this is g.w. news live from berlin a start of a new era for istanbul's highest sophia. for the 1st time in more than 80 years the building opens for muslim friday prayers we have the latest on president are the ones controversial decision to change the status of the world famous monument also coming up china orders the closure of the u.s. consulate in the southwestern city of chengdu that move comes after the u.s. told the chinese to shut down their consulate in houston texas. and back from

vacation yet there is no vacation from the pandemic germany is offering incoming travelers free coronavirus testing to guard against a 2nd wave of coping 1000. i'm sumi so much going to thank you for joining us yes ophelia has opened for muslim friday prayers for the 1st time in more than 80 years that comes after a controversial decree from turkish president wretch up tired to want to turn the former museum back into a mosque or to one himself attended prayers today along with several 100 guests the building was originally a cathedral and it stood at the heart of istanbul for 1500 years. for. president ever to one personally began friday prayers with a recitation from the koran this is the 1st time muslim friday prayers have been

held in the highest sophia for 86 years just 2 weeks ago turkey's highest administrative court canceled the building status as a museum hairdo and then ordered it to be used as a mosque despite covert 19 thousands of believers began gathering outside the istanbul landmark last night. for us it's a symbol of islam or rather the i associate symbolizes the victory of islam over christianity. thanks to our revered president trichet type heir to juan and more importantly i think god we can finally pray here again. critics say the transformation of pius a few takes the country one step further away from a secular church. and they say heir to one is using this to score points with conservative voters and distract from domestic political problems harsh criticism also came from many church figures among them pope francis and turkey's orthodox

christian neighbor greece you nest is concerned whether the world cultural heritage status of the highest will be endangered. earlier 100 spoke to nobel prize winning turkish novelist about the decision to convert the back into a mosque and she asked him why people who are unhappy with the move are not speaking up. one reason they are not raising their voices because it is not free speech in turkey to challenge this they are also unfortunately afraid of saying this is a lot of troops are sick of their tradition and please let's not change it this is important in this sense the vet turkish nation is this thing form this is different distinct from other muslim nations who by the fact that we are secure and the rest of the world malls this every single even if they are if it

would if their walking poor are the ruling party islamist party are secretly all open be proud to be different than other muslim nations saying that like europeans we are sicker and this is their origin ality off turkey now they are taking away that pride of being brought up muslim and sickle are similar tediously that was my lot of kooks project for more on the story let's bring in our correspondent dorian jones who's standing by for us in istanbul hi dorian how do you see this is this a religious or a political decision from president era to one. well the president one who is very religious openly acknowledged that this had been a lifelong dream of his to turn. back to a mosque but why now he's chosen to do this after nearly 20 years in power it all

smells of politics he's ruling a k party is in deep political trouble polling at record lows albeit still the number one party the trajectory is in one direction down because of the country's economic woes and the congress he today was all about reaching out to one's religious and nationalist base one before the start of friday pat prayers recited to koran images that were broadcast all over turkey while the head of turkey's religious affairs who led the friday prayers carried all sorts a symbol of the conquest of istanbul while inside the i saw fear there were banners with symbolic meanings of conquering stamboul and also there was a huge disc with his lima kerger free and 3 source again a symbol of conquest and references again again to 40 sultan mehmet to conquer the man who converted the i saw fear into a mosque off the concrete and then constantinople references to him a powerful man not only for turkey's religious constituent but also nationalists who see him as a man who made turkey the great country the center of

a not an empire that dominated europe and much else so again very powerful symbols and his supporters came in the 10s of thousands all across the country to attend the ceremony another powerful symbol for one although there will be concerns about the consequences of the cove it epidemic given that there was little social distancing but we'll find out that in a couple of weeks but for now we'll be looking for this for him to draw a line in the ground to prevent any further hemorrhaging of support during what i think all of this says about the current climate. well i think is widely seen as a weakness on the part of bird one many people see it is the key trump card that he hasn't played i'm possibly an act of even desperation but i think one supporters will be disappointed that there has been a little push back in the country the main opposition that was founded by answer to a secular party has said little they didn't want to get into a battle not a culture war between the religious and secular

a battle that one has repeatedly won in the past and school of major election victories we've they are remaining silent they are wanting this to polish off this controversy to pass quickly so they can again focus on turkey's economic woes which they see is that once the killings heal. dorian jones reporting from istanbul thank you so much meanwhile president added one has vowed to crackdown on the web of platforms and social media channels that he says are immoral now the video streaming service netflix has announced it will halt production of a turkish series which was going to include a gay character netflix had been applying to film a local production but was told by turkey state media regulator to cut the gay characters role netflix decided to abandon the project entirely of a platform has been required to hold a license to operate in turkey since late last year. well critics say this represents a new level of censorship and intolerance in turkey and. has been looking into the

story for us hi joel thanks for joining us so is this a case of netflix complying with turkish authorities or resisting them well it's canceling the production instead of censoring it but that in a way is a kind of self-censorship and it shows that netflix is more interested in keeping its 1500000 turkish customers instead of picking a fight with the government now netflix turkey is under the control of turkey's radio and television supreme council and the head of that body a few months ago warn netflix that he would not tolerate shows that are contrary to what he calls the country's national values now netflix had been in production of a show called if only a romantic drama and the screenwriter of that shows that it was to contain a gay character a character described as gay but actually it wasn't going to be any physical intimacy portrayed nevertheless the screenwriter says that the regulators demanded the carriage to be cut and in response netflix decided to abandon the production entirely now we spoke to istanbul based journalist keenan bezout shop and he's been

following the turkish government anti l g b t censorship he says turkish groups are very disappointed they feel abandoned by netflix but they're not surprised let's have a listen so well i think the correct thing to do would be in to push back of the pressure from the turkish government and if possible to pull out in her perhaps i also don't quite expect the country don't quite expect the corporations goal is to maximize its profits to put the ethical position 1st. so jill what do you think this means for netflix well in other countries netflix has a very diverse catalog as a whole category for gay same shows like queer eye and repolish drag race and in fact netflix in turkey doesn't actually play foreign made shows that have gay characters or gay themes but it seems like the regulators drew the line at the idea of a turkish character being portrayed in a local production but we really shouldn't be surprised because the co-founder of netflix reed hastings has previously said that his company is an entertainment

company and that he's not he's not in the business of speaking truth to power like journalists and netflix has limited content in other countries in india it has agreed not to show films or t.v. series that insult the national slagged or could outrage religions and just for balance let's also remember netflix is actually also limited content here in germany to the horror film not of the living dead is not available on netflix germany after a complaint from an office of used protection here a reminder again that netflix is in business and will do what it can to stay in business the bottom line at the end all right jill dougherty our reporter bring us the story thank you so much. let's check in on some other stories making headlines around the world dozens of staff walked out of hungary's top independent news site in protest at the removal of its editor in chief 3 editors and some 70 other journalists at index dot h.q. landed in there or handed in the resignation rather in

a statement they condemned wednesday's dismissal of savile stool as an overt attempt to put political pressure on the port au. us federal police again fire tear gas at black lives matter demonstrators in downtown portland in a 57th straight day of protests a fence has been erected around the courthouse to keep protesters back meanwhile federal if officers have arrived in seattle ahead of the mass protests expected in neighboring washington state. face coverings have now become mandatory in shops and takeout food stores in england it also applies to other enclosed spaces such as transport hubs and shopping centers masts are already compulsory in enclosed public places in many other european countries including here in germany. goldman sachs has agreed to pay almost $4000000000.00 to the malaysian government to settle claims related to a sovereign wealth fund malaysia's finance ministry said the us investment bank and knowledge the misconduct of 2 former employees in

a corruption scheme prosecutors say the bank organized bond sales that allegedly allowed former malaysian leader. to pocket hundreds of millions of dollars. let's bring in our financial correspondent in new york standing by for us hi yes a what was goldman's role in this scandal. 1st of all it really has been the huge scandal that eventually led to the ouster of malaysia's former prime minister so goldman sachs did tell 4 sovereign wealth fund to sell bonds and the total amount of about 6 and a half a $1000000000.00 and about 2 and a half 1000000000 of those got diverted to some senior officials and they used the money to buy $250000000.00 yacht for example they also actually financed the movie wolf of wall street they bought the oscar of former actor model on brando and

goldman sachs they actually got a fee for about $600000000.00 a huge amount for the sale of those bottles it is a pretty big payout we're talking about almost $4000000000.00 to the malaysian government but some analysts had expected more i can goldman put this scandal behind it. not quite yet because so we also might see some action from the u.s. justice department that might come in the next couple of weeks and talk is that goldman might have to pay maybe another 22 and a half $1000000000.00 to the u.s. authorities we will wait and see but as you mentioned some analysts were even expecting that goldman might have to pay up to $10000000000.00 so no it's a bit less if i saw correctly goldman sachs itself is not committing any guilt at least officially at this point but clearly a lot of money but wall street works that way it's always good to have

a number and the number is a bit lower than some analysts fear it so therefore the stock of goldman at this point is hardly affected by just one more take it's about image and as a bank as an investment bank you want to make business especially a receiver and. government funds and so image wise this is clearly a blow to goldman sachs. yes court in new york thank you. china has ordered the united states to close one of its consulates the foreign minister has given us officials 72 hours to leave the consulate in the southwestern city of chengdu that comes after washington told beijing to shut its diplomatic mission in houston texas earlier this week relations between the 2 countries are at their lowest in 40 years it was less a question of if china would retaliate but rather how and the answer is here the u.s. has been told to close its conscious. 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 weekers 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 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 is that our policies and those of other free nations resurrected china's failing economy only to see beijing bite the international hands that were feeding it. we open our arms to chinese citizens only to see the chinese communist party support our free and open society. back in 2017 when donald trump and she occasionally sparred over trade no they're even farther apart it may be a long time before they're rolling out the red carpet for each other again. correspondent standing by with more in beijing. why does china want this consulate in chengdu specifically close down. it's

a tit for tat move and the chinese have chosen a consulate that if that is about the same importance to the american diplomatic mission as it used to was to the chinese it covers a big and important and populous region but it is not when most of the u.s. is assets for example and operations of u.s. companies are concentrated if china had chosen to close a consulate in shanghai or one joe this might have been something some further escalation that would have been more equivalent to maybe san francisco or new york on the chinese consulate so they choose a consulate that in its operation is a bit similar it is but it has also a political pawn chengdu is the consulate that is furthest in the west it is the consulate where the u.s. have contact to achieve bet and to seen john 2 of the most sense sensitive.

problems in the in the u.s. china relations so there is also a political message attached to that how serious is this for relations between beijing and washington. well this move was expected china had little choice but to do something in retaliation they have not choosing and anything that would be seen as a move that further escalate it's pretty much a tit for tat something that is reciprocal but this whole escalation around these consulates beginning with the closure in lucent is for sure an escalation the u.s. china relationship is the worst in these 40 years since nixon. established ties with the with the people's republic of china and it is obviously. there's obviously room for

a degradation off the relations we will have to see what's going to happen next but look we're hearing from washington is does not look like we were going to see a betterment in any way of these relations in the near future china is probably trying to go to wait this out until the u.s. elections and then have a new start over with either. to 2nd trump or with the president by. spending a reporting from beijing good to talk to you and german authorities are offering incoming travelers free coronavirus testing immediate testing will be available for those coming from coded 1000 hotspots people traveling from lower risk areas will also be offered tests but at laboratories away from airports it is part of a bid to avoid unleashing a 2nd wave of infections. touched down in berlin after a summer holiday far fewer germans the normal yet taking them by kenyans abroad the

joy of returning home is as strong as ever but can people be sure they haven't picked up the corona virus on their travels. now the health authorities in germany have taken the decision to offer free virus testing. the amortized because i'm tied to mr conference and anthony met him because i'm tired so health ministers of the states together at the federal health minister have today agreed that people returning from resort areas should be tested at airports the intent to establish testing facilities at relevant airports i think in glee we have decided that if you want to reach not only doe's coming from risk areas but also from elsewhere so he agreed to pay the costs of the testing for travelers. through deifies and in frankfurt germany is largest airport is already offering tests for a free under the new plan people arriving from the 130 countries seen as at risk

can be tested directly on arrival checks will also be beefed up at sea ports and on land borders the tests will be voluntary at 1st and people from corona affected areas will continue to be asked to quarantine at home for 14 days germans love to travel and those starting to get the travel bug again but with these tourists arriving from the popular spanish island of new york and be willing to take a test your sister yes certainly for reasons of personal safety that would be the most important thing you can go to rethink sure i'd like to so. if you had to go into quarantine. then i have to go. again i wouldn't really want to people have responsibility for themselves and people over there are very careful about their behavior. corona infection rates in germany remain low at the moment a big part of keeping it that way after the holiday season will be persuading

travelers to take advantage of testing let's get more on the story with our political correspondent hans front hi hans what exactly has been decided here tell us more about this. well until now if you return from what the german authorities regard as a risk area and that includes $130.00 countries around the world roughly including such places as turkey which is very popular as a holiday destination in germany or egypt or the united states in that case when you return from such an area you have to go into quarantine for 2 weeks this was something that was monitored by the local health authorities in your town in your hometown if you want to avoid that you can all take a test as you come into germany into airports in germany a voluntary test and if you if that test is negative you do not have to go into quarantine your horror authorities say that there has been a spike in the number of infections which is connected to the number of people

returning from holiday so that is what the health minister said holiday makers who are returning are at risk of carrying the virus back into germany which until now has managed to control the outbreak right quad well that's why these tests are being imposed. as you just said these are voluntary test i mean why won't they be mandatory. there were some of the people participating in the conference and they took this decision that was the health ministers of germany's 16 federal states some of them were pushing for these tests to be made mandatory but in fact there is no basis in law for this at the moment so the laws need to be changed for the tests to be made mandatory at the moment everyone is appealing to have a sense of responsibility of holidaymakers returning to germany even those coming from areas that are not regarded in themselves as being risky in for holidaymakers have a feeling that they have been involved in a situation that might have been risky such as going to a nightclub for instance then they also are asked to take

a test with the board of directors coming into the country or within 2 or 3 days at their home places where they can go to the health authorities or certain medical practices to have these tests done free of charge give us political correspondent homes from reporting thank you german authorities have confirmed the release of helen mavis a german arch curator who was abducted by iraqi militants earlier this week in a statement foreign minister who expressed his relief 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 an arts 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 they are investigating. now scientists say the sounds that made by human beings vibrating across the earth were

reduced by half during the global lockdown caused by the corona virus pandemic researchers say they tracked a range of changes and what they described as a wave of quieting between march and may of this year. it's the middle of nowhere yet even here in the german forest there's human noise few places on earth don't have planes flying overhead or the hum of traffic in the distance but during covered lockdowns across the world noise pollution has quietened we so all over the world this wave of changes in the in saves big noise but also in the quiting that you can hear with your ears this is just fantastic in terms of like the science and the link recently sweat's what we feel and what we need to do as humans do to make this planet and environment better seismologists to measure the shaking of the earth's surface registered an unprecedented drop in

noise caused by humans between march and may they say that through learning to filter out vibrations caused by human activity they might be able to detect smaller earthquakes where areas might reveal some given signals a matter really important for example or earthquake as it were in the time. stress . or a long geological. and wild life researches have found dramatic changes an animal behavior when humans shut themselves away in their homes the lack of traffic and reduction in industry jeering the corona shutdown has also led to cleaner and it was for a bad reason but it's also linked to a faith that we all as a dividual decided that we would make small efforts all together and all together we made it to prevent this virus to spread if we were able to make such huge changes for our survival against the virus could we also do the same against other

threats to life on earth like climate change. coming up next on your health and wellness show in good shape explores how the field of medicine looks at gender and how to treat men and women stay tuned for that coming right up under heavy.

shape. what do you actually like to. taste different. there are always new nutrition triumphs. of spite of all differences of any nutritional factors that apply to everyone. what should you pay special attention to so how complicated is a good nutrition. next pontiff.

are they friends so long to be with you that she says i steer toward you which was the way you're full of fun i'm up with the good news new mission or are they enemies in the midst of the mission of the feasts you will go to a few priests you will go with me but his use of the word he's going to be going to give a shit i never heard for i just donald trump i'm standing here now we're to part company mentoring analyzes the difficult relationship between russia and the us and between their presidents how does their rivalry and their dangerous mutual admiration affect the rest of the world to some bowling trump important starts august 3rd on d w. i'm not laughing at them well i guess sometimes i am but i stand up and whimper that. thinks deep into the german culture of looking

at stereotypes a question that is think the future of the country that i not. needed seem to get from his grandmother. to me it's all about. bob i'm a joke to join me for meet the jetman sunday w. . post. welcome to in good shape coming up. dietary fiber and its many benefits for health. and how a tick bite can trigger an allergy to meat. and.