a push to end syria's war although differences remain under the role of the president. >> you are watching al jazeera with me david foster. the pope promises victims of sex abuse by the clergy that the guilty will be punished. regional elections in catalonia could see the region break away from spain. a stand-off 2010 israeli security forces and worshippers

at the mosque in occupied east jerusalem. the syrian civil war in its 5th year and with refugees continues to go 3 to europe to escape, there is a clear and renewed diplomatic push to bring the fighting to an end. u.s. secretary of state john kerry has been meeting with the russian prime minister on the sidelines. similar efforts have been made to engage iran. russia has deployed he soldiers, we hopeons and aircraft to syria, but president putin has warned any attempt to overthrow the assad regime could lead to a failed state such as in iraq or libya. >> translator: there is no other solution to the syrian crisis than strengthening the effective government structures and rendering them help in fighting terrorism.

>> but time frame, urging them to engage in positive dialogue with the rational opposition and conduct reform. >> as you know, some of the coalition partners want to see president assad go first before they will support. >> i would like to recommend to them the following: they should send this message to the syrian people: it's only the syrian people who are entitled to decide who should govern their country and how. >> separately, iraq has agreed to share intelligence with russia's, syria and iran to combat isil. russia says it's part of an effort coordinating efforts against isil. james bays has been following developments at the u.n. you have all of the key actors with regard to the syrian conflict talking in some shape

or form, but not necessarily agreeing on the way forward. now, one of the key disagreements is on the future role of president assad. everyone says there needs to be a political solution. everyone says there needs to be a political transition, but what is the role of president assad in this? this was the comments from the eu high representative of foreign affairs, fredric a when i spoke to her earlier. >> i think it would be impossible to imagine for the future of syria as many are saying, a role for assad. but it's also true that the point is how do we start the change in goverance? how do we make sure that we manage to unite forces within syria and outside syria against d.a.s.h.? >> the question mark. >> all eyes how will be on the opening of the u.n. general assembly less than 24s hours

from now, all world leaders get a chance to speak and on monday, we are going to hear from president obama, president putin, from iran's president rhahni, the from the gulf states, the emir of qatar listening very closely, i think, to the comments on syria. could there be some diplom attic movement? however, after four and a half years of war, 250,000 people dead, not diplomats tell me they are not holding out too much hope. >> james bays there, well, france has launched its first airstrikes against isil in syria until now, france has been carrying out strikes on isil fighters but only as part of a u.s. led coalition in iraq. in a statement, francois hollande said his kuntz industry had to intervene to protect french citizens from isil and what he called the murderous bombardments of the assad. >> i am here in new york and together with my minister of foreign affairs, i will be meeting with all of the partners

and stake holders in what is called the syrian conflict. a conflict that led to some 250,000 deaths and for which ba bashar al-assad is responsible. for now and the past few months, isil has been responsible for terrible atrocities. a political solution requires that all stake holders are involved and without excluding anyone. >> being said, france considers the future of syria cannot be with bash arrest al-assad. >> any isil holds large parts of the country. al jazeera's imran khan is there and sent us this from baghdad. >> the fight against isil has slowed down over the last seven weeks. now, seven weeks ago, the prime minister promised that the battle for would commins t sn't happened. they control large parts of anbar province. in mosul, the airstrikes seemed

to have been effective in syria, which is where they say their main syrian basis, as well. so, the fight something continuing in places. it will does seem to have slowed down. this all comes as the russians, syrians, iraqis and iranianeds said they are setting up this joint military coordination unit. this military coordination has been happening for a very long time when the syrian crisis first began, it was iraqi malitias who went in to syria to support president bashar al assad. leadership came into iraq has led the fight with iranian-backed shia malitias here the russians have had a role to play. they have stepped up when the americans didn't give them the kind of weapon rethat the iraqis say they needed to fight against isil. so this military cooperation between the countries has been going on before. this is likely to be a

formalization of that process. now, are we going to see those four countries on the ground fighting against isil? >> unlikely. the type of cooperation we see will be more logistics. it will be more support and crucially, it will be more intelligence gathering. iran's supreme leader is demanding saudi arabia apologize for last week's deadly stampede during the hage. 750 people were killed in the crush near mecca, estimated 140 of those were from iraq. saudi arabia has opened an investigation into the tragedy and is reviewing safety. they said the kingdom must do more. instead of passing the buck and play, the blame game, saudis should accept responsibility and apologi apologiesgize to the world's muss let me see and ber reefed families.

people plan sys is promising restore faith in the catholic church and hold perpetrators of sexual abuse to account. the pontiff made the promise during an address in philadelphia just after he had met the u.s. survivors of clerical sex abuse. it's the first time pope francis has tackled the subject on his u.s. trip and comes ahead of his final mass which is expected to draw more than a million people alan fisher reports. despite the joy and clear ainfection for the pope, there has been a defendant shadow over his visit to the u.s. on his final day and in an address to bishops, he talked about child section abuse in the catholic church he revealed on this that tand offered prayers. >> i have heard in my heart these stories of suffering, of those youth who were sexually abused, and it continues to be on my mind that people who had the responsibility to take care of these tender wons violated

that trust and it caused them great pain. god weeps. >> it was 2002, many allegations about child section abuse became public. it is now estimated there may have been as many as 100,000 victims in the u.s. with many more worldwide and the pope, the leader of the world's 1.2 billion cathlics promised there would be no hiding place for the guilty. >> these things cannot be maintained in secret. i committee to a careful oversight to ensure youth are protected and all responsible will be held accountable. >> for many victims, they have heard this before. they say the church continues to refuse to hand over all details of any internal investigations to the authorities for financial and legal reasons, meaning the guilty go free and the victims corporate group to suffer. the pope will end this visit to the u.s. with a mass in the sentencer of philadelphia. authorities predict a million

will attend the biggest pug gathering of his visit. for many, the most important words he spoke were to the bishops. they want to see if he follows that with action. alan fisher joining us live from philadelphia. alan, because the victims support groups, one of them called snap, i think, saying this is just a publicblicity exercise, unimpressed largely with what the pope has to say. so in concrete terms, what is going to happen? >> first of all, of course, they have the issues it's been 13 years since the dam really broke on the allegations of widespread sexual abuse in the catholic church. the catholic church really hasn't addressed the issue to the satisfaction of many of those who are impacted by that. they believe that if the pope is serious, if he wants to do something about it, then it has to be taken away from the catholic church. no oversight in any investigation. they can't be involved. it has to go to private

investigators to the authorities to look through the documents that the church is prepared for years and years to pinpoint knows who were suspected of being responsible to see what evidence, to talk to the people who make complaints and then for the courts to decide if there is action to be taken. they believe that if the catholic church is involved, if it goes even as high as the pope, that people will still be waiting for justice in the years to come. so you can understand why they want to see action rather than the fact that the pope had to address this during his visit to the united states. >> the other accusation is that in a sense, he has almost brushed it away, taken it away from the church to some extents by when he had this meeting, there were victims of sex abuse from people other than clerics, from families, from just sort of criminal cases as well. it was not just focusing on cleric or sex abuse. >> at a time church will be under pressure to address all of

the issues that have been brought to them. >> involves a priest or perhaps physical abuse by a none or someone who is involved in the running of the church but was a lay member. all of those things will have to be considered by the church. the pope certainly wants to leave here in good spirits. he has had a very warm response here in philadelphia. you can see benjamin franklin parkway is filling up. they expect somewhere in the region of a million. i think they will far fall short of that the numbers were down. we are some four hours away from the beginning of the mass the pope will celebrate still a lot of spaces to be found so distance away from the state. so he wants to leave here with a smile on his face with people having warm feelings about him and about the catholic church. so he had to address the issue of child sexual abuse at some point. he did it first thing on sunday after a meeting with survivors.

the church still has a lot of work to do to reclaim its credibility when handling with this issue. i can't the pope understands that. >> thank you. thank you very much indeed. >> voting is taking place in elections that could lead to catalonia breaking away from spain. catalans proceed independence party say vict rein regional elections would give them a man date to declare independence. but the government in madrid said it would regard such a move as illegal. jonah hull reports from barcelona. >> it could we will be a good day for independence in cat loan i can't. voters have turned out in big numbers to elect a regional parliament with a coalition of pro-independence parties from the left and the right likely to win a majority of seats. they intend their voices to be heard as far away as madrid and brussels. >> we are absolutely convinced democratic man daylight that we will get today in the polls will

be respected. whichever it is going to be. i hope this is something that is going to be perceived by such as the european member states. our colleagues and the plates we want to be. >> within 18 months of a win, they say, the coalition will have completed independent institution building. it will have changed the catalan con statedtution and they will declare independence. >> madrid has been utterly incapable of responding in any positive way to what is obviously a demand of very high proportion of the catalan population. we don't know whether it's a majority or not because they sfrudz to let us hold a referendum. >> do you not believe catalans should have the right to self determination? >> i cannot say that because i think everyone has had the right to decide its future. >> why not give them a vote on the matter? >> because we have a constitution that the majority of catalons voted in the '70s.

okay? we had to respect that. it's our the history. it's our culture. it's our thing. >> confronting this popular will to secede is the government in madrid. it says the spanish constitution precludes any unilateral move to break up the union. it has used the constitutional court successful in the past to block such moves. it will continue to do so. >> other separatist movements are watching developments here it closely. >> from nevada, wales, scotland, britannia, galicia. we want cat loanians to be free. spain has only said no, no, no. >> what happens in the coming hours and over the next 18 months here could set the stage for a political and constitutional crisis in spain and possibly er afield.

joe a hull, barcelona. >> still to come here on al jazeera, tough tactics, hungarian police and soldiers employ military strategies against refugees when are trying to get in to the country. swarttralian holiday makers get a nasty surprise and the ground literally open up been either them. sure, tv has evolved over the years.

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>> what do you want american's to understand? >> there's so much injustice. >> workers are being injured constantly. ♪ time to run through the global headlines. russia's president is warning

any attempts to overthrow the government in syria could lead to a failed state such as in iraq or libya. spoon issue region of catalonia, they are voting there in an election that could eventually lead the region breaking away from spain. and the head of the catholic church, pope francis has been meeting vict ims of sex abuse by members of the clergy. it is his last day in the united states. israeli police have announced men understand the age of 50 will not be allowed to worship at the alaxa mosque compound in the nix few days after an earlier stand off between israel security forces and worshippers at the site in occupied east jerusalem. palestinian groups through rocks at those who responded with rubber bullets. the area is sacred to jews, christians and muss let me see. but palestinians are worried increased visits from jewish

groups are eroding muslim religious control of the site. >> a ban on jewish visits to the site remains in place. in occupied jerusalem, we have this update. >> the situation compound is now calm about but it did remain tension. we have to keep in mind that there have been frequent confrontations between israeli security forces and palestinian worshippers inside the mosque complex for the past few weeks. at least last week in which a major confrontation during the jewish holiday of roshashana in which these confrontations between palestinian for wore shirpers and securities forces resulted in a considerable amount of property damage to the actual al axa mosque building. there is some concern that over the next few days, we could see even more confrontations. that's because there have been calls from some far right jewish

groups to try to access the compound. this, of course, is seen as very provocative by many palestinians, indeed many worshippers. >> that's why we see the kind of confrontations we have seen not only today, sunday, but in the past, as well. >> saudi arabia has denied that it was responsible for a helicopter attack on a village in yemen which reportedly left 25 dead. it was in the village on the border between near the red see. it's been reported by people living nearby and by medical personell that many of the victims were women and children. almost 250 refugees were pulled off unsafe boats in the mediterranean on sunday. the italian navy enter sefltd september 2nd votes filled with refugees. across from north africa is one of the two main ways that refugees are using to try to make their way to europe in the

current crisis. 17 refugees have drouvend off the turkish coast, a rugger dhingy. went down on sunday morning making the journey fromtie to the green island of cops. a second fence along hungae's southern border is almost finished as the country adopts a wider mil tarized strategy. lawrence lee reports. whatever else you might thing about the hungarian governments, it is nothing if not determined. at this border crossing, hungary takes no chances. their escorted through in small groups under the gaze of the police and heavily armed soldiers. >> a helicopter claimed to be combat ready as well circled overhead. those on buses are guarded by the police. those who need to use the bathroom regardless of age or sex are escorted there and back.

they waited for hours like this until hungary was ready for the next move. >> clearly, they would have no where to run even if they wanted to. it's all open fields and nothing more. all around, more military vehicles were busy laying more and more fence. of course the military components of hungary's response to the refugee crisis has got all sorts of other european countries worried about the signals it might send out but from the points of view of the hungarian governments, this is simply the most efficient way of handling the crisis or at least perhaps the most efficient way of ensuring that no refugees actually get in to hungary. >> reporter: hungary would argue it's a more organized way of handling those pass you through. do these small children with their parents really need to be confronted by big men with big guns when they have already run from war? while they are waiting would he

try to cheer them up with fruit, water or treats. if we have to, we give them a toy to help ease the tension. >> the buses are full. the convoys set off at some speed accompanied from behind by the humvees. at no point, did they take their eye off of the buses. the convoy went to the nearest rail standard of care station where they had to wait again. children wet themselves on their mother's laps but there was no getting off because the police would not let them. still some people didn't seem to mind the soldiers as long as they were heading to germany. >> like an army, government country. nots good. >> okay for you? >> it's okay. >> back in line again, police all around. the same on the platform and no doubt all the way to the austrian border. back at the checkpoint with croatia, soldiers were piling more and more roles of fence on to their carrier. others see this as a humanitarian crisis, but here, it's a siege. lawrence lee, al jazeera, on the

hungary croatia border. >> world leaders get together at the u.n. general assembly in new york. china has been criticized for i am prisoning wimsz right activists coming from u.s. and human rights organizations. >> condemnation in advance it was of chinese president chairing the young agenda on gender inequality. they should be part of the debate one of the development goals is to ensure within the next 15 years everybody has access to clean water. as part of our quote women make change series. al jazeera's spoke to rosie who set up a project run entirely by women.

men do not feel the pinch of going to get water from the river. this is a village called odessa village. the only source of water here is this river. it's very dirty, very contaminated. so we tested the water. it was full of e. coli. i had a problem getting water. came to be treated. if we get it in the facility, it will be good because most are unable run it because we don't have water. that's how i learned how to conserve. >> water for women by women. to me, what it is like. once you have water in the

housing, other things are okay. the time used to get water is reduced. the reduced time is used for development activities. these development activities within the community entirely changes the country. kenya changes the world. >> protest leaders in hong kong say they will continue demanding democracy. tens of thousands of people took to the streets calling for a greater say in how the regions leader is chosen. rob mcbride has more. >> known assem bel a square, this section of highway was the spiritual home of the movement. now, just a memory. all signs of the community that flourished here for 79 days gone on the self-styled less thnon w protests supported in support of

those being charged. still waiting to be prosecuted, the police officers filmed allegedly beating up this activist. one year on opinion polls show the hong kong police force is not quite as revered as it was. >> most of the people in hong kong now, we don't trust the police of policemen or even the legal system as well. >> claims, too, of discrimination of supporters of the umbrella movement with the alleged blocking of the promotion of a law professor at hong kong university. for those protesting as long as there is still free speech, there is a chance of democracy. >> hong kong will have a democracy. the crucial thing is keep the civil society ongoing. >> staging the counter protest, anning rehong kong rejected the political reforms. >> far from being a fake form of democracy, the pro-beijing

gruchlts incest the electoral reforms would have led to true universal suffrage. an opportunities that has now been missed. for them, the umbrella movement has set a dangerous precedent in civil disobedience. >> it also changed the mindset of some of the people, especially the youngsters. i don't know whether they will still respect the rule of law anymore. >> the occupation camps have long since disappeared. the issues that so divided this city still hang over its future. rob mcbride, al jazeera, hong kong. ask take a look at these holiday makers in australia. most likely hoping for a relaxing day by the beach. anything but. it was a nasty surprise, in fact, when a sink hole the size of a football pitch tore through their campside in queensland and down went a caravan, a car, trailers, tevenlts.

extra extraordinarily despite not being the best way to spend your holiday, nobody was actually reported as injured or missing. go to aljazeera.com any chance you have. you will get the headlines there and all of the background. aljazeera.com. >> by scientists. tonight: techknow's journey to the arctic. 13 days... subfreezing temperatures... endless sun. >> it is passed midnight right now and the sun just is not gonna set. >> climb on board the u.s.