truth forge narratives and rewrite the listening post gives you the picture. by sensitive and symbolic site turkey's president is among worshippers at friday prayers for the 1st time in decades at a famous landmark. on all matters and this is all just there live 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. and running out of oxygen in bolivia and how relatives of coronavirus

patients are having to get their own supply. it's a world famous landmark that's considered sacred by both muslims and christians now in turkey spectacular huggy a sofa is back in the religious spotlight these are the scenes right now in istanbul where fighting prayers are taking place at the building for the 1st time in nearly 86 years turkey's president. declared last week that the structure originally built as an awful dogs christian procedural will once again be converted into a mosque following a court ruling. now yes a fetus has changed several times since it was built 1500 years ago it was originally the largest church in the eastern roman empire in the christian city of constantinople which is now called is town hall in 453 the city. fell to the

ottomans after a 50 day 55 days siege i guess if it was converted into a mosque almost 500 years later in 1905 it became a secular museum reflecting the inclusive vision of istanbul after the fall of the ottoman empire turkey's highest court ordered the conversion of the unesco world heritage site back to a mosque earlier this month president out of one support the switch which angered christian religious leaders and politicians around the world. cinema is joining us now from istanbul let's start with the atmosphere than cinema just give us a description of what's been happening this morning. this is not for the love of a very emotional moment for thousands who have gathered here for the 1st mass prayer in august sophia after 85 years because they believe that after the contest of istanbul. the cash out of state has the most and most of those

people who are here to great. people behind it they are and nationalists the old comes out of it or her islamised segments of the turkish electorate which is almost more than 60 percent of turkish electorate. and they are very emotional they are very happy that. is reopening is the most they can and they are one thing is very important for them as one another only debate it to be a great inside again but also they see it as a national summary. as president of them stated earlier against critics of himself with that turkey is a sovereign country established under control of the turkish republic and how yes so inside the stomach is a turkish territory that's why the turkish government the turkish nation has the will and the right to go to algeria it's still it's

a state is as they want and that's why it is. not only giving a message to the domestic league to wait for prisons. it is giving that message to the road taking a decision to open. as a mosque a gad rob but this is as he hasn't been without controversy hasn't seen him because there has been a worldwide reaction to this. yes exactly especially from the west this. is the epicenter of a whole lot of the surgeon say it's the symbol of the orthodox church. but it's not it's possible maybe only because of shows that react to the real opening of it as a museum but also depends on the church had reactions as was adam many and perhaps we are in turkey from the know and northern part of take a shot that they are welcoming the decision to open a has

a feel for places but there should be a place where it should worshippers as well how to get sophia has everything just maybe for you or to the christians but for the times it is a symbol of stumble to come fast. and that's why a turkey also reacted against those creations it was the citizen that today we're expecting greece who has been the most vocal about about it's hard to see a real printing of high you should have to lose today some move always especially given that given the latest tension in the eastern mediterranean draw between turkey and greece over the energy resources in this in mediterranean it probably 7 reopening a piteous appeal in the raised tensions between 2 neighboring countries as off something. to dates from is some both and thank you very much indeed.

let's talk about some other news now relations between the world superpowers are getting worse in the latest diplomatic twisted china has ordered the u.s. to shut down its consulate in the southwestern city of chengdu it's in retaliation for what china's foreign ministry is calling an unjustified act look what you. china's measure is a legitimate the necessary response to unjust acts of the u.s. it conforms with international law basic norms and international relations and customary diplomatic practices the current situation in bilateral relations is not what china wants to see and the u.s. is responsible for all of this. well on tuesday washington gave beijing 72 hours to leave its consulates in the texan city of houston china says the move violated international law the u.s. insists is necessary to protect american intellectual property the u.s. secretary of state microphone peo has doubled down on the allegations describing china's houston consulate as

a hub of spying between and you more from hong kong when bin who is a foreign ministry spokesperson in beijing he fronted the press he 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 have been engaging in activities which do not accord with their 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 further details but quite a vague statement there we don't know that accusation is leveled at chinese stoffel 50 or the of the 50 american u.s. officials who work in the time to 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 the chain which is

a big reason that bo xilai his right hand man one legion actually fled to that consulate in time due 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 tongue do consulate 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 in the issues around tibet ocean junk so that's also possibly why it was targeted. well the closures are the latest in a series of disputes think through donald trump blaming china for the worldwide coronavirus pandemic china says the us president is trying to deflect attention from his own mishandling of the crisis trump and china's president xi jinping each imposed steep tariffs in a series of tit for tat measures in their trade war they've since managed to move

ahead with a so-called phase one trade deal that further negotiations are stalled then this hallway china denies the telecoms company is a security threat but the u.s. has banned holway and convinced allies such as britain to do the same i'm not saying and visors the chinese government on political and economic affairs he says trump is manufacturing a crisis to boost his chances of reelection. at this point there is a scowl chillis going on in people's mind that donald trump has about 3 more months as an act president and then 3 months when hopefully he will step down from the presidency no one's really sure about that from the chinese perspective understand that this is all about reelection and that donald trump is trying to push their buttons trying to manufacture an incident so that he can then claim that if you don't vote for him you're not patriotic this would require him to get some sort of

you know boat rams into an american voter something like that but it seems like he's really pushing that in addition to all of these things between what pompei i was saying between the actions which blindsided everybody i don't think anybody would accept that they were about to close the houston consulate there is this issue of more boats sailing into disputed waters of the south china seas more navigation acts the scene calculate in order to create an incident which donald trump thinks would be to key to his reelection it's clear that donald trump will continue with these types of actions he wants surprise he wants to get a reaction it's also a very good way of taking attention away from the covert 19 deaths and infections and his part in it new zealand has granted asylum to a kurdish iranian writer who fled iran fearing persecution in 2013 the host push on he was detained for trying to reach a stereo by boat and imprisoned or not asylum for 6 years upon his release in the

van but he went to a literary festival in christchurch in a month's visa and never left the city in new zealand. city of iran says several airline passengers were injured during a close encounter over syria with a u.s. warplane the pentagon confirms the fighter jet intercepted the mahaan air flight to ensure it wasn't a hostile aircraft the airline is on a u.s. sanctions list for supporting iran's revolutionary guard and hezbollah fighters in lebanon so called the reports from beirut. a state of panic among passengers on board flight 1152 the airbus was flying from iran's capital tehran 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. 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 a 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 very logistics support for running back forces in the region so that may well have been one of the reasons why the u.s. started taking a closer look at. u.s. troops are in the l. ton of area near syria's borders with iraq in jordan the base was 1st established to fight i sold 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 as a start this or igor's basically a no go zone for the rainy weather also that you're not lying or whether any other persons reach the incident could have been an unfortunate encounter but 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 occasions that risked an all out conflict. so far to iran and washington have avoided all out confrontation this latest incident in the sky is a reminder that the potential for an escalation is real. beirut still ahead on al-jazeera the growing standoff in space russia's accused of launching an empty satellite weapon. from delivering drugs it's to being in intensive care for corona virus we look at the 1st year in power for britain's prime minister.

hello there more very heavy rain in the forecast in particular the korean peninsula has really seen the brunt of this system over the last 24 hours on its way now of course towards much of japan so no surprise me there has been some flooding this is in the southeast of south korea and i can just see what this heavy rain has done and of course it was the sound that was flooded just a couple of weeks ago so the streets really are under water now there is more rain in the forecast again it will be across areas to the south that really is. eastern areas of the korean peninsula will still see more rain as a go through saturday but the very heavy rain that will be across towards the central areas of japan and of course trying to back into the central as a china but it's sunday when these rains once again begin to increase working their way steadily eastward so again it's all just not help atoll with the flooding situation there but it's a slightly better day generally across the korean peninsula more than. much of a japan and then the monsoon rains very heavy of course across much of india bangladesh up into nepal and as we go through saturday the rains once again

becoming fairly heavy through maharashtra down towards carola as you can see a bit of a break across areas into the northeast sunday cross into bangladesh and then to sunday we should stay in the slightly dry same but again some very heavy downpours out across the west. incarcerated. in russia's toughest prisons stripped of their liberties. and unexpected creative opportunity. for a singing contest like no other offers a chance of it and hope for the talent to fill in on the prison life inside and out a tale of singers and murderers on al-jazeera. the

original jazeera reminder of our top stories this hour friday prayers are being held in turkey's highly is sophia for the 1st time in nearly 86 years that's after turkey's president of egypt i heard of one declared the structure originally built as an orthodox christian with the drop would once again be converted into a mosque following a court ruling. china's foreign ministry has ordered the closure of the u.s. consulates in the southwestern city of chengdu it's a response to washington's order to shut the chinese consulate in houston. the pentagon has confirmed one of its fighter jets intercepted in the iranian passenger plane over syria to make sure it wasn't a hostile aircraft iran state t.v.

says several passengers were injured in the modern air pilots quickly changed altitude during the close encounter. the u.s. and the u.k. have accused russia of launching an anti satellite weapon into space the u.s. space command says it has evidence moscow fired the projectile on july the 15th but in the says the move posed a threat to satellites on which the world depends russia's defense ministry says it was using new technology to check its own space equipment alexandra sticking is a research fellow in space policy and security at the royal united services institute she says it appears russia is ramping up its space program i think it's important 1st not necessary to refer to it as a weapon and date have characteristics that could potentially be a weapon and due to its relative velocity through satellite and from which it came i don't i think what we see. the recognition that space is becoming

a much more important strategic environment or military operations and so it's no surprise that states are developing capabilities that could deny there are no series 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 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 space race and just take a bit of caution with that 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 and 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 ak you know there are persons who might wish to talk at them. is very police have made dozens of us during the latest protest demanding the resignation of prime minister benjamin netanyahu but his foreign water count on the demonstrators outside his official residence in jerusalem weeks of demonstrations have been held to complain about the worsening coronavirus crisis and netanyahu corruption trial. president donald trump has called off the republican party convention in florida but a record number of corona virus deaths are being reported infections are also soaring in dozens of other u.s. states i does o'connor 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 a 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 but president trump trying 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 life saving equipment is running out we have no. because we are not anybody to think that a season of poor should live or die however when you have well he's call a mass casualty situation there are a guidelines to be filed all of that makes you war in a more efficient manner and to say there must not a bit of people meanwhile the u.s. economy nears another precipice with expanded unemployment benefits expiring at the end of the month and he vixens resuming at the end of the week congress will debate yet another rescue measure in coming days castro al-jazeera washington.

brazil has the world's 2nd highest rate of cover 19 infections present job both sonata has been diagnosed as having corona virus for the 3rd time says there's no way to stop it spreading confusion for the eyes of anyone living in society exuma related it will get infected by covered one thing there's no way to avoid the death related to that in brazil from what i know nobody died from not having medical attention. 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 of course say they've had little access to water supplies for the past 10 days 70000 people live close together the neighborhood doesn't have a proper sort of system and that's increasing the risk of disease. or coronavirus pandemic is dealt a fresh blow to bolivia's plans to restore political stability general elections have been possible for the 2nd time this year for the virus continues to spread hospitals are being overwhelmed to the reports. one by one

vehicle venter the central cemetery left us 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 of the most remote of all the folks in the last few weeks things have collapsed we don't have coffins and the only help we're getting is with cremations 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 up we asked a nurse to take 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 sporty and now he is dead. a similar situation is ongoing in other cities like. bolivia was expected to hold presidential elections in september. last year the country's 1st indigenous president it will mourn alice resigned 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 the pick 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 see. sending army officers to question some of the people who have 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 the state government has imposed

a partial lockdown is done 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 president siddle ramaphosa says it's important that schools don't become sites of virus transmission the countries covered in 1000 infections are rising at one of the fastest rates in the world that has the 5th highest number of infections globally. in the past year british prime minister boss johnson has gone from fighting brags that to fighting for his life he admits the u.k. government has at times been slow to act on the pandemic during his 1st 12 months in office and while he expects the country to be over the worst of it by mid 2021 he wants the threat of a 2nd wave remains high under reagan reports. boris johnson always 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 had 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 toweled did johnson handle it certainly has a lot of question marks around it there's a widespread acceptance and probably thinking 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 there are a few there are actually a few credible hours of patients and i sure can deliver a body temperature yet the prime minister himself became a covert 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 have broken lock down rules. talks over a trade deal with the you a stalled and johnson refuses to break his promise not to extend talks. into the new year is certainly a very few ultras if you like to believe in what they say is a clean break has been best for the british economy 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 piled 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 jay regan al-jazeera. this is al-jazeera these are the top stories friday prayers are being held in turkey is having a severe for the 1st time in nearly 86 years that's after turkey's president. declared the structure originally built as an orthodox christian defeat will well once again be converted into the mosque following a court ruling so of course you know who has more from outside the high here sophia . they feel as a nationals from reaching the village and as president i don't stated earlier against the critics off himself but it did turn turkey is a former established under control of the turkish public and how you have to be out

inside a turkish territory that's why the turkish government the turkish nation has the will and the right to al-qaeda go to the state is as they want. china's foreign ministries ordered the closure of the u.s. consulate in southwestern city of chengdu it's a response to washington's order to shut the chinese consulate in houston look with you. china's measure is a legitimate and 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 in bilateral relations is not what china wants to see and the us is responsible for all of this the pentagon has confirmed one of its fighter jets intercepted an iranian passenger plane over syria and says the f. 15 conducted a visual inspection of the airplane from a safe distance to ensure it wasn't

a hostile aircraft several passengers were injured when the commercial plane abruptly changed altitude israeli police have made dozens of arrests you're in the latest protest demanding the resignation of prime minister benjamin netanyahu police fired water cannon the demonstrators outside his official residence in jerusalem weeks of demonstrations have been held to complain about the worsening coronavirus crisis and netanyahu is corruption trial. u.s. president donald trump has counseled the maine republican party convention injuries to be held in florida next month because of the coronavirus threat the state's being one of the worst affected by the pandemic on thursday the number of infections nationwide passed 4000000. and those are the headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera after the bottom line by phone.

hi i'm steve clemons i have a question what will it take to get the united states back on line and back to normal let's get to the bottom line. american just like everyone else around the world are wondering about the months ahead should we let our kids go back to school face to face what are the risks how many more will lose their jobs or worse their lives will the stock market crash or most folks going to go back to their offices or their businesses that are their colleges in other words will life go back to normal anytime soon and what will the quote unquote new normal even be meanwhile american states have been left to their own devices to deal with this virus in the absence of any coherent national policy or guidance some states.