>> more than 700 muslims die in another hajj stampede. ♪ hello there, you are watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up on the program. [ explosion ] >> isil bombs explode in a yemeni mosque. barack obama to meet vladimir putin amid tension over russia's role in ukraine and syria. plus -- >> god bless america. [ cheers and applause ] >> hope hope urges u.s.

politicians to work for the common good during an historic address to congress. ♪ saudi arabia's king salmon has ordered a swift investigation into the worst disaster to strike the muslim pilgrimage to mecca is more than two decades. the crush happened on the out skirts as huge crowds of pilgrims were on the move. there was a sudden rush of people heading down the pillars surrounded by a five-story structure, known as the bridge. our correspondent has more details. >> reporter: a second tragedy within weeks, saudi authorities say a sudden surge among a huge crowd of pilgrims lead to a deadly stampede.

hundreds died, many more were injured. rrn we were coming back, and i met my husband. the pilgrims began pushing each other. and they pushed people to the ground. i was about to die. >> reporter: they were making their way to take part in the stoning of the devil ritual. >> translator: after this painful incident, i ask the authorities to investigation the cause and submit the result as soon as they can. the investigation isn't to effect the good job authorities are doing to keep people safe in the hajj. whatever the result of this, we ask the authorities to review the plans and all of the arra e arrangements for the hajj. >> reporter: there have been hundreds of deaths from stampedes in previous years, but this is one of the deadliest in years. more than 1.9 million pilgrims

with performing the hajj this season. this tragedy has completely overshadowed the hajj this year. it put the saudis on the spotlight and raised serious questions about safety in general, and highlights the lack of safety awareness among the pilgrims themselves. >> translator: from what i can see these are the apparent reasons for the accident, a rise in the number of people, overcrowding, and an overlap of crowds, adding to that with all certainty a rise in temperatures and the tiredness the pilgrims were experiencing. >> reporter: the season started with a tragedy just days before the beginning of hajj, a congress crane fell on the

ground filling 107 people two weeks ago. the mosque and the surrounding area have turned into a construction site as part of an ambitious expansion plan. this latest disaster reinforcing the fact that hajj will always pose a challenge for the custodians of the holy sites. faiz a senior lecturer in the study of islam and the muslim world here in london, he says controlling crowds at the hajj is very difficult work. >> i think it keeps happening because the number of pilgrims in the last new decades has mushroomed from hundreds of thousands to more than 2 million people. there is a cynical assumption that when you have these numbers of people, incidents are bound to happen and if something goes wrong, immediately the casualties are going to be quite substantial. and it is very difficult for

people who have to manage these kind of logistic operations to take precautions. the only thing they can do is try to respond effectively when an emergency arises. it's very important to point out a lot of these people come from poor backgrounds often, don't speak other foreign languages, so communication problems are probably also arising in terms of getting instructions across to these people. the place where this occurred is notorious for incidents happening and -- and crowds piling up. it's the ritual stoning of the devil, it's the last ritual, a lot of pilgrims are tired and also kind of worked up, and so there's a lot of tension in the crowds, and over the past few years, it has always been here that these incidents occurred, and it's probably very difficult to have sufficient civil defense people at the right places when -- when a crowd like that surges into a very confined space. ♪

a yemeni group which has links with the islamic state of iraq and the levant says it carried out a bombing in the capitol. victoria gatenby reports. >> reporter: the attack was timed apparently to cause maximum devastation. the mosque in sana'a was packed with people celebrating the muslim eid holiday. investigators are still trying to work out what happened, but here is what we know so far. the first explosion was quickly followed by a second. [ explosion ] >> reporter: some witnesses say they were caused by a single suicide bomber who debt today inned one explosionive device and as people ran for the exit, blue himself up. others say there were two

attackers, the first detonated his explosives inside the moss, k, the second blew himself up when guards tried to stop him fr from entering the mosque. >> translator: i saw about nine dead people. i am shocked by this. i have never seen anything like it. >> reporter: the mosque belongs to the sect of shia islam, the power place for houthi fighters who control the capitol. yemen's branch of isil has claimed responsibility for the attack. >> this was a sign that this was aimed to kill as many as possible and really pack an emotional punch to say to the people of sana'a, you will not safe, we will strike you and we will hit you at anytime. >> reporter: saudi-lea coalition air strikes have targeted houthi rebels and fights loyal to former president

saleh. the u.n. is urging all sides to negotiate a peace deal, but that may not be easy. the government of president hadi said the houthis must disband. while they say they are the legitimate authority. as the battle to control yemen continues, more yemenis are dying. victoria gatenby, al jazeera. innocent gone says u.s.-lead air strikes have destroyed isil bomb-making facilities in iraq. they have launched 20 air strikes against alleged isil targets since wednesday. the u.s. military says two facilities were destroyed outside of mosul. the presidents of russia and the united states are to meet for the first time in nearly a year to discuss the situation in both syria and ukraine. vladimir putin and barack obama

were last face-to-face at a regional summit in beijing in november. they will meet on the sidelines of the united nations general assembly on monday. james bayes is at the u.n. headquarters in new york and joins us now. james certainly a lot has happened since the two presidents last met in november. do we have an exact idea of what exactly they are going to talk about. obviously the issues are ukraine and syria, but how much do we actually know about this meeting? >> well, we know the russians wanted this meeting, president putin coming here to new york for the first time since 2008, and a time when russia is presiding over the u.n. security council. they wanted to meet obama. but the fact it is so cointreau ver shall that there is a

meeting shows you how big of an event this is. their previous meetings were in 2014, but they were all very passing encounters. what is the key point of the meeting? it depends who you talk to. the russians say they want to talk about the way forward in syria. the u.s. say we want to talk about the aggression in eastern ukraine. so they both have very different agendas, and behind that, i think, is some real bought about what exactly russia is planning, not only in ukraine, but also in syria where it has sent those troops in recent days and weeks. >> indeed. >> looking at the situation in ukraine perhaps that has been more stable. and perhaps we have seen more of a push towards some kind of

resolution to the situation in syria. do you think that that might play a part in the discussions that they have over syria? >> reporter: well, i certainly think that was the case. things were looking rather good if you went back to the beginning of august. i think the problems of all of the refugees coming to europe was something that was playing on everyone's mind, and there were some meetings taking place with john kerry and his russian counterpart, sergei lavrov. but i have to say in recent weeks, again, the situation has soured. i think ever since the news that russia was sending extra military forces to syria, and the u.s. not quite sure what russia was planning with regard to those forces. i can tell you, russia as the president of security council is planning a big security council meeting on counter terrorism, wednesday next week. now they were planning, the

russians, to have some sort of statement from the security council, but i'm afraid there was very heated arguments behind the scenes, not just about the statement, but about the situation in syria. diplomats tell me there were two occupations where the russian ambassador, and the u.s. ambassador had heated exchanges. the russian ambassador saying that everyone needs to come on the same side to fight isil. and the u.s. ambassador says there can be no assad present. >> it will be interesting to see what comes out of that meeting. james thank you. lots more still to come on al jazeera, including the

spreading scandal, volkswagen admits to cheating emission tests in europe and the united states. and trying to scrape together a living among garbage, we'll meet the south africans risking their lives to make ends meet. ♪

♪ >> hello, a reminder of the top stories here on al jazeera. at least 717 people taking part in the hajj pilgrimage have been killed in a stampede. a suicide bombing on a mosque in the yemeni capitol,

sana'a, has killed 25 people. any yemeni affiliate of the islamic state of iraq and the levant has claimed responsibility. and barack obama and vladimir putin are to hold their first face-to-face meeting in nearly a year in new york. syria and ukraine will be on the agenda. pope francis has become the first head of the catholic church to address a meeting of the u.s. congress. francis received a standing ovation from politicians and delivered a speech that covered a number of contentious issues, including the current refugee crisis. he says the u.s. should reflect on its history of immigration and welcome those who need shelter. >> in recent centuries, millions of people came to this land to pursue their dream of building a future in freedom. we, the people of this continent

are not fearful of foreigners because most of us -- [ applause ] >> -- because of us were once foreigners. [ applause ] >> i say this to you, as a son of immigrants, knowing that so many of you are also descendants of immigrants. [ cheers and applause ] >> let's go to shia, a lot of

applause fore the pope. he got a standing ovation, but not everyone was standing up. what kind of reaction has there been to his comments, specifically on immigration but then the other issues he touched on as well. >> reporter: it's the usual situation, politicians try to triangulate what the pope says. on immigration clearly there were lots of clapping from democrats, what impact that will have on their policies, it's difficult to see. republican presidential nominees, republicans who don't agree with some of the pope's messages have already said look, they are not going to have any impact on their police call positions. so what we're having right now is politicians talking about the issues that the pope discussed which they agree with, and

pretty much ignoring those which they didn't agree with. there is some disappointment on what the pope had to say about climate change. there is a sense environmentalists were hoping for a really strong statement. 56% of congressional republicans don't believe in man made climate change. so they were really hoping the pope would have a real call to arms. he didn't do that. >> he did talk about other things which could be contentious, i guess, arms trade, the global elimination of the death penalties, same-sex marriage, which we know is very contentious in the u.s. right now. was this speech as hard hitting as some people were hoping it was going to be? >> reporter: it wasn't as strong as some of the other speeches we

have heard from the pope. he did have this to say about the arms trade, why are deadly weapons being sold to those who inflect bloodshed, and then he answered it, money. under president obama specific, we're at record levels for the arms trade in the united states. in fact just in the last month, john kerry announced the u.s. was going to expedite arms sales to the gulf. the pope said he was against same-sex marriage. and debate is underway right now over federal funding for female healthcare, and the pope says there should not be federal funding for female reproductive healthcare.

>> thank you. the numbers of refugees making their way into europe is growing. and tensions between individual countries is increasing. croatia has banned all cars from serbian license plates from entering. tens of thousands of refugees have been crossing the croatian border over the past week, they are angry that belgrade doesn't stop them. the controversial european union plan to resettle refugees is raising tensions further. lawrence lee reports from hungary. >> reporter: it might not seem like it, but in little places like this in southern hungry, the european vision of unity in

dealing with the refugee crisis looks like a nightmare come true. you can see the village from this piece of land. the government has been investigating whether to set up a semipermanent camp here for a thousand refugees, but it's basically a bog and even providing water would cost a fortune. for the mayor, the idea that hundreds of men from the middle east might be dumped here is a more immediate concern. >> translator: the vast majority are young strong men. on their journey they have some natural needs they haven't been able to satisfy, and there is a strong possibility that they will satisfy their needs in hungary or europe, but not in a european way. there are hundreds of little places like this across hungary and other eastern european countries which have no money or prospects. this woman thinks the refugees could end up being offered more

financial help than her baby. >> translator: they are entitled to aid. i understand refugees are in need, but i think the majority of hungarians will be really upset. ten minutes up the road is this much bigger town. in 1956 when the soviet army invaded hungary, some of the fiercest resistance to them were here. and thousands had to hundred for their lives. now it appears that a substantial part of the hungarian opinion thinks that the e.u. quota plan would put the wrong kinds of refugees into their country. that means refugees already vulnerable being placed in

places where they could be subject to attack. this recent demonstration featured signs saying hang the refugees. in this town we asked the mayor what his opinion is now of the european union. he said he would show us and took down the e.u. flag and stuck it in a cupboard. this could end up helping the growing friendship with russia. the german federal government is reportedly set to give its 16 states more than 4 billion euros next year to help them cope with the influx of refugees. the chancellor is meeting in ber len. the government previously pledged 3 billion euros for next year to help cover the states' costs. >> translator: i am deeply convinced that europe not only

needs a distribution, but a permanent system. the german government supports the proposal the european commission has made. this means we have seen a first step. and the german transport minister says that volkswagen has admitted to rigging emissions tests in europe as well as the u.s. nadine barber has more. >> reporter: as the volkswagen emissions scandal in the u.s. reverberates across europe, a shock announcement in berlin. >> translator: we have been informed that also in europe, vehicles with 1.6 and 2-liter diesel engages are affected by these manipulations. >> reporter: volkswagen is facing huge lawsuits both in america and in europe where

diesel vehicles are far more popular. vw admitted 11 million of its diesel cars kaines software that gets around emissions controls. it's not clear how many are in europe, but britain france and germany are starting their own investigations while officials in brussels want others to follow suit. >> we need to have the full picture of how many vehicles were fitted with defeat devices. >> reporter: at this center on the edge of london, they have testing for years for things like nitrogen oxide emissions. >> we started testing for fuel economy and we found there was a 17% gap between the manufacturers figures and what we were seeing. and over the last four years that's grown to 24%, similarly, we have seen the same issues

with air pollution, and so the nox results are far higher in the real world than in the laboratory. >> reporter: the european commission is calling for the testing regime to be a better reflection of real driving commissions. that's something they already have at this center, but across the continent that be mean new legislation. what is near is the damage that has been done in consumer confidence. as governments put pressure on car makers to come clean about emissions testing, the clamor for credible data is getting louder and louder. let's go to south africa now where people are risking their lives in landfill sites trying to make a living from rubbish. tania page reports now. >> reporter: another load another chance at a few dollars.

they are looking for something to recycle or wear themselves. regardless of the season, there's little cheer here. >> it's maybe close to six years i have been coming here because of -- i scavenge here just to get money. >> reporter: but he shouldn't be here. accord tolling the law, only workers employed by the municipality with the protective clothing are allowed on landfills, but he says he has got no choice. >> because we need money, seriously. we need it. >> reporter: there are at least a hundred people here like him working on this landfill site. what they are doing is illegal, but they say they have got to make a living or they'll go hungry. civil rights group says 50 out of 56 landfills it surveyed failed to meet the minimum requirements. other breaches inclues water pooling, people selling food and living here.

they have also uncovered evidence of illegally dumped medical waist and animal carcasses. >> every person has the right to an environment that is not harmful to your health or safety. >> reporter: the government says it welcomes the investigation, but the sample size is too small. there are 700 lanill sites across south africa. >> remember, we are then obliged then to work with [ inaudible ] we have to cooperate are them. we have to work and exhaust all avenues. >> reporter: what it can't seem to do is help people like this man. he sleeps amid the rubbish and dreams of better things. >> to mind maybe a good job, and maybe good money, so i can have a good family, to be somebody else. >> reporter: in south africa,

sometimes it doesn't matter what the law says, people like him do what they have to, to survive. tania page, al jazeera. much more on all of the stories we have been covering, the address, aljazeera.com. asked to sacrifice more they're asked to treat their sport as a year-round endeavor. so the demands on them are so intense that it has put them in a situation where it's like a fight or die situation. >> players earn no pay other than a scholarship to attend