training success for a. documentary. starts jan 27th. this is deja vu news a live from berlin and escalating tensions between washington and beijing u.s. officials enter the chinese consulate in houston texas after forcing it to close amid accusations of espionage china is retaliating shutting down an american consulate in the western city of chengdu also coming up on the show.

the higher sophia posts muslim friday prayers for the 1st time in more than 18 years we have the latest on president aired a once controversial decision to change the world famous monument and back into a mosque. i'm claire richards and welcome to the show u.s. officials have entered the chinese consulate in houston texas after diplomatic staff there complied with an order from the trump administration to shut down the u.s. says the consulate was a hub for espionage and intellectual property theft china denies the charges and has retaliated by ordering the american consulate in the southwestern city of chengdu to close the spat has brought already tense relations between the 2 countries so their lowest point in decades. a hasty exit

in houston. chinese officials was seen packing on friday they were forced to evacuate the consulate within 72 hours a deadline set by the trumpet ministration. pulling documents into vehicles bearing diplomatic number plates the exit was welcomed by anti communist party protesters. that's a mostly you know brother you know all. the ruler of china now today and they slave all those people in china and they always hold very dear. people here. this place where our self when you're finishing we try to monitor everyone as a bank a meeting a matter the reason we come here to my father's here celebrating the i make sure. the u.s. says the consulate was a nest of spies trying to steal intellectual property including from medical

facilities in texas after the last diplomats departed the area was cordoned off and u.s. officials were seen forcing entry into the building. in a tit for tat move china has ordered the closure of the u.s. consulate in the south western city of change to. china's foreign ministry called the retaliation legitimate and necessary accusing u.s. staff is of interfering in the country's internal affairs committee or the current situation in china u.s. relations just not what china wants and the u.s. is completely responsible for all of this. the cold war era style tension between the 2 countries has been rising for some time often sparring over trade technology and more recently the coronavirus. usually very outspoken on china the u.s. president has yet to comment on this latest escalation. well

turkey's i.s.o. fia has hosted muslim friday prayers for the 1st time in more than 80 years the assemble landmark was built 1500 years ago as a christian cathedral before becoming a mosque and then a museum 2 weeks ago president aired a one issued a controversial decree declaring returning excuse me to use as a mosque after a court an old its museum status. or new rule or. prayers led by a president on a friday that will become unforgettable in turkey thousands of muslims gathered in worship for the 1st time in 86 years. oh i see iconic buildings journey through time from orthodox christian cathedral to

muslim mosque to museum. for many here and historic wrong has been righted. but only young men don't know that. we have been waiting for higher sophia to open as a mosque for decades for decades we said that the chains will break and hyacinth here will reopen the young women that was why this 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. but everyone critics in turkey 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 but. well straight to istanbul where we joined good of you correspondent

a dorian jones joining what more can you tell us about president are the ones motivation in issuing this decree to turn the i.s.o. fia back into a mosque. well prison speaking after the friday prayers said that this had been an ambition of his since his youth to convert the i saw fear back to a mosque. one is a very religious and pious man but there's a lot of politics behind this move has been in power for nearly 20 years but why now he's taken such a dramatic move it is because his ruling a k party is suffering very low poll ratings the lowest since the party has been in office and been hit very hard by the economic woes of the country because the covert 19. epidemic now throughout the ceremony we use all very powerful in images aimed at rallying not of the religious but the nationalist base burdwan recited the koran before the friday prayers commence and then the prayers and cells carried out

by the head of turkey's religious authority who carried the assault which is a symbolism of the conquering of istanbul by 14 men made and this is a very important symbol for turkish nationalists who see him as the man that made turkey a great country founding the ultimate empire now on top of that useful is a rallying point for both nationalists some religious people thousands of people came from all across the country to mark this moment a very important rallying point and i think will be looking at this as a point of stopping the flow of the hemorrhaging of support of his party and the higher sophia is of course a world heritage site could this move have implications for its unesco status. well you know sco has voice could deep concern over this move they said that any major change to the site we needed to be notified and unesco had to sign off on this that didn't happen now that does raise the question that turkey could lose the i saw fish unesco world heritage site something that seems very keen to avoid it is

a very important tourist location it is the most popular site visited by tourists in turkey and it is going to be remaining open to tourists as well as serving as a mosque is uncle whether unesco will go as far to remove its status because i think unesco looking forward will still want to retain some influence over the way it is maintained and use and it would realize if it gave up that status it would have little influence so i think the expectation is that some kind of compromise will be reached but there was indeed concern from yes go as is there are the wider international community thank you very much indeed of your correspondent. around 3000 protesters have marched through central budapest in support of journalists at hungary's most read news site index and. dozens of journalists have now resigned in protest over the sacking of its editor in chief earlier this week his dismissal has raised concerns that prime minister viktor orban is nationalist

government is intensifying its efforts to muzzle critical voices. the new site trusted by millions of hunger ariens is no more so thousands march to the prime minister's office with this message i would say that we are together we believe in free press. and. we've reached a point now where getting access to real information is in real danger as well as its very existence. in court about the overall you do she. honestly regardless of the website the reason why i came to demonstrate is that another independent news portal has fallen victim to the government but i really don't like that and that's why i came i don't think there's any free press left. the protests followed an early a walkout on friday when more than 80 journalists the vast majority of the newsroom

quit index. to take the 1st that's just. our editor in chief was fired at the street and while i don't want to speak on behalf of all of us for me this was the red line i cannot work there anymore. the important point about the phone. before he got sacked editor in chief sample it still had warned the site was in grave danger after a pro business man purchased control of the site's ad sales hungary's foreign sex trade denies the government poses a threat to press freedom because well tell me a concrete case when could it journalists in hungary not write what they thought. index is just the latest of several hunger area news outlets to fall under control of government alliance raising fears here that it won't be the last.

well here in germany authorities are offering free coronavirus testing it to incoming travelers on the spot testing will be available for people coming from covert $1000.00 hotspots people travelling from a lower risk areas will also be offered tests but at laboratories away from airports as part of an effort to avoid a 2nd wave of infections. touched down in berlin after a summer holiday far fewer germans the normal 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. the amortized because of the health ministers of the states together with the federal health minister have today greed that people returning from risk 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 this. isn't 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 arsed 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 york or be willing to take

a test here certainly personal safety reasons that would be the most important thing. we think sure i think so. if you had to go into quarantine. them you now have to go. i wouldn't really want to people have responsibility for themselves and people are very careful about their behavior. and 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. well now to russia and the discovery of some big. group of reindeer herders has discovered the remains of an ancient wall in mammoth in a lake in northern siberia russian scientists are now working to retrieve the rest of the skeleton which appears remarkably well preserved. constantine to dva hadn't expected this he set out to catch fish but instead the fisherman on the peninsula

and said bierria pulled something quite different out. till i was tugging on a skull the whole day from morning till evening then i started poking around in the ground with the stick and i saw more bones. these bones turned out to be quite a sensation they were the remains of a woolly mammoth this species has been largely extinct for over 10000 years the mammoths were larger than today's elephants and weighed up to 5 tonnes researchers were quickly called in and recovered several more pieces of a prehistoric puzzle for more than a decade no one in this region has discovered such a well preserved mammoth all of wood so what you know we don't even know yet what else is in the water there are definitely more remains but we're not yet sure whether it's an entire or partial skeleton by now in the next few days scientists planned to bring special tools to this remote region in the north of russia they hope that in the mud at the bottom of the lake they will find more mammoth remains

. well that's your news update at this hour of course the news doesn't stop when we do so remember that you can get all the latest information around the clock on our website and d.-w. dot com you can of course also follow us on twitter and instagram at studio the new name is rebecca ritter is up next in 45 minutes and richard sent in berlin thanks so much for watching. we know this is a scary time for the coronavirus is changing the world changing.