this is the they'll be news line from tensions between washington and beijing ask that china orders the closure of america's consulates in the southwest a city of chengdu that's in retaliation for washington's forced closure of china's consulate in houston also on the program. the fear hosts muslim friday press for the 1st time involving 18 years with the latest on president arafat's controversial decision to convert the world monument

back home. i'm still go welcome to the program china has ordered the united states to close one of its called units the foreign ministry has given us official 72 hours to leave the consulates in the southwestern city of chengdu this comes after washington told beijing to close its diplomatic mission in houston texas earlier this week relations between the 2 countries are at their lowest point for 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 conscience inching to. raising the stakes get further and this diplomatic standoff. through major to 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 weaker and ordering china to shut its mission in houston citing concerns about espionage the clear 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 it marks the biggest fallout since richard nixon renewed relations in the seventy's when he extended the 100 friendship. all the more significant then the u.s. secretary of state would head to the former republican president 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 by the international hands that were feeding it. we open our arms to chinese citizens only to see the chinese communist party exploit 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. moon is a china trade and government affairs consultant is also a former u.s. diplomat and trade negotiator and one of his diplomatic postings was to the u.s. consulate in chengdu a welcome to d.w. does this consulate have any particular significance. it does it's the only american consulate in western china an area that has a population of almost 300000000 people there is significant american commercial

interests there china has tried to attract u.s. industry to help develop the region which has traditionally been underdeveloped and this is the u.s. consulate that also covers tibet which is an area of great interest to the united states and american legislators and american people. and what is try to set about a closure is purely in retaliation for for houston or are they saying that they were spies and all sorts of other things going on that. well the chinese statement accuses the u.s. of all kinds of misdeeds but i don't think it takes a lot of looking to realize this is all about houston and this is interesting because this is an escalation of the conflict it's already been going on if china had closed the u.s. consulate in rwanda which is the smallest of the u.s. consulates and is already closed because after coronavirus the chinese will not allow the diplomats there to return if it had closed that consulate then one

consulate from each side would have been closed now you have the chinese that are effectively closing 2 consulates and there's one consulate in from china you're in the u.s. it's close so there is going to be further retaliation and i think china has made a mistake here already so where is the united states likely to go from here then they close never i don't know the culture that so it does it does it take some of the action. well it all depends on how the u.s. chooses to react you know trump says all the time that when you hit him he'll hit back twice as hard and then he has proven to do that in public so he has 2 options one if you keep this in the diplomatic track then i think another consular closure in the us is indeed possible however there are so many issues now in the us trying to relationship and they are all linked together that it would be very easy for the u.s. to do something in an unrelated area that we can't really predict at this point and so this this is all coming to a head now this escalation we know that the relationship between the have china and

the united states has been rocking for some time but why this sudden of what take on the on the graph is this cynically speaking just about november's election. i think it has a lot to do with that there is a general push in the u.s. in a general consensus frankly to get tough on china the administration has had 4 high level speeches pantos was just the 4th yesterday outlining the grievances with china but this is an election season and there was a true diplomatic rift over the inability for the u.s. to restaff the consulate and move on i mean so that's why i think this is coming to a head with in terms of the consulate's right now but pumping it made clear yesterday that at least this is ministration sees this is a long term struggle so frankly that you have extensive experience of working in china how do you see this ending. i think that well there are 2

courses the election is going to have a lot to do with us if trump is reelected then these kind of aggressive behaviors are going to continue and my greatest fear is an accident an accident something on some ships bumping in the south china sea or something happened there is a history of accidents happening causing lots of problems within relationships if biden is elected i think that tension will continue but that we won't have all of the emotion and the bluster and and that things will calm down a bit and we will work on the same issues but will work on them in a much more logical and rational way it's very clear very interesting we thank you for your time geoff. thank you for turkey's highest affair has hosted muslim friday press for the 1st time in more than 80 years istanbul landmark was built 1500 years ago as a christian cathedral before becoming a mosque and then

a museum 2 weeks ago president obama issued a controversial decree returning it to use as a mosque after a court an old it's museum status. or. prayers led by a president on a friday that will become unforgettable turkey thousands of muslims gather to worship for the 1st time in 86 years. oh despite the iconic buildings journey through time from orthodox christian cathedral to muslim mosque to museum. for many here and historic wrong has been righted. one john in the mode of the. we have been waiting for highest sophia to open as a mosque for decades for decades we said that the chains will break and highest

here will reopen young to me that was right it remains a museum this kind of atmosphere would not have been possible it doesn't mean much for the people abroad and i think the important thing is what the people of turkey want were happy that. but everyone critics in turkey can see the conversion as a political ploy to score points with his conservative base. and the move has sparked dismay among christian leaders and some western countries that this one time symbol of christian and muslim unity may become a source of religious divide joe god let's. take a look now at some of the other stories making news around the world will start in the united states where the matter for chicago has ordered the removal of 2 statues of christopher columbus until further notice the overnight move carrying a week after protesters tried to topple one of the figures that laurean lightfoot said there would be a review of the appropriateness of all of the city's monuments. thousands of people

in hungary have marched in protest against attacks on media freedoms after the perceived muscling of the country's most read website more than 80 journalists indexed h.-u. quit in protest of the sacking earlier this week of the websites editor in chief indexes the last of congress key independent news outlets. wildfires are continuing to spread north of the arctic circle the un weather agency is warning that temperatures in the russian region of siberia where 10 degrees celsius above average last. once the heat wave is not only fan devastating fires it's also contributed to rough it depletion of sea ice. the wealth origins here in germany are offering free coronavirus testing to incoming travelers on the spot testing will be available for people coming from covered $900.00 hotspots of people of from low risk areas will also be off the test but it looks orators away from the airports as part of an effort to avoid

a 2nd wave of infection. touched down in berlin after a summer holiday far fewer germans the normal way yet taking their vacations abroad the joy of returning home is as strong as ever but can people be sure they haven't picked up the coronavirus on their travels. now the health authorities in germany have taken the decision to offer free virus testing. doesn't touch the health ministers of the states together with the federal health minister have today greed that people returning from risky areas should be tested at airports we intend to establish testing facilities at relevant airports. secondly we have decided that we want to reach not only those from risk areas but also those coming from elsewhere so we agreed to pay the costs of the testing for travelers as. they hadn't aizen 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 would these tourists arriving from the popular spanish island of new yorker be willing to take a test yes certainly personal safety reasons that would be the most important thing . we think sure i think so. if you had to go into quarantine. you now have to go. i wouldn't really want to people have responsibility for themselves and people are very careful about their behavior. carona 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. a baseball fans in the u.s. finally have something to cheer about after a long delay because of the pandemic the major league baseball season has finally begun but like pretty much all of the sports in north america that have restarted best seasons no fans will be allowed. this is professional baseball now. so is this. and this. definitely nothing to roar about. sure it's still just a practice for these detroit tigers at comerica park but game day will look about the same no fans are allowed this year and that hurts the game and the economy a report from the commissioner's office of the m.l. b. estimates that each game without fans will generate

a loss of the equivalent of 550000 euros and a minimum loss over the entire season of at least $72000000.00 euros per team not to mention all the nearby businesses that will suffer because they depend so much on the so-called foot traffic offense walking on route to the stadiums most of the 30 m. l.b. teams have urban ballpark stadiums where the lack of foot traffic now will have a huge impact on local vendors especially in a city like detroit which has pro baseball basketball football and hockey teams i tell you. from the line and. the pistons all. got something to use for a fee if it's not going on. in the 3rd down something that we're just we're rolling with in we're giving our best effort but there's absolutely businesses that you're not going to see that some legacy business is to i'm sure that are not going to be

here. the biggest hope is that the virus will be defeated and fans can come back safely now that would be a homerun for everybody. we'll have a business updates in just a moment of more world news at the top of the of the good news. is free to any of us that tries it moved up on alex. to give you some tips for you being here in the footsteps of the great. ins or northernmost.