has looked at child hunger in the world's ten worst conflicts it's found that four point five million children under five will need treatment for mt nutrition this year but five hundred ninety thousand a likely to miss out on the care they need and die of starvation and disease that's an average of sixteen hundred a day or one child a minute i think what we've seen this time is a book and kind of a two decades trend where double hunger has been decreasing for the first time in that time period is now increasing and complex is prime so. yes it's always been there but i think we're seeing a much more acute pinch on children across particularly eastern countries in some areas starvation is a military strategy in others war disrupts food production which in turn leads to hunger in the democratic republic of congo years of fighting has displaced large numbers of people from their homes aid groups a three hundred thousand children are at risk conflicts disrupt people's ability to

farm to keep their livestock jobs disappear it can lead to economic collapse that causes food prices to skyrocket so even people who are miles and miles and miles away from any active fighting or find that they are no longer able to afford the simplest of meals fighting in just ten countries is now responsible for reversing a twenty year decline in global hunger save the children is calling for governments around the world to protect children and hold to account those responsible for using food as a weapon victoria gave him be al jazeera. now to iraq where the prime minister body has visited the southern city of bastrop amid ongoing unrest over poor public services and soaring unemployment at least fifteen people have been killed in protests in the past week alone rob matheson has more from baghdad. under pressure

to resign the prime minister hide the body or arrives in the southern iraqi city of basra where protesters say his government is to blame for much of the corruption and neglect which have destroyed their water and power supplies and left thousands without jobs. what happened in a bathrobe was one hundred percent true to a political conflict unfortunately some political blocs have military wings and some of them wanted to burn down both are off but thankfully there was stopped by the cooperation of the peaceful civilians yet they're going to get a body is facing calls for him to step down over the crisis in basra the iraqi government is deadlocked disputes over the result of an election in may have left politicians wrangling over power in basra fighters from the iran by the group known in english as the league of the righteous have paraded through the streets their headquarters is one of several private and government buildings burned by protesters during a week of demonstrations against corruption which also targeted other pro iran shia

groups the governor says the destruction is criminal part of many protest organizers and activists have denounced such actions and a criminal act should be denounced by the people of basra regardless of who had carried it out but is only allowed to have peaceful protests in order to deliver the people's messages to the government. three hundred kilometers to the north of basra is the city of samarra protesters there tried to storm the offices of the political party but were pushed back by police so the party's leader is shia cleric ahmad all hakim who is also part of the parliamentary coalition headed by fellow shia cleric. seen as a nationalist and anti iran solder is vowing to fight corruption he's demanded the protests should hold for forty five days in that time he says the government should demonstrate that it's doing something to help bus but critics say this short visit by the prime minister won't achieve much. in basra there's

a heavy military presence but there are fears that might incite more violence know there are armed groups too that could make politics and security even more complicated in basra rob matheson al jazeera back down human rights watch has accused the chinese government of conducting a systematic campaign of rights violations against muslims in jan province the group says muslim week as a being subject to arbitrary detentions and daily restrictions on religious practice imraan khan has more. just practicing islam has become a problem for the chinese government this man says he survived what the government calls a reeducation camp muslim militant join me here they want to exterminate muslim nations muslim writing muslim dress and make everyone homogenously everyone has to be chinese at the camp they taught us the national anthem songs praising mounts a tone a song wishing a thousand years of life to president xi jinping and the overall great history of

china the rights group says interviewed fifty eight people including mainly ethnic week isn't kazakhs they queues officials of all between detention religious repression and surveillance against thirteen million muslims the government says it set up the re-education camps with the sole purpose of eradicating religious extremism and terrorism and to kill what it calls ideological diseases. the un's new human rights chief of michelle bachelet has called on china to allow international monitors into asian yang to look into what she calls a deeply disturbing situation human rights watch china director sophie richardson welcome the call but says much more needs to be done one of the challenges that everybody faces is of course chinese government restrictions on access to the region and beijing really has nothing to hide then it's time to. actions. in areas perceived by beijing as anti-government hotspots many interviewee say more

than half of their family members are in prison or in these so-called reeducation camps the report also cites what it calls a disturbing high tech mass of violence and says officials have a database of everyone's biometric data including d.n.a. the chinese government has not yet commented on this report but it has denied accusations of mistreatment of muslims and jin yang it says the increased security measures as a guard against the threats of separatists in the region iran car. russia and japan say they're working toward signing a peace treaty to formally end second world war hostilities russian president vladimir putin and japanese prime minister shinzo are they made the comments after meeting invite of us stuck on the sidelines of the east an economic forum a decades long dispute over an island chain between the two countries a stopped them from signing a peace treaty before now. all in other developments u.s. president donald trump has received

a second letter from north korean leader kim jong un asking for another meeting it comes as north korea has staged a dazzling display in the capital pyongyang extending an olive branch to the international community while macbride reports from seoul. taking months to prepare and involving tens of thousands of citizens to perform them the games are an extravagance north korea can ill afford. they haven't been staged for five years but the country's leader kim jong un clearly believes this period of improving relations is worth celebrating. him bracing his south korean counterpart while korean characters declare a new era of reunification the leader of this display also promotes the message of strengthening relations with the international community after years of isolation. i think our country should be reunified soon and go out into the world he said.

north korea's neighbors baby prevented by international sanctions from trading with it but tourists face less restrictions tickets for foreigners to witness this spectacle cost hundreds of dollars and thousands are expected to visit during the coming months. kim jong un has personally oversee in the development of new tourist resorts as a way of attracting visitors and their cash. neighboring china is allowing direct cooled number of tourists to visit north korea providing a much needed boost appearing young wants to reopen a resort on its side of the d.m.z. border to allow return of tourists from south korea. this is an impoverished country still under maximum international pressure not that you would know it from this display robert bright al-jazeera so. sudan's president says he's trying to

improve living conditions an economic stability by sacking his entire cabinet a more of a share dissolved his cabinet and cut the number of ministries from thirty one to twenty one and a bit to tackle a growing economic crisis. well now sweden faces a period of lengthy political wrangling after an election which ended with no party winning a majority a center left bloc led by the prime minister stephan love and won just over forty percent of the vote but the center right alliance led by the moderates says it's been given a mandate to lead the country they won virtually the same share as the center left bloc but neither group wants to negotiate with sweden's far right party which won seventeen percent of the vote the women's tennis association has supported serena williams over her confrontation with the umpire during a us open final loss to japan's naomie osaka it's accusing umpire carlos ramos of showing a low level of tolerance for williams his behavior because she is a woman she repeatedly clashed with ramos who penalized her for receiving on court

coaching smashing her racket and verbal abuse the twenty three time grand slam champion was also find seventeen thousand dollars has more to be found on everything right here out there dot com. a quick look at the top stories now the u.s. has threatened to arrest and prosecute judges and other officials of the international criminal court the blunt warning was delivered by president donald trump's national security adviser john bolton he says sanctions will be imposed if the i.c.c. proceeds with an investigation into alleged war crimes by americans in afghanistan we will not cooperate with the i.c.c. we will provide no assistance to the i.c.c. and we certainly will not join the i.c.c. .

we will let the i.c.c. die on its own after all for all intents and purposes the i.c.c. is already dead. or all the top stories the u.n. says more than thirty thousand people have been displaced by fighting in syria the last major rebel held province in the north of the country government and allied russian forces of increase that bombardment of it live in the past few days as well as parts of adjacent hama a group say they are deeply concerned about potential humanitarian crisis in the region at least six people have been killed in another sixteen injured in a car bomb explosion in somalia's capital mogadishu a car rammed into a local government office al-qaeda linked al-shabaab has released a statement to say it was behind the blast which it says destroyed the building. now to iraq where the prime minister's made a surprise visit to bastra where week long protests have left at least fourteen

people dead protesters accuse hydrilla bodies government of corruption and failing to provide jobs in basic public services about thirty thousand people have been hospitalized from drinking contaminated water. and a report by the charity save the children says six hundred thousand children are expected to die from hunger in war zones this year the charity is warning that starvation is now frequently used as a weapon of war it says four and a half million children under the age of five will need treatment. this year you were up to date with all of our top stories coming up next on al-jazeera it's the strain.

hi emily could be here in the stream now live on al-jazeera and you tube today what happens when fashion and activism collide you're about to meet a group of women redefining what it means to be a model. for designers to models and fashion these doesn't like new york fashion week is the pinnacle of the season but this year there is buzz beyond the runway we're seeing a convergence of fashion and activism with the industry focusing on not only creating goods but doing good so is this awakening a moment or a movement because the fashion trends go one day you're in and the next you're out we're here to discuss this our panel of models in the studio we have

a great smile hari and mario malik and in new york city jillian mercado and hello to you my aid and welcome everyone to this stream so good to have you here i know you're busy in the midst of new york fashion week so we appreciate you taking the time because this is a topic that our community cares about and so with that i'm going to share a tweet from one of them i'm going to give us a little bit of a spicy start some already you know pre-warning you there this is. who tweets and historically fashion played a role in promoting social change today i believe it's use more to feel good versus doing good julian do you want to take that on this is more about what it looks like than actually doing the work. funny but that's because i think that. in today's world i think that a sense models have a voice because of social media and or to act on it to be asked to the

and actually do the work and show that. store. down the runway from fashion we also are very passionate about things that are only a fact or that we. have the power and the platform so we go out and do it and show that. even in the fashion industry so i want to share an example right away with our audience this is a tweet that you tweeted telling him of my new c r fashion but cover story is all about unicef efforts to help children operated join me and she had read and supporting unicef usa and this incredible work you can scroll down there and you can see the cover of the c.r. fashion book out today and this is what you all are doing why she has need it in and more come together for c r thirteen and unicef of course i watched you a panel just this weekend talk about this very topic fashion and activism so this

is something that new york fashion week thinks is important to discuss why was it important for you to talk about this issue. no i actually have it wrong. how me being it i don't. you think you cover mean everything actually one of my favorite. editorial. or the first time you know on a magazine and we're bringing together actors. and we're showing the world who are very much. on the. article or going to you know and i just want to encourage everybody.

in the game like we'll be reporting you know. and so it looks like a little connection is breaking up just a little bit and that is coming to us from new york city but i wanted to share another example that people notice a new york fashion week this is a workshop that's their handle they tweet in cromer party uses their medium body positivity and inclusion incredible show at new york fashion week and they said this week here grace says new york fashion week spring twenty one thousand runway images from both parties are absolutely killing it with their designs and use all really body shapes of all types of people from all walks of life what was it you know differently about this year than maybe perhaps other years it's well phenomenal maybe to put things in perspective i've been in the industry for about twelve years. and i have been just so. i mean to put a pretty broad like forward but i am bored with the straight size stander and the

very like homogenously group of model cars for certain things and of course. benefit from some of. as of my natural body type but to see women in my family woman around the world men as well who who differ and body share a brace ethnicity you know sexuality represented in fashion in the media it means everything it means that we are trying to move at least collectively as a culture and society into a more truthful space. with it marty can you relate to that absolutely i do believe fashion is storytelling and in order for us to be able to connect with the rest of the walls and influence because fashion influences so many is for us to have voices to tell the stories of the voiceless and unheard through fashion all through our experiences and this is why i believe for myself specifically that

being a model was for me to be a model with purpose because i came as a refugee and i got this privilege and platform and i feel fortunate so i feel like i have to use my platform in ways where i can make a change and it's so important for us in the fashion industry to be involved in making the change because we have that platform to do so and i love that you mentioned the platform we were just seeing images of some of your modeling i want to share a closer look with our audience here this is kenneth cole but courageous class q. and a mari moloch you can see some of her modeling there but then this picture is a little bit different talk to us about what we are seeing here in this picture you are with a group of students holding up minstrel kits yeah talk to us about that and why they're so important to you so since i got involved in the fashion industry i always wanted to share the stories of where i come from south sudan south sudan is

the youngest country in the world we're facing one of the worst refugee crisis as well. now and the ones who are suffering the most are women and children over fifty percent of south sudan is children under the age of eighteen years old and sixty four percent are women and we are not prioritized to have empowerment to have equality or to have education when a girl ministry is already considered to be a woman and she doesn't have access to school after that she is married all and many girls end up missing three four five days of school because they don't have access to menstrual products or completely drop out of school so would stand for education are nonprofit organization is that we provide menstrual hold products and we give free menstrual health products that picture was

a picture of girls holding underwears where we put kids together i go there every year and supply girls in school with kits and underwear is last the girl for one to three years it's incredible and it's leakage free it's the stain of all is the use of all and this is not an issue that's just in south sudan or all over the world is in refugee camps in america in prisons and homeless shelters and. menstrual products should be free like toilet paper and that's what we're working on that and of course they are not doing i fear and i leave your head there or did you want to . i mean it's amazing because. he doesn't but i was thinking earlier using our hop for him to show the world that these places and these issues. and it's very important for us to knowledge that and to make changes you know i think we were just as a community we had. seen this not the result you know so we're out there using our

platform for good and actually making a difference that's much needed and. i also do my best to work talk about women and children who have disabilities around the world because i'm very privileged to have grown to your city where we have such a diverse group of people there are so many people in the world who don't think privilege. and in my case with disability. something that not talked about as much as. i always do my best to make sure that the physically women and children are. everywhere around the world so i want to share with our audience what that looks like for you and it's in new york city where you are this is times square the heart of the city look at argo i got here and clapping for you and well deserved doing arcata i'm not trapped spoken to vulnerable drug driven defiant or

ambitious strong too confident or even too different this is the ad campaign for les or little lady you can see there with it behind you. this moment of course resonated online it sent ripple effects this is your face on this campaign i want to our audience to have a look at the video behind this campaign featuring julie mcconnell have a look. when i was diagnosed with my disability. there was this encyclopedia of things that i should know shouldn't do should do act. so right there and then i was faced with so many things that i wasn't even sure that i actually wanted to follow. and you know you're a little baby you don't know but then as an until you realize that. you don't have to follow the rules that someone else. has for you you can write your own journey in your own rule book and that's something that i face every single day trying to

add a new rule in my own. many of his jillian ricardo together we can face anything. you can write your own rulebook i'm taking notes they're interesting and interesting comment that came up after you tweeted that out was this from tatyana but i wanted to bring it up tatiana says this is gorgeous but i'm out they didn't show your chair but i know it's all about the face congratulations and this of course what she's talking about talk to us about that idea not showing the chair. because nobody else was there body. there right there will everyone know that that's i think the point is you know i part i like. but it also i think that people you already

know. and i think that we've been brainwashed. people who. think that they. be without actually getting hurt that. regarding her call they're going to kill me because. i got here on site or are nodding grace i want to bring this up because our guests are hearing our audience is hearing what our guests have to say and people read said how helpful or difficult is the fashion industry and its support for nonprofit activities as initiated by members like yourself is it is it difficult to do to bridge those two parts of the i did any. you know went to that asked me just comment on what julie because julia knows this i don't know if you know this but my father is in a wheelchair he was in an accident i was six months. old and i met when i met jillian i was just outs and i was just astonished at her personality and charisma

and her her your ambition because if she's right like in that example is a face campaign why should her chair be there her chair is a part of her and i think obviously from my father and from my family we love to see the fact that you aren't sure because yes we do need to know that you exist and that you are a definition of beauty as well and i for a long time all my life until i met you didn't think that this day would come i didn't think that a person in a wheelchair would be a supermodel and so thank you for being that shining light and to answer the question twitter is brought up too and yeah it is it is kind of difficult especially now because where i mean i feel like the industry is a little over saturated and it's quite difficult to get your project or your idea at the forefront of several different ideas. but i on the other hand have been so grateful and pretty lucky with some of the relationships i've made in this industry who have helped me along the way creating projects so my nonprofit is there to cater to creating clean energy solutions for communities around the world the don't have access to power i i was born in reason edmonton alberta moved to toronto and

high school my parents come from. eritrea they are immigrants they you know they brought i was raised with a serious relationship with my country and my continent and so when i got my first big break with the big designers you gone she walked in exclusively with them the first thing i wanted to do with this amazing opportunity to live like being in paris was go home and i took myself home and i went alone which is not normal for most of us kids. for three weeks i don't really speak the language that well i can get by baby talk i just i went there and i realized that i was born and raised in a way that's different and i have now a platform an opportunity to do something about that in a place that my family and friends and relatives are from relatable countries around the continent and world and so that's what i'm doing so i was i had my devices myself on my laptop there and i was like ok i can charge anything. i don't

know when the next time i'll be able to use my device is and i decided then and there that this is going to be my project this is what i'm going to do and obviously i chose clean energy because well maybe it's not obvious to everyone but we are running out of fossil fuels one two we are harming the planet in an x. but dental rate. and three i just want to see the youth and in parts in developing nations have the same access and opportunities that we do around the world if you take a look at my laptop here you will see that project clean energy for all. this headline i think pretty much sums it up for grace fashion and social activism the busy life of model grace the canadian model aims to fight poverty with her project and her company i could see you nodding there when grace was talking about using that platform and going about colm to try to give back or rethinking. well arthur all

great that my neighbor. i don't think so i can totally relate to what's in the thing going home and i recently got to go home for the first time too and that experience was like changing and going back to the camp that i was born into and the all the hope and you know like it just makes you realize like it doesn't matter if a child in america or. or a different part of the world there are still children and they want one happy. education even served. and. you know all clearly all children have a childhood i have a happy childhood so i'm so proud of your grave and i've sat in my head like i thought of me everything that you. and i think exactly like we're in a time when fashion and we can do so much with it you know whether it's going back

even just sharing it on our social media or being on time where by the way julie you are oh my gosh i'm literally in tears that little beautiful and i think of all the little girls that will you know that and relate to you and that for the first time the industry is providing people and i'm just going credibly honored to be with a woman i learned so much every day you guys. are in a lot and yeah i'm just going the new direction the industry. without question live on you tube from someone named she's a former stream fellow and she says do you feel your activism is being taken seriously or do people think you're being self promoting and that in itself is not effective mario give that one to you do you think you're taken seriously are you looked at as a that's just a model she's a fashion. i think before i start

a thing. the same time you did twelve years ago and i wanted to speak my voice as a model and have the story behind me and many people did not get that in the industry it's like no you're supposed to just show up for the client take pictures look beautiful but i wanted to have something behind it but now it's a huge commodity to be a model activist it's trendy but at the same time i take it into consideration as a blessing because we are able to utilize our voices as well as our beauty i guess to make a change and thanks to social media because social media as sure it could be a curse or a blessing but it depends on how you the individual can take matters into your hands and be ethical and responsible with how you utilize your message so not even just being a model but just being a human being we all are you know we have

a specific way where we can give our opinions out and have a voice and if you're a model an actor or a doctor or lawyer or even a dishwasher you still have a platform to speak up because there are so many other people in the world who don't have that platform and that's the way we can utilize these ways so. yeah right now it's pretty cool to be able to speak our voices as well as use our faces and it will evolve because what you may not know about mary she's also a d.j. so many have. already had all of our all of our guests where many hearts i want to bring in a little bit of pushback about this is a headline from someone who said just the video comment the headline is why does fashion suddenly care about activism so this is picking up on the idea that this is just a trend we've got a video comment from the author of this piece his name is jake hall is a freelance journalist out of the u.k.

and this is what he asked. so do you think it's great that seventy designers are using their platforms to raise awareness is an issue but i also think it's worth remembering that the fashion industry is the second is in the world. has an issue still is that we need to see if somebody is up to the aggression whether they have a transparent supply chain whether or not they kind of like to avoid exploitation and whether or not they have died as a presentation from the inside out also think that in today's political climate control activism to the marketing tools especially when it comes to dealing with force seems to be a more engaged use generation so i think that runs i should be an activist it means doing it more than one season means anything at least some of the proceeds and also looking within there in companies to fix the issues of. doing it for more than one season julianne i want to throw that one over to you what you make about. well there's a lot right right. i mean yeah i can see how you

can see that you know this may look like at the train there was but i feel like specially now i mean i can be honest and tell you that i have never been to more protests in march in my life than i have in the past year to us because we had we are now the thing that was like when they emerged as the now and that are right that can be quickly taken away from us so quickly but i feel like you know the piggyback of what was that before we had this like a meeting platform that were reaching millions a million people and where talking and posting about things that actually matter and cared about and i couldn't back everything you know and i feel like you know we're yes we're out in the fashion you know and yet there is a lot of things to change within the tree that we still have a acknowledge or change but you know it baby it takes one person at a time to take conversation. you know talking about

a. friend you know and actually making that change happen. it sounds like we're getting there i said i do believe that you are and it sounds like what you're saying is that it's sort of an organic process. this week and the panel that i mentioned earlier you spoke out fashion and activism one of the.