this is t w news coming to live from berlin president trump floats the idea of delaying the u.s. election in november strong points to mail in ballots says reason saying they'll make november's vote the most fraudulent in history but leaders of both parties say changing the election date is beyond his authority also coming up hong kong faces not just a 2nd but the 3rd wave that comes with infections public anger is on the rise have renewed restrictions and a possible and late upcoming elections there. plus the coronavirus mutes

festivities as muslims around the world mark the start. and demick precautions alter centuries old traditions for. bill and terry martin good to have you with us this present donald trump has drawn across party criticism after suggesting a possible delay to the 2020 election trump who currently trails democrat joe biden in opinion polls has no authority to change the date which is set by law trump later backtracked but continues to push claims that any increase in mail in voting due to the credit virus pandemic would result in fraud. even for president trump it was a rapid u. turn off the flooding the idea of delaying of him his election only hours later he was walking it back. i don't want to delay i want to have the election but i also

don't want to have to wait for 3 months and then find out that the ballots are all missing and the election doesn't mean anything. earlier on thursday trump tweeted that universal my inviting would make the 2020 elections the most inaccurate and fraudulent in history he called for the election to be postponed until people can vote securely and safely the suggestion was soundly rejected on both sides of politics democratic speaker of the house nancy pelosi quoted the constitution which gives congress the sole power to set election dates even leading republicans distance themselves. never in the history of the federal elections have we ever not held an election and we should go forward with our election but we should we should have absentee voting but this mass just yelling out ballots without having any checks and balances without people requesting really brings concern in there but no

way should we ever not hold an election on the day that we have. as the coronavirus surges in the us donald trump is doubling down on his attacks on 1000000 voting despite a lack of evidence to support his claims critics say he merely wants to distract from the pandemic and the economic crisis hurting his bid to stay in the white house. joined by german lawmaker dr andrea snick from chancellor merkel c.d.u. party he's a member of the foreign affairs committee thanks for being with us dr nick how do you think germany would react if chancellor merkel suggested postponing a planned election the way president trump as. i think this is a pretty unimaginable scenario under german standards the election law is. the domain of the palm and we have a tradition to do everything in election law and a broad consensus between government and opposition parties and we have the federal

president who takes the ultimate form of decision as a stroke of safeguard so i think there is such a scenario would be pretty unimaginable undetermined circumstances. under presidential us german times have hit a new low current polls indicate the troubles on likely to win reelection if democrat joe biden becomes the next u.s. president do you think relations between these 2 countries will improve i think this is a is a fair assumption. we would work on the on the basis that at least communication style and cooperation between governments would improve significantly we know a lot of people in the biden campaign who would take. a senior role in the biden white house quite well nevertheless there are some fundamental issues that will remain like the question of nato defense contributions would have put where it was

was some disagreements with regard to china policy or other issues but i think that was would again be. discussed and sorted out in a partnership style in an open to trust and communication as we have to help with policy differences that we have had with each and every u.s. administration in the past decades chuck nick thank you very much for talking with us i was under his neck going to talk foreign affairs committee member from germany from chancellor merkel c.d.u. party. radio reports say hong kong leader kerry limb is set to announce the postponement of upcoming legislative council elections there by a year the potential today comes as hong kong faces not just its 2nd but the 3rd wave of in 1000 infections as the case count rises so does public anger over the government's handling of the crisis the that we used to be calling reports from hong kong. groups of 2 this is how you're allowed to hang out with

friends in public in hong kong empty tables and chairs are seen at restaurants under the latest ban on dining in only takeaway orders are allowed. i can tell you. i agree that we should contribute to fight the virus but it turns out we're the ones to suffer 1st i feel like the government is passing the buck to us with a male body and i'm glad. there has been no lockdown in hong kong the government is trying to keep the financial hub running by not forcing people to work from home. as a result it could be no easy task to comply with social distancing rules especially for blue collar workers. some have no choice but to finish their meals and rain or shine the backlash has pressured the government to reverse part of the ban in only 2 days now eateries can serve customers during the daytime but only at 50 percent capacity. here in hong kong where a mosque has been the common practice beginning oppy outbreak now they are partly

compulsory in both in thought and out of place even they want to fix the size they are in the hot and humid summer there is no exception. but critics say these stringent measures are not enough to tackle the root cause. i'm afraid there will be more new waves of infection in the future if we don't shut our border. we can do better with the exemption we don't need people to help exemptions we need everybody who supports the truth to be born to. it's the most critical wave of infection ever health experts attribute the outbreak to quarantine exemptions which allowed dozens of essential personnel including c. and aircrew to cross the border freely now such exemptions will be tightened but not cancelled. although the number is still far lower than many major cities across

the world the people of hong kong are concerned that it will have a wide ranging impact not only on public health and the economy but also on politics as the upcoming election could be postponed for the 1st time in history. now some other stories making headlines around the world today tens of thousands of people have turned out in the below russian capital minsk to support an opposition leader to take on. just over just a week before presidential elections the 37 year old is challenging a decades long rule of alexander lukashenko he accuses the opposition of trying to topple him with foreign assistance. spain has entered a deep recession official figures show the spanish economy contracted by 18.5 percent during the 2nd quarter wiping out 6 years of economic recovery from the global financial crisis spanish government imposed one of europe's strictest coronavirus lockdowns and sectors such as tourism have been badly hit tropical

storm isaac is made has made landfall in for the ricoh high winds and torrential rain knocked out power and triggered small landslides across both puerto rico and the dominican republic forecasters are predicting the storm will strengthen into a hurricane while moving towards the homeless and the u.s. east coast. brazil's 1st lady michelle bows and arrows has tested positive for corona virus after her husband presidential hopefuls are spent 2 weeks in quarantine after his earlier. also has faced criticism for his handling of the pandemic brazil has the world's 2nd highest kovan 19 infection and death rate in the world. this time of year would normally be high travel season in the northern hemisphere for holiday makers seeking sun and adventure but the credit has made this a summer like no other correspondents around the world tell us how the pandemic has

changed how people are spending their time on. in times of uncertainty because of covert 19 more than 70 percent of the french have to side to go on vacation in france some of them will stay here in paris where the town hall has allowed restaurants to extend their terraces the city will also be organizing a number of cultural events outside where the risk of contamination is limited due to flight restrictions the city is not as packed with international tourists as in previous years and parisians are making the most of that one friend of mine told me that she would seize the opportunity and having lived here for more than 15 years would finally go and visit what's probably the capital's most famous landmark the eiffel tower for the 1st time. london's trafalgar square is normally teeming with tourists but not this summer london's attractions like the national gallery have behind the all slowly opening up again and yet london's for the main event has

a tan as the rembrandt and the golf is mostly to themselves. an almost empty promise a typical picture and the beach resort of my bay at this time a lot of people that trips and pick from the right targets to the right forget the tragedy for the spanish economy almost 3000000 people live on tourism there's also a general obligation to wear a mask every well it's. not a very pleasant thing. about the degree. these guys seem to enjoy the global crisis the huge kruger national park all for themselves with hardly any tourists in sight since the end of march south africa's borders are closed international flights are not permitted even domestic travel is not allowed only a few davis the chairs from the province are allowed to enter the park at the moment this has a huge negative impact on hundreds of thousands of south africans working in the

industry travelling with them were country is possible again you can you know long to operate began behind me is a checkpoint that people have to ask if they want to visit a particular interested t.v. lake. so there are still a lot of inconveniences for tourists and the numbers are considerably lower many people choose to wait. you know your correspondents there following the impact of on tourism around the world. paris has become the 1st formula one driver to test positive for the racing point driver will miss the british grand prix this weekend formula one made a belated start earlier this month with a strict testing protocol in place the mexican will now 14 along with his. close contacts and one of raising points reserved drivers and dawn or esteban material will enter this weekend's race. well slim's worldwide

celebrating the start of or the feast of sacrifice but for many festivities have been massively scaled back over coronavirus concerns separate rights marking the end of the hodge pilgrimage in saudi arabia's holy city of mecca were also muted only a select few have taken part compared to the millions who usually flock here every year. this is what mecca looks like now no sea of pilgrims instead only up to $10000.00 people already residing in the kingdom were allowed to participate in this year's hodge and annual pilgrimage for muslims that last year saw about 2 and a half 1000000 people gathered here from around the world. the coronavirus pandemic has also curtailed this year's eve celebrations on the 1st day of the 3 day festival worshippers in the world's most populated muslim country indonesia were

advised to wear masks and maintain social distancing the country's religious ministry also advised mosques to shorten prayer ceremonies but yeah i think. this year's eve is very different from the previous years because we need to follow health protocols when we perform prayers like maintaining social distancing and we can stand close to each other or greet people another measure which i think is good is that we have to bring our own prayer materials so this is definitely different and there are fewer worshippers but i'm not much of a hole in the turkish capital istanbul the celebration also took place in the haga sophia for the 1st time in decades that after the turkish government recently reconverted the former historical cathedral and museum back into i'm. osc. and in afghanistan a 3 day truce has been called between the government and the taliban just before the truce went into effect

a car bomb killed at least 17 people the taliban denies any responsibility the truce is only the 3rd to take place in the last 1000 years and will last until the end of the muslim holiday. this is due to be news coming to you live from berlin i'm terry march and be with you at the top of next hour thanks watch. i'm neal and i'm good welcome to the 2nd season of on the grid. the planet on the brink of disaster commute is a long in-depth interviews with experts about one question how do we change our. own leaders for.