Date for an exhibition fight against him around champions which its true. Now Chinas Foreign Ministry has ordered the closure of the u. S. Consulate in the southwest and city of chengdu it marks a further escalation in tensions between the 2 while the powers the announcement came just 2 days after washington ordered the shutdown of beijings consulate in Houston Texas the u. S. Secretary of state mike pompei or had described that concert as as a hub of spying and intellectual property theft while we can now speak truck correspondent katrina you she joins us live from katrina a tit for tat trade off a tit for tat diplomatic war it really seems quite the die lemma for beijing having to respond while risking even more global isolation at this stage. Thats right but the way beijing saw it it had to respond to what its called an unjustified act from the u. S. Theyve made no qualms about this this is in direct response to the u. S. Decision to close the chinese consulate in Houston Texas on july the 21st a move which the Foreign Ministry here has repeatedly called a violation of International LawInternational Principles a violation of the agreement the consular agreement between china and the us and move which severely damages the bilateral relationship china has also said that it does not want to see this Current Situation but it puts the entire responsibility at the foot of washington saying its also up to washington to now act to either withdraw its move to close the chinese consulate in texas or to create conditions from which this bilateral relationship can improve now we were waiting to hear which consulate would close there are 5 consulates located in Mainland China and we also have the embassy of course in beijing there was some chance that it could have been too which is quite a small consulate but chengdu is a much more significant consulate located in the southwest of china it was founded in 1985 a just a few stops about 6 american officials at the time and 29 local stuff now there about 200 stops working at the consulate in chengdu including about 50 u. S. Officials there and they work can verify the various commercial economic and its also considered quite an important listening post for the u. S. When it comes to issues around that and whats happening in shin junk so this is definitely a blow to biological relationships and once done this will be extremely difficult to reverse and katrina this is also obviously just the latest in what seems to be a spiral now of deteriorating relations here the rhetoric has been escalating to whats beijing had to say about my companys comments. Thats right definitely not happy at the beginning a few months ago Chinas Foreign Ministry had quite a restrained tauren they would just say that they firmly oppose this or that but these days becoming much more assertive language from the spokespeople at Chinas Foreign Ministry and without quaternion respond directly to my speech and she said that she accused him of having a cold war mentality spreading a cold war mentality and she compared him to us u. S. Secretary of state from the cold war in the 1950 s. Who one who was quite aggressive in his anti communist stance and then she said that my quote pale was wanting a new crusade against china in a new globalized world which was as futile she says as an ant trying to shake a tree and then she had what seemed to be her own rallying cry against that at least against my compost not the trumpet mr ation itself he said its time now to peace loving people around the world to step forward and prevent him from doing any further harm katrina you that live for us in thank you very much katrina with all the latest there while the standoff between beijing and washington is also playing out at the World Health Organization where the director general has rejected allegations by the u. S. Secretary of state that questioned his independence from china. As a says covert politics should be quarantined and he will not allow my pump to distract the organization from its work and fighting the Global Pandemic. Focus and the focus of the entire mission the entire organization is on saving lives if there is one thing that really matters to us and which should matter to the entire. International community its saving lives and you will not be distracted by these governments. We dont want the International Community also to be discrete distracted. The u. S. And u. K. Have accused russia of launching an anti satellite weapon into space they say moscow fired a project on july 15th person space directorate chief says the move poses a potential threat to satellites that the well depends on moscows Defense Ministry says it was part of an operation to inspect its own equipment now the pentagon has confirmed one of its fighter jets intercepted in iranian passenger plane over the syria it says the f. 15 conducted a visual inspection of the airplane from a safe distance to ensure it wasnt a hostile aircraft the move was said to be aimed at protecting Coalition Troops in syria several passengers were injured when the commercial plane pilot abruptly changed altitude during that incident the plane was still then able to fly safely to beirut i spoke to Rodger Shanahan hes a Research Fellow at the low institute for International Policy and he says this incident could western already strained ties between washington and tehran. Yess exertions that. Crap from that airline used to ferry the just 6 support for running back forces in the region so that may well have been one of the reasons why the u. S. Decided take a close look at the aircraft to check out where there were passengers on board well its interesting we have to see what pentagon hasnt said as you pointed out was why they set up new craft. To look at this passenger plane wearers let it blow the other passenger planes fly this route and have a brain intercept live in the past but there is a kind of heightened. Tension in a relationship there is always a bit fraught an explosion at Natanz Nuclear facility or a range of fires at industrial plants some of which are explained by accidents others of which appear to be a bit more mysterious so theres a sense that that something is perhaps in that hasnt been implied before that additional pressure is being put on iran im not sure that those 2 are linked but the problem always is when theres a heightened. Series of tensions and actions that Something Like this gets just adds to the a somewhat volatile mix now the staggering impact of cova 1000 on the United States shows no sign of easing the number of infections across the country has now crossed 4000000 and more than 144000 people have died now President Trump has called off the Republican Convention in florida because of coronavirus fears castro has a story. The worlds richest nation has now surpassed its 4000000 known case of coping 19 and its feared the number will only soar whats important about that is the steamroller that it is. The acceleration that this has the rate of new cases is trending upward in 39 states with a Record Number of deaths reported in florida thats where President Trump had planned to speak before a massive crowd at the Republican National convention in august an important moment for his Reelection Campaign but now those events are canceled i care deeply about the people of florida and everywhere else frankly in this country and even in the world who would be coming into the state and i dont want to do anything to upset it 143000 people have died of the corona virus in the United States and medical experts warn many more deaths are to come those numbers tend to rise about a month after an uptick in cases but President Trump trying to downplay the threat saying that problems and hot spots will all work out your sissie a lot of the country is has has no problem whatsoever trump also claims states have all the emergency supplies they could possibly need despite pleas from some doctors that life saving equipment is running out we have no. Because we are not anybody to think that a season of who should live or who should die however when you have well hes call a mass casualty situation there are guidelines to be fired or that makes you war you know a more efficient manner and to save their mosque not a bit of people meanwhile the u. S. Economy nears another precipice with expanded Unemployment Benefits expiring at the end of the month and he vixens resuming at the end of the Week Congress will debate yet another rescue measure in coming days castro aljazeera Washington Well the mayor of the city where that Republican Convention was due to take place says canceling the event was a tough call for President Trump and gallagher has more from miami. I was reporting that the sheriff of jacksonville said the city is past the point of no return and we cannot safely hold this type of event so there were also Republican Leaders saying they didnt want to turn up because of health and safety concerns so i think as you said this was a very difficult position for the president to make it was interesting that he talked about keeping Americans Health and safety is a top priority given that hes only recently started wearing a mask himself and his hold was held rallies over the past few months but its a reflection i think of just how bad the situation is here in florida for him to actually cancel such a massive event and one that will be so personally important to the president i mean its pretty dire a very dark day for this state with a Record Number of deaths and for the past 2 weeks weve had at least 10000 new cases every single day that peaked around july the 12th with 15000 cases around 300000 tests have been carried out by the refuge problems with the testing here in the Sunshine State people waiting for a 5 hours lining up to get those tests and then waiting 10 days to 2 weeks to get the results the c. D. C. The center for Disease Control recommends a 2 day turnaround that is not happening in this state in the reports here so only from people i know theyre getting the wrong results. Now watch dogs in the u. S. Department of justice and Homeland Security say theyll investigate the use of force by federal agents during recent protests democrats say that agents improperly detained and transported antiracism demonstrators in portland and washington d. C. The Police Killing of unarmed black man george floyd back in may triggered an ongoing wave of protests against systemic racism and Police Brutality across the United States. Still ahead few here on al jazeera high Stakes Mission by west African Leaders fails to end of weeks long political crisis and muddy. Going door to door to graduate the cuban medical students working to track down covert 19. And. Hello there mostly holton drive throughout much of the middle east but at the same time we have had wanted to show some thunderstorms and some rather more persistent rain across the southwest of yemen but have a look at these images coming out of Western Areas of side you can see here the skies that fairly clear this was a passing shower with hail and some or all the heavy rain as you can see here in this particular region in fact the some flooding on of the road and again that came down with some hail a fairly quick to clear the scattered thunderstorms but there are quite a few them possible again as we go through friday heavy rains the south or society again those Western Areas of yemen so santa could actually pick up some flooding in the streets meanwhile the dust in the sun continues to blow the winds of change direction in fact being very humid but really across into cattle bahrain of the next couple of days a temperatures of 41 sells it fairly much warmer with the humidity meanwhile to the north it is hotter but it should be a bit drier 47 is the high in baghdad then down into Southern Africa were still watching this possible Tropical Cyclone which is to the north and getting closer to northern sections of madagascar some pretty strong winds with this will begin to impact that fall. North coast of madagascar showers further to the south across what eastern areas wanted to scottish as is to the songs will flow through central areas of the big bell continue through saturday but all the want across south africa is fine and dry and warm in port elizabeth. But. A Global Pandemic mass protests demanding change economic recession and geoPolitical Tensions not to mention the small matter of a looming election join me Steve Clemons in conversation with leading voices on the bottom line your weekly take on u. S. Politics and society on aljazeera. Holding the powerful to account as we examine the u. S. Is room in the while on aljazeera. Hello again im a saucy a take and thats my view about top stories here this hour Chinas Foreign Ministry has ordered the closure of the u. S. Consulate in the southwest and city of chengdu it comes in response to washingtons order to shock the chinese consulate in houston. And u. S. President on the trump has canceled the Main Republican PartyConvention Due to be held in florida next month because of the growing a virus threat the state has been one of the worst affected by the pandemic state the number of infections nationwide posthuman and. The pentagon has confirmed one of its fighter jets intercepted and iranian passenger plane had to syria to ensure it wasnt a hostile aircraft several passengers were injured when the commercial plane changed altitude during that incident. Tons nias former president benjamin has died while Receiving Hospital treatment for an unspecified illness he was 81 was the countrys president and served for 10 years from 1905 he also led several Regional Peace mediation efforts while he was in office 7 days of mourning happened to catch. Now a mass grave with 28 bodies of sudanese soldiers has been found and after a 3 week search prosecutors say the officers were involved in a failed coup against former president amount of shit back in 1990 they were executed in mysterious circumstances after a quick military trial now earlier this month another mass grave of trainees soldiers was uncovered its believed theyd been trying to flee a camp in 1980 officials have been looking into Human Rights Violations under the she is. Now a prominent south sudanese activist who says the president wanted him dead has fled to the United States should be a judge and his family were granted emergency visas by the u. S. Government after spending weeks hiding in kenya he says south sudans president salva kiir ordered the hit squad to kidnap and kill him an allegation denied by the government. Has been one of the president s fiercest critics accusing him of profiting chaos in the country to delay elections. Thousands of supporters of former president Joseph Kabila have marched in the democratic republic of congo against currently that felix she said katie the demonstrators accuse him of abusing his power following recent appointments in the army and judiciary she said katie took office last january in the d. L. C. Is 1st peaceful political transition since independence. 5 west african heads of state who gathered in mali as capital have failed to reach a deal to end that countrys deepening political crisis weeks of protest calling for the resignation of president abraham. Threatening to destabilize the region nicholas reports. Nigeria senegal ghana ivory coast and the share their president s on an Extraordinary Mission in bamako aimed at ending mollies political crisis similar to we are here to meet president ikeda and the various parties concerned to bring peace and shortcut to monitor terms of the path of stability for the sake of the whole region. Outside their meeting demonstrators supporting opposition leaders who might he remains missing after being abducted during the parliamentary elections in april it is time for these african heads of state to intervene in the actions of even a cat and his government to bring him back to his family safe and sound as soon as possible in his absence and unprecedented protest movement calling itself the m fine among its leader. But also leaders of the opposition in Civil Soci