>> you're watching live from paris. more than 100,000 people are starting and a million more are on the brink of starvation in south sudan as famine is declared in parts of the country. sul,ng in on western mo moving closer to capturing the islamic state stronghold. this as the u.s. does damage control in baghdad. and more than 40 people are accused of attempting to kill the turkish president during the july's failed coup. they are going on trial in

turkey. ♪ anchor: first up, famine has been declared in some parts of south sudan. more than 100,000 people are starving and a million more are on the brink of starvation according to the south sudanese government and united nations. the famine is blamed on the three-year civil war and economic collapse. >> the main tragedy of the report launched today, it is not the large numbers of people who are food insecure. the main tragedy of the report is that the problem is largely man-made. i think that is the main tragedy that confronts us now. tohor: for more, let's go

our correspondence -- correspondent. what has caused the famine? it is the result of over three years of conflict and the compounded effect of violence and displacement of a large portion of the population. unlike other countries in east africa, we see drought and food insecurity as a result of area that ise, the specifically affected by the famine is an area that has been subject to repeated fighting from the government and rebels as they fight over the territory. people have been forced to leave all their longings behind. -- belongings behind. iny of them are still hiding the swamps, unable to get back.

what has made it even worse is they have not been able to get access to these people. what needs to be done to solve the problem? one thing that several agencies have said today is that if they can raise more money, yes they can have more food, but ultimately there needs to be peace. the burden on the community to respond will continue. we need a peace deal. there is continued fighting. peace deals have fallen apart. right now, there is not an end to the conflict insight. the best they can do is ask for andss, ask for cease-fire

addresses the best they can. anchor: how significant is the declaration? reporter: this is the first time the famine has been declared in parts of south sudan. it is a rather technical -- need to bese met. agencies have not been able to collect enough data to declare a fama prior -- a famine prior to this. insecurity has been happening in south sudan for a while. it just highlights the compounding effects the fighting has had on the population. anchor: thank you very much.

the news surrounding the islamic state's last major stronghold in iraq. u.s. backed iraqi forces are reportedly closing in on the airport in mosul as troops continued the advance on western mosul. the u.s. defense secretary is in iraq. reporter: it is wheels down in iraq for the new u.s. defense secretary. he arrived with the message on what could be done for damage control. it is the second time in the tis has found himself assuring others. >> i'm sure we will continue to pay for our gas and oil all along. you're not here to seize anybody's oil.

this comes after another contentious statement from president donald trump. >> i don't want to go into iraq, -- forlways said that economic reasons. if you kept the oil, you probably would not have isis. we should have kept the oil. critics have said that keeping the country's oil would have been stealing from civilians, violation of international law. alsog his trip, mattis addressed the controversial travel ban. n is on hold by u.s. courts. confirmed his renewed, it would not affect iraqi in u.s. forces. this comes at a time when the

u.s. bank coalition continues to fight the islamic state group in iraq alongside the government to ,ake the western half of mosul the last remaining bastion o of islamic state power. >> the iraq he army continues to search on the west side of the city. despite the casualties, they have learned to fight in the middle of a tough battle. reporter: today, some 5000 u.s. troops are helping with training, refugees, and even targeting in iraq. anchor: vice president mike pence has launched a charm offensive in brussels. he said the trump administration remains committed to corporation a partnership with the european union despite previous comments on exit and nato. he said the alliance has strong

support from washington and the u.s. demands nato allies up their spending. >> the president of the united states and the american people expect our allies to keep their word and do more in our common defense. the president expects real progress by the end of 2017. anchor: justin, u.s. president donald trump has announced that general mcmasters has been named naturals -- national security adviser. he will replace michael flynn who resigned last week. therussian ambassador to united nations has died in new york at the age of 64. envoy for over a decade. his cause of death has not been revealed. i spoke to our you and correspondent for more details.

know he has passed away here in new york city. officials tell us he went into cardiac arrest at the russian consulate on the upper east side , it is on east 67th street. he was rushed to new york presbyterian hospital where he passed away. he was 64 and do to celebrate his 65th birthday tomorrow. this is devastating news for his family and for diplomacy. he was regarded in extremely high esteem, even by western diplomats. the tributes have been pouring in. he served as the russian ambassador to the united nations for a most 10 years. he had been appointed in 2006. he had worked in other diplomatic capacities before

that as ambassador to belgium and canada. he was multilingual, spoke perfect russian, beautiful english. hey western diplomats said knew more slang than they did. he was extremely charming and eloquent, and as i said, the tributes have been pouring in. the former u.s. ambassador to the u.n. saying she is heartbroken. he did all he could to bridge u.s.-russian relations that he could. the british ambassador has said that he is devastated. the french ambassador said that really, he was a master of diplomacy. highly respected. it appears that the cause of death was a heart attack. that is what is being reported. officials here, police are

saying that they do not suspect any foul play. this does come in a context of tense relations and investigation into relations between the trump administration and russian government and the recent resignation of the national security adviser after reports he had communications with the russian ambassador in washington in and of -- an inappropriate way. anchor: more than 40 people are accused of attempting to kill the turkish president during july's failed to and are on trial in southern turkey. them our military personnel and could get life behind bars. suspects file into a courtroom to begin trial on monday after being accused of

plotting the murder of the turkish president during the july 15 failed coup attempt. prosecutors are seeking life sentences, but president supportersprosecutors are are ca harsher punishment. traitors and deserve death. >> if they introduce the death penalty, we will say yes in a constitutional referendum. reporter: the death penalty has been outlawed in turkey since 2004 following pressure from the eu. the president has said he would consider it if it was introduced by parliament. president left the hotel before it was stormed and only escaped death by 15 minutes.

investigators say it was -- engineered by the u.s. resident in pennsylvania. more than 43,000 people have been arrested following the coup attempt, many of them supporters. the trial will go through mid-march with additional trials in april and june. anchor: weapons spell silence in separatistsonday as and government seem to be respecting a cease-fire. areasfter flashpoint erupted in some of the heaviest artillery fire of the last two years. refresh efforts to enforce the terms of their agreement.

reporter: a shaky cease-fire still in effect in ukraine. the agreement was clenched over the weekend in munich. confirm the truce has held since midnight. we have a one hour time difference with ukraine. if something happens, it is them. right now, it is quite along the front line. reporter: a statement echoed by the ukrainian military. seen of this hour, we have substantial decrease in military activity and antiterrorist operations. as of noon, we have reported 15 incidents of shelling by the enemy, but they did not use heavy weaponry. reporter: there have been many such deals aimed at putting an end to fighting between the ukrainian forces and russian separatists. displaced found their homes shaken by renewed violence

recently. homeny of us have returned , but what did we come back to? being shelled. the shelling started again at night, the children were terrified, it took me only an hour to pack everything and we left. reporter: the kremlin continues to point the finger at kiev. people wantingny to distract attention from the complete inability of the administration to the phil -- responsibilities, and to distract from the inability of german and french colleagues to influence him in some way and forced him to keep his word. reporter: meanwhile, an announcement made by russia last week continues to stir up fury in ukraine. moscow declared it recognizes passports issued by rebels in

eastern ukraine. is the marine le pen latest french politician to find off fraud allegations. the far right leader is accused of misusing eu funds by paying staff members for work they did not do. her conservative rival is trying to rescue his presidential bid after being embroiled in a similar scandal. as marine le pen does her best to shake off a potentially damaging controversy, the french --sident shall candidate met in beirut. this was her first meeting with a foreign head of state. she's hoping it will boost her diplomatic credentials. they discussed france and lebanon's long history. i am extremely attached to this precious link between

france and lebanon, which has loosened in the last few years and which i want to be consolidate. i want to have a strong revival not only of the french language and culture, but development of economic ties between our country. we are not just attached by cultural ties but economic development. anchor: marine le pen speaking there. lebanon may be thousands of kilometers from france, that the tiny asian is a bastion of national france. it has a significant number of french expatriates. our correspondent spoke to some national front reporters. -- supporters. reporter: you can't miss the lebanesee founded the party after returning from the own the big games in 1936.

the ideology of the party was largely inspired by european fascism, something the logo does little to hide. >> it symbolizes the idea of preserving the dominance of the christian world. a nationalophie is front supporter married to a lebanese beard she has lived here 20 years and speaks fluent arabic. she has even acquired lebanese nationality. as a journalist of a far right newspaper, she's excited to see marine le pen scoring points here. >> it is very favorable terrain. these people are attached to france. through their history, they understand very well that the national front is the obvious preference for us and for the christians of lebanon, it is also obvious. reporter: supporting marine le easy, not always

especially with a proposal to prohibit dual nationalities for french nationals of non-european countries. joiner son, who wants to the lebanese army, the choice would be clear. >> i would choose my lebanese nationality because i live here and it is my native country. i would have preferred to not make this choice because by blood i am also french, if you see one i mean. -- what i mean. reporter: it would be a dilemma faced by nearly 70,000 franco lebanese. it might urge some who would otherwise be supporters not to vote for the far right. anchor: you are watching live from paris. here is a reminder of the headlines. more than 100,000 people are starting and a million more are starving in of

south sudan as famine is declared in parts of the country. , u.s. in on western mosul backed iraqi forces move closer to capturing the stronghold. this as the u.s. defense secretary does damage control and that deck. and more than 40 people accused of attempting to kill the turkish president during the life failed coup go on trial in southern turkey. let's get the is this roundup now. we are starting out with greece. reporter: that is the impression we got from brussels, it appears the monetary fund is calling for eece's agress on gr lot. story -- afrom a stearate he has been one of the major points.

the president says the eu will work with the greek authorities on structural reform. take a listen. the outcomes of today is that they will go back to athens in the short term. they will work with the greek authorities on an additional package of structural reforms, looking at the tax system, pension system and labor markets , regulation. reporter: uber is back in the news after a former female engineer wrote a blog post on how sexual harassment was consistently ignored at the company. the chief has ordered an urgent investigation. we report on how the incident united people to delete uber

again. reporter: executives say they have launched an united urgent investigation after an employee made allegations of sexual harassment. susan fowler made a blog post about her very strange year working as a software engineer for the company. among other issues, she accuses her manager of sexually harassing her from her first day and says she was ignored after reporting it to management. after the story was shared on social media, the company moved swiftly to deny the allegations. meanwhile, area huffington promised an investigation into the claims. --s is the lesson problem latest problem to hit the company in the last weeks. the company was perceived to profit from the chaos surrounding president trump's travel ban. the ceo served on an advisory board for trump and over 2000

people deleted -- 200,000 people to lead it the uber app. the call to delete uber has risen again. reporter: global investors remain jittery with presidential elections in france. the national front is expected to come out on top in the first round of votes. she is expected to hold a referendum if she once the presidency. this means that french bonds versus german debt has risen to a four-year high. in paris, they ended the day completely flat. markets in the united states are closed this monday for presidents' day. let's take a look at some other stories. -- over 6%. this after they dropped a

takeover. both sides agreed to walk away amicably from the deal. the merger would have created the world's second-largest consumer group. downing street has denied any involvement in craft -- kraft withdrawing. has a fundamental right to administration. the tech giant was ordered to pay back taxes to ireland. this sets the stage for one of the most high-profile competition cases. thats found last year dublin's favorable tax regime caused illegal state aid. -- meet theresa may. discuss theed to company. this after angela merkel said

she would do all she could to keep jobs in germany. of a universal basic income is getting a lot of attention these days. it has been proposed in some locales, including in france. isbrazil, one suburb experiment in with the paid cards to buy necessities. they except a special kind of payment. the card can be used to buy essential goods. it is a kind of unconditional basic income. card is something that reassures us. we know it contains money. he can go to a shop and buy things. they have taken my family allowance but i have my card. the card is being implemented in a suburb. the idea is that the 150,000

inhabitants would receive about 30 euros per month. >> the message we're sending out s in all citiese and countries have the application to guarantee a base income for everyone. reporter: the right-wing government is imposing strict austerity. critics say an unconditional basic income will do nothing to reduce unemployment, currently at a record high of 12%. people have the dignity to earn their own livelihood. this is dignified service. today, it is not the case. in january, finland began experimenting with this kind of basic income and a french socialist has promised

people 750 euros per month. anchor: thanks. stay with us here on france 24. we continue inqéaçññ

[captiononing made possible by democracy now!] juan: frfrom pacifica this is democracy now! >> an open war, open season on all immigrants in this country. juan: sweeping new guidelines to more aggressively detain and deport undocumented immigrants have been drafted by homeland secretary john kelly. we will speak to a lawyer from the northwest immigrgrant righ