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The Pope Visits New York City; FIFA President under Criminal Investigation; Hundreds Killed in Hajj Stampede; Catalans Vote on Independence; Indian Prime Minister Visits Silicon Valley. Aired 3- 3:30a ET

Aired September 26, 2015 - 03:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Thousands gather in New York to listen to Pope Francis preach against greed and inequality.

The FIFA scandal widens. Swiss authorities now investigating President Blatter and the top candidate for his job may be under scrutiny, too.

Plus, much more than a local election, Catalans head to the polls Sunday with independence from Spain on their mind.

Hello, everyone. I'm Natalie Allen. And this is CNN NEWSROOM.

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ALLEN: Pope Francis arrives in Philadelphia just hours from now for the third and final leg of his historic U.S. visit. On Friday, the pope wrapped up a very busy day in New York City by celebrating mass with nearly 20,000 people looking on at Madison Square Garden.

He urged his audience to live their faith by helping the needy and rejecting self-absorption. Earlier he addressed world leaders at the United Nations. He presented himself as champion of the poor and urged the audience to adopt solutions that combat widespread poverty and environmental destruction across the planet.

He also urged the world leaders to work tirelessly for world peace.

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POPE FRANCIS (through translator): War is the negation of all rights. And it's a dramatic assault on the environment. If we want true integral human development for all, we must work tirelessly to avoid war between nations and between peoples.

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ALLEN: CNN's Chris Welch has more on the pope's address to the U.N. and other key stops he made during his whirlwind visit to New York City.

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CHRIS WELCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is clear Pope Francis enjoys being around children. At a Harlem school, he joked around as the students sang to him and they even tried to teach him how to use a smartboard. Pope Francis began his day speaking to the United Nations General Assembly.

He urged the more than 170 world leaders to take action on several fronts, like climate change, human trafficking and eliminating extreme poverty. The pontiff made special mention of the Iran nuclear deal.

POPE FRANCIS (through translator): The recent agreement reached on the nuclear question in a sensitive region of Asia and the Middle East is proof of the potential of political goodwill and of law.

WELCH (voice-over): The day then took on a somber tone as Pope Francis arrived at the National 9/11 Memorial. He met with the families of victims and first responders from that fateful day. Then, in an incredible show of religious solidarity, he led an interfaith prayer service.

POPE FRANCIS: Give eternal light and peace to all who died here.

WELCH (voice-over): Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and the archbishop of New York showed the pontiff around the September 11th Museum. The pope wrapped up his trip to New York with a mass before some 20,000 people at Madison Square Garden.

There he spoke about God being in New York and encouraged everyone to help the poor, the elderly and the displaced -- reporting from New York, I'm Chris Welch.

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ALLEN: In part due to the pope's trip, the top Republican in U.S. politics is resigning.

House Speaker John Boehner made the surprise announcement Friday in Washington. He says he will step down next month. Boehner says his encounter with Pope Francis on Thursday helped him to decide it was time to go.

You see him here, choking up during the pope's visit to Washington. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is considered one of the leading contenders to replace Boehner.

The U.S. and China are pledging positive relations moving forward. U.S. President Obama hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House. The leaders still have differences on issues such as human rights. But they did reach a, quote, "common understanding" on curbing economic cyber espionage

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've agreed that

neither the U.S. or the Chinese government will conduct or knowingly support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, including trade secrets or other confidential business information for commercial advantage.

XI JINPING, PRESIDENT OF CHINA (through translator): Confrontation and friction are not the right choice for both sides. During my visit, the competent authorities of both countries have reached important consensus on joint fight against cyber crimes.

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ALLEN: Mr. Xi is heading to New York City on Saturday and is expected to speak at the United Nations General Assembly on Monday.

Sepp Blatter faces new allegations in connection with the investigation into FIFA corruption. Prosecutors in Switzerland have opened criminal proceedings into the FIFA president. He is accused of criminal mismanagement and disloyal payments to the head of the Union of European Football Associations.

Investigators questioned Blatter Friday and seized data from his office in Zurich. You may remember when, back in July, comedian Lee Nelson threw money at FIFA President Blatter during a news conference.

For the latest let's turn to world sports.

Alex Thomas, he's live in Zurich, outside headquarters.

And we should say you are there because you were to hold a news conference after that executive meeting but that was postponed and then canceled because of this development -- Alex.

ALEX THOMAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Oh, to have a comedian throwing wads of cash around today, Natalie. It's been very quiet outside of the FIFA House, their quarters of the governing body of world football, the most popular sport on the planet.

But lots of action, as you mentioned there, on Friday, when the world's media were here to hear what Sepp Blatter had to say after a regular schedule, one of these quarterly executive committee meetings.

First that press conference was delayed. Then it was canceled altogether. And then suddenly at the close of business hours, Swiss time, the bombshell from the attorney general's office of Switzerland here, one of the two investigations, the other happening in the U.S. into corruption in football.

But, yes, for the first time, Sepp Blatter being directly named as the man being investigated for criminal misconduct. In this case, Sepp Blatter's accused of not fairly representing FIFA in a TV deal with the Caribbean football union and also giving a "disloyal payment," was the phrase used in the statements, to Michel Platini, the head of UEFA of just over $2 million.

Sepp Blatter's lawyer says he has done nothing wrong. They're cooperating fully. And Michel Platini released a statement, saying that he is cooperating with the investigation even though he is not under criminal investigation himself. He's just giving information.

And that payment was just a fairly given payment for services rendered to FIFA. Platini, of course, the favorite to replace Blatter next February as FIFA president in the rearranged election after Blatter announced he would stand down just days after being re-elected back in May.

That election, of course, just days after the arrests of top FIFA officials in a hotel by Swiss police at the request of U.S. Justice officials. I was here in Zurich only a couple of weeks ago when Loretta Lynch, the attorney general of the United States, and her Swiss counterpart, Michael Lauber, who was here during interrogation of Blatter on Friday, gave a joint news conference.

Such is the public interest around the world on this investigation into corruption at FIFA. And the bottom line is, Natalie, Sepp Blatter has been so good down the years. He's been at FIFA 40 years, clinging onto power.

Can he hold on any longer?

ALLEN: We will wait and see. Certainly a turning point in his legacy on Friday. Alex Thomas, thanks for us, live there in Zurich.

In other news, Saudi Arabia is suggesting Muslim pilgrims who ignored security guidelines may to be blame for the stampede that killed more than 700 people; 900 others were injured during the hajj ritual known as the stoning of the devil.

We now know that those killed came from at least 13 countries. Iran says 131 of its citizens died and it's pointing the finger at Saudi Arabia to blame for not protecting them.

Senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is following developments from London. He joins me now live.

You have got Iran taking to the streets, Nick, blaming Saudi Arabia. You have Saudi Arabia blaming the pilgrims. I believe they even singled out perhaps pilgrims from Africa. So a lot of finger- pointing here. The bottom line is this is just a horrific tragedy.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Certainly, the recriminations after this horrifying loss of life, 717 pilgrims dead here.

Now Iran seems, at this point, to have lost the most. You've mentioned there, 131. They're missing 365 of their citizens. They could be amongst perhaps the 900 injured, accounted for. Saudi Arabia sending all the help it possibly can to assist them.

But, yes, the recriminations now up front, Saudi officials suggesting perhaps some pilgrims may have been unable or unwilling to follow the instructions they were given. This crush, simply, it appears, down to Road 204 and Road 206.

Some of them massive routes designed to hold 2 million pilgrims, perhaps being fed into each other. Some pilgrims who may have attended one of the --

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WALSH: -- rituals there, known as the stoning of the devil. This on the third day of the five-day hajj. They may have been leaving and come across pilgrims who were, in fact, headed towards that ritual.

Now Iranian officials quite open in who they blame here. We've heard from them, citing this as a catastrophe, which is quite grave, and pointing at the negligence of Saudi Arabia officials here.

Now Saudi Arabians, to their part, as you say, have suggested perhaps it was down to the fact that some pilgrims did not follow instructions. But they have also been forced to issue a denial because there have been a number of media reports suggesting perhaps this bottleneck, perhaps this crush, where, you have to imagine, 700 lives lost in this 43-degree Celsius heat, where, apparently, simply if you fell down it was hard to get up again, so intense and suppressive was the climate there.

But in fact, this may, according to media reports, the bottleneck could have been caused because a motorcade may have blocked the roads. The Saudi Arabian government, through their Washington embassy, has denied that flatly, saying there were no Saudi officials in that area trying to pass through at that time.

But it shows the scale of recriminations here. We have across the Middle East a fissure between Sunni and Shia and the Saudis, really, the forefront, the figurehead of the Sunni in so many areas, the rich, powerful entity, backing them.

Then on the other hand, the Iranians, backing the Shia. In so many of the conflicts we see, it's actually a proxy war between Saudi and Iran (ph) and even in a terrifying, tragic moment like this, 700 lives lost at least at what should be one of the holiest moments of the year for the Muslim faith.

Those recriminations still continuing here, the Iranians squarely pointing the finger at the Saudis for negligence. And even, in fact, the Iranian-backed leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, out of Beirut yesterday, saying, in fact, he suggests maybe that this annual ritual should be entrusted to a broader Muslim committee of all faiths, perhaps their bid suggests that the Saudi government consider the custodian of the two holy sites there aren't up to the job.

And the Saudis, for their part, saying, look, we have done everything we possibly can. This was a tragic instant and it came down to the sheer volume of people perhaps on these roads at this one time. Such a busy number of days. So many people moving through such narrow, at times, streets there.

ALLEN: Absolutely. Every year, we see these aerials like we're seeing now and this video. You wonder how they pull this off. They certainly didn't. And women and children, among the dead.

Nick Paton Walsh for us there in London, thank you.

Madrid is anxious. And the E.U. is watching closely. Next, we'll look at why Sunday's vote in Catalonia could be the start of something big.

Plus, Mr. Modi goes to Silicon Valley. India's prime minister will spend the weekend with some of the biggest names in the tech industry. We'll tell you why.

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ALLEN: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM.

Spain is tense for Sunday's vote in its industrial heartland. And the rest of the European Union will be paying special attention. Catalans will be going to the polls in a regional election. But it could turn out to be a historic statement on independence. CNN's Isa Soares explains.

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ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Scenes of unity and defiance in the streets of Barcelona early this month as thousands formed a human mosaic, pointing toward the new country they aspire to build.

The independence fervor is expected to peak as Catalans go to the polls in a regional election that is being framed as a proxy vote on independence. It's a coalition of pro-independence parties even without a majority vote with at least 68 seats in their 135-member Catalan parliament, they hope to translate that win into forming an independent state within 18 months.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We have done everything in our hands, everything we could to change the status quo and to lead Catalonia to real change.

SOARES (voice-over): Spain's central government has not authorized a vote on the grounds it is unconstitutional. And new keen to avoid another political crisis has stressed that membership of that bloc would not be automatic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The newly independent co-region should or would by fact of its independence become a third country with respect to the union and may apply to become a member of the union.

SOARES (voice-over): Some argue that what Catalonia is doing is potentially derailing Spain's tentative recovery and that would be most damaging to the country as well as the region.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The country would probably be taken out of the European Union also the euro area. The banks will lose access to the euro system. So that would create problems, financial stability problems. So I think both Spain and Catalonia have a lot at stake.

SOARES: And here's why. With over 7.5 million people, Catalonia has traditionally been the industrial heartland of Spain. It accounts for almost 20 percent, and that is of the entire country's economic output. It is home to companies that you and I know very well -- Fiat, Nissan, Nestle as well as the airline Vueling.

And if viewed alone, Catalonia's GDP is roughly on par with that of Portugal.

SOARES (voice-over): It is such a critical part of the country's economy that already the governor of the Bank of Spain is warning banking restrictions like the ones in Greece could be imposed.

Economic threats designed to change direction of the boat -- Isa Soares, CNN, London.

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ALLEN: Alex White is the regional director for Europe at the Economist Intelligence Unit. He is also a former senior adviser to the U.K. Treasury. And he joins me now live from London.

Alex, thanks for helping us understand this critical vote that's taking place. We just saw a sign there that someone in the crowd was holding before Isa finished her report, saying, "It's now or never."

Why is it now or never for many seeking independence in Catalonia?

ALEX WHITE, REGIONAL DIRECTOR FOR EUROPE, ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT: Well, to be honest with you, I am not sure we would see it the same way. It's been presented as a now-or-never issue in the past. We remember in 2012, where there was the big debate about Catalan independence at that point.

It is something that has been, if I might put it like this, a bit of a running sore in the Spanish body politic for several years now. It is not now or never; it's possible that the independence camp won't get the majority in parliament that they're seeking at this time. It is possible then that they come back and debate it again. It's an ongoing issue.

ALLEN: Right. And we just heard an economist say, as far as the larger picture, what would this mean to Spain if they were to vote for independence, that it could derail Spain's recovery at this critical time? WHITE: Well, I don't think anything that is going to happen here

is going to derail the recovery in the whole of Spain. Obviously it's potentially destabilizing. Markets don't like uncertainty.

And the issue about the constitutional integrity of the country is clearly a source of uncertainty.

Catalonia itself, as your region pointed out is a wealthy region. So it's 16 percent of the population. But, 19 percent of --

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WHITE: -- GDP, 21 percent of Spanish tax receipts. So obviously it's a negative sign for markets if this region looks to want to exit its union with the rest of Spain. But it's hard to see how this sort of uncertainty, while unhelpful, derails the broader positive story of the Spanish recovery.

ALLEN: All right. But an independent Catalonia, how would their standing in the European Union be affected from an economic and political standpoint?

WHITE: Well, it's interesting to see the development of Europe's position on these independence movements. And previously there had been quite a lot of ambiguity as to whether a new state that is becoming independent from the European Union member would have some of the rights of membership.

So there's a lot of ambiguity when we had the debate in the U.K. about the role of Scotland, if Scotland were to become independent. What we have seen clearly over the past 18 months, two years or so, is Europe taking a much firmer position, standing behind its member states and saying any region of a member state that becomes independent would now need to apply again for E.U. membership in Catalonia's case, for euro membership.

And as your report mentioned, we had the governor of the Bank of Spain out recently saying, this is not just about E.U. membership. This is also about financial stability. The ECB won't be able to stand behind the Catalan banking system if Catalonia becomes independent and is outside of the euro. So the transition costs for the Catalan economy, if it were to become independent, would be very considerable.

ALLEN: Well, this vote takes place Sunday. And no doubt many, many watching what happens. Alex White, thanks for your analysis for us and expertise. We appreciate it from London. Thank you.

Digital India goes to Silicon Valley. We'll tell you why India's prime minister is making the trip to the U.S. tech heartland. We'll have a live report for you right after this.

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ALLEN: India's prime minister is in Silicon Valley this weekend to meet the CEOs of Google, Apple and Microsoft.

Narendra Modi is the first Indian leader to visit the U.S. West Coast in more than 30 years. He plans to showcase his Digital India campaign before he heads to New York to address the United Nations.

I'm joined now by CNN's New Delhi bureau chief, Ravi Agrawal.

This is just the time to come to the United States, Ravi. We have got the Chinese premier, we have got the pope and now we have the Narendra Modi.

Why is going to Silicon Valley so important for him?

RAVI AGRAWAL, CNN NEW DELHI BUREAU CHIEF: Hi, Natalie. Well --

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AGRAWAL: -- in some sense it is a perfect fit, really, Narendra Modi is one of the few really digitally savvy world leaders. He has about 15 million followers on Twitter. He has about 30 million likes on Facebook. So you could say it's a natural fit.

But also Silicon Valley itself has a number of Indian entrepreneurs. By one count, one in 16 of all businesses that are being started up in Silicon Valley are being started by Indians.

So Modi wants to tap into that. A number of top Indian CEOs there, like Google's CEO, as well as Microsoft's CEO, Sundar Pichai, so Satya Nadella -- sorry -- Sundar Pichai is Google's CEO.

So, Modi is going to meet Pichai of Google. He's also going to meet Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, he's going to meet Tim Cook of Apple, he's going to meet the Tesla CEO, and the point of all of this really is that he wants to get a sense of the big innovations that are taking place in the hotbed of innovation in the world.

And he wants to understand what he can bring from there, what he can learn from there and take to India.

ALLEN: Right because India's digital economy quite important to him. Facebook and Google are blocked in China.

Is there potential then for India to be a bigger part of their global expansion plans since India is more open to Western expansion than China?

AGRAWAL: The possibilities are certainly there. India is already Facebook's number two market. And it is bound to grow and grow and grow. I will give you an example.

In 2010, India had 100 million Internet users. By 2014, India had 300 million Internet users. And that number is only going to rise.

What makes India so interesting especially is because most Indians who rea now discovering the Internet are not discovering it on a PC; they're discovering it on a smartphone. That allows India really to leapfrog other countries in terms of its tech adaptation. That's what Modi is very, very interested in.

ALLEN: Ravi Agrawal for us, live in New Delhi, thanks so much, Ravi.

And I will be right back with our top stories.

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ALLEN: Back with your top stories. This is CNN news now.

Pope Francis arrives in --

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ALLEN: -- Philadelphia in a few hours for the final stop of his six-day visit to the United States. He is scheduled to celebrate mass and visit Independence Hall while he is in the town nicknamed as the City of Brotherly Love. He might have something to say about that.

On Friday, the pope's busy schedule included a speech to the United Nations General Assembly and a visit to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York. He has been talking a lot about brotherly love during his visit to the U.S.

The U.S. House Speaker John Boehner says his meeting with the pope helped him to decide it was time to resign. You see him here getting choked up as he stood behind the pope Thursday.

Picking Boehner's replacement could pit conservative Republicans against the more moderate establishment wing.

Criminal prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation against FIFA president Sepp Blatter. Authorities have questioned Blatter and searched his office in Zurich. The Swiss attorney general says Blatter is being investigated on suspicion of criminal mismanagement. Blatter's attorney denies that.

Croatia has reopened two border crossings with Serbia. The country closed seven of them last week after Hungary shut down its borders with Serbia to stop migrants from entering. Croatia's interior ministry says more than 60,000 migrants have crossed from Serbia in the past week -- 60,000.

That is your latest news. A look at the Rugby World Cup is next with "CNN WORLD RUGBY." You're watching CNN.