A pandemic South Koreans carefully head to the ballot box plus. This is a crisis like no other the International Monetary fund says the coronavirus of sending the world to was the worst financial downturn since the Great Depression. U. S. President donald trump has announced he will hold funding for the World Health Organization thats the top u. N. Body at the forefront of a Global Response to the coronavirus pandemic what trump is accusing the w. H. O. Of both a cover up of botching the initial response to the outbreak he says the group has been spreading this information from china where the virus was 1st detected which he says made things worse we have deep concerns whether americas 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 its 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 but the u. N. Secretary general says now is not the time to reduce resources for the dollar which is on the front lines of what he called one of the most dangerous challenges the world has faced in our lifetime and as 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 1930 s. The i. M. F. Chief Economist Says lock downs could cost the Global Economy more the 9 trillion dollars over the next 2 years well the World Health Organization is the u. N. Agency responsible for Global Public health last year the u. S. Contributed 15 percent of its funding the most of a single donor in total the u. S. Paid nearly 900000000. 00 and china contributed about 10 percent of that Lawrence Gostin is a professor at Georgetown University he says the u. S. Governments slow response to the pandemic is outrageous the United States had ample warning. To degrade show 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 a 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 didnt to be an american because at a time when were facing literally a once in a Century GlobalHealth Crisis when tens of thousands of people are dying when this is the time more than ever. For our Global Health leadership and Global Solidarity to have the United States undercut the World Health Organization was indeed painful to watch i never thought i would see an american president. Undercut a vital u. N. Agency where the president tried did and i think it will do what will happen itll 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 well the us president is still keen to lift social distancing restrictions and some states possibly by the beginning of may is at odds with some governors who want to make the decision themselves michaela has more from washington d. C. President trump also against the advice of his medical experts continues to press for an earlier opening of many u. S. States saying that its 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 states that are in great shape right now theyre viewing the rest of the country like we dont even believe this is happening we have a lot of those states theyre set to open practically now i mean they would be open now were going to let them open sooner than the date were going to pick a date were going to get a date thats good but its 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 theyre reviewing it and theyre saying we shouldnt be even included in this you know there are some that want to open up almost now now if we disagree with it were not going to let them open voting is on the way in south koreas parliamentary election as the worlds 1st National Election to be held during the pandemic the voters are required to wear masks and gloves plus maintain social distancing south korea has seen more than 10000. 00 infections and more than 220. 00 deaths as there is right mcbride joins us now from a polling station in the capital so rob so just talk us through what sort of special restrictions have been put in place to allow the vote to go ahead. Thats right polling here is well underway as it is across the country we are in a fairly well populated residential part of seoul city and weve been watching as varying numbers of people have been arriving here to cast their vote and as they do they have to go through these special precautions has been a bit of a lull at the moment but we have seen quite long lines at this polling station as people turn up they have to keep this one meter at least distance from the person in front of them or behind them and then as well as given Hand Sanitizer they have a Temperature Check and theyre also then given disposable gloves to wear throughout their visit here to handle the ballot papers interestingly if you get a temperature here you are not turned away but you are directed towards a special voting booth just reserved for people with a temperature they can vote but probably recommended to go and have checked out why they have a temperature but its all aimed at getting as many people here to vote and we know that from the voting figures being returned across the country that turnout is relatively high certainly higher than previous elections so people do not appear to have been deterred by this also special preparations have put in place special precautions to allow some of the thousands of people who are self quarantining here in south korea of course many people have to do the mandatory self quarantine in their homes or in a hotel for 15 days but for this one day if they are eligible to vote then they are allowed to leave their home attend a polling station like this one right at the very end of the regular polling and polling stations are being kept open an extra hour to allow those allowed those people who are quarantining to have their say in this ballot and rob just briefly what are the key issues for voters or has the virus dominated everything that. It is that the coronavirus people will talk about livelihood issues the state of the economy but theres no getting away that those are impacted and those are intertwined with the coronavirus and as people here have been telling us its really how the members of the National Assembly have responded to this will determine how they vote and there is a feeling that the president and his Approval Rating has gone up more than 50 percent approve of the way he has handled this crisis and that is likely to be reflected in the votes for the parties and the politicians who support him or at a robot drive down the south korean capital seoul rob thank you well as we mentioned the International Monetary fund is predicting a grim few years for the Global Economy due to the coronavirus alan fischer reports before we take from the International Monetary fund a stark warning this is a crisis like no other which means there is substantial uncertainty about the impact it will have on peoples lives and livelihoods as unemployment lines grow around the world is manufacturing growing to halt in many sectors as businesses are forced to close the Economic Impact of the covert crisis is biting the i. M. F. Issues regular reports on the Global Financial situation 3 months ago they were predicting widespread growth but on a virus has radically changed the landscape we are projecting Global Growth in 20224 to minus. 3 percent now this is a downgrade of 6. 3 Percentage Points from general 2020 a Major Division over a very short period of time this makes the Great Lockdown the worst recession since the Great Depression and far worse than the Global Financial crises. One of the biggest drops will come in the unit paean euro zone which is expected to take a hit of 7. 5 percent the u. S. Where the president is pushing to reopen the economy is looking at a contraction of nearly 6 percent japan 5. 2 percent down the same as latin america in china where the pandemic began and has begun to reopen its economy its expected to record growth of just over one percent the i. M. F. Is predicting that if things dont deteriorate there will be a rebound for the Global Economy in 2021 that one economist warns that might be short lived i think hes going to run into a lot of headwinds in terms of the kind of the draft thats going to come from all of that the big shock thats happened over the past quarter in terms of bankruptcies in terms of lost jobs and that is going to weigh quite heavily on demand and that is why governments and Central Banks in stepping up stimulus to try and give the economy this extra boost when it comes out of this shock this induced like this shutdowns one area seriously impacted the Airline Industry its seen as passenger numbers drop by half globally airlines no think theyll lose more than 300000000000 dollars this year much more than expected the i. M. F. Is urging countries to walk together to beat the pandemic saying there is no tradeoff between saving lives and saving livelihoods alan fischer aljazeera virginia. Time for short break here now is iraq when we come back no nation spared countries across latin america feel the devastating Economic Impact of the condiment plus. Virtual Birthday Party living according to you has forced people to come up with creative ways to get on with their lives more not status. Hello there finally we have got an improving weather picture across southern and eastern sections of the United States of course the last 2 days we have seen a wrath of a deadly tornadoes across the entire region and just have a look at this because the destruction has been so widespread 1st of all across into mississippi and then you move further east across into georgia and finally aap into South Carolina you could be looking at so many states of course with these tornadoes that swept through now as we go through wednesday a much clearer comma picture across much of the south the southeast still some rain to carry away from southern portions of georgia pushy its way down into more northern and central areas of florida and as you can see pretty good as well up into the northeast now where we have still got quite a bit of weather is across the Northern Plains rain sleet and snow on its way southwards over the next couple of days still that very cold air coming in just 7 celsius in calgary just a degree above freezing for you in winnipeg. In denver out across the west is fine and dry on a pretty good day really in l. A. With a high the of 23 degrees showery across those areas to say of florida and also really pushing into that west coast of mexico all coming from the same system and then for the next couple of days well see a fair amount of rain across into panama and up into costa rica. When diplomacy fails and fear sweeps then our borders are wide open wide open to drugs terrorists weve proven that barriers are built to impose division and its not effective instead of being an obstacle to a toll wastes into became another obstacle to peace in a 4 part series aljazeera revisits the reasons for divisions in different parts of the world and the impact they have on both sides walls of shame on aljazeera. Welcome back a quick amount of our top stories here this hour u. S. President donald trump has a spending funding for the World Health Organization he says the botched the initial response to the outbreak and spread what he called this information from china and secondly general says now is not the time to reduce resources. Voting is underway in south koreas parliamentary elections as the worlds 1st National Vote to be held during the pandemic voters are last to clubs must maintain social distancing and the International Monetary fund serves the world is heading towards the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930 s. The i. M. F. Chief Economist Says lock downs aimed at stopping the outbreak could cost the Global Economy over 9. 00 trillion dollars over the next 2 years. While the i. M. F. Is also forecasting that latin america would plunge into recession that could set the clock back more than 50 years in terms of Economic Growth of the 635000000 people who live in latin america and the caribbean at least a 3rd could lose their livelihoods as a result of the pandemic the sea and human has more now from santiago. Alexander galavis is trying to make enough to cover one days expenses selling secondhand electrical goods on the street its illegal but he has little choice made and i thought the police many a city police are let us work because its going to get worse if we cant sell now well have to go to steal later. My pretty good i left it they say theres nothing worse than kicking someone when theyre down and thats exactly what colvin 1000 is doing to latin america. I was a white but all the restaurants closed so now im trying to survive doing this just to pay the rent and the the pandemic plot the region on an already poor 40. 00 with anemic Economic Growth rising crime and social and. Arrest than by severe inequality the forecast now is even more bleak. Greece in various standing we mean we extreme. To me and so and extreme. To 210000000 people in a. Very human these fears failure. 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 to Central America and 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 wos home 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 i mean 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 americas main trading partners china the u. S. And europe recover nothing is certain to disappoint except the regions main weakness a structural inequality that will take much longer to cure than the pandemic you see in human aljazeera santiago. Well 3 European 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 is poor britain. After more than a month from the government imposed closure the shutters are starting to be raised europe is taking its 1st cautious steps out of lockdown many italian bookshops Stationary Stores and Childrens 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 but. 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. The. Better to be alive and poor if the shops that reopen are totally safe that both workers and customers then 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 t