Hello,I am Julie Candler with the BBC news.

Saudi Arabia says more than 700 people are nowknown to have died in a crush of the annual hajj pilgrimage. About 800 othershave been injured. The disaster at Mina on the outskirts of Mecca is the worstof the hajj in 25 years. The Saudi Health minister Khalid Alfalih has blamedthe tragedy on worshipers failing to obey instructions. “The accident was astampede caused by overcrowding and also caused by some of the pilgrims notfollowing the instructions of the security under hajj ministry.” Iran, SaudiArabia's biggest regional rival, has accused the Saudi of not providingadequate security. The head of Iran's hajj organization Saeed Ohadi accused thesecurity services of mismanagement. “Unfortunately for unknown reasons,security officers closed off one route. There was limited space for thepilgrims, and due to the large crowd, many pilgrims from various countries wereunfortunately pressed together.”

Pope Francis has become the first head of the Roman Catholic Church to addressa joint session of the United States Congress. In a wide ranging speech,punctuated by regular bursts of applause, Pope Francis called for greatercooperation to confront fundamentalist attitudes and a world beset by violentconflict. He also spoke of the need to protect human rights. “And then cameviolence, is required to combat violence perpetrating in the name of ourreligion, and ideology or economic assistance, while also save our religiousfreedom, intellectual freedom and individual freedoms.”

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that the migrant crisis is farfrom being resolved. She told German parliament that measures agreed this weekby EU leaders was a first step. Mrs. Merkel has been meeting the country'sregional leaders to discuss how to pay for the care of hundreds of thousands ofmigrants who arrived in Germany.

Fresh protests have broken out in parts of Southern Nepal over the country'snew constitution which was adopted on Sunday. Sanjoy Majumder reports from onetown on the Indian border. “Protestors have blocked a major border crossinginto Nepal from India at Birgunj, effectively shutting off the country's mainsupply line. Hundreds of riot police have been deployed and have used tear gasto try to break up the protests. Several hundred trucks have stuck at the border,many carrying essential supplies from India into Nepal. The protestors, whobelonged to ethnic group from the low line southern plains, say that the newconstitution marginalizes them.” World news from the BBC.

The German Transport minister says Volkswagen has admitted that cars it sold inEurope were among those whose pollution tests were manipulated. The ministersaid VW cars with 1.6 and 2.0 liter diesel engines were among those affected.Volkswagen’s head office said they hope to provide detailed information aboutthe affected models on Friday.

At least 25 people have died in an attack at a mosque in the Yemeni capital Sana.Witnesses of Medics say an explosion ripped through the Balili mosque which iscontrolled by Shiite Houthi rebels. Islamic state group which regards ShiiteMuslims as heretic said it carried out the bombing.

The campaign group Human Rights Watch says the Rwanda authorities are arbitrarilyarresting some of the country's most vulnerable people, and holding them in an unofficialdetention center. In a new report, it says street vendors, beggars and sexworkers are being held in a former warehouse. At times, up to 400 people are keptthere, the report says. The Rwandan government says the building is a transitcenter where drug addicts and others are rehabilitated.

Italian archeologists have uncovered fragments of bone which may have belongedto Leonardo De Vinci's model for the Mona Lisa. Researchers have spent years exhumingand testing remains in the city of Florence dating back five centuries. Here isJames Reynolds. “Historians believe that the woman depicted by Leonardo DeVinci may have been Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a silk merchant. Gherardinidied in Florence in 1542. The scientists say that one set remains probablybelonged to Lisa Gherardini, but the remains have degraded too far for DNAtests, so all they really have are a few shards of bone, which may or may nothave belonged to the woman who may or may not have posed for Leonardo. Fivecentury's honor the Mona Lisa holds on to her remaining mysteries.”

BBC news.