"inside story" in washington, i'm ray suarez. >> good afternoon, welcome to al jazeera america. i'm morgan radford live from new york city. here are the stories that we're following for you right now. russia's foreign minister said that russia won't invade ukraine even though troops are lined up along the border. taliban strikes twice in 24 hours raising concern for next week's presidential election.

in washington honoring those who were killed in a mudslide. >> there are signs the crisis in ukraine may be inching towards a diplomatic resolution. secretary of state john kerry changing his travel plans to spend time in paris t for discussions with his russian counterpart, who said that russia has no intention of invading ukraine. we go to jennifer glasse in kiev. russia has been putting boots on the ground near the ukrainian border, but foreign minister lavrov said that russia does not plan to invade, so has he offered an explanation? >> reporter: he has to not offered any reason for why troops are there. and while troop he said that rua

has no plan of invading ukraine, but will protect interests of russian speakers in ukraine. there is a possible meeting with secretary kerry this week. the call between kerry and lavrov came after president putin called president obama on fifriday night. the two men laid out their position. president putin talking about rampant extremism both here in kiev and the region and how that should not be allowed to go forward. that is concerning to the interim government here. those are going to be seen as threatening words to the interim government here. the pressure on the presidential elections may 25th especially with massive russian troops along the border. they are hopeful for a diplomatic resolution, but with crimea going on, secretary kerry

and foreign minister lavrov met several times and that made no difference there. president putin expressed concern of a de facto blockade on ukraine's southwestern border. there are already russian troops there, a breakaway enclave of moldova. so that is another point of possible tension there. really, really unclear what these diplomatic efforts mean and what solutions they may have going forward. >> just briefly i want to go back to the elections coming up on may 25th. a big shocker today, former boxer vitali klitschko saying he will not run for ukraine's president, did he say why? >> reporter: he's throwing his support behind petro poroshenko a billionaire magnate here, and he's going to run for president.

poroshenko said now is the time for unity, and they would like to see a president-elected on may 25th. rather than split the vote, vitali klitschko said that he will run for kiev mayor, and he dropped out of the race. he was a favorite there. and he put his support behind petro poroshenko, and hopefully by not dividing the vote, poroshenkporoshenko will win tht round. yulia tymoshenko is seen as the old problem of politics and they may want someone new. the ex-boxer you vitali

klitschko throwing his weight behind poroshenko. >> thank you. in kabul the second attack in the capitol in the past 24 hours, and it comes a week before presidential elections. >> reporter: under a week until presidential elections when the taliban attacks again, the target this time the headquarters of the independent election commission in kabul. at least four fighters were disguised as women when they entered the house close to the commission building. afghan special forces and police reinforcements took their positions. >> forces in my house. i had three guards, two outside and one inside, but i don't know what is going on right now. the attackers are wearing wome women's burkas. >> reporter: the taliban fight percent armed with assault

rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. this is the second attack in the afghan capitol in 24 hours, the fourth in just over a week. the distances between the targets show how the taliban can still seemingly strike where it likes in the capitol. on march 20th taliban gunmen shot 20 people dead including two girls on march 12th. in another attack five were killed. three days later a girl was killed by a suicide-bomber. four gunmen were killed. the taliban seems to be doing all it can to scare people away from the polling stations in next week's vote.

>> this is a very political event in afghanistan, we do believe and understand that there are enemies who would launch attacks like they have so far in the past few days. but they will not deter us from our commitments. >> reporter: in his time address to afghanistan's parliament on march 15th president karzai said u.s. soldiers must leave afghanistan at the end of the year. he said afghan forces are ready to protect the whole country on their own. he said afghanistan does not need u.s. military trainers to remain after american troops go home. with under a week before the vote for a new afghan leader the country's security forces are struggling to cope. al jazeera. >> now that miss magazine haitian jetliner chinese ships picked up debris in a new search area but they still can't confirm if it's actually from that aircraft. ovarious search plans have spot

spotted possible wreckage in that area. residentwith a week ago resn washington were slipping into their saturday routine, but no one would guess what would happen next, a massive mud lied struck. the death toll stands at 17 and 90 people are still missing. as crews hold out hope, a moment of silence is held today. we're live from arlington, washington. sabrina, the governor has called for this moment of silence, but is this a signaling that the mission is now turning from rescue to recovery? >> reporter: you know, we have not heard anything yet to that point. that may be the case, but at this point all we're hear something that it is still a

rescue operation, and not a recovery operation. the moment of silence will take place at 10:37 pacific time, in about 90 minutes from now. signaling a week ago when that devastating landslide took out the community of oso. we've been hearing from rescuers the past few days, and now we're hearing from those who have been rescuers, and those helping them. we spoke with ginger pastarelli. she started a mobile soup kitchen going around the country to help rescuers, in places like new orleans with hurricane katrina several years ago. now she has come to this community to help in any way she can. >> i would never want to do their job, but i can cook. you know, they're my heroes. just learn to put things in a box. even though you're going to something awful, and there is

time when you're done to cry. and when you're done you cry. >> reporter: and in addition to people like ginger there are other people here helping the rescuers. new crews are arriving, searching for any survivors. there are also grief counselors on hand to help search crews. they may need to get out their feelings and process them. not only are they physically exhausted, but they're mentally exhausted and emotionally exhausted. there is a lot to take in here. i do want to mention the weather quickly. it is raining steadily. the wind has really been blowing at times and the visibility from the ground has been pretty poor, so certainly not helping any rescue efforts today. >> is a brain in a--sabrina joining us live from arlington, washington. those search teams will have

to deal with more wet weather in the pacific northwest. we have more on the national forecast. >> meteorologist: thank you very much. they did say that the visibility is very poor given the fact that they'll have to deal all through the course of the day. the rain coming in off the pacific, and we'll see an additional .5 to .75 of rain. we'll continue to see that rain through today, tomorrow, and really on into monday. we have a flood warning in effect right across the washington cascades outside of seattle. that goes until monday as that rain continues to push into the region. rain in the forecast saturday, sunday, through monday also into early on tuesday. temperatures going to be in the mid to upper 50s. as we push into the next several days. talking about temperatures. very comfortable, beautiful day in denver with their high coming in at 69 degrees. but a warm one in miami. a front is getting ready to push through and it could bring

severe storms. quiet across the planes as high pressure is certainly in control. now to those storms making their way i-10. heavy rain across the region south of the tallahassee area. we have a severe thunderstorm watch in effect right now. these thunderstorms have the ability to produce damaging winds, hail and even a chance for isolated tornadoes. these storms have a history of producing winds 65 mph and large hail that could take out windshields. this storm warning is in affect until 5:00 today. be careful if you're in florida. >> you can always get the latest information on the washington mudslide on our website. for updates 24/7 head over to www.aljazeera.com. if in coming up a strong earthquake shook los angeles this morning. when we return on al jazeera america, we'll tell you why people say this was not your average california quake. plus another round of elections are coming to iraq.

the steps the government is taking to protect the process.

>> a powerful earthquake followed by a hundred aftershocks rattled southern california late last night. the magnitude 5.1 tremor was centered near la habra in orange county 20 miles from downtown los angeles. there have been no reports of serious dam, but the quick was strong enough to break windows and rupture a watermain break. >> we got a black out and the building is shaking like crazy. i screamed for everyone to get out of the store. i ran, all the customers ran outside of the store, even myself, i fell because i hit some stuff, that's the thing.

it was really bad. >> according to experts there is about 5% chance that last night's quake will turn out to be a foreshock of an even larger one. iraq's parliamentary elections are coming up in april, and the government is determined to crackdown on violence from groups with strong ties to al-qaeda. >> the government in iraq has declared war on armed group, and it's being fought on two fronts. one militarily, and one through the media. these tv spots paid by the government and paid for by state government highlights these groups. it's not just television. billboards dot the area.

it's not the first time. 2008 they focused on al-qaeda. >> we're not giving them power but some media organizations are focusing solely on them. we've been fighting a war on terror since 2003, and we fight them, and now we're fighting of this offspring. we're using all means at their disposal, and this campaign is one of them. >> reporter: given iraq's many problems is this campaign distracting from other issues? >> reporter: the campaign seems to have divided public opinion. there are those who say it is a distraction that the government should be concentrating on more pressing issues like electricity shortages, a crumbling infrastructure and poverty. others welcome the initiative. >> it's a waste of time and doesn't help us at all.

>> it does add a positive message that the government is at least doing something. you. >> reporter: by singling out isil as an enemy of the state, the government homes to turn iraqis against them. by doing that the government thinks it can defeat the group and perhaps get rid of all of these all-too familiar check points. al jazeera, baghdad. >> the egyptian government is blaming the muslim brotherhood for the deaths of journalists for their people. it happened yesterday in cairo when gunmen open fired during a march of supporters of deposed president mohamed morsi. an interior ministry spokesman said the attack was a group of protesters who he said was shooting randomly in the crowd. dozens of marchers were taken into custody. meanwhile al jazeera journalists are still being held in the egyptian capitol of cairo 91 days and counting.

they are all accused of spreading false news and a belonging to a terrorist group. al jazeera rejects the charges against its staff and cons to call for their immediate release. their trial was adjourned and will pick back up on monday. the kenyan government wants all somali refugees to leave urban areas. it's an attempt to restrict them in camps far away from those cities. as reported from nairobi people are not listens to the government's demand. >> reporter: jamal came to kenya 22 years ago. he is a somali refugee who runs two shops that sell meat and fresh. now the government wants people like him sent back to refugee camps. it weighs heavily on his mind, but he has no intention of leaving his business and the life he has built. >> it's not right. we left our country in search of peace. telling us to go back when there is no peace makes no sense.

if kenyans hate us that much they better take us somewhere else, not back to the camps, and not back to somali. >> reporter: he lives in the east district of nairobi, a hub for tens of thousands of kenyan somalis, and an unknown number of somali refugees. without them business would grind to a halt. the government is justifying it's crackdown because of some of the gunmen involved in attacks like the ones involved in the attack on westgate mall are refugees. >> we're only saying that in many times a lot of criminal activities have been committed there. so it is for their own good and the good of the country. >> the government is encouraging people to inform on refugees and

foster patriotism towards kenya over any loyalty they may feel towards their own community. >> reporter: the government is trying to fix the streets but the crackdown is damaging relations here. instead of bringing unity for a common cause people told that's the government could be just encouraging extremism. >> this may be taken but recruited by criminals like al-shabaab. >> unless by force, it seems no one is going anywhere. al jazeera, nairobi. >> it was an historic day for gay couples in england and in wales, which became the latest countries to legalize gay marriage. we'll tell what you the happy couples are saying about their landmark day. plus it could get a little tough for earn the label tennessee whiskey.

we'll tell why some distributors are not so happy.

>> good afternoon, welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm morgan radford. a moment of silence is planned for later today for the victims of the washington's deadly mudslide. attacks in kabul, afghanistan, in just 24 hours. four attackers were killed ahead of next week's presidential election. secretary of state john kerry is changing his travel plans to discuss with russia's counter part about ukraine. a stroke of midnight same-sex marriages could legally married in most of the united kingdom. gay couples have been allowed to form civil partnerships there, but as of today they are and they can tie th the knot.

>> it was a lot more emotional than i thought it would be. >> g.m. has expanded it's recall to include two and a half million vehicles. the recall of a million cars is connected to a faulty ignition switch linked to 12 passenger deaths. g.m. is facing a growing number of lawsuit, and now a congressional inquiry is expected in the coming days. let's take a closer look at this credit. g.m. said it will replace ignition switches in cobalt, and pontiac so solstice. families kille of those killed n

accidents. >> g.m. only listens to people when it effects their bottom line. that being said we have to have this bottom line so that they don't ever do this again. >> meanwhile, g.m. has stopped sales of its popular chevy cruse due to the front right axle of cracking and separating. tennessee is known all around the world as whiskey, home to jack daniel's. but there is a question of what really defines tennessee whiskey, and now lawmakers are weighing in. we go to nashville. >> whiskey making has long been a tennessee tradition. so much is produced here tennessee whiskey is considered it's own type of bourbon. jeff arnett is a master

disteller. but lately he has been in washington to uphold a new law that strictly defines the process of making tennessee whiskey. >> i hope we can quit debating what makes great whiskey and start making it. >> to be marketed as tennessee whiskey products always had to be made and bottled in the state. but last year prompted by jack daniel's the state added tighter requirements. now all tennessee whiskey must undergo a charcoal filtering process and be aged in new oak barrels. our producers say old barrels are cheaper and can be just as good. but arnett said it was about maintaining a standard of quality, citing france's champagne. >> the woods used are readily available. >> in nashville he ships 30,000

cases of whiskey every year. he said consumers, not lawmake lawmakers, should define what is quality. and new barrels cost $100 more and can hurt small companies like this. >> we're seeing a tremendous shortage of barrels and it won't be long until we see the bryce go up and up. >> many are pushing the state to rewrite the law. some lawmakers admit the legislature may have overstepped it's bounds. >> if we mandate tennessee whiskey. then another company, seegrams will say we want to define tennessee vodka. and then another company, tennessee tequila. >> now the decision on wha what

constitutes tennessee whiskey in your glass may not be the bar but the court. >> a florida woman got angry at an overzealous driver that was following her in a truck. she turns on her cell phone to record him. he slows down to make an obscene gesture to her and then drove right into a ditch. jeffrey white took off after the road rage disaster. the video helped to arrest him just a short time later. >> i'm looking in my mirrors. i'm going the speed limit, following the traffic laws. there is some point where you got to learn to curb your

behavior. we have to grow. i hope honestly this is a growing experience for him. >> well, if the embarrassment was not enough the video went viral. i'm morgan radford, thanks for watching. al jazeera. >> hi, i'm lisa fletcher, and you're in "the stream." marijuana legalization. many believe it's not a question of if, but when. but taking it off the streets and putting it in the stores, is it really safer and better? my cohost, rajahad ali, is here, and he's bringing all of your social media as always into the program. and raj, one of our guests