this is the dublin years lie from. the 1st time. we have the new president controversial decision to change the status of the world famous monument also coming up. the closure of the u.s. consulate in the southwestern city of chengdu the move comes after the us told the chinese consulate in houston texas. and security forces

from. iraq. on monday. in the capital. welcome to the program. for muslim friday prayers for the 1st time in more than. are gathered outside the historic building to take part in the prayer as it follows a controversial decree from turkish president want to turn the former museum back into a mosque better than himself it is in attendance along with several 100 invitees originally a cathedral the building at the heart of istanbul for 1500 years. for

more i'm joined by. in istanbul judea what is going on at the monument. well the 1st friday prayer is underway inside the iris of fear but also outside as you can see behind me there are thousands of people who are joining these prayers right behind me actually you can see many of my colleagues from turkish media who are our also praying now are joining these prayers according to the information we have about 500 people were allowed inside the i.o.c. fia there was a limitation due to coronavirus the measures but outside we actually souls thousands all people today many of them wrote their prayer rugs some of them even came from other parts of turkey just to peel here today and to attend this

event it's a highly symbolic event for president everyone himself who is inside i a severe right now he earlier recitals apart from the koran so he is joining this prayer we've seen him a wearing a mosque and sitting socially distant to members all 3 is that cabinet today is probably the day that the prison aired on his telling his supporters islamic conservative voters the nationalists here in the country that he fulfilled a promise he made to them he had repeatedly promised to turn this iconic building that used to be a church and for the past 86 years was a museum to turn this building back into a mosque. one who's making the probably saw him. to turn it back.

i guess you have to understand the symbolism of the iosif here it is for many people here in turkey the old hymn it's symbol of the muslim autumn and composed of christian. in constantinople that is how istanbul was cold back then and many people say they have been longing for this to happen for the past decades basically since the i.s.o. fear was turned into a museum 86 years ago by turkey's state found him now everyone knows about the symbolism but it seems that is also help him helping him politically he clearly seems to sing so right now his popularity ratings are not looking very good the turkish economy has suffered a lot during the coronavirus pandemic so for add on the i assume feels some kind of a joker card he has posed now to really behind him his. conservative

islamic base. but the hardest of all to organize around. what is going to change inside this historic bending. but we haven't been allowed inside yet but we understand it well from what we've seen 'd from today's images they have rolled out a took was carpets that is one change for sure in the past 2 weeks but one of the biggest debates is about the christian i can lose and lose 8 because islam forbids the depiction of the people and animals the images of mary jesus and christian sayings actually have to be covered during prayer times although the government insists they will be opened outside prayer time so visitors can go and see them the solution they found is putting

a huge cottons to cover of these icons and christian symbols but still there are huge concerns that actually changing this secular space into a religious one is doing harm is. you know putting our guests historic structure the roll heritage site at risk did have a correspondent julie 114 from is done bill thank you so much. china has ordered the united states to close one of its consulates in of tit for tat move the foreign ministry has given us officials 72 hours to leave the consulate in the southwestern city of chengdu it comes off to washington told beijing to shut its diplomatic mission in houston texas earlier this week relation between the positive the lowest in 40 years. it was less a question of if china would retaliate but rather how and the answer is the u.s. has been told to close its conscience unchaining to raising the stakes yet further

and this diplomatic standoff. the current situation in china u.s. relations is not what china wants and the u.s. is completely responsible for all of this. all of this includes the u.s. imposing sanctions on communist party officials and companies linked to the mass detention of weak and ordering china to shut its mission in houston citing concerns about. the clear out is under way the president even full to the potential to cut diplomatic ties completely. as far as closing 'd additional embassies it's always possible that marks the biggest fall out since richard nixon renewed relations in the seventy's when he extended the 100 friendship. all the more significant then that the u.s. secretary of state would head to the former republican presidents library to all but declare a new cold war with the c.c.p.

the kind of engagement we've been pursuing has not brought the kind of change inside of china the president nixon had hoped to induce. the truth that our policies and those of other free nations resurrected china's failing economy only to see beijing by the international hands that were feeding it. and open society. now to some of the other stories making news the u.s. president from. next month's republican national convention said the flood of cases in the states meant it was not. the event the convention was expected to

draw more than $10000.00 people. on the. edge the announcement came as i said we had reached a major. with egypt over the controversial project. a u.s. air 15 fighter jet blue close to an iranian passenger plane was at a safe distance according to u.s. officials but the radian sources say the flight was forced to descend quickly to avoid a collision injuring some passengers the plane landed safely but the incident is likely to increase tensions between the u.s. and iran. and to venture rain is causing more problems in southern japan the bad weather is expected to last until sunday officials are warning of landslides and flooding in low lying areas. 60 people dead in the same part of the

country. here now are some of the latest developments in the corona virus pandemic australia has read produced restrictions in its most populous states new south wales it comes off a new clusters of infected infections emerged in the state's capital sydney in recent days vietnam has suspended all imports of wild animals in an effort to curb the spread of the virus the country is one of asia's biggest consumers of wired life products and the number of cases in the united states has boss the $4000000.00 mark the country accounts for more than a quarter of global infections the most anywhere in the world german authorities have confirmed the release of. a german art curator who was abducted by iraqi militants this week in a statement foreign minister. expressed his belief he thanked the iraqi authorities

for freeing mavis and said she was now in the care of the german embassy in baghdad mavis was kidnapped by gunmen outside her office in the capital on monday the german national is a well known figure in baghdad where she runs and program for young iraqis she's also known as an outspoken critic of the government it remains unclear who was behind the kidnapping iraqi authorities say investigating. someone joined by. who is a close friend and i may have research and joins us from. have you been in contact with and i mean even since i've been nice. honey well i tried to call her but her front is still oh yeah i couldn't protect her again we just heard that she was released and the security forces program is news but there's not been. in the days leading up to her kidnapping and

a mavis had expressed fear for safety and you have also you also said the dear friend was concerned for her safety why exactly what she wanted. you know that it cannot be became like a product of a lot of daily life in baghdad and this one this incident actually. maybe you will l o l waking the big global market what's going on. we are in intriguer every day because my stuff our creeks had been i got kidnapped or are they had been treating so they left this city. we have very several journalists. or critics near baghdad and they are spending kurds done they cannot come here because they had her seems many spirits. and

dan thanks actually she's a public figure she now many of you punch you had good credit action to iraqis we considered her like you but they got the. president and other places you know they all beings are back there even though that and maybe you want to ban people who live here so. it was a shot across i know i'm here last since 2000 tents since he visited baghdad for the 1st prime and she was interesting to stay in this and. she's president here in since my fears that there are other people around and care and just acknowledge her very well and human who might have a bicycle and she has. you know or of hearts help or hundreds of a young artists. she stopped. at the local and you

looked at you and providing training sessions and many kinds of skills for children for for other people yes. thank you so much for speaking to us from. thank you and other mind of the stories we're following for you after the. fia has been for most of friday prayers for the 1st time in more than. it follows a controversial decree from to president. john the former museum back into a mosque. and the closure of the u.s. consulate in the southwestern city of chengdu the move comes after the u.s. told the chinese. summit in houston texas. you're watching live from berlin up thanks to 1000 special program with my colleague ben

physical and don't forget you can get all the latest news and information from the gulf on our web site that's dot com and you can of course follow us on truth and instagram as well. top new views i've finished and i'll be back in 45 minutes. combating the corona pandemic. where does research stand. what are scientists learning. background information and. our corona update. 19 special next on d w actually.