senior correspondent ben wedeman is live in rome. he offered his thanks, ben but what else he offered that raised eyebrows. >> reporter: this was a visit that was rather something of a surprise to start with. it was only announced last tuesday. when this was over the cuban leader went to a press conference with the italian prime minister where he made a variety of rather surprising statements. he said if the pope continues to speak like this sooner or later, i will start praying again and i will return to the catholic church. and i'm not saying this jokingly. i'm a communist of the cuban communist party. during this press conference he pointed out the fact that he and his brother fidel like pope francis. they went to jesuit school before of course in the case of fidel and raul they became communists. he said i promise i will go to all of his masses and with satisfaction. he said i left the meeting impressed with his wisdom and modesty and virtues. some reported in italian media, he told the pope this was the most important meeting of

>> seen yoor international correspondent ben wedeman live in rome.hank you for your reporting there. >>> an saturday, raul castro's daughter led a gay pride march and symbolic wedding in cuba's capital. same-sex marriage is illegal in the caribbean nation. but dozens of gay couples tied the knot and hundreds took part in the parade. cuban gays have made progress in recent years in large part because of her police call standing. >>> police have arrested a man accused of raping his 10-year-old stepdaughter who is now pregnant. he denies raping the child and has demanded a dna test of the unborn baby. parra guy will not allow the girl to have an abortion. they're planning to treat the girl throughout pregnancy. >>> russia's victory celebrat n celebrations continue today. this is to honor the day that the nazis surrenders to the save yet yuan whereon. nearly 70 world leaders were invited to attend. but only 30 accepted. angela merkel will help russia celebrate today. matthew chance joins us live in moscow. she wasn't there yesterday but she's there today

our ben wedeman live for us in rome this morning. ben, thanks. >> we will take a very quick break right now. still to come the fbi will look closely at the windshield of an amtrak train that derailed last week. killing eight people. the latest on the investigation that's coming up. s >>> you are watching "cnn newsroom." thank you for staying with us. i'm errol barnett. >> i'm rosemary church. we want to check the headlines. isis forces have taken over the key iraqi city of ramadi. it fell after days of brutal fighting. ramadi is the capital of iraq's vast anbar province and was one of the last cities in the province still under government control. iraqi authorities have vowed to retake the city. >> a five-day humanitarian cease-fire in yemen is over. the saudi led coalition resumed air strikes sunday in aden. despite sporadic clashes the cease-fire between the houthi rebels was mostly observed. >> in the united states, police in waco, texas are investigating a gunfight between several biker gangs which left nine people dead. 16 other

john. >> ben wedeman, i appreciate it. >>> let's see what is coming up on "new day.", belatedly. >> thank you. >> we have reports of damage after tornadoes his parts of texas. communities are picking up the pieces. we will go live in a texas town this morning and show all of the different things that were effected. >>> we have a bombshell report on the hunt for osama bin laden. not a term i use lightly. the man behind it seymour hersch investigative reporter says he said the raid of osama bin laden's compound is completely false. what the u.s. is saying isn't true and we will have the famous investigative reporter on. he will tell us what he heard and we will test it. i have to tell you, it is shaking a lot of trees this morning of people who have been reporting on this and thought they understood it before. it is one report. we'll take it on. >> with decades of experience in shaking things up. chris cuomo, thank you. >>> new developments this morning in the death of freddie gray. there are growing calls for a new prosecutor in the case. we'll tell you about it ahead.

ben wedeman talked to two people who risked their lives. >> we need help here. >> reporter: at night adrift here. >> hello. we need some help here. >> reporter: a boat full of syrian rev few gays waiving to the greek coast guard. it's a unique account recorded on cell phone. the rescue was just one happy moment in a long and perilous journey made possible at a price by human traffickers. >> the moment you agree with a smuggler, so you give like your life is in between their hands. you can't take any decisions. you have no decisions. you can't say no. whatever they say, you say yes. >> they crossed by foot through the hills from greece and albania where a trafficker warns them to stay out of site. ali and her companions traveled hidden in the back of trucks and advance. this is relatively civilized. >> when you see these people it's like, you know, as godsend us angels to save our lives. so we were so happy. >> reporter: they eventually made it to germany where they've applied for political asylum. their faith smile. cnn, rome. >>> in singapore police shot and killed a man outside of

ben wedeman, thank you. >>> i didn't do it, the words from curtis banks.wo suspects taken into custody after the shooting deaths of two mississippi police officers. this is breaking news that we are continuing to follow this morning. we are going to have more details coming up next. >>> plus, thousands evacuating as a super typhoon makes landfall in the philippines. in this was here in the u.s., it would be a category 5 hurricane. we are going to have a live report coming up in just a moment. [ jennifer garner ] why can't powerful sunscreen feel great? actually it can. neutrogena® ultra sheer. its superior uva uvb protection helps prevent early skin aging and skin cancer, all with the cleanest feel. it's the best for your skin. neutrogena® ultra sheer. it's the best for your skin. if you can't put a feeling into words, why try? at 62,000 brush movements per minute, philips sonicare leaves your mouth with a level of clean like you've never felt before. innovation and you. philips sonicare. new york state is reinventing by leading the way on tax cuts. we cut

i was there with ben wedeman who asked about the eight force advisers out there.visers on the front line instead of 200 in the green line not giving advice. i'm not sure our policy is there. one of the problems is we're training the iraqi shoulders, but as soon as they leave the base they're on their own. that's not an advise and assist mission. we have special forces who know how to do this get out there, helped fight them train them and lead them. that would be a turning point if we looked at changing their policies. >> colonel reese, thanks for joining us. general kemmet appreciate it very much. glad you're back safe and sound. tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern "blind-sided" how isis shook the world. we'll take you deep inside isis. who are these people what do they want? fareed zakaria reports tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern. >>> just ahead, new details in the probe of the deadly amtrak derailment? was the train struck by a bullet or some other object just before the disaster. >>> president obama banning things for local police across the u.s. in the wake of the prote

>> it's how it goes i spent the month of march with ben wedeman in tikrit.at victory for the iraqis et al. now ramadi this is how it happens, these are major cities. think about austin indianapolis d.c. you got to take these down. >> let's look at the map. this is the province the capital of the province ramadi. now important is it if we look at this area that this fell. >> if you look down here you can see the big red line runs to the northwest to the southeast. very key, that's where everything goes along. raka that's the headquarters of isis. that's where it comes from. >> that continues to be a place that we look at and bomb and go after. >> you talk about the next animation, you talk about the importance of ramadi with its proximity to fallujah. you talk about the airport there in baghdad how important that is. how close is that in real life in real scale? how easy would this be to overtake that airport? >> so i used to drive this all the time t. right-hand drive, curtains in it. did it all the time. it took about an hour to get to fallujah and an hour-

the pope for brokering the peace talks between washington and havana cnn national correspondent ben wedemannist kisses ring. is that the headline? well. >> reporter: well certainly, there are raised eyebrows af this meeting which took place yesterday, a 55-minute meeting between raul castro and the pope. the vatican said it was quote a cordial meeting and castro used the opportunity to thank pope francis for his role in breaking the diplomatic deadlock between the united states and cuba. but afterwards he went to a press conference where he came out with this statement. he said if the pope continues to speak like this sooner or later i will start praying again and i whether return to the catholic church. now, just in case anybody thought this was a remark off the cuff. he went on to say, i'm not saying this jokingly i'm a communist of the cuban communist party. significant that the official media in cuba is not quoting these particular remarks, but they are strange coming from the disciple of carl marks who describes religion as the opiate of the masses. ben. >> very interesting development