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n washington. this is "bbc world news america." america's top diplomat and israel's defense minister meet in washington for talks on gaza and regional tsion we speak to the daughter of an american couple who were among jjgr1300 people who dieat the the fiagains fentanyl. the u.s. treasury undersecretary tells the bbc about the impact of fresh sanctions on drug cartels. ♪ caitriona: hello. ws america." welcome to "wo the israeli defense minister is here in washington for talks on thwar gaza, and on escalating tensionswe -- with hezbollah.

he reiterated his country's commitment to bring back hostages from gaz he urged continued close cooperation with the.,despite rc the def minisr metta cia chief bill burns who has been a key plaea-fire negotiations between israel and hamas. he then held talks with u.s. secretary of state antony blinken on a wide range of issues, according to the departments spokesperson. >> number one, our ongoing commitment to israel's security. number t, the importance of israel developing robus realistic plans for the day after the conflict. plans that include a path toward governance, security, reconstruction. we have been working on the same ideas with partners in the region and engaging in conversations with israel. we think it is important israel put forward its own ideas. he will emphasize the need to avoid further escalation. he will, as always, emphasize

the need to improve humataan access where we ha seen somewhat of a slowdown in access in the south. the secretary wi emphasize to the minister we want to see that situation reversed. he will hope to hear concrete commitments to work on that problem. caitriona: he is scheduled to meet secretary of defense lloyd austin to stay and the national security advisor on wednesday. the visit comes against the backdrop of continued hostility in different parts of the middle east. in, israeli strikes on monday killed 11 palestis. israel has not commented on that strike. it diday an overnight strike killed a senior hamas commander. on israel's border with lebanon, tensions are growing between israel and hezbollah. primminister netanyahu say forces based in gaza may be mobilizedorth, warning of a full-blown war between the two des.r middle east reporter has more on those tensions and on mr. gallant's visit to washington. reporter: there were three issues the israeli defense minister will be discussing with

senior officials, u.s. officials. both tonight and over the next couple of days. they are what happens next in gaza? we have been hearing from benjamin netanyahu, in his words, the intense phase of the fighting is coming, but the war is not. also, what is going to happen with the cease-fire? the cease-fire laid out for three -- the three phased proposal by president biden severaweekgo saying that was an israeli proposal. what mr. netanyahu has been saying goes against that. he says he has no time for a permanent cease-fire. that goes against what potentially this proposal would sult in. the third issue is israel's northern border. we have been hearing in recent days a sense from hezbollah and from of the israeli military and government that things, which have been escalating, that they could get much worse. that has created a sense of concern and fear, that these

skirmishes that have been going on for months could now blaze out into an all-out conflict. which would have a huge consequence for israel, lebanon, and the wider region. caitriona: more1300eople arnown thave died after taking part in this year's hajj pilgrimage to mecca which took place during an extreme heat wave. officials say more than 80% of thosre unregistered, meaning they did not have official permits to be there. and that some of those were elderly or seriously ill. nearly half a million pilgrims retreated by medical teens as -- and soaring temperatures of more than 50 degrees celsius. our correspondent is in cairo and has been speaking to some families of the victims. reporter: according to many accounts we have heard, it was incredibly hot. over 51 degrees. that has caused heat exhaustion among many pilgrims, especially those who do not have official

hajj permits they had no accommodation, no transportation, no medical care, not enough food and water supplies. because usually, if you are part of an official hajj convoy, you stay in air-conditioned tents, you have buses to drive you around between the holy sites. but unregistered pilgrims do not have any of that. even the official ones, they have been complaining about lack of organization, not enough toilets, not enough emergency services and ambulance cars. obviously, there was a problem. not just for unregistered pilgrims, but even who went there on an official hajj visa. caitriona: among the hundreds of pilgrims who have died at hajj, two american citizens from maryland. their families say the couple traveled with a tour company registered in the state.

the family realized the company did not provide proper food supplies or transportation, leaving the couple to walk in the searing heat for nearly two pilgrimage. the couple went missing. after learning of their deaths, the families say they asked the saudi government to hold their bodies for a probable barrier, but were told -- burial, but were told soon afterwards that they were already buried. the family plans to locate the burial site. i have been speaking to the couple's daughter. thank you for speaking to us on bbc news. first of all, let me extend our condolences to you on the loss of your parents. you might tell us how important was it for them to make this pilgrimage to mecca, to promote -- to perform the hajj? >> it was very important to them. this is something they wanted to do their entire lives and the fact that they got the opportunity to complete it, they were just beyond excited. caitriona: it is quite an undertaking. it is quite expensive as well.

saida: it's very expensive. they saved a while in order to be able to make this journey. they paid $11,500 per person. caitriona: what sort of conditions your parents face when they arrived in saudi arabia? saida: a lot of things that were promised to them were not provided. a lot of the transportation was not provided. they went a few days having to find food for themselves, even though the package was supposed to come with all-inclusive everything. food, meals, everyday. t it got to the point where they had to buy a rice cooker d so of the people in the group came together to make food for themselves. caitriona: obviously, we have heard of extremely high temperatures throughout these few days. when you were speaking to your parents, did they tell you about how they were coping with that? saida: they did appearhey said they were taking it a day at a time, making sure they were hydrated.

120 plus degrees weather is something that would be unbearable for a lot of us. they were5. i can imagine that with the. millions of people that were there and the walking, it was probably a lot forhem. caitriona: the saudi a hard fees had said 80% of those who died, more than 1300 people have lost their lives at this point. they said 80% of them were not traveling with tour groups that have the correct registration or the correct visas. do you know about your own parents situation? what their method was? saida: unfortunately, my parents were in that 80% pool. caitriona: what was the last conversation you had with your parents? saida: it was actually via text messages. my mom, the last message she told me, she missed my call and i missed her call.

she texted me and said, i'm so rry, my love, we have been walking for over two hours since you texted us, shaking my head that was the last message my moth ever sent me. caitriona: and how did you come to hear the news that both of your parents have passed away? saida: someone from the group who was also on the pilgrimage notified my grandmother. and i was able to confirm it with the counselor general's office in saudi arabia. caitriona: so many families are going through the same heartbreak that you are far away from their loved ones. and in line with islam, there was a quick burial. wh do you know about your own parents burial? saida: honestly, unfortunately, it is a lot that i don't know. the consulate general office advised usoday that they were able to locate the name of the cemetery. but they are not able to tell us

exactly where in that cemetery they were buried. so no plot numbers, the day they were actually buried is unknown. they don't have their personal effects that were on them at the time of death, their passport, cell phones. it is a lot of questions. and we are looking to find some answers. caitriona: cap must be very distressing for you. are you going to be able to find those answers you are looking for? saida: the consulate general's office advised us they are working on it. the etc. government did -- the saudi government did open it on sunday. they were closed for the holiday while this was occurring. we are trying to be patient, but we just hope that those answers that,. . we get those answers. caitriona: do you have any particular message for the saudi authorities at this time? saida: no. i just hope they support us because we do plan on traveling

to saudi to locate where my parents are buried. and offer our own prayers and respects, even though we are not able to physically bury them ourselves. i just hope that in the future, they crackdown on travel agencies who are taking money from people wanting to complete the hajj pilgrimage, and they are fraudulent and stealing their money. caitriona: ok. well, we will leave it there for the moment. saida wurie, thank you for speaking to us on bbc news. our condolences to you on the thank you for talking to us. saida: thank you v much. caitriona: the humanitarian organization doctors without borders warned on monday, that access to health care is in jeopardy in sudanfter me than 14 mo o war. this comes after one of the psparalitary rapid support force attacked a maternity hospital killing a pharmacy worker. functioninhoitals in the area.

a untry that has been tornin ap-- for more than a year of brutal civilar catastrophic humanitarian consequences. ahead head of the u.n.'s children agency, catherine russell, says sudan is one of the worst places in thrl for children. russelspoke our correspondent in naibi on her way to visit sudan. >> sudan is definitely up there for a couple reason dispcement of children anywre in world. we are sg real numbers and consigning members of children suffering from malnutrition, including the wot form of malnutri, which is so fear acute malnutrition which kills children. almost all children here are out of school. it is taken as a direuaon chin. cod die of starvatio tulaon, 2., end of the year. ishere already a famine incident? catherine: famine is one of

those things where it has to be process., and there is al i think the clear answer is that there is not enough food for many people, and many people are on the verge of■x starvation. we are at the brink of famine. whatever that means there the reality is people are suffering. thchalngarianldn'. entities and organizations like unicef is we need to have access to p so at wca them t help ey need. repoero you ink the two sides are using starvation as a weapon of war? catherine: it's hard for me to save. i don't know what their it is 100% a me fa-mne. a man-made problem here for sure up there there is no question about that. thchalt't ve the or the access, it's that we can't get intohe peowho ne rnings about hunger, starvati and famine incident for a while.

is there a tping poi? pot of noeturn, whepeople start to die of starvation in mass numbers? catherine: fame does not happen oight. unfortunately,e walk up to it and once it hits, it is very hard to turn it around. we need to act now. it is going to get worse. you can always eventually make ress o something. nothinis completely impossible. for individuals, babies, children w are starving now, who are huny, who are severely malnourished, it will be too late for them. caitriona: the u.s. fhting a growing fentanyl epidemic. the dangerous drug accounted for the mority of or 81,000 overdose deaths frynthetic opioids last year, according to the center for disease control and prevention. that never continues to surge every year. a recent u.s. house report found fentanyl is the leading cause of death for americans aged 18 to

45. china is the world's leading producer of fentanyl's ingrednts. acrding to that report by the house committee on the chinese communist party, that is where the ingredients are originating from. mexican drug cartels are responsible for trafficking the dangerous drug. u.s. treasury secretary janet yellen has unveiled sanctions against eight mexico-based members of a powerful drug cartel. the latest effort to stem the flow of illegal drugs. sanctions were announced to help banks identify suspicious activity related to the fentanyl supply chain. discuss all of this, i'm joined by brian nelson, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the u.s. treasury department. thank you for joining us. since the year 2000, one million americans have died from drug overdoses. the opioid epidemic costs this country $1.5 trillion every year. what practical impact will these latest actions have? brian: thank you for the question.

as you rightfully framed it, this is such a critical priority for not only the treasury department but across the administration. so many americans have died in so many communities have been devastated by fentanyl and other synthetic opioids for a number of years. from our perspective we try to get both inputs. the supply, as well as the demand. treasury primarily focused on the supply side. the way we do that is we designate individuals who are part of the chain, whether they are the drug traffickers themselves, the suppliers of these precursors, to all of the financiers who participate in providing for the capital as well as the profits. and as we can freeze those funds, that gives us an opportunity to make the trafficking of this terrible drug much harder. caitriona: what can these individuals not do then as a result of the sanctions? brian: one, by designating an

individual, their capacity to use a u.s. financial institution is blocked. if they have money or assets in the united states, they can't access those funds, that would be use for operational capital to traffic these drugs. or to have a business like any other business. they are trying to generate profit. by designating these individuals and identifying them as part of a transnational criminal organizaon, we can stop them from having that capacity on operational capital and the ability to generate profit. caitriona: these latest eight individuals are part of a mexican drug cartels. what can you do about china, considering much of the precursor is mafaured there? brian: with respect to china, we are doing a number of things. we have designated both chinese money laundering organizations and entities associated with those cml oh's under our u.s. executive authority.

we have also focused on identifying and designating those companies in china but are selling these precursor drugs into mexico that provide the basis for these opioids synthetic drugs, like fentanyl, that are being trafficked into almost as importantly as a foreign engagement. we are working directly with china in the context of a counter fentanyl -- counter narcotics working group, as part of a coalition of u.s. government agencies to share information and see china have the capacity to take action within their domestic system to prevent these precursor drugs from leaving china and going into fentanyl flows. caitriona: if you are working with the international partners to cooperate, are there some countries who are prepared to turn a blind eye and don't want to cooperate? brian: the new countering narcotics working group is a result of the conversation that president biden and president xi

had at the end of 2023 in november. that really created the framework for this conversation. secretary yellen has been to china multiple times. she was just there in april. in that context, we agreed to work on money laundering. we have to follow the money and the money generates operating capital for this type of criminal activity, as well as tells us how to identify these networks of bad actors who are participating in this. caitriona: a lot of these policies are by using sanctions as a foreign policy tool. are we likely to see a further round of sanctions against russia? are they effective? we have seen russia making new partnerships with china, with north korea. brian: we think our economic sanctions are incredibly effective, and indeed, a lot of the time, my job is trying to figure out how to make them as effective as possible. with respect to russia, we are focused on restricting their capacity to generate revenue in

support of this horrible war in ukraine, as well as getting after the things they need for the battlefield. all of the components that a lot of which they have to get from places like china, because a lot of those components move through china, oth jurisdictions. really focused on the company's facilitating that trade, and talking directly to foreign partners and allies about how we can better do that. caitriona: lots to talk about this where we are out of time. brian nelson, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. thank you for joining us. let's turn to other portant news now from around the world. so san, king charles sister, sustained a minor head injury and concussion at her estate on sunday. the cause of the injury is unconfirmed. sources for just the concussion they have been caused by a horse accident. according to buckingham palace, the princess royal is expected to stay in hospital for observation, but is anticipated

to make a swift recovery. more than 20 people are dead. including, an orthodox priest and 15 police officers after a coordinated attack across two cities in russia's southern region. the gunman targeted a synagogue, a church and police post in what russian authorities are calling a terrorist attack. the attack is the second in the last three months. at least 47 deaths have been linked to severe flooding in a chinese province. it triggered landslides and flooding, causing more than $1 billion in damage to buildings and roads. weather forecasters warned the heavy rain will continue through the week. at least 22 people were killed in the large fire early monday that broke out at a lithium battery factory near the capital of soul. speaking after the incident, a local firefighter gave more details. >> including the first victim and 21 missing people out of 22, we have recovered a total of 22

bodies and send the body to hospital funeral homes. a factory official told us of one person who was unaccounted for. we could not confirm with the person, or inside the factory. the rescue workers are going back into search for the person. caitriona: south korea's president visited the site after the explosion. he spoke to authorities urging them to thoroughly investigate the cause of the blaze. fire appears to have started after batteries exploded, while workers were examining and packaging them at the factory. a reporter in seoul told us most of those killed were chinese nationals. >> 22 people compounded, and among those 22 people, most of them are foreign nationals. most of them are chinese nationals. initially, the fire started at

10 a clock a.m. in the fire brigade went to the place. the report was saying there was one deaf and 20 people missing. it turns out the massive fire encompassed the entire factory. it is a massive factory area. it started at the second floor of a three-story building. as you can see the pictures, the fire became a massive fire. in the afternoon, the fire brigades found more bodies. turns out there are more than 20 people that are dead. the fire has been almost extinguished, according to authorities. ill, one person is missing. authorities are still looking for. the missing. . they don't know whether the person is inside the factory at the moment or outside the factory. because they are just saying they lost contact. operations are still ongoing.

caitrion the cargo ship which caused the collapse of a baltimore bridge this year is finally leaving the city. they lost power and crashed into the francis scott key bridge in the early hours of march 26. six construction workers died and investigations are underway into why the ship lost power and veered off course. 984 foot container vessel is headed to norfolk to remove the remaining containers on board, and to undergo further repairs. more than a dozen foreign sailors stayed on board after the incident for three months. the ships management companies as most of them have returned home, but four of them will stay aboard for now, helping with the ship's movement to norfolk. remember, you can find out all about the date's news at our website, bbc.com/news. keep a check of what we are doing on your favorite social media platform. i am caitriona perry. from the team here, think you for watching "world news america."

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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. >> good evening. i'm jeff bennett. on the news hour tonight, is prime minister says the intense phase of the work in gaza will end soon as israel and the u.s. argue over weapons deliveries. a cyberattack on a software provider disrupt