Comments about muslims. What ben carsons campaign is now saying about putting a muslim in the white house. This is Aljazeera America. Good morning, live from new york city, im 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 havanas 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. Lets listen to what he had to say. Service is never ideological, we dont 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. Hes the first latin american pope. Hes 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 disdidnt, 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 popes visit to cuba and to the u. S. In our next hour. Well 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. Its 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 wasnt 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 dont 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. Thats 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, thats 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 carsons president ial 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. Hes 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 countrys 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. Israels Prime Minister is in russia this morning for meetings with president putin. Benjamin netanyahu is expected to ask putin about russias 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. Thats 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 russias building up a stronghold in syria. Syrias very important for russia, because its 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 wouldnt have a port city. In homs, rebel groups are coping an ear on air traffic to see what steps russias military will take next. Al jazeera. Preparations are underway today in seattle, where chinas 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 firstever 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 its almost impossible to attribute with 100 accuracy where an attack comes from. With regard to china, it doesnt 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 dont 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, irans 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 companys 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 todays 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 im 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. Hes being held on a Million Dollars bail. Federal out thats 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 didnt know billion dollars of value has been loft from volkswagen. Cars have been recalled. The companys c. E. O. Is apologizing. Thats right, he also said that theyll cooperate with an investigation. The e. P. A. Says that the Company ActuallyInstalls 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 vehicles 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. Were here to fully get into the nuances of everything thats 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 im 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. Theyre 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 . Its 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 didnt 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 shouldnt 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. Hes 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 dont 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 africanamerican 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 co