for more dollars on world love we are about grabbing the air from our we're all the media don't go we go dear and we give them a chance to tell their story. this is a news hour live from our world headquarters in doha coming up in the next 60 minutes a sensitive and symbolic site turkey's president is among worship is at the 1st friday prayers in decades at a famous landmark in istanbul. china shuts down a u.s. consulate in an escalating diplomatic ground just days after beijing was ordered to close its mission in houston also this hour

a scare in the skies over syria passengers heard on an iranian plane as it's tailed by a u.s. fighter jet. and. all the sports the major league baseball season in north america is finally on the way to a 4 month delay by the global. thank you very much for joining us it's a world famous landmark that's considered sacred by both muslims and christians turkey's iconic i guess sophia is back in the religious spotlight as show you some live pictures right now from istanbul where friday prayers are about to begin inside the building for the 1st time in 86 see is softer turkey's president or ship typo on declared last week at the. structure or rigidly built as an orthodox

christian cathedral will once again be converted into a mosque following a court ruling while the hagia sophia has changed several times since it was built 1500 years ago it was originally the non just church in the eastern roman empire in the christian city of consent an opal now called istanbul in 1453 the city fell to the ottomans after a 55 day siege and how i guess sophia was converted into a mosque almost 500 years later in 1935 it became a 2nd a museum reflecting the inclusive vision obvious sambo after the fall of the ottoman empire not turkey's highest court ordered the conversion of the unesco world heritage site back to a mosque earlier this month president supported the switch which angered christian religious leaders and politicians around the world let's bring in sin and blow who's live from istanbul outside the high gas sophia friday prayers i believe are

about to begin. soon him i can hear them right behind you there in just a few minutes i understand just set the scene for us for us and tell us about the atmosphere on this very important day in istanbul. for the writing prayer and the. inside the building was. very. very ambitious the last. player. many of those people here. who are here. for boys. and. waiting. for many. because this claim servants and national assessments of the international

trade have been saying that the shall i also have changed is shall be and i assume the hash out or phrase that was somewhat sicko especially in the 19 eighties and before and now they are happy to hear that. they actually are is the ism has the most back again by the way i'm only using while i'm speaking. in english and in . turkey and in knots and they call that i also have those only understand my apologies when i switch between the on time to time and add on especially who has been leading and who has the backing that prayers should be handled inside. was it was actually a close to inner circle again. turning i guess. to a mosque was on that sand so i'm christian taglines out that most which is right to

proceed against it doesn't have much to the people of war stories so. we don't have the most at school why why shout at you and i guess we are from little simpler most . share here when they follow the latest fashions in the is to ring in and the latest mentions but raise add on was the most affordable morsel or. becoming a most again only muslim prayers if you're just joining us on al-jazeera echoing this friday for the 1st time in 86 years at least some bowls iconic i guess sophia after it was converted into a mosque earlier this month let's listen in a bit to the our son santa. barbara. or.

the muslim prayer is echoing from the iconic yes sophia in a stumble this friday turkish president bush have type one has joined thousands of worship is for this special occasion a very him big day for some ball it's the 1st sign that friday prayer is being held at this iconic site since it was we converted into a mosque earlier this month a number of foreign dignitaries also in attendance and a stance in them. as following this event for a center is outside the mosque sin and tell us how the prayers are going to work not just today but also moving forward because we are in the age of cover 1000 of course why social distancing measures have to be applied how are things going to be working playing out pace. here

a little bit 19 measures and. this is still on the peak entering the final number of the number of delegates. down to $900.00 it was a critical move it was a brave move by the government to organize such an event and many sides the government or this. morning the governor of the governor's office had been making announcements warn the citizens who are here to worship it's where they are master key players to maintain their social business with other worship very. quickly using standard sizes but of course it is difficult given that many people from other cities they jumped into buses and they came here just for this friday prayer and hundreds of thousands were expected so it's more than 100000 around here right now moving and moving a little italian i mean with the hash even more here from indoors if you are in

normally at least 4000 but fortunately because of all the measures 1000 in mikey's are here who are invited by the presidential. as you said there are foreign born in the whole efficiency one leading figure in this summit where if you are joining residents are gone and friday prayers today and outside prayers. people are waiting for the prayer right now and in a couple of minutes the friday prayer is going to begin and it is a minute in one hour and after that the measures will deliver on our wrists and on the delegation. they. will be allowed to visit inside and pray inside force as a religious director rape culture and tourism ministry and prison guards on who self or if they were only 6 months at least to the necessary work

inside hayat sophia. loren the ready port for public for prayers for the public so after today the fear is going to be shut down for 6 months and. for today what kind of preparations are done yes of course the floors were covered with new carpets for the prayer and that was the 1st pictures were shown by presidents are gone earlier on sunday and also they come i'd say my fingers and i can see on the ceilings of my years of one of them a leader important figures as mother mary and the other figure is gabrielle and it morning so is that when you face pictures i can see a to the muck to the direction the way you're praying. is not allowed so that's why they covered the ceilings which is on the light hurts and some veils those were they leverage ratios so far. there will be x.

appropriations in the next 6 months talking of use of istanbul and the iconic yes sophia this friday way for the 1st time. 86 years find a prey is being held to the site was re converted into a mosque i guess sophia a unesco world heritage site of course was built as a cathedral during the reign of a byzantine empire just in the 1st scene $537.00 but converted into a mosque after the ottoman conquest of constantin opal which is now forces some will in $1453.00 while now the site is once again a mosque and friday prayers on being held with the turkish president type to one who has been as a bit has been a strong supporter of this move to convert the museum back into a mosque attending alongside hundreds of dignitaries said let's listen in once

again as friday prayers are about to begin inside i guess afia. will. the friday prayers are just about to start once again inside high gas sophia a number of countries the united states the european union unesco and various church leaders have expressed concern that the change in status of this site neighboring greece which is a neighbor to turkey branded the move an open provocation to the civilized world president juan however insists that this is turkey's historic hold and solver in rights. to reconvert this museum into a mosque or to one is due to speak after the friday prayers will bring that to you live here on al-jazeera critics have accused him of trying to play this into in

nationalist base in duis nationalist base with support eroding amid the global coronavirus pandemic which has calls an economic downturn in turkey so many have said this is a fanatical move but. otoh on insisting that this is turkey's right to convert this museum into a mosque we'll continue to follow this story for you of course throughout the day here on al-jazeera an important day a big day in assemble as friday prayers are being held at the iconic high yes afia mosque for the 1st time in 86 years. in the meantime. let's move on to other news and relations between 2 of the world's superpowers a detail rating even further in the latest diplomatic twist china has ordered the u.s. to shut down its consulate in the southwestern city of chengdu it's retaliation for

what china's foreign ministry calls an unjustified act. it with you when he china's measures a legitimate necessary response to unjust acts of the us it conforms with international law basic norms and international relations and customary diplomatic practices the current situation by less room relations is not what china wants to see and the u.s. is responsible for all of this for on tuesday washington gave beijing 72 hours to leave its consulate in the texan city of houston china says that move did international law the u.s. insists it's necessary to protect american intellectual property the u.s. secretary of state mike on bail has doubled down on the allegations describing china's houston consulate as a hub of spying katrina you has more now on china's reaction from one. when bin who is a foreign ministry spokesperson in beijing he fronted the press basically

reiterated the the message that was released by the foreign foreign ministry earlier today on friday but he also then said that some officials working in the time do consulate had been engaging in activities which do not accord with the identities and that china has raised this several times with the u.s. and the u.s. is aware of this when he was pushed further on exactly what he meant he didn't give any of the details but quite a vague statement that we don't know that accusation is leveled at the chinese stop all 50 all the of the 50 american u.s. officials who work in the time do office but it does give some insight as to why they've targeted that particular consulate at the moment we do know there are about 200 staff working there and that is have quite a colorful history as well in 2012 the party secretary of of the chain which is a region that both she lived his right hand man one legion actually fled to that

consulate in time do to try to seek asylum after he levels accusations against it was later found guilty in china that could be one reason now that wasn't mentioned by china's foreign ministry but that is what many people think of when they think of the. also because of its location in the southwest of china it's also considered to be quite listening post for the u.s. when it comes to any happening is the issues around tibet ocean junk so that's also possibly why it was targeted. consulate closures are the latest in a series of disputes they include donald trump blaming china for the worldwide coronavirus pandemic china accuses the us president of trying to deflect attention from his own mishandling of the crisis in china's president xi jinping imposed cheap sorry sin a series of tit for tat measures in their trade war have since managed to move ahead with a so-called phase one trade deal but further negotiations us told then there's huawei china denies the telecoms company is a security threat but the u.s.

has banned while we and convince allies such as britain to do the same or less speak to drew thompson about this his senior research fellow at the national university of singapore leon huge universe school of public policy and is via skype from singapore thank you so much for being with us this is quite a significant constant that beijing decided to close in retaliation to the closure of its mission in the us what do you make of the response 1st of all do you think it's a proportionate one. i think china's acted with a degree of her strange here and the decision to close the chengdu consulate on their part was both reciprocal and i think proportional and is part of diplomatic signaling that's going on between 2 countries who are very genuinely dissatisfied with the state of their bilateral relationship so i think the upshot of this is that even though this seems like a very dramatic act it's still one where both sides are demonstrating a degree of her strength it's controlled and it's proportional so this is much

better than alternative scenarios where one side or the other could act way out of proportion to the fact of the other which makes it much harder to walk back and improve the relationship when sentiments change you say china has acted with restraint but they have been quite a few actions and sanctions from the u.s. side notably do you think relations have reached a point of no return here or is it possible that they could perhaps find some sort of compromise in the coming months especially after the u.s. election in november. so it at this point certainly the relationship is declining it's deteriorating and i don't think we've seen the bottom of the relationship yet so we can expect more such tit for tat moves i think what's notable here is the united states government across many different parts of government are now taking very seriously their role in competing with china so we noted this week that the

department of justice has indicted 2 chinese hackers accused of using cyberspace to seal technology there's other stories of researchers in the united states being ejected and being arrested for misrepresenting themselves when in fact they work for government or military bodies so the government and the united states is really standing up to china and that's forcing china to respond but they are doing it reciprocally and proportionally which means the option is on the table eventually to start walking these actions back but it's really you have to recognize that we're also only 4 months away from the election so china doesn't want to do anything that they can't undo in the next administration if that if ministration changes and we have a much more conciliatory administration in place but i wonder how much pressure is this putting on china internally and also how much damage on the deteriorating

relations with the u.s. causing to china's standing in the region and do you think it's giving ammunition to its regional rivals. well it's certainly causing concern in the region and i think many countries particularly here in southeast asia where i'm based are concerned about being trapped or being forced to choose sides or being simply part of a theater for competition between the 2 powers and they don't want to end up there so so we're seeing a lot of balancing taking place between countries here who don't want to choose sides but at the same time they are going to have to choose sides and make decisions to protect their own interests. but in terms of the damage that's being done one can also look at say the opportunity cost of the relationship so i know many people in china are puzzled that the u.s. would take these measures because they think that they're hurting the united states but i think if you look at the deep dissatisfaction in the u.s. with the state of the bilateral relationship and the unequal and not reciprocal

trade relationship an equal access to respective markets that the united states has lost a great deal from things like cyber theft or the banning of us media and internet companies from operating in china there's tremendous revenue being lost by the united states because of china's actions so standing up and trying to put pressure on china to change its ways may incur some pain but i think their tremendous amount of harm has already been done and it's worth pointing out too that the united states and the trumpet ministration spent really 2 years actively cultivating and working with xi jinping directly to try to effect some change in the way china handles its trade relationship to make it more fair and more balanced and they were largely unsuccessful ok so for the last 2 years they've really been disengaging and really been putting pressure on china to have that effect we need

that there remains to be seen whether it will be successful i would leave it there thank you so much for talking to us to thomson from that the national university of singapore joining us say from singapore thank you for your time my pleasure. the pentagon has confirmed one of its fighter jets intercepted any radian passenger plane over syria it says the f. 15 conducted a visual inspection of the plane from a safe distance to ensure it wasn't a hostile aircraft a number of passengers were injured when the pilot abruptly changed altitude then a hard every for somebody what. a state of panic among passengers on board flight 1152 the air bus was flying from iran's capital to her on to beirut in lebanon on thursday night when the iranians say it was harassed by fighter jets

data recorded show the airliner climb from 34000 feet to 34600 feet in less than 2 minutes before descending to 34000 feet a minute later iran's state t.v. says several passengers were injured due to the sudden changes in altitude the jet landed safely in the lebanese capital. want to diminish felicity when we reached the airspace of syria a fighter jet approached a monoplane in order to avoid colliding with that jet the pilot rapidly decreased altitude and it caused injury for some passengers. hours later the u.s. central command confirmed a u.s. f. 15 was involved in the incident and not israeli warplanes as 1st suspected the u.s. said the f. 15 was on a routine air mission near the town of coalition base in syria the war plane conducted a standard visual inspection of the airliner at a safe distance says the u.s. and want identified the f. 15 opened distance from the aircraft in line with international standards.

privately owned behind the air has been under u.s. sanctions for years accused by washington of providing financial material and technological support to iran's couldst force which includes the lebanese group hezbollah. accusations that. graph from that airliner used to carry logistics support for running back forces in the region so that may well have been one of the reasons why the u.s. side are taking a closer look at. u.s. troops are in the l. ton of area near syria's borders with iraq and jordan the base was 1st established to fight eisel in 2016 it has since become an outpost to counter iran's expansion in the region as its on a supply route linking to iran to be a route that passes through syria the message is a. basically

a no go zone for the. weather also you know whether any other person's reach the incident could have been an unfortunate encounter with many believe it was a message the fact that it came at a time of heightened tensions between iran and the united states in the region caused concern that there have been numerous locations that risked an all out conflict. so far to iran and washington have avoided all out confrontation this latest incident in the skies a reminder that the potential for an escalation is real. beirut. the u.s. and u.k. have accused russia of ranching and anti-satellite weapon into space the u.s. space command says it has evidence moscow fired the projectile on july 15th britain says a move pause a threat to satellites the world depends on russia's defense ministry says it was

using new technology to check its own space equipment let's bring in alexandra staking so is a research fellow in space policy and security at the royal united services institute she is via skype from london alexandra good to have you with us so what more do we know about this satellite weapon that the russians have reportedly tested and how concerning is this i think it's important 1st not necessary to refer to as a weapon how characteristics that could potentially be a weapon ok i'm due to its relative velocity and from the satellite from which it came i am i think what we see is. the recognition that space is becoming a much more important strategic environment with your operations and so it's no surprise that states are developing capabilities that could deny there are no serious access to that space assets but it's also important to recognize that this isn't new. you know from the beginnings of the use of space to states have looked

at how to develop these capabilities so i think it's we need to not move too fast with narratives about weaponization of space and right space race and and just take a bit of caution or what about the timing though of this incident it's the 1st time that the u.k. has made accusations about russian test firing in space and this comes days after an inquiry said the u.k. government badly underestimated the threat posed by russia what do you make of the timing. will now that we have a director of space within the ministry of defense you know we may see the u.k. actually responding more just because we now we now have that that structure in place and that that recognition of space and its importance for the military and in terms of the other timing you know i think it's you always have to look at space and how it relates to everything else that's going on and obviously with some of the other news you know with russia and some of those concerns it's not it's not

a huge surprise that that this might be commented on in that way but again i i feel that. you know space because it because of the narrative that it can provide it it's a you can be useful at topic when when you want to to to talk about the other countries and what they're doing does it what does a reset pattern of russian space at tivoli indicate is there anything abnormal in your view. i don't think it's abnormal as as i mentioned so many different states are developing capabilities we know china has anti satellite capabilities india tested a missile last year and we certainly have seen i guess a resurgence of russia. in terms of these programs coming back and you know when you look at the rhetoric for example coming from the united states you know with the creation of a space force talks of space being

a war fighting domain any state that has significant space assets is going to be looking at how to protect its own assets and also how to ensure that it provides a certain level of deterrence against act that there are persons who may think to target them i sandra 2nd thank you so much for talking to us about this alexander staking his from joining us there from london. time now for a check on the world where the with jenny and not one but 2 tropical storms to total stall one is going to become a hurricane yes so i'll get straight to her folly this is where they are this is where the 1st one is anyway and this is looking across the caribbean sea and then here we are in the atlantic and this is a bundle of clouds this is the latest a little storm it's gone salis gonzalo i should say it is a powerful tropical storm is one of the many we've got winds at about 90 kilometers an hour gusting to $110.00 it's moving to the west quite rapidly at about 20

kilometers an hour and you can see where it's heading towards now this is actually expected to become a hurricane in the coming hours and look at this as you might expect there are hurricane watches in place for the islands in the south windward islands but look at this as it becomes a country one hurrican this will be by saturday we got winds at that point 120 kilometers an hour gusting higher than that but it is the rain that's also very significant as have any of these storm system so we could be seeing as much as $175.00 millimeters of rain across these islands we're going to watch his very closely of course in the hours in the days ahead then we had across tools the gulf of mexico a bit of a different storm this one another tropical storm north as strong this is a minimum strength strong winds about 65 kilometers an hour gusting to 80 it's moving much slower that is not good news of course as we know it's heading towards the coast of texas now this is already producing some torrential amounts of wayne some reports of localized flooding it might just strengthen

a little bit more before it makes landfall that will be sometime on saturday so fully we're just follow this very very closely because already this is causing some problems across southern sections of the u.s. thank you jenny for that jenny with the latest weather bass still ahead on this news hour running out of oxygen in bolivia our relatives of course of ice patients are having to get their own supply bus from delivering breaks it to being in intensive care for coronavirus we look at the 1st here in our brain britain's prime minister. and tennis some present major blow as a sport tries to battle for the global pandemic details major its more sports. landlady. who's to blame for the mishandling of the coronavirus trying to make in the united states i'll be putting the tough questions to trump surrogate jack kingston and former democratic party official just o'connell in a special edition of head to head. not even through wave one as a result of

a lack of a leadership here i said to my people slow the testing down please that is criminally negligent and i will sit there and i thought it was hilarious head to head on algis iraq. breaks everybody on this planet matters everybody has power when people need to be heard and the story needs to be told here human development has moved right to the edge of the forest with exclusive interviews and in-depth reports cobe it is a disease going to affect anyone any age i'll just be around has teens on the ground this is the main business will be among the only person here to bring new moolah which we need documentaries and life needs.

player watching the news hour on al-jazeera with me for the bad boy a reminder of our top stories china's foreign ministry has ordered the promotion of the u.s. consulate in the southwestern city of chengdu as a response to washington's order to shut the chinese consulate in houston. the pentagon has confirmed one of its fighter jets intercepted a brainy and passenger plane over syria to make sure it wasn't a hostile cropped iran state television says several passengers were injured when the mahanta minus quickly changed constitute during the coast encounter. and friday prayers are being held in turkey's highest sophia for the 1st time in nearly 86 years ease at live pictures this comes after the president heard a want of turkey declared that the site to originally built as an orthodox christian get the well once again be converted into a mosque following

a court order as ring ins to know who's live outside highest sophia for as i think the friday prayer is a still ongoing mess in and tell us about what's been happening today and how this important day has unfolded. well for the learned they are hearing the call to the fray and they have been out having fun and they will be starting at friday prayer you know. the whole spanish and there are there is a mass crowd over here both inside and outside how you sophia at these 10 and 1000 people who were in line just to her for the 1st radio inside out you know a little yellow president added on and he just decided. or on the hill salt inside out carefully all over a around 60 minutes ago and a mass crowd behind my right shoulder there are thousands of people who are here tonight it's

a complicated nursery and most from los people are nervous every nationality. race facing and they have been waiting for this moment for a 6 month was there are reactions coming a voice or more of them mainly from where you stand probably will be hearing more about their reaction and if i can say for you stumble and warning people who are handling this machinery the moment very emotional. very emotional moment and the security measures 2 have been very high knowing so tonight. i am an only 19 crisis and the officers are making calls for citizens. to keep waving facemask may saying they are socialists. praying about. prayer finishes it out there prisons are not on the the house here so basically to go up and for the citizens visit for their individual prayers at least for say. that

a little bad luck yes ok i'll close down for 6 months in order to complete other changes made before turning it into a home made such a low thing he'll send them for that and that's just taken a bit of the atmosphere and. i. found. on out oh oh. hajar else. you have a friday prayer is about to begin. a conic hyas of after it was be converted into a mosque president i don't want is attending those prayers along with hundreds of dignitaries who are inside the mosque he is due to speak after the prayers and we'll bring that to you live here on c.n.n.

. let's move on to other world news in the meantime and u.s. present donald trump has called off the republican party convention in florida where corona virus infections are soaring it's a similar situation in many other states reports from washington. the world's richest nation has now surpassed its 4000000 known case of coping 19 and it's feared the number will only soar what's important about that is the steamroller that it is. the acceleration that this has the rate of new cases is trending upward in 39 states with a record number of deaths reported in florida that's where president trump had planned to speak before a massive crowd at the republican national convention in august an important moment for his reelection campaign but now those events are canceled i care deeply about the people of florida and everywhere else frankly in this country and even in the world. who would be coming into the state and i don't want to do anything to upset

it 143000 people have died of the corona virus in the united states and medical experts warn many more deaths are to come those numbers tend to rise about a month after an uptick in cases the president trying to try to downplay the threat saying that problems and hot spots will all work out your sissie a lot of the country is has has no problem whatsoever trump also claims states have all the emergency supplies they could possibly need despite pleas from some doctors that lifesaving equipment is running out we are no. gods we are not anybody to be got a season of who should lead or who should die however when you have what he's call a mass casualty situation there aren't going to be 5 or that makes you war you know

a more efficient manner and save their mosque not a bed of people meanwhile the u.s. economy nears another precipice with expanded unemployment benefits expiring at the end of the month and the vixens resuming at the end of the week congress will debate yet another rescue measure in coming days. al-jazeera washington. the world health organization has weighed in on more diplomatic sparring between the u.s. and china over the pandemic the u.n. body rejects allegations by the u.s. secretary of state questioning its independence from china. focus and the focus of the international the entire organization is on saving lives. if there is one thing that really matters to us and which should matter to the entire international community it's saving lives and deadly joe will

not be distracted by these comments and we don't want the entire the international community also to be discrete distracted. brazil has a 2nd highest rate of over 1000 infections in the world's present who's got coronavirus says there's no way to stop it spreading can probably refer to the eyes of anyone living in society exuma related or will get infected by covert there's no way to avoid the death related to that in brazil from what i know nobody died from not having medical attention. or people living in a slum in rio de janeiro say their health is being put at risk because the pandemic means they don't have enough water residents overseeing here say they have had little ass system or supplies for the past 10 days 70000 people live close together the neighborhood doesn't have a proper sewage system and that's increasing the risk of disease and the coronavirus pandemic has dealt a fresh blow to bolivia's plans to restore political stability generally elections

have been postponed for the 2nd time this year while the virus continues to spread hospitals are being overwhelmed terrorists has our report. one by one vehicles enter the central cemetery lot pass the cars and vans are carrying victims of covert 19 relatives are not allowed inside the cemetery. in the sandia nation coronavirus cases have soared in recent days collapse in many hospitals and funeral services in bolivia's capital the most remarkable of the folks in the last few weeks things have collapsed we don't have coffins and the only help we're getting is with promotions families don't want to deal with the fact this is exploded we're doing what we can. outside this hospital relatives of the victims have been forced to bring their own oxygen for family members or 40 say they have no oxygen or supplies sylvana brought her father in law to the hospital in a van the 56 year old man died in the vehicle while awaiting treatment. we

were at another hospital and he turned blue and started throwing. we asked a nurse to check him out and pay attention to us then we came here with him in the car nobody is allowing us inside he just died he died in the car he was a half human he was sporting and now he is dead. a similar situation is ongoing in other cities like bans on tackles bolivia was expected to hold presidential elections in september. last year the country's 1st indigenous president it will not alice resign from office after weeks of protests over an election that international observers said was marred by irregularities since then interim president any 9 years has been leading the country 2 weeks ago she tested positive took over 19 on thursday election officials postponed the election until

oct 18th that pic of the pandemic is expected to happen later this month. this electoral tribunal is asking citizens state powers political forces civil society and the media to accompany this decision to show their respect for institutions and their commitment to democracy and the sense of common good former president evo morales said on twitter postponing the elections is a mistake and an excuse by the interim administration to hold on to power elections are crucial in bolivia to bring down the political tension that exists in the country since moralist up down from office but the dramatic situation caused by the pandemic has changed priorities at least for now. i'll just. australia is sending army officers to question some of the people who've tested positive for covert 19 in the southern state of victoria soldiers have been ordered to go to the homes of infected people who haven't answered phone calls from

authorities a lack of contact tracing is slowing down efforts to contain the outbreak in the capital melbourne a state government has imposed a pasha lockdown it's now mandatory to wear a mask schools in south africa will be closed for the next 4 weeks because of a surge in corona virus cases residents are unopposed says it's important schools don't become sites of virus transmission a country is called in 1000 factions are rising at one of the fastest rates in the world and as the 5th highest number of infections globally the coronavirus storm has indeed arrived as we said it would with the provence is of the use them pay poting and was a do not owe experiencing a rep it dries in infections even as the country braces for the difficult weeks ahead it is significant that more than half of those people who we know to have been infected have now recovered.

a new wave of violence in south sudan has forced thousands of people to flee their homes in the eastern region of people or groups or time to village in the jungle a region on wednesday night around 6000 families have taken refuge at a nearby u.n. base the country's emerging from a 6 year civil war that killed 380000 people and displaced millions and a mass graves with the bodies of 28 sudanese soldiers have been found in dorm on after a 3 weeks age prosecutors say the officers were involved in a failed coup against former sudanese president omar bashir in 1990 they were executed in mysterious circumstances after a quick military trial earlier this month another mass grave of trainee soldiers was uncovered it's believed that in trying to free a camp in 1908 officials have been looking into human rights violations under the sheers rule. in the democratic republic of congo thousands of supporters of former

president joseph kabila have marched against current leader felix she said katy the demonstrators accuse him of abusing his power following recent appointments in the army and judiciary she's a case he took office last january in the d.r. sees 1st peaceful political transition since independence police in israel have made dozens of a wrestling the latest protests demanding the resignation of prime minister benjamin netanyahu they fired water cannon at demonstrators outside his official residence in jerusalem weeks of demonstrations have been held to a main about the worsening coronavirus crisis and netanyahu is corruption trial. protesters in bold garia have again called for the resignation of the prime minister they accuse of turning a blind eye to corruption. boyko borisov reshuffled his cabinet on thursday to try and stop more than 2 weeks of anti corruption protests present while man is

a vocal critic of borisov it is encouraging protesters to keep up their rallies it's. a new zealand has granted asylum to a kurdish iranian writer who fled iran fearing persecution in 2013 bedrooms were chinee was detained while trying to reach australia by boat and imprisoned on mana silent for 6 years upon his release last november he went to a literary festival in christ christ church on a month and never left the city in new zealand. boris johnson has gone from fighting back set to fighting for his life in the past year he admits the u.k. government has at times been slow to act on the pandemic in his 1st 12 months as prime minister and while he expects the country to be off over the war of the pandemic by mid 2021 he warns the threat of a 2nd wave remains high jonjo reagan reports.

boris johnson weighs wanted to be prime minister and this mantra made it possible we can get bricks it done now his arrival in downing street came with ruthless sackings all of the top jobs went to his pro bricks its supporters and bricks it was done it would split the country and the conservative party. but then within a month came the biggest crisis facing any prime minister in post-war u.k. history coded 19 town did johnson handle it certainly has a lot of question marks around it there's a why it's that except for reason in government that the u.k. maybe looks down too late and has been slow to come out of that before the virus struck johnson was absent from 5 crises briefings i'm shaking hands can decide that i was at a hospital the other night i think the review the rush if you criticize the patients and i sure can deliver a body temperature. yet the prime minister himself became

a coded victim narrowly escaping death polls show how much of the public sympathy for his plight waned rapidly it was reaction to blunders costing thousands of lives such as frontline health workers without protective gear and no attempts to protect the elderly in nursing homes. add to that johnson's refusal to sack chief advisor dominic cummings broke lock down rules should stick to the talks over a trade deal with the a stalled and johnson refuses to break his promise not to extend talks into the new year is certainly a very few bricks ultra's if you like to believe in what they say is a clean break has been best for the british colony in the long term this is also the brics that referendum in 2016 taking center stage in another major issue facing johnson and his government johnson's government is accused of refusing to investigate what the report called successful russian interference and u.k.

democracy like to watch out for this man here starmer took pile on the pressure is the new leader of the labor opposition party he's leading in the polls and many in his party see him as a serious threat john j. regan al-jazeera. and still ahead in sports the race to beat out in campaigns isn't over just yet saddle explain coming up next was. i. was.

of law. campus course has santa thank you very much

a father in law the major league baseball season in north america has officially begun the start was delayed by 4 months due to the carnivorous pandemic with a familiar face in the u.s. is a fight against co with 19 get in the action underway sam adequate ports to an allergy and infectious diseases to prove the supermoon 1st the major league baseball season is finally underway after a 4 month delay caused by the global pandemic and fittingly it was one of the men at the forefront of the us is fight against covert 19 dr anthony fauci that was given the honor of throwing the ceremonial 1st pitch. his effort however was indicative of a man that's had little time to practice with the u.s. recording over 4000000 cases of the disease so far. because of the pandemic or the games for now are happening behind closed doors with fallacies favorite team the washington nationals getting the action under way against the new york yankees

. the nationals weren't helped by having one player test positive ahead of the game as they went down 41 with play ending early because of rain great speed here which without a. lot of butterflies today you know the ball or us our guys came out with an edge in. the impact of the black lives matter protest movement was also felt on opening day players at both the match in washington d.c. and the game between the dodgers and san francisco giants in l.a. so players take the need like the 1st match game to was a one sided affair with the dog just cruising to an 81 when. u.s. president don trump who's been widely criticized for how he's dealt with the pandemic and the b.l.m. pro. test also got a slice of opening day action for himself he hosted a group of little leaguers at the white house to mark the occasion. china russia

and europe career in about 30 other nations but i was really going to. the u.s. and its president have plenty of difficulties to deal with at present but at least for now the sport known as america's favorite pastime is giving many a reason to smile so he'll malik al-jazeera. when eventis have missed the chance to wrap up the syria title in italy i had looked like they were about to clinch it well victor i didn't is it would have been enough for them to claim in their 9 to straight championship and they took the lead through my tears. just before halftime however back came the home side with an equaliser early in the 2nd half and in the 92nd minute they wanted to with a goal from a sick over fina a great solo effort event as have only won one in their past 5 but they are still in strong position 6 points clear of 2nd place atlanta with the games.

in major league soccer the houston the dynamo have been knocked out of the m.l.s. back to arm and to after a 11 draw with a galaxy 1st can tear a free kick and put the dynamo ahead of. the goal was enough to send them into the knockout round a last minute penalty from the galaxy which in paving would think off. both teams crashed out with new york city f.c. advancing. all the n.b.a.'s building up to its restart the next week the dallas mavericks defeated los angeles lakers 108200 all in the warm up game at disney world orlando stars at le bron james and anthony davis combined a full 24 points before sitting out in the 2nd half. seth a had to stand out the space for the man said he scored 23 points in 15 minutes the

lakers are scheduled to restart their season against the los angeles clippers change his post match interview le bron a spoke about the black life not to move. a lot of people kind of use this analogy some out black lives matter is a movement it's not a movement when you black it's not a movement it's a lifestyle. where we say there is a movement in ok our laws movement always don't stop the movement this is the walk of life you wake up and you black you that is what it is should be a movement it should be a lifestyle this is who we are and we understand that we know that you know for for one step that someone else might have that say or for one your someone else may have to take it we know we've got to take 5 more steps. well 11 the men's and women's tennis tournaments planned for china in october and november including the w.t. a finals have been cancelled due to the pandemic rather than try to move our schedule

to any of the events china said that the country will not host any international tennis tournaments for the remainder of the 2020 top level tennis has been halted since march e.w.t.n. however still intends to return to action in palermo next month the next grass them tournament as of now is the u.s. open at which is supposed to start over the 31st the french open the has been postponed from may to late september. former heavyweight boxing champion mike tyson is coming out of retirement. where. the 54 year old has been training a for weeks and has teased fans with clips on social media he's agreed to fight over water as a junior in an 8 rounded division bout in september tyson hasn't fought since 2005 his fellow american jones jr one titles out for different weights and is 3 years

younger about to settle to take place in los angeles on september 12th. human being than i meant to be home on the. world and i'm going to be you going to be. anyway no. matter. what the proof. he got me to dominate. his lead is bad for you all and for you because you so start to be risky yes. now that's something to look forward to that's it for me and i thank you so much for that that's it for this news hour on al-jazeera we'll have more news for you very shortly including the latest from a stumble where prayers friday prayers are on the way at the highest sophia a mosque will be speaking to our correspondent in just a few minutes rob matheson will be with you to stay with us on officer.

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. these are who will during and disjointed days especially for the young my life changed because i can't go will say we have to be careful to not get sick i don't sit university study found the wall in 5 children

i'm now afraid to leave their homes the sense of disorientation and confusion i think would be very understandable natural reaction a lot of children in the past few weeks secure mental health units have been forced to discharge large numbers of patients there are children suffering from psychosis who believe the virus is a conspiracy others with eating disorders or histories of self harm we feel that we're going to have a time bomb this is building up to a nation mental health and jenny the world's attention is on control. in the virus for the recount list he didn't victims even when the pandemic passes there will be many in desperate need of help. and image can change the way we see the world it can spark mass action or serve the interests of the powerful it can obscure the truth forged narratives and rewrite the listening post gives you the

fruit picture on a. sensitive and symbolic site turkey's president is among worshippers at friday prayers for the 1st time in decades at a famous landmark. out of madison this is obviously a lie from doha also coming up china shuts down a u.s. consulate in an escalating diplomatic row just days after beijing was ordered to close its mission in houston. a scare in the skies over syria passengers are hurt on an iranian plane as it's tailed by a u.s. fighter jet.