." welcome to the "france 24 newsroom. i molly hall. the king of saudi arabia promises a swift investigation into the deadly hajj stampede. the government says the pilgrims may not have followed instructions. u.s. president barack obama accepts an invitation to reach vladimir putin to discuss the syrian war. world leaders are revising efforts to end the conflict. an enthusiastic new york welcomes pope francis as he

arrives ahead of a highly anticipated address to united nations general assembly. we go to new york to our correspondence. also coming up in the program, in business we will have the latest drama with the volkswagen in missions cheating scandal. the german carmaker seeks a new ceo. plus, the story of the $15 million picasso painting back on display at a paris museum after a long and unusual journey. now first, saudi arabia faces growing criticism following yesterday pot steadily hot stamping -- yesterday's deadly hajj stampede. it became the deadliest in years when over 700 people were

crushed to death. the saudi king has ordered a safety review in wake of the tragedy, but some are asking the government -- if the government could have done more to prevent the disaster. anger news gives way to as pilgrims blame saudi arabia for it thursday's deadly stampede. witnesses say police left only one entrance way open, leading to the pilgrims cap, causing the dangerous overcrowding. they also say police appeared inexperienced and disorganized. many foreigners were among the fatalities, including over 100 iranian nationals. --n has supreme leader iran's supreme leader and others have criticized organization of the pilgrimage, blaming saudi arabia for irresponsible behavior. >> it is clear to us that mismanagement by authorities arranging the movement has caused this catastrophic incident. saudi officials must be held accountable.

>> it is not the first deadly stampede during the hajj. despite increased security measures and billions spent on improving safety, the yearly pilgrimage presents a significantly just equal challenge for saudi arabia. the saudi king offered his deep condolences and ordered an investigation but said the hajj would go on. willis does not mean we stiffen our efforts to hold the cover image the best conditions as possible. the pilgrimage will continue despite what has happened. the stampede comes two weeks after a crane collapsed at mecca's grand mosque, killing 109 people. this latest accident is the largest since 1990, when 1400 people perished due to overcrowding in a pedestrian tunnel. asly: the stampede occurred

pilgrims were on their way to reenact a symbolic stoning of the double. -- of the devil. witnesses described the aftermath. >> the stampede was a catastrophe. we were shocked that we could do nothing. can guide ourllah pilgrimage. >> i am very sad, but this is their fate and destiny. may allah bless their souls. i wish that they could go to heaven. >> we hope everything will be smooth today. what took lace yesterday is a sad incident that's what took place yesterday is a sad incident. molly: pope francis expressed his condolences for the tragedy, and he made the comments as he is currently visiting new york city in the united states after a warm welcome in the city. he will address the united nations general assembly later today. he is expected to press world leaders to act on a number of

pressing issues. the spring in jessica, standing by in new york. we have got the pope there in new york, and he is going to speak in front of the u.n. general assembly. what are we expecting? jessica: we expect him once again to talk about climate change, about the refugee crisis, inequality in the world, and to call everyone to work together to solve the various crises facing the world at the moment. as i walked into the u.n. headquarters early this morning, i saw for the first time the up on a pool with all the other flags. after the successful bid for the palestinians to get nonmember states to allow them to have , the pope hasised been greeted here in new york city really with a rock star's welcome as he arrived on thursday night.

this morning, there is a lot of excitement as staff numbers entered, some getting close to the pope this morning as he greets staff. one of them even said that she was hoping that he would bless her unborn baby. he is going to beginning a speech in spanish in front of the general assembly. it will last about 30 minutes, taking place around 10:20. after that, he will leave the united nations and head down to ground zero, where he is going mass giving a multi-face there. he will head to a catholic school in harlem. he is going to be meeting with immigrants there, with children. he is going to the school with car washers from the bronx. just the type of people he likes to mingle with. molly: how is he being received in the united states? jessica: he is really being received, as i said, almost like a pop star.

spokesperson for the vatican commission is saying that he is here as a pastor, not in any other measure. he being called the people's pope. he is seen as being very humble, simple, and spontaneous. is making for a bit of a nightmare for logistics and security here at the united nations. extremely tight security here for this pope's visit. molly: jessica, thank you. as you just heard from her, the pope is expected to touch upon the world refugee crisis and he addresses the u.n. general assembly later today. european countries are struggling with an influx of asylum-seekers. hungary started building another fence to keep refugees out, this time from slovenia. france 24's correspondent

reports. >> a landlocked nation at the .enter of the migrant crisis hungary is caught up in a battle to cope with increasing numbers of asylum-seekers arriving at its borders. or than 240,000 have been registered there this year alone, but the majority must travel on to austria and germany. crossed the border into austria in the past 36 hours -- more than eight thousand crossed into the border of austria the past 36 hours. >> dignity, in europe we find that it we find that we are human. we have all human rights here. >> in an unprecedented move within the eu's passport free schengen zone, hungary announced thursday that he was putting up

barbed wire on its border with slovenia. it is the latest in a series of desperate measures to stem the flow of migrants. since hungary sealed the border havea fence, the refugees moved toward croatia. >> we organize them into camp's and we feed them, and we give them water and medical assistance, and then they are to theransferred european union, because that is something that -- you cannot stop them there. thursday, in a sign of growing tension between them, croatia accused serbia of doing a deal with hungary to send migrants its way. many trying to enter are fleeing the war in syria.

many want bashar al-assad to play a role in the country's transition. angela merkel and the turkish president appeared to be on board. vladimir putin will meet with barack obama to discuss the four-year-long conflict. russia has been a long-standing supporter of the bashar al-assad regime. >> russia has never shied away from the fact that it has supported the bashar al-assad regime and is sending weapons. on alitary jets are part runway in northern syria. according to russian media, moscow has deployed over 7000 men to fight along bashar al-assad's troops. that is what the organization's secretary-general told "france 24." a substantial russian

buildup in syria with different kinds of capabilities -- some fighter planes, air defenses. is responsible for the atrocities, killing his own people. >> wednesday, damascus announced it had used for the first time russian and fighting rebels. the following day, moscow conducted drills in the eastern mediterranean, involving several ships. vladimir putin is calling for the creation of a new coalition that would include bashar al-assad's army fighting the islamic state group. >> to pursue the to fight -- the defeat of isil, without pursuing a political transition, is to fuel the very kind of extremism that underlies isil. and if that is the russian view, it is a logical contradiction. >> monday, president putin and his american counterpart, barack obama, will hold their first bilateral meetings since 2013.

the talks will take place after the russian leader has addressed the united nations enteral assembly. -- the united nations general assembly. molly: one of france's national treasures is safely back at a paris museum. picassoillion dollar, painting, "the hairdresser," is back after a long and unusual journey. >> a disappearance with a happy ending. $15casso painting worth million was returned to its paris home thursday after being stolen 17 years ago. minister, it is a great joy to recover such an important national treasure. "the hairdresser" was painted in 1911 and is an important work from kosovo's cubist period. it has made quite a journey --

from picasso's cubist. wasped in parcel paper, it sold as an arts and crafts gift for $37. for the president of the pompidou centre, the back story only adds to the work's appeal. >> the public will not only find a masterpiece but also a painting with the story, a painting with a past. there is an layer of depth. >> the work will have to be restored for around six weeks because it was kept in damp conditions during its theft. the investigation is ongoing, but it's appearance thrust the painting from the -- but the disappearance thrust the painting from the storeroom into the limelight. molly: the king of saudi arabia promises a swift investigation into the deadly high stampede.

-- the deadly high stampede. -- the deadly high stampede. world leaders a reviving efforts to end the conflict. an enthusiastic new york welcomes pope francis as he arrives at the head of the highly anticipated address to the united nations general sibley. -- to the united nations general assembly. i am joined by kate moody. kate, we are still focusing on volkswagen. this is the company is focused -- is searching for a new ceo in the wake of a new emission scandal from last week. >> the board is meeting in both berg at the coming headquarters to find a new chief executive to take over for martin winterkorn. outsiders are gathering the headquarters. will beinvestigation opened to see if cars are sold

there by this cheating software. is set to take the reins. porsche is one of vw's strongest brands. most of his career, he worked at audi. he is very well respected in the organization. it is possible he will be brought in on a temporary capacity. we also expect heads to roll as the company tries to work out who is responsible for installing these cheating software's that lie about fuel emissions in an estimated 11 million vehicles. whoever does take the reins will face an uphill battle as they rebuild the tarnished brand. our correspondent explains. "the car" is volkswagen's international slogan, and it has come to represent a cornerstone now.rman innovation until the new ceo faces an uphill

battle, and that begins with pinpointing who is responsible for the biggest scandal in vw's 78-year-old history, and recalling millions of cars affected worldwide. all never states, in addition to the ones doing so, -- we invite all member states, in addition to the ones doing so, to join in the investigation. >> the next biggest task is the financial health of the company. standard & poor's has threatened to downgrade vw's credit ratings, while the scandal could cost them $18 billion in fines, not even including the civil and criminal lawsuits that could follow. >> they still sell more non-diesel cars than they sell diesel cars, but it will severely impact their goal to grow. >> finally, the new ceo will

face perhaps the toughest task of all -- rebuilding a once trusted brand and restoring consumer confidence. and especially ensuring that this dishonesty never happens again. molly: turning to the markets, we have seen volkswagen shares peering back there earlier gains . they opened up more than 4% this about but have gone back midway through the session. the couple has lost a third of its market value since the story broke a week ago. automakers in general are performing well across europe. bmw and mercedes r leading brands -- are leading gains. leading gains in europe up 3%. showas official statistics that consumer confidence has jumped to its highest level since 2007. we will take you through some of the other business headlines now. deutsche bank has been ordered to face the u.s. government lawsuit seeking more than $190

million over alleged tax fraud 15 years ago. bank's argument was rejected that the case should be dismissed because the claim was out of date. caterpillar could cut more than 10,000 jobs and cut more than -- close 20 facilities over the next three years. innospec's revenue to fall in 2015 for the third straight year. caterpillar -- it expects revenue to fall in 2015 for the third straight year. lines are forming outside apple stores around the world as the new iphone 6s goes on sale. between 12 million and 13 million phones are expected to fly off-the-shelf this weekend. it features improved cameras and a 3-d touchscreen. the crowds have seen out to welcome pope francis on his tour of the united states, and they are not the only ones.

a brewing company in philadelphia has launched a limited edition beer in honor of his trip. it features a playful label showing him with a glass of their beer. it has been so successful in local bars, but the nearby seminary where the post -- where the pope will be staying this weekend has requested some. become when he has said that it will be happy to deliver half the case of the beer. just in case the pope gets thirsty on his stay. molly: nothing like a little holy drink there. kate, thank you for walking us through the day's business news. it is time for the press review. i am joined by florence villeminot, for the headlines with today's written press. we will start with this terrible story with the saudi arabian stampede. flo: we look at the papers within saudi arabia. they are largely following the official saudi position.

authorities are being applauded. the king ordering the investigation into the cause of the stampede. saypaper says you cannot saudi authorities did not make ensure the safety of the hajj pilgrims. anyone's best efforts, it is impossible to avoid an accident. a little incident can quickly snowball into a tragedy. and it is in no way the authorities' fault. molly: unfortunately, this is not the first time this has happened. >> one paper talks about a repeated tragedy in their editorial today. this is not really a question of fate anymore. yesterday's tragic stampedes adds to a long list of tragedy has killed thousands of men and women.

it talks about over 3500 victims in the past 15 years. "the huffington post," the french version, has pointed out that safety has long been a weakness for mecca. highons of people attend -- attend hajj every year. post" says they have spent billions to extend the area. for instance, there is a huge construction project that was launched i former king abdulla four years ago to increase the surface area of the grand -- the great mosque to about 400 square miles. that is 50 football fields. the idea is to be able to welcome more and more pilgrims. thatck say -- critics say authorities are transforming mecca into manhattan and it is losing its spiritual quality. let's go back to another arab paper based in london. it says that saudi authorities really need to take

responsibility here and need to stop putting the blame on pilgrims, calling them ignorant and undisciplined, etc.. molly: let's look now at a story here in the eu. this is an election set to take place on sunday in spain. it could possibly see a split of catalonia from the country. flo: as you can imagine, catalonian papers are focusing very much on this election. pointing out that it is the final sprint for undecided voters. sunday, catalonian's are heading to the polls to elect the 135 members of the region's parliament, and it is being preface of independence. catalonia is a vital economic region for spain. there is a question about what independence would mean for the banking system, for pensions, and also catalonia's future for your. there is a warning that

catalonia could mean an automatic exit from the eurozone. if her paper points out this really is a legal headache that is making brussels busy because an independent catalonia would set a precedent for other reiko a regions. -- otherpe francis breakaway regions. molly: pope francis is still in new york. flo: today it is a little bit confusing because he got a warm round of applause from u.s. lawmakers. even though you can see lawmakers are cheering for proposals that they hate, such as issues of climate change and immigration. why were they clapping? lots of these lawmakers could not really understand the pope because he was speaking in a very low voice and his english is not very good. this paper says, "who the heck they do notmeone

understand?" molly: with weeks to go before the international summit on climate change in paris, we end with something else. flo: francois hollande is jumping into the date and -- jumping into the debate. you can see him on the front page. he gets an exclusive interview, where he talks about his commitment to reaching an agreement, the importance of saving the planet. it does not have a price. "let's start a revolution when it comes to saving the environment." molly: thank you for that. thank you all for joining us. for more from flow, you can log on. now let's cross to the russian museums and the moscow all over the city. bringing more than 70 artists together over 30 countries.

here is a look. >> above all, movement. that is the guiding principle of bianaear's be an ollie -- li. artists have not come to exhibit their works so much as make them, under the watchful eyes of visitors. this is a belgian artist who lives and works in wexford in southern ireland. >> getaway, getaway. a bit more, a bit more. >> her local beach provides the driftwood with which she sculpts a giant skull. have the eyes, the nose, and the mouth. this represents us, the people. the smile. sometimes we suffer. there is a mix of different emotions that i have created. >> how to gather.

artists have 10 days to answer the question. fled azerbaijan because he is gay. he now centers his work around his experiences.

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