aljazeera.com/ajamstream. >> good afternoon, and welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm morgan radford. live in new york city. here are the stories we're following for you right now. crisis in ukraine secretary of state john kerry gets ready to meet face-to-face with his russian counterpart. washington state honoring those killed in last week's fatal mudslide. southern california shaken by early morning earthquakes.

>> there are signs the crisis in ukraine could be inching towards a diplomatic resolution. secretary of state john kerry altering definitely plans to speak with russian foreign minister. jennifer, for weeks russia has been building, putting boots on the ground near the ukrainian border, but foreign minister lavrov said that russia does not have plans to invade. has he offered explanation for why the troops are there in the first place? >> reporter: initially they said they were on exercises. but the united states intelligence said there it doesn't look like there are any exercises going on. it doesn't look like a normal

spring exercises. there ropes digging in, and there are tens of thousands of them, and that's a big concern for the interim government here in kiev who doesn't know what intentions of russia are. crimea, a big blow to ukraine, and certainly lavrov claiming that russia said that it would not cross ukraine's border but saying in the same interview that russia will protect the interests of the ethnic russians who live in ukraine's east. no real idea of what he means by that. there has been a lot of pressure put on the government here. we've seen a number of pro russian demonstrations in dneska in the past weeks. the ousted president viktor yanukovych issued a statement a couple of days ago calling for referendum for those cities, for

those cities to decide what their future should be like inside ukraine. and giving those towns more autonomy. again, unclear what that means, but secretary kerry changing his plans, heading to paris for a meeting for sergei lavrov. the two have been meeting and talking on and off the past few weeks. that has done nothing to diffuse the situation in crimea but after the phone call between president putin and president obama, maybe there is a diplomatic resolution will. >> ex-boxer vitali klitschko

saying he is not going to run for president in ukraine. >> reporter: he is putting his weight behind petro poroshenko. poroshenko said now is the time for unity, and you had three very strong candidates. vitali klitschko polling first, and then petro poroshenko polling second and then yulia tymoshenko. and no one candidate would get the 50% needed to win outright. that's what they would like to see. the heavyweight boxer was the favorite for the president election, instead will run as mayor of kiev, a very powerful position. klitschko supporting poroshenko, and the idea is not to have to go through a second round. time is of the essence, the

longer this process takes, the more ukraine sovereignty is in danger of the massive russian forces on the eastern edge of ukraine border. >> the taliban has attack election headquarters in kabul. this is the second attack in 4 hours and comes a week before presidential elections. al jazeera's charles stratford has more. >> reporter: and week before presidential elections. the target this time, the headquarters of the independent election commission in kabul. at least four fighters were disguised as women when they entered a house close to the election building. afghan special forces and police reinforcements took their position. >> you forces have entered my house. i had three guards. two outside and one inside.

i don't know what is happening right now. the attackers are wearing wome women's burkas. >> reporter: a witness told al jazeera that taliban fighters were armed with assault rifles and grenades. this is the second attack in 24 hours and the fourth in just over a week. the distances between the targets show how the taliban can still seemingly strike where it likes. on march 25th, an attack. two police officers and five taliban were killed in the gun battle. three days later fighters targeted a building used by an american aid group. a girl was killed by a suicide-bomber. security forces killed the four again moneygunmen.

the taliban is doing all it can to steer voters away from polling stations away from next week's vote. >> as we get close to the elections, which is a very political event in afghanistan, we do believe and understand that there are enemies who would launch attacks like they have in the past four days. >> the final address on marc march 15th karzai said u.s. soldiers must leave afghanistan because 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 for the vote for a new afghan leader security forces are struggling to cope. al jazeera. >> about this time last week residents in a small town in washington were slipping into

their saturday routine, but no one would be prepared for what came next when at 10:37 local time the earth gave away to a mudslide and lives would be forever changed. the death toll stands at 17 and 90 are still missing. sabrina joins us live from washington. what exactly are crews up against today? the weather helping or hurting their rescue mission? >> reporter: it is certainly not helping. in fact, it is hurting. we've had heavy rain and blustery winds and you can imagine that will effect visibility as crews look for any survives after a week after that devastating landslide. as well as helicopters taking

victims to the medical examiner. you mentioned the moment of silence. that will take place in about a half hour, 10:37 pacific time this morning, and it will really mark the moment, the exact moment when that devastating landslide would take out the town of oso. we heard from rescuers the last few days, and now we're hearing from those who help the rescuers, those who help to feed and nourish the rescuers, people like ginger pastorelli who owns a restaurant not far from here. she owns a mobile soup kitchen. she goes around the country and helps people during events like hurricane katrina. >> i would never want to do their job, but i can cook.

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: people like ginger are helping rescuers. other people are helping. crews are just exhausted. they're emotionally and mentally exhausted as well. they've been working for days now since the slide last weekend, now they're switching out the crews to give those initial crews a break. >> sabrina in arlington, washington, thanks for joining us this afternoon. and staying in the pacific northwest a 5.1 magnitude earthquake rattled southern california late last night and it was followed by more than a hundred aftershocks. it was centered near la habra in orange county 20 miles from down

los angeles. the quake shook lights, broke windows but there are few reports of serious damage. it did trigger a rock lied that led to a car overturning and even ruptured seven watermains. building inspectors are now checking for structural problems and gas leaks. seismologists said that this earthquake was not usual even for california. >> there was a magnitude 3.6 foreshock before the main shock. >> if you felt a long slow road, you're far from the event. we're having an after shack now about 2.7. >> experts say that there is a small chance, 5%, that last night's quake will turn out to be a bigger shock than the original one.

>> search continues for the missing malaysian 370 flight and emotions are running high. >> reporter: the enormity of the attack hampered by recent bad weather. even with saturday's improved conditions, the certain was difficult in the vast area. >> there were quite a few white caps in the area so the crew had to be able to discern between the objects and white caps, so it made it hard. >> reporter: chinese military aircraft have spotted three objects of interest. but until they're recovered by ship there is no confirmation what these objects could be and if they're the potential signs of the missing aircraft.

the conclusion that malaysian airlines came that it's flight was shorter. they assured families of victims ovictimsthat the search would c. >> hope against hope. we will continue to continue to find severes. survives. >> in beijing many are upset over the response of the tragic experience. >> this kind of attitude is very irresponsible because they don't have any direct evidence. >> it has been three weeks since the flight 370 disappeared. as the search continues, there

is only hope that they'll be able to recover anything at all. >> at the stroke of midnight same-sex couples were able to legally marry in most of the united kingdom. they were able to form civil partnership there is, but as of today they can officially tie the knot in england and wales. a recent vote in scotland expects to allow it soon. over 6,000 people will be hired for cyber command by 2016. that increase will provide better defense against internet attacks that threaten american security. >> america has always adopted to new threats, but today a world in which ocean oceans are crossy the speed of light presents challenges to our security that

the nation before has confronted. >> hagel's speech was broadcast live from nsa headquarters for the first time made it clear that the government is not trying to, quote, militarized cyberspace. an effort to gather somali refugees in kenya. >> i'm mentally ill, and i don't receive the treatment i need. >> how hospital closings are turning jails into treatment centers.

>> kenyon government wants all somali refugees to leave urban areas in an attempt to keep them in two refugee camps that are far from the city. reports from nairobi, people aren't listening 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

fish. but now the government wants people like him sent back to designated 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. if kenyans hate us so much, they have to take us somewhere else. not to camps, not to sow ma'amly. >> reporter: the hub for tens of thousands of somali, without them businesses would grind to a halt. but they're worried after police arrested hundreds of people. the government's justifying the crackdown because some of the gunmen involved in attacks like the one by al-shabaab on the westgate mall last september are refugees. they are warning that there will be more violence if kenya does

not pull its soldiers out of somalia. >> we have seen many of times a lot of criminal activities have been permitted there. it is for their own good and good of the country. >> the government is asking citizens to inform on refugees. the government is trying to fix the streets, but the crackdown is damaging relations here. instead of bringing unity for a common cause, people tell us the government is encouraging terrorism. >> there are many urban youth who will be recruited by criminals and by terrorists and organizations like al-shabaab. >> the faithful overflow on the foot path. unless by force it seems that no one is going anywhere.

al jazeera, nairobi. >> drug agents i agents in perua aage amount of cocaine. peru has now surpassed colombia as the number one maker of cocaine. mental illness is often tied to homelessness and incarceration. in los angeles, running the single largest mental institution in the entire country. >> reporter: he says his name is ethan. he wanders the streets of los angeles homeless, disheveled, and bleeding. >> i'm mentally ill and i don't receive the treatment i need out here. that's really the point.

>> reporter: ethan is one of tens of thousands of mentally ill homeless people in this city. he has been arrested more times than he can remember, he says, and locked up here in the l.a. county jail. >> we have prisons and county jails that serve as de facto mental hospitals. >> reporter: steve lopez has researched the criminalization of mental illness. >> l.a. county jail has more than 3,000 inmates with a mental illness. so we prosecute rather than do the medicine that is necessary. we're more apt to punish than provide the necessary treatment. >> reporter: until the 1960's and 70's, most mentally ill people were confined in state run mental agencie hospitals. advancement in medication and

concerns of abuse, those state run hotels were shut down leaving patients homeless, untreated and often in trouble. >> reporter: jails were never meant to be treatment centers. >> most people who work in the jail system not only do they not understand mental illness, they don't know symptoms, behaviors, they have no clue of how to de-escalate, nor was it designed that they should. >> reporter: mentally ill need a place to live and treatment but that would require taxpayer money. funding for mental health by the state has been cut by more than $4 billion. rob reynolds, al jazeera, los angeles. >> and when we return on

al jazeera america. [♪ music ] >> reinventing the band. how tablets are revolutionizing the musk industry.

>> good afternoon, and welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm morgan radford. and here are today's headlines. secretary of state john kerry will be meeting with his return counterpart sergei lavrov in paris, france, tomorrow to discuss the situation in ukraine. this after president putin called obama last night saying russia has no intention whatsoever of invading eastern ukraine. plus a second taliban attack in just 24 hours. four attackers were killed in kabul head of presidential elections next week. and in just a few moments a moment of silence for the victims of last week's tragic mudslide. it was at 10:37 p.m. when a hillside gave away, claiming 17

lives. students in university of south florida are making musk without using instruments. technology is changing the way we listen to and create musk. >> reporter: the sound, the smoke, the spotlight. everything about the university of south florida band may sound traditional at first. there is a question, where are the instruments? >> they're just sitting out there with their ipads, it's amazing. >> reporter: the idea of making musk on a ta music on a tablet p four years ago. >> this is something that musk teachers should know how to do. >> with more and more classrooms outfitted with tablets, tablets can be the prelude to a pricey instrument. >> if you level the playing field everyone can play.

>> professors and students make up the quartet, and practice makes perfect. >> when i picked up the ipad, it was like running a whole new instrument. >> don't misunderstand. these highly trained musicians get there is a difference between a pricey guitar and an app. for them it's a different way of engaging in musk by getting back to the basics. >> being able to hear changes, to be able to hear chords and pick out melodies. and if that's the basis, then musk can be made on anything. i found that the autistic kids that we have, they just go right at us. a lot of them fixate on pa turns.

>> reporter: which goes to the old saying, play the musk not the instrument. now five guys in a band are taking that to a new level. >> a whole new level. that was richelle carey reporting, and they said it's their mission to help students thrive in a technology-driven world. now jalela. >> meteorologist: we have storms across florida right now. that will go until 5:00 tonight. we have a strong line of thunderstorms that continues to make its way, bringing down heavy, heavy rain to the east of hall hasy and central florida right around the orlando area. a strong thunderstorm that has a history of producing damaging winds greater than 70 mph. it will push through daytona, and along i-10. cooler air will be making it's way into the region. now we do have another line of rainmaking making it's across

alabama. if you're on the roadways, be careful of flash flooding looking to be a problem not just across the southeast but also across the northwest. the oso community where the landslide occurred last week we're looking at heavy rain coming down i-5 in washington state. be careful if you're traveling there. we're looking at half an inch through monday and rain in the forecast as you can see. temperatures are going to be right around 57 degrees here on monday. a little bit warmer with sunshine as we make our way towards the end of the week. it will be very comfortable. we do have flood warning in affect to the north of seattle. flash flooding looking to be a major problem across the region. let's talk temperatures. we're looking at an improvement from last week. chicago still a little bit cool for you at this time of year. but denver, boy oh, boy is it comfortable with 69 for a high. new york city is dealing with a little bit of rain. we could deal with flash

flooding tonight into tomorrow morning. be careful on the road. >> thanks so much, and thank you for watching al jazeera america. i'm morgan radford. stay tuned because "101 east" is coming up next. >> dadu, southern pakistan, just a few months ago.