Told the chinese to shut their consulate in houston plus u. S. President donald trump cancels the Republican Party conventions main event in florida the president made the surprise announcement as florida struggles to contain a spike in corona virus infections and the number of cases in the u. S. Passes for millions and after nearly 19 years as a museum is stumbles highest o. P. O. Open today for muslim prayers we have the latest on president arafat wants a controversial decision to change the status of the worlds famous monument. Im sorry kelly welcome to the program the spokesperson for the Iraqi Armed Forces said on twitter that the military has freed german art curator helen mavis who was kidnapped. By militants earlier this week the official said that mavis was rescued on the outskirts of baghdad this morning 5 days after she was abducted by gunmen outside of 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. Huge time and has ordered 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 after washington told beijing to shut its Diplomatic Mission in Houston Texas earlier this week on tuesday the u. S. Accused 2 chinese nationals of attempting to steal covert 1000 Vaccine Research relations between the powers are at their lowest in 40 years. And journalist Mathias Bolinger is standing by for us with the view from beijing mathias what war can you tell us. Its pretty much what we know china has ordered closed off the consulate in chengdu this is one of 5 consulates the u. S. Has in the chinese mainland and. This was expected 2 days ago the u. S. Surprised china by ordering the closure of the consulate in houston. This is now the response that china has 2 days later for its part the United States says that that was due to concerns regarding intellectual property that a close that consulate china has promised retaliation since earlier in the week why did it choose the consulate in chengdu specifically. Chengdu seems to be the most reciprocal move that they can could take chengdu is covering a big vast region in western china its an important populous part of china however it is not where most u. S. Businesses are if so its pretty much comparable to euston which covers of course an important region of the us but is not as important as new york our san francisco. The equivalence would be joe and shanghai for the latter so should do is pretty much a classical tit for tat move as you have already said how how serious is this escalation mathias for relations between beijing and washington. This is of course an escalation this this disclosure in the 1st place of the use in consulate is a massive escalation one that nobody expected china seems to have been taken by surprise by this what weve seen that day is that suddenly news were emerging that they were going burning documents in the consulate and nobody knew why and then it was china that hard to confident that it was ordered to close the consulate while the u. S. While it was night in the u. S. And nobody had communicated anything this through this move by china was widely expected it is recent reciprocal so that this is not a further escalation but it leaves the tensions between the u. S. And china where they were the relationship is at an all time low since the 2 countries have had diplomatic relations in the and of the 1970 s. 90 s. Bollinger in beijing thank you. Well markets in asia quickly reacted to the latest escalation stocks in shanghai dropped almost 4 percent while the hague saying index in hong kong lost 2 and a half percent and Europe Markets also fell the german dax is currently down 2 percent lets bring in financial correspondent in frankfurt Chelsea Delaney so what do investors think about the latest escalation. This is clearly a major concern for the markets and were definitely seeing that reflected and stocks today but also and markets like gold where and buster seeking safety are really driving up the prices for these socalled safe havens but investors are of course used to chinese u. S. Tensions with the trade war between the 2 countries over the past several years has really been a mean driver of. The nature of these of this conflict as its clearly expanding into many other areas now its covering technology. Not just trade but yes technology hong kong. Coronavirus hacking all sorts of different areas are now. And complex of this is obviously becoming a major concern for investors that they have to take seriously what are the economic wrists. This does have serious economic consequences. China and the United States are the 2 largest economies in the world we dont really know at this point how how this will impact the economy if this will broaden and into another trade war if this will impact. The reduction in tariffs that the u. S. And china have been agreeing to over the past several months but weve seen repeatedly over the past several years while they were still at each others necks over over trade that any sort of slowdown and china or the United States any sort of terrorist that really does impact the Global Economy because we still are a very globalized economies supply chains are still very interconnected so any sort of Economic Impact from these tensions would it would certainly impact the entire world into linnean frankfurt thank you. And wed like to return now to our top story. On the release of a german hostage in iraq the Iraqi Armed Forces say that they have freed german our curator helen mavis who was kidnapped by militants earlier in this week for more lets bring in our Political CorrespondentThomas Sparrow who is standing by for us now thomas has her release been confirmed but it was confirmed by one of her friends by an activist and obviously you mentioned as well iraqi sources that confirmed news it hasnt been officially confirmed by german offloads they have probably waiting to have direct contact with her before releasing a statement or any other information we however did hear from one of the german officials from the Foreign Ministry the state minister for International Culture i mean she had moved to failing who greeted obviously the release and obviously also the work that has been done by the German Foreign minister by the german Foreign Ministry to try and come get about this this release tell us a little bit more about those diplomatic efforts that have been taking place since the abduction well some of her friends had also put pressure on north to increase their efforts the german Foreign Ministry had a crisis team trying to also called in aid with iraqi officials in particular with the Iraqi Interior Ministry so you can see that this was obviously a very important topic both in iraq and in germany and thats why it will be important to see what german officials have to say once this new is confirmed also here in berlin thomas there on the story for us thank you. Quick check of some other stories making news around the world a u. S. F if team fighter jet the flew close to an iranian passenger plane was at a safe distance according to u. S. Officials but iranian sources say that the mohan 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. Protesters in israel have been keeping up the pressure on Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu for what they see as his governments mishandling of the Coronavirus Crisis israel has just reported more than 2000 new cases in one day. If youll be as Prime Minister has hailed the early filling of the massive dam on the blue nile river as historic the announcement came as he said that his country had reached in major common understanding with sudan and egypt over the controversial project. Lets get a quick check now of some of the latest developments in the corona virus pandemic the number of cases in the u. S. Has passed the 4000000 mark the country accounts for more than a quarter of global infections the most anywhere in the world australia has reintroduced restrictions in its most populous state New South Wales it comes after new clusters of infections merged in the States Capital sydney in recent days and the red cross has warned of a new wave of mass migration caused by the pandemic the charity says that the economic effects of the crisis could force people to move once borders reopen. U. S. President donald trump has canceled plans for a large scale Republican National convention in florida next month because of the pandemic the 4 night celebration was expected to draw some 10000. 00 people to mark trumps formal on the nation as the partys candidate for the november election the decision to call off the event comes as the u. S. Surpasses 4000000. 00 coronavirus cases. A tough decision for a president who loves nothing more than a crowd donald trump canceled the Republican Convention in florida amid 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 is 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 to receive 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 viruses eppy center continues to mark right across the country from l. A. Hot spots 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 we 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 the know how to treat it we can expand our treatment ability is this really came out of nowhere or. Black florida trump 2 hes facing an uphill battle according to opinion polls. A major criticism ivys handling of the pandemic in an Election Year it could be enough to cost him the tough job. Well the standoff between protesters and federal police just shows no signs of abating in the u. S. City of portland protesters supporting the black lives matter movements have objected to the presence of federal officers sent by u. S. President Donald Trump Police have regularly fired tear gas at protesters who have been described as quote agitators and anarchists by trump the portlands mayor says that the officers are making the protest worse trungpa said that he will send federal police to other u. S. Cities in an effort to crack down on crime our bureau chief in the last poll sent us this update from one of those cities chicago. President donald trump has Just Announced thats the rules and federal agents to the city of chicago which is true this is one of the murder capitals of the United States but the people here do not want federal agents to take care of the problems of anything they want federal funding for their schools where here in the middle of a protest led mainly by young people as for now we havent seen any federal agents and the protests turns out to be more like a street party i know why islands clash between the police and the protesters. While istanbuls highest afia will host muslim friday prayers later today the 1st such Service Since the building was converted into a museum more than 80 years ago originally a cathedral it has stood at the heart of istanbul for 1500 years its recent conversion back to a mosque triggered an outcry as you know leon reports. The highest of fear is istanbuls landmark. It symbolizes the byzantine the ottoman as well as the turkish period. The architecture is so marvelous that the old byzantines believed that the dome was held by god himself of them beauty of their cover that took the mark but it also marked over to this. Young a score to show knows everything about the heaviest for 20 years he has been guiding tourists to the World Heritage site and when he talks about it he is still amazed every time. But right now everything is different 1st the Museum Closed due to the coronavirus and then the museum was suddenly no longer a museum. Because president projectile bad one turned he had years of fear back into a mosque he. Was a christian citizen of this country it saddens me but im trying to stay calm as a mosque the highest will still be open for visitors they can even enter free of charge in the future but the rules will probably change that they give you short notice is give a shit load of all which. Visitors will now only be permitted outside prayer times was a x. And i can see that testify that the i. S. O. Fear was the most Important Church of christianity for centuries will be covered with curtains during worship. And the best and biggest decision ever made for turkey. And its great news for the entire muslim world which weve been longing for this for more than 80 years. Here were going to have a we can see these days thanks to our president for this decision. Many people here are happy that they had us a few years now in moscow again but theres also a lot of criticism the European Union has called the decision regrettable the u. S. A disappointment pope francis said he was very distressed and unesco wants to review the hagia sophia status as a World Heritage site. Criticism does not only come from abroad like this or that some people in istanbul consider the hagia sophia decision to be a political maneuver by out. There dr already have enough mosques in istanbul we dont need another one i think this has clearly been a political decision it could make us wonder if you just do that to distract people from the actual problems in this country the economic crisis and high inflation he was and is all about i also feel how he is a fear is a museum because i am absolutely against making it a mosque because istanbul is home to many religious beliefs but if she hears. The. Tourist guide young his quarters full of for example belongs to the Greek Orthodox minority in turkey people in his church see themselves as descendants of the byzantines who built the heaviest here in the 6th century for them its part of their identity. But younis is reluctant to voice criticism he says his community has experienced many setbacks and yet theyve always managed to move on. And that nationalists of course now celebrate the highest afia decision as a victory. Because because because were a very Small Community they dont hear us. In a country with more than 80000000 people its not easy to make a few 1000 voices heard which means. Chicks. Nearly 4000000 people visited he had his sophia last year. And young this quarter hopes that he can continue to show this monument to as many tourists as possible because for him regardless of its status it remains the most beautiful landmark he stumbled. Correspondent on filed that report she joins us now live from istanbul a whats going on at the highest of fear right now. Well the friday prayer hasnt started yet but in the background you can hear recitals from the koran it is very very crowded here today we actually moved to the press area right now but weve been closer to the iowa sophia in the area before and there are thousands also people not only from istanbul but from other parts of turkey as well and most of them actually brought their prayer rocks placed them somewhere and theyre now waiting for the prayer to start in old though most of the people all Wearing Masks today they do not seem to care much about social distancing measures there is a lot of pushing and squeezing over there and that is somewhat concerning if you consider the fact that were still in the midst of all the coronavirus pandemic in the turkish government has so far avoided having such events but this is what it is today a mosque event there are according to reports 20000 police and security cars in l. A. Here today and this is also because president edwin is expected to attend this Opening Ceremony as well as other high ranking turkish government officials heads of state and government from abroad have also been invited because for the turkish government this. This is an important day they have told his story and they want to make sure there is attention yulia talk with us a little bit more about the site itself because the highest sophia it is a renowned unesco heritage site what is different inside this highly symbolic building now that the turkish government has decided to reconvert the museum into a mosque. Well yes actually there wasnt that much time to tan the highest of the new c. E. O. Into a mosque just about 2 weeks we havent been allowed inside but we do know that they have rolled out a huge coffee took was colored carpet inside to the iowa sophia for worshippers and the biggest question maybe the most debated question was what is going to happen to the christian i can see and was a x. Inside the eye as sophia originally some have suggested to use some kind of Laser Technology to black them out during prayer is because of bits of the picture and off the people and animals all kinds of images of mary or jesus or some christians saints have to be made in visible at least during prayer it survives now they settled for another solution they have put huge cartons to basically cover these christian symbols still there are huge concerns about whether these changes to the secular space transforming it into a religious space actually is a risk for this World Heritage site because physical changes definitely need to be made and were made. On live at the highest sophia we know president is expected to appear there today the 1st time that friday prayers will happen since this site was converted to a museum. Thank you for your morning. Well in other news the tokyo games were supposed to kick off in japan this friday but were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic the olympics have now been moved to 2021 the decision to delay has raised more questions than answers theres uncertainty if the games will take place at all without a vaccine and enthusiasm for the olympics is also plummeting in the host nation. The countdown has been reset on the tokyo and m. P. Games one more you to go theres no trace of any festivities. In the japanese for many cut who was diagnosed with leukemia in 29000. 00 is hoping for the best at tokyo 2020 plus one in. What do you 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 of the up a month the it sounds like Wishful Thinking for some 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 altogether. Good if the bad leaks from across the world could come but every country is in a state of emergency and until we find a vaccine that will take time no chance. Carter could rush him or he 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. International Olympic Committee president and head of the Tokyo Organizing Committee your she will more you against the idea of a games without fans a 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 south pole or 830 kilometers away. You can control the robot and make it captive you know the kids very excited it felt as if you with their life without having to travel to the stadium. But who builds olympic venues and stadiums for electronic replacements who invests billions for an olympics light its a nightmare scenario for japans government host city tokyo the sponsors the fans and the athletes. We shouldnt expect the pandemic to be under control by next year but if we do manage to hold the top your lympics with the coronavirus around then it should serve as an example for the next games and other international events. But that wasnt japans initial goal of the country wanted to show the world that it has reinvented itself it can only hope it gets another shot at showing the world next year at tokyo 2020 plus one. Critical minder now the top stories that were following for you here on t w means Security Forces say that they have freed a german woman kidnapped by militants in iraq telling me this works as an art curator in baghdad and has been missing since monday. China has ordered the closure of the u. S. Consulate in the southwestern city of chengdu the move comes after the u. S. Told the chinese to shut their consulate in Houston Texas. And without now youre up to date on g. W. News up next coronavirus turmoil in nairobi is largest long thats coming up on global 3000 after short break im sara kelly thanks for watching. To set things in motion. Local hero show called their ideas can change the world. 3000. Next d. W. In ghana a trip to the markets to be exactly the farmers in style holders have no choice cocoa oil gold gunness economy could be flourishing but the people here see no signs of cost crumbling bridges or an overcrowded dose of somehow their wheres must get to market and daily life remains a struggle. In 55 minutes on day w. This is some notes story a stubborn rice farmer from thailand. His problem pests. His credo no chemicals. And hes trying to. Step. Out. Senators. The students of the past. Training successful. Talk to me starts july 27th. T. W. Well come to global 3000. 00. Devastation to zimbabwe last year how is the reconstruction coming along. Fake news and hate speech thats also a feature of social media does this pose a danger to democracy. But 1st we go to the key district of nairobi where the