Narrator pediatric surgeon. Volunteer. Topiary artist. A Raymond JamesFinancial Advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. Life well planned. Narrator funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. And by judy and Peter Blum Kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. Announcer and now, bbc news. I am katrina. Washington, and this is bbc world is america. North Koreas Kim Jongun and Russian Vladimir Putin reportedly plan to meet this month. The potential implications for the war in ukraine. As the world faces a costofliving crisis, new research looks at the dangers impact on the lives of children. A oneofakind summit on however, can respond to climate change. On how africa can respond to climate change. Hello and welcome to world news america. The u. S. Official said north koreas leader control plans to travel to russia to meet with president Vladimir Putin and discuss the possibility of supplying russia with weapons to support its ongoing war in ukraine. Our news partner, cbs is reporting, it would be in exchange for technology and food aid. In a statement, a u. S. State Department Spokesperson says the u. S. Is urging the dprk to cease its arms negotiations with russia. It is one of several developments impacting the war in ukraine, including president zelenskyy replacing the countrys defense minister following allegations of corruption. Alexi reznikov issued a letter of resignation on monday after zelenskyys announcement. It is part of a wider anticorruption effort in zelenskyys administration. He served as defense since before russias invasion. He will be replaced by rustem umerov, a 40 oneyearold Government Official who served as head of ukraines state property fund. Mr. Umerov is best known for negotiating with russia, and for successful prisoner exchanges. Mr. Umerov is an indigenous crimea, so his appointment is a signal from zelenskyy that ukraine is serious about bringing back crimea. Meanwhile, drone strikes between russia and ukraine are almost a daily occurrence. But no other countries are involved. Erik hertzberg explains how the latest nation to get tied up in the conflict is romania. Reporter for several weeks, russia has been attacking river danube ports in an attempt to prevent ukraine from using those facilities to export its grain because the black Sea Green Initiative which was brokered whether you and and turkey last year is still on hold after russia withdrew in july, ukraine is looking for other ways to get its grain out and moving it down the danube is the most viable route, that is why russia has been trying to target that. In the last set of attacks last night, a number of drones were fired and they landed on ukrainian towns along the river danube. But according to ukraine, one or more of them landed on the other side of the river, inside romania. This has led to a bit of a war of words throughout the day because ukraine says it has photographic evidence of what happened. But romania is saying nothing of the sort happened at all and that there was no threat to romania land or territorial waters. So there is a contradiction there. I would suggest that perhaps the viewers might want to remember what happened last november when the ukrainian screamed claimed that a Russian Missile had fully on polish territory. It turned out after that episode to be a Ukrainian AirDefense Missile that went astray. We do not know exactly what the evidence suggests in this case. The bbc has seen the photographic evidence, and we consider it to be inconclusive. So clearly, that needs to be cleared up. It at thes are saying one thing and the romanians another. Of course if a russian projectile of any kind and inside romania, that would represent a russian attack on a nato member. Katrina in an exclusive interview with the bbc, the former u. S. Speaker nancy pelosi said america is still all in with its support for ukraine. Speaking to abc, representative pelosi said she has been pushing for the u. S. To be more collaborative with ukraine, suggesting Fighter Pilots should be trained before the u. S. Delivers f16 jets. Rep. Pelosi as i said, our group has been on the forefront of asking more of our government for our collaboration. Brady say this, when they talk about the f16s, for example, basically have to be trained train them now. Train them now. By the time they are ready, the training will be effective. I dont think we need to do this consecutive or sequentially, we can do it at the same time, train as we prepare the planes. I do think there is a legitimate concern about any use of any of this that could precipitate a reaction from russia. That is a legitimate thing. People are concerned, is this provocative of a greater reaction from russia into other nato countries. Katrina turkish president najib erdogan seems to have failed in his talks with russian president putin to revive the black sea Green Deal Initiative that turkey helped broker alongside the United Nations in 2022. Putin said russia would only return to the deal was its conditions are met, including obstacles with its food and fertilizer exports, and lack of access to the s. W. I. F. T. Financial system. I would like to reiterate our principal position. We will be ready to consider the possibility of reviving the green new deal. I told the president that we will do it right away as soon as the agreements on lifting restrictions on the sport of russian Agricultural Products are fully implemented. Katrina to discuss new updates on the war, i spoke with evelyn forecast, former Deputy Assistant secretary of defense for russia, ukraine and eurasia, and current executive director at the Mccain Institute. Evelyn, effective start with a story the New York Times is reporting that kim jongun has traveled to russia to meet with Vladimir Putin to discuss weapons and to be given to russia to help with the war in ukraine in exchange for satellite and submarine technology and food aid for north korea, you have been to north korea. What do you make of this breaking story . Guest i would say, first of all , it is pathetic that russia has to rely on north korea for weapons, this once great superpower relying on its small, very junior partner, if you will, under communism. And now they continue to have a convenient relationship. Russia is a member of the Security Council, russia was on the Security Council and voted on the sanctions on north korea for their Illegal Nuclear weapons program. The road banned north korea from selling weapons. And now we know no sanctions are perfect, but these are very public sanctionsbusting by a cardcarrying member of the u. N. Security council. Another one of which includes blatant attempts to completely upend the international order. Katrina can the International Community do anything about the situation then . Guest of course, diplomatically they can, and they should do everything they can to censure russia and north korea because north korea is aiding and abetting genocidal war being waged against ukrainian people, against innocent civilians by their russian government. They are under pressure right now from the west. Kim jongun is trying to get attention from the world with his weapons programs. And russia feels isolated. President putin is weak, he has been demonstrated to be weak on the international stage, has been under an arrest warrant by International Criminal court i could go on. Katrina if we could talk about ukraine specifically, we saw president zelenskyy removed his defense minister as part of his weight scale anticorruption efforts. They have not been any charges against reznikov at this point in time. He has not been charged in any way, but what does this mean for the current state of the war . Guest i think it is a really positive sign, because i have traveled around the world, meeting with defense ministers from all kinds of countries, urging them to reform and root out corruption, to make sure their defense ministries are up to western democratic standards in many cases. And often times, if they are waging a war and they are reluctant reformers, they the war as an excuse but in this case, president zelenskyy did not do that, he took the courageous move to move out against corruption. He picked a defense minister who looked absolutely ready on day one to do something about it, somebody with the bins this with a business background and with a history of rooting out corruption in the government and privatizing in a very good fashion. So i take a great deal of encouragement that president zelenskyy means what he says. He is still the anticorruption president what he is also a wartime president. Katrina ukraine has loaded some successes in the counteroffensive in the past few weeks. Is that called into question now that the defense minister have been changed . Guest these are two separate things. I am here at the annual conference the Mccain Institute hosts with our georgian partner, the eprc, and the bush institute. We have had a lot of interesting conversations about the progress of the war. And i think that most people believe that the war progress thus far has not been a failure. It is not a firing because it is not going as president zelenskyy thought it should proceed. My sense is that this truly is related to corruption. Although of course, it is possible he needed fresh blood and fresh advising on the war as well. Katrina you mentioned youre at a conference in tbilisi georgia, the 15th anniversary of russia invading georgia and it continues to occupy territory there. Georgia has not impose International Sanctions with russia, in fact it has seen its trade go up with russia since it began. You see that relationship continuing . Guest unfortunately, i dont see any indications that it is going to change. Georgia now is in a gray zone of its own making, of the governments making, rather. Not the desire of the georgia people. But this government is in effect aligning with Vladimir Putin because they are not participating in sanctions against russia and are allowing goods to flow freely to russia. These goods help the Russian Military effort against ukraine, so that is problematic. The future of georgia is very much in question under this government. Katrina you mentioned the e. U. Membership. Do the eu councile president make a decision on that. Given slow progress on meeting those goals, do you think georgia will meet that deadline . Guest our georgian colleagues who have been speaking at the Conference Today and will be speaking tomorrow as well, they are very mystic. They dont believe this government will do the 12 things the European Union is requiring. Most significantly unproblematic is the deoligarchization there is one oligarch in georgia who is funding the Main Political Party and basically buying off the opposition. There is a Strong Civil Society here that is pointing all of this out. But whether the government has the will to turn against a man who has given them all the power is an open question and one that right now, nobody is optimistic that the answer to it will be yes. Katrina the theme of your conference is defeating putin. When it comes to the war in ukraine, do you think a russian president can be defeated . Guest absolutely. But the reason we picked defeating putinism as a theme is that it will not be enough just to defeat or remove two from the political scene, it is putinism or trumpism and its various forms, these sicknesses, these authoritarian tendencies, these antidemocratic, antihuman rights regimes and the power they exert across the globe, putting their tentacles into democratic societies and other struggling societies to try to get advantage whether it is africa, africa, europe, or the United States, that is what were trying to draw attention to here. Katrina evelyn farkas, thank you for speaking to us on bbc news. Guest thank you. Katrina there is a worrying development as the world faces rapid increases in the cost of living and the increase in the number of children forced into commercial Sexual Exploitation and other harmful forms of work. The International Labor organization estimates around 1. 7 million children are involved in the practices. Its directorgeneral said the situation was getting worse, and often it was down to the way families felt they had to respond to global inflation. In some families, it has made the difference between having one meal a day or not. And therefore, the temptation of bringing the young girl, for example, to the slave, or try to entice them to go for the sex work, increases. And therefore, it increases the risk of sexual abuse and Sexual Exploitation and therefore, the form of child labor. Katrina putting that into context, commercial Sexual Exploitation is a murky issue, with many countries have no publicly available database for the illegal activity. Kenya is one such nation. It has been identified by the u. S. State department as both the source, the transit country, and a destination for the crime. A recent study estimated that more than 2400 children between the ages of 13 and 17 were subject to Sexual Exploitation in two regions partnering bordering the port city of mombasa. This week big news is bringing you a special series on the impact of the costofliving crisis on children around the world. Our first report comes from our state department course not. We should warn you, you may find some of the details distressing. Reporter in mombasa, life is hard for those on the margins. But tough Economic Times are making it even harder. Forcing some parents to take people decisions. This mother washes clothes a few times a week to support her three children. She doesnt want us to use her name. The money for school fees quickly runs out. There is barely enough for food. So, her daughter has to find work. She started selling her body. She is 14 years old. As a parent, it is not easy to tell a child to do Something Like that. I would like her to go to school like other children. But because i dont have any means, she is forced to do their job. My heart is broken, and adult it to continue. Reporter she is not the only one. We have spoken with a brothel. She told us she has been getting more and more young girls. At the shelter, a rare moment of joy, celebrating a birthday party. These children were abused, abandoned, or trafficked, some forced into the sex trade. [chatter] reporter rescue centers are struggling to meet the growing needs. Everyone wants to survive. They have been giving away their children for exchange of money. Reporter has it always been that way, or is it more so now . Now it is more so, because there is no money. There is no money, no job. [protestors chanting] reporter we are tired. That is the chant at a protest against rising prices and higher taxes. There is anger and frustration across the country. [gunfire] reporter it is the poorest kenyans who have been hit hardest. In mombasa, they can tap into a thriving business. Mombasa has long been a wellknown hub for child sex tourism, but covid and the increasingly harsh cost of living have helped push the sex trade online and further underground, drawing even more children into the industry. Kenyan police are fighting back against the dark trade in child sex. They track down suspects using cyber tips from a database in the United States then search phones and computer drives for explicit material about children. Up against an economy of depravity that feeds on desperation. This woman is in charge of the unit. She says there is no data on whether the resent costofliving crisis has driven more children into the sex trade, but her team has begun monitoring it. Of course. Of course. It is a major contributor into child sex trafficking. Poverty, unemployment, there are so many children that are dropping out of school. You find that they get into this, especially in the coastal region. Reporter one girl who hasnt escaped the streets told me about the despair that shapes her young life. We are using her words, but not her voice. I am afraid, because i know that when you are sleeping with a man, you can get hiv or become pregnant. Sometimes i feel so hungry. And when i look at other children, they dont suffer. Sometimes i think i have no reason to live. Katrina the first african Climate Summit of its kind is taking place in nairobi and could not, to discuss the way the continent can respond to the threat of climate change. Heads of government will join thousands of delegates with the goal to influence climate commitments, pledges and outcomes. The African Development bank estimates the continent loses seven to 15 billion annually, and says african countries need to raise an average of 124 billion dollars to help mitigate the effects of climate change. However, they only received 28 million a year. Our african purse learned filed this report on the significance of the africa Climate Summit. Its the first african Climate Summit organized by the content government to get them with the african union. The thinking is that we have heard from the kadant president saying that this is the time to think about solutions. Not a time to come up with a list of grievances. Everybody knows where the problems are, that africa contributes at least to climate change, but suffers the biggest impact from it. Therefore, he says it is time to look for ideas, time to bring them together. That is what they are hoping to do during this conference, to bring together ideas from across the continent, come up with a document that articulates the position of african countries going into 28, that is the United NationsClimate Summit coming up in november. He says some of the Solutions Lie in the vast land that is available for agriculture and that is utilized, in the things used for manufacture of batteries and electric vehicles. He drove himself today and yesterday to the conference in an electric vehicle. And the african population, the youth population makes it make sense. However, it sounds really good when it is in a speech or on paper, but there are so many complications. These minerals are found in some of the conflict areas where conflict has been going on for a long time. The land question is still very contentious on the continent. So it is not an instant solution here. But it is a start, they start to get africas voice of the table. Katrina after being stranded for days, thousands of people at the burning man Music Festival are starting to leave the black rock desert. A weekend rainstorm turned the drylands into a mud bath which led officials to close the exits so vehicles would avoid getting stuck and blocking traffic. For days, around 72,000 people were ordered to stay put and conserve food and water until the ground was dry enough for vehicles to come in and out. It is labor day in the United States, an annual celebration of the social and economic achievements on american workers. President biden travels to philadelphia to praise American Labor unions and out the country process working class. His speech comes after fridays recent jobs report which found u. S. Employers added 100 87,000 jobs in august, an increase from julys 157 thousand jobs showing, a stable labor market despite the Federal Reserve raised Interest Rates to the highest level in 22 years in july. Azerbaijan used the numbers as part of his reelection pitch. Folks, let me tell you what we are celebrating. We are celebrating jobs, goodpaying jobs. Jobs you can raise a family on prevent union jobs. I know who built this country, i have been saying this since i ran the first time. Let me say it loud and clear, wall street did not build america, the middleclass built america, and unions built the middle class in other news, senator Steve Harwell has died at katrina the age of katrina 56. He was the former lead singer of the new york of the rock band smashmouth. The band sold over 10 million albums worldwide. The Senate Returns to washington tomorrow and faces a short deadline to avoid a possible Government Shutdown by the end of the month. The white house, and senators from both parties are hoping for a shortterm funding bill, but some vocal house conservatives are opposed. Apple appears ready to comply with a new law from the European Union to adopt a common charge in connection by december of next year. That would mean the end of the lightning connection. The changes are meant to start next week with the infilling of the new iphone 15 and iphone 15 pro devices. Before we go, a classical Music Festival in denmark opened with a very unique performance. Take a listen. [dogs barking melodically] katrina three adults participated in the hunting symphony, composed by mozarts father. The chief conductor auditioned dozens of dogs for the part he said. He was complying with the composers wish that part of the symphony be done by real dogs. It took three months to train the dogs. They barked on command and remained silent for the rest of the performance. You can find all the days news and plenty more on our website, and follow us on our social media platform. I am katrina perry. Thank you for watching world news america. Narrator funding for this presentation of this program is provided by. Narrator Financial Services firm, Raymond James. Narrator funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. And by judy and Peter Blum Kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. Geoff good evening. Im geoff bennett. On the newshour tonight, a wartime shakeup. Ukraine replaces its defense minister amid a corruption investigation and a slow counteroffensive against russia. A national bus