warships to counter-north korean threats. >> ""america tonight" weekend is coming up next. you can always find us online. just go to aljazeera.com. >> good evening and thanks for joining us for the weekend edition of "america tonight", i'm adam may in for joie chen. >> edward snowden revealed surveillance conducted by the national security agency. it turns out the government is not the only ones collecting

your data. upregulated corporations have been compiling dossiers on all of us for years. information is bought and sold by data brokers. it's a multibillion industry. our correspondent explores of the lucrative ways in which your vote is out. >> where you shop, what you buy, how old your children are or whether you may drink too much - you would think that is all private information but you would be wrong. these personal details are being collected, categorised and bought and sold every day by data brokers. . >> the biggest business is gathering data. >> brian reports for his blog problems-onsecurity.com. he says when it comes to data,

brokers hold the keys. >> they know what i buy, whether it's underwear, shoes, cars, houses. they know in some cases more about me than some of my friends and relatives. they know more about you than you know about you. >> adversaries everywhere diet date >> at the world's largest information security conference in san francisco, the buzz was all about keeping your data safe from malware, spam bots and an array of other threats. >> pam dixon, the executive director of the world privacy forum says the real threat is not only what hackers and leaves can steal, buts what we hand over about ourselves voluntarily. och unwitting -- often unwittingly, every day for free. >> these guys are good at keeping threats away. it doesn't mean companies can't buy and sell information at bill. >> all that is pushed into a big

commint information soup -- giant information soup, and what comes out at the other end is the profiling of individual consumers. >> at an office in san diego, dixon showed us some profiles or a list many of us end up on. >> here is a list saying alcohol drinkers, adult. do i want my name on this list, if i'm an alcohol drinker? >> dixon says there's scores of lists for sale. >> i see everything from dry eyes to bedwetting >> here is another - substance abuse road to recovery book beers' club. >> how do they know that? how do the data brokers know that i bought that book? >> this is a list of people in a book buyers' club. so that list is sold. so if you are purchasing a list

or a book from the book club, that's how they are getting it. >> data brokers are not just getting customer information from retailers, they mine public records and monitor public postings on social media, and there's the personal information provided on online surveys, say on flirt.com. the profiles are precious commodities, as good as gold or the probers -- brokers and clients they sell it to. >> they know about me in order to make it easier to sell me stuff. >> to sell your profile to people that want to sell you more stuff. yes. >> they are getting the personic chusters. >> if the results of this profiling was just targeted in better ads. there would be no reason for concern. that is not what she's worried about. >> if you are a major employer or health plan, you could

purchase the list. >> you don't know for certain that employers are purchasing these lists, but the fact is they can. >> that's correct, that's exactly correct. this is really outside of regulation. there are not any laws that say employers can't by the lists. >> "america tonight" contacted a data broker without asking us why we needed them. they agreed to tell us the lists, names and email addresses of people that use online dating services, individuals who purchase products to fight anxiety, gamlers, purchasers of erectile dysfunction product. for $4500 al jazeera america could have purchased access to deeply private information about tens of thousands of unsuspecting individuals.

access that some fear could be bought by anyone. >> there are a lot of what if that you can come up with in your mind about what else can happen with the data. a lot of what we do as an industry is work hard to make sure that marketing data is used for the purposes of marketing. rachel knights thomas is a chief lobbyist for a group representing data brokers. her job lately is to push back against the critics. >> they say you are unregulated, shadowy, fair. >> nothing could be further from the truth. dma had a self-regulatory code, there's incredible amounts of self regulation going on. >> are you aware of exec data in chicago. >> not off the top of my head. >> you wouldn't know if they are a member of the g.m. a or not? >> not off the top of my head. >> we called exec data, and they

offered to sell us lists of all kinds of private, what i think many members of the public would consider to be sensitive information, without having to jump too many hoops, they were willing to sell it as long as we were willing to pay for it. >> i can't speak to that particular situation. i think there's more to the story, very likely. in a case where marketing data is being sold and purchased and transferred between companies, our indicated of et ceteraedics would say you can only share the information, it can only be purchased for marketing purposes. >> it doesn't always happen that quay. take espirion, a giant and a dma member. it's a fort knox of information, the holder of credit and marketing data. in a lapse that brian crabbs was the first to report, an identity thief in vietnam gained access to a database containing

personal information about 200 million americans from a company owned by expirion. >> expirion was selling information - they claim unknowingly and i'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, to a u.s.-based private investigator. >> the person posing as an american private eye was a 24-year-old man who pleaded guilty to identity fraud and faces 45 years in prison. he declined a request for an on-camera interview. in a statement he said: >> to brian crabbs, the episode raises questions about data

broker's power. it's a recipe for disaster when an organization collects some of the most sensitive and voluminous information on people, and when they have a security incident that jeopardizes the security of that information, there aren't any consequences. >> the question that comes out of this is how can we feel safe, the public at large, about keeping the sensitive information in the hands of data breakers like expirion and others. >> that case is one that is ooping. it's aing -- ongoing. it's a legal investigation. it's possible that if a wrongdoing - it's a given that if a wrongdoing is found, the company will have to answer for that. >> one company is attempting to answer critics concerns. >> in an industry first x yom recently launched data.com.

>> this is the first tonny we ever had to look behind the screens of what a data broker has about us. >> we found out some of what they know about me. >> i see your date of birth, you are a male, afghan american, you completed graduate school, you are married, you have a child, seven years old. >> this is accurate. >> that is scary. why does someone need to know all that information? >> why do they need to know my child and how old she is? >> it's discop asserting. >> dixion -- disconcerting. >> dixon wants others to follow axe yom's lead. >> i want to make sure if there's information out there on a list, that the consumer has the right to say "i want off that list." >> this raises all kind of questions, michael oku tells us

he reached out to exact data, the company that recently was going to sell the list. the c.e.o. declined to provide a statement but said "i can guarantee you can't get lists without a marketing plan", given that statement we decided to put it to the test. for $400 we doubt a list of 6,000 people. we got their names, home addresses, their emails all of those people had bought incontinence problems in the past, no questions were askeded. >> there's app alarming report released saying data brokers, firstly, retailers are creating hundreds of secret consumer stores, ranking you on job security o criminal impulses. pam dixon, executive director of the world privacy forum is the author of that report.

this sound like credit scores on steroids. >> it's a good way to describe it. what are they doing, what are they looking for, why are they creating all the lists on us? >> it makes a lot of sense. it's a shorthand for a sea of information out there. what is happening is that those data broker lists have become an information commodity. the next step is to use all the information about past behaviour to figure out how we might act in the future. >> who is regulating this? as we heard in the report, the d.n.a. says they do a lot of self-regulation. is that enough? >> absolutely not. >> who should be watching to make sure the information is not misused? >> a couple of faults should be watch, and the consumer financial protection bureau, that's is a start.

have we seen them take action and act as a watchdog or do they need action from congress to get teeth? >> the credit score was out there for 50 years, and it was only 10 years ago that federal legislations required that we beallowed to get credit scores, but no protection exists for a lot of new consumer stores. >> give me an idea of some lists they are creating, what consumer scores are available? >> when we research the report, it was surprising. so, for example, there's a job security score. there's a consumer prominence index. >> what does that mean? >> it's how prominent of a consumer you are, how much you are likely to spend and how important as a consumer you are. it's predictive in certain scores on health ribrisk.

there's medication adherence scores predicting how likely we are to take medications as the doctor prescribes. asides from the possibility that you could lose privacy if you don't want the information in the hands of marketers, is there harm to the information being occupant there. is the potential -- out there, is the potential for cross misuse. >> absolutely. if you take the simplest score, a clout score, a social influence score. there was a person, sam fooeorrela denied -- fiorela denied because of a low score. >> it happened. >> the scores can be misused. >> can employers take it a step further and they won't hire someone if they are concerned about drinking problems, and if they find a person on a list of

people who enjoy alcohol. could that happen? . >> i have no evidence of that, but it is a concern. if you have an easy shorthand, this personal has an 85% chance of being a fraudster or 90% chance of chance of being a health risk, i'm not sure that we shouldn't take a look at how they are compiled. >> how are they used? >> there's predictive policing. for example, there's a score that can predict whether or not you'll be a murderer. it's not very accurate. >> they are scoring whether or not you can become a murderer. >> it's a little disconcerting. another score in wide use is the t.s.a., they have a score for whether or not we can get on an airplane and there's a fraud score used by the u.s. postal

office to determine who we are, who we say we are at the point of sale. there's a lot of law enforcement type of fraud in use. >> it will be alarming if you get placed on the wrong list, and you are scored as a murderer and you're not. >> the problem is people who are victims of identity theft have problems like this. we know already that identity theft creates a lot of problems and records. that's certainly a concern. >> it's a beg issue and interesting to see how it gets tangled with the lists. >> pam dixon, executive director of the world privacy forum. thank you for the insight. >> now to a shocking reality that we are focussing on at "america tonight". half of all women and a fifth of men in the united states will experience a form of sexual violence during their lives. most of those experiences remain slept. that's why "america tonight" is

recognising sexual assault awareness month. our digital team launched a campaign called tracking assault. you can sharour stories with us. log on to the website: >> coming up next on "america tonight" - in the thick of it. the strength of neighbours hurting and hunting for their missing. appear

>> two weeks after the deadly washington state mudslide and crews are digging through debris looking for victims, it's hard to imagine what that job is like. "america tonight"'s michael oku spent time with a recovery volunteer and he opens up about his community commitment. >> at 6 feet 8 inches, bob deyoung cuts an imposing figure on a pre-dawn walk that has become ritual for more than a week. de young has been humbled by the framility of the foothills -- fragility of the foothills. the opener of a logging business, he is one of 200 years working the recovery, and the sheer force of the slide that buried neighbours, he calls family, he calls haunting. >> i was a police officer for many years. i seep a lot of stuff. a lot of death and, you know,

that type of thing. i never seen anything like this. not so much that it's people carnage, it's devastating. >> there is a house and a big slide and it is covering the road. >> 911 what is your emergency. >> there was a mud slide or something, hundreds of trees or something have fallen outside of my house. >> in those terrible moments as the disaster unfolded de young was attending a funeral before rushing back to help. >> do you personally know anyone killed in the landslide or who is currently missing? >> yes, multiple. >> forehands of yours? >> yes. >> the mudslide covered nearly a square mile, reducing homes into fragments in a matter of seconds. search teams took to calling the dory field "the pile", at once a moonscape and a slurry of spilled fuel, shattered septic

tank and charts of metal. up to five storeys deep in some parts. >> you dig a bit, you have a hit. you go in layers and try to be mindful of void and the way logs are stacked and there could be someone underneath it. it is intense. you are focussed for anything. at this point, you know, we find parts, people and so that's a tough part. >> are there family members with you. >> at times, yes. >> do you ever get worried about what some of these family members might find? what they might see? >> one of the families that we found their loved one, they were there with us. they helped with the recovery of the body and were there when he

was flown out. you know, there's a moment of grieving. they know of their predicament. they don't have illusions of grandeur, it is real. they understood, you know, what they are going so see. it's tough, yes, hard. >> i got to imagine part of the reason people live here, in spite of the fact that there has been reports that a catastrophic land slide would happen is because of the beauty of the place. >> it's gorgeous. how could you not fall in love with in? i mean, that's your backyard. >> de young lives in derrington washington, population 1500. a remote stretch of country side along the stretch of the mountains, 12 miles from the debris field. built on the logging business, it's a kind of place where

residents say we're going below, when they go out of town, and where there are more churches than coffee shops. tell me how the community came together around this. were you surprised? >> no. we delivered a semi full of goods, 4,000 gallons of water, toiletries, toothbrushes and toothpaste. the town formed a line, men and women, including the governor, got out and helped us. we unloaded that semi in about 25 minutes. that's sticking together. >> bob and his wife of seven years, julie, are steady hand in the country. a nurse's assistant for the elderly, julie agreed to house tired volunteers who are hours from home. >> they needed a place to go. i have to home to take them. >> and you just couldn't say no. >> i wanted them to be here, they are doing something good, things i believe in. >> into week 2, the physical and

emotional demands take a toll on the volunteers. >> no doubt there has been tough days. what was the toughest you can remember so far? >> the first body i found was tough, and yesterday not finding anything was harder. i would rather find something than nothing. >> as the days wear on and the death toll rises and officials keep a count of the missing. volunteers work the pile cautiously, reverently. in the effort to cover the missing and give families a measure of peace, there's a sense that they are running out of time. >> it's a sense of surge si to help -- urgency to help. we can't sit on the couch. there's a lot of guys helping, a lot of guys in this room, doing the same thing i am. >> when will it no longer be

urge ept for you? -- urge ept for you. >> to be honest, i don't think we are going to find everybody. i pray we do. >> does it pain you? >> it hurts. it will hurt the close family mem business more than it -- members more than it will hurt be. you are trying to help them have closure at the statement. you do what you've got to do. it's what we do. >> how long are you willing for it to go on. >> i'll be there for as long as they need help, but have you to get back to work and your life. it won't leave your mind, it's there, a few miles away. have you to deal with it nor as long as i'm alive you have to deal with it >> looking ahead on "america tonight" - proposed oil drilling swamped in controversy. >> people get upset when the rainforest goes. we are letting the everglades go. this is a special place where we

let oil drilling at the grand canyon. where are we going to stop? is anything sacred. >> there's a rsh for -- rush for oil in the greater everglades. from water to endangered animals, what is at stake. don't miss my special report exposing motive and a surprise in the cyprus - monday on "america tonight". still to come - teachers fired, students stuffled, schools outsourced. controversial education reform. it could be a model for the nation. the real impact on students next.

>> welcome back everyone. a heated debate over education in new orleans could have ripple effects over the country. the firing of 7,000 school employees has been ruled unlawful. and they could get a billion dollars in damages. there's more to the story as sara hoy reports. the fight has been viewed as a

battle over the future of public education. >> just like these people are nothing, you know. like they are nothing. they throw them away. >> welcome back. this is showtime in the afternoon. >> barbara ferguson and walter goodwin worked as principals in the new orleans's school system. with 7,000 employees they were fired in 2006 in the aftermath of katrina. > this has to come as a shock. it's, like, how low can you go. >> after katrina families were slow to trickle to new orleans. with fewer students in the school, officials say they had no choice but to let employees go. >> it's a conflict of center. >> goodwin doesn't buy it, believing local, state and federal officials took advantage of katrina to do something they wanted.

dismantle the school system. >> this was a public agenda before katrina. there were people that needed to go, teachers, school board members. we were not responsible for the finances of the school, for the poll tucks that the school -- politics that the school bard entered into with the state. >> an educator for more than 30 years, educators long blamed teachers. there were problems - charge class sizes, crumbling buildings and dysfunctioning board. >> teachers worked in what they called failing school. if you have a teacher that didn't work in a failing school, the teacher could have had the opportunity to work in the best schools in the city. >> i don't feel like we were failing schools. some may have been, not all. the ones that were successful, where the teachers were doing

what they were supposed to do and the administrators, i feel we should been allowed to come back. >> ingrid and alexander say the fight is not just about whether they were fired unfairly. after katrina almost all public schools were replaced with charter schools. charter schools get public dollars and must meet state education standards. they are largely free to manage their own affairs. many are run by private companies. 80% of children in new orleans attend charter schools, the highest percentage. they have no obligation to higher former teachers. >> i was a kinder gatterb teacher at elson school. i had been there 31 of 34 years that i have been teaching. i felt like we should have been given a priority if only for seniority. it wasn't a problem.

i had been there successfully. evaluations were good. i loved my job. >> after fleeing katrina, he moved to south carolina. in her first few months away, the school district led her to believe she would be called back to work. >> the school board had a website. we were to go on every week to be kept up to speed about what was gone op. >> what info were you finding out. they asked if you intended to return to the new orleans public schools, please indicate. i did. you could call, and i called. >> you good a different word. >> yes, i got the word that i was fired. >> how did it feel to be told you were terminated via alert? >> i felt like i was kicked to the kerb. i had devoted more than half my life to that school, the system

and the children in that community. >> this is the first african american senior high school. >> sam smith was named interim superintendent of the new orleans school district after the firing took place and works for the school board. the board fired the 7,000 employees. >> we would have prerd not to have done any of it, but we didn't have the student or the work. >> smith says beyond that the public schools were in need of a change. before katrina 65% of student were in failing schools, according to state rankings. >> no doubt there were challenges. i don't think anyone will sit and say the performance on the school system prior to katrina was adequate. >> it's not just local officials that believe the school system needed an over haul. arnie duncan in 2010 said "the best thing that happened to the

system in northerly: >> as harsh as that may sound, numbers back him up. judged by state standard, the new system built around charter schools is outperforming the old one. fewer than 6% of students are in failing schools. >> are you happy with the perform assistance? >> no. you're never happy with performance. if you get to the point where you are happy with performance, it's time to retirement. there's a lot of room for improvement and we need to continue to pursue that. >> i get the impression that people are looking at new orleans as the model. look twice. it has problems. >> many debate whether the schools are better. the state changed its criteria to make them look better. willie is the lead attorney. he says the new charter schools are gambling with the children.

>> many are not working. people need to understand that. this has been an experiment. >> the politics of education are complicated. in new orleans, especially so. we reached out to several involved in the charter school movement. other than stan smith, all were reluctant to speak to us for this report. when it comes it a public schools overhaul, a lot of people say race marts. the city of new orleans is black, making the majority of students and teachers black. >> it was a blow to the black middle class. teachers that you had prior to the storm lived in the community. a lot of people wanted to be like that person, it was someone's aunt. you went to the grocery store with that person, the church. >> here leaders tapped to revamp a black student body are och

white or from out of -- often white or from out of town, creating tension, and not appreciating the role schools have played. >> in new orleans we have a history of inequity and injustice around opportunity for students with colour and most of the schools have a story of struggle just to get the schools to open. >> brenda is a pastor in a church in the seventh ward. it was home to middle class blacks and at its core a public school. one of the things that held the neighbourhood together. this generation of kids has been denied the opportunities. the strong relationship with our teachers, the people in the noods , and i believe -- neighbourhoods. >> the pastor is friends with

ingrid herns alexander who has lived here all of her life. she is worried about what is next for the neighbourhood and her. >> where to from her? >> that's a good question. apray and ask what is my new purpose. before it was an educators. i don't know what is next. i wish i knew. >> earlier this week i interviewed dr vera trip the, the superintendent for achievement at the recovery sector. she is a supporter of charter schools for the decentralized school system and answered to critics arguing it's a privatisation of the school system. >> well, i think they are misinformed. they are not private. they are public, they get the same funding that a public school gets. they don't get anything in addition to that. we don't charge students to come. they are open enrolment. kids from over the city can come

to the schools. >> have you seen the impact positive for individual children. when it all comes down to it, we want the best education possible for the kids. there's huge issues for schools in new orleans pre-katrina. has there been a good improvement? >> absolutely there's an improvement. school performance is up across the board. people are talking about education in a way they hadn't, and the goal is to look out for the interests of the students versus the interests of the adults that may have something to gain from their work. >> what do you mean by that? >> for a long time there was a lot of concern about how changes fight impact adults, employees. you need to consider that. ultimately they are there to educate children. if we start the conversation from a place of "what's best for kids?" we can't go wrong with that. >> one of the things i'm picking

up on that comment you made is that there were entrenched teachers, possibly some may not have been appropriate to be in the classroom, is that kind of what you are hinting at. >> in any profession you have people whole check out at some point. i think there were a lot of good teachers there and we have a lot of good teachers there now. there'll be bad actors, but i don't think they can be held accountable are to every ill in the public school system. do you think there's a problem with charter schools and teacher turn over. many teachers came in. there was a flood of tapers coming in -- teachers coming in. has that led to problems in the classroom. >> it's an issue when you don't have consistency. we had the extra-added impact of katrina. it was a transient time.

it's stabilizing. we have seen a stabilization of the future force. >> dr trip the, it's been hinted that what is happening there in louisiana, in new orleans should be a model for the rest of the country. do you see it that way? >> i do see it that way. what people think when they look at what is happening is this is an all-charter district. the think to take away is what we are focused on is high-quality education, whether it's charter, traditional, a standard, accountability for schools across the board. >> how far do have you to go to get every kid a good education. >> you go as far as you need to. we have to be accountable for the kids. we need to compare them to compete globally. we can't do that by being timid. we have to be very, very

aggressive. i'm willing to go as far as i think we need to. >> that was dr vera triplit speaking to us a couple of days ago. we'll stick to the education theme and next is a modern school of thought. >> we are learning an intense rith. what we are -- rith. what we are doing at the end of the first month is what they do at the end of the first i can't remember. snow results are amazing. making the grade at school 42. imagine a school with no professors, lecturers or tew irp, we'll show you a -- tuition, we'll show you a classroom you have to see to believe.

>> picture this - no teachers, no lecturers, no tuition. this is a model for higher education that is turning tradition on its head. the school in paris france, one of the most over subscribed

higher education establishments on earth. sheila mcvicar reports from paris. >> from a small flat in paris. arthur is ready for the day ahead after a night with little sleep. theiss 21 years old, french american and taking a chance that a radical new kind of education will make him employable in france's difficult economy. he is already dropped out of one college. >> it's my last chance, a unique opportunity to be in this school. >> for arthur and 900 other, this school really is a last and unique chaps. closer to a -- chance. closer to a hot hour, it's school 42. it demands a lot of its

students. in change free tuition and an association with some brilliant french tech minds. no teachers. a reliance on peer to peer learning, students working together to solve problems. >> it's nothing comparable. it's another world, another language. other contents, another way of working. we have to work around problems and constantly find solutions when we face problems and failures. >> students are assigned projects via online video. they are given dooed lines for -- deadline for completion. there's no textbooks or lectures. there's google and the internet. >> this needs to find solutions to the technical problem.

we don't just want to teach them computer science, but we want them to create answers in the next years. >> there are staff, just not in the traditional sense. nicola is the school director recruited from a high tech but more traditional school. he has a ph.d. from stamford university. >> i don't think there's a school anywhere with no teacher. we are not doing any transition. we are making students walk together, and they will learn by each other and from each other. >> by doing the peer to beer learning you are asking them to find a path to the problems you settle. >> exactly. it's a process. >> this person is doing more than setting the french education system on end, it's

challenging many things we think we know about french workers. take the 35 hour work week. sat this school students are expected to put in a minimum of 70 hours of the week, at all hours of the day or night. >> we are learning at an intense rith. what we are going at the end of the first month is mostly what they do at the university at the end of the first year. >> high-speed learning. producing graduates, it's heaped, with more than a foot hold on a precarious economic ladder. france is the fifth largest economy in the world, it's an olde-world economy moving at a slower pace. a problem here is the youth unemployment rate of 25%. one sector where there are jobs, thousands of them every year,

high tech and it. the billionaire with millions invested in the school is a french-made entrepreneur, whose wealth comes from high tech >> translation: in france we have a hum problem of social motorbike ilt -- huge problem of social mobility. if i'm the son of someone rich i'm likely to have a job in something that will make me rich. if i'm poor, i will remain poor. >> he wants to create opportunities. >> france gave me a chance to become rich. it was great. i feel the need to give back to the country a little of what it has given to me in a sector i know well. it's important to help people do the thinks that i've had the opportunity to do here. >> that's why there's high levels of interest in a less traditional route of employment. some of the students come from

families that would never have been able to afford the tuition of a regular college. it's competitive. getting a place here is harder than getting into harvard. there's 70,000 prospective students that have to complete a test. 3,000 were selected for an intensive month-long bootcamp competing for 900 places. >> we are not kidding, tougher than harvard. >> 70,000 applicants. >> yes. >> did you expect that? >> no, we were expecting 3,000-5,000. >> and you get 70,000. >> we are very surprised. >> surprise doesn't quite cover it. 10 months ago the school didn't exist. here the first class of students

will achieve a diploma qualification. what it is hoped to do, is that they will be able to rite computer code and innovate. >> if we find a problem, we'll find solutions that can help us. we'll ask the questions that help us to understand what is asked from us. >> what do you think it will take to get france moving again? >> to have plenty of young people succeed. plenty of successful 25 to 30-year-olds, little mark zuckerberg's and help them create. we need to give energy to a group of youngsters in technology. >> do you consider this a good investment? >> it's better than buying a jot or plane. being productive for my country is better. >> an having program. >> ahead in our final thoughts,

a story perfect for the weekend. on the rocks. a citrus crisis putting your favourite cocktails and recipes in jeopardy.

>> finally tonight limes are an

essential ingredient in many popular dishes and, of course, the weekend cocktail. but, bad news - there's a shortage. prices are soaring. andy gallagher tells us why the lime business is on the rocks. >> in mexico it's hard to think of life without limes. this little citrus is a staple of daily living. limes are used to flavour food, ward off illness and adorn drinks, for many it's the taste of a nation. without it they'd be lost. >> i put lime op everything. the only thing i don't put lime on is milk. otherwise i would. a salad is no good without lime. it's port of our culture. >> limes are an luxury item. prices have soared. production is down. prices tripled in recent weeks,

reaching highs. >> translation: customers ask how many for limes. you tell them. they call you crazy and leave. >> mexico's lime groves have been hit by disease and bad weather. something called yellow dragon plague means the groves are producing less fruit. there's talk of farmers hoarding their crops and selling when the price goes up. some like this man are just making the best of a bad situation. his depictions of a nation craving limes is seen by million, and it's a way of getting through the crisis. >>translation: we mexicans laugh about things that worry us. maybe this is not important it has an impact on the economy and our families. there are other things people cannot afford but we lauf at all of it. >> with mexico producing most of the world's lime, the impact is

global. it's hoped prices will fall. for the time being high-priced limes are leaving a bitter taste. >> the vast majority of limes used in the u.s. are imported from mexico. that is it here on "america tonight". the weekend edition. if you would like to comment on any stories, log on to the website. on the site you can get a sneak peek of stories we are working on. check out the team and what you'd like to see. join in the conversation on twitter or facebook. thanks nor watching, have a great night and enjoy the rest of the week.

>> this is al jazeera america. i'm jonathan betz, live in new york. unrest in ukraine. a new push this the east for closer ties with russia. a dark anniversary 20 years after a genocide. rwanda looks back while trying to focus on its future. >> counting the votes. why afghanistan's elections are about more than who wins. >> up, down, there's no end in sight. >> the ultimate test of brutal 7-day marathon across the sahara