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the ukrainians will use this meeting to continue to push the west to send more weapons but also to reiterate the message of theirs that this is not just a war in ukraine, this is a war being waged by russia against the world. it is not just affecting europe, it is affecting asia and north korea and russia needs to be isolated. sumi: for analysis on the story, we speak to susan thorton. she led policymaking on north korea and china. great to have you back on the program. i want to start with the pact between these two countries saying they will provide mutual assistance in the event of aggression. we heard from our correspondent. that language is vague. do you think this is a mutual defense pact? susan: we have not seen the actual agreement. we are left wondering.

i think what it means is that they will be supportive of each other, certainly in the face of aggression from western countries. whether that includes something like russia's invasion of ukraine, we don't really know. certainly we have seen the two of them supporting each other already. two countries that are the most basically isolated in the international community. and north korea has been providing weapons to russia. sumi: i know we haven't seen the text of this agreement yet, but do you think it is in the realm of possibility that you could see north korean soldiers on the battlefield for russia and ukraine? -- in ukraine? susan: i think that is pretty unlikely, actually. i would think they assistance from north korea would include things more like defense materials, weapons, ammunition as you said. we know north korea has provided artillery and missiles.

i would think in the case of ukraine, it would include things more like that. sumi: if we look at the region, what do you think the broader implications of this treaty are for security in asia? susan: it is sort of a mark of desperation on the part of russia to be courting north korea in this way. the russians used to be part of the u.n. p5 security council that was about implementing sanctions against north korea. it is really quite a departure for russia at this point to be backing away from that and thinking about vetoing measures that were brought against north korea and the security council. i think they are really looking to support each other in this siege that they see themselves under from the rest of the international community. and i think it is a mark of the pariah status of now both russia and north korea. sumi: what about for north

korea? we saw dramatic issues, this dramatic perception that putin got in pyongyang. susan: kim jong-un can make it seem to his people there and north korea that north korea is getting a certain amount of respect on the international stage. there are still international leaders willing to come to pyongyang and salute north korea, and give it status in the eyes domestically. i think kim jong-un probably needs that. his economy is certainly facing a lot of strains, and there are things he is probably seeking to get from russia, not least of which is energy and food for his economy, which is on the ropes. but also potentially military technologyor further advancement of his weapons programs. sumi: we talked about what this might mean for regional security in asia. what do you think it means for the west? we know these messages were pointed directly to the u.s. susan: it is definitely

cementing the sense that vladimir payton really has a big chip on his shoulder about the west. and is pursuing not just an invasion in ukraine and usurpation of the government in kyiv. but he really has got access against the u.s., in particular, and the west in general. about his view that we are, as he put it a neo-imperialistic dictatorship. and that it is bent on destroying russia, which seems to be what he has at the back of his mind. sumi: do you think china is welcoming the deepening of this alliance? susan: that is a very good question. china has been the other player in this triangle recently. having good relations with

russia, and also with north korea. but i think china is uncomfortable with this pairing. does not want to see this closeness, and certainly it diminishes china's leverage in north korea. sumi: susan, we have to move the conversation there. thank you for joining us. susan: sure. sumi: the united nations human rights council released a report finding both israel and hamas responsible for war crimes. commission found since october 7, israeli forces used bombs and six -- in six separate attacks on refugee camps, a school, and a market, killing more than 200 people. the report claims the heavy weaponry used cannot discriminate big -- between civilians and fighters and says their use cannot be justified. in a separate but parallel investigation,he commission found on october 7, hamas and other palestinian groups were responsible for intentionally directing attacks against civilians and committing murder, torture, and sexual violence

against israelis. speaking as a representative for israel, the mother of a 23-year-old hostage, said the u.s. report overlooked certain details. >> the forced disappearance of hostages is cruel and inhuman treatment, both to the hostages and to their family members. this reality was completely overlooked by the commission of inquiry. sumi: let's speak to a member of the u.n. human rights commission of inquiry on the occupied palestinian territory, including eastern jerusalem. thank you for joining us cap i want to pick up with the mother of the hostage who was speaking, who said these details were completely overlooked. what is your response to that? >> my first response is how much i welcome the human rights council today. from the mother, we as a human rights commission of inquiry have been trying ever since the

event started on the seventh of october to speak to victims, witnesses, and family members in israel of what happened on the seventh and eighth of october. but the israeli government has obstructed us each of the way. today was the first time, the very first time, that we had the opportunity to hear in person, face to face, from any of the families of the hostages. we heard from two today. the lady you just had a little bit of a clip from, and also the cousin of another one of the hostages. and we were extremely close to hear from them today. and we are desperate to hear from more. we have invid families of those who appeared today to meet with us and tell us what happened, to tell us their stories and that is what we want to hear. sumi: i want to talk about your report. can you tell us about the proof that led you to the conclusion that israel is responsible for war crimes? chris: so far as the gaza

development, there were three reports that were released at the human rights council today. a general overview report that contained conclusions and recommendations, and two supplementary reports. one dealing with the events in israel on the seventh and eighth of october, and the other dealing with the events in gaza beeen that date and the 31st of december. two separa reports dealing with different facts, different conclusions. so far as the operations of the israeli forces in gaza are concerned, we did have an enormous amount of evidence to consider. we did have access to victims and witnesses, and we were able to speak to them directly. even though the israeli authorities prevented us from interviewing gaza -- from entering gaza. we were able to go to egypt and turkey where effect from gaza have been treated and medical facilities and have had members of their families accompany them.

first and foremost -- we had almost 10,000 pieces of digital evidence, videos, audio. and we were able to verify those. which were genuinely related to the events over the last three months. and those that were fake or manufactured. sumi: can i jump in and asked, you are saying you have looked at an entire body of evidence, eyewitness -- exactly. can i ask you about israel's response? it's us both that it is unconscionable to equate the attacker, hamas, with those who were attacked in israel. and also that hamas is responsible for embedding themselves among the civilian population, that israel has told civilians to leave. what is your response to that? chris: two questions and i have to enter them separately. we have not dealt in any way with a comparin between the actions of israel, and the actions of hamas and other

palestinian groups. that is not the way a legal investigation work. a legal investigation does not make comparisons. it collects all of the evidence, it forms conclusions on the basis of the evidence, and applies them all to it. our work in relation to what happened in israel and gaza continued independently of each other in the sense that we are not seeking to make comparisons. if the israelis want to draw comparisons between their combat and hamas's conduct, that is their business. secondly, in relation to the embedding of hamas. whether hamas was embedded or not, and that is a matter that we are investigating, but does not detract from the primary obligation under international law for combatants in any conflict to protect civilians. israel have a responsibility to protect civilians in gaza, whether or not hamas was embedded.

if hamas was embedded, israel had an obligation to adapt its strategies to that fact. when you consider the small size of gaza, the very large population, and the population density in the territory, it was inevitable, given the military strategy of what the israelis adopted. that will result in war crimes and crimes against humanity. that is what has happened. that is a necessary result of the strategy they adopted. sumi: we have run out of time. thank you for sharing your perspective with us today. chris: thank you. good talking to you. sumi: tens of millions across the globe are facing extreme weather and dangerous heat this week from, the middle east, asia to north america. read areas on the map show warmer than average temperatures for this time of year while blue indicates cooler than average temperatures. in saudi arabia where a pilgrimage is underway, temperatures reached 51.8 degrees celsius, or 105 degrees fahrenheit this week.

the annual muslim ritual draws thousands of pilgrims to mecca where they walk between five to 15 kilometers a day. diplomats say at lea 600 egyptian nationals have died of mostly heat related conditions. the bbc has been able to confirm the deaths of 41 jordanians, 11 iranians, and 68 indian pilgrims in mecca. our correspondent has more from cairo. reporter: apparently, the numbers will keep rising because what we have so far is just the initial total. we don't have figures released by the government yet. it is a toll made by the locals who tried to find out what happened to their loved ones. so far what we know is most of the deaths are heat related. pilgrims have performed the rituals in very high temperatures that have reached as high as 5degrees celsius, which has put a lot of pressure on them and has apparently

rendered them very exhausted. the problem is this year, with unregistered pilgrims, thoseho go to saudi arabia on a tourist visa without getting the official hajj visa, hoping to catch the season, there are hundreds of thousands of unregistered pilgrims. that has put a lot of load on saudia authorities. apparently, they were not caper -- capable of that. that is why many of them have lost their lives. sumi: it is not just saudi arabia. in indiana, delhi has experiend its hottest ever june night, with temperatures six degrees higher than normal. one government hospital said it has seen 46 patients suffering from heat stroke this month alone. our south asia correspondent has more from the hospital in central delhi. reporter: we are going to go into the critical care unit at this emergency ward in this government hospital here in central delhi. if you come in, you can see half

of the patients here are actually here because of heat stroke. this particular hospital primarily sees daily -- day laborers. these are people outside, migrant workers in this heat that are working outside. they also see a lot of elderly patients who are a lot more susceptible to these kinds of high temperatures. there are people coming in and out of here every minute. this particular hospital has actually built a heat stroke unit, and they have these large baths and ice making machines so that they can cool down people's temperatures really quickly. the head of emergency medicine here told me that yesterday, the first time in his career, he has recorded a temperature of 110 degrees in a patient. sumi: in europe, several countries are battling massive wildfires and at extreme temperatures.

authorities in greece issued an evacuation order for a residence after a wild fire broke o east of athens. several regions in turkey's northwest were hit by wildfires. officials say 575 hectares of land, nearly six square kilometers, were damaged. in the u.s., much of the northeast is sweltering under a widespread heatwave, and massive wildfires are raging in the west. one person is dead in new mexico as the state battles two large blazes. the governor declared a state of emergency as the fires charred more than 19,000 acres in less than 24 hours. california is also facing multiple wildfires as the state deals with a mix o hot, dry weather and powerful gusty winds. our correspondent was near one of those fires and i asked him for an update on the situation. tell us what the situation is like where you are. will: this particular part of southern california, there is a little bit of positive news. there is around a dozen, what they call significant fires, currently in place.

there has been however an improvement in humidity and a drop in the winds. both of those factors, firefighters tell me, has helped matters here. this particular area where i am standing in, you can see the fire came storming through here. but they were able to get retardant down in one area, which made a break in the fire. it is over the ridge of those hills and further on. it is still in play. they are largely confident that they have this kind of area under control. that is not to say the entire situation in the state is under control. anything, far from it. there is a lot of work to do to get the rest of those major fires properly under control. the blaze is threatening livelihoods, particularly not lives. that is one of the other positive things. we have seen in new mexico, there are very shocking pictures coming out of a resort town there where they entire town essentially had to evacuate.

one person lost their life there. currently here, things are calmer than that, and that is the cause for some cautious optimism at this stage. sumi: this coming as this region is witnessing extreme heat. tell us how people are coping. will: the extreme heat is a problem across the region. mexico, there has been this heat down as well that has already caused so many problems in the northeast. this is a regional problem. we need to take a bigger view than just this particular area in southern california. people are doing what they can to cope with that. hydrating, taking care of old people, taking care of their animals too in this part of the world, obviously where there are farms and farming. but this is a situation that really in a sense feels like the real-time effects of climate change. this is an area of which always

goes through difficulties, in terms of wildfires are the problem is the speed and the aggressive nature of the fire season this time around. that is something that the fire chiefs and firefighters we have been speaking to say people need to learn about for the rest of the fire season. they need to take this as an early warning that things from here could potentially only get worse. sumi: will grant reporting for us that. on wednesday, communities across the u.s. are marking what comp -- what some call the country's second independence day, juneteenth. it commemorates the end of slavery in confederate states as america's bloody civil war drew to a close. on june 19, 1865, union troops from northern states reached galveston, texas. they informed more than 250,000 enslaved lack people that they were officially free. it came more than two years after the emancipation declaration clear -- cleared all enslaved people into confederate controlled areas.

juneteenth has mostly been observed by african-americans as a symbolic end of slavery, but in 2021, president biden signed legislation making it a federal holiday. it is marked as a day to celebrate freedom and raise awareness of continuing inequities across the globe. one of the activists who push to have juneteenth recognized marked this year's occasion in a special way. opal lee, the grandmother of juneteenth, completed her annual 2.5 mile walk in dallas to recognize the 2.5 years it took for the news to reach the people in texas. ms. lee was given the keys to her new home on friday. that home was built on the very same lot that her family was driven away from by a racist mob when she was 12. local businesses raised the funds to construct her a new house. incredible story there. thank you for watching world news america. you can find more of all of the day's on our website, bbc.com /news.

i am sumi somaskanda in washington. st announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james. cunard is a proud supporter of public television. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: get the free pbs app now and stream the best of pbs.

wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. xfinity internet. made for streaming. ♪ geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on the "newshour" tonight, millions face record-breaking temperatures as a dangerous heat wave scorches the midwest and east