first day of the u.n. general assembly in york. vladmir putin and barack obama disagree over any future role for president asaad. the taliban ceases control of a major city in afghanistan for the first time since the

u.s.-led invasion 14 years ago. hundreds of fighters took part in the raid in the north. and spain's prime minister says he'll talk to the new regional government in cat lonia, but any talk of independence for the region is out of the question. accept aretist parties won a convincing victory. separatist parties won a convincing victory over the weekend. first, though, two presidents, two very different visions for syria. the conflict has been dominating today's session at the u.n. general assembly in new york. russia's vladmir putin saying that it will be a grave mistake not to involve the regime of asaad in the fight against islamic state. president obama saying asaad

was a tyrant who had no future role in his country. our correspondent has this on the day's statements. reporter: vladmir putin and barack obama, two presidents with lofty relations forced to work on many international issues. after praising russia among others to reach a deal on iran's nuclear program, the u.s. president reached out to moscow to solve the syrian crisis. president obama: the united states is prepared to work with any nation including russia and iran to solve the conflict. but we must recognize that there cannot be after so much bloodshed, so much carnage a return to the free war status quo. reporter: by status quo shall the u.s. president means asaad remaining in power. while obama insists the leader must go, putin's russia remains its strongest ally.

president putin: we believe it's a huge mistake with the with the government forces and those bravely fighting terror face-to-face. apart from the forces and fighting in syria no one is fighting the islamic state group or other terrorist organizations. reporter: moscow and washington are working to mend their differences over syria, the crisis in ukraine is a difficult story. president obama: we cannot stand by when the sovereignty of a nation is flagrantly violated. that's the basis of the sanctions that the united states and allies impose on russia, not to return to cold war. reporter: so far neither side seems to be ready to budge on the ukrainian issue. anchor: the french president spoke shortly after vladmir putin, also speaking about the conflict in syria and agreeing very much with barack obama

that in his view, there can be no future role for the syrian leader asaad. >> other strikes can take place in the coming weeks if necessary with always the same grole, identify targets such as training camps or places from where we know the islamic state terrorist group can threaten the security of our country or aunch terrorist attacks. anchor: air france began carrying out strikes against positions in syria three days ago. he'll be describinging a tush kish proposal to create a no fly zone that is supported by the westernbacked syrian opposition. iran's president also took the stage today and he lashed out of audi arabia accusing

incompetence over the hagg pilgrimage. died id thousands contradicting the death toll, 769. >> i'm speaking on behalf of a great nation who is mourning the loss of thousands of muslim pilgrims and hundreds of its own citizens, old, young, men, and women who had come together in the grand and global iritual gathering of the hajj, but fail victim to the incop at the tens and mismanagement of those in charge. it is necessary that the conditions are looking into an president investigation into the cause of the disaster and ways of stopping repetition in the future. anchor: saudi arabia releasing a statement saying that it is denying responsibility for the bombing of a wedding part in

yemen. at least 27 people including eight children were killed in the attack on a village. thousands of civilians have been killed in the saudi-led war against rebels in its neighboring yemen. to afghanistan now where taliban fighters have captured large parts a new orleans city meaning they're in control of a major city now for the first time since the u.s.-led invasion more than 14 years ago. militants launched a takeover armed with rocket-propelled grenades. our correspondent has the story. reporter: columns of black smoke and the sound of gunfire as taliban militants lead an assault on the northern capital. in these images, taliban fighters can be seen blocking a road in the city right in front of surprised inhabitants. quickly store owners draw their curtains leaving deserted

streets as residents worry about what will happen next. >> the militants are guarding the four entrance gates and no one is able to go to any village there because all of the vehicles are being seized by the militants. reporter: kits say the taliban now control more than half the city and that the fighting is ongoing. reinforcements have been sent to help support the police and local troops battling the taliban. >> all our forces are fighting the enemy, until the last drop of blood we'll defend the territory and be confident they can't do anything. reporter: the taliban have freed hundreds of prisoners from the local jail. the city is symbolically significant to the taliban as it was their northern stronghold before their government was overthrown in 2001. this is the second time this year taliban fighters have tried to take this city. they mounted a fierce offensive in april but were ultimately

repeled by government forces and pro government myly that. it seems the government may not have learned from the previous attack the fall of the city would be a heavy blow to the president. he promised to bring peace to the country when he was elected last year. anchor: violent anti-government protests in the central african republiclings and u.s. peacekeepers have been firing warning shots. 20 people have died following the murder of a muslim taxi driver over the weekend. the country does remain unstable following a coup three years ago. spain's prime minister says he is willing to talk to the regional government in cat lonia, but the idea of independence for the region remains out of the question. he was speaking after separatists won a clear majority and the movement did

fall count of the outright majority it would need in the case of any future referendum on breaking away from spain. >> i want to send cat lonean spaniards in general and all those outside spain who have expressed interest in these elections a message of calm. supporters of a breakaway never had the support of the law and since yesterday we also know that they don't have the support of the majority of cat lonean society. anchor: a spanish member of the european parliament joining me now on the line. thanks for being with us. there was a pretty strong signal, wasn't there, from voters this weekend. isn't it just a matter of time before the region gains independence from spain? >> well, this vote and the esult of the vote very clearly

that the independence parties won the regional election as such, but they didn't get the majority for the referendum. , the prime l be minister would like to go again and has said to rely on the party d support of the that is not very easy to make a kind of an agreement and it's not enough for him also to be the only abstention because he told 62 of the 135 seats he

needs the support, but now it will be difficult negotiations, that ey were very clear they recognize after years and ars of ignoring and having management, the indication of the cat lonean people, now he has to recognize that he has to sit with them in the ends and make negotiations. the elections with the biggest loss there very clear. anchor: which he said today he is willing to do. as you say, they did fall short of the votes that they would need should there be a referendum on independence for

cahalonia. why doesn't he let them hold a referendum confident in the knowledge that they might not get the majority they need and then put the issue to bed? is that he problem the government made so many errors in the management of his, no dialogue between the demands and the rest of the panish people that in the end, they were raising fear proposal, out of europe, no investment and even just court the constitution

against them. the reaction was more and more against it. anchor: more about threats. > yeah, making people react. a huge rs were 77%, participation never had in c afghanistan taloyia and that makes mobilized the constitution people, those who were in favor of independence, but it is true that the government just speak with management of catalonia and now we have to rye to take the at the end we know

that they feel different -- anchor: try to build bridges. we have run out of time. thank you very much indeed. well, the victory over the pro independence parties in catalonia has sent ripples of excitement across other separatist regions. ethnic catalons were somewhat divided on whether they would like to follow suit. we have more. reporter: nestled near the pyranee mountains, it's across the spanish border. the population watched the nearby elections with many applauding the results as a step towards independence. >> i think it's really good. we need to take a big step towards the future. >> it could change a lot for us. we would have a capital city right nearby. paris is so far away and

catalonia is so near. it gives me a lot of hope for the economy and everything. reporter: others were more cautious, concerned about the effect of a neighboring region trying to separate from spain. >> i would have said no. i don't think it's good to separate everyone. i simply don't agree. >> i feel more that i'm from here than catalonia, together i country is made of different gions, rich and poor reporter: as a radio station, the results were surprised. many here said they hope the victory would inspire similar sentiments. >> this vote represents hope for us, a new state nearby within europe would mean that there would be a chance of controlling the economy, taxes, investments. reporter: that remains a

minority view among french catalons despite the landscape across the border. anchor: water flows on the planet mars. it has streams of running salty water, some believe could support the possibility of life on mars. as one scientist put it, mars just got a lot more interesting. we have this report. reporter: nasa scientists called it a major scientific discovery, one that could revolution their way of thinking of life on other prants. it's the very conclusive evidence of flowing water on mars. >> mars is not the dry arid planet that we thought in the past. today we are going to announce, that under certain circumstances liquid water has been found on mars. >> in 2011, satellites had several traces of salt on the planets, but their theory that

it came from saline water couldn't be confirmed until today. water flows on the slopes in the warmer martian months and as early as last year. >> mars was once a planet very much like earth with warm salty seas, freash water lakes, snow capped mountains and a water cycle. >> the finding has raised important questions on the possibility of life on mars, a planet we previously thought was too cold for living organisms. >> it's more imperative that we send scientists to mars to explore the current question, is there life on mars. >> missions had established that life could have existed on mars in the past. with this discovery, the red planet has become even more intriguing. anchor: time for our top stories this hour. the united states is willing to

work with russia and iran to try and end the war in syria of the conflict has been dominating the first day of the u.n. general assembly in new york. the french president says he is discussing a turkish proposal to create a no fly zone in northern syria. the taliban have seized control of a major city in afghanistan for the first time since the u.s.-led invasion 14 years ago. hundreds of fighters took part on the raid in the north of the country. and spain's prime minister says 'll talk to the new regional government in catalonia but any discussions of independence in the region remain out of the question. separatist parties won a convincing victory at elections on the weekend. well, let's turn our attentions to the world of business and finance now. we have all of the top stories. we're going to start over in germany with the latest on volkswagen.

>> good evening, prosecutors in germany have opened up an investigation into former boss martin winterkorn. he quit his position last wednesday after nine years as the head of europe's largest carmaker. 2 million of its vehicles were fitted with deceit devices, a million of its cars have emissions cheating software. both companies have not said whether the vehicles will be recalled and refitted. the transport minute at this says it's waiting for action against volkswagen. take a listen. >> the federal motor transport authority has sent volkswagen a letter and asked the company to come up with a binding timetable when measurements can be implemented of the affected car. they have set a time and wants a plan from volkswagen by november 7.

>> let's get a check on the markets now. in europe, the main indices ended the session in deep negative territory. sharp cuts across the board and all ending with a plunk of over two percentage points. you can see totally across the board. let's focus on some individual company stocks that have affected trade in europe and shares in troubled german carmaker volkswagen ended monday session down 7% of the close, but another stock that rattled european markets this monday, that was glenco. the company tumbled a whopping 29% at the close, lower commodity prices are putting pressure on the company's financial health. over in the united states, stocks have picked up their cues from the close here in europe. all of the main indices are down at this hour, the nasdaq is down 3% and the s&p 500 is down 2.5%, dow jones down nearly 2% at this hour.

mcdonald's is going to find this next bit of news difficult to swallow. burger king has unveiled a major assault on the french fast food market to acquire quick. they are a fixture among france cities. burger king is catching up to mcdonald's after an 18% absence from france. reporter: global chain burger king is getting set to take a giant bite out of the french fast food market. the major shareholder has confirmed it's in exclusive negotiations to snap up all quick burger outlets. the terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed, but if finalized, it would see the familiar q sign converted to burger king restaurants across france. quick is the main competitor in france, a notch of over 1 billion euros in 2014. it would see burger king add over 500 stores. it has been keen to expand its

portfolio since breaking back into the french market in 2013 after a 16-year hiatus. following the conversion, burger king would become the number two fast food brand in france behind mcdonald's. globally burger king's 14,000 stores still trail the almost 36,000 mcdonald's in operation, but moving its tax headquarters to canada last year has seen burger king revenues grow while world sales have dipped for the golden arches. >> let's take a look at some of the other stories making headlines at this hour. royal dutch is top stop drilling in the arctic. the company has spent over $7 billion on the project and analysts say the division is a reaction to lower oil prices. shell has been under pressure to stop drilling operations from environmental groups who fear an oil spill could endanger wildlife. alcoa is planning to split its

business in two. one will focus on traditional metal operations and the other is dedicated to engineered products and aviation. its finances have been under pressure under lower prices. the company expects the split to take place in 2016. a french drugmaker has received the green light from the commission. the company will now be able to market within the 28member block. it was approved by the f.d.a. in the united states back in july. and another has announced it will buy a majority stake in low tut formula one. news of the acquisition has come as welcome news for lotus. they are facing legal action in the u.k. or unpaid taxes. it's been supplying engines to formula one for years. now it was a busy weekend for the indian prime minister. during a visit to silicon valley, he met with the biggest

names in the tech industry. the prime minister was in the region to draw on support for his digital india initiative. reporter: the first visit to the u.s. west coast by an indian prime minister in over 30 years. he was given a warm welcome in silicon valley, home to many of the u.s.'s big tech companies and indian. the prime minister hopes to attract foreign investors and get millions for indians online which he dubs digital india. >> it has a world of opportunities for you. the talents of many, but we also know that we will not reach new destinations without making new roads. reporter: the silicon valley visit is part of a five-day u.s. tour focused on forges business links between the two countries. e met with indian born

c.e.o.'s of microsoft and google. google will install wi-fi in train stations across the subcontinent next year. he was given an enthusiastic greeting at the headquarters. he is the-second most followed world leader after barack obama. >> official media can make governments aware and worried about going in the wrong direction. that gives them an opportunity to correct their course. we used to have elections every five years, but now we have them every five minutes. reporter: it comes a week after the chinese president made tech leaders in seattle. several of the u.s. big tech banned ke twitter are in china. >> undercover police have dished fines for flicking cigarette butts. this will start on october 1

when paris will begin issuing fines of 68 euros for the offense. authorities resorted to fines rather as a last resort after a campaign to get parisians to quit the habit failed.

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09/28/15 09/28/15 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> after 411 days, it is like a big rock was on your chest and suddenly you move it. it was such a feeling -- it is hard to describe that moment. i was jumping and jumping. even when i heard the word "release." the sound inside the cell