as the pope visits the u.s., we take a closer look at the pope and the mafia. >> historic visit. pope francis, the first latin american pontiff arrives in cuba tomorrow. and doing business in cuba. nowhere to turn. hundreds of rchtio refugees tryo cross from croatia to sloaz viennslovenia.the epa charges vh

fraudulently set their diesel vehicles to pass epa tests. pope will celebrate mass at revolution square in havana. as the u.s. and cuba work towards normalizing relations. something the pope played a part in. even set up secret meetings at the vatican to further talks.

more money and goods to flow between the two countries. this is a big step although only congress can lift the embargo. critics including marco rubio. >> ten months to remember. not only did pope francis schedule a visit to the island but havana and washington announced they would finally normalize relations. opening embassies in each other's capitals. more than half a century of pent up demand for u.s. goods and services. >> everyone is lined up on the seashore i have to tell you it's not imadges exaggeration, from r

17th, my phone has been ringing off the hook grp hook. >> a u.s. embargo still prevents most aid and commerce with cuba. >> it has more holes than cheese you got oknow where the holes are so you don't fall into them. >> while food and medicines have long been the exceptions, the most comprehensive change to trade and investment on the island in more than half a century, it will permit u.s. companies to set up offices in cuba, hire cuban employees, open up banking and telecommunications, and ease restrictions on remittances. it also might not be what you would expect. especially when you dig a little deeper. now the cuban market might seem like an attractive option for

americans. but these salaries, this is a state subsidized market in which the price of those goods are lower so they take that salary and they also take this, this is called the libretta, ration card that rations out how many beans, rice you get per month the proportions are pretty spall, in official terms the buying power of the cuban street is not very great. so insiders caution with all this opportunity of the new relationship with washington and all the liberalizing that's happening. >> last week, president obama and president castro had a conversation, conversation between top leaders in both countries as normalization relation takes hold, travel

remittances and banking are all on the table and it's the interpretation of the u.s. trade embargo how these policies get ofruition is going to be discussed. a lot being discussed. what does normalization relations means, today was a significant day in moving that process forward pop. >> dairtsz idavid ariosto in ha. we have breaking news now a suspect has been arrested in connection with the rash of highway shootings in arizona. governor doug ducy broke the news in a tweet, that said we got him. the individual suspected of i-10 shootings apprehended moments ago. there have been dozens of shootings on highways in the last month. no word on the suspect's

identity or how he was found. russia is putting more military hardware into syria. fighter jets and tack helicopters have arrived. russia said they are for the fight against i.s.i.l. but u.s. is cernlg concerned abe buildup in the region. jamie mcintire has more from the pentagon. >> with russia deploying top of the line fighter jets like these and doubling fighte doubling fik helicopters, secretary of state john kerry tried to put the best face on it. >> it will help to define some of the different options that are available to us as we consider next steps in syria. >> u.s. defense secretary ash carter hasn't spoken to his russian counterpart since he took office. in fact all so-called mil to mil

talks were put on hold. in a 50-minute conversation, russian foreign minister told carter the buildup was defensive in nature and moscow shares a common interest in defeating i.s.i.l. the deploying components include 4 russian tankers, compared to f-15s. some versions also function in an air to ground role armed with guns missiles and bombs. russia also has eight military helicopters at the base in western syria which this satellite image from the intelligence firm strat-4 are rapidly deploig. eight ground troops armed with

guns rockets and sometimes even bombs. the.state department say this is limited to deconfliction. translation, the state department wants to know what russia is up to so one side doesn't mistakenly attack the other. >> we want to see a deconfliction mechanism put in place if russia moves forward, at a much more operational level to deconflict in that space. >> the fact that russia describes its buildup in syria as defensive would seem to validate a pentagon opinion last week. >> i think part of what may be happening part of putin's calculus may be assad's regime has been under greater threat in the next several months. >> at that senate armed services

committee this week, john mccain. >> he perceived the administration's inaction and caution as weakness and he is taking advantage. >> jamie mcintire, al jazeera, the pentagon. >> now to our special coverage of the refugee crisis stretching from the middle east to europe. croatia says it cannot handle any more refugees and is stopping refugees to pass, meanwhile slovenian police pepper sprayed hundreds of refugees who tried to break through on the hungarian border. a hungarian government spokesman said the system collapsed after one day, the system condemned

croatia, and with several european countries implementing tighter border controls, refugees in croatia are trying to figure out their next stop. mohammed jamjoom talked to some of them in zagreb. about how they are going to push forward on their journey. >> we are free now. >> reporter: in croatia the taxis were waiting but the obstacles still remain. confusion was only compounded. >> translator: every question has a thousand different answers. there are no right answers, no clarity on what we're supposed to do. >> reporter: on an extremely hot day optimism was apparent but the waiting seemed endless. >> i'm sure there will be a solution but we don't want it to take too long. people have no money or food or water, babies without milk to

drink. they need aid. >> even after they boarded buses they weren't sure exactly where they were headed. >> we got word they opened the border to syrians from croatia to slovenia. >> they are expecting to be taken to slovenia. they have no information that the border to slovenia has been accused. >> this man from aleppo says no matter the roadblocks he won't stop trying to reach his mother in germany. >> we are going to be patient until we get to where we need to be. after all this distance we've traveled we can't go back. >> on croot croatia's border wih slovenia, volunteers hand out food and clothes are donated. kindness helps to temper desperation but still, the journey is nowhere near over. the refugees are within walking

distance to another country but they have been stopped in their tracks once more. mohammed jamjoom, al jazeera. >> if confirmed, eric fanning will be the first openly gay person to lead a branch of the army. currently the acting undersecretary of the army. he has been a pentagon specialist for more than 20 years. the head of army has recommended that all marine general joseph dunford submitted his resignation to ray mabis, who opposes the recommendation and recommends that women be able to apply for any navy or marine job.

rigging half a million cars by volkswagen with software that allows them opass emissions inspections. the violations could cost vw billions. jonathan betz reports. >> at a time when cities are trying to fight choking smog the government accuses volkswagen of cheating to avoid mandatory pollution controls. the environmental protection agency friday ordered volkswagen to fix nearly half omillion of its vw and audi diesel powered cars going back to the 2009 year. the agency accuses the auto maker of installing defeat devices. which turns on the mechanism only when the test is being done. after the test is done, it shuts off. the epa called it illegal and a

threat to public health. said the pollutants can contribute to asthma and other respiratory problems. diesel jetta, beatle, passat. last year the justice department imposed a record fine on kia and hyundai. >> the largest civil penalty ever secured under the clean air act. this will send a strong message that cheating is not profitable, and that any company that violates the law will be held to account. >> now volkswagen could face up to $18 billion in fines. for building cars regulators say that dodged rules that meant to protect the public. jonathan betz, al jazeera. >> some major democratic fund raisers tipped their hands

today, and what they said could be bad news for hillary clinton. we'll look at her campaign and donald trump's latest controversy, next. and the saga for kentucky clerk that went to jail for failing to issue same sex marriage licenses. to cope... >> we don't know, they stop us here. >> what's being done while lives hang in the balance? >> we need help now.

>> a lawyer for one of kentucky county clerk kim davis's deputies has accused her of altering forms for same sex couples. he has been issuing the licenses over davis's objections. after she returned to work, after five days in jail, she confiscated forms and replaced

them. they omitted davis's name the county's name and reference to the deputy clerk. mason's lawyer says it may make the licensed invalid. >> we have a problem in this country called muslims. we know our current president is one. you know he's not even an american. but anyway -- we have training camps rolling where they want to kill us. that's my question when can we get rid of them? >> we're going to be looking at a lot of different things. loot of people are saying that and a lot of people are saying bad things are happening and we are going to look at that and a lot of other things. >> trump never answered the man,

his campaign head said he didn't hear the question. religious liberty at stake. vice president joe biden is getting another push to jump into the race for the white house. democratic fund raisers sent a letter encouraging the vice president to run for president. highlighting accomplishments of the obama-biden presidency. what they didn't write the letter has no mention of hillary clinton. joining us from washington is u.s.a. today senior political writer, front page story hillary clinton's real troubles might be with moderates not the left. heidi, that letter i just mentioned might confirm what you wrote, hillary clinton's free fall and bernie sanders antantiestablishment from the l.

>> everything you have seen with hillary clinton starting with her hawkish speech to the brookings institution, her speech about i'm guilty of being a moderate, throwing a punch at joe biden, all to that point, she is trying to send him a warning shot. the same thing she's looking at that we're looking at that the real threat is from a joe biden on a national level. >> you point out that the good news from her if biden doesn't run the support might snap back to her. we saw that abc news washington post poll earlier this week showing her support plunged 29% among women democrats. that sounds like it could be an even more serious problem. >> she has a serious problem and again that speaks to the angle of moderate voters right? just not sure that a lot of those voters are then going to

migrate over to bernie sanders. that said, it would be a problem of course in a general election but we would have to wait to see who her republican challenger is. >> i have to ask you about donald trump. he seemed the fall off the face of the earth today after he didn't react to the muslim remark at one of his rallies, struggling with how to explain that. >> i'm not sure it actually hurt him. if you look at the base of supporters whsupporters of him,s wave on the 18th immigration, once you get beyond that 20 to 25% of republican primary voters who are very interested in kind of antiimmigration issues, you know that i think would become problematic and cause a lot of consternation but among that

core i'm not sure it hurts them all that much. >> talking about momentum as you know, media narratives ebb and flow, but are you sensing in the latest controversy that the tone of the trump coverage is changing? >> for trump unfortunately he became in that debate the one thing that his base hates the most and that is a loser. he came out of that debate with a lot of people in the media, and of course the other campaigns, but just a lot of consensus that he was stumbly and carly made him look small in many occasions. i don't think we are going to see a huge drop because he has such a loyal base and they are so interested in the immigration issue that he's kind of built his whole campaign around.

>> heidi good to have you with us. thanks for joining. >> thank you. >> and hillary clinton may not be the most popular presidential candidate, boys and girls club said they would meet the former secretary of state, but she never showed up. the group had written letters and painted signs for the candidate. >> former bustling towns rotting in the desert, how a few souls are trying to save the pieces of this old west history. the only way to get better is to challenge yourself,

and that's what we're doing at xfinity. we are challenging ourselves to improve every aspect of your experience. and this includes our commitment to being on time. every time. that's why if we're ever late for an appointment, we'll credit your account $20. it's our promise to you. we're doing everything we can to give you the best experience possible. because we should fit into your life. not the other way around.

>> questionguess withquestions a two and a half minute video of the arrest shows the boy and an officer initially fighting over a booton. several other officers arrived wrestled the teen to the ground. added that the teen did grap the officer's weapon and he responded appropriately. hundreds of ghost towns across the american west. in a few places people are trying to protect what's left to them f.

gabriel elizondo went to one of them. >> there's no phones here no cell that will, no television and no mail service. but ballerec does have something, meet rocky, the one and only resident. he's trying to preserve the the former thriervin thriving minin. >> they had a bank posts post o, a store, search saloons, four brothels and a cemetery. >> just about anything a miner would want? >> anything a miner would want

and need. too bad they don't have that one now. >> today the town is an open air museum ever sorts. in dispreerp yes, but disrepai. but a few buildings are still standing. rocky is a man doing his part to try to preserve a little piece of american history that so many have forgotten about. if he wasn't here this place would almost certainly not exist. >> if there was nobody here this place would be gone in a week. >> why? >> vandalized. it would be vandalized. if they knew this place was open, there was nobody here, this place would be carried off in a week. >> there are an estimated 250 ghost towns in california alone like this one ciel called rilita

history of the american west but fast disappearing with the passage of time. this building once a casino, in 1907, now locked up to preserve. back in balarat, that's's rocky's position, and in this ghost town the only one left standing to do it. gabriel elizondo, balart, california. >> another group of surprising pictures from pluto. haze, which means pluto likely has weather systems like on earth. mountains rising 11,000 feet above the surface, the pictures were taken in july when horizon was its closest to pluto.

ray suarez is up next with "inside story," have a great weekend. >> with syria continuing its downward spiral into destruction and death, an old ally, russia, is showing renewed support for the country's leader, bashar al-assad. putin and obama hasn't seen much in common, but the eventually defeat of i.s.i.l, a future syria with assad still in charge? russia jumps in, it's the "inside story."