al jazeera. and. saudi arabia announces tough new all sturdy measures as it deals with all the world prices and the coronavirus pandemic. elam's a home run when you're watching al-jazeera live from our headquarters here in doha also coming up. china reopens disneyland in shanghai even as new coronavirus cases are reported further north in would. also a trusted face of america's coronavirus crisis is in quarantine as infections hit

the power base of u.s. politics and. this is a very very scary virus you don't it that people are going to go back to work and there could be worried about texting. infections in mexico near their peak but our official numbers concealing the real extent of the crisis. could have you with us welcome to the program saudi arabia has announced tough new austerity measures aimed at shoring up state finances which have been battered by low oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic from july the 1st it'll raise value added tax from 5 to 15 percent it will also cut up to $26000000000.00 from government infrastructure upgrades including crown prince mohammed bin salons vision of the 2030 project and to from the beginning of next month is suspending

a cost of living allowance for workers more on that story as it develops through the day. we go to china now where it's also continuing to take steps to reopen its economy even as it reports a rise in new coronavirus cases chinese health authorities announced a 17 year infections the highest daily increase since late april as the disneyland park in shanghai reopened its stores after being closed for more than 3 months katrina you is live for us in beijing with the very latest let's just start with these numbers on the slight increase in corona virus cases in. that's what it is significant for the last few days we have been seeing early single digit increases but the last 24 hours there were 17 new cases officially reported so that's a significant uptick so of those 17 cases

a 7 of these imported cases in 10 of these a local transmissions now there's a bit of a hotspot northeast china in julian province that there are a few cases there but in the at the center of china as outbreak in $160.00 there were 5 new cases reported and that's the 1st time we've seen a jump like that in the con since much so quite significant indeed so the total of quoting to the government in terms of official numbers of current virus cases is 82918 cases and the death toll is a 4633 so that up to gives a bit of a concern because we had been seeing a steady downward trend and then it does spock some concerns that there could be a 2nd wave of infections here in china and of course on a brighter note a small brights in those major attraction opening up for at least the chinese public to go to. that's right so if there is any concerns about this it's not going to be perceived in shanghai today

disneyland in that city or opened its doors for the 1st time in months just about 2 hours ago thousands of people streaming in and it's not exactly business as usual though because of the current of ours the usual capacity of shanghai is disneyland $80000.00 people but the government has mandated that all venues have a 30 percent cap so disneyland says that only allowed up to $24000.00 and because it's the 1st day today even less than that but tickets went on sale for disneyland on friday at 8 am local time and they sold out almost instantly in 3 minutes there were nor more tickets so that really shores the appetite for people wanting to go to disneyland more strides will be orphan but there are some coronavirus caveats for example they'll be social distancing measures for people lining up people have to wear masks at all times and some parades and performances will also be cancelled and for the chinese government as you mentioned so while this is good news they're

trying to sew a sort of use this reopening as a symbolic measure to say that china really has the upper hand over the virus now and trying to express some confidence not only towards the people here in china but also the world trying to sort of set itself as an example of how the economy can recover after curren a virus measures have been pulled back katrina you for the update thanks very much katrina correspondent there in beijing. let's go back to our top story in saudi arabia's tough austerity measures aimed at shoring up her state's finances after battered low oil price is joining me now is. the director of the institute for gulf as joins me via skype from washington d.c. good to have you with us on the program so i mean how expected or unexpected does this move been by the government. it is expected in fact i tweeted about it over 8 days ago. the government can i mean saudi arabia has been

under a lot of stress that there is why the government would draw $23000000000.00 from the reserves in march this is the largest withdrawal from the reserves ever in the history of the country so and then moody's obviously downgraded saudi just a few weeks ago so we're looking at continuous back in 0. problems facing the economy and hurdles and not only corona has blocked or stopped there and i'm other than you have but one and a half 1000000 people coming to america and medina during ramadan also had been canceled in addition obviously to the oil prices being decimated by saudi arabia

itself indeed its policy of course and all that money coming in from foreign visitors for religious pilgrimage is obviously not going to happen in 2020 now let's just talk about the cost of living allowance which is being discontinued sale tax being tripled from 5 percent to 15 this is going to whole hurt the ordinary saudi residents they are not going to be happy by the way the government has acted what you think the reaction is going to be on the ground. the action would be a lot of isn't meant obviously and we will see departure by a lot of foreign experts because the cases of koran or cold which has exploded today is the highest number of ports that mostly 80 percent plus are among ex-pats border countries so you will see departure from that. from saudi arabia and maybe some other countries due to judy's cannot make

a problem and due to the explosion of koran or so we expect a lot of. i think tensions and of the service to come up especially if the government continues its its policy by trying to buy football clubs in the u.k. or other basically businesses. while the country and the people are suffering economically indeed one of the elephant in the private sector and if one of the element to that is a civil servants they will have their allowances cut or certainly suspended for the time being i mean saudis can go anywhere you talk about ex-pats you know who aren't happy with the situation can leave the country but saudi residents can't they have to deal with the reality that is on their doorstep and it and it is a major reality for many who have had it easy but certainly have had a contented life if you work in the government ministries. if you work in the government you have some somewhat contented life but if you know

you have a massive and employment problem the real numbers are over 30 percent if you talk about citizens over 30 percent among citizens so and with the departure of probably a couple of 1000000 experts you will have inflation and you will have economic stagnation add 2 to it in an unemployment and mismanagement of the economy you have a really positive cake here. result in in violence or social upheavals mr allonby just just briefly mohamed bin film on the come prince has pinned his hopes internationally on the 2030 project and planning a mega city a mega development there are 2 tribal unrest in that area as well over sort of movement of people from the land itself how does this all factor into whether that project will ever be completed i don't think the project will ever start that

a little long completed because they can all make realities have changed massively the oil prices about going to go back to where they were a year ago for a long time and that means that there are no money to do with to throw it out this project or other projects they need for their country are now greater and their resources are way less because of the policies really championed and led by so many cells were to see what happens for the moment. director for the institute of gov thanks for joining us thank you. the u.s. government pushes to reopen the economy it has growing concerns that the white house itself could be becoming an infection hotspot 3 members of the current virus taskforce of south isolating after coming into contact with someone who tested positive signs a number of white house staff have shown symptoms and been advised to work from home alan fischer as small as you know we give leeway to the governors as donald

trump tries to get the american economy moving again he faces in a break of corporate 19 on his own doorstep 2 white house staffers have tested positive for the virus the concern is they won't be the last 3 senior task force figures have no put themselves in quarantine best known antony funnell chee the man most americans trust because of a simple and direct explanations of what's going on the director of the center for disease control robert redfield and the head of the food and drug administration stephen hannah also impacted yes no that's right one of president trying to top economists admits those in the white house are warning this is a very very scary virus you know that people are going to go back to work and there have been worried about things and it's going to take a while for things to get back to normal absolutely this is a preview of what nearly ahead for many getting back to work. at this building site in washington d.c.

there are no temperature checks. and washing stations and more protective gear but even that might not be enough to keep workers completely safe for the most part we tried we in for social distancing but as you can see there's guys who cannot hurt their job or hurt it's just not possible 100 percent of the time one top health expert says there has to be a nationwide plan it's the only way to get the economy up and running again we have to we can't stay locked down for 18 months but at the same time when you have cases increasing deaths increase in health care workers out adequate protective equipment and. we're suddenly going back to what was once our normal lives that's not a safe place to be a states ease restrictions summer facing your surging cases a stark reminder moving your own creates greater risk or worse seeing in some way is which is why we like to revive the port on a very regular basis is that we're just seeing more takers in there than expected

in certain places donald trump sees a strong economy as the key to his reelection but a quieter west wing at the white house will serve as a reminder this week he still has a long way to go alan fischer al-jazeera washington. michele is a political advisor a conservative commentator and chief executive of the global partners joins me now via skype from washington d.c. good to have you with us on the program again rena a valet a press secretary 3 senior medical advisors to the white house in isolation or quarantined and the president thinks that it's all good what's the message to the people of america that at the moment. well the message is that the white house certainly has no clue what it's doing and i think it's a testament frankly to the fact that the white house has not known what kind of waters it's in and frankly it is uncharted territory so there is a bit. you know leeway the american people have given the president just by virtue

of the fact that there's so much i'm known but this this is very clear that the virus has made its way into the house where it was the problem what led to this and it's again very clear that this was something that resulted because of a lack of leadership in terms of the fact that there is a debate about opening up america you both we heard my colleague allan fisher's report just a moment there and it's business as usual as the president would like it there is and has been for the past few weeks is pushed back by governors it is a very is it a delicate balancing act right now or is it very clear cut case when you still have the public some of the public saying we want all rights to move around freely. well that lack of leadership i talk about is not purely an assault on the president it actually with a great many of the governors as well and as many of the viewers are familiar at this stage it's complicate so much because in our system what we really essentially

should have done i believe is said nationwide let's have a lockdown president chum chose to say he governors heads of your states you make the decisions you either want to call the shutdown the state of home orders or you want to say move about freely so what it's resulted in is people being very confused and that lack of leadership coupled with a lack of comprehensive testing strategy of billiard to really essentially shut down disinformation that's ready at great high rates right now on our social media channels and across the world i know that's a problem but here in the states it's genuinely complicated the case for a great many democrat governors who suffered the wrath of the president simply because they criticized him publicly so it's become a political problem as well how much of a political problem is it to have 3 senior medical advisors in the white house all

self isolating all withdrawing themselves you might say from public life for at least a fortnight or 7 days while they try and sort themselves out because the public's psyche at the moment in america is we are being advised by our politicians to go back out to venture back out either for work or play of the big question mark over whether the public might want to do that regard regarding their own safety. well there 1st i should mention that there's no real reliable poll that we can look at right now on what percentage of the country wants to remain indoors and the other one saying ok let's just go out there if some of my state is opening up for example we don't know that yet it is certainly very troublesome that this same coronavirus task force that the president just a few days ago how politically let it be known that he thinking about disbanding those some member some of those members are now self appointed and there's

a number of us that thought that this would have happened a few weeks ago actually so frankly it's a bit surprising it's happening right now but it really frankly should come as no surprise because the by house has not taken the social distancing measures that the c.d.c. had long been recommending i'm talking months now they have not taken those measures seriously and to the point where the vice president does not even wear a mask when he goes to facilities that have aged people and so we should not be surprised and we should expect that chaos will ensue in these next couple weeks probably as the white house struggles to find its footing because the messages right now they're biting hard indeed rhenish always good to get your opinion thanks very much for joining us from washington d.c. thank you thank you. thank you still ahead here on al-jazeera unlawful attacks on civilians with nowhere to go unless the international accuses syria and russia of committing war crimes in rebel held areas.

hello once again welcomes another look at the international forecast we still have some very cold air across parts of canada and the northeastern corner of the united states where we saw you know covering of snow relates a season snow coming through spring snow for a rare event that even in new york seen a fair bit of wet weather into florida and we're going to see that heavy rain lingering across the far south of florida as we go on through monday drier brighter weather starts to push its way back in as we go on through the day still a few showers up towards the northeast temperatures are only slowly recovering here was to go on through the week is really going to be around thursday friday before we start to see temperatures edging anywhere near what they should be but at least come choose day it should be a largely dry bit of wet weather there into the southern plains northern texas

oklahoma arkansas could see some wet weather and the chances of showers just around the pacific northwest for the west coast a little further south much of california will be dry but notice a few showers there to northern areas of california and that wet weather that we have around florida that stretches right across the gulf of mexico into the yucatan peninsula northern parts of cuba are also seeing some very heavy rain that rain stretches way across a good part of central america aggression making its way for the southwards and eastwards. rewind continues you can bring your people back to life i'm sorry we can't tell you from the best of al-jazeera documentaries. living room was the building that looks the no 0 like any other student rewinds continues with scheckter around my neighborhood i was like screaming get us so close we want to leave. my ultimate

goal would be to do something very big for the police to you and your patient we want on al-jazeera. who will move her old. home. welcome back you're watching al-jazeera with me still run a reminder of our top stories saudi arabia has announced major budget cuts and a 3 fold increase in the value added tax there being done as part of measures aimed at shoring up state finances which have been battered by low oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic. also chinese health authorities have announced 17 new infections the highest daily increase since late april now this comes as the

disneyland park in shanghai reopened its doors after being closed for more than 3 months and the u.s. government pushes to reopen the economy there are growing concerns the white house itself could be becoming an infection hotspot 3 members of the krona virus task force yourself isolating after coming into contact with someone who tested positive . as a whole to go into the day's other news now and the battle for tripoli the capital of libya turkey says attacks on the country's only functioning airport and diplomatic missions in which civilians have been killed amount to war crimes and it's warning it will take action against forces loyal to warlord cleaver hafter turkey supports libya's un recognized government in tripoli which has now launched a counter offensive following saturday's attacks by have to force its planes were damaged and fuel tanks set alight after us forces also struck nearby residential areas killing at least 5 civilians and ourselves on marty is founder and director of the study institute the 1st public policy think tank in libya he says the

situation is most likely to escalate. the way the options are has been known around 2 weeks ago they said absence things now to the coast are been gaza as the the city were really bought a stronghold is in eastern libya another was a clear demonstration of intent that they perhaps intend to launch an offensive against how far is stronger competent is to libya and at that what with because that would be a serious escalation and that would also be the 1st on the head of out there was such a poor last 6 years the 1st long he's been on the back foot and this is really a major major move and is a major statement the part of turkey but the question is what's going right in the last 4 years and what years since really bothers sparked a civil war and maybe 15014 we have a process that will together all of the different factions and to be able to negotiate a settlement between algeria morocco it was called the set up that we were let in

political community was brokered by the u.n. and they produced a unity government the shipment was supposed to be the government that's in tripoli and we were told by the u.n. that song by the u.n. cheaper than the and there's only one solution only one planet and it is the un but government of national accord the week later said it often thought to reject that and has continued his advances in various facets but there is it's the libya southern libya and then since last year since last april in tripoli. well syria and its russian ally are being accused of carrying out unlawful attacks on opposition held areas in northwest syria mysti international's latest report says some of the ground and air offenses between december and march amount to war crimes amnesty documented 18 attacks on medical facilities and schools in italy north west of hama and western aleppo and highlights witness testimonies of russian airstrikes in january that killed 11 civilians and residential buildings close to the airport and the city international also accuses syrian government forces of breaking international law the following month when cluster bombs hit

a school killing 6 people including children and nearly a 1000000 people were displaced by the syrian russian offensive between december and march creating the worst humanitarian crisis since the war started that are year are gay is senior crisis advisor at amnesty international and co-author of the report she says amnesty collected witness testimonies and russian and syrian flight recordings they concluded that some attacks in civilian areas were unlawful. both syrian and russian government forces committed serious violations of international law that amount to were crimes and in addition to that this fits into the wider pattern committed by syrian government forces the widespread and systematic pattern of targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure in opposition held areas and therefore they also amount to crimes against humanity indeed close to $1000000.00

people were forced to leave their homes between december and march 2020 and they joined an already exploding population of displaced people close to the border in turkey both in governorate and parts of aleppo governor these people are essentially trapped there's nowhere left for them to go they can't exactly cross into the border and claim asylum in turkey even after the cease fire many of them are afraid to go back to their home towns either because they have been taken by the government or are at risk of being retaken by the government and of course we and others have documented the pattern of syrian government forces have arbitrarily arresting people disappearing them and torturing them for any association with opposition held areas and there is a huge pressure of course on the humanitarian response that has been only that has only gotten worse due of course to concerns about covert 1000. the prime minister

has laid out the 1st steps to easing the lockdown measures johnson announced a new virus alert system and says people will be allowed to spend more time up dolls but critics have accused johnson of sending out mixed messages every day with ever increasing data we will be monitoring the hour and the number of new infections and the progress we're making. and if we as a nation begin to fulfill the conditions i was into then the lips few weeks and months we may be able to go further we've been through the initial peak but it's coming down the mountain that is often more dangerous we have a route and we have a plan and everyone in government has the all consuming pressure to challenge to save lives restore livelihoods and gradually restore the freedoms that we need a new kind of iris infections are increasing in germany just days after the

government is social restrictions the robert hockey interest to release the reporters thousands of protesters gathered to demand the lifting of all lockdown rules they concluded germany's covert 1000 reproduction rate or the number of people each confirmed patient infects is now above one that means the number of infections are on the rise germany has recorded more than 171000 cases and over 7550 deaths so far mexico's government says that the peak of the pandemic is reported more than 3000 deaths but those on the front line say the actual numbers are much higher john hold the reports from near mexico city. for 2 weeks this mexican crim a tour in has been going day and night exhausted workers told us that most all of those here a covert victims. we are working to triple what we usually do we just can't keep up before we committed it when one and 3 bodies city now it's up to

15 or 20. the country's official death toll is it just over 3000 that's in a country of almost 130000000 people at the peak of its epidemic there are fears in reality it could be higher. of a criminal report there also at max capacity like this one in it's to palapa on the outskirts of mexico city that i have assisted enough imo sometimes our ovens are so saturated we have to cremate the following day we leave the bodies at the hospital because we have no room for them if given the list of the countries coronavirus saw sit in a prove that the real number of cases likely to be at least 8 times higher than the official figure. many other countries also admit that they take out but it could be bigger here because the testing rate is so low and that goes for faith 2 personas given a single be patients come articulating face 3 in

a serious condition which doesn't give us the chance to do the test it could be done after death at that rarely happens so we have people that die and have the scene themselves at our in vegas there is such. but some local governments say that on top of those problems the death toll sleeper reported haven't been reflected in the federal count. before you see those they counted us as having 24 dead but we had 87 more than 3 times more than that as the year the any given up until last night we had 54 people who died of cold at 19 according to their medical certificates and in the daily roundups from the state and federal government they've only registered 60 in that. i mean while the fatalities continue at this local cemetery they told us they've been taken up to 4 times the normal amount of bodies amid the worries for some over transparency there is also cause for optimism the capital's health system or those suffering from

a lack of equipment and at times coordination is still not overwhelmed even though the government says that the epidemic in the country has reached its peak. the government's hoping that it can get through the peak period without huge jump in the death toll whatever that really is john homan out disease or to my what can. the watching al-jazeera of me say how romney a reminder of all top stories saudi arabia has announced major budget cuts and a 3 fold increase in the value added tax having done as part of measures aimed at shoring up state finances which have been battered by lower oil prices and the crowd a virus pandemic china's health authorities have announced 17 year infections the highest daily increase since late april this comes as the disneyland park in shanghai reopened its doors after being closed for more than 3 months katrina used

house more than the chinese capital beijing. so of those 17 cases 7 of these are imported cases in 10 of these are local transmissions now there's a bit of a hole sport northeast china in julian province there are a few cases there but in the at the center of china as outbreak in 100 city there were 5 new cases reported and that's the 1st time we've seen a jump like that in walk on earth since much so quite significant indeed well as the u.s. government pushes to reopen the economy there are growing concerns that white house staff could be becoming an infection hotspot 3 members of the coronavirus task force ourselves isolating to 2 after coming into contact with someone who tested positive. turkey says attacks on libya's only functioning border and diplomatic missions in which civilians are being killed amount to war crimes but it's warning it'll take action against forces loyal to ward cleaver hafter turkey supports

libya's u.n. recognized government in tripoli which has now launched a counter offensive following saturday's attack i have to say forces planes were damaged and fuel tanks set of lives. amnesty international's latest report accuses syria its russian ally of carrying out what it calls unlawful acts attacks on opposition held areas and all for syria it says some of the ground and air offensives between december and march about war crimes. the u.k. prime minister has laid out the 1st steps to easing krone virus lockdown measures boris johnson announced a new virus alert system and says people will be allowed to spend more time outdoors but critics have accused johnson of sending out mixed messages so where are the headlines of course you can follow all the stories we're covering here on our website at al-jazeera dot com next it's rewind on al-jazeera. what impact will called it 19 and the drop in the oil price on the race to the point. can trump

survive these historic sent back until job only what it takes to beat. special come on just. hello and welcome again to rewind. back in 2006 when we 1st launched al-jazeera english our goal was to seek out the sort of documentaries other channels simply weren't doing here on rewind we're revisiting some of the best of them to find out .