and take you inside the vatican's financial empire. >> when it comes to money, this is one of the sloppiest organizations on earth... >> al jazeera america presents... holy money only on al jazeera america this live from new york city. this i'm jonathan betz with the top stories. >> russia and america meet to work out to solve the crisis in ukraine. >> hope lingered, but probably the knowledge was immediate. >> as death tolls rise, so, too, the prayers.

>> and people trying to beat the sign up four health care. >> today hope that diplomacy might solve the crisis in ukraine. secretary of state john kerry is meeting with russia's foreign minister in pares. russia insisted it will not further invade ukraine, but indicated they would like russia's speaking areas to have more independence and power, sparking forwards russia is trying to weaken ukraine's gst. sergei lavrov and kerry are in their third hour of talks. when they wrap up, they'll talk to the media and we'll bring it to you live. >> the pentagon sent its top n.a.t.o. commander to europe. he will cut short a trip to

washington to meet with commandos in brussels. it does not mean it's dealing with ukraine, but will deal with russia's troop movements. steve fish, a professor of comparative politics from the university of berkeley is with us. >> let me ask you about the negotiations between john kerry and sergei lavrov. what do you expect to come of it? >> i don't expect a great deal to come of it. there'll be some measures that prosecutor to offer russian, and some north american -- american concession, but i think vladimir putin is dug in time in crimea. >> why did vladimir putin reach out to president obama and arrange the meetings on friday? >> it's crucial that russia create the impression that it's

trying to be a good international citizens in the crisis. that's important to staunch the economic matters. the russian economy is suffering badly, and probably badly from the rest of the year. and other bad things that happen to it as a result of the action in crimea. investors are losing confidence, capital is flying out. this diplomatic manoeuvre is giving vladimir putin time to do so. >> do you think the sanctions are working, since foreign minister sergei lavrov told an interviewer that there were no pain. sensations. he said "we have lived through tougher times." >> for instance sergei lavrov, is, of course, putting a spin on things. sanctions have not bitten that deeply. the invasion of crimia, the

actions by russia, which are a big departure from the patients internationally law-abiding stance that vladimir putin adhered to in international affairs. this alone is facing problems. the markets are applying sanctions. european sanctions are not biting themselves, the markets are seeing - causing a deal of capital outflow from russia. frozen bank accounts make a business. people don't want to do business with business people whose bank accounts are frozen. >> one idea that has been floated by russia is the idea that some of the russian-speaking areas could become more independent have more power. is that something that is a possibility here? >> it's a possibility. the thing is for ukraine to have

a federal system where people in the west and south are have a bit more economy might make sense for ukraine. for that to happen as a result of the pressure of a neighbour, for a neighbour to exact that concession from ukraine in cooperation with the united states, it's not really auspicious or the favourable way to get the constitutional change off the ground. >> how much demand is there, i think, between the united states and russia to solve the crisis. do you get the impression that there was a lot of pressure among the west soee this end? >> i think most western powers are shocked by vladimir putin's before, and do want to see this end for sure, but we have to keep in mind for vladimir putin this is an important diversion from the problems that he has at home. he's using this to ride a wave

of nationalism and distract attention that his government has a reputation of being a government of crooks and thieves, corruption is way up in russia, people are aware of that. the economy has been turning down, economic performance has not been good and medium turn prospects do not look good. putin is using the crisis to bolster his authority at whom. he doesn't have a resolution, which is why russian troops are amassing on the ukrainian border and russia's east ukrainian border. >> professor steve fish from the university of berkeley. thank you for your time today. >> we want to bring in christopher dicky from paris, from "the daily beast", to talk about the crimean matter. what is the outcome from this

that we can expect? >> the first thing to do is where russia doesn't roll troops into ukraine. russia is playing with t he wants people to be afraid of it and wants the administration to back off. crimea is gone. you don't here anyone saying "well, we're not going to make advances until crimea return to ukraine", that's not on the table. the question is is ukraine going to move towards europe recollects which is what a lot of people want to do, or will it be neutralized, neutered, federal state of the kind that the russians are proposing. it will probably be the latter. >> i want to go to the point about the fear where russia will invade ukraine. russia insists it will not

happen it seems bold. do you think the west considers it a real threat? >> i think they do, because the ukrainian military can do almost nothing to oppose an invasion. the troops - it's not a huge invasion, maybe 25 or 30,000 soldiers. it's not enormous when you talk about a country the size of ukraine. it is enough to move to cities like donetsk where there's a large russian-speaking population, and create a situation where they declare autonomy and independence, like we saw in crimea. there's a lot of worry about that. i don't think at the moment that people are worried that russia is amassing troops that will roll all the way to the border.

i don't think it's on the card. putin is nibbling away at the credibility of the west. i think professor fish was touching on this. there's big stakes for vladimir putin, and his biggest goal is to discredit n.a.t.o., put it in a situation where even its members in the eastern tier of n.a.t.o., latvia, lithuania, estonia and the baltics look at n.a.t.o. and say "is this a good deal?", is anyone going to war for us if we are invaded by the russians. >> considering that, do you think some of the demand floated by russia may get traction. one is that russia may demand that ukraine not be allowed join n.a.t.o. >> well, you know, the truth is they could get traction. this is where the real diplomacy

comes in. it's more that russia demands it, the harder it will be for the united states to concede it. the truth is that even before the crisis began, n.a.t.o. seemed to be off the table where ukraine was concerned. it's a huge preoccupation, but n.a.t.o. hasn't looked at the membership as a possibility since 2008. the whole european union initiative was regarded as - which is essentially economic and political, was regarded by the russians as a stalking horse for n.a.t.o., but was not regarded by the europeans that way. we have two narratives, one where n.a.t.o. is moving up to the russian frontier, and the other in which basically the countries are trying to join the economic prosperity of western europe. >> what do you expect to come from the meeting in a couple of days in brussels, among the foreign ministe

foreig foreign ministers. >> i don't think think they'll come up with anything forceful or anything that looks like a military confrontation. in the united states we have people deploying f22s to poland. i don't think we'll get a lot of for from the membership for that. no one can have anappetite for the kind of confrontation that moves to open fighting with russia. we are talking about nuclear powers, russia, the second-largest nuclear power, up against united states, france, britain. we are talking about a level of confrontation that we haven't thought about since the end of the cold war, and maybe for years before the end of the cold war. no one has a taste for that in europe. >> a force to be reckoned with, why so many are paying attention to what is happening in paris.

>> christopher dickie, thank you for your time tonight. >> churches in washington are holding prayer services for the victims of last week's mudslide. 600 rescuers and volunteers are searching for the missing. the death toll grew to 18, but the number of missing dropped from 90 to 30. tonya moseley joins us from derrington, washington. what is the latest from the ground there? >> up until a few hours ago it was raining heavily, it was a real issue. there's flooding along 530, the highway leading into oso. that water lead to pools of water that have collected on the mud, making it difficult for crews to cyst through the debris. more than 6-00 searches, made up of washington army and guard

members have been on the scene. dog teams have been instrumental in the search. they are now on a 2-day break. the dogs can temporarily lose scenting abilities to their handlers have taken them off the beat to get rest. in all the debris, tree limb and mud are mementos and other materials, other things that are important possessions for those that have lost their lives. what authorities are doing is having volunteers going through the area to pick up the mementos and they'll put them in a special place and help loved ones to have access to those things. >> a lot of people, you know, lost their homes. they lost friends and family and so to be reunited with some of their physical belongings is

important. we know what wonderful things a photo can do, so to reunite family members with that is an important piece of the effort. >> there are five survivors, and we have just received their conditions. two of them are in serious condition, three in satisfactory, one of the victims, 23 week old duke is in intensive care, but we are told that he is doing better this evening. we should have an update on the official count. searchers have been out all day. we'll get that in the next few hours. >> it's been more than a week for the mudslide. what event are planned for the week and coming days to honour the victims? >> there's so many things happening. many are spontaneous. earlier today there was a private prayer service for the families of the victims, media

was not allowed inside. they wanted the folks to have a safe place to mourn and prayer. throughout the community lots of things are happening - fund raisers, people have set up stands where they are giving away coffee, tea and food for the searchers that have spend so many days out there looking for folks in those community. >> tonya moseley live for us. >> a week after the mud slide those that lost loved ones are coming to terms with the worst. diana babel is still waiting for answers. crews are yet to find her son or fiancee. >> i picture it as being fast. i picture them as being in the kitchen, having breakfast going "what's that noise?" and it being over. they died together. they are together now. i picture them together where they are at. that's only their shells, but i

still picture them together. >> the entire state paused briefly to honour the victims and pray for the survivors. >> washington's governor said the death toll will rise. other bodies have been found but not yet removed or identified. >> the slide had a violence and force that defies imagination. unfortunately people were victims of the great violence, creating problems. with the medical office trying to help families to understand what happened. there's a lot of difficult work. it will unfortunately be some period of time before people can get information about the slide. that's the nature of the drama that people experienced. >> a third of rescue cruise are volunteers, it's one of the biggest in the state's history.

weather has been bad, hopefully it will get better. >> i think tuesday things main dry up. tonight into tomorrow they'll continue to deal with the rain. it's a bit of the measurements, south of where the oso community is. in the last 24 hours, they've picked up a little more than one quarter of an inch of rain and will have to deal with the raun tonight into tomorrow. the showers were spotty in nature, and the system bringing in heavy rain tonight into tomorrow, spreading east into mon fanna and portions -- montana and the portions of the north central planes. later tonight a flood warning, going into monday afternoon, and we'll deal with the showers. that will place a hamper on the recovery efforts. >> objects pulled from the indian ocean this weekend did

not come from the missing jetliner. ships and planes spot more debris in the southern indian ocean, where they believe the malaysia airlines went down. so far nothing has been connected to the airliner that disappeared. until something is found family members cling to hope. in kuala lumpur a vigil was hold for the passengers. others are angry. several dozen relatives held a protest demanding answers for the government and an apology for how the investigation has been handled. >> still ahead - deadly clashes in the streets of cairo, what set off a clash between college students and the police. >> two families on both sides of the deal in the middle east. >> and a hectic sign up even is winding down for the health care law. how a group of students are helping to guide people through the complicated process.

>> two university students in eastern cairo are dead following clashes with police. protesters are demanding the re-instatement of suspended students possiblized for supporting mohamed morsi. student demonstrations have grown after a court handed down death sentences to 500 muslim brotherhood supporters. several others were hurt in today's clashes. >> at least 16 people are dead after a day of violence on iraq. attackers opened fire on a milty checkpoint in mosul killing seven soldiers. in baghdad a bomb in an outdoor market left four dead and nine injured. outside ram ardia a suicide bomb killed five and sent a section of a bridge crashing into a river. the violence is set to continue in the run-up to elections. >> three lebanese soldiers killed, four injured in a

suicide car bomb attack, the explosion happening near the border with syria. a suicide bomber drove a car into an army checkpoint. the wounded were evacuated by helicopter. a sunni group is claiming responsibility for the bombing. >> a trade deal between china and taiwan have sparked protest. the deal may hurt businesses and make the island dependent on china. we have more. >> filling the streets of the taiwanese capital taipei people are angry about a plan to bring the economy closer to china's. crowds dressed in black surrounding the presidential palace, some wearing yellow ribbons saying fight for democracy. it allows chine he is and taiwanese service companies to

operate in each other's industries >> translation: the government approved the trade pact been 30 seconds, we can't agree with this. they should listen to the people. >> the demonstrations began two weeks ago. several hundred protesters occupied the parliament building since march the 18th. opponents say the pact would cost taiwan tens of thousands offo, because small businesses will not be able to compete with cash-rich companies wanting to invest. >> translation: taiwan democracy has been destroyed, leading to the crisis. >> taiwan wan its independence 60 years ago. choipa regard it as -- china regards it as part of its area.

>> monday is the last day to sign up for health insurance under obamacare. the white house extended to mid-april for applications stalled on the website. >> in miami medical students are helping people enrol. >> on a blustery day at the complex few people wanted to be outside, except for the stupid, offering help to uninsured people. manuel is one of them. >> i'm grateful to be out and help people like myself. >> since february medical students from the university of miami have been enrolling the uninsured in the marketplace, as part of the affordable care act. 60 students went through training and have been giving out hours of their med school time to volunteer. >> we applied saying we wanted to help people.

one of the biggest things we have seen is this has to happen on a lot of different fronts. it's not about helping people who walk through the door, but on a multitude of levels, making sure they can get into a doctor's office and get help. >> the students say people are overwhelmed to enrol on the spot, and don't know how many have brought coverage. >> this man wanted to discuss with his wife first. he has a litany of conditions and says living without health insurance has taken its toll. >> it's been miserable. very stressful. and very frustrating. >> this is a state that opted out of establishing an insurance marketplace of its own, leaving the job of spreading the word of obamacare and enrolling people to volunteer. >> they find themselves calming forwards. >> what people are afraid of, they come in not knowing what

the penalty is, thinking it will be thousands of dollars or criminal. once we state the facts they feel better. we don't want people to settle with the penalty, but want people to realise this is an opportunity for them to be covered. >> the students say they'll be back volunteering again, during enrolment periods in the future. >> we'll take an indepth look at what the affordable care act does and does not do. in the weeks ahead obamacare: >> the polls are closed, the local elections in turkey. next, why today's vote could have a national impact. >> and a show of force from police in brazil - the latest attempts to crack down on dangerous drug

>> welcome back to al jazeera america. here are the top stories, churches in washington are

holding prayer services for victims of the devastating mudslides. more than 600 rescuers and volunteers are searching for the missing. the death toll rose by one this weekend. >> searchers are in its fourth week, search crews looking for signs of the jetliner in the southern indian ocean where authorities believe it went down. secretary of state john kerry is meeting with russia's foreign minister in paris to talk about ukraine. they've been talking for about 3.5 hours. >> ukraine has one major port left in odessa in the black sea. we went there to see how much life has changed. >> ukraine is a country coming to terms with what has happened and what may be still to come. divided loyalties are playing themselves out on the streets. in the black sea port of odessa,

ukraine's only seaport after russia's annexation of crimea, the crowd unfurls a giant ukrainian flag. this, on the one hand is a powerful display of unity tendedo help russia and ethnic russians. the message is that the country is stronger together than apart. this is the threat that russia promised to defend ethnic russians in ukraine against. >> they are called right sector, a group that many credit for sustaining the protests that brought down the viktor yanukovych government. they are small in number, but a new government -- but one of the new government's biggest problems. glory to ukraine, death to the enemies. >> translation: our enemies are those that want to encroach on our territory, country, freedom and independence and those that

kill the sons of ukraine. >> the pro-russian camp is by no means a majority, but knows russia supports its demand to split from kiev and promises to defend its rights. no one knows how russia may act or when. >> do you feel your rights as ethnic rights in ukraine are under threat? >> translation: when people walk the streets under neo-nazi flags showing death to russia, we feel threatened. >> a confrontation in theened, the ethnic russian crowds against right sector. the problem - how to unite ultra with russians. >> they are counting the votes in turkey in local elections. results show the ruling justice and development party leading

with 48% of the vote. the main opposition party has 27%. the numbers are unofficial with a third of the vote being counted so far. we have more from istanbul. >> this was all about prime minister recep tayyip erdogan, a test of his popularity and his policies. he's at the center of a political storm that's divided turkey. he remains defiant and blamed his enemies for orchestrating smear campaigns to topple his government and says this day is crucial for turkey. >> in my opinion what the people say goes. the people's decision is expected. anything outside of this one way or another will be recorded only in history once the results are in tonight. >> turkey's main opposition, the republican party is hopeful that the time of change has come.

>> translation: my biggest dream is to pay the way for politics, to hold all politicians accountable to the people to prevent politicians from fooling the people. tense political atmosphere made the people eager to vote. for them this is more than local politics. this man is 85 years old and believes turkey needs a new political direction. >> translation: the nation needs honesty and change. it is a sad situation. inside the polling station people are waiting patiently, and for some it's a duty to support the government. there are internal and external forces taking turkey backwards. >> there are more than 53 million voters across turkey, around 10 million are registered in istanbul. they are overshadowed by

political infighting leaving the society polarised. >> the build up was tense, the first vote since the anti-government protest. as the day goes buy, there is a growing sense of anticipation and unees. the results could reflect turkey's appetite for change in the strong support for the prime minister. regardless of who win, turkey will probably remain divided ahead of elections in august, and general polls next year. >> a setback for french president francis hollande's socialist party. exit polls show the national front is on the way to winning control of several towns in local elections. the far right anti-immigration party says the victories may be the biggest success in history, coming after french unemployment

surged to oo high. >> the first round of egypt's presidential election has been set for may, days after abdul fatah al-sisi resigned and announced his candidacy. he led the overthrow of mohamed morsi in july, after mass protest. if no one gets more than 50% of the vote in the first round, a second will be held in mid-june. >> it's 92 days that al jazeera journalists have been held by the egyptian government. peter greste, mohamed fadel fahmy, and mohammed badr are accused of spreading false news and belonging to a terrorist group. al jazeera rejects the charges and demand their immediate release. their trial continues tomorrow. >> rob reynolds explains gangs in buenos aires were gone before police rolled in. >> the operation began before dawn. 1,000 military police and

brazilian marines entered the complex of slums known as maray near the airport. special police units armed with weapons patrolled the narrow allies and rushish-strewn streets. it's a group of shanty towns or fefellas occupied by 130,000 people and is notorious for violent drug gangs. a series of firebomb attacks on posts and other favelas led politicians to plan a strong response. the plans were formulated weeks before the attacks. despite the presence of heavily armed military police, the atmosphere appears calm, with people going about their daily routines. the consensus is that the criminals this the police officers are searching for have left the area days ago. several people were arrested for minor crimes, and police say

they found a small amount of drugs and guns. there was no resistance and no shots fired. most residents see the operation as a public relationsest. football's world cup kicks off in brazil in june, and hundreds of thousands of visitors will converge. the government wants to project an image of being tough on security and ready to host the cup. >> it's for show. if they wanted to help u give our kids an education and not come in with guns drawn. >> police will set up pacification posts inside the favela and hand over control to the army. the army is expected to stay in maray until after the world cup is finished. >> at least 30 people have been rafted in chile -- arrested in chile after protests during the day turned violent.

>> demonstrators threw bombs at police. the violence systems at rallies held to remember two young brothers killed by police three decades ago. they were protesting the regime of augusto pinochet. >> in argentine 3 million students head back to school when a walk out by teachers end. the teachers union called off a 17-day strike agreeing to a pay rise of 30%. the union rejected an early proposal. while teachers return to the classroom, in strike is on in other provinces. >> it's been a soggy blustery day across the north-east and north-west. two systems making their way across the country. dusty winds across the north-east. and we are dealing with that, in addition to a bit of rain across portions of the coast, from main all the way to portions of new

york. now, the nicest weather across the country was across the plains, minneapolis down to houston. temperatures in the '60s, and '70s. the change is on the way. there's a front getting ready to push through, bringing scattered showers across portions of montana. it will make its way into minnesota, and temperatures where it's 50 degrees in minneapolis, but will reach a high of 38 as the front pushes through on monday, it will dump 4-6 inches of snow. look for a rapid freeze up and icy spots as texture go down to the teens. we push to the south as the front pushes through. it's picking up the wind a bit across positions of the plain. all the reds are red flag warnings. when you culminate sunshine.

looking at the gusty winds, up to 36 miles per hour. they are the ingredients you need to see rapid wildfire development. we'll monitor for that. the front sliding to the east. >> speaking of the wind, picking up across the north-east and pushing out of the north, so it's a lot chillier than it feels in the north-east. winds whipping up to 26 miles per hour, and around 23 as the front continues to push offshore, bringing a little rain. >> it was a wet night in addition to that a windy night. we'll see a little rain as it pushes offshore. >> turkey is still counting the votes of local elections. the ruling party appears to be surging ahead. joining us live to talk about it from london is a turkey expert at chapman house. thank you for being with us. first thoughts on the fact that the early numbers, so that the

prime minister's party seems to be in the lead. do you think that will hold? >> it looks like at the moment the preliminary election results in turkey indicate the prime minister recep tayyip erdogan has a sizeable lead in the election somewhere between 44 to 48%, and if that pans out, that will bolster the position in turkey, and it may allow him to push for the - run for the presidential electionslikely to be healed in the summer of -- held in the summer of this year. why support for the prime minister. there has been a lot of controversy, concern. there was the twitter, youtube scandal. why are we seeing these numbers? >> the prime minister's core supporters, which tend to be religious turks don't care about media freedom or the pervasiveness of core ups, what they care about is proceed and

butter economic issues, and for them they have delivered on the economy and social welfare. they have given him, seem to have given him a strong support today. >> do you predict that he mite, indeed run for the president or there has been talk about possibly extending the term limits for prime minister in turkey, and seeing him run for that post again? >> if the current preliminary results hold out, i think the prime minister of turkey will be in a strong position to run for the - to run for the country's first ever direct presidential elections held in the summer of this year, and it looks like at the moment the results do look decisively in favour of the prime minister, and that will mobilize him to run for the presidential elections. >> help us to understand how much discontent there is in turkey. we see the images on television, the protests, the rallies, and the anger. do you get the impression that

is widespread across the country? >> turkey is a polarized society. there are divisions between those who like the prime minister and those who despise the prime minister. with those results, this polarization will, and intensify so those who do not like the prime minister will probably have stronger feelings against him, and those that support him will have stronger feelings in favour of him. >> if early election results hold, and the prime minister's party remains in power. what fear will that bring to turkey. is there concern that this may bolster the prime minister and encourage him to tighten his group on power there? >> i think that if those results - the strong results do hold out, i think prime minister is likely to become more

autoaccuratic, trying to concentrate more power in his hands, introduce media restrictions, internet restrictions, including on facebook, so i think the current tennedensies that we see -- tendency may intensify following the results in his favour. >> joining us live from london. thank you for your insight. >> still ahead on al jazeera america - after a strong erth quake and dozens of after shocks rattle california, it could be the end of an earthquake drought say some experts. and we look at nlb's new home plate collision rule.

>> today palestinians are marking land day, whenst rail seized arab land in 1976. the app versery comes as israel releases a prisoner release deadline putting the peace talks back in limbo. we look at it through the eyes of two families. >> in the face of a man he's never met avi sees himself. avi is 32. that's his uncle, kidnapped and killed in 1980. >> i was born a year to the day af his murder. i bear his name, i live under the shadow of the murdered. >> 30 minutes down the road, this woman flips through photos of her son kareem. 33 years ago kareem killed avi's uncle and is serving a life sentence. this weekend israel was supposed to release him. the deadline came and went.

>> there's nothing dearer than a son, not a brother or father. no one in the world can replace a son. his sons and victims fates are linked and now they may help to determine the fate to the middle east peace talks. when the talks began, israeli agreed to free 184 prisoners across four rounds. and palestinians agreed not to seek u.n. recognition. so long as kareem and others are not freed, the palestinians are threatening to walk away. >> kareem's mother supports that. >> we'll talk after the prisoners are released. the prisoners must come home. >> for his rail the prisoner releases are unpopular. the government is accused of betrayal. >> the negotiations are painful for the bereaved families. we are talking about a knife stabbed in the heart time and

again. >> israel's government is not willing to face the anger and release kareem unless the palestinians agree to extend the police talks. before they are extended israel needs to uphold its commitment and release the prisoners. >> i support the palestine president pursuing the israelis and relevant institutions. my brother will not be the price that obstructs this. >> kareem's family opposeds the palestinians giving in to demand, even if it means furniture brought for kareem's home coming stays wrapped. avi's family will fight kareem's release, even if it means the peace process fails. as both dig in, the more likely the u.n. sponsored peace talks will collapse. >> a 4.8 magnitude earthquake shook a country's national park.

it struck the northern section of yellowstone. no damage was reported. tremors were felt 20 miles from the epicentre. >> in southern california resident trem bled from aftershocks from a 35.1 earthquake on friday. fortunately no one was hurt. some wonder if the tremors are a sign of things to come. >> in an area that has not had a massive earthquake in decades, the 10 second quake rattle d shelves and nerves. >> the sound was horrible. >> the damage was light, it was the second significant shaker to strike los angeles in the past two weeks. on st. patrick's day, a 4.4 quake shook residents out of their beds. now they are worried about the increase in seismic activity. >> los angeles has been in a

quiet time since the north ridge earthquake. sense the aftershocks ended in north ruj. the decades before, there was a damaging earthquake in los angeles every year. >> friday's 5.1 quauk was centered in downtown los angeles, 25 miles away. >> the geological survey mapped 300 fault lines in california. sys meteorologists say more data is needed. people should be prepared to feel more seismic activity. >> we should expect the new normal to be higher. the last 15 years was too quiet. it can't bel long term. whether or not we've gone into the new phase we'll have to see. >> more thaun 100 aftershocks have been felt, one while talking to a res dent. what the heck was that? >> that is what you call an

earthquake, honey. >> oh, my gosh. friday's quake was the strongest to hit the los angeles area since 2008. >> scary times in california. but a new baseball seen upon us with a new rule for the home plate. >> it's about protecting the players and safety. concussion and head trauma have been taking center stage in sport, football and hockey. major league baseball is stepping up to the plate and increasing players' safety. the players will have to adapt to the new rule. michael eaves explains. >> [ cheering ] >> it's been called the most sacred part of the game, home plate, where every hitter and base runner want to end up and the spot every catcher protects in earnest. this year a new rule has been added to the players who protect the plate can be protected. >> any time we protect these young kids, you know, we are

better because of it. i think you look at the different sports, football, hockey, they are all taking measures to protect these guys, and not just now, but in the long term. >> with support from bruce, a catcher himself, rule 7.13 was introduced this spring to eliminate unnecessary collisions at home plate and it states: >> the main thing it does is that it eliminates the malicious collision. you know, if the catcher is not on top of the plate, it doesn't allowing the runner to run through him. >> what we are finding with the catchers, is they are wanting to under the rule more explicitly. from the defensive side nothing had changed. it's consistent with other bases on the field. and you can't walk the plate without the ball in your possession.

>> it's expected the umpires and players will take time to adapt to the new rule. >> it will be a challenge. it's not easy to change from one i can't remember to the other. we are used to blocking the play, getting hit. >> i think it will take some aggressiveness away from what a catcher and base runner can do. it's a different base, it's home plate. that's why the play evolved for 120 years. >> there'll be contact sometimes, it's part of the game. the ones where, you know, the catcher doesn't have the ball and the runner goes out of its way, it's one they have to look at. >> home plate collisions have been a part of the game. the collision issue took center statement when buster poewesy absorbed a crushing blow on the plate. the all-time catcher suffered a broken leg. his manager maintain the rule is not about posey.

i don't want this put on buster. i know he doesn't want to be the guy that's responsible for this. i felt like this when gary was hit. gary ben it - to see him laying there, it changes the role. >> concussions are by-product of home plate collisions. with a lawsuit and negative attention that the n.f.l. endured, it seems as though major league baseball is looking to get ahead of its problems. >> we have everything we know about concussion. a lot of guys are a little more curbs. once you strap on the gear, you know what you are putting yourself into. >> if you watch me walk, you think man, he took collisions, eye, knee, hip. it's catching, and i know it goes with the territory. when mike talks about his concussion issue, how he turned

from a 30-year-old man into a 60 to 70-year-old man because of getting hit in the head, it's time to make adjustments. >> michael eaves reporting. you'll see the new rule on opening night. that's when baseball and l.a. dodgers head out to take on the padraes. >> how can you tell if someone is trying to take out the catcher. >> the runner has to give the runner the right to catch the ball and he decides. they are trying to put aside the malicious intent of knocking over the catcher. >> if the catcher cashes the ball and blocks play, it's game on. >> that's the show. see you in an hour. thank you for being with us.

>> you're watching al jazeera america live from new york. i'm jonathan betz with the top stories. secretary of state john kerry is meeting with russia's foreign minister in paris to discuss

ukraine. they've been in talks for about four hours. the two are coming together after the presidents spoke on the phone on friday. >> local elections are happening in turkey, seen an a cursor to the elections later this year. >> objects fished from the ocean did not come from the jet. ships and planes spotted debris, so far nothing is connected to the malaysian airliner that disappeared more than three weeks ago. >> tomorrow is the deadline to sign up for president obama's heath care law. 6 million enrolled a million short of the goal and the headline has been extended to mid-april. churches in washington pray for victims of last week's mudslide. 600 rescuers and volunteers are looking for the missing. the death toll rose by one and it stands at 18. in southern california, more

than 100 aftershocks followed earthquakes. fortunately there was no injuries. >> "america tonight" is next, and you can find us online. it's easy - go aljazeera.com. [ ♪ music ] >> good evening. thanks for joining us for the weekend edition of "america tonight". i'm joie chen. it's hard to believe, but not all that long ago many states had policies in place aimed at creating a super race, eliminating a chance that physically or