the world are due to be shown, most united in come way by that theme of peace. harry faucet, al jazeera, south korea. plenty more news on our website, aljazeera.com. pope francis is wrapping up his visit to cuba, and prepares to make his way to the u.s. volkswagen's stock loses billions more in value as the company tries to control the fallout from the emission's scandal. and china's president promises reforms, but cyber securities tend to overshadow his trip to america. ♪

this is al jazeera america, live from new york city. i'm stephanie sy. pope francis this hour preparing to wrap up his visit to cuba. these are live images of the pope in cuba. he is meeting families there shortly before he boards a plane to come to the united states. the pope celebrating his final has this morning. he told the cuban people to pray for him, and he asked them to e rediscover their catholic heritage. david arreowes ta has more from havana. >> reporter: pope francis is whereuponing up his tour of cuba. there has been some criticisms against this pope in terms of

his lack of addressing human rights issues on this island. clearly those within the united states and well as dissidents were cuba were hoping to hear. his messages were more curtailed. one of the topics he mentioned when he first arrived here in havana was that service is not idealogical, and many construed that as a slight against some of the long-held communist traditions that are part of this island. but the more poignant criticisms of human rights issues were not addressed. this is a bit of a victory lap for him in terms of what he has been able to accomplish here and in the united states. he helped broker that historic

normalization of relations announced back on december 18th, 2014. so both of those topics will certainly be topics to be discussed. but this of course is an historic visit by pope francis. wrapping up the third visit in just less than two decades by a pope here to this island, but lotsover scrutiny will be involved in both have sis it is and the visit to the united states. >> thank you. live images, again, coming out of cuba has pope francis wraps up his trip there. an unprecedented show of security will greet the pope's arrival here in the u.s. his visit takes him to washington, then new york, and philadelphia, prompting what is being called the largest security efforts in u.s. history. paul beban has more. >> reporter: this is what makes

protecting pope francis such a challenge. his habit of breaking away from his security detail to be with the people. the swiss guard will be beefed up by a battery of u.s. agencies coordinated by the secure the service. the pontiff begins his tour in washington, d.c., where streets within a three-block radius will be shut down. after washington the pope travels to new york city where thousands of police and federal agents are preparing not only for the pope's visit, but also at the same time for the u.n. general assembly. >> we believe this event is going to be the largest security challenge that the department and this city have ever faced, in that, in addition to the pope, we will have 170 confirmed world leaders in this city during the period of time of the general assembly. that's 90% of the world leaders in this city at one time.

>> reporter: major streets will be shut down during the pope's two-day tour of new york, and the upon i tiff won't be riding around in his normal pope-mobile, he'll be in a jeep wrangler. the last city is philadelphia, where he is expected to draw a crowd of 1.5 million people for the festival of families. security fences have been put up, and extra surveillance cameras put into place. security experts say every tool available is being used. >> philadelphia is the venue where there will be the most people. it is the venue where if things can go wrong it will be here, because it is outdoors and there will be millions of people. >> reporter: anyone hoping to get close to the pope will have to leave that selfie stick at home. >> reporter: earlier i spoke with john o'brien the president of catholics for choice. he say there is symbolism in the

pope's trip starting in cuba andening in the u.s. >> i think that this pope is someone who wants to bring people together. it's no secret that the vatican did play a role in cuban american relations that lead to the current thawing of the situation. and we are very fortunate here in the united states. i think the idea of unity is definitely a central theme of pope francis. i think catholics are very excited with the visit of pope francis to the united states. i think non-catholics are also excited if not even curious about what this man who has great simplicity in his message, but also great feeling of again wine affection and humbleness, i think people are very curious about it. he touches down today. tomorrow he meets president obama in the morning. on friday he addresses the situation. and on thursday interestingly,

he talks to the u.s. congress. what is interesting here, is that i think that on that political level, some people have been asking the question, so what is pope francis going to tell congress about policy, and i think that this is a huge mistake. the reality with pope francis is that he is speaking less about political points than he is about pastoral issues. >> he says despite the pope's very political statements about the environment, he thinks his message to congress will be more about caring for the planet and less about policy. stay with al jazeera america all week on this. we'll bring you complete coverage of the pope's visit to the united states. david petraeus made a formal apology this morning over his extramarital affair in his first public statement. >> i think it's appropriate to begin this morning with an apology, one i have offered

before, but one i want to repeat to you and to the american public. four years ago i made a serious mistake. one that brought discredit on me and pain closest -- to those closest to me. it was a violation of the trust placed in me, and a breach of the values to which i had been committed throughout my life. >> he faced the senate armed services committee a short time ago, he resigned in 2012 after having an affair with a writer. he called the scandal a difficult chapter in his life. volkswagen's stock is dropping fast again this morning. 11 million diesel cars worldwide are part of an emissions test scandal. the company's stock fell another 20% today. the german car maker used software that tricked emissions testing equipment. volkswagen said that setting aside more than $7 billion to cover the expenses tied to the

controversy. rick, good morning to you. >> stay, stephanie. >> so volkswagen clearly ballooning today as the auto maker says it is going to set aside $7.3 billion. how big of a hit is that for the company? >> it's a huge hit. as you mentioned volkswagen increased the number of vehicles to 11 million. it's only likely to sell 10 million vehicles in 2015. so that's more vehicle than it sells in a year, and $7 billion, that's probably in line with what general motors is ultimately going to have to pony up for its own problems with those defective ignition switches. and those -- that problem lead to several dozen deaths. we're not even talking about a safety issue, really with the volkswagen scandal, and yet volkswagen has set aside an amount of money equivalent to a huge safety scandal with general motors.

this is an incredible story. it's incredible that this company could have been so stupid, and look what it is doing to the company's performance and its bottom line. >> you have to wonder how much money they saved with these tests. the company has run afoul of the epa by allegedly installing software that essentially cheats emissions tests. the diesels are polluting up to 40 times more than the regulations permit. let me ask you this, are we looking at potential criminal charges at this point? >> you know, i don't know about that. we are certainly looking at tons of civil problems, litigation problems. it goes without saying there will be class action lawsuits against volkswagen. i think those have already begin actually. this is in the line of fraud, i think. so they claimed the car would do one thing, and then in reality on the road it did something else. so i don't know if you call that a criminal violation, obviously this has to go through the

courts. >> we know that doj has a criminal investigation going on. people drive vw's all over the world, it's the second biggest car maker in the world. how big could this get with other countries also doing their own investigations. >> bigger there than it is here. volkswagen sells maybe five or six times as many cars in europe and it does in the united states. it sells a lot more cars in china than the united states. so this is something they were doing to diesel cars old everywhere. it's a much bigger problem outside of the united states, but of course it originated here. and volkswagen has very aggressive goals in terms of -- it wants to become the biggest auto maker in the world. it's pretty close. it may end up doing that -- i think in 2015, it was on tar get, but now it looks like that won't happen, so it really needs to increase its share in the united states, and now the

opposite is going to happen. >> and the larger pr branding problem. you think of vw, and i think of the beatle and the vw bus, this hippy image. how does this tan -- tarnish the brand long term? >> it's a huge problem. volkswagen can either come right out and say, okay, we blew it. we screwed up. they can make right with all of their customers, and some of those customers by the way are going to say i don't just want the recall fix, i want you to take this car back and pay me for the car. they need to make right with their customers. if they do that, it's the land of second chances. or they can stone wall and be recalcitrant. that's what we saw toyota do when it had problems with sud inacceleration -- >> yeah, this is not the first time we have scene scandal in

the auto industry. does this protend a wider examination of practices by the auto industry, in light of this and the ignition switch problem? >> yeah, and i think that's what is happening here. because what we learned from the general motors ignition scandal was that the government had some of this information -- general motors had this information for years and they did nothing, and while they did nothing people died. so the government got hammered for that, gm got hammered. and the regulars said we're getting tough year. we're not rolling over for the auto industry anymore. volkswagen comes along unfortunately at exactly the wrong moment. >> rick thank you. goldman sachs ceo has cancer. his form of cancer is highly curable and he will not be stepping down from his role at

the company while he undergoes treatment. ben carson stands firm and defies critics calling for him to drop out of the race.

ben carson is doing damage control this morning. he spoke from ohio to clarify his previous comment that the

u.s. president shouldn't be a muslim. >> there's no question that our constitution and our traditions have a judeo-christian base. there's no question about that. and i don't think there's any reason that we should deny that. but the first amendment is very important. freedom of religion. it so happened that the majority of people in this country, you know, do believe in judeo-christian values, and there's no way that we should suppress their beliefs, and they should be able to live according to their faith, but we never should have a theocracy. carson said ever the weekend he didn't think muslims had the right values to be president. yesterday he said he would support a muslim candidate who denounced sharia law. ben carson is still in second place, and today he has one less rival to contend with, scott walker. he suspended his campaign after the latest numbers showed him at

the bottom of the pack. he urged other candidates to leave as well so a stronger candidate can face donald trump. china's president is coming to the u.s. he denied that his government or chinese businesses are behind cyber attacks on the u.s. hacking economic secrets is a big problem for the u.s. >> america's competitive advantage increasingly rests on its intellectual property. and these are things that are being stolen. so if this trend continues and the chinese are able to reduce the u.s. competitive advantage this directly impacts the ability of the u.s. economy to grow. this is a huge threat to the security of the united states, and i think it's the reason why

the president and many senior u.s. officials have underscored the importance with which the u.s. views this issue. he says china and the u.s. may agree to a minimum framework over stopping hacking in peacetime. but any deal likely won't address the issue of stealing business secrets. we're learning more about a u.s. citizen who has been in chinese detention for six months. they detained her in march when she was in southern china for business, but didn't formally arrest her for stealing state secrets until sunday. the dutch foreign minister said today the only way to stop the european refugee crisis is to end the war in syria, but that war and fighting isil is showing no signs of ending any time soon. a new group is now back in syria. the us u.s. military trained the

rebels in turkey. the obama administration has been under criticism about his strategy to combat isil. a price hike that cost the u.s. economy billions, how reaction to one drug's price tag sent investors running. i'm jake ward in california, scientists are so concerned about sequoias, they are climbing up into them to take measurements, and i, god willing, am about to try to do the same thing. ♪

>> i've been asked to keep my voice down

a pharmaceutical firm is on the defensive this morning, following a 5,000 percent price increase of a drug. john good morning. >> a lot of anger directed towards this company yesterdays. the drug fights infectious diseases and has been arounder for more than 60 years. the pill used to cost just a few dollars. shortly after purchasing derprin from another drug company in august, the ceo raised the price from $13.50 to $750. people suffering from conditions like aids malaria and cancer, depend on the medication. when the huge price hike was revealed monday, there was widespread condemnation.

democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton tweeted: her comments almost immediately sent u.s. biotech stocks plummeting, losing an estimated $15 billion in value. he took on his critics on twitter at times using aggressive language, in one tweet he wrote frpt during an appearance on bloomberg news, he struck a less aggressive tone. >> remember this drug was from the 1940s. we can take a better drug for this disease. we're spending tens of millionsover dollars to make a better version of this drug. this drug is very toxic, and they deserve to turn a fair

profit and make a better drug. he also told bloomberg his company will make sure people in need who can't afford the drug will get it for free in some cases. meanwhile hillary clinton has promised to lay out her proposal today to cut the cost of specialty drugs. climate change and drought may be taking a toll on california's giant sequoias. the trees are losing limbs and needles like scientists have never seen before. as jake ward explains, now they are trying to find an answer to keep those trees alive. >> they were losing their older needles. their older leaves in amounts that were -- i had never seen before. >> giant sequoias like this are very, very special. they are the largest organisms on earth and they are ancient. but after four years of drought, and the effects of climate

change researchers are worried about their future. this one predates christianity and islam. but more importantly for today is how tall it is. it's over 75 meters, more than 240 feet tall. scientists are going to go up in it today to try to take water samples, and god help me, i'm going to fol -- follow them. oh, man. anthony climbs to the top of these trees to test them for signs of stress. he has been doing this kind of thing for about 20 years. this is my first time. i thought i could hear somebody playing house music in the parking lot, and i just realized that that's my heart. eventually i made it. and the climb taught me a new respect not just for the scientists but for the tree itself. to be up in this massive thing, you can feel the weight of history in the weight of this

tree, so it's extraordinary to be here. here is the view. check this out. warmer temperatures mean the trees need enormous amounts of water. >> typical giant sequoia tree of this size might use anywhere between 5 and 800 gallons of water in a single summer day. the trouble is, the sierra snow pack which provides water to trees throughout the summer as it melts, is now at a 500-year low. the sequoias seem to be the healthiest of the bunch. as much as a quarter of the other trees are dying. >> the sugar pine seems to be suffering a lot of the mortality. ponderosa pine as well. creed -- cedar has been dying

back at a rate people have never seen before. >> now i'm going to try to come down. that was by far the scariest thing i have ever done. i have never felt so insignificant. this may be the last time that scientists climb these trees. part of the project is to test the accuracy of the carnegie airborne observatory, which is conducting fly-over observations of whole forests at once. >> typically in the past we have missed most of the forest and tried to make an inference from samples of a few trees, and now this has enabled us to collect data over enormous spacial scales that wouldn't have been possible in the past. the sequoias are surviving this so far. but the team points out the combination of drought and rising temperatures is

unprecedented. >> now that we're in the fourth year of this severe drought, they still seem to be holding up pretty well. if we had another year as severe as this one, i would say all bets are off. >> reporter: this tree was a seedling during the roman empire. the history of the united states is a tiny fraction of its past. the question is whether it and its kind can survive here in the future. jake ward, al jazeera, sierra national park, california. thanks for watching. i'm stephanie sy. the news continues next live from doha. we leave you now with the pope in santiago, cuba, he is wrapping up his trip there. he will land in the united states this afternoon, starting in washington. outside of washington, andrews air force base where he will be greeted by president obama and the first lady, beginning his

six day of this historical trip. we'll be covering every move here on al jazeera. ♪ >> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello welcome to the news hour, i'm live from our headquarters in doha. e.u. ministers meet to decide on a relocation plan for more than a hundred thousand refugees. disarm or risk being attacked, a deadline for coup leaders in burkina faso so surrender has come and gone. yemen's exiled president hadi has arrived in the port city of aden. and as muslims gather in mec