recently they offer additional aid easing out of their c h well you know two or three things number one the saudi led coalition in the blockade was creating catastrophic situation and so lack of money lack of access was a huge issue but we really are see the sea change in the saudi led coalition in terms of the blockade and they exist now we've got to get access on the ground with these and so we're working with the who these and all parties involved to make certain that we have the money we need and then the access we need on the ground so we've got to get the food in from the air in the sea and then on the ground and so we're making tremendous headway but the blockade set us back quite a bit so we're looking at seven point four million people literally literally on the brink of starvation actually about eight point four million people of the total population of twenty nine million in the in the are on the brink of starvation and if we don't get the access in the food we need with the with the fuel that we need

to be able to move the supplies the food the medicines you're going to have a catastrophic event there now there are lots of international organizations national governments can down a saudi way of waging a war on yemen but it doesn't seem to change. to have changed their behavior much now i notice something about your own personal thout i think you like to practice a lot of positive reinforcement do you think that me get a better traction with the saudis we are in my opinion we're seeing a positive turn in the right direction with the saudis in the saudi the coalition i have been traveling to the middle east lately had very positive meetings and trying to appeal to the heart that you know these innocent victims of this conflict the children they don't deserve this this is a nation that is now in ruins and we need to step up as i've told the saudis and others if you're not willing to stop the war and you have

a moral obligation to make certain that the humanitarian fallout the consequences are met and no child should be left behind in this country and so mr meehan i'm sorry for interrupting but you certainly know the first person to tell them that and yet. they seem to have been very very little change in the way more was scared out of the last i can't explain or justify that because i haven't been in this position but they tell me to believe that they would actually listen to you as opposed to not listening to anyone else because we're already seeing results we're seeing a major shift in some of the campaigns with regards to air campaigns and other campaigns and hospitals and other facilities in the poorer we're seeing them choose to step up now monetarily we're seeing that step up in terms of providing access within the country that they have control we're seeing them open up the port in terms of the barricade or it was so we're seeing some very significant positive

movement right now and we're actually seeing some positive movement with huet these now so we're hopeful that food may be the weapon the school brings some peace in this country but let's see well let's keep our fingers crossed for sure we have to take a very short break now but he. we'll be back in just a few moments. we used. them and what we got good neighbors we got to. really just i will keep it simple doug. so instead of having

a good neighbor we have. done which is a. welcome back to worlds apart with david beasley executive director of the world food program mr beasley earlier this month trumpet ministration and it's vision of the u.s. budget for the fiscal year of two thousand and nineteen which features a substantial increase in military spending cuts and social spending as well as some restructuring of the u.s. contributions to the united nations have you done any preliminary asked cement so how they propose pattern now spending may affect the world food program you know the president's budget very well dramatically impacted us but if you know anything about the u.s.

process of budgeting just the house and senate makes the final decision we feel very confident before that the process as it works its way through the president and the leadership in the senate in the house will come together with a budget that will be that i think will be good for the world food program so we can continue to address or. around the world and then when you think about the united states' commitment to the world food program last year two thousand and seventeen was two point five billion dollars this year you know we're hopeful that we come out with at least two billion but i'm confident that the leadership in the united states will stay strong on international humanitarian aid that in many of your public appearances you're stressed that feeding the world's most vulnerable is a viable alternative to military spending you think it's a way of combating extremism and apparently the president perhaps has a different view on that what is your strategy now to try to dissuade the president ought to try to work with the congress and hopefully defeat his budgeting proposals

there well as i've told my friends in the u.s. senate and the u.s. house the republicans and the democrats as well as the president and his administration if you want to spend another half a trillion dollars on military cut the world food program. because we are the first one of us it is him to bring about exactly one of them and he's been very supportive of me don't miscalculate the budgetary process i've been a united states governor so i know how the system works but i believe a horse all said and the president who has said publicly very clearly that one thing the united nations does good is feeds people and so he's been very supportive of our programs and i think he will continue to do so now you are known for having praise mr truong for shaking up the system and be already discussed i think part of your point was multi-faith and by a desire to shield the world from program from the aftershocks of about shake up i wonder how do you see yourself as the executive director of based organizations are

you a disruptor or are you a protector well as i said one time when i was elected the state's governor and one of the lead bureaucrats if you do that mr governor who you know really create chaos in us will have come to create chaos jokingly but the point is you have to evaluate every system what's working it was working patted on the back keep going this is not working how do we restructure it so in the united nations there needs to be restructured in the world food program or the are amazing operate machine what they do in the world food program is not just about emergency conditions like the tsunami and earthquake or volcano or hurricane it's more than that it's also about sustainable development is to and protected what we awards eighty two percent of our spending now is in war zones but how do we sustain a community so every able bodied person all this to receive food or to be in the community improvement program every child in the village the nation being

a school meals program so how do we push that forward change the approach could you can go into some of these countries where the united nations has been for twenty thirty years spent hundreds of millions and billions of dollars. nothing to show for so you need to step back and say what are we not doing right and so i think i bring that to the table this revaluate with understood fresh eyes in the see what works and what doesn't worry and let's don't worry about ego let's don't worry about who gets the credit let's worry about those innocent children out there who we want dreams to be fulfilled now i personally if find you very sincere when you talk about the plight of hungry people around the world but i think foot insecurity is increasingly an issue for the united states and specifically in those very same communities that vote it donald trump into the oval office do you think you're on massachusetts with the americans who themselves some thomas have to skip meals in

order to feed their own. you know i do a lot of t.v. shows in the united states and i come from the more conservative side in the cities and when i sit down with those who otherwise would have concerns about humanitarian or international aid they stated them very clearly there are international humanitarian programs that may very well be a waste of money but the world food program is to the essence of who we are as a people in the world and we're about helping people but do it in such a way that doesn't create dependency but hopefully create so sufficiency resilience and so when i explained what we're doing and where we're doing it how we're doing it it's amazing the response i get from the left in the right and that's why and what i've seen in the united states republicans and democrats may fight on everything else but when it comes to helping hungry children around the world fulfill their dreams they come together but mr and mr president this is not exactly what i'm asking you about i'm sure if you ask any person no matter where why their

children have to be fat everybody will say yes but i think. sometimes presidential mandate involves making a difficult decision to spend helping starving children in africa or helping will norrish children in the united states i'm not suggesting you make that decision for the present but how would you guide him through that thinking process there's enough wealth. to do both there's clearly enough wealth there is now three hundred trillion dollars of global wealth in the world today we're just talking about a few billion dollars when i look at how much money we spend in the world military we just talk about a few more billion dollars to save the lives of people around the world in doing in such a way that doesn't create dependency and with that much wealth in the united states that much wealth in the rest of the world is inexcusable for any person in the

world today to go to bed hungry now as the united states is reevaluating its brawl its share in the international organizations have you noticed any. qualitative change in the policies of father countries perhaps other big donors have seen a couple different shifts number one i've seen the un make some adjustments the united nations and my opinion the last thirty forty years has shown the private sector. you know in i am seeing or see change there now i see the un understanding clearly we can't solve many of these problems in these developing countries without the private sector being significantly and truly engaged and involved as to other countries around the world you know i've been beating the drums then going to nations saying you must step up more you must do more because if you know if you know or do it for the right in reason the do it because in your

national security interest some see in many countries step up and that's one of the reasons why i'm here in russia to talk with the leadership here in the response i'm getting from the leadership of russia is very positive we're seeing the russian government begin to step up more so that it ever has in the united nations world food program well from what i know i'm correct me if i'm wrong i think russia so far counted both about very large contributions to your agency but i think it's trying to be helpful in some other ways perhaps logistics petition et cetera you're now in moscow have you secured anything concrete from the kremlin well we will be announcing the russia is known for forgiving trucks and to the world food program and so we are announcing the ninety seven. trucks that will be about eleven million dollars of value contribution as well as debt swap that we've done in mozambique as well as is dozens of millions of dollars strategically aligned in the countries of interest including syria and other places around the world and so i'm here to make

the case and talk with the leadership that the do you in needs russia to be in really involved in that we want to be a force for peace between nations in every opportunity we kin to bring they says that are working to give us a will to maybe start working together a little bit well i think russians more than eager to work together particularly them eric and i'm not sure they are they find the same reception on the american side the bad maybe your connections in the cause. aggressed especially with some south carolina representative script out in that franco i think the russian people in the american people want peace around the world and i think they have a very different view on how to achieve it though i don't know i really find most people around the world say i think sometimes we need to get the leaders together sit down little more break bread together but i think the same marks there and i think if we focus on the differences we will make if you had what we thought focus

on the common opportunities will make a tremendous headway the world needs for russia and the united states to find a pathway as i've said a video of some of my diplomatic friends in washington and in moscow you know maybe the united states or russia doesn't need to get married right now but they do need to do a little bit piece is dependent upon these two nations find a pathway to get past the problems that seem to be dominating every newscast in the world today and while that's half the rome is burning or for world's fall apart mr basely i think you have to be careful about what you say if you don't want to be accused of being a kremlin. but we have a few minutes left and i want to ask you specifically about something that you mentioned this doubt swat team that russia struck with the most and i think it them involves the largest doubt swap in the history of your agency it

with also on luck if i'm not mistaken around forty a million years dollars that would be used to provide school meals for one hundred fifty thousand children is that something that is essentially a one off deal or something that can be applied on the broader slower hope that as a model to go forward because when you when you when you have a program this about six to seven billion dollars then you need to do three more billion to address the world hunger of the most of your hungry people in the world you're looking for every opportunity you can. so this debt swap model very well could save a lot of millions of law over the next few years and finally finally in a one of your articles you describe visiting an attrition clinic in somalia where children receive food like that looks and tastes like peanut butter both words like medicine so nutritious that it can recover help a child recover from all nutrition in a matter of months and what strikes me about it is the contrast between the

progress in attritional size the fact that we can make the base marvelous foods and the absolute social regret that puts millions of people on the brain golf daf how do you wrap your had around it how do you explain it to yourself is tough you know i was asked by. a reporter one time says after we've done a tremendous interview. he said you know you've got three years job in the world keeping people alive saving children i said you know i do really do have a great job overall said that i don't go to bed every night thinking about the children that i say i go with a bit every night i think about the children we couldn't say because of lack of money or the lack of access so when those days are before us we have to choose which children eat in which children don't eat which children live which children how would you like that job first time i've whipped. and years when i won't

have the hospital data when i saw not just one two three four children dying before my very own us but literally hundreds of children starving to death because of a manmade conflict and i can see all that special nutritional products they keep someone alive but the mere fact that they're gotten into that condition and then you don't make it because it's too late it's heartbreaking i had to walk out of the hospital room just run around the corner and just just cry and i'm sort of what you think i'm sort of a tough guy you know boy it was just overwhelming the see so many children unnecessarily dima for your very own because because a man made conflict is unacceptable in excusable and i'm going to continue to fight against it as hard as loud as i can well mr biggs the best of luck with that i really appreciate your time with us today and terrorist please keep the

conversation going in our social media pages as for me hope to see you again same place same time here in a while the part. join me every thursday on the elec side with schill and i'll be speaking to us in the world of politics sport i'm show business i'll see you then. i've played for many clubs over the years so i know the game inside i. football

isn't only about what happens on the pitch put the final school it's about the passion from the fans it's the age of the superman each kill the narrowness and spending shouldn't twenty million on one player. pool it's an experience like nothing else i want to because i want to share what i think what i know about the beautiful game a great one more chance for. a nice minute. the.

top stories right now the most powerful body prepares for another round of crisis talks on syria's rebel held east as russia accuses the international community of double standards. from lawmakers consider tougher penalties for child sex abuse says more how doing allegations emerge from an orphanage in central russia. polarizes american society over gun control with both sides now suggesting radically different security solutions. and right now two russians are battling it out for gold and silver the figure skating in the winter olympics we'll keep you posted on what happens. to be taking

a tour of the winter olympics host city with donald trump and. well. hello to you this friday the twenty third of february my name is colleen right here in moscow where it's now eight am this is your world news first the tough talking on syria that's been taking place over the past twenty four. it was also russia's ambassador to the united nations is calling on all parties to the conflict in syria's rebel held region of eastern go to cease hostilities addressing the security council and he also criticized the way the international media and foreign powers have been representing the situation. there is a must have so it could he says in the mainstream media which is. day after day doesn't help that it's not even situations. but who would like to do it as their

only hope so it's a little reason which the tsunami was once again it is good that what we just heard was the russian ambassador to the united nations responding to what he characterized as a smear campaign now the meeting was called in response to the situation in eastern guta that was a suburb of damascus located to the east of damascus at this point it's an enclave of rebels and terrorist forces now there's been increasing hostilities in eastern guta as the syrian government is fighting to retake the city from terrorist russia was responding to some of the very heated words and accusations we heard from other countries in the chamber in the lead up to his remarks systematic targeting of civilians in disregard for human life attacks against health care and hospitals that constitute crimes the regime wants to keep bombing and gassing these four hundred thousand people and the assad regime is counting on russia to make sure the security council is unable to stop their suffering while in his remarks to the

fifteen member body the bedu is very clear that situations in eastern guta are rather dire however the situation is much more complex than it's being made out to be but essentially civilians are being used as human shields by the terrorists to point out the some of the more extreme allegations being made against russia and syria are being made by the forces that just leveled the city of raka the u.s. led coalition leveled syria's rucka this is in the recent post should be forgotten so the phone when happened was for some reason nobody damone the international. we were full of our homes because of mice and when we return we found everything we could use to rubble and look at all the devastation is

a ghost city. we're living in the midst of destruction we feel completely abandoned everything around has been destroyed. or the city lies and rubble have to be to remove the debris with all money there's no running water so we have to buy. the u.s. coalition because of the destruction of records and has a responsibility to rebuild the city we need to help with restoring the water supply in clearing the rubble as the meeting went on and different speakers took the floor and addressed the u.n. security council was very clear that everyone agreed that the life of civilians in eastern guta was was of top concern however there were clear differences about who was to blame and that certain countries felt as if the situation was just squarely on the shoulders of syria and russia. the u.n. secretary general called for an end to the fighting in east to go to home wednesday

he described the situation there is hell on earth a representative from doctors without borders also known as m.s.f. told us more about the impact the fighting is having on civilians trapped in the rubble in place. where we have six. received a population is in the last few days or a quarter of our kids the number of wounded before has decreased dramatically over the last. few days reported. to a. dozen or. so the biggest problem for the over the world so still for sure is. supplies as well as the violence is going on. medical supplies are some sort of agreement that. these medicines especially i repeat surgical supplies ernest i think can enter into the.

place the surgeons. can do their lifesaving work the next our senior correspondent more advanced yet has been reporting from syria for several years now breaks down who the rebels controlling the embattled damascus suburb actually are. east ghouta is not a nice place to live in surrounded as it is under a constant war zone within and without. islam the army of islam holds most of east ghouta as the name may imply these guys crusading for democracy and when they aren't busy killing each other they share power with nuestra while kiat in syria and the number of smaller groups

. these are ruthless people in a cage civilians literally put woman and the elderly in metal cages and hoisted them onto roofs where they left them and literal human shield made of civilians to protect themselves their fighters from strikes these same people jihad ists who say they're fighting to free the country from a sad then turn their guns on protesters when they day complain about the jihad ists themselves. these infamous incident being one of them

a crowd of demonstrators fired upon by rebel fighters john kerry himself once called the rebels holding east ghouta a subgroup of isis and al qaeda remember what the u.s. led coalition did to isis in mosul. well it's kind of as if you know. they leveled and then ties city thousands of civilians dead yet they say there's no choice the terrorists were sponsible by using human shields a sad fact of war two billion casualties are a fact of life in this sort of situation do you agree that some of the the high level of i think ridiculous standard that we had previously is now created this.

behavior by isis that they now realize if they take human shields they're going to avoid being struck and that actually this is adding to the problem congresswoman i do believe they understand our sensitivity to civilian casualties and they're exploiting that and i do agree that as we move into these urban environments it is going become more and more difficult to apply extraordinarily high standards for the things that we're doing although we will try for some reason this time around they seem to be avoiding any mention of who it is that controls east ghouta all but the same job ists when these limits blindly shelled damascus every day and slaughter more and more civilians well that's war when the syrian army responds suddenly it's an atrocity remarkable isn't it how the rules change entirely depending on who's calling the shots but i guess you have that well u.s. state department spokesperson have now it's also commented on the situation in

syria under the bus did russia have its role chilled so had some harsh words for r.t. to shout to the russian government to implore them to stop enabling the syrian regime to do what is stealing to its own people is russia listening i'm not sure that they are but i would encourage each. have you to ask russia to take these questions to vladimir putin take these questions to r.t. to sputnik asking them those very questions what are they doing to stop the devastation the deaths and the murders that are taking place in syria i think what you're trying to say is that any kind of civilian deaths that take place in the course of the syrian government offensive are the responsible of the russian government because the russians are supporting the syrians so therefore anything they say the syrians are guilty of russia is guilty of to that same principle could be applied for example when the iraqi forces recovered a bosal from diane or one of the kurdish led.