multiple awards. >> thank you so very much. you will never have to see me again. thank you. >> gerald tan, al jazeera. >> there go. plenty more news for you. the breaking news. the video on demand. all at www.aljazeera.com. >> pope francis traveled east of havana holding a second mass this morning in cuba. his visit to roots of the catholic church there. >> i would not advocate that we put a muslim in charge of this nation. >> ben carson's campaign responds after the presidential contender's remarks.

there are thousands of cars being recalled. >> this is al jazeera america live from new york city. pope francis has traveled to cuba. you're looking live at the square where an open air mass is about to get under way 150,000 people are expected to attend the mass. pope francis is the first pope to visit. it's known for its 16-foot cross that towers over the city from a hilltop. you can see people there who are singing and welcoming the pope into their town there.

the pope right there getting ready to deliver the mass this morning. david joins us live from havana on the phone. david, stay really could be the biggest day ever. now we see him. he's right there. why did pope francis choosing to there? >> well, this is about as far from havana as you can get inside cuba. it's an area that has been long discarded by political leaders and the pope has travel there had in the past. those there have been waiting for this moment. it's an area that has heavy influence of cuban traditions as well as some catholic roots. but like you mentioned it was back in 1790 that the franciscan monk brought this cross up this hill. pope francis is expected to bless this city after giving mass in that revolutionary

plaza. the size of this relative to other parts of the city. that's about half of the population of the area. it's only a little bit less than 300,000. really a significant moment here. of course, holguin holds other significance for the country. that's where fidel and raul castro were born. this is a fairly significant place that has just sort of been discarded in previous papal visits. many are anxiously awaiting pope francis as he visits. >> 150,000 that we're talking about. that's so many people as we mention how that compares to the population of the area. is it surprising so many people are turning out beneath this communist regime? what do you think the message is that is being sent to the castro brothers here? >> well, now keep in mind many of the people who are actually

attending the service are bussed in. that's how this usually happens. whether it's a political speech in years past or one of the papal visits. these are highly coordinated events. it's not just the population of holguin attending. but you'll have people from all around the region. mexico is about 3 30 minute flight from havana. you have a large contingent of mexican who is will travel to cuba. and the papal visit of pope john paul was a visit that opened the country. it was really an atheist state since the 1990s. now of the people who live here the vatican said that 60% are

considered catholics. when you talk about those who practice, it's only 4% to 5% who actually go to church. religion is a very interesting thing in cuba. it's something that is onl starting to evolve as we get under way with this third papal visit. >> david ariosto on the ground for in cuba. thank you. well, pope francis has not directly criticized the castro government, but the pope has a style that still gets the message across. >> the pope opened his homily on sunday saying how important it is to be a person of service from one person to another instead of serving ideology. that was a direct swipe of president raul castro, who was sitting right there. the cardinal of cuba 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 the security line when he was about to start mass. he stopped. he listened to the man's messages and then he blessed him. this is a pope who is very intelligent. he's very strategic. i think you saw very clearly his message of diplomacy. he spoke earlier on a move that he brokered to bring the united states and cuba closer, and how that was an example of the world to follow. so i think that this pope, people i think who expect him to come out openly in a very confrontational style are going to be disappointed. this is a pope who knows how to work behind the scenes, open a dialogue and make things happen. >> since the u.s. is based on a

democracy, the pope will speak much more freely on his feelings throughout the u.s. we'll bring you complete coverage of the pope's visit in the u.s. wildfires continue in california. this one is monterrey county. the police say they 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. well, the race for the republican presidential nomination appears to be reshuffling again. a new poll puts carly fiorina in second place. and ben carson in third.

>> for the second time in a week islam is dominating the 2016 presidential campaign. this time g.o.p. hopeful dr. ben carson telling nbc's meet the press that he does not think that a muslim should occupy the white house. >> i would not advocate that we put a muslim in charge of this nation. >> carson also said that he does not think that islam is constitutworks with the constitution. donald trump i. >> your problem in our country is muslim. we all know that our president is one. >> my attitude would he have done that for me, if somebody would have said that about me.

>> but he softened his stance a bit he would consider a muslim for the cabinet but insists radical muslims are the problem when it problems. >> there is a problem with militaricy, and it is something that has to be resolved. >> trump also went off carly fioria the only woman in the republican field. she has jumped to second place with 15% to trump's 24%. trump down 8% last time. >> she did a terrible job at hewlett-packard. >> fioria is hitting back saying she led it through the height of the worst technology recession in the last 25 years whenas exact collapsed some 80%.

>> the job of the chief executive is to build sustainable shareholder soul over time. that's what we did. >> hillary clinton was on "face the nation." the u.s. should step up to the plate where others want or won't. >> we're facing the worst refugee crisis since the end of world war ii. i think the united states should do more. i would like to see us move from what is a good start from 10,000 to 65,000 and immediately put into place the mechanisms for vetting the people that we would take in. >> john terrett,age. >> there are currently two muslims in congress representatives andre carson from indiana, and keith ellison in minnesota. ellison said, quote:

>> now to the other side of the aisles, hillary clinton has increased her lead in the poll. a new cnn poll shows clinton has the support of 42% of prime minister voters. bernie sanders is holding half of that. vice president biden's support increased slightly even though he is not officially running. volkswagen stock is plummeting as the company tries to make amends fo for a scandal in emissions test. now cars are recalled to fix the problems. >> volkswagen said that it will stop selling it's 2016 and 2015 marked clean diesel in the u.s. after the epa accused the company of cheating on an emissions test. the german automaker wrote: .

>> invital regulators accuse volkswagen of installing software in half a million diesel cars that would turn on the emission control system only when an emission test was taking place. the rest of the time the car exposes people to pollutants 40% that of allowable standards. >> particularly for emissions violations. >> the epa has ordered a recall of half a million diesel volkswagens built between 2009 and 2015. the models including the jetta, beetle and golf. >> they're trying to send a message and to the industry as a whole that they're not going to tolerate funny business when it comes to the emissions glanders halting sales of the recalled

vehicles could put a significant dent in vw's significant easternings. 20% of volkswagen sales are diesel. >> two americans are getting ready to come home this morning after being released by houthi rebels in yemen. the aid and security workers are in oman right now, the country that helped negotiate their release. the houthis held them for six months. there is one more american held hostage in yemen. the head of the nuclear watch zag agency said that he was gimp samples during a visit to a site in iran. visiting the site this weekend. the iaea must visit the site under the terms of the nuclear deal. iran's recent renovation has under mind effective verification. iran denies it is carrying out arms research there. there is encouraged optimism

about the nuclear deal with the west. president rouhani told "60 minutes" that it will take time to truly forge a better relationship between the u.s. and iran. >> the enmity that existed between the united states and iran over the decades, the distance, the disagreements, the lack of trust will not go away soon. what's important is which direction we are heading. are we heading towards am amplifying this enmity or decreasing this enmity. i believe we've taken the first steps towards decreasing the enmity. >> prime minister benjamin netanyahu is expected to ask putin's deployment to serie-a. ash carter and his russian counterpart talked about it last week.

putin insists that his actions are intended stop isil. >> all russia's actions in the region have always been and will be very responsible. >> russia is also sending the assad regime judgment like tanks, helicopters and materials to build a new base as peter sharp reports from moscow. that's making israel, which shares a border with serie-a, nervous. >> israelis have made it clear to the russians that they're not accusing russian of supplying hezbollah, but they're saying that the situation is just so chaotic in serie-a at the moment that no one can really guarantee that these weapons and there are a lot of them coming in, and they're very high tech, could end up in the wrong hands. israel is also worried that aircraft from russia and also it's very sophisticated aircraft missiles systems could restrict the movement of israeli air force jets should they attempt to target convoys taking weapons

out to hezbollah, which they have done before. so as well as the prime minister and the president meeting, these military heads will also be discussing ways of sort of deconfrictioning the conflict. they don't forget russian historical influence in israel is enormous. there were so many that went over to israel in the '40s, '50s, and '60s, so there are strong cultural tie there is. i think israel could make it clear that they do not see russia as a threat to the state of israel. and they do have joint issues that do need resolving as this build up continues in the area. >> peter sharp for us in moscow there. china's president makes his first visit to the u.s. his plans to strengthen ties when he sits down with technology leaders. stay with us.

>> and you're looking live from cuba where pope francis is holding a mass for an estimated 150,000 people. probably his last mass before he heads to the united states tomorrow. the last member of the

angola three are set to appear before the judge. albert fox has had his twice before had his conviction thrown out for the 1992 murder of a prison guard. a judge ruled that he should be released. he has lived 40 years almost entirely in solitary confinements. a man involved in a string of free shootings insists that he's innocent. >> i'm the wrong guy. >> the police this morning said that tests link his gun to four of the shootings. merit said that his gun was in a pawnshop for months. he's being held on $1 million bail. preparations are under way this morning in seattle for a high stakes visit by china's president. xi jinping arrived in washington state tomorrow for a trip that will bring him face to face with president obama. >> chinese president xi jinping is headed to washington, d.c. in

high-level talks with president obama. his first official state visit in the u.s. former washington governor gary lock served as u.s. ambassador to china under president obama. >> 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 astronomically over the last several years. >> xi is scheduled to give a policy speech, tour a boeing manufacturing plant and have dinner with microsoft's bill gates. they want to assure businesses that they can do business fairly in china. >> obviously a concern is cyber security. the concern of a lack of 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. >> xi is the fourth consecutive chinese leader to visit the northwest. long time tech writer and colu columnist rie dudley sees it as a stop over. >> they want to encourage entrepreneurs who thrive not only in china but to thrive internationally. what better example than to come and look at microsoft, starbucks and boeing. >> looking at a higher line at a much higher level back east. >> we're 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 cup situation where we can play good cu cop here and talk about trade relationships and hopefully obama will play the bad cop and take a firming line on some of these things. >> this comes as a time when china is flexing its military muscle 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. adam schauffler, al jazeera, seattle. >> apple has pulled some of its apps from the app store because of mallware attacks. one of the hardest hit apps includes wie chat, which includes thousands of chinese user. cal's sequoias are being

affected by the state's drought. what they're expected to do to save the trees. >> and history at the emmy awards. viola davis is the first black woman to receive a top honor.

>> in california climate change and prolonged drought are endangering the giant sequoias. we look at what is being done to save them.

>> there is no more famous organism in the united states than sequoias. these massive trees are not just giant, they're ancient. they tell us so much about our own planet. that's why scientists from berkeley along with a team of researchers are trying to figure out just how healthy these trees are. there are two factor that is have concern about these trees and trees in general here. first we're in our fourth year of drought in california. 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 ongoing climactic change. as the climate gets warmer and warmer in this region, is putting more treasure o pressure on these trees to come up with more water, and that water is not available. the sequoias die in two-ways. they burn in fire, or they

simply fall over because of root rot or structural problem in the soil. >> these trees are beginning give up foliage like never before. and i'll follow these scientists up into these massive trees to take a look at what they see about the health of these trees and what that tell us about the general ecosystem in california and the rest of the country. i hope you'll watch. >> you can see jake's full report tonight at 8:00 eastern. well, there was history last night at the emmy awards. honoring two actors in ground-breaking rules. viola davis became the first african-american woman to win emmy. she encouraged the industry to find more roles who look like

her. >> the only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity. [applause] you cannot win an emmy for roles that are simply not there. >> besides davis jeffrey tambor won as best act center a comedy earning the first emmy given for a role where someone was playing a transgender character. "mad men" star john hamm won his actor in a drama after 15 nominations. hbo's "game of thrones" won for best drama. and veep won for best comedy. thanks for joining us live. we'll look at eastern cuba where the pope will hold mass for

150,000 people before he heads to america. have a good day. >> this is the news hour on al jazeera. >> the battle for yemen. a year since the houthies took the capital, and the rebels remain defiant. the build up in serie-a in moscow as israel prime minister meets vladimir putin. refugees flood to europe. we report on how many fall prey to