stay with us for developments in the g.m. plan. in washington, i'm ray suarez. welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. these are your stories we're following for you. earthquake in chile, the president of the country traveling to get a first hand look at the damage. the head of gm facing more tough questions. and a tornado touches down in minnesota on monday. more severe weather in the forecast. ♪ we begin in chile where

officials are just now starting to assess the damage caused by tuesday's 8.2 magnitude earthquake. that powerful quake killing at least six people. sending off a tsunami sparking fires and forcing hundreds of thousands of people to evacuation. here is more from the chilean capital. the president and her cabinet are touring the earthquake struck areas in the north of the country. after spending the whole night under freezing temperatures, the people who were forced to evacuate are now slowly returning home, their nerves shattered mostly because of the after shocks some of them very, very strong. however, most power and water supplies and services are being restored slowly to these areas. the people were surprised of the low death toll a lot of measures were taken this time that did

not take place four years ago when chile was always witness to one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded. they really expected it to be much more especial live given that there could be a mammoth tsunami. there is new satellite images out that give a clear indication of the damage caused by that deadly mud slide in washington state. these images were taking on march 31st and released tuesday. crews continue to search and the rain is expected to begin once again tomorrow. for other parts of the country tornado even hail being predicted. and dave it is spring. >> yes, and we're starting to see storms like this popping up. this was in minneapolis on monday. the severe weather threat is

there. there's a better threat today or tomorrow, for more wide-spread severe weather we're certainly going to see more scenes like this. this is the satellite plus the radar. it's this area of storms that has moved through missouri and are pushing up to illinois. right on the border here, severe thunderstorm warning. gusty wind and maybe even hail. flooding a big threat, though, this is very heavy rain. this is right along a front oriented from east to west. very heavy storms here. this is what is prompting the severe thunderstorm warning. later today it is along this area. south and east of this big area of low-pressure where we're getting that warm humid air, to the north is the cold air. right in this area there will be severe weather today and tomorrow as the storm moves out.

look at that in the national forecast later. gm ceo mary barra facing a second day of tough questions. she is testifying about the gm ignition switch defect. randall what is the focus of the senators today? >> the subcommittee is strongly suggesting, some of the members, that gm's leaders may be criminally liable for allegedly covering up defective ignition switches. claire mccabbing kel challenged mary berra in that the company has changed under her leadership. >> is this the new gm that takes a lawyer having to write to nita for you to finally recall all of the cars? >> as we looked at the first

population of vehicles we immediately read across toe the other vehicles that may have the same part. often when you have the same part in a different vehicle it can be different placement. >> there were concerns about using the same part number and then lying about it under oath. >> number one, commit to a compensation fund that will do justice for the victims of the defects that killed people in your cars. number two, warn drivers who are currently behind the wheel of those cars that they should not drive them until they are repaired, because they are unsafe. and number three, support the

measure that centaur markey and i have proposed that would improve the system of safety accountability going forward. >> and as she said yesterday, she tried to avoidancing any direct questions especially whether she would agrees with those proposals and whether there would or would not be a compensation fund for victims. del? >> thank you very much >> president obama is traveling to michigan today. he is expected to continue to call for a national higher minimum wage. he wants to hourly rate to $10.10. he a has already signed tan executive order that pays newly hired federal contractors that amount. secretary of state kerry canceled his trip to the middle

east today. nick schifrin the palestinian president making this move presumably after israel failed to release prisoners. what does that mean? >> i think this is something that the majority of people here want. they don't trust the peace process, and instead they much prefer palestinians going out on their own, ignoring israel, or u.s. opposition and trying to find support as the state of palestine in international organizations, and that's exactly what the president has done. hened 15 documents that bring the quote state of palestine into conventions, and smaller conventions. some people here on the streets behind me might say well, what does this matter? we don't care about the rights of children. we need to hold israel

accountable for what they are doing. someover these treaties does start the palestinians down the process of trying to accuse israel of human rights violations, and hold israel accountable, but he stopped short of joining the international criminal sort and international court of justice, and those are the two tools he can use to accuse israel of war crimes. so it's a bit of a strategy. he has gained leverage in these talks. made the first move, forcing israel to respond to him, but department go as far as he could have del. >> is kerry now hoping to extend the negotiations even further? >> yesterday the hope was a deal could be made to extend the talks into 2015. but these talks are not dead at all, the israels, palestinians

and americans are meeting as we speak in the evening. different meetings happening with all sides. john kerry himself, the secretary of state, is in tunis also meeting with official ls from third-party governments about the middle east peace process, so from the american point of view, this is not dead. but obviously the move by the president last night, and the move by the israelis over the weekend not to release these prisoners have brought these talks on the verge of collapse. >> stephanie: nick schifrin for us in the west bank. nick, thank you very much. viktor yanukovych said crimea would not become part of russia had he remained in power. and he also said he did not give the order to shoot the protesters in kiev. >> translator: i personally never gave any orders to shoot, and as far as i know the weapons

were never given to the troops. they just complied with their order. my principles which i always follow is to authority, no power is worth a drop of blood. >> -- yanukovych adding he was surprised they never condemned the gunmen who shot at his car as he tried to leave the country. three explosions have gone off in egypt. two people were killed and seven other were hurt. the bombings apparently targeting egyptian police and military. there are daily protests by those who continue to support ousted president mohammed morsi. and what may have been a bomb left over fromward killing seven people in thailand. police say construction workers

found it buried undera building site, they were trying to take the bomb apart when it exploded. south korean confirming an unmanned drone came down on its border. a similar drone was found last week. hairy faucet has our story. >> reporter: this was what was found on sunday, a camera equipped drone apparently monitoring south korea. >> translator: the relevant departments of the south korean government have confirmed that north korea is responsible for it. >> reporter: north korea has been advertising its prowess in unmanned drones, but analysts in south korea call them antiques. but this week's discovery came just days after a similar craft

complete with on-board camera came down on the southern side of the land border. the camera continues images including the president's blue house. we are standing a few hundred meters away from the blue house, police haven't even allowed us to point our camera in its general direction, let alone fly a drone over it. >> we are so weak to those kind of small uav attack, and we are asking ourselves, what if north korean using the bomb instead of camera inside that aircraft? so -- mine there's a lot of -- well, there's a lot of discussion among the military that i mean we -- we need a strong measure against this kind of an attack. >> south korea is preparing to spend $800 million on four

american unmanned surveillance aircraft. north korea's air fleet is old in comparison, but it is already proving a headache for its southern neighbor. we are following breaking news at this hour. the u.s. supreme court striking down a campaign finance rule that limits how much one person can give to multiple candidates. the ruling coming down a short time ago in a 5-4 vote. and removes the limits on how much can be give tone a political actiontives and party organization as well >> coming up, iraq one of the most dangerous places for journalists, and people there say the government is doing nothing to help.

iraq is one of the deadliest countries in the world to journalists to work.

reporters say they face violence and opposition from the fighters and the government there. >> reporter: a silent prayer for this man from those closest too him. his nephew proudly shows us pictures of his uncle. the well-known journalist was killed at a check point by iraqi security forces on the 23rd of march. he was shot in brood daylight in front of multiple witnesses after an incident with an officer. he also told media studies in bagdad. his brother says his killing was ultimately due to his work. >> translator: he was killed because of security forces don't value life, and they think they can do what they want. my brother's only weapon, his pen and a note pad. he was just trying to get to his

office. >> reporter: his death has shocked other journalists. 180 journalists have died doing their jobs over the last 10 years. 15 of them in the last 12 months alone. they also claim the government is not doing enough to protect journally. . >> translator: we have killings. we have kidnap for ransom. journalists have come under targeted attack to scare them. what needs to happen is the government needs to introduce a clear code of conduct and guidelines that allows us to do our work free of threat and intimidation. >> reporter: his death inspired a conference this bagdad. the safety of journalists was the main item on the agenda. government leaders have promised to investigate the case thoroughly but other iraqis want more.

iraqi journalists face a multitude of threats, but privately many will also tell you that they are afraid to carry out their work particularly in sensitive areas, or to do any investigative work, for fear they will come under attack. >> reporter: the day after the funeral they held a symbolic funeral. independent journalist is a relatively new development in iraq. they hope it will grow and not be strangled before it has matured. imran khan, al jazeera, bagdad. ♪ stocks holding on the slight gains at that hour, the dow is up 18 points the s&p 500 on pace to set a second straight high. the recent focus on flash

trading seems to be affecting wall street as well. high frequency trader is delaying its initial stock offering expected, following the release of michael lewis entitled flash boys, it claims wall street is rigged because of those super fast trades. the fees you pay to keep your checking account have reached an all-time high. the average fee is now $5.54 a month. that's up $0.06 from the previous year. every spinning millions of birds migrate north through california, but the drought is giving them problems for places to stop at. >> reporter: an hour or so north of sacramento in california's central valley the landscape is a patch work of farm field.

this is the state's bread basket. it is also home to one of the most important resting stops for millions of migratory birds. more than 230 species including several listed as endangered depend on this land for survival. but the water foul, raptors and shore birds are finding the wetlands are largely dry thanks to increased farming and the state's historic drought. once upon a time there were 4 million acres of wet lands here. today only about 250,000 acres remain. lost to farmland that is drying up. >> the loss of this much wetland habitat we have gone from an estimate of about 40 million birds on the fly away to somewhere around 5 to 6 million birds. >> the loss of the birds isn't

only a concern for conservationists, farmers like bill stone, need the birds to naturally work the fields. >> the birds do a lot of tillage as you can see out here in the field. they stomp in the ground and they are pecking, so it kind of mixes everything up. >> reporter: to bring the birlds back, you have to bring the wetlands back. and that's what the nature conservancy is doing with the help of formers. the farmers have agreed to keep their rice field flooded a few months longer this season, creating pop-up wetlands when and where the birds need it most. >> this is for farming and people around the world, and we have an obligation and role to play in supporting the birds, and if we can continue to work together it will be better for the birds and the farmers. >> reporter: scientists say

farmers who in large part are responsible for the disappearance of the wetlands are now helping to bring them back. >> this is a good example of really thinking about our work and what our farmers do very differently. and we're making them partners in the solution. it's a win-win situation. >> reporter: later in april, stones fields will be dry, and the birds now rested and fed will be able to continue their long journey north with the hope that next year they will be back. coming up on al jazeera america, a blessing at the border. mass is held with a message about immigration reform. and sky divers set to set a record. [ male announcer ] it's here -- xfinity watchathon week,

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>> welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. these are your headlines at that hour. chile's president getting a

firsthand look at the damage from tuesday's powerful earthquake. at least sick people are dead. the quake measuring 8.2 on the richter scale. gm's ceo mary barra facing a second tough day of questions on capitol hill. she is testifying about gm's ignition switch defect. and president obama is on his way to michigan calling for a minimum wage hike. he wants to increase the rate to $10.10 an hour. catholic bishops performing a mass tuesday along the border between the united states and mexico. they had an message about immigration reform. paul beban was there. >> reporter: at first glance the two sides really don't look all that different. dusty streets and faded buildings, but they are of course worlds apart.

tuesday morning hundreds gathered along both sides of the towering steel fence that divided the border town. on the arizona side a cardinal made a plea for comprehensive immigration reform. >> america at its best is not the bigotry of the no nothings, but the new welcome of the colossus. >> reporter: then an emotional communion. bishops giving communion into the hands and mouths of the faithful. on the other side immigration reform activists gathered around this man.

he came to the u.s. in 1999 when he was just 14. he was deported in february, following a dui. this morning he walked to a border station asking for humanitarian papa -- parole while his case is appealed. >> reporter: what are your chances? >> i have faith that everything is going to be okay, but i don't know how long i will be detained or how the process is going to be, so i have faith that everything is going to be okay. and i hope that they can listen to our -- to our -- to what we are asking. >> reporter: the scene was chaotic. cameras crowding in as he was taken once again into custody. he spoke to his lawyer a couple of hours after the metal gate

came down. he told us he had been detained and transferred to a processing center in florence, arizona. that's where he will stay while his case moves forward. and that could take days or even weeks. paul beban on the us-mexico border. lots of you staying close to the radio and television as tornado season is upon us. >> yeah, we're looking at the potential for strong storms today and tomorrow as the storm developing across west texas and the pan handle. the warm humid air coming in from the gulf, and moves to the east, and cool air to the north. a fresh supply of moisture from the gulf of mexico. very moist air, and the

potential is there for these storms to spin up and become severe. there is the area with the severe weather today. tomorrow this storm begins to push off to the northeast, and there is a biggest threat for storms tomorrow, increase from a slight risk to a moderate risk. there will be storms and they do have the slight risk to be severe today and moderate tomorrow. the increase -- the potential is higher tomorrow. along with the severe weather will be heavy snow. it could be close to a foot of snow right over the great lakes. so severe weather and snow in one small area. del? >> dave, thank you. take a look at this. 222 people jumping from a plane. they are practicing trying to set a new world record, for the

largest norm -- formation at one time. they already have four other record-breaking titles. thanks for watching al jazeera america. i'm del walters in new york. "the stream" is next. ♪ >> hi, i'm lisa fletcher and you're in "the stream." 9 million americans are taking prescription drugs that may have dangerous interaction. are you one of them? find out in the next 30 minutes. if you're like nearly 70% of americans, you're taking at least one prescription medication, and as you age, that number is likely to go up.