darkest days of the delta, but a beyond human control. the words of saudi arabia's top religious scholar on the hajj stampede. it's good to have you along. you're watching al jazeera live from london with me, david foster. in the next 30 minutes, u.s.-trained syrian rebels hand over ammunition and equipment to a group linked to al qaeda. standing room only as the catholic pope presides over mass in philadelphia, the final stop on his u.s. tour.

and nigeria's military says it's making gains and has taken back control of another town from the armed group boko haram. starting this program in saudi arabia where the country's most senior religious scholar says thursday's stampede during the hajj in mecca was, quote, beyond human control. saudi arabia says the death toll is now risen to 769, and another 934 muslims were injured during the annual pilgrimage. the king ordered a review of how the hajj is organized. some pilgrims blame the stampede on road closures and poor management. our correspondent omar has been covering this incident. he himself is on his pilgrimage, to saudi arabia, and this is

what he told me a little earlier on. >> the ground mutaf representing the highest authority in the kingdom, but the ultimate power lies in the hands of king solom solomon. they ordered a review into all the hajj plans to go further. to me i read into this he's not quite happy with what happened. in terms of what the graund mufti said what triggered a statement like as muslims, we do believe in fate and destiny, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't investigate a tragedy like tha:. he was trying to defend saudi arabia after the stampede. there are calls by iran and other religious scholars to have the hajj organized by a number of islamic states, so i think

that's why it triggered him saying what he said but he said the investigation is going to go ahead. today there's a press conference by the saudi health minister saying that the investigation is going to continue and will be transparent and declared within a few days. the pentagon has had mitted that u.s.-trained fighters in syria have handed over ammunition and equipment to a rebel group linked to al qaeda. the unit of the new syrian forces surrendered 25% of their u.s.-issued pickup trucks and ammunition to al nusra front, which washington designates a terrorist organization. it's part of a $500 million program aimed at training 5,400 rebels a year to fight syrian government forces. in july the first group of 54 u.s.-trained fighters were attacked by al nusra. 70 fighters were sent to syria

last week. andrew taylor, a senior fellow at the washingtington institute near east policy says new future in syria must involve the removal of president assad. >> the announcement of the turnover of weapons, of course, was a major disappointment, but not exactly surprising. this is not the first time that these forces have had to contend with al nusra, and it's oftentimes that weapons are moved into syria do have to be handed over to certain groups for safe passage. more bad news for the train and equip program, i'm afraid. i think any solution in syria, a whole country solution has to have assad stepping down. if we want to accept that syria is a divided country, then perhaps there would be something else, but the longer assad is there the longer syria is divided i'm afraid. pope francis has landed in philadelphia for the final leg of his u.s. visit, and he began by celebrating mass with 1600

people calling on the church to place a greater value on women. he has reject the idea of ordaining women in the past. pope francis is also going to attend the world meeting of families conference where he will speak in support of catholic families. more than 1 million people likely to attend his outdoor mass on sunday. >> translator: during these days of the world meeting of families, i would ask you in a particular way to reflect on our ministry to families, to couples preparing for marriage, and to our young people. i know how much is being done in your local churches to respond to the needs of families and to support them in their journey of faith. >> let's go to tom ackerman, my colleague live in philadelphia. i know, tom, the crowds are already enormous, we're talking about a million on sunday.

the pope is turning his attention away from the politics that he aimed at world leaders and more generally towards his flock. >> yes. right now at this hour he's meeting with 150 seminarians just outside the city, and this is one note of his concern for the rank and file of the catholic church in the united states. even though the population has slightly increased, the roman catholic church has slightly increased by 1% a year, largely because of -- due to the hispanic population, the clergy, the priesthood has declined by a third in the last couple of generations. there simply aren't enough priests in the united states to service all the churches. as a result many churches and schools have suffered as a result because of increased

teach the teachers in catholic schools. that's just a concern that he's concerned about. he talked about that in his homily, in his sermon just a few minutes ago right here at the cathedral basilica of st. peter's and paul. no doubt he will repeat that in private meetings with the bishops, also one of the events that he's presiding over right now. later in the afternoon he'll be talking about the larger issue of freedom of religious as well as immigration when he speaks to the largest crowd to date in philadelphia. that will be in independence hall and outside independence hall, which is just at the other end of the benjamin franklin parkway, the grand boulevard of philadelphia, which, of course, was the place where the u.s. declaration of independence and constitution were adopted more than 200 years ago. he'll be speaking from a electric lectern, a simple

wooden used by benjamin franklin used years ago to deliver his speech gettysburg that has reference to religion and god and peace. we'll hear all the themes that the pope has touched upon in the course of these several days in the united states. once again, summing it up in that last speech at independence hall. david. >> thank you. china's president xi jinping promised $2 billion for a development fund to invest in poor countries and help to fight global poverty. xi made the announce during his first ever address to the united nations and said beijing would step up investment in the countries by as much as $12 billion by the year 2030. >> translator: looking for the future, china will continue to

take a right approach to justice and interests by putting justice before interests and joining other countries in the concerted efforts to realize the post-2015 development agenda. china will establish an assistance fund with an initial pledge of 2 billion in support of develops country. china will increase investment in the least developed countries aims to increase the total to $12 billion bo by 2030. >> this sounds entirelial try wistic. as ever with china, it pays to read between the lines, because their investment in these least developed countries has been pretty huge in the past. is it going to continue that way, or is this something entirely different? >> reporter: well, we know that china is africa's largest trading partner. they have a very vested interest in what happens in the

developing world. a vested interest in keeping those relations strong, and countries like china and the united states have been criticized by the developing world for doing the most to pollute the environment, to exploit countries, and causing the problems that they are left to deal with. so this is an answer to some of that criticism that we're hearing at the united nations today. as you mentioned, a pledge of $2 billion to help developing countries institute sustainable development agendas on top of another $3 billion that was announced in washington, d.c. on friday to help poor countries cut their carbon emissions. china also announced on friday that they were forming the largest ever carbon trade market in their country, a cap and trade type arrangement. this is significant also, because china, along with the united states, are the two

countries that pollute the most in the world. so perhaps you're right to be a little cynical, but it's considered a very significant pledge here, $5 billion total towards helping the developing world with plans to grow that to 12 billion in the near future. >> inquiring rather than cynical, kristen the man on our screens at the moment with xi jinping, the president of the united states is going to appear at the general assembly pretty soon. anything interesting from him, would you say? >> reporter: >> i think the fact that president obama is coming here to the united nations to speak at the sustainable development conference ahead of his speech to the general assembly suggests that he may have some big announcements to make. he pledged $3 billion for the international green climate fund.

he also just? also finalized a clean power plant to reduce the emissions by 32% below the 2005 levels, he's pledging to do that by 2030. the united nations is just he can statistic about that. the coming together of china and the united states the two biggest polluters set the stage for the climate conference that take place in december in paris where the united nations is hoping world leaders will finally be able to agree on a meaningful and universal carbon agreement that has been elusive auto far. that remains to be seen. >> we'll be there to hear this. thank you very much indeed. kristen. at the u.n. elsewhere at that organization u.s. secretary

of state john kerry is at a meeting with the iranian foreign minister. this is the first time they've gone together since they earlier talked about the nuclear deal. mr. kerry says the u.n. meeting is a chance to make head way in resolving problems across the middle east. >> i view have week as a major opportunity for number of countries to resolve the issues in the middle east. we need to achieve peace and a way forward in syria, in yemen, and the region itself. i think there are opportunities this week through these discussions to make some progress. >> you're watching al jazeera. good to have your company. stay with us. we're off to japan after this break to go underneath and into the underworld where authorities are moving in on tokyo's criminal gangs.

only on al jazeera america.

>> al jazeera america primetime. get the real news you've been looking for. at 7:00, a thorough wrap-up of the day's events. then at 8:00, john seigenthaler digs deeper into the stories of the day. and at 9:00, get a global perspective. weeknights, on al jazeera america. in the headlines, saudi arabia's most senior religious scholar said that thursday's hajj stampede was beyond human control. they have revised the death toll up to 769. the u.s. defense department has admitted that u.s.-trained fighters in syria have handed over ammunition and equipment to a rebel group linked to al qaeda. pope francis is in philadelphia, and he's been holding a mass on the final part

of his u.s. tour. croatia has recorded it's largest daily influx of refugees since the european crisis began. nearly 10,000 came into the country on friday. now croatia has licfted the border blockade and is letting cars and trucks in through serbia ending a week-long standoff. the refugees go through croatia after hungary constructed a fence along the border with serbia to block their path. hungary's policy of arresting and criminalizing refugees through a new court system may actually be in breach of the geneva convention. laurence lee reports from the court in skigit near the hungary/serbia border. >> reporter: many refugees are by now settling in western europe, but for others it is this place deciding their future. in the courts we weren't allowed to film the man sitting opposite

the judge. the judge read back to him the journey he had described to the police. he's a syrian kurd called hasan. he left his wife and kids behind and got himself smuggled through bulgaria to the serbia/hang reborder on the way to germany. hasan told the judge the smugglers said it was okay to go through a hole in the fence, but of course he was promptly arrested under hungary's new laws and finished up in this court inside a police compound. 200 cases like his already, and almost 1,000 more waiting to be heard. the establishments of this criminal court comes against the backdrop of any number of countries and human rights organizations denouncing hungary's new fence as deeply immoral and potentially illegal as well. among reby contrast would argue through they see courts it can lend the fence a source of moral and legal legitimacy. is any of it legal?

this lawyer representing an afghan criminalized in the court thinks the rules the judges have to follow agreed not by experts or by parliament but by the ruling party are deeply politicized and in breach of the 1951 convention on the status of refugees, which demands that they are free from risk. >> translator: they didn't put the law before the parliament. the opposition had no chance to challenge the decree. it was the government's decision to expel refugees to serbia is safe. >> reporter: in court hasan was told to stand. hasan said the judge you will be expelled from hungary and sent back to serbia. the defense lawyer he'd be given had to explain his options to him, but in this room things like pity or sympathy are nowhere to be seen. hasan is a criminal first, and a refugee second. all the while hungary extends the fence across croatia into romania. soon the border with slovenia as

well. the courts will no doubt be extremely busy. laurence lee, al jazeera, sigit in southern hungary. switzerland has temporarily banned the sale of cars with volkswagen-made dice sell engines. they admitted to cheating on emission tests in the united states. they can detect when they're tested and changin' performance to improve results. a number of houthi rebels have been killed in yemen after a rocket attack on the central city of marib. the commander there and a sergeant in saudi arabia's border guard were killed in heavy gunfire near the yen machine any border on friday. they have continued air strikes in sanaa. the residents here are searching through rubble that was following one particular attack. saudi arabia has been fighting houthi forces in yemen for six

months. dozens of soldiers have been killed and thousands have been killed in ground fighting and air strikes. an alleged member of the armed group is to be prosecuted at the international criminal court for destroying monuments in timbucktu. he's the first suspect to be charged with destroying monument in the unesco world heritage city. they attacked several religious sites in mali in 2012. it said they were being worshipped as idols. nigeria's military says it's making gains against boko haram in the north of the country. banki in northeast niger gentleman was the latest taken retain on friday. al jazeera is one of the few international journalists on ground. he went to borno state in the

north and this is what it saw. >> reporter: the nigerian military says it's gaining ground every day on boko haram. it's conducting mopping-up operations driving from the capital to the front lines in the northeast of nigeria. it's easy to see the relief on the faces of many nigerians. coming up here hundreds of kilometers and we've driven for 16 hours nonstop to be here, and people are relieved and people have started to come back to their farms and homes. although some of the areas are not particularly safe for people to return en masse. that's why the nigerian mopup operations are being done for people that have fled their homes. right now the military is saying that the boko haram side is surrendering in the hundreds because of the pressure being applied on them by the nigerian forces and from neighbors countries from cameroon, niger

and chad as well as bendi republic contributing to the effort. the chief of army staff said they're also gaining much more on boko haram through intelligence and also the level of cooperation between these countries to defeat boko haram is very high. they foresee that probably in the next one month they will end the insurgency in northeast nigeria. the leaders of burkina faso will have assets frozen for three months. three political parties will be denied access to their funds. burkina faso's government was re-installed on wednesday. police in thailand are confident that the two men arrested in connection with with august's deadly bombing in bangkok are directly responsible for the attack. the two men were taken to the scene of the crime on saturday, and one of the suspects

reenacted the attack. 20 died at the shrine. the police had previously said neither of the men was a main suspect. singapore will take legal action against five indonesian countries it blames for causing high levels of air pollution. it's been ungefled by this thick smog for more than a month, a problem that occurs every year during the dry season and is caused by forest fires in indonesia, used to clear land for palm oil and rubber plantations. japan's infamous ukuza beganing could go through a shake-up. reports of turf wars race questions about the strength and influence of the organized crime groups that used to tom nature so many parts of japanese society. more from robert mcbride. >> reporter: in the shadowy world. ukuza, the heartland of japan's red-light district, it threatening to be the biggest

upheaval in years, and it centers on this man. he's the boss of japan's biggest crime syndicate seen here being released from prison several years ago. unhappy with the way he is running the organization, it is reported that a rival faction has now broken away. this writer has studied the gang for more than 40 years. the fear is it could have an impact of other groups because of the fractured nature of the yakuza right now. >> translator: the influence is diminishing. the split is happen inning this climate, and there's a dang it could lead to a turf war between the gangs. >> reporter: part of the problem is the link to organized crime and the wider economy. heavily dependent on the japanese economy, the yukuz a's heyday was in the bubble years

of the 1980s and in the leaner years the times are tough with the number of members falling to an all-time low of 60,000 and more at the government level are designed to make it even tougher. any companies found to be doing business with organized crime gangs face being prosecuted and publicly named. it is part of a countrywide attempt by law enforcement to crack down on the gangs. he has seen previous efforts come and go. >> translator: the police have said they're going to destroy them since 1965, but the fact they still exist as the biggest organized crime syndicate shows how sloppy their methods are. >> despite their current problems, it also shows they have a knack for survival. rob mcbride, al jazeera, tokyo. >> newly released pictures from outer space shoi china completed

construction of a runway on a disputed island in the south china sea. these satellite images show the landing strip in the disputed spratly islands. it's a source of tension between chiez and its neighbors and was referred to yesterday by the u.s. president in his press conference with xi jinping. the spanish region of catalonia goes to the polls on sunday that some see as a referendum on independence. the president is planning a formal split from spain if pro-independence parties win enough of the vote. jenna hall is there. >> reporter: the culture of catalonia, distinct from the rest of spain, suppressed during decades of dictatorship, it's a region that still feels its voice is often ignored by madrid. will sunday's regional election seen as a referendum on

independence change all that. >> i will vote yes, because i think it's a great opportunity for us, the catalonia people to be heard. >> reporter: the spanish state has thrown its full weight behind the opposition, warning of the dire consequences of catalonia independence, possible expulsion from the euro and the european union. >> translator: we don't want to leave the european union. we want our pensions to be guaranteed, and we want a future for our children. >> reporter: industrial power, tourist hot spot, and export hub. catalonia account force a fifth of spain's gross domestic product. a long-standing grooevengs here is that the region pays in far more than it gets back. given all the scarce stories out of madrid and elsewhere, is catalonia, do you think, rich enough to survive as an independent state? >> if the question is would spain be able to impose very heavy costs in catalonia in the

case of dramatic breakup, let's say, the answer is yes as well. of course, that would not be good for spain either, because it has a lot there that would have hard times paying back without catalonia's consumerism. >> reporter: if catalonia does become an independent state, maybe this will be its army in red and blue. barcelona football club has dp nationalistic ped degree where for years the language was freely spoken safe from general franco's police. when barcelona play here at their home ground, the fans go wild, of course. they scream for their idols. players like lionel messi, but something else happens here as well. they boo the spanish national anthem and unfurl banners that say catalonia is not spain. they use those occasions to cry

for independence. the spanish football federation says barcelona may be banned from the national league la liga in the event of independence, another establishment scare tactic perhaps or an added layer of abbing moneyy between two distant sides. joe joe that hall, al jazeera, barcelona. >> i'm working, surviving without being to be street. >> deconstructing. >> we're giving individuals reasons not to commit this act. >> since april 22nd, took the opportunity to show the bad side. but the young people that i'm seeing they want a chance to turn that around.