Freed a. Kidnapped in iraq. And have been missing since monday. In the capital. Plus china does the closure of the u. S. Consulate in the southwestern city of chengdu the move to the u. S. Told the chinese to shut down consulates in Houston Texas. And. The 1st stage of filling. Controversial new on the top of the project in stalking tensions with egypt and so. Welcome to the program. Open for muslim friday prayers for the 1st time in more than 80 years thousands of worshippers are gathering outside the Historic Building to take part in the prayers it follows a controversial degree from turkish president. To turn the former museum back into a mosque and one is should you want to attend along with several 100 invitees originally a cathedral the building has to be at the heart of istanbul of 1500 years. And for more im joined by the double correspondent julia hand in istanbul julia what is going on at the highest of fear where you are. Well attacks prison rage of type and on and members of his cabinet have just arrived a little earlier inside the fia we have seen images of them Wearing Masks and sitting socially distant next to each other waiting for this 1st friday prayer to started sexually about to start any time soon of course for president abel and this is a huge 3 important hugely symbolic day because he has been promising his azzam a conservative voters a nationalist vote has that he would be the one to turn this iconic Building Back into a mosque and the pictures were seeing today are proof that he did it that he fulfilled his promise despite all its despite the criticism he received especially from abroad but also from people here inside the country so for him its a big day according to the information we have at 500 people were allowed inside the i. S. O. Of fear due to coronavirus measures that many many more actually govern outside the thousands of people weve seen thousands of people who came from other parts of turkey as well who brought their prayer rocks to be here today to participate although most of them already mosques many of them are ignoring social distancing measure thats just too crowded there is a lot of pushing and squeezing going on but that shows you how many people actually are here today because they want to witness something that many call a historic day here in turkey it is a historic day when its also a very crowded day just for the benefit of. Watching live pictures now from inside the highest prayers. But you know just to go back to what the. President. As he promised that the highest of fear would become a mosque again why was that so important to president 10 to one. Well thats a question many are asking why now why not so lets say 5 years ago well the opposition here accuses president is a one off instrumental izing religion for political purposes their argument is that his popularity ratings are not looking good that the turkish economy has suffered from the coronavirus pandemic and this is some kind of sick joke or cards that everyone now pulled out to friendly conservative voters behind him if you look around today that seems to be working quite well right now but many are asking now ok for how long is that going to work out when we look into the future but this is the criticism here that aired on his using the symbolism of this iconic building for his own political purposes did have a correspondent julie 100 reporting from outside the highest sophia in istanbul and for so much. You know the news german articulate ahead of mavis has been freed by Iraqi Security forces after being kidnapped by militants this week a security official said mavis was rescued on the outskirts of baghdad this morning 5 days off the she was abducted by gunmen outside her office in the capital the German National is a well known figure in baghdad where she runs an arts program for young iraqis shes also known as an outspoken critic of the government it remains unclear who was behind the kidnapping you know akio photo teams are saying that they are investigating. For more im joined now by. Who is a close friend of her and i may have this huge antica joins us from. Have you been in contact with an american since seventys. Well i tried to call her but her son is still out there i couldnt contact mary and we just heard that she was released and the Security Forces program is news but theres not its not in the days leading up to her kidnapping and im a vicious had expressed fear for her safety and you have also you also said the dear friend was concerned for her safety why exactly was she wanted. You know they can not be became like a part of our daily life in baghdad. And this one this incident actually. Maybe you will. Awakening the big Global Market whats going on. We are in fear every day because my stuff our creeks had been i got kidnapped or are they had been treating so they left the city. We have buried several journalists. Our critics left baghdad and they are staying in kurdistan they cannot come here because they had her seems many spirits. And then i exactly shes a public figure she now when you publish you have good credit action to iraq hes considered her like you but the guy he is. President and she no other places you know they all know brings a record even though that and maybe more than good people who knew him very here so. It was a shot across i know on her last since 2000 tents since he is are going back there live for the 1st time and she was interesting crustacean this is me and. Shes president year it seems right piers ignore. The people around and care and just acknowledge her very well its human right here by some girl and she had she had help or of hearts help or hundreds of a young artists. She described the and the local and you looked at here and providing training sessions and many kinds of goals for children for for other people yes. They can i saw some special who do you know up close friend of had i miss thank you so much for speaking to us from. Thank you china has all but the United States to close one of its consulates in a 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 this week on tuesday the u. S. Accused 2 chinese nationals of attempting to steal colvin 1000 and Vaccine Research relations between the pause and at the lowest in 40 years. The chinese Foreign Ministry meanwhile defended its move saying it was a midget response to a provocation by the United States. On july 21st the u. S. Launched a unilateral provocation relayer probably demanding the trying to close its consulate general in shoes did. The u. S. Move seriously breached International Law the basic norms of International Relations in the terms of the china u. S. Consulate convention it greatly harmed china u. S. Relations the measure taken by china is a legitimate and necessary response to the in recently action by the us it conforms with International Law the basic one for the International Relations and customer diplomatic practices in the Current Situation trying to u. S. Relations is not what china decides to see and the u. S. Is completely responsible for all of this. Is in beijing fawaz materiels how serious is this for a nations between beijing and washington. This is a retaliatory move it has been announced from the very beginning on wednesday night. At the tuesday night at the us ordered the consulate in euston to be closed and then it was china who announced the next day that it had been ordered to shut it down they have said they would retaliate everybody was expecting they would close a consulate now it is clear which one it is this is pretty much reciprocal i would say the. Importance of this consulate in chengdu is about proportionate to the consulate in houston it is not one of the many regions where the main it be can all make a the American Economy that is our but its still very important also because it covers t. Bet the the relations between the 2 countries are at an all time low since they have established diplomatic relations in the end of the 1970s this move is probably not going to help them but it is also nothing that comes as a surprise china has not chosen to do something that would further escalate the situation and expect to move but then why specifically the consulate in trying to do what is. The consulate in chengdu is somewhat its not one of the 2 most important consulates but it is still an important consulate it covers the southwest of china that includes many a big geographical region also a densely populated region people from there american citizens but also chinese citizens who apply for visas will now have to travel much further there is also a political pawn because this consulate was responsible also for covering bet for the u. S. And it has some kind of it has gained some kind of fame a few years ago when the police had the head of the Police Department of chongqing who was then. Involved in a Corruption Scandal that eventually brought down the whole establishment of this city fled to this consulate and spent 30 hours there so this is a place that has quite a history but heres billing briefing us about that history from beijing thank you so much. U. S. President donald trump has canceled plans for the last skin Republican National convention in florida next month because of the current about his pandemic the 4 night celebration was expected to draw some 10000 people to mark trumps formal nomination as the partys candidate for the election the decision to all of the event comes as the u. S. Opposes 4000000. 00 coronavirus cases. A tough decision for a president who loves nothing more than a card. Donald trump can through different public in convention in florida amidst surging coronavirus cases across the state i looked at my team and i said the timing for this event is not right just not right with whats happened recently the flare up in florida. To have a Big Convention its not the right time its really something that for me i have to protect the American People thats what ive always done thats what i always will do thats what im about says it in a significant change in rhetoric since his rally in tulsa which saw thousands pack into an arena trump stressed the issue of safety looking forward to the viruss epi center continues to migrate across the country from l. A. Hotspots like new york now hitting other densely populated states like florida haad. Thursday mopped a record high for the state with more than 170 deaths and 10000 new infections some hospitals are reaching a Tipping Point this hospital in miami is that full capacity some of the stuff also contract with the virus. Its unpredictable so weve learned about. What its like to be faced with something that we dont know anything about it if you think about a lot of other medical illnesses we know about it weve studied how to treat it we can expand our treatment of this really came out of nowhere in our. Last florida trump to is facing an uphill battle according to opinion polls. Amid criticism over his handling of the pandemic in an Election Year it could be enough to cost him the tough job. If not to some other stories making news around the world are us f. 15 fighter jet the q close to an iranian passenger plane was at a safe distance according to u. S. Officials but iranian sources say the mahaan air 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. In thailand protesters have set fire to images of the countrys Prime Minister. And his deputy public opposition to pry it has been growing in recent months protesters want to stop them to step down saying it came to power after an unfair election last year. And to wrench of 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 this month flooding left 60 people dead in the same part of the country. Here in germany a court has handed down jail sentences to several men convicted of raping an 18 year old woman in the Southern City of freiburg the use hold in october 28th was carried out in large part by refugees from anti immigration populists to seize on the case. The judge sentenced the primary defendant to 5 years and 6 months in prison mens saying he had raped the woman 1st outside of freiburg nightclub then handed her over to the others it was october 2018 the young woman was under the influence of ecstasy and alcohol 10 of the 11 accused were found guilty of rape or failing to help and one was acquitted the trial took over 40 days prosecutors said it was an unusual case. There were a number of different cues. Arrests were made within a short time and because of the state of the victim during the act. Done stepping in to talk to the young woman now suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder the defense attorney has argued that sex was consensual despite the evidence. Given so but it was incriminating but there were also exonerating moments in the moment of the convicted man where between 18. 30 at the time one is german the are those refugees playbooks mayor said the city remained open and tolerant. Offputting the crimes are not committed by nationalities than by individuals but it shouldnt be to boo to talk about it and we do have to ask ourselves whether we need to make adjustments with integration and getting an accursed. The judgement is not yet final and the primary defendant is likely to appeal his sentence. Youre watching the news a still to come the countdown clock the circular pits has been reset organizers are planning for summer 2021 now but the coronavirus fundament has made situation for carriers other games in limbo. But 1st if your past Prime Minister has hit the early feeling of the massive dam on the blue nile river as historic the announcement came as abi added so his country had reached a major common understanding with sudan and egypt over the controversial project the mega has been a source of tension between the countries for years construction of the dam and a power plant on the blue nile began in 2011 sudan and egypt are afraid that it will cut off the water supply to the countries. Ethiopia is creating facts on the ground on the blue nile the mega dam has been filling up for weeks unnoticed by the public but these satellite images reveal the truth on twitter Prime Minister akhmed announced that the historic feeling of the dam aided by rainfall was now complete that some welcome news for the negotiations with sudan and egypt both countries had warned ethiopia against filling the dam without prior agreement nile expert dia crusie says that to them its a provocation. We should not forget that the pragmatist that was under severe pressure from the population because of the disappointment of the people for having brought it to little. Ethiopia has been building africas largest hydroelectric dam for 10 years at a cost of 5000000000 euro. It hopes to jumpstart its weak economy with cheap electrical power but cairo fears that Falling Water levels will have catastrophic consequences for egyptian agriculture more than 90 percent of egypts water supply comes from the nile many farmers fear that their fields will dry out of that we should go to war over the water im ready to fight for it. The livelihoods of millions of people are at stake but filling the mega dam has made agreement much less likely. For took you games were supposed to kick off in japan this friday but for both forms due to. Their live pictures have now been moved to frontier 21 the decision to delay has raised more questions than answers there is uncertainty if the games will take place of toll without a vaccine and enthusiasm for the olympics has also plummeted in the host nation. The countdown has been reset on the tokyo and impact games one more used to go theres no trace of any festivities. The japanese family cuckoo ek who was diagnosed with leukemia in 2900 is hoping for the best to talk your 2020 plus one. Or even imagine the world in one of the year will be wonderful when they lift the curtain over the elim pics and paralympics live in a time with highs and lows and hoping that a sense of normal returns to our daily lives again when its the. Oracle and theyve got the month the it sounds like Wishful Thinking according to a survey only one in 4 japanese supports the Upcoming Games in 2021 around 70 percent would like to delay them even further or cancel them all together. To get it but leaks from across the world would come but every country is in a state of emergency and until we find a vaccine that will take time no chance. Would really guard us and while we could hold the games without fans but that wouldnt be good for the economy if the games go ahead then we should go all out to the. International Olympic Committee president thomas bach and head of the Tokyo Organizing Committee yoshio more against the idea of a games without fans the last resort would be to reduce the crowds whatever the case the atmosphere would suffer the Japanese Technology could fill the void this digital Remote Control emit sounds of celebrations if enough join in it could create something similar to real stadium atmosphere. The prototype would serve as a proxy fan in the stadium and was recently tested in japans professional baseball league. As how kids in tokyo for example get to enjoy a match and some pole or 830 kilometers away. You can control the robot and make it captive