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

americans new hope. >> good morning, this is aljazeera america live from new york city. i'm stephanie sy. it's a busy monday morning at the united nation and the station are high. president obama will address the u.n. general assembly just a few hours from now. expect him to talk about syria and the multiple crises that have result from the on going civil war there, refugees and the rise of isil. mr. obama intends to sit down with russia's president for their first meeting to discuss syria in more than a year. we are live in the united nations this morning. john, president obama and putin have plenty to talk about, including more russian military equipment and what the u.s. says is a russian base in syria. >> exactly. no shortage of topics. this is another week of frozen zones and blocked off roads as

160 world leaders are here for this, the first day of leaders week at the u.n. general assembly. as you rightly say, syria is likely to dominate the conversation, particularly when president obama sits down with president putin for their first sit down face-to-face meeting in more than a year, they'll be looking to see if there is any room for compromise between the two sides when it comes to the crisis in syria, but for people who enjoy watching politics, today is a day of headline names. >> the 70th session of the united nations general assembly will see more than a fair share of world leaders. president barack obama is slated to speak, so will president xi of china. president rouhani of iran and of course president putin of russia, making his first appearance at the general assembly in 10 years. the iran nuclear deal, russian aggression in ukraine and moscow

support for bashar al assad in syria are on the agenda. obama will discuss these issues with mr. putin on the sidelines. putin is on a whistle stop trip, spending less than a day in new york to attended the u.n. general assembly. world leaders including president obama want to know russia's true intentions rewarding syria. putin says he wants a political solution yet sent troops and combat aircraft to a base in western syria. he is defending his presence in syria. >> as of today, it has taken the form of supplying weapons to the syrian government, training personnel and providing humanitarian assistance to the syrian people. in this case, we act based on a request from the syrian government to provide military and technical assistance, which we are delivering under entirely legal international contracts. >> al jazeera asked the european union's foreign policy chief if she knows what putin is planning

through her regular contact with russia's foreign minister, sergey lavrov. >> last time i talked to him about this, his fear was that on the complete collapse of the state structures in syria, this could be one of the reasons why russia is acting in this way, but it could also be a willingness to show the fact that russia is an important substantial player in this crise. >> meanwhile, expect iran's president rouhani to bring up the recent nuclear deal with the five permanent members of the security counsel, including the united states plus germany. he may also mention a new deal in the works involving tehran, iraq, a key member of the u.s. coalition against isil, russia and controversially, penalty assad of syria to set up a center in baghdad. president hollande of france and

the president of south korea will also be heard from. >> the big news of the day will likely be the sit down expected to happen at 5:00 this afternoon. president obama, and other than western leaders like david cameron in britain have been calling since before there was an isil for president bashar al assad to go. it's difficult to roll back from that position now. meantime as you were saying, president putin is putting russian troops and tanks and aircraft into what appears to be a base in the western part of syria, so they're looking to see if there's any compromise between the two sides where they can move forward rewarding syria. one footnote four, the cuban leader, raul castro is going to address the general assembly this afternoon and president obama is slated to meet with him tomorrow, tuesday. >> john, going back to russia's involvement with syria, an agreement was announced

yesterday between russia, iraq, syria and iran to share intelligence about isil. it is said that has been happening all along, but now officially announced. was this a surprise? >> it seemed to catch everybody by surprise in the west. this is like creating a mine my nato involving iraq, which is supposed to be a major u.s. ally in the fight against isil. the iranians, the russians, and then most controversially, president assad of syria. we don't know too many more details than that at the moment. expect president rouhani to mention this when he speaks at the u.n. this afternoon. he will speak and leave immediately, going back for a memorial service for the 700 or so people killed taking part in the hajj last week. many were iranians. >> john, thank you. >> a russian news agency says russia and the u.s. will take

part in syria peace talks next month. iran, saudi arabia, turkey and egypt will be part of the talks. russian journalist spoke with al jazeera saying russia wants to keep bashar al assad in power because it believes the alternatives are not sustainable. >> while russias position is quite often in they were related as just an attempt to keep president assad at any cost, but the stakes are much higher, and the reason why russia is against the removal of assad is that russian's asking the question what comes next. whether the abrupt removal of president assad will lead to the disintegration of syria state with consequences which can come as a nightmare for the neighboring region. >> now, france's president hollande will also address the u.n. general assembly this weekdays after the french military carried out operation against isil in syria for the

first time. the french government says it destroyed one of isil's training camps near the eastern city. france called the bombing an act of self defense to prevent attacks in europe. speaking to reporters at the u.n., holland said france is committing to defeating isil. >> other strikes could take place in the coming weeks if necessary with always the same goal, identify targets, such as training camps or places from where we know the daish terrorist group can threaten the security of our country or launch terrorist attacks. >> reconnaissance flights and u.s. led intelligence helped identify the target of the weekend attack. >> another player in syria supporting the assad administration is iran. in an interview with c.n.n. over the weekend, president rouhani said iran is ready for a prisoner swap with the u.s.

rouhani has taken a different approach to world issues than his predecessor. >> the election of rouhani in 2013 had iranians dancing in the streets. he had run on the promise he would prioritize fixing iran's economy over its newspaper program. nuclear talks with the west had gone nowhere during the confrontation presidency of rouhani's predecessor. the threat of war hung over the country. >> in those eight years, he brought about huge damage to the iranian economy. >> but two years into rouhani's presidency, he has started to fix those problems in large part by reaching out to the west, including a now famous phone call with american president

barack obama, the first direct contact between the two country's leaders in three decades. >> i do believe that there is a basis for a resolution. >> that resolution came in july, when iran and six world powers, led by the u.s. reached their historic nuclear deal. iran will forego pursuing nuclear weaponry and get billions in sanction relief without having to give up pursuing nuclear energy. >> it has been written clearly in the text of this agreement that iran will continue its enrichment and therefore i announce to the people of iran, that enrichment will continue in the same way as before. >> rouhani's willingness to deal seems to have bolstered iran's economy. since rouhani's election, unemployment and inflation are down, the value of iran's occurrence is up. if the nuclear deal stays on track and sanctions are lifted, the iranian treasury will soon collect over $100 billion in oil

revenues that have been frozen in overand es banks. mr. rouhani needs that money to fully deliver on his promise of a better economy before he can focus on bigger goals, including overcoming hard line opposition to win a second term as president. al jazeera. >> we will have live coverage of u.n. general assembly, including president obama's address beginning at 9:00 a.m. eastern. >> house speaker john boehner promises he'll get as much done as he can in his last month in the job, but sunday, the ohio representative said his own party needs to be more realistic about what is possible. >> change comes slowly, and obviously too slowly for some. >> are they unrealistic about what ca can be done in governme? >> absolutely they're unrealistic. the bible says beware of follows prophets and there are people out there spreading noise about how much can get done.

>> boehner insists he had always planned to step down in the end of this year. some suspect in-fighting pushed the speaker to step down. >> presidential candidate donald trump is set to unveil his tax plan that morning. it raises taxes on the richest americans and calls for zero taxes on the poorest. it would cut taxes and corporations. a new poll shows the republican front runner losing ground to ben carson, carl fire and marco rubio are also surging among gop voters. >> as for carly fiorina, she had a close call in san antonio last night. part of the backdrop at a campaign event dropped. she went on to tuck for another half hour. afterward, she joked that donald trump or hillary clinton may have been behind the mishap and not the pope as you saw behind me on the wall there. >> on the democratic side, the

same poll shows a tightening race. hillary clinton is now leading senator bernie sanders by only 7%. if you take vice president biden out of the mix, the lead jumps to 15%. biden has not decided whether he will run. >> pope francis is back in the vatican this morning. his final message before leaves the u.s., be open to miracles of love. one of his final meetings in philadelphia was about sexual abuse. several victims meeting with the pope were abused not by clergy, but by teachers and staff. >> eight months after being elected to lead a catholic church racked by scandal, pope francis took his first big action on the issue of sexual abuse by the clergy, setting up

a commission on how to advice him on how to tackle it. >> several on the committee of victims of abuse, so they're going to have very strong views and they're going to not be shy in telling the pope what he needs to do to handle this crisis. >> in june of this year, the pontiff addressed a major concern of that commission. the systematic shielding of abusers by superiors. >> when it is first discerned there is a crime for a priest to engage in sex with a kid? >> i don't remember that either the one missing piece has always been that the bishops who didn't do their job weren't held accountable, just passed these priests on to another parish, and then they abused again. >> although no bishop has gone before the tribunal yet, the

resignations of two embattled minnesota bishops this summer are directly related to the tribunal. >> in reality, the vatican goes to a bishop and says what happened at which point the bishop says ok, i get the point, i'll submit by resignation. >> victims are watching to see if pope francis's efforts will be enough. >> that's got to be the number one priority, not a p.r. move, not some way that's going to make us look better, the priority has to be the protection of children. >> al jazeera. >> anti-drilling activists call it a major win. shell suspends its drilling operation after spending billions off alaska's coast. >> taiwan braces for a powerful typhoon. hundreds have thousands have lost power as the storm nears landfall.

>> shell says it will stop drilling in alaska's arctic after drilling 7,000 feet into the sea. the company says it was unable to find enough oil and gas to continue. royal dutch shell spent more than $7 billion on arctic offshore exploration. the oil company's president calls the decision to stop drilling a disappointing outcome, but ahuge victory for environmental groups who protested the program arguing it could lead to oil spills and damage the arctic's fragile

environment. >> evacuation orders are up in taiwan today. the typhoon is getting stronger. they are used to typhoons there, but how much damage could this cause? >> this is a category four. as we would consider that in the northern portion of taiwan. when it came in, it brought widespread areas of flood. we'll see the worst of it once it starts to clear out. let's get to the satellite of all of this. this made it to a strong cat-year four and there's some confusion. you need 150 miles an hour to call it a super typhoon, china has a low of 115 miles an hour. they are calling this a typhoon, the rest of the meteorological community is not. you can see the eye of the storm passing over the island. we are going to see significant damage, evacuations ordered and it will continue into mainland

china. it is losing a little intensity, but still a very strong storm. president obama the united states, it is tropical moisture and something that we'll continue to watch just in case it develops. funneling into the southwestern portions with heavy rain, so the next couple days, definitely flood concerns. all the cloud cover, it wasn't the greatest viewing, but other parts of the country spectacular for the moon last night. there's one of the images of it. when the shadow was cast in some places, also giving it that reddish glow. this will not happen again until 2033, so hopefully people were able to get out there last night. i watched it, it was pretty need, seeing the moon kind of disappear a little bit. >> just enough of a clearing in the sky for us to see it from new york city. thanks a lot. >> asian people are about to become the largest immigrant group in america, according to a

new study out this morning. asians will have surged past hispanics in 2055. by then, asians will make up 36% of the immigration population in the u.s. compared to the hispanics. right now, 47% of immigrants living in the u.s. are hispanics. the study says white immigrants to america will be 20%, black 9%. >> a new record for the t.s.a., the dangerous devices it found in carry on bags at airports nationwide. >> a goal to help governments get inside your phone.

>> we're here to fully get into the nuances of everything that's going on, not just in this country, but around the world. getting the news from the people who are affected. >> people need to demand reform... >> ali velshi on target weeknights 10:30p et

>> federal investigators say a seattle duck boat that crashed into a charter bus did not have a crucial repair wreckment for such vehicles. a fifth victim died from injuries suffered in that crash. the owner of that company said operations will be suspended until all vehicles are inspected. >> some americans are ignoring a big rule of travel not to bring guns. one week, the t.s.a. confiscated 67 firearms during airport searches. 56 were loaded. >> apple said 500 million iphones and i pads are operating i.o.s.9, supports to be the most secure in history, but one security company is now offering big money to hack it. we are here with more. what is this about? >> hackers have been given until

act 31 to break in and collect a big reward. it's the latest challenge to find ways to get into the most secure technologies. >> a million dollars for a way to break into i.o.s.9 on an apple device. the company wants to find anyone who can create a way to get past security and get them inside the operating system. >> it's almost like an arms race race. the first one to break in typically makes a lot of money. >> the offer comes with conditions. the technique must never have been published or revealed to apple. the i.o.s. is currently the most secure operating system. secure does not mean unbreakable. >> they could absolutely install applications on a phone and have those running in the background to track location, even monitoring things like the cameras that are being used,

pulling pictures off of there. >> it wants to find a way to get in through a web page, a vulnerable app or text message. the suspicion is the technique could be then sold to corporate clients or government agencies. earlier this year, emails released by wikileaks showed local police departments in at least 18 states, including the nypd and maryland police department had been given demos in the past by an italian spyware company to access a computer or phone from afar. privacy advocates are concerned by agencies seeking more surveillance. >> the f.b.i. and n.s.a. pushed for more back doors into secure communications technologies. this is what these companies are responding to when they are trying to pay an exorbitant amount of money to then break into these more secure technologies. really, we're seeing a lock of transparency and a push towards surveillance lead to more

security which is then leading toward people trying to undermine that security. >> we reached out, asking who the techniques could be sold to but didn't hear back. their website says their customers include major corporations and government agencies. >> security experts point out the company doesn't put out boundies for finding vulnerabilities. >> makes you wanting to off the grid sometimes, doesn't it? >> thank you. >> nasa programses a big announcement later today about mars. the space agency tweeted mars is a mysterious world, tune in as we announce a major science finding. earlier this year, scientists found evidence that as much of a fifth of the planet is covered in water. the red planet is still considered to be hostile to life. more al jazeera america news in just two minutes.

>> face-to-face, president obama and russian leader vladimir putin meet today at the united nations, their first sit down in two years. expect syria and ukraine to top the agenda. >> a farewell to pope francis, returning to the vatican after drawing huge crowds during his six day visit to the united states. >> nasa promises important new information about mars, the red planet.

>> this is aljazeera america live from new york city, i'm stephanie sy. president obama this morning is preparing for his speech to the united nations general assembly that happens in little other than an hour. the huge gathering of world leaders will hear about pressing problems, including syria and the crises that have resulted from the civil war there, their refugee crise and rise of isil. it is what is happening on the sidelines drawing the most attention this morning. mr. obama is expected to sit down with russia's president vladimir putin for their first meeting in two years. we are live at the united nation. tenses are high between these two leaders, with more russian military equipment heading into syria. what might be achieved? >> i think the best that we can hope for today when these two leaders meet at about 5:00 this afternoon is searching for some

kind of common ground. by the way, let's look at these pictures coming in from the u.n. at the moment. this is delegates raving for this first day of leaders week here. you can see the stairs and people gently coming into the building. i think when obama and putin sit down, they are going to be looking for this common ground. the background is of course that president obama and other western leaders, including david cameron, the british prime minister, have been calling for bashar al assad in syria to go now, since 2012, long before there was an isil. it's very difficult for them to row back from that now. once you've called for a leader to go, you can't really uncall for him to go, and yet there are signs that the west is now prepared to accept bashar al assad in damascus, at least for the short term. on the other hand, president putin has forced himself back on to the national agenda, after being ostracized for more than a

year because of hissings everyvention in ukraine and he has sent troops and aircraft to western syria and is flying here to meet with president obama. we hear that it's at his request that this meeting is taking place. i think what's going on, president putin is going to float some kind of plan to try and get back on common ground here, because remember, the russian economy is in a very, very bad state, and the last thing president putin can afford to do is get bogged down in syria as the russians did in afghanistan between 1979 and 1989. look for some kind of plan from president putin as the headline from this afternoon's discussion. >> russia officially announced yesterday it has been sharing in tell with iraq, iran and syria. is this a surprise? >> well, al jazeera doesn't think so. i mean our correspondents in baghdad has been talking on and

off about this. what is new, essential over the weekend was the announcement. i think that to a certain extent, it did catch western leaders by surprise. john kerry, the secretary of state was meeting with his russian counterpart sergey lavrov yesterday. kerry said before the meeting that he wasn't particularly happy about this coordination going forward. he would prefer it to be on a much grander scale. they're creating a kind of military cooperation zone involving oddly enough iraq, which is supposed to be a major u.s. ally in the war against isil, iran, the russians, and most controversially, president bashar al assad of syria. we don't have too many details at the moment. >> we'll see you throughout the day, thank you. >> secretary of state john kerry is also at the u.n. holding a closed door meeting at this hour on the syrian conflict. sunday, he met with his russian

counterpart, sergey lavrov. speaking to reporters after the meeting, kerry's expressed concern over the military involvement in syria. >> all the efforts need to be coordinated. this is not yet coordinated. i think we have concerns about how we're going to go forward, that's precisely what we're immediating on to talk about now. this is the beginning of a genuine effort to see if there is a way to deconflict, but also to find a way forward to will be effective, keeping a united, secular syria that can be at piece and stable again without foreign troops present. >> u.s. officials say they were not consulted and caught off guard by russia's military moves in syria. this is all part of a diplomatic push that includes vladimir putin coming to the u.n. the kerry-lavrov meeting happened yesterday.

leaders from around the globe will be listening to what putin has to say. >> russian president vladimir putin arrives in new york monday for his first address to the united nations in a decade and a sideline meeting with president obama. a stunning diplomat double play that calls timeout in the year long white house effort to isolate russia over ukraine. >> the president did make a decision that it was worth it at this point to engage with president putinnen a face-to-face meeting. >> the white house has said the meeting will primarily focus on ukraine. it's syria that's changed the calculus between the two leaders. refugees fleeing the civil war in syria are fueling europe's migrant crisis, and in recent weeks, russia's sudden deployment of troops, fighter jets and military hardware to a coastal stronghold of syrian

president centrifuge has underpinned kremlin appeal for an international coalition to fight isil, a plan which leaves bashar al assad's future in question, but which putin told cbs news keeps the syrian government intact. >> there is no other solution to the syrian crise than strengthening the effective government structures and rendering them help in fighting terrorism. >> bashar al assad's regime has been losing ground in the war, threatening the kremlin's only foot hold in the middle east. russia's military build up in syria could reap wilder geopolitical benefits for putin. >> he doesn't care about syria. it's a piece in the game, it's not the game. >> the study of emerging threats at new york university representative speaks to us. >> the relationship in the west and at the moment, it is entirely dominated by ukraine.

>> efforts to broker a peace deal in ukraine have ground to a standstill while western sanctions have hammered the economy at a price when prices for oil plummeted. putin could lay the groundwork for a face saving exit from ukraine. >> he's looking for something in the deal, something in return for being helpful over islamic state that somehow we will perhaps help him pull himself out of what is becoming an increasingly uncomfortable conflict. >> it's unclear whether obama wants to or can cut a deal at the meeting. no matter the outcome, putin has shown that r.b.i. is one power the west cannot shut out. patricia sobga, al jazeera at the united nations. >> ran's president is among those slated to address the u.n. general assembly today.

rouhani will head home to take part in a ceremony honoring iranian pilgrims killed during the mecca stampede. >> rouhani said iran is ready for a prisoner swap with the u.s. at least three americans, all of iranian heritage are currently jailed in iran. >> we'll talk more about the j general assembly in our next half hour and that meeting between president president tin and obama and bring you live coverage of the addresses beginning at 9:00 a.m. eastern. >> presidential candidate donald trump is set to unveil his tax plan, raising taxes on the richest americans and calls for zero taxes on the poorest. it would cut taxes on corporations. on sunday, the republican front runner said his plan will grow the economy. >> what's your tax plan? >> a substantial reduction for the middle income people, because our middle class is being absolutely decimated. it will be a corporate also reduction. i think it will be a great incentive for corporations. >> who are you going to raise taxes on? >> if you look at actual raise,

some very wealthy are going to be raised, feel getting unfair deductions are going to be raised. it's going to be a terrific consensus to grow the economy and we are going to take in the same or more money and i think have something that is going to be spectacular. >> allies of outgoing speaker john boehner come to his defense days after he announced plans to step down. boehner lashed out at critics within his own party. he invoked the bible to make his point. >> my, oh my, what a wonderful day. >> on the heels of hisbaum shell announcement, he took aim at gop forces he claims are courting voters with meaningful stunts. >> the bible says beware of false fro feats. >> he brushed aside threats of shutting down government. >> we've got groups here in

town, members of the house and senate here in town who whip people into a frenzy believing they can accomplish things they know are never going to happen. >> in 2010, boehner reality a tea party way to the speakership but since then found it difficult to manage the conservative wing. >> just a few minutes ago. >> in a vote on friday, conservative voters applauded the news of boehner's resignation, when it was announced by presidential hopeful, senator rubio. >> the time has come to turn the page. the time has come to turn the page and allow a new generation of leadership in this country. >> meanwhile, in the campaign for the white house, a new poll sunday by nbc and the wall street journal puts ben carson at 20%, one point behind donald trump. rubio and former c.e.o. carly

fiorina came behind carson and trump with 11% each. carson addressed the resignation of speaker boehner during a t.v. interview. >> seems to be a nice guy, and is a compromiser at a time when a lot of people on the right feel that too much compromise has already resulted in a situation that they're not very happy with. >> noreen cann joins us this morning. great to have you with us. good morning, how much is speaker boehner's resignation the fact that three outsiders are leading for the gop nomination. does it force hardliners to take more anti washington stances to appear they're pushing back against the establishment? >> yeah, absolutely. i think that mood is just in the air. you heard ben carson say

compromise is sort of a dirty word in the conservative movement at the moment. people are frustrated that republicans control both houses of congress. they haven't been able to forward their policy goals in the same way that they'd like. you have boehner facing an insurgency within his own caucus of people threatening to topping him. then you have carly fiorina, trump. >> is mr. boehner right when he says these hard line republicans who are willing to shut down government to defund planned parenthood have no path to achieve their legislative goals? >> well, yeah, i mean other people in the republican party have sort of pressed these conservatives for their earned game. ok, we stick to our principles, push a government shut down and then what happens?

no one seems to be able to really answer that question, new hampshire senator basically asked that question of ted crud and he couldn't answer. you saw this play out with the 2013 shut down site with obamacare and in the end, obamacare was still there. the shut down ended and the republican image took a battering. boehner recognizes this and many in the republican party recognize this, so this group of hard line conservatives is sticking to their principles. >> there's no small amount of influence that they wield. when he announced he was resigning, people at a rally cheered. let's talk about replacements. kevin mccarthy is expected to run. if he gets it, what impact does that have on legislation pending before congress? >> mccarthy has been an ally of boehner. it's hashed to see the dynamics in the house changing when he is

elected speaker. he has done some things. he's a little bit more favored among conservatives, buff it is unclear how long that with him last if he gets into the speakership. he's juggling competing goals, one is good morning and one is appeasing this conservative buys. >> which is the same dilemma that speaker boehner talked about. meanwhile, the speaker has about a month left to do what he can. he said there's not going to be a government shutdown now, meaning it's likely he will cooperate with the democrats and pass a short term funding bill to keep the government running, which is what the hardliners don't want. what else can boehner do in his remaining time in office legislatively? >> he could try to deem with the debt ceiling. he could try to deal with pending pieces of legislation. i don't think that you're going to see anything revolutionary out of the next five weeks, but

basically conservatives can no longer threaten to topple him. he's sort of lost. he doesn't really have to worry about appeasing that constituency anymore. you heard him in the face the nation interview that he wants to leave a chain stable for the next person. you're going to see him move sort of do the business of goning. >> our digital reporter joining us from washington, thank you so much. >> a new poll this morning shows a tightening race for democrats running for president. the wall street currently survey finds hillary clinton leading senator bernie sanders by only 7%. if you take vice president joe biden out of the mix, clinton's lead does jump back to 15%. biden has not decided whether to run. >> republican candidate carly fiorina had a close call during a campaign event in san antonio last night as part of the backdrop completely collapses. there were no injuries and she went on to talk for another half hour. afterwards, she joked to rival

donald trump or hillary clinton may have been behind that. >> pope francis is back at the vatican, his final message before leaving the u.s. be open to miracles of love. jonathan martin has a look at the pope's final day in philadelphia. >> on sunday, the pontiff had a somber message for the u.s. bishops, telling them he had just met private live with victims of clergy sexual abuse. >> god weeps for the sexual abuse of children. this cannot be maintained in secret. i commit to a careful oversight to assure youth are protected and all responsible will be held accountable. >> the vatican says pope francis met and prayed with the victims, including three women and two men and continuing with his expression of concern tort world in prison, pope francis met with prisoners and their families at the correctional facility.

pope francis gave a thumbs up to the hand carved walnut wood chair that inmates made for him. >> pope francis encouraged the inmates to get their lives back on track. >> this time in your life can only have one purpose, to give you a hand on the right road, to give you a hand to help you rejoin society. >> afterward, the pope walked through the jail, shaking hand with the men and women and even getting hugs. he took time to thank the inmates for the handmaid chair. >> the chair is beautiful. thank you very much for the hard work. thank you. >> the 78-year-old people's pope seemed to feed off the energy of the crowd. stopping to kiss several babies, he made his way up the benjamin franklin parkway. it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of people participated in this outdoor mass, which is part of the world meeting of

falies. >> a family that shows that the spirit is alive and at work will encounter our gratitude and appreciation. whatever the family, people, region or religion to which they belong. >> thee thousand priests also celebrate the mass, along with the pope. this mass culminates the end of the pope's historic six day visit to the u.s. >> i will pray for you and four families. >> at the airport, vice president joe biden and his wife dr. jill biden cames to goodbye to the pontiff. >> i ask you please to pray for me. bless you all. god bless america. >> jonathan martin, al jazeera, philadelphia. >> in jerusalem, clashes broke

out. police fired tear gas and stun grenades at hgrenades at al aqse compound. >> protests in iran against saudi arabia over last week's stampede which killed pilgrims. iran blames saudi arabia for poor management at the annual pilgrimage. three are still unaccounted for. >> shell suspends exploration after spending billions, why they decided to pull the plug on the project. >> an overdose drug that can save lives will be more widely available. the major drug chain that plans to sell it.

>> shell is suspending its quest for oil in the arctic after spending years and hundred billions of dollars to look for oil. it looks like those efforts haven't paid off and environmentalists are cheering. >> protestors tried to block shell's plan to search for oil and gas in the arctic, something the company now says it is voluntarily stopping. shell says traces of oil and gas were found in the sea about 80 miles off alaska's northwest coast, but the company says it was not able to find enough resources to warrant additional exploration. royal dutch shell said the high cost of drilling and tough federal regulations led to the unexpected decision to halt drilling for now. shell has already spent $7 billion trying to reach what the usgs estimates is 13% to 30% have the world's undrilled oil

in natural gas. under the federal drilling permit, regulators required shell to stop exploration several weeks before sea ice reformed in the area. anti drilling activists see this decision to stop exploration for the foreseeable future as a huge victory. a green peace member called it a major bloody nose for shell. kayaks tried to stop a drilling rig to leave seattle. one group tweeted this picture. it reads bye-bye, shell and don't come back. >> no word from shell on whether it will try to later drill again in the arctic. for now, the well will be sealed and abandoned. >> taiwan is bracing for a major typhoon. let's bring in nicole mitchell. nicole, how much damage could this do? >> it's going over the northern tear of the island now, one of the more populated areas. it includes the city of taipei. there was a similar storm, this

would be our version of like a category four. there was a storm that hit in august as a category three that did at least 30 lives lost, millions without power. we haven't seen reports out of this, but serious damage is expect. also remember the super moon that all of us were watching last night? here that could raise the tide, enhancing the storm flooding and flooding is the number one loss of life with these systems, so that could cause us damage. winds right now to 140 miles per hour, that's what we would categorized as a category four storm. here this was just under making a super typhoon and continue to go weaken as it heads toward china after this. we also have some tropical moisture funneling into the united states. not an organized system, but this one is definitely going to cause some flooding over the next few days. i'll have more details on who has hits coming up in the next

half hour. >> demand for fair elections led to more protests in hong kong this morning. we'll get to that stair in a moment. first, we are following developing news afghanistan. the taliban attacked a northern city, including government buildings there. at least eight people are dead, dozens of others injured. it was the taliban's former stronghold in the north before the group was forced out in 2001. >> now back to the story out of hong kong. demonstrators have taken to the streets again carrying yellow umbrellas, the symbol of that movement. the crowds are marking one year since pro democracy protests brought hong kong to a standstill. they say the fight for political autonomy from china is stronger than ever. >> we talked to some of the protestors themselves, some of the student leaders. they will tell you that well frankly, no, it didn't have an effect. if the desire was to try to see

the government of china give more political reforms to hong kong, clearly that didn't work. possibly they could have been advised at better once they started the umbrella movement. the big criticism seems to be they knew how to you start but didn't have a way toned the thing or didn't get out especially if they didn't get the concessions from the chinese government. people here would advise them that beijing doesn't want to be seen to be giving away, being forced to do something by people sitting in the streets. having said that, it has created this culture, kind of a cultural movement. the yellow umbrellas are very much in evidence here tonight. people here who have been fighting for democracy for not one year, but decades say that there has been an awakening, the genie is out of the bottle. this younger generation, the seed has been sewn and that may well bear fruit in the future. >> eight mainland chinese

activists are still in jail after last year's protest. amnesty international called for their release. >> there is a developing political story in europe. voters in catalonia are inching closer to independence from spain. a coalition of separatists won a majority of seats in regional parliamentary elections over the weekend. that win is expected to give them a mandate to split from spain. catalonia has been moving toward a break from spain for five years. >> german prosecutors opened an investigation into volkswagen's former c.e.o., martin winterric al s corn resigned after diesel cars were found to be skirting emission tests. 11 million cars were affected. today, audi revealed 2.1 million of its cars also have that software. the company has been taken over by the porsche boss.

>> welcome to al jazeera america. it is 8:31 eastern, taking a look at today's top stories. republican president capped donald trump plans to unveil his tax plan, it will raise taxes on the richest americans, reduce the tax to zero for poorest americans. ben carson trails him by 1%. >> pope francis is back at the vatican after wrapping up his trip to the u.s.

in philadelphia he met with sex abuse victims. the pope thanked all those who worked and prepared for his visit and said he was leaving america with a heart full of gratitude and hope. >> president obama is expected to address the u.n. general assembly. he is among the world leaders addressing the problems on syria, the u.n. refugee crisis and isil. president obama is expected to meet with russian president vladimir putin this afternoon to discuss syria. let's go to mike viqueira live at the united nations this morning. mike, president obama and president putin will have to confront a lot of tensions in this meeting, the first in two years. >> it's really remarkable. president obama has given vladimir putin the cold shoulder for a year and a half. if you count a meeting around the d-day commemoration in june of last year, sort of an informal meeting and that one fraught with tension, happening around the time vladimir putin and the russian associated forces, the russian forces

sympathetic to russia, backed by russia came over the border in eastern ukraine. the white house western powers have been trying to freeze putin out. there have been a series of sanctions to try to put an economic vice around putin and those closest around him do damage to the russian economy and bring putin to the table. putin's response, no slackening of the activity in eastern crane. over the past few weeks, the fighting has died down, now a bold move by vladimir putin, bolstering bashar al assad in syria, sending in more planes, other men and material to take the fight against assad enemies within syria, isil, but not limited to isil. that has caused a great deal of concern, a reaction, the white house caught somewhat flatfooted, trying to determine what vladimir putin is up to, trying to assure no conflict between the united states, inadvertent conflict between the

military there. a lot on the tail here, certainly. the white house eager to portray this as vladimir putin seeking out president obama, the white house saying president obama wants to talk about ukraine, but obviously syria is going to be front and center when they meet today. >> russia is not alone in its support of syrian president bashar al assad and the idea of reinstating him. >> that's absolutely right. that's another cause of concern, russia is in league with iran, iran being the main patron of bashar al assad, who had been losing on the battlefield, losing ground. the white house is saying it was a losing proposition for bashar al assad, a losing proposition for vladimir putin as its main ally there and assad losing ground. that is what has forced putin's hand but forced a dramatic recalculation on the part of the obama administration on how to approach this problem, whether to try to bring russia in in some way to coordinate them in

the fight against isil while at the same time not bolstering bashar al assad, so a very tricky diplomat dance here, a lot at stake, a lot on the table, stephanie. >> mike viqueira reporting from the united nations, mike, thank you. let's get more into this meeting between obama and putin with a professor at nyu center for global affairs. mark, good morning, thank you for your time. where could presidents putin and obama find common ground? >> this is the difficult point. on the one hand, putin is going to be offering some kind of coalition against islamic state, but clearly he doesn't really care about syria, or that much about islamic state, he is looking for some kind of deal over sanctions over ukraine and so forth, where as obama can operation some degree of cooperation over syria, but not in the grand scheme of things, he is not about to throw ukraine under the bus to reach a deal with syria.

with some agree of tactical cooperation on the ground, it's not easy to see common ground. >> i want you to listen to what putin said about how the u.s. strategy of training syrian rebels is working out. listen to this. >> the initial aim was to train between 5,000 and 6,000 fighters and then 12,000 more. it turns out only sitting of these fighters have been properly trained and as few as four or five people actually carry weapons while the rest of them have deserted with the american weapons to join isis. >> he almost sounds like he is mocking this u.s. strategy, which has not been effective on the ground. is a putin strategy of keeping assad in power, is he trying to force obama during this meeting to somehow legitimize asses reis

reign? >> he is trying to say if you're really concerned about fighting islamic state, then actually for the moment working with assad is in your interest. the subtext is and we can help broker that deal. he is trying to get russia into the conversation. >> how would it look if the obama administration capitulated on the main point, which was we need to get assad out of power at this point? >> people shift and morph their policies all the time. i'm not saying for a moment that a bit of armor would are could say we will back pedal on assad. on the other hand, the moment, the regime is in place. it's more a question of a tactical shift on the ground, putting more of an emphasis on fighting islamic state rather than toppling assad. in do course, almost certainly assad will have to go. the question is whether it's a negotiated settlement that leaves allies in place in damascus or an all or nothing deal which isn't working at the

moment. >> given sanctions enforced on russia because of actions in ukraine, what kind of credibility does putin command on the world stage today when he makes his speech to the u.n. general assembly? >> in many ways, not much. we've seen russia being isolated, see recent opinion polls showing that actually putin's personal standing and russia's standing. on the other hand, what russia has done effectively is present himself as in some ways the anti washington. if you have any qualms about the current world he status quo, if you feel at times america does overreach particularly in the middle east where chaos has followed, putin is your man, the guy willing to stand up to america. you don't have to like him but at least for some countries, they're glad. >> he comes off as a guy getting stuff done and should americans be glad or be concerned that russia is perhaps taking a

bigger role in fighting isil, for whatever intentions. >> russia that been a mischievous power at best. there is an element of enemies if not my friend, at least someone i can make a deal with. in part, the reason for islamic state's rise is that russia didn't do much to combat it. russia likes there to be chaos, because then it can ride in and say we might have a solution, so we ought to be very careful that think r.b.i. is anything other than a problematic issue on the world stage at the moment. >> thank you for your in sights this morning. good to meet you. >> well france's president francois hollande will and the u.s. general assembly days after the french military carried out operations against isil in syria. the french government said it destroyed one of isil's training camps near an eastern city. france called it an act of self defense to prevent attacks in europe. >> we will have live coverage of the u.n. general assembly,

including president obama and president putin it is addresses beginning at 9:00 a.m. eastern. >> indian prime minister is wrapping up his last day of meeting in california, one of the biggest stops on his trip, a public feeing at facebook with mark zuckerberg. they talked about how technology can promote development and facilitate diplomacy. he thanked facebook for helping india develop. >> i wish that the good work that you're all doing, that it will benefit the poor people of india and that i learn some of what you all do, understand it and bring it into my line of work. i once again express my gratitude to you. >> his trip to the u.s. was met with major criticism by some groups. the giant billboard could she seen on several california highways calling attention to his human rights record and frequent internet shutdowns in the disputed territory of cashmere. before becoming prime minister

he was denied a visa to the u.s. >> apple said more than half devices are now running a new operating system, i.o.s.9, that some 500 million i phones and i pads, it is supposed to be the most secure o.s. issue history. one company is offering big money to hack it. we have more. >> hackers have been given until act 31 to come up with a way to break in and collect a big reward. it's the latest challenge in a growing industry to find ways to get into the most secure technologies. >> a million dollars for a way to break into i.o.s.9 on an apple device. the company wants to find anyone to can create a way to get past security and get them inside the operating system. >> it's almost like an arms race between the manufacturers and hackers. apple comes out with a new verse of i.o.s. and companies try to break it and the first to do that typically makes a lot of money. >> the technique must never have

been published or revealed to apple away apple's i.o.s. is stated to be the most secure mobile operating system, but don't be fooled. secure does not mean unbreakable. >> they could install applications on the phone and have them running in the background and track location, even monitoring things like the cameras being used, pulling pictures off of there. >> it wants to find a way to get in through a web page, vulnerable app or text message. the suspicion is the technique could be sold to corporate clients or government agencies. earlier this year, emails released by wikileaks showed local police departments in at

>> a long way from home, weary

after six months on the road. >> francisca was a beautiful name because of the pope. it was a small honor. >> with a drive for adventure, the volkswagen bus is set to meet her namesake in philadelphia. onboard, a devout catholic argentinean family adventuring across the americas on a spiritual journey to the largest gathering of catholic families in the world. >> a visit of pope francis gave it like a deeper meaning to this family road trip, and it was like saying ok, this is it. >> the adventure began in march when the family left buenos aires. be boarded a boat and then drove

central america into southeastern mexico with hopes of crossing the border into texas. >> we first met up with noel, her husband, and their four young children in monterey, mexico. >> the big challenge was to leave. once we left, it was a lot easier. before, we had many questions, many fears. >> the family's pilgrimage to see the hope has taken them on a cross continent adventure from the andes mountains to the pacific, sometimes sleeping under the stars or with host families eager to share the experience. >> for yours, it's the best experience of the trip. >> staying with host families? >> yeah. >> why is that? >> because we love to see the city and the history of the city, the thing we love more is to live with other people,

understand how they live. >> photographs from every city and every country chronicled their ups and downs. these stickers tell the story of where they've been. >> we said goodbye to the family in monterey mexico and plan to reconnect once we cross the border into mcallen the accident. we ask that they not follow us on this road, they were told it could be dangerous and they didn't want to call any unnecessary attention to themselves. >> they safely rolled into the u.s. [ cheering ] >> one month later, philadelphia, and... cheer cheer. >> the pope came into view. >> noel, she's crying. >> yeah, it was very exciting to see him and i wanted to hug him. >> i know he looked directly at

you. i know he looked directly at you and your family. did you ever anticipate you would get that close to him? >> no, no, it was fabulous. it was a gift. thank you, yeah, it was fabulous. >> the next day, she got her wish. the whole family hugged the pope during an unexpected private visit, where he told them he'd been following their adventure. he joked the family was crazy for making such a daring journey, one they'd do all over again. >> 13,000 miles, five break downs, three birthdays and more than 4,000 photographs, memories to lost a lifetime, driven by a big leap of faith and a blessing from the pope. jennifer london, al jazeera, philadelphia. >> the pharmacy chain c.v.s. is making it easier to get a drug called a life saver for those suffering an overdose. the medication will now be available over-the-counter in 12 new states. it stops the effects of heroin

and prescription meds such as oxycodone. more than 44,000 people die from accidental drug overdoses every year. >> more evidence today that aspirin can help those fighting cancer. researchers in the netherlands found one aspirin a day can double the life expectancy of patients with colon and gastro intestinal tumors. >> a super sight for star gazers, people looking toward the heavens last night. >> the battle to transform air travel the same way uber has changed the way you call a taxi.

>> every saturday night. >> i lived that character. >> go one on one with america's

>> a startup is going head-to-head with a f.a.a., to uberize private planeful travel. they're working through a loophole which excludes friends and family from typical airline regulations. >> flying is frustrating. here in the united states, i am constantly being asked in my job to go to all kinds of very obscure places and very rarely are they served directly by an airline. there are only 500 airports in the u.s. served by commercial airlines, but there's 5,000 regional airports across the country that could in theory take you and i anywhere we want to go. that is the concept behind a new

company called the uber of general aviation, basically companies that will match together a paying passenger with a pilot who might have a cessna gathering dust on some regional runway somewhere. the problem is the f.a.a. has come down and said this cannot happen and shut this concept down. that's because they say these pilots who are offering passage to somebody do not abide by the same safety standards, the drug testing and on going training that commercial aviation, big airlines programs enforce on their pilots. as a result, they say that they would just be too dangerous for folks to fly in this way in theory, they may have a point.

we'll be exploring the economics and risk of general aviation and this whole concept in a package you can see later tonight. >> you can watch the full report at 8:00 eastern. >> a popular campsite in australia is off limits after a sing hole opened up, swallowing a car, trailer, several tents. no one was hurt. people are being kept away as the hole continued to expand. there were small earthquake over the last weeks. scientists that caused the sinkhole to form. >> a stunning sight for millions around the world last night. many of us had a chance to see a super moon eclipse. let's bring in anymore mitch. this is really exciting. how was it different than a normal lunar eclipse? >> so, it's two events coming together. you might remember that a lot of celestial bodies don't have a circular orbit, they are

elipses. the earth was at its closest point to the moon. we had the bigger view and on top of i have the, the eclipse at the same time. the next time that will happen, 2033. hope you had a chance to check it out. stephanie was remarking you see the red, you had better chances depending where you are. in new york, the moon rise had already happened, while before this happened, so it was higher in the night sky. if you were closer to having moon rise or moon set and it was more on your horizon, you might have had a better chance or if you had the telescope out. >> a few people missed out on this especially in the south. we had that tropical moisture funneling into the region. maybe 2033 will be better for you. this is going to crib to be a trouble maker. here's a look at radar. already, a lot of different flood watches that really the entire gulf coast of florida is under some sort of concern,

because we're going to get a lot of rain out of this as it funnels in the next couple of days, already seeing some of that now. that core could see six to eight-inches of rain. some of this heaviest amounts are really going to see a lot of rain. it spreads northward over the next couple days and starts to interact with a front. there's a front in the midwest, by the team this gets to the east coast, the northeast will get a lot of rain out of this by tomorrow and temperatures will be cooling, a little bit more into the 60's behind the front. you can already start to see that into the midwest. >> can we just geek out to the super moon for one more second? >> sure. >> the next time we'll see that is 2033 or something. >> 2033. we'll have a lunar eclipses in the meantime and super moons, but both of them together, 2033. >> hopefully you're looking at a

lot of greet pictures this morning. >> thank you. >> nasa plans a major announcement about mars, the result of years of work exploring the red planet. the space agency tweeted this teeser, mars in a mysterious world. tune in as we announce a major signs finding. earlier this year, scientists did find evidence that as much as one fifth of mars was once covered in water. all present forms of water are frozen and only at the poles. the red planet is still considered to be hostile to life. >> i'm stephanie sy in new york. we're going to give you a live look at the united nations and word leaders gather for the start of the general assembly. president obama is among those scheduled to speak in the next hour. so is russian president vladimir putin. keep it here on aljazeera america. we're going to bring you live coverages starting right after

this break. >> we're here to fully get into the nuances of everything that's going on, not just in this country, but around the world. getting the news from the people who are affected. >> people need to demand reform... >> ali velshi on target weeknights 10:30p et

>> welcome to al jazeera america. we are starting this morning with live pictures nowrom the united nations where we are awaiting the start of the general assembly. it is a jampacked morning. president obama will be one of the first speakers, but the list is long of world leaders that we will be addressing the united nations today. this is aljazeera america live from new york city, and i am richelle carey. let's give you a flavor of what you can expect in the coming da