the way. the in. the united states orders china to shut down its consulate in houston beijing threatens to retaliate. play watching al-jazeera live from doha with me fully back to war also ahead. thousands of protesters call for israel's prime minister to resign over corruption

charges and his handling of coronavirus they used to have a fear of water and now we look at how it's providing a lifeline for ethiopians it's a controversial mega dollar. and a steroids within my saving booster drug being tested in britain that's being hailed as a breakthrough treatment for cold feet 1000 patients. there's growing tension between the united states and china the u.s. government has ordered beijing to close its consulate in houston texas saying it's to protect american intellectual property a spokesman for china's foreign ministry has denied media reports that software burning documents inside the building and is accuse a u.s. of violating international law china is threatening to close the american consulate in in response and as one chinese students in the u.s. to be on god for what he calls obvious cherry. interrogations will go.

surely on july 21st the u.s. abruptly demand to be close oh consulate general this was unilaterally initiated by the u.s. side we demand the u.s. withdrawal this decision or we will respond let's bring in our state department correspondent roslyn jordan so ross tell us more about what the state department is saying are the reasons for shutting down the chinese consulate in houston. well the argument that's being pinned being put forward by the u.s. secretary of state mike pompei oh is that the chinese government is engaged in a systematic effort to basically conduct spying operations on the united states government on u.s. businesses and u.s. universities really undermining the national security of the united states the secretary expanded on his view during a press conference about an hour or so ago in copenhagen denmark we're not going

to allow this to continue to happen where they have seen the remarks that. visor brian gave that f.b.i. director ray gave him that attorney general barr has given we are setting out clear expert taishan for how the chinese communist party is going to behave and when they don't we're going to take actions that protect the american people protect our security our national security and also protect our economy and jobs. now the staff out the consulate in houston are supposed to pack up their belongings and their families and leave the country by the end of the business day on friday whether or not the chinese government makes good on its promise or threat to close a u.s. consulate on chinese territory well that's something we're waiting to see if it's going to happen thank you very much for that roslyn jordan. and here now is katrina you with more on beijing's reaction to the owner. certainly beijing is furious

about this china's foreign ministry spokesperson one when been spoke on wednesday afternoon calling this outrageous unjustified and said it was an unprecedented escalation even listed a number of actions he said the us government had taken against chinese people in the u.s. in recent months he said that chinese diplomats there had been subjected to intimidation harassment in some cases detention he also said that chinese students were increasingly being interrogated that personal electronic devices were being confiscated and searched he also said that there would incident at least one chinese diplomatic stop had extra restrictions imposed on them that diplomatic pouches was searched without permission that chinese official items were also confiscated both of these would be violations of the vienna convention on diplomatic relations one woman also said that the chinese embassy in the u.s. had received a number of bomb threats and death threats and he accused the trump administration

of fanning the flames of hatred against china only in the u.s. but overseas as well and certainly this is just the next escalation the newest escalation was seen as a diplomatic freefall and sums of relations between the u.s. and china in various fronts in gun control national security law technology and trade and beijing says if the u.s. does not pull back from this decision it will take what it has called legitimate and necessary counter measures. now the news a vote is expected in the coming hours that will give israel's government increased powers same pose coronavirus restrictions across the country the move comes as protests grow louder against prime minister benjamin netanyahu as handling of the pandemic thousands of demonstrators have been arrested after chaining themselves together and blocking people from entering parliament in western them harry fawcett reports. benjamin netanyahu is where the protest before so called black

flag activists have waged a years long campaign against what they call his anti democratic rule but in the last 2 weeks the protests have changed and grown as israelis buckling under a 2nd wave of coronavirus turn their anger on the government. netanyahu has admitted to reopening the economy too quickly allowing gatherings of too many people others point to the government's failure to expand the system of testing and tracing as the 1st wave leaving it ill equipped to stop the 2nd author and journalist roden bergman has investigated that decision making he says the health ministry went against expert advice you need to know as soon as possible if that person is you or not you need to test that person immediately after he is like the fight is suspicion so is a suspect so if if you do not been sharing of infection it goes on and on if you are not able to cut it the government itself said it needed a 48 hour turnaround from suspected case to test results even now it's taking $6.00

to $8.00 days the concern now is that it's simply too late in terms of testing to catch up with the sheer scale of this 2nd wave israel's missed opportunity on testing and tracing is now being seen as part of a wider political failure to tackle the pandemic under pressure the prime minister has been announcing measures only to announce them from a $1750000000.00 package of cash handouts 1st universal now means tested too in order to close restaurants. within hours to weekend closures of beaches and pools reversed within days the one constant is insistence on avoiding a 2nd full lockdown because. i have requested each ministries plan for a safe exit from the current virus restrictions meaning that if we straighten the coven reach the goals that we see it for the determine number of cases per day that we can work with over time in the coronavirus routing. but the head spinning policy

shifts have undermined belief in a prime minister also on trial in 3 separate corruption cases one survey this month put public trust in him at just 29 percent and the problem that. there's really this back and forth that it's not creating trust and trust is groucho. in order to move ahead because it's a long term situation where they're talking about trustees both ross of the public and trust of experts just weeks ago netanyahu had squashed the 1st wave of coded 19 and neutralized his most serious political rival benny gantz inside an emergency coalition now he's fighting to beat down a resurgent virus and restore his diminishing political capital are a force at al-jazeera television. ethiopia says heavy rains have begun filling parts of its controversial dam on the blue nile which will start generating power next year the government says the dam is crucial for its economic growth but egypt and sedan both live downstream and they fear it could reduce their access to water

mom involved reports from the source of the blue nile in northern ethiopia. it's called the water tower of africa that's because each open mountains are the 1st african highland to be drenched by the annual rains from the indian ocean. even after several drought sits streams rivers and lakes is one of the world's largest and the main source of the blue nile in the past joe pretty didn't seem to need all the water it has lifestyles here were simple large bodies of water where even here. where always you see our where the water is. water is if you go to the. marsh if you go to if you go to the lake some didn't get it wrong. in the history of. most of.

our our tradition preferred the highly living in highland because it's associated with the sea with this stupidity. but it's europeans say they've had to abandon that mentality a steady decrease in and the rainfall has damaged i get a culture rapid increase in population every year means millions more to feed a wiser use of water has become a necessity priority over the years has been given to hydro power with 18 dams either completed or about to be the largest in africa is the ground each oprah name on the blue nile the 5000000000 dollar project is designed to produce $6000.00 megawatts of electricity actually it's been a while since it began to harness the power of the blue nile a famous name for such you see behind me receive only 25 percent of what is coming from lake town or that he may need $75.00 diverted to hydro power dams which produce a total of $84.00 megawatts leaked on

a catchment or blue nile solar system is made up of about 40 tributaries they include the sacred gift of beit believed to be the real source of the blue nile a by each open name locals believe by runs through leaked on our without mixing with it and that it has healing powers wholly a bite is being required to play a more practical road now with the old system when use of water source will lose this race was. we. benefit from them if you take in the. 100000 hectare. 100000 hectare irrigated. land that is yet but this city percent of it is under the use of the strides in hydro power investments haven't been matched with similar progress in agriculture around lake tana rocky

terrain is to blame but local authorities say they'll do the impossible to harness both water and land for the benefit of the nation. by lake tana. still ahead on al-jazeera. it will probably unfortunately get worse before it gets better something i don't like saying about things but that's the way it is a reluctant reassessment of the current a virus outbreak in the u.s. from president donald trump and up and away is the end of an era for one of australia's aviation snogs setting an x. . how the korean peninsula is for soaking now i think the seasonal rains of change

their orientation a little bit and a proper circulation developing in that line which takes you across the yellow sea towards both north and south korea the orange center is just some intense slow moving heavy rain it's still part of a system that links back across the yangtze where it's now dry in the forecast as a back towards sichuan where the next bit will starts develop this however unfolds so you've got still rain in the korean peninsula spreading across towards the south of japan and probably just touching shanghai for a brief while as well. still he would of course you get scattered thunderstorms in little clumps is one obvious one towards the fit means coast the next couple days in fact. pretty wet looking areas of deep sandstorms here there are a few a salute sort of way sea and fewer than there were in sumatra and sudden thailand peninsula malaysia. the monsoon rains pretty widespread throughout india bangladesh

and to some degree pakistan we still got the brahmaputra being rained upon that's in full flood but equally there's a hint of suggest suggestion of significant rain in southern bangladesh coming up. jump into the stream and julian on global community this generation will have to create its own democracy with social media and will online be part of the debate let me put some you tube comments to you when no topic is off the table is taking on all the systemic arlin's that people of color have suffered not only now but for decades we are going to be to transform lives the way he treats human way we do business if we're going to adapt to climate breakdown this stream on out is there. in the in the.

welcome back a recap a lot top stories on al-jazeera the u.s. government has ordered beijing to close its consummate in houston texas saying it's to protect american intellectual property a spokesman for the chinese foreign ministry has denied reports that staff have been burning documents inside the building. a vote is expected in the coming hours that will give israel's government increased powers removed to impose coronavirus restrictions more than 30 people were arrested after protests calling on prime minister prime minister benjamin netanyahu to resign. u.s. president donald trump has won the corona virus outbreak is likely to get worse before it gets better it's a mox departure from the optimistic picture is projected so far even as cases

continue to rise in many states mike hanna reports from washington. in the past president cost himself as america's cheerleader making rosy predictions about the course of the pandemic that were often at odds with the facts but this was a more subdued president than on previous occasions it will probably unfortunately get worse before it gets better something i don't like saying about things but that's the way it is and a complete reversal on the use of mosques something that in the 1st few months of the pandemic the president often derided at one stage even expressing support for anti mosque protests in a number of states this to it seems a thing of the past i have no problem with the masks i view it this way anything that potentially can help and that certainly can potentially help is a good thing i have no problem i carry it i wear it you saw me wearing it a number of times and i'll continue if there were some familiar claims that the

u.s. is leading the world in testing and that it's mortality rate is lower than anywhere both assertions declared false by most health experts and little comment about a startling report from the centers for disease control it says the official figure of some $3600000.00 cases of coronavirus in the u.s. is dramatically less than what it now estimates could be as many as $38000000.00 cases. it's not clear whether the president's new embrace of reality rests in a recognition not because such as these or whether he's seeking to reverse what are politically damaging polling figures about the public's view of the way he's handled the crisis. washington. zimbabwe's president has announced a dusk to dawn curfew to contain the spread of code 19. says it will begin on wednesday and being forced by security forces critics say the measure is aimed at

stopping anti-government protests planned for next week as in bob when investigative journalists and an opposition politician were both arrested in harare on monday for inciting violence has more from zimbabwe's capital. well the 2 men are in the court right now are they going to apply for bail they are now waiting for that person to start the state does not want them to get bail because they fear that they feel that if the 2 men are out what's going to stop them from going back on social media and trying to encourage people to participate in this demonstration on 21st of july against corruption and economy the all to save is no guarantee that the 2 men want to also try to leave the country so that's what they're trying to call for right now in the court hearing that will be taking place sometime later today of course they're also concerned that people are concerned that this will be the government trying to make sure this doesn't go ahead the government is saying that they don't believe that these 2 men actually jane when they say they calling for a protest against corruption and economy thing that these men are trying to incite

violence and trying to undermine the authority of the state on monday and tuesday the police raided the homes of these 2 men they were looking for documents they're looking for any kind of paperwork they were looking for any any thoughts of media tools looking for mobile phones even video cameras if they may looking to. try to incite violence and deny the allegations or they say that they are trying to be job . been doing for the past 2 years is highlight issues of corruption in the country . scientists in india's capital say random testing indicates that more than one in 5 people in new delhi have been infected by corona virus more than said to 1000 new cases were confirmed across the country on tuesday and india's top medical research bodies are urging states to increase testing capacity many local governments have ordered targeted knockdowns in high risk areas says slow new infections dr ramadan . is a director for disease dynamics economy and policy he says india faces

a greater challenge when cold cases spread in small and citizens. i think good dating to spread is virtually impossible at the start it never was in fact in some sense possible but given the size of the country. and given the state of the health system but now it's it's beyond the question and i think for a few months now many of us have been urging the testing to be focused on populations will follow a route with co-morbidities and that this be the with which what out of each refuse india is what out of you has been lower than what it will be a projected but the game is not over yet we still have many will cases to go through getting access to the street been optioned requires either money or perhaps some sort of access to someone in government and that have been reports of people who have been left out who bought from you know one hospital or the other looking for a bed at a managed to find one and have depo died without finding a hospital bed so and this is in the 3 cities where the health care

facilities are really the best across the country we have not yet seen corbett reach you know smaller towns and cities that scale and that's where the concern is that the availability of all hospital beds and doctors would be far less and there who are the chances that people would get access would be. scientists now you can't conducting the wall spigots random drug trying to see which existing medications could counter call the 19 had shown that a cheap off the shelf ceral it can work in many cases saving the lives of one in 3 of the critically ill patients and a 2nd series inside scottish kenneth's jonna how meets medical staff at ham i.e. hospital any skilled bryde have been on the frontline of the british science. this is the intensive care unit. this is a 10 bed intensity and where we had all our covert patients with envy at the height

of the pandemic the place would be in fill of medical staff not the staff as you are with their press the coded 1000 pandemic in the u.k. may have subsided for now but it's accelerating in many parts of the world so the search for treatments alongside a vaccine remains as urgent as ever and the drug trial has revealed the steroid dexamethasone to be effective in reducing deaths by up to a 3rd a lot of patients and he commented intensive care unit they have a hyper immune response so the system goes into overdrive because if the hyper immune spawns actually causes a lot of the illness the damage to the lungs so decks a mess one hopes they just kind of dampen although 56 year old eddie hughes believes dexamethasone saved his life or what it was a functioning since machines would be easily. faster since you keep your life in the way from flying with. little to nothing else is what not and to lose let's try

it after you had to dismiss all these options probably started to still don't get started to get at least. for the 1st time it was the end of started to be talk of what you want for the team to return and that was just we just couldn't even believe that any was given decks of methadone here at hairmyres hospital in scotland one of a large number taking part in a u.k. wide randomized drug trial being run by scientists at oxford university the aim to test a number of widely available off the shelf drugs with the hope of finding one or a combination that might work to ease some of the worst symptoms of covert 98 hughes return from the brink of death contributed to data that has seen dexamethasone approved as a breakthrough treatment for some of the worst cases of covered 19 states methicillin to his. negrete. result and no it means that patients in plenty common if they're being treated or an oxygen can be cheese scraped up in

a week it wouldn't be able to be before the recovery trial has also been successful in ruling out the military a drug hydroxy chloroquine once hailed as a game changer by president donald trump but found instead to be useless in treating covert 19 as the world waits for a safe and effective vaccine that may yet be a long way off recovery continues to look for treatments that will help us live with the virus possibly for years to come join a whole al jazeera scotland and our series on surviving coronavirus continues on thursday join me join a whole for the concluding part in our covert 19 series looking at the lingering effects on the long road back to full health. but then the various government has denied ignoring warnings that russia was attempting to meddle in its elections prime minister voice johnson told parliament the u.k. was more vigilance than any other country against threats from russia

a report on tuesday found authorities actively avoided looking into evidence the kremlin tried to interfere in several votes including abraxas referendum. the people of this type this country didn't vote to leave the e.u. because of pressure from russia the russian introduced they voted because they wanted to take control of our money of our trade policy of our last. 13 hostages held on a bus in ukraine have been freed unharmed after a personal intervention by the president for dummies and ski a great to endorse an animal rights documentary to end the standoff emily sue reports that the freed unharmed after a 12 hour long siege these travelers turned hostages were on the bus in the western city of lutes when it was seized by a russian gunman. police sealed off the area where the suspect began throwing explosives and firing shots at a drone nobody was injured the hostage taker was identified as 44 year old maxime

creevy wash officials say he wanted to speak with ukrainian president flawed amir selenski his demand that the president and doors an animal rights documentary released 15 years ago selenski obliged posting this video to show media in the movie earthlings 2005 months everyone should watch. earthlings is an award winning documentary about the mistreatment of animals for profit now rated by hollywood actor joaquin phoenix selenski said he convinced the suspect to release 3 of the hostages when they spoke on the phone and the rest after he posted the video. could we do we did it was obvious for me these were obvious that for me if we can do anything without launching assault we can avoid putting at least one person's life at risk these are principles i live with lived with and will live with. some local media reports say the suspect is an animal rights activist who helped protect stray dogs the standoff ended when he released all the hostages and surrendered police

are now determining why he planned such an extreme act at least 2000. cats i always has launched a multi-billion dollar lawsuit against 4 countries that are imposed a blockade on the gulf state banning cattery aircraft from as space as is seeking $5000000000.00 in compensation from egypt saudi arabia bahrain and the united arab emirates the countries impose a land sea and air blockade in 2017 the un stop court ruled last week in favor of qatar approving the jurisdiction of the international civil aviation organization to hear the case. half a century of aviation history has ended for australia's national carrier quantas its last boeing 747 has taken off from sydney into early retirement the decommissioning of the aircraft has the latest blow for the aviation industry which has been devastated by the pandemic we're going to gauge reports from sydney.

jumbo coming the arrival of the world's 1st jumbo jet a 970 heralded a new dawn for a travel receiving huge fanfare on its 1st commercial flight from new york to london half a century later stuff bid farewell to the last quantas boeing 747. before it flew out of a straw for the final time. the retardants airport is a bigger sweet moment because of the same time there's your aircraft with their range their economics for decades the 747 was the flagship aircraft of quantas and the mainstay of other main commercial airlines it was synonymous with the long haul trips and exotic holidays remaining the world's largest aircraft until 2007 when the a 380 was introduced it still flies the us president around on air force one the boeing 7 for 7 or 8 and up the world to many people making international travel affordable

at the time it could hold double the number of passengers than many commercial aircraft but now it's nowhere near as fuel efficient as smaller twin engine aircraft that can fly further than ever wanted had planned to retire at 74 seventh's by the end of 2020 but coated 19 brought it in for wood pretty share ways has made the same decision while many u.s. airlines have already priced them out we will have fewer bigger aircraft i think that's that's that's a given but they won't disappear completely and they won't disappear overnight since the pandemic began quantas was cut 6. and cancelled most international flights until march next year with the asia pacific region alone predicted by the international air transport association to post losses of up to 29000000000 dollars this year airlines are in survival mode there are some that will be side by governments. that would have collapsed if i'd been privatized and there are those

that will just disappear for now the last point 2747 will be stored in the mojave desert in california before being sold most likely full freight truths marking the end of a significant era in quanta says history you can gauge al-jazeera. is always much more news on our website at al-jazeera dot com the very latest on their on the coronavirus pandemic of course al-jazeera dot com. let's. play again i'm fully back to go with the headlines on al-jazeera the u.s. government has ordered beijing to close its consulate in houston texas the state department says it's to protect american intellectual property a spokesman for the chinese foreign ministry has denied reports that staff had been burning documents inside the building was in jordan has more from virginia the

argument that's being pinned being put forward by the u.s. secretary of state mike pompei oh is that the chinese government is engaged in a systematic effort to basically conduct spying operations on the united states government on u.s. businesses and u.s. universities really undermining the national security of the united states. a vote is expected in the coming hours that will give israel's government increased powers to impose coronavirus restrictions more than 30 people were arrested out of violent protests calling on prime minister binyamin that's now to resign over his handling of the crisis if the o.p.'s is its reach its a yearly filling target for the grand renaissance dam after weeks of heavy rain the government's been holding virtual meetings with its downstream neighbors from missing to continue talks u.s. president donald trump has warned that the corona virus outbreak is likely to get worse before it gets better is urging the public to wear masks and has promised to

deliver a vaccine as soon as possible in zimbabwe the president has announced a dusk till dawn curfew in an effort to ex-con tain the spread of coffee 19 and says it will begin on wednesday and be enforced by security forces but critics say the measure is aimed at stopping on thai government protests planned for next week scientists in india's capital say random testing indicates that more than one in 5 people in new delhi have been infected by coal that 19 india's top medical research bodies are doing ses to increase testing capacity and the british government has denied ignoring warnings that russia was attempting to meddle in its elections prime minister boris johnson told on him and the u.k. was more vigilant than any other country against threats from russia a report on tuesday concluded authorities actively avoided looking into evidence the kremlin tried to interfere in several votes those are the headlines on al-jazeera will have more news for you after the stream to stay with us. a global

pandemic mass protests demanding change economic recession and geopolitical tensions not to mention the small matter of a looming election join me steve clemons in conversation with leading voices on the bottom line your weekly take on u.s. politics and society on al-jazeera. they're welcome to my home in fairfax virginia i'm josh rushing sitting in for the irreplaceable for me ok and this is the stream today we're asking is sudan on the path to democracy still now look if you're watching this on you tube you see that box over there yes right there that is the live you tube chat help me out get in the conversation we have a producer in there that's going to get your comments or your questions to me and i'm going to.