♪ syria's future at the top of the agenda as the world's two most powerful leaders prepare to meet and we ask can they bridge their differences? ♪ from al jazeera's headquarters in doha, i'm sammy and also coming up, britain announces it is sending 370 peace keeping troops to somalia and south sudan, 8 dead, more than 50 wounded in a taliban attack on kunduz in northern afghanistan. one year on from mass protests in hong kong a standoff between

protesters and police once again. ♪ and russia president vladimir putin is to meet with u.s. president barack obama on the sidelines of the u.n. general assembly, the crisis in syria is likely to dominate their discussion with russia asserting its support for the bashar al-assad regime and influence and the navel base is in the port where it stationed some of the black sea fleet and russia is syria's biggest arms supplier and continues to provide the assad regime with the means to crack down on them and moscow as a financial investment with valued at more than $19 billion in 2009, russia has consistently opposed any condemnation of bashar al-assad and any

sanctions against his government as the conflict began in 2011. james base is live for us at the united nations in new york, james, is a deal coming together on syria before the most powerful countries? >> i think it's far too early to say that, sammy but i think it is true that for the first time in 18 months there are serious talks taking place. let me tell you the various things we have to watch today, in the next half an hour or so u.s. secretary of state john kerry will have a breakfast of fellow foreign ministers who are connected to syria or have an interest in syria and discussing the syria crisis then a couple hours from now is when the high-level speeches take place at the united nations and need to watch for the words of president obama who is always by tradition the host country of the united nations the second

speaker and a few speakers later we will hear from vladimir putin and very rare trip for him to the united nations i think making it clear he is coming to the united nations and not the united states because he is coming less than a day and coming straight to the building and having a series of meetings and giving a speech and a meeting with president obama and despite he came from moscow not sleeping in new york and heading straight back to the airport and other speeches is to watch iran president and more than russia the closest ally of president assad and what will president rouhini say and the gulf countries in this, the first of the gulf countries will be qatar and so all the speeches to watch and telling me high level u.n. and high level diplomates that things are in play and a lot of talks going on the russians floating the idea of a contract group, all of those who are connected with syria perhaps starting work together to try

and find a solution but then again there is the big problem, the problem that has existed for 4 1/2 years of the role of assad and some of the western countries saying now perhaps in a transition phase, first part of a transition p assad could stay in some sort of ceremonial role and be transitioned out but remember president assad has been in power throughout all of this and he has pretty much shown i think whatever the cost he is not leaving. >> i am glad you raised that point james because i know you watch this as closely as i or anyone does if you look at recents statements or speeches from europe to the u.s., turkey are you feeling basically what has changed is softening of the anti-assad coalition? >> yes, it certainly is softening because the position before had been assad most go

and we must then have a political solution and transition. now the suggestion that president assad perhaps could be part of this transition. i think the suggestion came and we know it came because of leaked documents from staffan de mistura, the u.n. envoy trying to find ways around this and diplomates say he is trying creative thinking to break the naut they call it, stopping all the negotiations about the central problem about whether assad should stay or go but just saying that he perhaps could be part of the initial part of transition is president assad going to accept that even if he is pushed by his russian colleagues to do so. some diplomates tell me no, in the en iran that would have to push him out and listening to the iran yanukovichs is going to be very interesting in the coming hours. >> james base our senior diplomatic editor and the

general assembly is due to start in about hour hours and the focus will be on syria, i.s.i.l. and refugees and among the speakers will be the u.s. president barack obama, chinese xi-ping and putin and froince and we will have full coverage of events all day right here on al jazeera. on the sidelines of the u.n. general assembly the uk announced it is sending soldiers to take place in peace keeping missions in south sudan and camp ronl faced criticism at home for not taking an active role in foreign policy. >> we have always supported u.n. peace keeping missions and vital to stabilize and help some of these countries and it's right we should play a part in terms of sending trainers and peace keepers and living up to the international obligation but we

will benefit if somalia has a future free of extremism and if it as a country can function and not drive huge numbers of migrants across the mediterranean and there is an international interest here. afghanistan heavy fighting in kunduz and an early morning raid and eight police are killed and over 50 people wounded and we are joined now live from kabul and what is the latest word on the situation now in kunduz? >> just speaking to you right now, sammy, the interior spokesperson was holding a briefing in kabul and he was saying that reenforcements have been sent to the area and they were planning to send afghan special forces and residents in kunduz have been telling us the

afghan military helicopters were firing rockets at the taliban position in three areas of the city, people heard artillery, gunfire and still on going and the army and special forces are on the way to push the taliban back from the city. the reports say that the taliban have briefly taken control of kunduz city's hospital and other government buildings. we have seen some pictures coming up, on the social media showing taliban inside the hospital, around the government buildings and there has been reports of heavy fighting on going around the hospital and they are trying to block the way for the injured people to get medical help. according to officials the road to the airport is also closed because that's the only way to get more reenforcement through

there but the road from the airport to the city is blocked and taliban has launched this coordinated attack 3:00 a.m. in the morning, at the same time taliban has closed entrances to the city and there has been reports of fighting on going. right now heavy fighting is also on going in three other districts of kunduz province t taliban have raised white flags, their own white flags in some of the seized areas near the government buildings and the taliban created check points along the highway to the neighboring province in kunduz and kunduz was the center of serious fighting between the government and the taliban this year. >> all right, thanks so much. >> yes, sammy. protesters are on the streets again in hong kong one year after the biggest protest

in a generation. tens of thousands of people took part in huge rallies to demand democratic reform and rob mcbride is with the protesters and joins us from there live now and we can still see some yellow umbrellas behind you in the streets, how strong is sentiment? >> i think several thousand people have turned out this evening and we are probably just passed the peak of 2 protest and a short while ago several hundred protesters bearing umbrellas just as they did a year ago and started moving toward the police barricade and chanting basically giveway or open the road. the police and there are many police here certainly were not prepared to do that. the police quarters are four or five deep and thousands of police in the roads here in reserve and have prevented protesters from spilling out on to this main road here.

this is where the umbrella movement began on this same day a year ago and about this time a year ago police wisely or unwisely used tear gas and 87 canisters of tear gas and saw three or four times the number of protests in the street and this is not just about protesting but remembering and one of the church groups is holding a church vigil here and has been kind of a carnival atmosphere handing out yellow ribbons and small umbrellas themselves and seems that things are fairly peaceful at the moment. >> h rob do supporters of the umbrella movement feel they have been making progress because their demands have not been met yet, have they? >> you talk to some protesters themselves and student leaders

will tell you no we didn't have an effect. if the desire was to try to see the government and give more political reforms to hong kong and clearly that didn't work and possibly they have could have been advised once they started and the big criticism is they knew how to start and occupy streets but didn't know how to end it or get the concessions they wanted from the chinese government and people and analyst and the lobby would tell you that beijing doesn't want to be seen giving away and forced to do something by people sitting in the streets. having said that it has created this culture or kinds of a cultural movement, the yellow umbrella very much in evidence and fighting democracy not for one year but decades and fighting for democracy and there is an awakening, the gini is out of the bottle and may bear at

some point in the future. >> rob mcbride. typhoon is expected to hit taiwan within a few hours, train services and domestic airline flights have already been suspended and thousands of tourists have been evacuated from islands and we are in taipei with this update. >> reporter: more than 4,000 people have already been evacuated, most of them from taiwan's outlying islands typhoon disrupted many plans for people as taiwan celebrate the mid autumn festival and bus stations like this one are operating today to try to accommodate those who are trying to go home. now, we have spoken to the mayor of taipei today and say they are as prepared as they can be but taiwan is still realing from the devastation and this was a month ago where more than eight people were killed by that typhoon alone. now the typhoon is expected to

hit and make landfall around 6:00 p.m. and many are wor worr saying it may be devastating on the city. historic visit for the u.s. addressing sex abuse in the church. spain heads for a constitutional crisis as they win a landmark election. ♪

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welcome back and let's recap the headlines now russian president vladimir putin to meet u.s. president barack obama on the sidelines of u.n. general assembly, the crisis in syria is likely to dominate discussionings, uk announced it is sending 370 troops to take part in peace keeping missions in somalia and south sudan and provide medical, logistical and engineering support. taliban forces in the northern afghan city of kunduz are reportedly closing in on the governor's compound, the worst breach of the city's defenses in nearly 14 years of war and taliban launched attack on the city in the early hours of monday morning. israeli security forces have fired stun grenades at palestinian worshippers at the compound in occupied east jerusalem and palestinians have been gathering at the compound in anticipation of increase in jewish visits to the area and it's sacred for muslims and jews

for celebrating the holiday and jews are allowed to visit but not to pray inside the mosque compound and six months in the war and second city aiden is in ruins and trying to reunite factions to help it recapture in july and further north the fighting rages on. >> reporter: the sea port city of aiden is under government control. entire areas were destroyed during months of fighting between shia houthi rebels and government troops. security forces patrol neighborhoods and most of these fighters are members of the successionist movement, a group of armed southerners who want the south to break away from the north. >> translator: we are at the palace which the houthis kept taking over and thanks to coalition they are the ones that ousted the rebels from the palace and got the security

runned to aiden. >> reporter: the president hadi has the task of united yemen divided factions but his authority has been weakened and now depends on coalition troops for securing aiden in the south. hadi's government has so far rejected calls for talks with his rivals insisting the houthis must surrender. >> the group has to understand now they have to cooperate fully with the united nation reservation 2216 and to violence and say there is no solution in yemen unless they are returned back to where we started before the 21st of september roughly. >> reporter: another major battle front, these are

government fighters trying to push the rebels out of the district they control, backed by elite army units loyal to former president saleh the houthis still hold ground, al jazeera. german prosecutors are launching an investigation into forming volkswagen vintercorn after it was revealed they had benefitted with software to cheat emissions test and volkswagen suspended the heads of research and development for the vw, audi and porch brands and put on leave until details of the emissions cheating scandal are cleared up and luxury car maker audi says 2.1 million vehicles worldwide have benefitted with the software. switzerland competition investigating several international banks to manipulate precious metal

prices, swiss and germany's bank as well as hsbc in barkleys both based in london. separatist coalition in spain's catalonia region has won landmark election and took 62 seats out of 135 in the regional parliament and if they join forces with the left wing party they will have absolute majority and allow them to pursue independence and we report from barcelona. >> reporter: it looks and feels as if nothing can stand in their way, independence hungry in full cry. >> this is insane. nothing like that has happened in europe in the last year. >> barcelona decides the future and the future is the only way. >> reporter: who will deliver it for them? a coalition of parties from the right and the left likely to include the far left with

nothing in common whatsoever except the promise to pave the way for independence in 18 months time. >> translator: we have a lot of work to do and not going to relax. we have a democratic mandate and know what it means and know how we have won, we have won against the odds. >> reporter: there may yet be trouble ahead on the road to independence not least the full weight of the spanish constitutional court deployed by the government to block ways to independence but this incredible political coalition will, in fact, have to stand together and govern. there is every possibility that in politics such an opportunity arrangement will fracture and fall, in the meantime battle lines will be drawn in the country just emerging from economic crisis that can ill afford to lose one of its most prosperous parts. >> and now in a sense that we

are i don't think there is sense of trying to separate from spain. it would not bring anything good for us. >> in the interest of the politician. >> reporter: and successionist movements will be watched closely. >> the flag and the best flag from nevada and whales, scotland, britain, and we want catalonia to be free and it's up to the people to decide that but we think they have the right to do so and spain so far has only said no, no, no. >> reporter: what happens next may constitute a constitutional crisis not only in spain but in places far beyond, barcelona. german court has found two rwanda leaders guilty of war crimes in the democratic

republic of congo and given 13 years and misoni given eight and led to forces for liberation of rwanda and it's crimes against international law and gives german courts the pour to prosecute crimes wherever they are committed. boko haram killed nine in northeast nigeria in borno state where nigeria and cameroon and niger and chad are hunting for the group and our report and reese is travelling with nigerian troops and sends us this exclusive report. >> on the front line against boko haram, for six years nigerian troops have been battling a group whose fighters have killed, raped and looted towns and villages across northeast nigeria, the last humans have been particularly important in turning the tide for the army.

>> we continue have to this in communities and villages and roots as well but they are determined and continuously of getting our strategy. >> reporter: to show us how the fight has gone the nigerian army took us on a 15-hour trip from capitol abuja to the front line and everywhere the carnage of the last six years and uncertainty of the future and may have cornered the fighters but boko haram is an important fight in warfare and a week ago dozens killed in bomb blasts when residents thought they had seen the last of such attacks. al jazeera was here six months ago, the tension and anxiety was so evident on people's faces but there is new optimism here in the northeast. 60-year-old survived four boko

haram attacks on her village but the last one was particularly devastated, she lost nearly everything dear to her. >> translator: they came out at night and burnt our home, my son, his wife and my two grandsons were also killed and the grains and the bond and this time i'm saying, what else is there to be afraid of and where can i go, anyway the military is here and trust they will do their best. >> the male population of the towns and villages has been decimated leaving women and children with no one to depend on and for those who return home the process of rebuilding is long and hard. the military will defeat boko haram at the end of the year but the people say they can only hold on to anything they have now, hope, mohamed, al jazeera,

northeast nigeria. royal dutch shell says it is stopping drilling off the alaska coast because of disappointing results and the oil giant has already spent millions of drilling an exploration well and repeatedly tried to block drilling because they feel a disaster oil spill in the arctic wilderness. pope francis has flown home after a six-day trip to the united states and in an address to congress they reminded politicians to care for people and encouraged religious freedom and immigration too and will prosecute priests who sexually abuse children and adam fisher reports. >> with a smile and a wave pope francis ended his first ever trip to the united states and attracted crowds and affection and a visit from a pope who has political points he believes are tied closely to his faith and

talked about abortion and same sex marriage and more and he talked about child sex abuse in the catholic church and revealed he met victims, had their stories and offered their prayers, it was 2002 and allegations of child sex abuse by clerks in the church became public and estimated there may have been 100 victims in the u.s. with more worldwide and the pope leader of 1.2 billion catholics said there would be no hiding place for the guilty. >> translator: these things cannot be maintained in secret, i commitment to a careful oversight to ensure youth are protected and all responsible will be held accountable. >> reporter: for many victims they have heard this before. >> this meeting today protects not a single child and exposes not a single predator and does not defer a single cover up. >> they say the church is refusing to hand over any

details of any internal investigation into child sex abuse to the authorities and they claim they are doing that for financial and legal reasons. meanwhile they insist the guilty go free and the victims continue to suffer. >> i think he is handling it in a christian way and loving way, as jesus would do, as god would forgive. >> reporter: the pope attracted a huge crowd to mass in the largest of his event but thousands turned away as they failed to get through security and the vatican will consider this visit a success and many will wait to see if the pope's actions match his words, allen fisher, al jazeera, philadelphia. to a special time to gaze at the moon in argentina and many other parts of the world, the full moon has become a super moon because it is at its closest to earth and also a total lunar eclipse when it passes between the moon and sun

and blocks off high frequency light waves leaving the moon looking blood red, the combination of events has not happened for 33 years, if you want to get more on the moon as well as the other stories we are telling you about head over to al jazeera.com. >> president obama speaks before the united nations this morning. it's vladimir putin getting the most attention. expect syria to dominate the conversation. >> a prisoner swap giving