to lay down his arms. bid to end the crisis. the european union agrees to resettle 120,000 refugees who are currently in italy and greece. the plan has divided member states with hungry and others against the plan. president returns

after six months in exile. ha is returning to a country torn apart bydi between shiite rebels and a coalition led by saudi arabia. laura: we begin with the standoff in burkina faso, where the general who seized power in a coup last week's still refusing to step down. the army set a deadline for general diendére to hand power back to the civilian government by 10:00 this morning. with the deadline long past, the president of nigeria and senegal are among those taking matters into their own hands, set to travel to the country tonight to end the crisis. mark thompson has more. mark: a celebratory atmosphere in burkina faso's capital. as protesters and transitional

government soldiers wait for the leaders of last week's coup to hand over their arms. >> we have come here to the national square to support our brothers in arms in a but also to condemn the behavior of the presidential guard, which has really hurt us all. k: the presidential guard has been offered amnesty in exchange for returning power to the transitional government. of the 12-point plan negotiated has been criticized by protesters who say they cannot forgive their actions. they also don't believe that supporters the ousted former president should be allowed to stand in the upcoming elections. several people have been killed and dozens wounded in recent violent demonstrations. to playll put an end

scott perry -- we will put an end to the regime. >> it was these terrorists who took our revolution hostage. it is like they are not even from burkina faso. it is like they are against the people of burkina faso. mark: the interim president has been freed after being held by the presidential guard. he, too, says he has reservations about the deal. he says he wasn't consulted before the deal was announced. our reporter is in nigeria and has been covering regional efforts on the crisis. reporter: there is an understanding that it is quite away from the scene in ouagadougou so it is better to go on the ground and look at matters there. the hope is that they can meet people on the ground and engage

with the troops and tried to come again, go over the talking points of this deal, which is to return to the transitional government, to grant amnesty for kers and make sure elections can be connected. laura: so there are still hopes for a peaceful end to all of this. we have seen the head of the regular army exercise restraint after the general diendére ignore the deadline set by the regular army and said he was not going anywhere. reporter: that is correct. there was the hope that this will all end in peace, since burkina faso has been suspended from the au. any situation in the past where this has happened before? can you were went regional leaders have traveled to an african country to resolve the crisis. is this standard procedure? ecowas has had a hard

time trying to assert control over the region. in the past, this has been unprecedented, but this is a statement, especially being made by nigeria's president, who is really trying to be a force to contend with and get his voice heard as someone who wants to push democracy not just in nigeria throughout western africa. laura: this will come as good news, i would imagine, to a lot of civilians in burkina faso. the general seems to have little public support for what we have done. reporter: that is correct and this goes back to the history of making sure with that the grassroots voice is heard. in ouagadougou they are inspired by the african shea guevara, and this general

has everything they want to stand for. laura: in other news from the european union has approved plans to resettle 127,000 refugees. people from the middle east and africa who are currently in greece and italy will be relocated across the european union. the decision was made the first of 2 major eu summits on the issue this week. central and eastern european states, the czech republic, and hungary voted against the plan. germany has agreed to take the lion share of migrants. 500,000 people are thought to have arrived in europe this year alone. earlier, a reporter told us what had been decided. reporter: it is very confusing. mechanisme solidarity that the commission has been talking about for a number of months that would see someone hundred 20,000 people in need of international protection, relocated from greece and italy to member states. a deal was struck but some member states were opposed.

--ualified majorities voting 55% of member states on board. hungary, slovakia, czech republic, and finland would still have to participate. the detail will be in the devil the next few weeks. we do believe that this team has been watered down and the initial countries with the commission are rather different. mandatory would not be included in countries won't be fined like the commission initially suggested. the commissioner did to say during the press conference that the country did not implement wouldstem, the commission introduce infringement procedures, a long road to taking them to court. laura: you talk about things being watered down. 120,000 people.

this is just the tip of the iceberg. half a million people are thought to have made it to europe already and more people are arriving every day. reporter: indeed. it proves that the european union are not coordinated in the response and are not able to cope with such a crisis. if the figures are relocated, there would still be one quarter of the people that they believe are in need of international protection could according to the commissioners speaking at the press conference, they understand that this is a high figure but they believe it is a victory, considering that six months ago they would never have gotten to this point. tomorrow, 28 heads of state will see for progress to be made and a decision needs to be taken today on the 120,000. what would happen to the rest of the people already in europe is the question now. it will be discussed tomorrow. with extra funding going to

turkey, to have them with those currently there -- 2 million people are in turkey at the moment. they also want to give more funding to protect -- tomorrow will be about making sure people don't go into europe. those are here and not in the relocation figure, could be in limbo land for the next few years. laura: in turkey, five miles from the border with greece, migrants are holed up in a sports arena in the border city. they are hoping to get to europe via land and avoid the risky journey across the sea. turkish police have blocked them from approaching. more on the situation. refugees here in the stadium, they came here eight days ago from istanbul, more than 200.

it is situated very close to the greek and bulgarian borders. what they are asking for from the turkish authorities? to allow them to cross and make their way to europe. what they say is that first, they don't want to take the risk to cross and maybe die in the sea. what we can see that the situation -- the turkish police cannotours ago said they allow the refugees to stay here anymore. they will stay here and the situation caps off. -- gets solved. laura: we don't want another intifada -- the words of mahmoud abbas, in talks of france what a lot of good -- in talks with francois hollande. palestinians fear that israel is trying to gain control of a site that is deemed holy to jews and

muslims. what is happening is very dangerous, and we don't want this situation to continue. we don't want it to lead to chaos and two and intifada that we really no one. laura: after six months and i saw, yemen's president -- six months in exile coming yemen's president hadi is back in the country. today he met with ministers in the port city of aden. saudi arabia and its allies have been bombing yemen in an effort to drive the rebels back. the united nations says 5000 people have been killed in the fighting, many of them civilians. this situation isn't resolved just yet. reporter: at the moment it is not entirely clear. thewe know is is moments in next few days come he is staying in yemen to mark the anniversary of yemen's revolution on september 26.

it is an important date for yemen. it is semantically important that he be there after the 26 and he goes to new york. it is worth reminding everyone that several of his ministers and his vice president and prime minister have already come back den and are basically setting up a provisional capital aden and trying to run business as usual. they did that on september 16. it wouldn't be surprising if hadi were to follow and permanently and his exile but there was no confirmation of his movements after new york at the moment. here in france, the gap between rich and poor is shrinking, albeit by a tiny margin. with the first time in seven years, the national office of statistics says the inequality gap is getting smaller. are warningrities that 40 million people living in poverty are not likely to feel

any change to their quality of life anytime soon. since 2008,t time the poor are not getting poorer. based on 2013 figures, the number of people living in poverty decreased by .3%, to be fixed at 14% of the population. some, though, are skeptical of the figures published. >> it is really just a numbers game. we cannot say there are less for people in france -- less poor people in france. unfortunately, there are too many people in this country who don't live well, who go hungry. reporter: the numbers also show that the most well-off have seen their quality-of-life go down, due to a decrease in revenues from assets like property and chairs and an increase in income tax. 2013 was a bad year for retirees, too. the poverty rate among senior citizens went up by .2% to almost 8%. the rise in some social benefits have allowed a .6 million poor

people to get closer to the poverty threshold, which corresponds to 1000 euros a month. but charities insist that the figures don't tell the real story. they say the poor have not seen their situation improved one bit. laura: the focus wrapped up his visit to cuba with a final mass in the eastern city of santiago de cuba. he will leave for the united states in the second leg of his historic tour. the role that france has played in any decades of hostility between havana and washington has earned him weeks of fans on the caribbean island. pope's last day of his cuban visit them he celebrates mass at the basilica of our lady of charity. speaking in the southeastern city of santiago de cuba, pope francis call on cubans to build a new revolution and move towards reconciliation. ancis: our revolution

comes about through tenderness from through the joy which always becomes closeness and .ompassion, which is not pity it is to suffer in order to be free. and it leads us to get involved, to serve in the lives of others. following the mask in the 78-year-old pontiff wrapped up his visit to the island by meeting with families and blessing the city of san diego. large crowds braved the rain to ch a of the first latin american pope. it has made the pope usually popular on the island, although he steered clear of political statements. he also met former cuban leader fidel castro, as well as fidel's brother and successor, raul.

he now heads to the united states, or his itinerary includes stops to the white house, the u.s. congress, and the one general summary. laura: hundreds of thousands of muslims from around the world have started the pilgrimage to mecca in saudi arabia, the holiest site in islam. almost 2 million people are expected to take part in this year. every year the event presents a huge logistical challenge to saudi authorities. reporter: thousands of pilgrims circling islam's most sacred site. about 1.4 million muslims from around the world have poured into the holy city of mecca to mark the start of the haj.for many , the pilgrimage is a way to honor the last ones. >> i feel very happy that allah gave me the chance to fulfill my desire. she was religious and she wanted

to warm -- to perform the hajj. >> this one is special. i lost my wife on may 20, and five years after, i lost my father. i came here to pray for them and that you find peace in my heart. nearly gene million pilgrims are expected this year, making security a major issue. saudi authorities say they are on hiler for possible terrorist attacks. v cameras have been set up to watch over the pilgrims, and 100,000 security personnel have been deployed around the city. >> the kingdom has been targeted by terrorists groups this year. there are threats directed at others. we are concentrating on the security of pilgrims of the holy mosque and are taking offense very seriously. haveter: saudi authorities mobilized to 20,000 health-care workers to face another challenge, preventing the spread

of a deadly virus known as mers. since it was detected in 2012, saudi arabia has been the most affected, with more than 500 deaths. laura: let's bring you a quick reminder of the top stories this hour. in burkina faso, the standoff continues. the general who seized power in a coup last week is still refusing to lay down his arms. the head of the regular army has said he wants to avoid bloodshed. this is regional leaders saying they all travel to the country to end the crisis themselves. the european union has agreed to resettle 120,000 refugees who are currently in italy and greece. it has divided member states with hungary and others voting against the plan. returnsn's president after six months and exile, returning to our country torn apart by war between shiite rebels and the coalition led by saudi arabia.

the top business news with you now. markus karlsson with us in the studio. we will start with the top story come tonight, the following at volkswagen following the scandal about machines fitted to 11 inlion cars set to rig missions. it is a credible. markus: the size and scope of the scandal that broke at the end of last week is growing. 11 million cars we found out were fitted with these devices that were meant to cheap emissions tests. volkswagen has been paying the price in the markets this tuesday. for the second incentive day, we saw a sharp fall in volkswagen shares, 16% more than 16% at the end of trading on tuesday. at the same time, the company says it set up 6.5 billion euros to cover the fallout of the scandal. the chief executive of the german car group has also issued a video message. martin winterkorn pledges to get

to the bottom scandal by saying he is endlessly sorry. let's take a look at that apology. winterkorn: at this time i don't yet have all the answers to all the questions either. but we are in the process of mercilessly investigating the background. everything will be put onto the table as quickly, efficiently, and transparently as possible. we continue to work very closely with the relevant state authorities. sweet and comprehensive clarification has the others --swift and comprehensive clarification has the utmost priority. into volkswagen have been launched not only in the united states but also in countries like south korea, italy, and france. there are question marks surrounding martin winterkorn. volkswagen's board is meeting this evening and winterkorn's position is up for discussion at those talks. for more, we turn with someone

with a long-running career in the automotive sector and he runs his own image consultancy. he used to be the country had four brands like harley davidson , chevrolet, and corvette. you know the business, so to speak, inside of. >> as far as you can know it. laura: nuts and bolts, engines. markus: what you make of his position? do you think his position is tenable? >> no, it is not tenable. in cases like this, it is not his fault because he is not the only one making the decision going back five or six years. markus: how far back? >> 11 million cars, one third of the production, so they produce something like 10 million a year. nowadays, it went back for five years at least. you are talking about 2009, 2010. , ina decision like this t means the decision

was made right on the top. it could not be some engineer somewhere who decided i will put this on all these engines come up this gimmick in so that nobody can do the test correctly. markus: you're saying it is very unlikely that the volkswagen director knew nothing of this. >> i don't think that is possible, no. laura: size and scope of the scandal. let's talk about the impact of this scandal on the rest of the industry. do you think there is some suspicion on other carmakers? do you think consumers can trust these omissions tests at all? you say it quite nicely. there is a lot of extra suspicion that no authority anymore will have full confidence in their local markets. the consumer will have a lack of trust and whatever car is french breader a or german brand or american brand or whatever. that thell of trust fuel figures given are really

the real figures. there is all role -- already a lot of noise on that in the past. i think the rules will be tightened and there will be more people checking things. no one will be able to move anymore. there will be even more pressure on electrical vehicles. laura: that is not the way forward, in your view? funds should be transferred to electric cars? >> there should be research on electric cars but electric cars cannot do the job vehicles do nowadays with diesel. they still have a limited range. 200 kilometers. markus: let's turn back to volkswagen for a moment.

what can the company due to repair the damage that has been done? >> it is asking a lot but the only thing they can use to be as open as possible. if they don't, you cannot deny it. too much already to say i didn't know. markus: do you think he has played at the right way? >> don't see any way out. that is the strangest thing in this whole affair. somebody made a decision to put the gimmick -- i call it a vehicles, into their hoping that nobody will ever find out. that is not the way it works nowadays. everything will be found out. thank you. pleasure to have you in the

studio. as you have been hearing, volkswagen and its chief executive have apologize for the scandal, but the question is whether it will be enough to trust customers and regulators could let's look at how the other major carmakers have dealt with scandals in the past decade or so. elliott richardson has more. volkswagen may have been rumbled but it is not the first time a manufacturer has been called out. toyota plus unintended acceleration scandal forced to the japanese manufacturer to recall nine .1 million vehicles worldwide. the first tried to blame driver error and then suggested that the floor mats were impeding the acceleration pedal, before admitting it misled the public. how did toyota deal with the crisis? the company installed a brake override system in over 3 million toyota and lexus hybrid cars and handed out compensation to owners of older models not equipped with the override system.

compensation to owners to sell period.rs in a certain and pay for a settlement. the

09/22/15 09/22/15 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> what is called here a noble endure, courageous move to cuba's isolation, although in reality, it was u.s. isolation that was the motivating factor. amy: professor noam chomsky -- world-renowned political dissident and linguist on wars in the middle east, the iran nuclear deal.