. aj journalists are pardoned in egypt. also coming up, martin wintercorn resigns as the emission scandal continues. the pope meets the president, the head of the roman catholic church is welcomed, by barack obama, at the white house. they talk about the refugee

crisi crisis. hello, jailed journalists have been pardoned by the egyptian president. they are a group of 100 prisoners who were granted pardons. none were given to the original ones. >> reporter: freedom at least for the producer and free-lance producer. >> we're going to travel the world, we're going to celebrate and we're going to party and we really hope -- our family's have suffered so much and we're so happy they took this action and released us. >> this whole nightmare is over. the whole nightmare is over. we can live like normal people and go back home.

>> reporter: the pardon is the end of a long ordeal, which began when they were arrested in december, 2013, along with a corspandant. he was appearing on an a -- australian. >> i'm feeling really -- we've been fighting for the past eight-months for this. >> reporter: they face charges, including aiding theow banned muslim brotherhood. a court sentences them to seven to ten years in prison. last january, they threw out their convictions and ordered a retrial. in february, he was deported to his native australia. they were released on bail later that month.

they were able to -- they were unable to leave egypt. it inspired global support from grass roots to heads of government. >> the issue of the journalists in egyp jpt, we've been cleared they should be released. >> reporter: the retrial was supposed to give them a second opportunity to clear their names. justice was denied, yet again. the arrest and tension damaged egypt's reputation abroad. the pardon has allowed him to close this case without threatening the independence of the judiciary. there are other staff who were convicted at the original trial. they say they will continue to fight for their cases to be thrown out. the happy closure of one

chapter. it's great to have you on, can you tell me, first, what your reaction was when you first heard the news? >> hello, thank you for having me live now and i would like to thank everybody, first, for calling for my immediate release. i'm still in a shock. i can't believe i'm home now, with my family. i'm still in a shock. last night -- right now and 24 hours ago, i was talking with family and our co-dependent about our appeal and what our plans are, but now, when we heard this, it was a family visit and i returned back and they told us that the president pardoned you, i couldn't believe it. i thought it was a joke. >> presumably, your family must

be ecstatic, what kinds of things have they been saying to you? >> my kids are telling you, no more of this bad work. when they came to visit me, they came to the same place they used to visit me before. it was so hard to convince them to leave. they are celebrating and shouting, especially my youngest son, he starts calling me daddy and hugging me and he didn't leave me at all. my children start hugging me and they don't want to leave. seriously, they don't want to leave me alone. i can't talk right now, all of them are hanging on my leg and on my bag and -- he's in my arms now. >> that's a brilliant picture you're paintings there. you had a torturous legal

process. tell us what the low point was? >> i'm sorry, i couldn't hear. >> it was awful to be in prison, you had moments you were let out and then went back in. what was the low process? >> this time, when i back -- i was sent back in prison, i don't know, it was a bit weird -- it was not hard, like the first time, because i start to realize, i understood that this is for press freedom. i will be back, i will be in the same position as other journalists who are still behind bars, fighting the same fight, which is press freedom. it was really hard, in my heart, i felt like this was a fight for every single professional journalists. we should stand strong and there are great people around the world, standing behind us and

calling for our immediate release. i just want to say -- say that we still have other colleagues still behind cennd bars, they a still going through the same odeal and their families are suffering. the fight is not over. the fight is not over. our fight will be over when every single person is out and freed. >> and, you've only just come out, what are you planning to do after all this? >> i'm planning to continue to fight for those who are still behind bars because they need help. they need help. i started to realize -- i looked at it a different way in prison, the conditions inside, some are in the heat. they are not allowed to see the sun. they are not allowed to have anything -- any normal life inside. i need time to take my -- my

family deserves a break, a big break. i think i will take my kids to disneyland because i promised them i'm taking them to disneyland when this whole thing's over and i must fulfill my promise to them. >> thank you very much. >> you're welcome. one of the seven journalists who was sentenced. she joins me in the studio now. you've still got this sentence hanging over you, haven't you? >> we do, it's a confused picture coming out of egypt because some people were saying it was just the family. they have been pardoned. it was word that it was the three journalists, so peter was amongst them. we don't know if that's the case. there's a lot of talk about the rest of us. convicts, if you like. one of the things we're hanging on to slightly is, it's a holiday in egypt today and we're

wondering whether our names may be on the list. that's wishful thinking because it could be they decided to get rid of the immediate problem, which is having two journalists in prison and we'll melt away in the background. >> how difficult would it be to do the campaign? >> i think it makes it difficult. it takes the sting out of the tail, if you like. we are planning to go to the un general assembly and make as much noise as possible about all the convictions and say you need to release and put out pardons for all of us, not just for the guys that were sent to prison. i'm guessing that the egyptian president is thinking there won't be support for us because there's nobody incarcerated.

>> how do you operate with that? >> it's risky going to some of the countries countries that have agreements of handing over somebody, convicted of terrorism, to each other. we tried to draw lists of which countries would be risky but the list is very difficult because even like greece has an extradition treaty. he was arrested and held for 48 hours, who was also convicted in egypt. when it becomes an issue in europe, the wider area and where they are friendly with egyptian government, might hand us over. those country are just as difficult to visit. it's a question as to whether you want to take the risk or not. >> no one wants to end up in an egyptian prison. you are saying you hope it's a mix up with the holiday.

but, in terms of the publicity for egypt, do you think they might try to capalize and clear the -- capitalize and clear the decks completely? >> that's what we're hoping. >> this has not done egypt's image any good. they are struggling to get on their feet. since the revolution and then the coup, what we're hoping is, is that the president has decided that this is the best sort of plan of attack, if you'd like, to get those two things back on track again. if he thinks that just releasing them is going to be enough, then, you know, where are they to say no, it isn't good enough? you can't leave this hanging over our heads for the rest of our lives. we'd like have been acquitted. if the pardon is on the table,

we'll take it. >> thank you for coming to talk to us. the acting general released this, welcoming the release of the two journalists. we're delighted for them both and their families. it's hard to celebrate as this should not have happened in the first place. they've lost nearly two years of their lives when their were guilty of nothing accept for journalism. campaigning does work and this day would not have been accomplished without you. their families and careers have been effected. we urge the egypt government to uash their cases and get on with their lives.

martin wintercorn has resigned. this is how it was announced at the company headquarters. >>translator: dr. martin wintercorn has offered to step aside. we've accepted his recognition. dr. wintercorn has no further knowledge of the manipulation of the emission. he wants to give a clear signal, he's something we respect and value highly. >> he had been with them for more than 20 years. after achieving a doctorate, he started as an engineer. he moved swiftly through the ranks, after joining in 1993, and was credited for getting the

beetle into production. he wanted vw to be the world's largest company. in 2015, they overtook toyota in global vehicle sales. rob is here with more on that resignation. >> the executives who spoke to the press from the board said they do not know who is responsible for these emission test cheating, the software that was put into the cars to defeat the emissions testing over 11 million vehicles. so, martin wintercorn, the former head of the company, stressed in a statement that he didn't know anything about it. it begs the question exactly who did it because this was not something that was done, you know, by some low-level employee, this software was put into millions of vehicles and

someone near the top or someone in a responsible position had to know something about that. still ahead on the program, relationships from saudi arabia, 200 pilgrims have gathered. in moscow, where one of the biggest mosques has opened after decades of construction work. sure, tv has evolved over the years.

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jailed journalists have been released from prison from a presidential pardon in egypt. martin wintercorn resigns as the fall-out from the emissions scandal continues. pope francis francis is on his first-ever visit to the united states. he's in washington, d.c., where he has been speaking with president barack obama. >> pope francis is overwhelmingly popular in the united states. that was clear by the welcome that greeted him at the while house. 11,000 invited guests, here to witness all the pageantry. >> he arrived in a fiat. >> your humility, your embrace

of simplicity, in the gentleness of your words and the generosity of your spirit, we see a living example of jesus's teachings. a leader whose moral authority comes not just through words, but also through deeds. >> reporter: pope francis is clearly going to try to use that authority to spur action, focusing most of his remarks on climate change [applause] >> when it comes to common home, we are living at a critical moment of history. we still have time to make the change needed to bring about sustainability and development. >> reporter: the pope doesn't need to convince the president, he already believes in climate change.

he wants to use his popularity that he needs to act and push his lawmakers to do more. >> he is following the visit. where does he go from here? >> reporter: well, right now, the pope is just finishing up, after having mid-day prayers with the u.s. bishops, meeting here at the cathedral of saint matthew, the apostle, less than a kilometer from the white house. that was his next stop after leaving the white house. in his remarks to the bishops, the pope said, regarding one of the most painful items on his agenda, the need to repent for decades of sexual abuse, his words were, i know how much the pain of recent years has weighed

upon you and i bring healings to victims and assure that such crimes will never been repeated. one other item on the agenda, that perhaps the pope is not highlighting -- the pope has spoken, in the past, about giving a stronger roll to women in the church. he has never gone as far as ordaining women as priest. police removed civil disobedience demonstrators who laid down in the path of the pope, leaving this cathedral. it was a peaceful departure by them, the police made those arrests very quietly and these demonstrators were holding placards saying that god wants women to be ordained as priests. that is probably not going to be raised by the bishops, here, certainly not the hope. he hasn't gone as far. but this is obviously, one of

the issues that is foremost among those people who want to see more reform lead by pope francis. >> thank you very much. chinese president is another high-profile visitor to the united states. he's in seattle, where he has been finalizing deals with boeing. they want to deepen investment ties. he also spoke about cyber security. >>translator: the international community on the basis of mutual respect and mutual trust must create cyber space. china is ready to set it up with the united states on fighting cyber crimes. european nations are to give an extra $1 billion to un

agencies dealing with refugee crisis. it comes a day after they pushed through an agreement on how to relocate refugees. arriving at the meeting, hungary's prime minister says they have clear-cut rules on border rules. >> they set clearly how we have to do that, so it's not a question of your intention. it's an obligation. if the prime minister will say that i should not do that and there is no need to control the border, i can find another political solution. but now, we have a clear-cut solution and they still exists

which means i have to pull it from them. jackie has been following this in brussels. >> reporter: one thing that this meeting on wednesday is to look at some of the practical measures that can be put into place to restrict the number of entering the eu or store better controls. there will be discussions about deploying new eu forces to help the police, the immigration, in countries on the front line like greece and italy who have been struggling to cope with the number of people coming in. it's a question of national sovereignty, should they be policing their frontiers or europe? a lot of controversy to be discussed. another thing will be the desire to pledge more money to whom the

refugees travel, but also crucially turkey, jordan and syria who have been carrying the biggest burden, so far, in terms of sheltering the refugees. he has returned to power after being taken hostage in a coup. t the presidents of six other areas arrived to restore the civilian government. president vladimir putin has attended. thousands were there. >>reporter: the moscow cathedral mosque. they say it's one of the largest

mosques in europe europe. there are now nearly 2 million muslims in moscow alone, in a country that has the largest muslim population. they attended the ceremony, led by president putin. palestinian leaders were there. $170 million construction cost came from a wealthy firm. the moscow cathedral mosque too ten years, but it has plans to build an even bigger one on the outskirts of the capital. in the russian caucuses, they pledge allegiance. they hope the new mosque will be seen as a vision of good.

it also represents russia's own efforts to develop muslim education. they hope that the ceremony will resonate in the middle east, especially where they want to improve their standing. >> they want to do something, arab direction, it's necessary -- general political situation, global situation. >> reporter: appreciation of the cathedral will be important. the new mosque is a vehicle that helps russia reposition itself in the middle east as it expand its military footprint in syria, a tool for negotiation, a sign of good intention. as mr. putin tries to persuade

other countries in the middle east to join his coalition against the common enemy, isil. . thousands are gathering in sady saudi arabia. the followers of islam must be together through a set of rituals around mecca. more than two million people will take part. the rituals last on tuesday. on wednesday, they praise god and ask for forgiveness. >> it is the essence of pilgrim.

they will have it validated. this is considered the pillar. we have about two million pilgrims gathered here. they will be asking god for forgiveness, blessings. by the end of the day, around sunset, the pilgrims will leave and they will continue their rituals. having two million people in once place poises a security threat. they have deployed more than 50,000 security troops to secure the area in other areas which they consider the rituals of this. they have a health hazard, you have two million people and you need to deploy a lot of medics, about 15,000 medical teams are deployed to help. they are hoping it will go

smooth and well. >> walk through all the main sites of pilgrims through mecca with a 360-degree view. more details on the website, any time of day. f . pope francis meets the president and the faithful in washington, d.c. his message calling for more work to cure the world's ills. they pardon journalists. the convictions of seven remain in place. celebrating the life of an americ american liege