historic 16-year run marked by multiple awards. >> thank you so very much. you will never have to see me again, thank you. [applause] gerald tan, al jazeera. much more real news from al jazeera along with analysis, comments on loads of video links to some of our programs too right there on the front page at our website at al jazeera.com. >> saying mass with a message for the cuban people, pope francis east of havana after meeting the castro brothers. >> dozens of homes destroyed in california as wildfires threaten thousands more. >> there is little relief in sight. >> another presidential candidate gets in trouble for

comments about muslims. what ben carson's campaign is now saying about putting a muslim in the white house. >> this is aljazeera america. good morning, live from new york city, i'm randall pinkston. pope francis begins his last day in cuba today, where he will say mass in a place known for its iconic cross. on sunday, he celebrated mass in havana's revolution square. his busy weekend included meeting fidel castro and his brother, the current president of cuba. raul castro. the pope played a role in restoring diplomatic relations after five decades. >> hundreds of thousands of people did join in this plaza. this was the third papal visit

since 1998. all eyes were focused on what the pope might say. this is the behind the scenes broker in that deal, the acard september, 2014 when president obama announced normalization between cuba and the united states, ending this long freeze in diplomatic relations extending back to when the embargo was first put in place in 1960. the pope focused on the religious tone. the church has been pretty heavily restricted here ever since the revolution, priests ps driven out, catholic properties confiscated. he encouraged more of the church within this countryside. poignant political remarks had to do with colombia.

the negotiations have taken place in havana. the pope urged a reconciliation of that decades long conflict. he talked in veiled terms about political ideology. let's listen to what he had to say. >> service is never ideological, we don't serve ideas, we serve people. >> now, many people are interpreting these comments. these comments come over the first of a three city, four day visit. these come as the first critique of the cuban government, these comments were obviously made under that iron mural of revolutionary figures, a part of the revolution, so the idea that pope francis came here and was sort of talk about helping individuals, not necessarily idealogy does fly in the face of

that cuban revolution. >> pope francis did not directly criticize the cuban government, but an associate professor at notre dame university says he believes the pope was more candid in his private conversations with the castes. >> i think he has a surprisingly great amount of sway. he's the first latin american pope. he's been tracking the dialogue between the catholic church and cuban nation for decades. he edited a book on this. he had personal visits in the vatican from raul castro and president obama presumably to talk about the initial stages of talks that led to the normalization with relations with the u.s. i think we can at least speculate that the question of the disdidn't, the former democracy advocate, questions i

think that he could have brought up in private, he has a long, pope francis even going back to his argentine days has a tradition of speaking out of the need of the church to dry cry those putting clamps on those speaking for the faith. >> we will bring you complete coverage of the pope's visit to cuba and to the u.s. in our next hour. we'll talk about whether the pope is being too soft on the communist regime there. >> two americans are getting ready to come home this morning after being released by houthis in yemen. an aid worker and security consultant are in oman right now. the gulf country that helped negotiate their release. they were held for six months. there is believed one more american hostage held in yemen.

>> a new wildfire in california this morning in monterey county has destroyed or damaged 10 homes. officials found a body in a charred car near where the fire started. firefighters are still trying to contain two other fires in northern california that killed five people last week and destroyed at least 1400 homes. parts of southern california also have the potential for extreme weather conditions this morning. nicole mitchell joins us now to tell us about that. >> it's too much or too little or different parts of california. speaking to some of the temperatures and fire situation, temperatures have been on the rise again, a lot of hundreds in the valleys, that dries things out, does not help with the situation. you can see the butte fire, temperatures remain dry for most of the week. we do have certain parts of california that can get the rain. last week, we had tropical moisture, this is the tropical depression. even though it wasn't as strong as a tropical storm or hurricane, the moisture came

with it, moving up toward the united states. you remember flash flooding from last week. we could have similar setups in similar areas this week because of a different system. you can see some of the rain, there is more rain farther to the south, our u.s. radars don't get that far into mexico, but seeing that push into arizona, which is kind offed nexus of where we could see the most rain with it. that's definitely for southern california, the flood risk there especially goes in some of the burn areas where the land is already dry. that could precipitate some flash flooding. across the area, we have flash flood risk. two to four inches in some cases, obviously some place get it higher. if it funnels, that's when we have the problem. around the rest of the united states, very dry for most of the country. we do have some showers going through the south, places like mississippi this morning, we might be dealing with some of that, but otherwise, a lot of real estate is getting a whole lot of sunshine and some decent temperatures, too, feeling a

little bit more like fall, but pretty nice with fall now just two days away. >> thank you, nicole. >> political news now, dr. ben carson's presidential campaign in damage control mode this morning. the republican says he will meet with muslim groups after saying this weekend he does not think of a muslim should occupy the white house. >> i advocate that we put a muslim in charge of this nation, i absolutely would not agree with that. >> he's the latest republican to get in trouble for comments recording is slam. donald trump did not correct a supporter who said president obama was a muslim. he said he would consider a muslim in his cabinet if elected. in a statement, the country's first muslim congressman, pete ellison from minnesota said the freedom of region is a founding principle of our nation. every american should be disturbed that these national figures are engaging in and toll

rating blatant acts of religious big got try. carson is among the top three candidates. >> on the democratic side, hillary clinton is rolling out a new campaign theme. her aides say she plans to fully embrace the affordable care act, but will call for tweaks to the law. >> this morning, human rights activists are criticizing the u.s. for its latest goal in taking in refugees. secretary of state john kerry said that by 2017, 100,000 refugees will be allowed into the u.s. many will be from syria. right now, the u.s. is accepting 70,000 refugees in total a year.

>> this step that i am announcing today i believe is in keeping with the best tradition of america as a land of second chances, and a beacon of hope. it will be accompanied by additional financial contributions to the humanitarian effort from the only from our government but from the american people. >> kerry says 100,000 is the maximum the u.s. can take right now to ensure proper screening, unless congress budgets more money. human rights officials say it is not nearly enough. >> israel's prime minister is in russia this morning for meetings with president putin. benjamin netanyahu is expected to ask putin about russia's reported military deployment in syria. there is new evidence of an increasing russian presence there. >> a crackling radio transmission in russian

interrupted by syrian russians in homs. the voice asks for permission to begin decreasing altitude and to land. >> after a while, it became clear there was a cargo plane in the sky accompanied by military jets going from southeast to northwest. >> these are exclusive al jazeera pictures of what is believed to be the russian cargo plane. its destination, the airport in the coastal city, about 20 kilometers south. that's where the with russians have sent weapons and support staff they say to help syrian president bashar al assad in the fight against isil. u.s. secretary of state john kerry said there are also air to air weapons at the airport which have little use against isil or rebels. >> clearly the presence of aircraft with air to air combat

capacity, as well as air to surface, surface to air miss aisles raise serious questions and that is precisely why we are engaged in further conversation about answering those questions and about deconflicting the russian activities. >> analyst joshua landis said russia's building up a stronghold in syria. >> syria's very important for russia, because it's the only ally in the center of the arab world. if assad were to fall, russia would have no beach head against the israeli arab conflict, it wouldn't have a port city. >> in homs, rebel groups are coping an ear on air traffic to see what steps russia's military will take next. al jazeera. >> preparations are underway today in seattle, where china's president arrives tomorrow to begin a u.s. tour. he arrives in washington thursday where he and president obama are expected to talk cyber

security. there are reports the two leaders are trying to cut a deal to ban certain kinds of digital attacks. it would be the first-ever arms control agreement covering cyberspace. >> the author of the coming collapse of china says any deal probably will not prevent cyber attacks. >> in the cyber area, these agreements are very difficult to enforce, because it's almost impossible to attribute with 100% accuracy where an attack comes from. with regard to china, it doesn't have a good record in honoring agreements. also, this agreement will not cover the north koreans and they are the ones who undoubtedly launched the attacks on sony, the chinese government had to know about it. i don't think that an accord is really going to go far enough. >> the u.s. has accused china of

cyber attacks several times but has not been able to prove it. china denies it, saying it is the victim of what america calls cyber aggression. >> this morning, iran's news agency said u.n. nuclear inspectors were given environmental samples during a controversial visit to a military site there. the facility was visited. the inspector said recent activity there undermined inspections. >> volkswagen stock is losing billions this morning after the company's forced to recall thousands of cars affected by an emissions scandal. why v.w. lied about how its vehicles were performing.

>> welcome to al jazeera america. it is 7:47 eastern time, taking a look now at some of today's top stories. after years of international legal fights, a man the u.s. calls a cyber criminal is facing extradition in new zealand today. kim.com was wand in the u.s. on copyright infringement and money

laundering charges. he founded a free video download site called megaupload. >> all i have to say is that i'm the wrong guy. i tried telling the detectives that. >> the man charged with a string of freeway shootings in arizona insists he is innocent. police say tests link his gun to four shootings. merit said his begun was in a pawn shop for months. he's being held on a million dollars bail. >> federal out that's right today began scaling back airport screenings for the ebola virus in place at month for five airports. patients traveling from liberia will no longer be screened, but liberia and guinea are subject to decision inspections. >> i didn't know billion dollars of value has been loft from

volkswagen. cars have been recalled. the company's c.e.o. is apologizing. >> that's right, he also said that they'll cooperate with an investigation. the e.p.a. says that the company actually installs software that tricked emissions and it tricked regulators when it tested the cars. the company is now halting sales of the vehicles involved. >> volkswagen says it will stop selling its 2015 and 2016 cars marked clean diesel in the u.s. after the e.p.a. accused the company of cheating on emission tests. >> see how clean it is. >> the german automakers also issued an apology and ordered an investigation, writing i personally am deeply sorry that we have broken the trust of our customers and the. >> environmental regulators accused volkswagen of installing software that would turn on the vehicle's emissions control systems only when an emissions

test was taking place. the rest of the time, the cars potentially exposed people to pollutants 40 times allowed standards. >> e.p.a. is talking about a fine of potentially of $18 billion, the highest ever levied against an automakers for any reason, but particularly for emissions violations. >> the e. approximate p.a. ordered a recall of about half a million diesel vokes wagons built between 2009 and 2000 fine. the models include jetta, beatle. >> they are sending a message that they are not going to tolerate any funny business when it comes to the emission standards. >> halting sales of the recalled vehicles could put a significant dent in v.w.'s september earnings. analysts say 20% of volkswagen sales are diesel. >> the volkswagen must file cars at its own expense.

those $18 billion come to $37,000 per car sold. >> more than the cost of may be of those cars. >> children who fled home lands find hope in the sport they love. how soccer is helping some undocumented migrants find a place to call home.

>> we're here to fully get into the nuances of everything that's going on, not just in this country, but around the world. getting the news from the people who are affected. >> people need to demand reform... >> ali velshi on target weeknights 10:30p et >> when pope francis comes to new york, he will spend time meeting with young people, including a group of immigrant children who built their own community through their love of soccer. we have their story. >> soccer reminds these teenagers of home and why they had to leave it behind. >> i used to play in my country

every day, just like i'm playing with these guys today. it hurt to leave my country, but i had to come, because it was too dangerous. >> he and most of his soccer team in the bronx fled central america without their parents. they're among the tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors who crossed the u.s. illegally in the past two years. >> why did you bring these kids together to play soccer? >> it's something they love. >> elvis said soccer is helping these kids adjust to their new lives, just as it helped him when he fled honduras a decade ago. >> soccer is important to me to integrate into the community, but also to move forward with my life. i think that soccer does the same thing for these kids. >> he grew up in honduras. he said he and his two younger brothers escaped because they feared for their lives. >> you could get killed or

kidnapped for forced into a gang. if they recruit you and you refuse, they will kill you. >> if you get sent back to honduras, would you try to come to america the same way you did before. >> i would try, even if i had to do it illegally. >> detained at the border, maldonado was reunite with his mother in new york. she came here 11 years ago, working as a housekeeper and sending money home. >> i didn't expect them to be so big. i had to get to know each of them again. >> now he and his brothers are waiting for immigration hearings to see if they can say in the u.s. >> what would you like people in america to know about people like you and your mom? >> i would like for them to take a look at us and see us for the people we are. we work hard, and break our backs to work and be better. >> what do you think when you hear people say that people like you and your mom shouldn't be able to stay here because you

came illegally? >> i think those people are racist. yes, there are some people who have come and have done bad things, but that is not the majority of people. some people come to make their dreams come true. >> as maldonado waits to learn his future here. he and 10 teammates now have a chance to share their stories with another soccer fan, pope francis. he's meeting them on his visit to new york. >> i watched a video of him where he said that when he was younger, he also played soccer. >> the pope has called on the u.s. to protect children like these and to help make their home land safer so more kids don't have to flee. >> we were chosen to meet him because he wants to learn more about our situation. he wants to shower those of us who want to do something in this country and make something of ourselves in the future. >> al jazeera, new york. >> there was history last night

at the emmy awards. the television industry honored two actors in groundbreaking roles. viola davis became the first african-american woman to win an emmy for best actress in a drama. she encouraged the t.v. industry to find more roles for women like her. >> the only thing that separates women of collar from anyone he will is opportunity. >> besides davis, jeffery tambor won as best actress in a comedy, for playing a transgender character. mad men star jon hamm won his first emmy as a best actor in a drama after 15 nominations. h.b.o.'s game of thrones won for best drama, veep for best comedy. we will have more al jazeera morning news in two minutes.

>> sharing his message in cuba, pope francis holds a second mass in cuba this morning after meeting with fidel castro and the faithful in havana. >> i would not ever think that we would put a muslim in. >> carson rival quickly gaining ground.

>> one in four americans are living within three miles of either a designated superfund site or potential abandoned and contaminated site. >> plus the health threat lurking in hundreds of communities across the country, and many people have no idea of the danger. >> it was a historic night at the emmys, as television rones its best and brightest. >> the only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity. >> this is aljazeera america, live from new york city, i'm erica pitzi. >> pope francis is in cuba, he will hold a mass today at the site of an iconic cross. during his visit, crowds have turned out in force to see him.

millions greeted him during a mass in havana's revolution square. the pope met with fidel castro and his brother, president raul castro. >> what's usually a quiet relaxed time is filled with music and celebration. the reason, pope francis is here in cuba to preside over mass for both the fateful as well as those hoping to hear the man who helped heal relations with its old enemy, the united states. as anticipation continued to build, so did the strength of the cuban sun. heat exhaustion set in for some. others say this visit by the world's first latin pontiff is an emotional moment that gives

them strength. >> something very impressive. it's good for the whole world, for the babies, the old people, for the whole world. >> then the man they had been waiting for finally showed up. >> caring for the vulnerable of our families, society, our people, theirs ares suffering you go fragile down cast faces which jesus tells us specifically to look to and which he asks us to love. >> cuba resists freedom of exexpression, especially religious. pope francis may have political capital to burn when it comes to bringing reforms to cuba. he has proven he isn't afraid to wade into geopolitics. under the iron gaze, he offers

answers to the cuban state. >> we don't serve ideas, we serve people. >> a likely reference to cuba's long held communist traditions. monday, pope francis kill travel east, giving sermon, then head to santiago before flying north to the united states. what he's already achieved have left many here with high expectations. >> we will speak to david in our next half hour on what's ahead for the pope today. the pope will spend one more today in cuba before heading to the u.s. tuesday. he will meet president obama on wednesday. he'll say mass in washington to canonize a spanish born monk. he'll address a joint meeting of congress. on friday be new york city,

he'll address the j general assembly. pope francis will lead a procession through central park and hold mass at madison square gardens, then in philadelphia attend the world meeting of families. that's where the pope will hold his final mass only trip. stay with aljazeera america throughout the week. we will bring you complete coverage of the pope's visit to cuba and to the u.s. >> human rights activists are credit siting the u.s. for its latest goal in taking in refugees from cuba and elsewhere. secretary of state john kerry said the u.s. will gradually increase the number of people allowed to come to the country. right now, the u.s. accepts 70,000 refugee as year. next year, that will go up to 85,000 and by 2017, the plan is to accept 100,000 refugees into the u.s., though not all will be from syria. >> the foreign ministers of hungary, poland, slovakia and

the czech republic will hold and emergency summit today, working on a plan to relocate 160,000 asylum seekers. the european parliament president said he is confident they will overcome deep divisions and device a solution to the migrant crisis. >> two americans are getting ready to come home after being released by houthi rebels in yemen. aid work and security consultant are in oman right now. the gulf country helped negotiate their release. the houthis held them in yemen for six months. they were among six hostages released sunday. there is believed to be one more american still held hostage in yemen. >> the host age release falls on the one year anniversary of the houthis storming sanna. the u.n. estimates more than 2,000 civilians have been killed since march alone in the civil war. 4500 have been injured. 21 million for people are in desperate need of assistance,

that's 80% of the population. the war forced 1.5 million people to leave their homes. the on going fight is only contributing to more suffering. >> houthi fighters backed by former president ali abdullah saleh swept into yemen's capital last september. the government was taken by surprise, and there was little resistance to the houthi takeover. days later within a political deal brokered by the united nations was reached. it was a desperate attempt to prevent a descent into chaos. then a national unity government was formed, but relations between president adou rabbo mansour hadi and the houthis deteriorated. by march, their tanks were rolling into the southern port city of aden. president hadi had to flee to saudi arabia. it was then the saudi government

within along with its allies launched a military campaign in yemen. it's said the shia houthis were backed by iran to destabilize the region. after months of airstrikes, the houthis were driven out of the south. >> we must reclaim the state first. we cannot talking about political negotiations when the state has been stolen. >> this is yemen's newly trained army. these fighters are on the offensive, trying to recapture the cities of taiz, marib before marching towards the capital. >> we are running into difficulty because of the terrain and the fearless enemy which is ready to die. >> capturing sanna won't be an easy task. dozens of soldiers from coalition partners, the united arab emirates, bahrain and saudi arabia were killed when a

missile hit their base earlier this month. as the fighting continues, yemenese face more death and destruction. >> this situation is very difficult for the population, because the people have had to leave their homes because of the conflict, and currently 1.5 million people are known to be displaced. >> the u.n. is urging all sides to negotiate a political deal, but that may not be easy. the government says the houthis must disband, while the rebels insist they are yemen legitimate authority. >> israel's prime minister is in russia this morning for meetings with the russian president putin. benjamin netanyahu is expected to ask about russia's reported military deployment in syria. secretary of state john kerry has raised the issue of russian jets recently sent to the

war-torn country, moscow it is e. said the moves are to support president bashar al assad's regime and fight isil. joining us this morning from washington, d.c. is retired marine corps brigadier general thank you for joining us this morning, general. why is this meeting between the leaders of israel and russia significant? >> well, certainly you've got to deconflict the air space that's occurring in syria and israel and along with iraq and you've got so many aircraft flying there, you don't want to shoot down or shoot the wrong people. there's got to be some kind of coordination between all the parties that are involved. >> what do you think netanyahu's going to say to putin? >> he's going to say for starters be careful where you're flying, because we view a lot of the forces that are there as a threat to israel, so as a consequence, you've got to

deconflict that part of it, and they are concerned of course with their borders. there's going to be a little bit of a coordination or decon flicks of opposing forces. >> so let's talk about these jets being sent into syria that we're learning more russian jets are going in there supposedly to fight isil, according to the russian government. could there be some sort of cooperation then between russia and the u.s. on the war against isil there? >> well, yes there could be. that's the start we saw last week where secdef carter talked. our ultimate fear is that they're there to prop up assad and keep him in power and take his side in a civil war, so it's a very tenuous situation and a difficult one. we have significant air assets there, as the whole coalition forces there, as well, so there

is a lot of complexities to this issue. >> what needs to happen, you think to get russia and the u.s. on the same page when it comes to the syrian president? >> well, secretary kerry's been pretty vocal about the entire issue. assad's got to go. the russians have been vocal that they're supporter of assad, but long term, we want to negotiate a departure of assad. that's perhaps maybe a pipe dream, but long term, the ultimate goal here. i think the russians was dug in on it, so this particular development where they put in significant forces, jets, tanks, defenses, is a little bit troubling in that regard. i think it backs up assad and helps his case instead of helping our case to get him out of there. >> let's talk about rebel training. there are recent unconfirmed reports that about 75 u.s. backed rebels have entered syria over the weekend. if that's true, what do you make of that?

>> well, we've been trying to train forces to go into syria and attack isil, and it's not an easy job. first off, getting recruiting and the training, there's been criticism of the cost involved and the numbers. this is not an easy operation. i think the more you put into that fight, the better. the hard part is getting dedicate, wig people to go and do that job. as you've seen and we've read in the press, it is very, very difficult. on the other side, i think it's a positive development. >> all right, thank you. >> there are several developments in presidential politics this morning. carly fiorina jumped into second place in one new poll right behind current republican front runner donald trump. dr. ben carson is third. this morning, carson is promising to meet with muslims after the firestorm that erupted following his controversial comments about muslim americans. we have this report. >> for the second time in a

week, islam is dominating the 2016 presidential campaign. this time, gop hopeful dr. ben carson saying that he doesn't think a muslim should occupy the white house. >> i would not advocate that we put a muslim in charge of this nation. >> carson said he doesn't think islam is consistent with the constitution, but would consider voting for a muslim running for a seat on that capitol hill. >> congress is a different story, but it depends on who has muslim is and what their policies are. >> fresh off his own controversy, republican front runner donald trump is defending the way he handled a supporter in new hampshire who called into question president obama's region. >> we have a problem in this country, it's called muslims. we know our current president is one. >> some people thought issued have defended the president in terms of the question that was asked the other night and my attitude is would he have done that for me if somebody said that about me?

>> trump said he would consider a muslim for the cabinet if elect, but insists radical muslims are the problem when it comes to terrorism. >> i have friends that are muslims. by the way, they say there is a problem with certain militants that obviously you report on every night on your newscasts, but there is a problem with militancy and it has to be solved. >> a new cnn poll shows carly fiorina has 15%, trump down 8%. >> she did a terrible job at hewlett packard, at lucent. those companies are just a disaster. >> carly fiorina hitting back, pointing out saying she led hewlett packard during the

height of the worst times in recent years. >> the job is to build sustainable shareholder value over time. that is what we did. >> fighting for the democratic ticket, hillary clinton was on face the nation, talking about europe's migrant crisis. the u.s. should step up to the plate where others can't or won't, she said. >> we're facing the worst refugee crisis since the end of world war ii, and i think united states has to do more, and i would like to see us move from what is a good start with 10,000 to 65,000 and begin immediately to put into place the mechanisms for vetting the people that we would take in. >> two muslims are currently serving in congress, keith ellison has represented parts of minneapolis since 2007. andre' carson won is indiana seat in 2008. carson was raised baptist but converted to islam as a teenager. >> democratic presidential

candidate hillary clinton have polls showing support of 42% of primary voters. bernie sanders is polling at half of that. vice president joe biden's support increased even though is not officially running. >> a man charged with interstate shootings in arizona say police have the wrong guy. authorities say the tests link his gun to four of the shootings. merit said is gun was in a pawn shop for months. he is being held on $1 million bail. >> firefighters are battling a new wildfire in california this morning in monterey county. it has destroyed at least 10 homes. officials found a body in a charred car near where the fire started. firefighters are still trying to contain two other fires in northern california that killed five people last week and destroyed 1400 homes. >> we're keeping an eye on flash flooding facing parts of the

west. let's bring in meteorologist nicole mitchell. >> all of california too dry, relating to the fighters, but you also don't want the rain all at once. we had a situation like that in the southwest, a similar situation setting up now. we have a tropical entity, depression that has moved into interior mexico, funneling northward. you can see this picking up on the radar. there is more rain southward in mexico. through the course of the day, this will funnel in the heaviest part over arizona, heavy rain over pores of southern california, maybe near los angeles as this moves in. where it is hit and miss, those stronger bands could be two to four inches total and that could result in flash flooding. the heat is still on for the rest of the state. in terms of that fire situation, temperatures running above average, some of the valleys in the hundreds, that continues to

dry things out and there really isn't a lot of rain in that forecast. you look at butte fire and not only do we have temperatures running 10 degrees above average, but a consistently dry forecast for days ahead. no more of the systems heading central and northern california like we had last week, so it is going to increase that fire risk once again. >> all right, thank you, nicole mitchell. >> coming to america, china's president looks to strengthen ties during his first visit to washington. technology and cyber warfare are on the agenda. >> vindication for the greek prime minister, alexis tsipras gets a second chance despite anger over austerity. sure, tv has evolved over the years.

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juror this morning, ran's news agency said u.n. nuclear inspectors were given environmental samples during a visit to a military site. the head of the u.n.'s nuclear watchdog agency visited the facility, saying iran's recent renovation undermind effective verification ability. research took place at that site, something iran denies. the new iran nuclear deal requires frequent u.n. inspections of iranian nuclear facilities. >> preparation underway in seattle for a high stakes visit by china's president, a trip that will bring him face-to-face with president obama. we have more. >> chinese president is headed for washington, d.c. and high level talks with president obama, his first official state visit to the u.s. he'll meet members of congress and address the united nation.

first he'll spend three days in the seattle area, meeting with, leaders. former washington governor gary lock served at u.n. ambassador to china. >> between our two countries every day flow almost $1.5 billion of goods and services and millions of jobs in america depend on that trade with china. our trade has grown astro mommically over the last several years. >> she is scheduled to give a major policy speech, tour a bowing manufacturing plant and ever dinner with micro soft's bill gates. american tech firms are looking for some kind of assurances that they could do business fairly in china without undue government interference. >> obviously, a big concern about cyber security, obviously a concern about the lack of a level playing field for american firms in china, discrimination against foreign firms, as well as the lack of a rule of law, and inadequate protections of

our intellectual property, our trade secrets. >> she is the fourth consecutive chinese leader to visit the northwest. long time tech writer sees the area as a natural stopover. >> they want to encourage entrepreneurs to build companies that thrive not just in china, but internationally, and what better examples are there than micro soft and starbucks and bowing. >> it will likely be a soft landing in the west before talks at a much higher level back east. >> we are preparing a number of measures that will indicate to the chinese that this is not just a matter of us being mildly upset, but is something that will put significant strains on the bilateral relationships. >> i think it's a good cop-bad cop situation where we can play good coop and talk about

entrepreneurialism and business relationships and president obama taking a firm line on these things. >> china is flexing military muscle and trying to solidify territorial claims in the south china sea. those issues, along with cyber security and trade all expected to be on the agenda when the two presidents meet. al jazeera, seattle. >> he has a packed schedule for his u.s. trip, attending a round table wednesday meeting with 30 chief executives from u.s. and chinese companies, he reportedly will have dinner with bill gates. >> infrastructure is also on the agenda. china signed a contract to help build a high speed railway between las vegas and los angeles. he gets toe washington thursday, where he and president obama are expected to talk cyber security. there are reports the two leaders are trying to cut a deal to ban certain kinds of digital attacks. >> later today, alexis tsipras will be sworn in again as prime

minister of greece. he's meeting with series does a members now to form a new government. his party won an unexpectedly convincing victory yesterday. he called a snap election last month after some in his coalition refused to support the latest bailout deal. >> today i feel justified, because the greek people have given a clear mandate to crib the fight inside and outside the country. >> tsipras has a tough road ahead. in addition to deal with the refugees flowing into greece from the mediterranean, he's expected to try and renegotiate again the terms of his country's debt. >> mediators working to end the political chaos in burkina faso proposed new an more inclusive elections in november. the military seized power in a coup thursday. officials still want the general who led the coup to leave the country during any transition period. that could be a sticking point in the deal which led south

african nations in nigeria. >> volkswagen c.e.o. says sorry after admitting the company skirted emissions tests for hundreds of thousands of cars. plus. >> this is the canal, one of the more polluted places anywhere in america. they're making some progress trying to clean it up. there are places all over the united states just as bad, if not worst than this. i'm in new york. that story coming up.

>> welcome to al jazeera america. it's 8:30 eastern. taking a look at today's stop stories. dr. ben core son's presidential

campaign trying make amends after he said he does not believe a muslim should become president. he plans to explain his position. there are currently two muslims in congress. >> california fire crews are working to slow a new wildfire that destroyed or damaged at least 10 homes in monterey county. firefighters are still trying to contain two other fires in northern california that killed five people, and destroyed at least 1400 homes last week. >> pope francis is traveling as he begins his last full day in cuba. a plain carrying the pope left havana not long ago for the eastern city. thousands of people are already there to hear mass. he met with fidel castro and raul castro. we are joined now from havana. david, good morning to you. today could be the biggest day

ever, as no pope has ever visited there. why did the pope choose to go there? >> it is the far eastern section of the city, considered far, far different than has ran in a. you have more afro cuban influence. this area is often targetten in obviously previous papal visits. there is a strong emphasis an havana. this pope, traveling to the east of the island to breach divide that is exist that in part of the country. it's important to keep in mind that cuba does have those spanish colonial routes, also afro cuban influence, from slave trade from individuals brought over from africa. there's been an intermingling of faith here. the vatican said 60% of the people here are catholic, but

only 5% attend church. what you do have is regions that are in fused with that culture and you'll see that here. it's an opportunity to essentially reach out to the people in cuba often forgotten. >> you've been among the crowds all weekend long. what have people told you about seeing or hearing from the pope? this pope is a bit of a rock star. he's the first latin pontiff and his first time in cuba. many individuals that have traveled here not only from across the island, are essentially coming here with the great excitement. it's an emotional moment for many people to actually see the pontiff. for cubans, it's an interesting dynamic. it is with every. a pal visit we've had, there have been three from then, it

we've seen changes resulting from visits. they might be in tandem, might be prior to, we see an evolution of change happening on the island that seems to correlate with a number of these. a pal visits. what you see when you talk to individuals here is that is a lot of hope about economic changes that can happen only side. of course the pope's message is individuals secretly hoped broker costs between cuba and the united states, that big announcement on september 17, 2014 when president obama announced that after more than half a century, these two nations would timely be normalized in releases. it was pope francis that was really behind that deal. there is a lot of expectations, this man has clearly accomplished quite a bit in terms of what he's been able to do to broker that divide between these two old foes. as he travels to this island, there's questions about human

rights, about more liberalizing of this economy that's taken hold. a lot of expectations about what could be in cuba with these remaining two days here with the pope. >> thank you. >> joining us this morning from miami is a cuban american lawyer and adjunct professor at colombia law school. thank you for joining us. pope francis has been in cuba for two days now. so far, he has not openly criticized the cuban government. has he been too soft on the communist regime? >> the pope does things on the pope's time and in the pope's style. the pope opened his homily on sunday, talking about how important it is to be of service from one person to another instead of serving an ideology. that was a swipe, the governing

body in cuba, raul castro was sitting there in the front row. more interesting than that, under the wing of the pope, cardinal ortega, the cardinal of cuba very directly called for reconciliation with miami's cubans and called for inclusion of folks who have been alienated from the political system. finally, the pope was approached by a dissident who broke through security lines when he was about to start mass. he stopped, listened to the man's messages and then he blessed him. >> let's talk more about that. we know several government dissidents were detained to really keep them away from some of these. a pal events. some are calling on the pope to intervene and urge the government to release them, but the pope is really not going there. even as he breaches for peace and reconciliation in cuba, do you think this is something he's talking about with the castro brothers behind closed doors? >> i suspect he probably is. this is a pope that is very

intelligent. he's very strategic. i think you saw very, very clearly his message of diplomacy. he spoke earlier on the move that he brokered to bring the united states and cuba closer and how that was an example for the world to follow, so i think this pope, people, i think who expect him to come out openly in a very confrontational style are going to be disappointed, but this is a pope lieu knows how to work behind the scenes, open a dialogue and make good things happen. >> he has made some strong messages, really direct messaging so far in cuba, statements about abortion already. can we expect him to address that same issue when he comes here to the u.s.? >> i would expect him to. i think that he has been outspoken on abortion. he's been outspoken on taking care of the environment, and i suspect he will keep that up. i also think that he is a very

intelligent person in understanding the environment in which he's speaking. i think the united states being a democracy, he will have the ability to speak far more freely without damaging his flock. >> you mentioned the environment, as well. pope francis has already made bold statements about climate change, which is really in line with what the white house feels. will we see cult action on this issue during his trip to the u.s.? >> i expect so. i think that he views the beyond as having a moral obligation to take up the banner in this, as the most powerful economy in the world, and to take a leadership role and i think he will continue to push the united states in that direction. >> thanks for joining us this morning. >> of course stay with aljazeera america all week. we will bring you complete coverage of the pope's visit to cuba and to the u.s. >> the largest annual pilgrimage in the world is underway today. an estimated 2 million saudi

arabia's are observing the hajj. >> facing challenges, first they need to control and maintain the safety of the pilgrims converging on to mecca. more than 2 million people are expected to arrive in mecca to perform the hajj. the fear is that all the pilgrims will converge and perform their ritual at one place at the same time and there will be some movement. the challenge is to control their movement and to make sure they move safely without stampedes or incidents. the hajj is already overshadowed by a tragic i want over 10 days ago, a big massive crane fell on to the eastern side of the mosque that killed 107 people and wounded more than 200.

let me tell you why that incident happened, because the grand mosque has turned into a big massive construction site. the authorities want to expand the capacity of the mosque to allow more people to converge, to come to mecca to perform the pilgrimage. the saudi authorities launched an investigation, blamed the incident on bad weather and misuse of the heavy equipment. the main contractor was suspended. however, the government said everything is going according to plan and also the incident didn't deter the many pilgrims to deter on mecca to perform the hajj this year. >> a judge in georgia is scheduled to hand down a sentence today in a deadly case have food poisoning involving peanuts. the former owner of peanut corporation of america faces possible life imprisonment. a court found he, his brother and a plant manager of knowingly shipping tainted peanut butter.

the product sickened 140 americans in seven states and blamed for the deaths of at least nine people. >> volkswagen stock is plummeting as the company tries to make amends for a scandal involving emissions test. v.w. stocks have lost nearly $18 billion in value. now thousands of cars are being recalled to fix the problem. we are joined now with more. the company's c.e.o. is now apologizing? >> that's right. the e.p.a. says volkswagen installed software that tricked emissions regulators when it tests the cars. the company is now halting sales of the vehicles involved. >> how do you like my new car? >> volkswagen said it will stop selling its 2015 and 2016 cars marked clean diesel after the e.p.a. accused the company of cheating on emission tests. >> see how clean it is? >> the german automakers c.e.o. issued an apology and ordered an investigation, writing i

personally am deeply sorry that we have broken the trust of our customers and the public. environmental regulators accused them of installing vast wear in half a million diesel cars that would turn on the vehicle's emission control systems only when an emission test was taking place. the rest of the time, the cars exposed people to pollutants 40 times allowed standards. >> e.p.a. is talking about fining $18 billion, the highest ever leveed against an automakers for any reason, but particularly for emissions violations. >> the e.p.a. recorded a recall of about half a million diesel vokes wagons built between 2009 and 2015. the models include jet at a, beetle and gulf. >> e.p.a. is sending a message to volkswagen in this particular case, and to the industry as a whole that they are not tolerating funny business when it comes to the emission standards. >> halting sales of the recalled vehicles could put a significant

dent in v.w.'s september earnings, analyst saying 20% of volkswagen sales are diesel. >> the e.p.a. says volkswagen must fix the cars at its own expense. those $18 billion in fines come to about $37,000 per each of the cars sold. >> thank you. >> after years of international legal fights, a man the u.s. calls a cyber criminal is finally facing extradition in new zealand today. kim dot com was in court, wanted in the u.s. on copyright infringement and money laundering charges. he founded a site called megaupload. the extradition hearing could take several weeks. >> apple said you can safely download apps again this morning. the company is taking steps to remove malware that affected several applications in recent days. the malware could attempt to steal user passwords and other information. >> in california, climate change

and a prolonged drought are jeopardizing some of nature's giants. the iconic sequoias. jacob ward paid them a visit to see just what's being done to save them. >> there is maybe no more famous organism, certainly in the united states than as he key i can'ts. a team of researchers from multiple agencies are trying to figure out how healthy these trees are. two factors have scientists concerned here. the first is that we're in our fourth year of drought in california and this year has been record-breaking. that fundamentally is just bad for trees. at the same time, it's compounded by what seems to be an anti climatic change. it is putting more and more

pressure on these trees to come up with more water and at the same time, there isn't that water available. sequoias typically die in two ways, they either burn, a forest fire takes away all their needles and ability to give off water or they simply fall over because of root rot for structural problem with the soil. in this case, the concern that is these trees are beginning to give up foliage like never seen before, beginning to drop branches, become brittle in a way that is unique to human history so far. later tonight, i'll be trying to follow these scientists up into these massive trees to look at what they say about the health of these trees and what that tells us about the general ecosystem here in california and in the rest of the country. i hope you'll watch. >> you can see yankee's full report tonight at 8:00 eastern. >> there are cooler temperatures in much of the country, ushering us into fall here.

let's bring in meteorologist nicole mitchell. >> just two days away fro the season officially changes. some of us are anxious for the cooler weather, some want to hang on to summer as long as possible. already feeling cooler with that last front that has gone from the midwest to the eastern portion of the country down into atlanta, temperatures in the sitting said, portions of the northeast raising frost advisories this morning. as we get into the afternoon hours, a little bit more comfortable, at least in my opinion, a lot of 70's across the northern tier and 80s heading southward with the exception of california and that heat i was mentioning there. in terms of moisture, we do have a little bit of a system going through, making like for light drizzle, places like tall dig i can't now might be looking at that. most of the country is pretty dry and comfortable. the one other exception that southern portion of the country where we've had that tropical moisture move in, that is the set up for that flash flooding we were talking about in this

portion of the country, so anywhere from southern california to arizona into no mexico would be the greatest risk, especially centered around arizona with heavier portions of rain is where we could see the risk. two to four inches if you're getting under it, leading to flash flooding concerns across the region. the state is pretty dry and hot out here, still valleys and that continues to dry things out into the hundreds. >> all right, nicole, thank you. >> new york city is home to one of the most polluted waterways in america. the federal government is now working to clean it up, but as we report, there are many sites like it across the u.s. not on the government's cleanup list. >> once a week, he sets out in a canoe oh wade right into it, one of the most polluted water ways

in america. >> oils, detergents, basically anything that runs through your sewer system runs into the canal. >> you don't have to look too close to see how polluted it is. he takes water samples to monitor the water toxicity levels. however, it's under the surface, where raw sewage runoff levitates in murky water, giving a whole new perspective on how ugly the problem is. it's a problem that dates back decades. along its banks, remnants of the industrial plants now mostly closed down use the canal as a dumping ground for chemical byproduct that is long ago performed a tar like substance, some of which settled at the bottom. >> the canal is so polluted and toxic that it's been designated a superfund site. that's the name given to any area or location in america that is so polluted that the federal government steps in to try to clean it up. it's not just here. there are many more places all

over america, just as bad, if not worse than this. >> these yellow dots are everywhere there are toxic superfund sites in america. there are more than 1,300 of them. an environmental lawyer estimates there are at least 10,000 more highly toxic sites around the country. >> there are thousands of contaminated or abandoned sites in states, in cities, that just haven't been designated for cleanup for haven't been cleaned up. >> are there a lot of people that live around these sites? >> an academic study revealed that one in four americans are living within three miles of either a designated superfund site or potential abandoned and contaminated site. >> back in the canal, the government has begun the complicate and costly clean up effort, but it will be at least another five years until it's done. he'll remain on his canoe as

long as it takes, hoping when it does get cleaned up, it coulden an example for thousands of others that aren't. al jazeera, new york. >> more calls today for lebanon to do more to end its garbage crise. hundreds of protestors broke through police lines demanding that politicians act. what started at demonstrations over trash piling in the streets has evolved into an anti corruption movement. thousands of tons of trash are now in piles throughout the city. the city's mainland fill reached capacity in july. >> television honors its best and makes history in the process. the emmy awards go to two actors in groundbreaking roles. stay with us.

>> iraq's government is calling for daily water tests this morning to try and contain a deadly cholera outbroke. prime minister abadi said the government will work be with the u.n. and red cross to provide clean water to residents. six have been killed and dozens more infected west of baghdad in the last week. >> here in the u.s., lyme disease affects thee thousand people each year and is a growing problem in canada. scientists think climate change is partly to blame. we have more on what canada is doing to combat the infection. >> for years, cecile has had crippling joint pain and other issues. only last year did she learn that she had chronic lyme disease. that knowledge frightening, but finally she knew what was wrong with her. >> it's tough, because you constantly feel like you're beating your head against a

wall, that no one is listening. you know there's something wrong, but you don't know why. >> it's no mystery how particulars carrying lyme disease get to canada. >> here's a particular on a bird. >> john scott is a scientist who began researching particulars after he and his wife got lyme disease more than 20 years ago. between bouts have ill health, he found the creatures that changed his life. >> spent a lot of people in bed. i've watched a lot of clouds go through the window trying to find my way through it. the particular research has helped give me a purpose to figure out what's going on. >> among his findings, dozens of areas in canada could have tick populations that could carry lyme disease. >> here in a pork in the medal of canada's largest city are risks. this is the perfect happen at that time for ticks. why isn't this country taking

the disease seriously enough? >> most doctors here don't believe in chronic lyme disease, just a short term version that requires early diagnosis. detention methods in canada often miss it and aren't trusted in europe or much of the u.s. many lime patients here go abroad. >> i was working in a walking clinic and left to open my own practice, which i didn't think was going to be very big and now i have over 1700 patients. i'd say 95% of canadians. >> climate change could be bringing more ticks to canada and theoretically, more lyme disease. the scientist behind it hope the government takes his findings seriously. >> the burden on the appellate care is going to increase substantially with long term consequence. >> canada's parliament recently passed a bill calling for a national strategy on lyme disease. some high profile cases, like

singer arril levine urge changes. it is a looming threat to public health. >> it was a night filled with firsts at the 67 prime time emmy awards. the top honors went to actors who not long ago might not have been recognized or cast in the roles they played. we have more. >> viola davis, how to get away with murder. >> entertainment t.v. loves making history and the 67t 67th emmy awards broke to new barrier, honoring the first black woman as outstanding actress in a drama series. >> let me me tell you something, the only thing that separates women of color from anything else is opportunity. >> it was a sweet victory for the epic game of thrones with 12

prizing in total, including outstanding drama series. >> at least my final days were interesting. >> it holds the record for most awards in a year, surpassing the west wing. >> thank you for believing in dragons. >> thank you all for watching. >> there was the usual humor, like this from four time outstanding comedic actress winner julia lewis dreyfuss. >> to quote our political satire veep, what a great honor it must be for you to honor me tonight. with, wait, oh, no, no, no, i'm so sorry. donald trump said that, i'm sorry. >> leading actor jon hamm went home after eight nominations for the role, while host john

stewart wrapped up his stint with another emmy for outstanding variety top series. stewart left the show in august after an historic 16 year run marked by multiple awards. >> thank you so very much. you will never have to see me again. thank you. >> al jazeera. >> there was more history made last night. the first emmy was given to an actor for playing a transgender character. you can see going on to the stage, star of amazon's transparent won best actor in a comedy. >> that does it for us here in new york. thanks for watching. the news continues next from doha. have a great day.

>> where we are standing right now will be the panama canal. >> this will be flooded. >> we have upgraded for bigger ships. >> now we go for weeks without water. >> techknow's team of experts show you how the miracles of science... >> this is what innovation looks like. >> can affect and surprise us. >> i feel like we're making an impact. >> awesome! >> techknow - where technology meets humanity.

>> this is the news our on al jazeera. the battle for yemen, it is one year since houthi rebels took the capital. their leader remains defiant. >> the thousands of refugees flooding into europe, we report on the start of their desperate journey. >> the israeli prime minister meets vladimir putin. >> almost six months without a drop of rain,