the first step and be out spoken about your medical care. thank you to all of our guests. see you next time. >> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. these are the stories that we're following for you. the supreme court has a ruling that could be a game changer for political campaigns across the country. >> dramatic improvements have been made since that time. >> the head of g.m. on the hot seat again. more questions for the ceo involving the controversial recall. the aftermath and the aftershocks of that earthquake that shook the chilen coast.

>> we begin with a major ruling from the u.s. supreme court today involving campaign finance. it has lifted the ban on donations to multiple candidates, political parties and committees. the court is setting aside limits on the amount a donor can give all candidates. house speaker john boehner praising the ruling. boehner saying freedom of speech is being upheld. >> you all have the freedom to write what you want to write. donors ought to be able to give what they want to give. this goes back to the bill that destroyed political campaign process that no one who voted for it ever believed it. some of us understood what was going to happen. >> reporter: joining us by phone from los angeles, first of all, your reaction?

>> i would agree, certainly it is a massive ruling. i don't think it quite goes to some of the other rulings on campaigns finance that we've been accustomed of hearing. but when you look at the power of the individual now, again, what we have to remember is this will really affect fewer than a thousand donors, if you look at the 2012 numbers, but what it does do is it strengthens these joint committees and the joint committees are the ones who dole out all the cash. it's massive in that way. >> but there are donors, and i'm thinking of one in particular who donated $92 million to political action pass, political action committees. is it not possible for a single individual with that much money to donate to a single candidate? >> well not to a single candidate is because what the court has done is they've

maintained the maximum you can give to an candidate. but they increased the aggregate amount and the number of candidates. before this ruling you could only give to 18 candidates, you could give a maximum of $26,000 for federal offices, del. now that aggregate has taken away so that you can give as much as you want to as many candidates in total, but you have to--you still are bound by the $2,600 maximum per candidate. what it does do, though, is create a little more transparency about where the money has been spent. if that person gives $92,000. it would be hard to give that much money candidate to candidate, but if you wanted to give money to a number of candidates you see to whom the money is coming from rather than giving it to a super pac. it's easier to trace, and that may be the only silver lining

for those who are for campaign finance reform. >> it seems now that they're saying that people are corporations. >> see, that is a good way to turn it around. i think this does always go back to being the first amendment issue. i think it will reside there, but it has been a tremendous amount of organization from groups that are very, frankly, used to organizing. the campaign finance community, the reform community really has to start organizing. again they've proven through organization you get the things like mccain-feingold, this is a blow to the mccain-feingold legislation, this is a dismantling of every congressional effort to limit campaign finance, but it just shows that organizations still does work, and the court is divided now. you take one justice and put the other justice on the other side

it's 5-4 the other way. >> michael shure our political contributor here at al jazeera america with the new ruling involving campaign finance laws issued by the supreme court. lawmakers want to know why it took so long to recall g.m. vehicles with ignition switch problems that defect knew dealing blamed for 13 deaths. randall pinkston is in washington. give us breakdown of what you have heard so far in the hearing. >> laura has finished for the day, they're now questioning the national traffic highway administration why they did not detect the defect sooner. senator mccaskill, claire mccaskill asked her why has she not fired the engineer who

was in fired of the cobalt ignition system? >> has mr. giorgio been fired? >> as the investigation has only been going on for a couple of weeks we've made process steps as i return to the office we'll start to look at the people implications. >> so he has not been fired. >> no, highways not. >> there is a document that he signed under his name mr. day di giorgio, he signed it approving of the change. now, it is hard for me to imagine that you would want him any why where near engineering anything. >> specifically why these ignition switches had been changed and not changing the part number. here is dean heller. >> it is incredibly unusual for a car company to change the car

part and not change the car number. government investigators requested that g.m. provide any documents chronicling the switch change and who in company provided it. >> heller pointed out that g.m. had asked for and received bankrupt protection to bail it out and keep it in business and provide it from protection from past mistakes like the ignition switch problem. >> randall, thank you very much. officials are starting to assess the damage caused by tuesday's earthquake that struck acrosacross the coast of chile setting up a tsunami: we go to the capital of santiago. >> reporter: touring the earthquake struck areas to the

north of the country. after freezing temperatures people who were forced to evacuate the area are now returning home therapy nerves shattered because of the aftershocks, some of them very strong, hitting the number 6 on the richter scale. many were surprised at the low death toll and the measures taken this time that did not take place four years ago when chile was witness to one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded. people are saying that they expected it to be much worse, especially given the anticipation that there would be a ma'am mat mammoth tsunami, wht occur this time. >> there is new sometimes images that give a clear indication of the damage caused by the deadly

mudslide in washington state. right now the death toll stands at 29, as many as 20 others are still said to be missing. for crew who is continue to search, rain is expected again tomorrow. tornadoes even hail expected in parts of the country as well. dave warren joins us for the details. it's tornado season. >> meteorologist: it sure is, and the weather creates some of the conditions that we'll see today and tomorrow. not much happening tomorrow, the low developing right over west texas, the panhandle of oklahoma. this area here oklahoma and pushing east is the weather we'll see today. that's the warm hair, the--the warm air, the humidity coming up from the south. right now it's just flooding that is the concern. one or two strong storms in this large area of rain that continues to push east. here the ingredients of developing this severe weather

today. warm human air from the gulf of mexico pulled up from this low. warm dry air from the west, cool air from the north all coming together over oklahoma and texas. this is the severe weather we see today from the south and west and those are the ingredients for these storms to become severe with possible tornado, hail and gusting wind. the storm will move out and we'll show you where the threat is tomorrow with the complete national forecast. >> thank you very much. secretary of state john kerry canceling his trip to the middle east after palestinian president mahmood abbas continued his campaign for recognition of palestine. it caught many by surprise and may effect peace talks. mahmood abbas moving after asking for the release of palestinian prisoners.

>> i think a lot of palestinians will support this move by president abbas. they agreed to put on hold their tempts tattempts to get statehod recognition. they said israel did not release the prisoners on time so we'll resume our campaign to get recognized internationally with these conventions. what these are, things like the geneva convention on diplomacy and economy, and a dozen conventions of which are human rights. the palestinians will argue that these convention also improve the lives, but also hold israel accountable for what they've done or begin to hold them accountable for what they've done. what abbas has done it he has put himself out front, gaining the momentum, forcing the israelis to respond.

therespond. >> nick, these negotiations are scheduled to end on april 29th. is kerry now trying to extend the deadline? >> well, i think what the u.s. is furiously doing is trying to get both sides back at the same table. the reports tonight that chief negotiators are meeting. israelis were criticizing the palestinians. the palestinians saying it was your fault. israelis were the first to go against the promises that these talks required. the u.s. is really trying to save these. del it goes a long way to say how much the u.s. wants this. at the beginning the u.s. was talking about nine months creating a fin final piece of te

peace deal. well, then they're working on the final talks, and now they're furiously trying to save these talks from collapse. they are not dead yet. the u.s. and israel and the palestinians say they're not dead yet, but they're on the verge of collapse. >> nick schifrin fors life. two bombs going off outside of a cairo university as police investigate a third one goes off. we're including a police officer, seven other people were hurt from those explosions. the bombings targeting egyptian police and military. there are deadly protests by those who support mohamed morsi. and what may have been a bomb left over from world war ii has killed seven people in thailand. it also damaged nearby homes.

construction workers found it buried underneath the site. they were trying to take the bomb apart when it detonated. a drone crashed on the south koreaen mainland, harry fossett reports from seoul. >> a camera equipment drone on a day the two sides traded artillery fire into each other's waters. >> the pow of the south korea government has concerns that north korea is responsible for it. >> reporter: north korea has been sizing its prowess of

drones. this comes just days after a similar craft came down on the other side of the land border. the camera contained images of military installations and pictures of the president's were you house. we're standing just a few hundred feet away from the blue house. >> we are asking ourselves what if north korea is using the bomb instead of camera instead of aircraft? so there is a lot of controversy among the military that are needing strong measure against this kind of attack. >> reporter: south korea is willing to spend $8.4 million on

four unman's aircraft. north korea's aircraft is old and give propensity to crash and unreliable but also giving south korean headaches. >> birds that are hurting from the drought zone. this will make their trip just a little easier.

>> the story just in to al jazeera america 37 a judge in texas halting a execution of tommy lynn sells who was set to die tomorrow. but the judge stopped the lethal injection saying they must disclose the supplier of the drugs being used. attorneys saying they need to know the quality of the drug to keep their client from any unconstitutional pain.

well, street is shooting for a fourth straight winning session. the dow is up and the s&p is looking at setting another record high today. there is a new player entering the streaming video market. amazon.com releasing "fire tv" that will compete with apple t.v. ruku, and fire tv will treatment its own features and will be able to predict what you watch and could you it up instantly. e-mails warning apple of threats from samsung. plaque berry is upset with t-mobile after t-mobile started promoting the iphone five now

saying it was outrageous for t-mobile to target its customers with a rival product. those who use blackberry should not see any difference in their services. >> farmers in california are working to keep the bird migration just a bit easier. >> in sacramento in california's central valley, it's a patchwork of farm field. this is the state's brea breadb, and it's also a migration route stretch from the arctic to south america. more than 230 species depend on this land for survival. but the birds hungry and exhau

exhausted from flying thousands of miles find that the wetlands are now largely dry. once upon a time there were 4 million acres of wetlands larger than the size of connecticut. today, 250,000 acres remain lost to farmland that is drying up. >> the loss of this much wetland habitat we've gone from an estimate of 40 million birds on the pacific fly way to somewhere around 2,000 to 6,000 birds. >> farmers like bill stone who has been growing rice here for more than 50 years need the birds to naturally work the fields. >> the birds actually do a lot of tillage. as you can see out here in the field they stomp the rice in the ground and they're peculiarin pd so they're mixing everything up.

>> reporter: to get the wetlands backs we need to get the birds back. and new pilot program the farmers have agreed to keep their rice fields, some 10,000 acres flooded a few months longer this season providing wetland where the birds need and use it most. >> we have an obligation and a role to play from the pacific fly away and in supporting the birds. if we can continue to work together it will be better for the birds as well as the farmers. >> reporter: the irony, scientists who say that farmers who are responsible in large part for the disappearance of the we had lands is trying to bring them back. >> thinking about our work and what farmers do very differently. instead of thinking of them as adversaries, they are partners and a solution. >> later in april stone's field

will be dry, and the birds will be try and fed preparing for the long journey north. >> coming up on brazil is getting ready for the cold this summer, and they're using it to highlight a very big problem, homeless children.

>> welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. these your headlines at this hour. chile's president is getting a firsthand look at tuesday's powerful earthquake. some of the thousands forced to evacuate are now returning to their homes. g.m. ceo mary barra facing a second day of tough pressure on capitol hill testifying go g.m.'s ignition switch problem, the problem being blamed for 13 deaths. and the u.s. supreme court lifting a key ban on campaign

finance laws. it means that donors face fewer limits of how much they can give to parties and committees. and some say it will be easier for the wealthy to sway elections. brazil is gearing up for the world cup. one charity is trying to gear up on soccer fever and address a problem. we have reports from rio. >> the football is underway in rio as argentina battles tanzania, two of the teams competing in the street child world cup. teams from 19 countries are taking part organized by a british charity. these children are growing up in poverty and have spent time living on the streets. now they've been reunited with parents, and they are attending school. earlier the boys and girls visited rio's modern stadium where that other world cup final

will be held. ali, 14, is from pakistan. >> now implying a role as an ambassador to those children who are just like me. >> he was eager for the pakistani boys against india. [♪ singing ] >> a striker for the south african girls team. >> pretty sure that her team will do well. the competition is intense, but so are the friendships. for the kids this tournament is an adventure. but beyond the fun and game there is a serious purpose to draw attention to an often neglected global problem.

>> these children will go back and they'll continue to work on the issue raising awareness, raising understanding of what these children go through and lobbying governments to do more, lobbying society to do more for street children. >> after the opening round of matches they did their victory dance, and buddies were all smiles. pakistan 13, india 0. >> getting ready for tornado season, david warren here with more on that. >> meteorologist: yes, as the storm intensifies we'll have severe weather. low pressure developing in the southern plains. we have the warm moist air from the gulf of mexico. everything coming together right in the center of low pressure, that is the focus for severe weather today just to the south and east of that low.

now, the warm moist air comes in from the south. there is that dry air at the surface, but here is the jet stream that changes direction. that's what gives these storms the ability to start to spin up here and rotate. that is the potential for schreve weather today. strong storms with hail and gusting wind, possibly an isolated tornado. the storm threat here just so the southeast, but this will be moving. by tomorrow it intensifies. here is this red area, a stronger, higher risk of severe storms tomorrow. but the area right every the mississippi valley, this threat will continue tomorrow just farther northeast. this is heavy snow coming town where it's cold enough. eight to ten inches of snow possible, maybe even more. we're talking about severe weather and snow with this storm. now we'll try to pull the warm air to the north ahead of it. down to 61 in washington, d.c.

the warm air working its way up the coast. >> thank you for watching al jazeera america. "fault lines" is next secreting america's surveillance states.