>> good evening, i'm antonio mora, this is al jazeera america. >> the relationship between our governments will not be transformed overnight at a meeting between president obama and castro - historic, candid and at times awkward, promises and what's ahead for both countries now. >> israel's security is non-negotiable. >> this deal is catastrophic for america, for israel... >> presidential candidates from both parties pledge to protect and partner israel previewing the primaries in the west. the focus on utah and arizona.

and... >> if they don't make a decision, they are lucky the attitude about women's professional tennis from a tournament leader - the controversy that he has caused and the comment from the number one tennis player in the world. we begin with president obama's visit to cuba, a day after he became the first sitting u.s. president to set foot on the island in 90 years, he pronounced a new day in the relationship between the white house and cuba. we are joined by al jazeera's mike viqueira. and despite the smiles, the cuban president was quick to criticise the u.s. during today's events. >> well, that's right. it's sort of an awkward moment. unusual, unexpected. it came on an historic day. there's a lot of pomp and ceremony around the visit.

it's an official state visit. president obama returned to his quarters from the state dinner with raul castro at the palace derevolution here in havana. raul castro today said there are profound differences between the united states and cuba, one that is will never go away. it was never more apparent than when castro lashed out at critics over his country's record on human rights. >> reporter: this was the moment raul castro and president barack obama shaking hands for the first time on cuban soil. they talked for two hours behind closed doors. when they emerged it was clear that the acrimony, 54 jeers, couldn't be forgotten even with the ceremony and good really. >> asked why an american reporter had political prisoners, castro bristled. >> what political dissidents,

give me a name or names, or when after the meeting is over you can give me a list of political prisoners, and if we have the political prisoners, they'll be released before tonight ends. >> reporter: in fact, human rights groups say arrests and short-term dissidents in cuba have risen dramatically. long-term prison sentences has decreased. sunday, hours before president obama arrived. earlier the ladies in white were forcefully suppressed. raul castro took the president to task, citing health care, public education and equal pay for men and women in america. >> translation: i think human rights issues should not be politicized. that is not correct. raul castro says if change is to come to cuba, it is for cuba alone to decide. president obama agreed. tuesday he'll meet with a group

of local dissidents that he has with others around the world. >> i have met with people subject to arbitration. that is something i have to speak out on because i hear from them directly and i know what it means for them raul castro called for an end to the decades old trade embargo on cuba, a coal shared by president obama, who told a group of ceos and cuban entrepreneurs that his days are numbered. >> a way to help succeed and improve lives is to lift the embargo once and for all. >> inviting american business along for the trip is designed to make it harder for republicans and other opponents to resist or reverse the opening to cuba, should the republicans win the white house. and also along the way emphasising the history made. even at the end of a sometimes

tense press conference the two leaders were all smiles. admission to that meeting with a small group of dissidents, a private meeting at the u.s. embassy, president obama has what is billed as a major address to the cuban people, to be televised nationally across cuba. >> thank. we are joined by john caulfield who served as chev of mission in havana until 2014. good to have you with us. you were there in the early days of the negotiations that led to normalization, i read how you think the cuban people are looking at the arrival of the mt and entourage as an envision of i'll yebs, is it -- aliens, is it positive from their standpoint. >> i use that to illustrate how it is for the ordinary person on the street. where the u.s. president is received by the cuban government and speak to cuban people on tv,

it's unbelievable. almost at the scale of aliens landing on earth lots of firsts today, none more important than the first news conference, how powerful signal does it send to the people, to see a castro all smiles, trying to raise his arm in triumph. >> you have to imagine every television set was focused on that event. and will be tomorrow on president obama's speech. this is the first time that the cuban audience has seen their president be subjected to what is a traditional press conference, like all western politicians experience. and that itself is a message. the fact that president obama has been received courteously by the government of cuba really undermines all the arguments that the cuban government has made, that the reason we don't have things that other countries do, and the reason we have

restrictions that others don't have is because of the pressure from the united states. and then to receive president obama in this way, really undercuts that argument. and then for president castro to take questions, i have to recognise that this was courageous on his part. but it shows that there is a different find blowing before. >> he did not seem thrilled with the news conference, pushing for it to end quickly. amnesty international and other groups described a rise in harassment of dissidents, more than 1,000, has repress gotten worse? >> in a way yes, in a way no. there are more arrests now. the police are arresting the same people that typically in the early days, he would be sent to gaol for many years if he did

something like this. they arrest you, mann handle you, and you are on the street in 2-3 days, and the people that do this keep going back. undeterred. this is different to cuba in the early years. people are losing fear of the repressive mechanisms in the state. they continue to go out. and people are noticing this. and president obama said today that they had serious differences in cuba, including democracy and human rights, and if cuba improved on the fronts, lifting the embargo - do you think he would be tougher criticizing cuba an the speech that would be broadcast on cuban tv. >> i think the speech on tv tomorrow would be similar to the remarks at the press conference. president obama has spoken firmly, but nevertheless respectfully saying that we

disagree with cuba on this, and we believe in free speech and freedom of assembly, and president obama raised the issue with a number of leaders around the world. some who are good friends and some who are not so friendly a heard today that the cuban government can do what it wants, one of his stronger supporters, saying they need to do more, they have taken baby threats, and ted cruz is saying our sicko fancy is telling our enemies they can behave how they want. >> they have to go further. the question is how do we get cuba to do it. they've been using a policy of trying to put economic pressure on cuba to force them to make political changes. that has not resulted in

changes. what we are attempting to do now is undermine the justification of the cuban government for continuing this repress which is the threat from the united states, the threat of invasion, the threat of subversion. it's difficult to be credible describing that threat when you have president obama in your country received at the highest level. >> more on cuba coming up. john caulfield, head of the intersection in havana, pleasure to have you with us tonight. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> critics assailed the white house's effort to restore time with cuba. the president's trip has been met by protests, one featuring 200 demonstrators, including the american governor. a smaller group of protesters used a bulldozer to make their point against the president and the democratic party and called president obama a traitor for

working with the cuban regime. four expressed support for israel at a large israel loppying group and bernie sanders, who couldn't make it, sent a letter. mike viqueira has more. let's start with donald trump. he turned around what could have been an unfriendly crowd. >> exactly, we thought they'd be unfriendly. in the end he had them in the palm of his hand. just a word with a.p.a. y it's a large group of lobby sifts. 18,000 turned up to pay homage. donald trump came with a bit of a cloud over his head. he has haifaed over the idea of moving the u.s. embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem, and wished to be neutral between talks with

the israeli it palestinians. today he turned his toning to the iran deal, which is massively hated by the 18,000 in the hall today, and not surprisingly date day. >> i have been in business a long time. i know deal making. let me tell you, this deal is catastrophic - for america, for israel and for the whole of the middle east. [ clapping ] >> the problem here is fundamental. we have rewarded the world's leading state sponsor of terror with 150 billion and we received absolutely nothing in return donald trump went on to say if he's elected in november, the first person he'll call and invite over is israeli prime minister binyamin netanyahu. and hillary had been a disaster as secretary of state and she

and president obama treated israel badly. you she what he is doing, linking hillary with the iran deal. he was making the point. >> trump used times for politics. she took swipes at trump early in the day. >> she did. she was clever, appearing earlier, allowing her a few hours to control the news agenda. she is a clinton and a lot of israelis like the fact that president clinton put the final negotiations on the oslo accord in 1993 and was there when the israeli prime minister and yasser arafat shook hand on the white house lawn. israelis appreciate that, and the fact that she is a clinton. she said you can't be neutral when it comes to

israeli-palestinian negotiations. fake a listen. >> yes, we need steady hands, not a president saying he's neutral monday, pro-israel tuesday and who knows what an wednesday, because everything's negotiable. well, my friend's, israel's security is not negotiable. >> all the 2016 candidates were here, except bernie sanders, and he issued a letter in which he basically put out his manifesto, personal message:

the gulf states have to take greater responsibly for the middle east, ostensibly donald trump loves to boast about his poll numbers, but you likely won't hear him talk about the numbers in utah, because the state is set to deal him a huge loss in the context. michael shure has a preview from salt lake city. >> good evening from utah. frump running into a little -- donald trump running into a little trouble. utahans not warming to his style of politics or his substance. one of the big problems we have here is a demeanour on the trail. we spoke to an associate professor at the university of utah, and he had this to say about donald trump. he is taken back by his arrogance, his pompous manner

and easy answers given to complicated, difficult problems. he is seemingly ignorance to the fact that governing is not easy, ghrch governing is hard. >> sitting governor has endorsed ted cruz. the former governor of massachuset massachusetts. working hard to get-utahans to vote for ted cruz, not because he particularly loves ted cruz and everything about him, but he doesn't want donald trump to win. look at the numbers released by the desserette new, a newspaper in utah, they showed that hillary clinton would beat donald trump, a democrat in utah, would beat donald trump by two points, 38-36, within a margin much difference, if you look at the next poll you see bernie sanders up by 11 points.

it shows you how much the republicans in utah stay home or vote for a democrat. it's not because he's brash, it's a lot to do with his politics. two-thirds of the stale are mormons. they look at the issues that donald trump trumpets. the mormon church welcomes them. there's a sharing that more mans share, and they have a difficult time listening to the rhetoric and style of donald trump apple's fight over unlocking an iphone may be finished. next, what the federal bureau of investigation said that led a judge to cancel the hearing on the standoff and why some congressional

districts have been drawn up in terms of race. purchase

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sales fell 7%, saying it represented an annualized raid of 5%. some economists suggest a shaky start of the year may have discouraged home buyers, and a low inventory of starter homes made it harder for first home buyers. the supreme court looked again at the issue of race and redistricting. the question is whether a virginia district drawn up by the legislature was based first and foremost on the race of voters, that will be illegal. lisa stark was in the courtroom. >> the case involved the third congressional district, stretching 100 miles from richmond all the way down to norfolk, and has been a majority black district and is represented by virginia's only african-american robert scott. in 2010 during redistricting rub

controlled state legislature it was argument packing the black voters into one district reduced influence in neighbouring areas mark alias said race was clearly what was in the mind of those that drew the map sadding: ♪ ♪ -- map, adding: michael, representing a handful of virginia public many said: chief justice john roberts worried there was no real way to sale saying: -- way to tell saying:

now, a lower court twice found that race was the motive. they threw out the congressional map and imposed their own. and that's what the republican congressman are challenging before the supreme court. but one key question - do they have a right to bring this case, because they do not live in or representatives the district that's the heart of this lawsuit. the attorney argued they have that right because they have been harmed. a virginia law-maker has been forced to abandon the district he has run in and is running in another district because of the map imposed by the lower court. the justices are likely to decide the case around the time virginia go to the polls. it means that the lower court

ruling stands, andvirginia vote will cast their ballet lisa stark in washington. a top tennis official says women players are riding on the coat-tails of the men. next big-name players react to comments many are calling sexist. more than a third of seniors took five prescription drugs. those numbers had doctors concerned about dangerous interactions.

one in six elderly americans are at risk of taking dangerous combinations of prescription and over the counter medications. the john hopkins study included dietary supplements. a small number of drugs account for the majority of interaction,

including drug thinners and drugs used to treat high blood pressure and cholesterol. >> tennis player martina navratilova said she wouldn't be surprised if players dropped out of indian wells, after the head of the tournament made comments many call sexist. gerald tan reports. >> reporter: indian wells, one of the richest joint events in professional tennis, the prize money for the men's and women's is the same, a rare example of pay parity in sport. the man in charge of indian wells courted controversy after a remark made about the women's tennis tour, the wta. >> in my next life when i come back i want to be someone in the wta. because they ride on the coat-tails of men. they don't make a decision and they are lucky, very, very lucky. if i was a lady player i'd go down every night on my knees and

thank god there's a roger federer and a rafael nadal on board. >> moore eventually apologised for comments saying they were in poor taste. the wta issuing a statement saying they were disappointed and alarming. the top ranked denounced words, reopening debate on quality saying there were much more spectators than the men's matches. it's a reason why we should be awarded more. the art over equal pay in tennis and other sport is not new. some spay women tennis players should be paid less because they play less games, in the grand slams, it's the best of three as opposed to the best of five for men, but some women's games can last as long and attract more viewers, one of the biggest stars says matches with female players sell out before the men's. >> yes, i'm totally surprised

especially when me and venus and other women on the tourist did well, and the women's final was open for the men's and we were in the final, it sold out before the women's final. tennis is one of the few sports where the major tournaments offer equal prize money for men and women. but even then the salary of most male athletes far outstripped the female counterparts. last year the top 10 highesterb areas seen by winnings or endorse nts were all male astronomers are getting a double treat in the sky, two clients flying by the earth in little more than a day. the first within three million miles of the planet. 14 times the distance from the earth to the moon. early tomorrow a smaller comet will pass by the earth at a difference of 2 million miles,

the closest a comet came to the earth, and the second closest history. i'm antonio mora, thank you for joining us. ray suarez is up next with "inside story". have a great night. ♪ >> who are those angry working ass voters who used to have good manufacturing jobs, and now scramble to make a living in who watched their fathers and mothers retire with pensions from the plant? while we used to call them democrats. author thomas frank democrats sold out working-class morning, leaving them to fake concern for