changing demographics across asia with far reaching consequences are creating a pool of socially disadvantaged young men so you have the system where people at every level will be get being given money money to agree to start zation of money to get other people to agree to services how does their examines the politics of population control. today i'm instructing my administration to halt. funding of the world health organization where the u.s. president accuses the world body of failure and distance from a ship and its handling of the broader virus pandemic. i'm convinced now this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up. this is

a crisis like no other the international monetary fund says the coronavirus is sending the world with the worst financial downturn since the great depression. no nation spares countries violence across latin america will also seal the economic effects of the outbreak. and election and the time of the pad damage south koreans carefully head to the ballot box. u.s. president donald trump has announced hill halt funding for the world health organization a top u.n. body which is at the forefront of a global response to the coronavirus endemic trump is accusing the w.h.o. of both a cover up and of bolting the initial response to the un frick he says the group has been spreading disinformation from china but the virus was 1st detected which

he says made things worse the us is its biggest fund. we have deep concerns whether america's generosity has been put to the best use possible the reality is that the w.h.o. failed to adequately obtain vet and share information in a timely and transparent fashion the world depends on the w.h.o. to work with countries to ensure that accurate information about international health threats is shared in a timely manner. and if it's not to independently tell the world the truth about what is happening the w.h.o. failed in this basic duty and must be held accountable when the u.n. secretary general says now is not the time to reduce results is for the w.h.o. and thousands of its staff who are on the front lines of what he called one of the most dangerous challenges the world has faced in our lifetime and there's

a dire forecast on the economic front the international monetary fund says the world is heading towards the worst financial downturn since the great depression of the $930.00 s. the i.m.f. chief economist says lock downs could cost the global economy or the 9 trillion dollars over the next 2 years one sector taken and immediate hit is the airline industry it is expected to lose more than $300000000000.00 in revenue this year well let's go live now to mike hanna who is in washington d.c. mike let's talk about president donald trump cutting funding to the w.h.o. when he made the announcement he really did not hold back city. it was an astounding news conference and very strong words from president trump including the contention that the w.h.o. has increased the number of cases worldwide 20 fold an astonishing statement from the president about an international body president continued to insist that the

w.h.o. did not fulfill its obligations it was not transparent in its relationship with china and in its passing on the information that it was obtaining from china the source of the breakout of the pandemic president crumple so complaining about the fact that the w.h.o. was continuing to urge international travel at a time where he had partially suspended flights from china clearly a very angry president trump and clearly a very strong attack on the world health organization which is in the middle of attempting to combat global pandemic president trump also against the advice of his medical experts continues to press for an earlier opening of many u.s. states saying that it's quite possible that a number of states could have restrictions lifted by the end of this month this is what he had to say. there are numerous h that are in great shape right now they're viewing the rest of the country like we

don't even believe this is happening we have a lot of those states they're set to open practically now i mean they would be open now we're going to let them open sooner than the date we're going to pick a date we're going to get a date that's good but it's going to be very very soon sooner than the end of the month but there are many states out there that are looking at this and they're reviewing it and they're saying we shouldn't be even included in this you know there are some that want to open up almost now now if we disagree with it we're not going to let them open and my democrats have a policy responded to all of this what if they had to say. well certainly a strong response from the democratic national committee saying that the president is attempting to distract from his own mistakes in terms of dealing with the pandemic not only from the democrats but also from the country's largest medical

body which is sharp to criticize president trans decision to cut funding but there's also going to be another issue looming and that's from congress democrats absolutely insisting that president trump does not have the constitutional right to stop this funding in terms of the separation of powers it's not possible say democrats in congress for the executive to countermand a ruling by congress remembering that congress has already approved the funding to go to the world health organization so once again president trump in this criticism which its critics say is merely to distract from his inability to deal with the pandemic is creating yet another constitutional issue thank you for that that is there as mike hanna live from washington d.c. . the world health organization is the united nations agency responsible for global public health last year the united states contributed 15 percent of w.h.o.

funding the most of any single donor in total the u.s. paid nearly 900000000 dollars china contributions about 10 percent of that in the coronavirus pandemic the w.h.o. has worked with researches and those on the frontline to understand the virus and to provide guidance to countries about how to contain it the w.h.o. got $5600000000.00 in global funding and $2191.00 quarter of that went to polio eradication 12 percent to improving access to health care all 5 percent went to the prevention and control of breaks like covert 19 half of all funds were spent in the continent of africa and war torn countries like yemen iraq and afghanistan. for its constant is a professor of at georgetown university rather and the director of the w.i. chose collaborating center on national and global health law he joins us now from

washington d.c. thank you for your time 1st off what do you make of trump's comments this evening that the w.h.o. failed in its duty that it pushed china's misinformation and blamed the w.h.o. for a 20 fold increase in cases of coronavirus around the world what's your response to all of that. well it's an astoundingly unsupported statement the and i think it's it's intended to shift the blame from the united states to china and the world health organization but the blame can't be shifted and it's very very clear that. the united states had ample warning. the w.h.o. very early on said that the world had to brace itself and to do confinement. contact tracing testing

quarantines. the world health organization. similarly. disclosed the genetic sequencing of the virus and the president and everybody in america could see as a tsunami of cases were sweeping across africa then east and sorry not africa china and then east asia then to europe and then finally to the united states so we had so much time to prepare and we just didn't and i'm wondering out of was it frustrating for you what's in the president of the united states a world leader on that podium essentially discredit saying the entire organization i mean was it frustrating for you to watch. it was more much more than frustrating frankly it was it was dismaying. and you know made me almost ashamed to be an american because at

a time when we're facing literally a once in a century global health crisis when tens of thousands of people are dying and when this is the time more than ever. for our global health leadership and global solidarity to have the united states under the world health organization was. painful to watch i never thought i would see an american president. undercut a vital u.n. agency bill where the president tried did and i think it boiled a little happier it'll just the united states has now lost all voice all influence over. international relations and global health and affairs. i think that the world will be outraged by this act one to one well this funding cut main in real

terms for they world health organizations ability to confront the pandemic well the lack or the loss of this money make a make a tangible difference. you know in terms of the money making a difference perhaps not because most of the voluntary funding is gone in to other areas like whole norad occasion or mental health for. cancer prevention aids things that people care about deeply but it's going to affect w h o's ability to fight cold 19 why because this is a a deep criticism and wound of the organization of the time when it needs political support in backing it's going to be a distraction to w.h.o. and it's brave leader dr tahj or us is being caught in the middle of

a geo strategic power struggle between china and the united states and how sad to see that president trump things that diary which oh she takes sides there are those sides in a pandemic we're all in this together and so surely you know not just for me personally but i think you know for the international community in all of the many brave health workers and people out there that have tirelessly for global health who are now losing their lives in the fight against the cold with pandemic this is a slap in the face and it is shameful i mean i try not to be party political or ideological when it comes to a pandemic but this has gone a step too far thank you for your time live there that's lawrence gostin a professor at georgetown university and director of the devil i chose

collaboration sent to our national and global health law. thanks. voting is underway in south korea's parliamentary election it's the world's 1st national election to be held during the pandemic versions are required to wear masks and gloves plus to maintain social distancing south korea has seen more than 10000 infections and more than $220.00 deaths alive now to run mcbride who's at a polling station in sol so tell us more about these restrictions that are in place how's it all going well. that's very well voting is well underway here and we are waiting to see just what's going to result from this this poll but as you mentioned there the rest of the world seems to be watching to see south korea handle this this is the 1st developed nation really to be holding an election in the middle of a pandemic a number of other countries territories in the previous weeks and months of

postponed or canceled elections south korea something of a reputation to upkeep it is never actually cancelled a previous election even during the korean war it managed to hold an election in 1952 arguably some of those earlier polls before democracy was introduced here in 1980 were fraught with vote rigging and so on but nonetheless there is a reputation here and it does seem as though south korea is not going to let the coronavirus interfere with this election but there are a number of precautions in places that polling stations like this one as you mentioned as people turn up here they have their temperature taken they have to keep a distance of one beaten from the person next to them interestingly even if they have a temperature they're not turned away they are sent to a special bood where they can cast their vote they are then obviously you have to wear a mask but they are also given a hand sanitizer and then everybody has to wear disposable gloves if they're going to be handling a ballot paper as they go in now these are the ordinary polling stations there are

also a number of special polling stations that have been. set up just for people who have been suffering from the coronavirus and maybe still being treated for it especially attached to hospitals and treatment centers so they are allowed to vote and also it's worth mentioning that there are thousands of people throughout south korea who are still in self quarantine who are self isolating while they haven't been forgotten either when the normal polling standard polling comes to an end those people are allowed to this one day only the normal standard quarantine time is 2 weeks but for one day they are allowed to leave their homes or wherever they are sheltering come to a polling station like this and then polling stations are kept open just for them so that one extra hour or so they can also be included in this ballot i think pride not for us there in solved thank you. still ahead here on al-jazeera a few european nations take the 1st course steps alf's of lockdowns to revive their

economies. and we look at how business groups in australia are pushing for restrictions to be lifted. hello there the middle of the week should be showing some much better weather conditions across areas of japan you can see quite a massive cloud still clearing away quite steadily away from the north and east of home she says sadly by wednesday if any best report left behind maybe one or 2 showers into northern hunchy but really as a say a much better picture time it is not too bad 21 celsius in tokyo a similar 21 across into solon's in the north in beijing a very warm day 26 degrees the quite a bit of clouds will be popping up and also the chance of some rain showers and sunny by thursday a band of very heavy rain working its way east was beginning to push on towards the crimp instead not quite making it

a throughout the day and generally much of china is fun and joy for the amount of cloud but again a failure warm day 26 celsius down in hong kong and then in tunisia the usual ray of thunderstorms and for the next 2 days we'll see more in the way of rain developing across the malaysian peninsula also some are just seeing some heaviest spells of rain and then just really areas a scattered showers across much of the thailand a little bit heavier across into cambodia there showers again through coastal areas of in a similar story. very heavy rains particularly into the southern areas of thailand and then india the story really here is very much about the heat with a very hot day on wednesday not poor 41. i easily test treats and trace frank assessments why is it so he's struggling to cope with the number of her own virus patients failure to take really aggressive action we put them behind her informed opinions it's going to be much more

challenging in a place like haiti where there's one ventilator $3000000.00 people in-depth analysis of the day's global headlines as india doesn't up to nip the spread of her out of hours in the inside story on al-jazeera. you're watching al-jazeera of either of our top stories this hour u.s. president donald trump is suspending funding for the world health organization he says the w.h.o. botched the initial response to the our frank spread what he called this information from china u.n. secretary general says now is not the time to reduce resources in the middle of

a and. the international monetary fund says the world is heading toward the worst economic downturn since the great depression of the $930.00 s. he i.m.f. chief economist says lock downs aimed at stopping the outbreak could cost the global economy more than 9 trillion dollars over the next 2 years. voting is underway in south korea's parliamentary elections the world's 1st national election to be helped during the pandemic poses a required to wear masks and gloves plus to maintain social distancing. to europe now where 3 countries have taken the 1st steps to partially open their economies after weeks of a lockdown but most shops and businesses in spain italy and austria continue to remain closed and social distancing measures are still being enforced obrenovac. after more than a month from the government imposed closure the shutters are starting to be razed europe is taking its 1st cautious steps out of lockdown many italian book shops

stationery stores and children's clothing shops were allowed to reopen on tuesday albeit with strict conditions but in a country which has seen more than 20000 fatalities from the virus the relief is mixed with fear because on the move. i think the right thing is to prevent every possibility of infection obviously one needs to balance this with the need for normal life to resume but always remembering that the risk is still very high. may your. bed. better to be alive and poor if the shops that reopen it totally say that both workers and customers than i am in favor i worry that there will be a lot to do to get to that stage though italy is not made up of just large companies with big space as they can easily be organized shops in austria are also reopening for the 1st time since mid march and over shoppers are being urged not to stampede the sales there is a sense of optimism among vienna's retailers. hoffnung spoiled yes actually we're

in good spirit is the people have been locked up until now and we have already received some requests by phone and email or in the mood for some addresses yes we are hopeful that. our approach over the coming months is going to be very clear as much freedom as possible as much restriction that is necessary but let me add should the biggest develop in the wrong direction we will of course hold the emergency brake which we have in place should it become necessary. accurate data is crucial in knowing how and when to apply emergency break the virus is ripping through the conference care homes where elderly residents are particularly vulnerable to infection but in the u.k. the government's daily death and infections to to stix only include hospital patients and new data suggests the real totals are much larger. care home providers

say the suggestion that u.k. government statistics are under estimating coronavirus deaths by some 15 percent are themselves under-estimates hit c $11.00 of britain's largest operating $329.00 homes including the one behind me said the virus is now present in 2 thirds of its residences and that the deaths of one 3rd of its residents in the past 3 weeks of involved coronavirus that's more than 300 people. britons coronavirus restrictions are being reviewed this week with a decision by thursday on the current evidence there's no possibility that the u.k. will be joining italy austria and spain and starting to lift its coronavirus confinement orders paul brennan al-jazeera sorry. australia has so far avoided a large scale outbreak of calls at 90 with slow infection rates and social distancing measures are hurting business and the economy neck like a trip or it's from sydney. come along bato has managed this the fruit shop in

sydney for 3 decades and is used to seeing thousands of people pass through its doors each week now face on the head full and he's had to adapt to survive the business is still open but most of its sales are taking place online instead with staff delivering produce to horns those casual staff that we used to be utilized. in the retail shop we've moved them around to suit the young and other businesses in the sydney fish market on so lucky some have core used others have seen revenues drop by up to 80 percent within our retail tenants who certainly there's been. concern about the job losses which is really unfortunate. but strangely it isn't in lockdown but strict social distancing measures main shopping strips remain for the most part empty with doors shot and many out of work but keeping people at home

seems to be working despite some outbreaks the struggle is in fiction right has slowed recording fewer than 100 new cases a day well down from weeks ago and it's had i relatively low death right with the economic costs rising business groups are pushing for restrictions to start being lifted and there are petitions from local people who want to return to be choose any prospect of lifting restrictions as i delicate balance for the government at this stage it says it's too early to ease any social distancing measures or that it could lead to a 2nd wife of cases similar to other countries like singapore and japan. infectious disease experts agree for strict sions were to be lifted they say it would have to happen slowly with international borders remaining closed for some time.

until that happens businesses. as the government works on how and when life can return to what it was before the crisis. al-jazeera. the i.m.f. is forecasting that latin america will plunge into a recession that could set the clock back more than 50 years in terms of economic growth and stability of the 635000000 people who live in latin america and the caribbean and based one 3rd could lose their livelihoods as a result of the corona virus pandemic san human has more now from santiago. alexander guy this is trying to make enough to cover one day's expenses selling secondhand electrical goods on the street it's illegal but he has little choice made and i thought the police many a city police are let us work because it's going to get worse if we can't sell now

we'll have to go out and steal later. my pentagon are laughing at it they say there's nothing worse than kicking someone when they're down and that's exactly what covert $1000.00 is doing to latin america. i was a white all the restaurants close so now i'm trying to survive doing this just to pay the rent and. the pandemic plot the region on an already poor footing with anemic economic growth rising crime and social unrest fanned by severe inequality the forecast now is even more bleak immediately released in various standing we extreme. so and. 200. 3 years. the biggest problem is unemployment and many latin american countries

are too insolvent to provide viable economic rescue plans for small and medium sized businesses. venezuela ecuador argentina and most central america a deep in debt already but all without exception will have a hard time. keeping their heads above water even after the pandemic subsides between 19952015 tens of millions of latin americans rose from poverty and into the lower middle class many of them were able to buy apartments like the ones you see here now these are precisely the people who stand to lose everything. the i.m.f. predicts the region will suffer its worst recession in half a century a lot may depend on if and when latin america's main trading partners china the u.s. and europe recover nothing is certain to disappoint except the region's main weakness a structural inequality that will take much longer to cure than the pandemic. you

see in human al-jazeera santiago turkish president threats of top one has tabled a bill to free up 290000 prisoners as part of efforts to contain the pandemic the move has been criticized for excluding government opponents rights activists and journalists sinan conceal the reports from istanbul if you don't wish you cops some of the members of turkey's parliament have passed the prison reform bill it will reduce the sentences of thousands of prisoners to ease overcrowding in prevent the further suppression of coronavirus but those serving time for crimes including murder direct trafficking in grave as well as detainees under turkey's anti terror laws are not included in the new policy. what design them are they through criminality and it streamlines the judicial process reducing miscarriage of justice

aloso tending to favor the person over the system the reforms seek to release minor offenders who have completed at these health of their sentence and will release those who have already served 2 thirds of their sentence while toughening sentences on their rise financial crimes the reforms will also enable home confinement for some inmates. prisoners over the age of $65.00 and whitman who have children under the age of 7 along with sick prisoners will be released on parole what's point is that it leaves out. the ties really. so all kinds of creatures. are excluded from a lease oh i'm sorry people like james you're not friends is this. that. makes it. sometimes very

nearly 90000 inmates are expected to benefit from this new legislation which was proposed by the governing party and its nationalist fell law in parliament and. if a court penalize a someone that person shouldn't enter from one door and exit without charge from the other that was the ideal when the bill reached the general assembly but now it will have a negative impact on the society and the victims while encouraging the perpetrators . the reform would also bring measures for inmates with communicable diseases the church government says this new legislation is not an amnesty it is to oppress the overcrowding issues in prisons that the fix i view it's neither equal nor hopeful and interferes with the existing program and for these 3 sentences based on that if the opposition is expected to challenge him at the constitutional court to have

this sort of altus around some. dissolved is there and these the top stories u.s. president donald trump is suspending funding for the world health organization he says the w.h.o. baulch the initial response to the outbreak and spread want to take all distance of nation from china the u.n. secretary general says now is not the time to reduce resources in the middle of a pandemic. we have deep concerns whether america's generosity has been put to the best use possible the reality is that the w.h.o. failed to adequately obtain vet and share information in a timely and transparent fashion the world depends on the w.h.o. to work with countries to ensure that accurate information about international health threats are shared in a timely manner and if it's not to independently tell the world the truth about

what is happening the w.h.o. failed in this basic duty and must be held accountable for its constant as the director of the delhi where toes collaborating center on national and global health law he says trump's decision will affect the un agencies ability to fight the pandemic does ability to fight cope with 19 why because this is a a deep criticism and wound of the organization at the time when it needs political support in backing it's going to be a distraction w.h.o. in its grave leader dr tahj rose is being caught in the middle of a geostrategic power struggle between china and the united states and how sad to see that president trump things that to which i should take sides the rose sides

in a pandemic are those the headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera next to this rewind. because morale day is a magnet for the rich and famous it highlights the most beautiful beaches in all of europe but i've come here to investigate a darker side. plays host to some of the world's most elaborate war games for decades just from explosions and. right down on the towns and the grazing fields of the firing range exactly what was in the no one knows in nearly 2000 local doctors store a spike in the number of unusual cancers in their patients in a country. defense contracts are a source of income but also quite possibly the cause of untold misery after all the inquiries and with military brass now on trial for the people of this island

paradise there is a glimmer of hope that the truth might finally see the light of day. hello and welcome to this week's rewind i'm elizabeth purana and if you've seen the show before you know that we're taking another look at some of the very best documentaries were made of the past decade here at al-jazeera english this week we're rewinding back to 2011 with al-jazeera swiftness series follow the remarkable story of a young palestinian boys emotional journey from sharing

a bed with his grand.