe we saw that in a few other places in turkey that was we could merge external mosque and i think that would be unfair to the christian heritage there i think we as muslims and christians have emotional feelings about the building they have a huge history there and we should honor the moments ok most of all we do appreciate your perspective on this thank you very much and if your time a cell phone michel. coming up in sports so a big news for tennis runs about this year's french open.

for.

the times for now has sort of thank you very much and nick will french open organizers confirmed on thursday that the delayed a grand slam a little gets underway on september 27th that fans will be allowed to attend stadium and capacities that will be reduced up to 60 percent of their normal limit social distancing a protocols that will also be implemented to protect spectators french open to switch to from its traditional may june slot up because of the pandemic top level tennis will resume amid all this a state suspension and watch well joining us now from new york is sports illustrated's jon where time john were you surprised with this decision while there has been murmurs about this for several days now and i think it's

a real balance i mean here in the united states it seems very strange i think about having a professional sporting event with thousands of thousands of fans and yet you know that the numbers from western europe for obviously are quite different but there has not been any tennis played at all since in a sanctioned event since the 1st week of march so it's very strange to think about having an event with with so many fans in the stands well other any concerns among players or they're just happy to have their fans back. it's a great question and i would think among american players there's just the immediate concern of will i be able to get into an e.u. country but a lot of players are very eager to get back to work they have been paid in months and months and the other thing about tennis is when you're actually playing it's a safe sport there's obviously you know a lot of a lot of feet a lot of leaders and yet in between the players so there is a sense that it's time to get back to work but it can be very interesting to see which players are even going to be eligible to play at this event at the way things

are going especially here in the u.s. what about financially speaking how important is it for the sport to visit critical and especially the french open has a new stadium a new a new don't over the over the stadium that did not come cheap and remember the french open pays for basically about 80 percent of the tennis with in france i mean this is a huge financial loss wimbledon had pandemic insurance so wimbledon is going to do ok in 2020 but for the other big events it would be absolutely catastrophic if they had to skip a beer and you know i'm glad you brought that up because it would it would be naive not to have this discussion and talk about the economics here it's pointless traces jon wertheim thank you very much for them thank you on about talk of h. and his wife have not tested negative for coronavirus at the positive for the players that 10 days after organizing a series of controversial exhibition events and serbia and croatia the tournaments

were widely criticized attitude to the lack of social distancing. crowned the premier league champions liverpool take on manchester city shortly the goals of senegalese a striker side your money i have been central to liverpool success at this season man is popularity it means the english club and now have a huge fan base and the west african country nicholas hackett reports from senegal scott bittle dhaka. it's more than a sport football is a way of life in senegal drawn in the sound is there pitch no need for shoes or shin guards the game is played barefoot from the heart that's how it started for senegalese strikers money for these fans money is the main reason for liverpool football club's return to glory. defined without money liverpool wouldn't be where they are he has this ability to get his teammates to multiply their efforts everybody gives their best fight without money there is no liverpool. after

manchester city lost against chelsea in june money's team won the premier league championship bringing of the trophy to anfield after 30 years i mean i think you know what's the scope yeah so i think everybody's just. deep in southern senegal's bumble the village is where your money trained as a child. sonny i would come here absolutely every day escaping from school to come here and training every single day this is the reason why i didn't go very far at school because he was always here so joe was the shy village boy that dropped big when he came to train at food and academy owned by the french football club mess the coaches remember him as an awkward teenager that would keep to himself now most of those currently in the cademy want to follow him on his footsteps and it was he who. came back to give the young ones advice and i remember him saying the only regret is to not have continued to study so he told the students never let go of

school we're proud of him in the example that he's giving. and yet his parents didn't want him to play football he was just 7 years old and when his father died it was his uncle's that acted as father figures and they were the moms at a local mosque like this one they made education a priority not running after a football but look at him now. with his wealth money is financing the building of the village mosque and you classrooms for the local high school he left behind money is now revered by an entire nation and beyond for a generation he's already a legend and while there is a bit of senegal in liverpool for the club's recent success it seems there's now a bit of liverpool on the beaches of senegal because hawke al-jazeera the car well bron james and the western conference leading los angeles lakers are getting ready

to head to florida for the n.b.a. restart the league is set to resume on july 30th at venues within the disney world resort and a florida and while james is looking forward to return to action some other big names are questioning whether health and safety protocols can be maintained you tell me. you know 22 james players. we have. everybody. i don't have much confidence. oakley you know. we're not premier body every just really dangerous. sri lankan police questioned one of the country's cricket legends kumar sangakkara on thursday following allegations that his team a through the 2011 world cup final against india sango was captain at the time with

india winning the match by 6 wickets in mumbai on the pro but follows allegations made in a t.v. interview last week in which for lanka's sports minister of the time game the players sold the final song to is a high profile player official it to be questioned in the last week i have it in the weeks one of the old time a great over west indian cricket has died at the age of 95 weeks is the only player to make centuries and 5 consecutive test innings and was part of the so-called 3 w.'s alongside teammates frank and clyde walcott he's still 10th on the old time list of test averages and that's all his fault for me will have more for you later on but for now it's back to nick sort of thank you very much indeed thank you i live just not you the direction our website al-jazeera dot com is the

address all the news recovery right there and pretty common throughout history well worth a look at lawrence taylor in london will be taking the news on this. from sunrise to sunset. across asia. and the pacific. explore untold un fascinating stories. of diverse cultures. and

conflicting politics. one o one east on al-jazeera. al-jazeera is here to report on the people often ignored but who must be heard how many other channels can you say will take the time and put extensive thought into reporting from under reported areas of course we cover major global offense but our passion lies and making sure that you're hearing the stories from people in places like palestine the young man the soccer legend and so many others we go to them to make the effort we care to stay. in a 2 part series. of his iraq observes the lives of 2 children. over 20 years. where insights into circumstances that she applies. in a rapidly changing world. 20 years of mean continues with good morning

groups in young are now to 0. revealing eco friendly solutions to combat threats to our planet on al-jazeera. the u.s. senate dials up the pressure on china approving new sanctions over the hong kong security law. says al jazeera live from london also coming up. tensions still high and if you.