[ ♪ ] [ ♪ ] i'm randall pinkston in new york. today a look at the top stories - votes are counted in a critical election in spain. the ruling party fails to win enough seats in parliament to gain government control. [ chanting ] outrage in india after a rapist walks out of prison after serving what demonstrators called a light sentence. >> a 15-year-old high school student and football player was

struck and killed after jumping on top of three girls to shield them. >> emotional moments in knoxville tennessee. after a teenage arager protects three -- teenager protect three girls from a gunman and who is protecting i.s.i.l. - on "the week ahead". we begin with the spanish parliament and re-elections. voters delivered a political quake. giving strong support to two new political parties, inding spain's traditional 2-party system. it's not clear who will form the next government. one of the new parties is fighting corruption and austerity measure. it made a giant leap into parliament.

al jazeera's david chater reports from a victory rally in madrid. >> here in the main rally in madrid after an extraordinary showing in the election of yes, we can. in fact, yes, we did. they have taken a large bite out of the parliamentary system, the so-called 2-party system that has been controlling politics in spain for more than 30 years. this is a party that is less than two years old. it had come from zero to hero. an extraordinary achievement for the young academic pablo, who is leaving the party. the first thing he said is that he wants a referendum in catalonia. he wants constitutional change. he said that the voters in the election have delivered a lesson in democracy to spain. and he's going to make sure that his position is disprengthenned

during the long -- strengthened during the long coalition talks, because the parliament is without an absolute majority. the talks could take up to two months, and is an extraordinary achievement by the party david chater in madrid in belgium police detained a person in brussels in connection with the attacks in paris. the arrest made after authorities searched a house in molenbeek, the same neighbourhood where the suspected mastermind of the attacks lived. officials trying to determine how the person may be connected to the event of november 13th, leaving 130 dead in paris. >> a bomb hoax forcing a jet to make a landing in kenya. it was on its way to paris from mauritius when a passenger discovered a device behind a classroom mirror. it contained a household timer. emergency shoots were used to

evacuate. the airline says it is the fourth bomb hoax on the airline in weeks. more arrests in what indonesian police call a foiled new year's terror plot. three suspects custody in the southern town of mojokarto. police seized computers and bomb making devices. a total of seven suspects are in custody. they are believed to be members of the same al qaeda group between the 2002 bombings of bali nightclubs peace talks regarding the war in yemen will resume in january after officials wrapped up six days of negotiations without a deal. the talks were held as government forces and houthi fighters violated a ceasefire. the united nations pushed for peace as the war left 6,000 dead, and much in need of humanitarian aid gun battles in erbil as iraqi forces tried to keep

i.s.i.l. at bay. our correspondent has been talking to troops about the fight and obstacles. we want to warn you some of the video is graphic. >> reporter: these kurdish peshmerga fighters just repelled an i.s.i.l. attack. don't touch the body they, the soldiers can be heard - it's a dead suicide bomber. they say most i.s.i.l. fighters are foreigners and take drugs when they attack the peshmerga positions. later they drag a body out of a military vehicle. this, the fighters say, is the future of d.a.e.s.h., that they call i.s.i.s. this one goes "this is our land, we will defeat i.s.i.l." these are some of the most intense attacks faced by the peshmerga in recent months. i.s.i.l. fighters hit six front lines in the area. the kurdish fighters say they are able to defend their

positions. i.s.i.l. knows about the trenches dug by the peshmerga, and they are prepared with ladders to storm them. these weapons were left behind by the fighters, who launched multiple attacks from the 60km front line. soldiers say they have killed more than 100 i.s.i.l. fighters in less than a week. an officer told me the numbers of fighters shows that it is desperate. but the ferocity and frequency of attacks has taken the peshmerga by surprise. they thought they had pushed the group back. >> the attacks have taken a toll on peshmerga. more than two dozen fighters have been killed and more thatn 120 injured in the past few days. the continuing conflict is concerning human rights observers, over the treatment of the dead and how captives are

treated. after the battle. they disposed of bodies in a humane manner, and i.s.i.l. never showed interest in a prisoner swap. the fight with i.s.i.l. intensifies, the main priority is to keep i.s.i.l. at bay coming up at 8:30 eastern, a look at the week ahead. u.n. member states will look for ways to implement a resolution passed on friday, promising to cut the offenses of i.s.i.l. -- finances of i.s.i.l. rescuers are searching for survivors after a ferry transporting 110 passengers and crew members sank. it sank after encountering waves more than 10 feet high. the minister of transportation said 39 survivors and three bodies have been covered. doze ipsz are missing after a landslide engulfed a park in china. it's in the southern chinese city, in one of the biggest cities, in a major manufacturing

hub. rescuers are working to capture people. >> it used to be a busy industrial park in one of china's cities, full of factories, shops and homes. it's been buried under a thick layer of mud. nearly 1500 rescue workers have been on the scene throughout the night. trying to find survivors, a task hampered by unstable ground. the landslide swept away everything in its path. >> the landslide swept away everything in its path. 22 buildings have been destroyed, including two dormitories for workers. an area of 20,000 square meters is covered with soil. the landslide triggering an explosion to the gas pipeline. media reports suggest the landslide was caused by collapsing earth dug up during construction work over the past two years. seems the authorities had warning. they had time to evacuate hundreds of people before the landslide engulfed the area.

>> translation: more than 900 residents were evacuated. several hundred have been sent to hospitals. they do not have life-threatening injuries. >> reporter: people are spending the night in temporary shelters. the chinese president xi jinping is ordering local authorities to do all they can to help those affected by the accident. questions are raised about why an unstable mountain of earth was stored near to a busy industrial area. the focus is on the search and rescue, in the hope of finding some of the missing still alive adrian brown is joining us live from beijing. what information do you have about those who are missing, and any idea how many people are missing. >> well, randall. at the moment it is 59 people

missing, 36 men, 23 women, and there are desperate scenes. workers have been toiling throughout the night trying to detect the signs of life that they heard on sunday afternoon. now, it's now morning and the efforts to locate those trapped in buildings submerged by mud have been continuing. now, the police say that they believe they'll find people alive. they seem to be confident about that. they also point out that some 900 people were evacuated hours before this land slide happened. now, i've been looking at satellite pictures, and it's clear behind - almost above the complex there was a disused reservoir. that is where this illegal dumping of mud had been going on for several years. this was not a natural mountain,

it was a manmade mountain of mud. what caused it - the landslide to happen on sunday is not clear. after recent accidents and disasters like this in china, we have seen a lot of anger concerning corruption and laxed regulation, we saw it after the chemical disaster in august. at the moment the narrative in the official media is putting stress on the concern of government leader, rather than addressing issues of what may have caused the disaster. >> i noticed the population is some 7 million people. 59 sounds like a small number of missing for a city of that size. is it - as far as you know, was this a residential area, or could it be that may be not many people were living in the vicinity of the landslide, so, therefore, the number of missing

are so low in a city of 7 million? >> well no, the landslide happened beside a large industrial complex, so it's possibly fair to assume that given it was a sunday, that the workers had a day off, and were not necessarily in their dormitories. 22 buildings were covered by the landslide and two of those were dormitories used by migrant workers. most evacuated were migrant workers. these are the poorest of the poor in china, coming from impoverished part of the country to look for work in one of the richest cities in china. 300 million migrant workers in china living in grim continues. it's a work sleep life. they work up to 12 hours a day, and it's back to work. the dorm tris are next to the

factories where they spend much of their lives. adrian brown reporting from beijing. >> in india, hundreds protest the release of a man convicted in a gang rape in 2012. sentencing laws for rapists must be reformed, says advocates, and attitudes towards violence much women. we have this report from new delhi. offender involved in a 2012 gang rape attack, raiding questions -- raising questions about the juvenile justice system, what happens to young frnts in the system, and importantly what happens once they are released. what is the roadmap for their rehabilitation, development and their reintegration into society, a society that is deeply, deeply angry and frustrated by issues of sexual violence, and as we have heard from t experts and people we have been speaking to about the issue, that this is a long-running problem, and this case is once

again drawing attention to the root causes of one of india's biggest issues saatchi is doing what many young women do, she's out and about enjoying her day off. with personal safety a big concern, saatchi says having fun is limited to day times. >> it's too difficult to go out without a family member or without friends. day time it's a bit save. at night you can't hang out with your friends. there's no security. >> anger at the lack of safety with women spilled on to the streets of new delhi in 2012, after a woman was gang raped in a bus. the indian government says it has taken action to improve conditions for women. but according to official crime statistics, nearly 100 women are

raped in india every day. experts say this figure is grossly under-reported. >> the attack three years ago provoked millions of indians to talk about sexual violence and safety. experts that followed and document the issues warned they have been india's secret shame. >> across the country rape is blamed on social and cultural norms, which encouraged men to assert power over women. there's a large patriarchal mind-set that is in operation. and which has manifested itself in many ways, including sexual violence against women. >> dr midra studied sexual offenders for more than 20 years, and says a lack of accountability at all levels is a reason why sexual violence is so prevalent. >> the sense that i can get away

with what i have done, the crime i have done, or my offense is something increasing in the minds of the average person, especially the offenders. they know about it. secondly, the criminal justice system is falling apart. >> outside the market that saatchi is shopping in, a group of men hand over to police a man they accuse of assaulting women. safety in numbers provides little comfort to women here. they are counting on goodwill of people around them, to ensure the fear of sexual violence doesn't get in the way of their lives. . >> thank you, that report from new delhi in the last hour we spoke to lesley edwin, the director of india's daughter, and she met with the con flights. >> i did not find knif these men

to be monsters. it would have been more comforting if i am. violence against women is a symptom of a disease that is gender inequality, and until and unless we root out the cause, and start behaving like surgeons, not just like surgeons ners us addressing the wounds and reacting to the fall out after the damage has been done, the only way to change a mind-set and root out the cause is education. she believes it is unreasonable for people to protest the release, and says he served the maximum sentence. she said if they wanted him behind bars longer, they had the last three years to change the law. >> voters in the balkan country of slovenia rejected a same sex marriage referred. >> over 63% voted against a bill that would have defined marriage

as a reunion of two adults, rather than a man and woman, opponents pushed through a vote on the issue today. >> nevertheless, 22 countries allow same-sex marriage. most of those countries are in europe and americas. marriage equality exist in some areas of mexico. >> a boy scout hike through the booed turns into a terrifying experience. coming up, a scout leader attacked by a bear in new jersey. coming up, i'll tell you about a community in knoxville tennessee in mourning, people remembering a teenage boy who risked his life to save three girls from bullets. the story of a high school football player is next.

breaking new us coming in tonight - public schools in new hampshire will be closed after receiving a threat. the district website says there's a detailed threat of violence to harm students and staff at two high schools. the superintendent expects classes to resume on tuesday. now to knoxville tennessee, a community in mourning after the death of a teenage boy who police say shielded three girls from gun fire. he died on thursday night in an unintended victim of gang violence. patricia sabga is here with that -- roxanna is here. >> people who knew zaifion dobson remembered him as a

mentor tore kids. now they call him a hero. >> reporter: in this community, xavier dobson is a hero, who lost his life so his friends could live. >> he is a hero. >> dobson was sitting on this porch with a group of schoolkids on thursday night when several men with gang ties randomly slot at them. >> xavier dobson, ta 15-year-old high school and football player was shot and killed after jumping on top of three girls, to shield them. sorry. to shield them from the shooters. >> reporter: the girls were not injured. they were shaken. >> i'm like you can get up now. he couldn't get up. i went upstairs and came back to make sure everything was real. i looked at him. he was shot in the head. >> reporter: the high school football team released this photo honouring the linebacker

tweeting: >> you know, to think that bullets are flying and he has tried to get some young ladies to lay down to get on top and protect them t speaks of his character. >> reporter: sunday president obama tweeted about the teenagers death, writing: one of the girls dobson saved defeated: -- defeated: dobson's brother days the teenager dreamed of becoming a football player or a coach. police say one of the suspects died from a gunshot wound, but the investigation is ongoing. we'll find out more in the future. >> thank you a boy scout leader was attacked by a bear while leading

three scouts through the woods in new jersey. he was airlifted to the hospital with nonlife threatening injuries, they were not harmed during the attack. the incident occurred a day after the end of new jersey's extended bear-hunting season. >> two weeks after jimmy carter revealed he is cancer free the former president was struck by tragedy, the death of 28-year-old grandson jeremy carter. >> he got ready to eat supper. he told his mother he thought he'd lie down a while. he went to his room, laid on the bed. she went to see if he was okay. his heart quit beating president carter says his grandson was revived at the hospital, but his heart stopped again this morning. >> the united nations is convinced one of the ways to stop i.s.i.l. is to attack their finances. next in the week ahead, a look

at where the group's money is coming from. what we found out may surprise you. later. technology providing hope for a.l.s. patients, allowing them to communicate when the ability to speak begins to fail.

welcome back to al jazeera america here is a look at the top stories. spanish voters change the course of politics in their country. their support of two new political parties, including the far left party has ended the

traditional two party system in spain. the ruling conservative people's party won the most seats in parliament, but may not be able to shape the next government. >> hundreds are demanding reforms in india following the release of a victim in the 2012 gang rape. the rapist was a juvenile, given the sentence of a minor. india needs to change the juvenile sentencing laws. >> in knoxville, a community remembers a 15-year-old high school football player, dobson, who lost his life saving three friends from a drive-by shooting on thursday. police say he laid on top of three girls to protect them from bullets. >> it is sunday night and time for our regular look at "the week ahead". this week world leaders are renewing commitment to cut off funding to i.s.i.l. the united nations security council adopted a resolution requiring countries to report

steps taken to impose sanctions. the council ordered governments to stop making ransom payments and trading with i.s.i.l., but says some countries are not implementation ementing the rules. the task of cutting off i.s.i.l.'s tax flow will not be easy. it sells ancient relics after taking over cities and receives contributions from wealthy donors. oil is the group's largest single source of income. i.s.i.l. makes up to $50 million per month selling crude to areas it has in iraq and syria. patricia sabga takes a look at i.s.i.l.'s finances. >> reporter: u.s. air strikes targetting i.s.i.l. fields, tankers, border footholds, for the black market soil trade. a strategy aimed at a pillar of the i.s.i.l.'s economy which analysts say is starting to

bite. >> over the last few weeks we have seen the price of oil in raqqa doubling. we have seen new agricultural taxes imposed. a couple of of days ago, and we have seen other creative measures of revenue. >> reporter: analysts at ihs estimates i.s.i.l. brings in there 80 million u.s. a month. 43% from oil. and 50% from extorting taxes, tolls and protection money from civilians in the areas it claims as a state. >> it's a large number for a terrorist organization, a small number for a state. one that is has to pay and arm fighters while providing services for electricity and education in territories encompassing half of syria and a third of iraq. budget pressures that explain why i.s.i.l.'s oil revenues have been squashed and population squeezed harder. >> in iraq, the islamic state

started to charge people a fixed rate for leaving the cal fate. that goes up to $900 for young men of fighting age and is less for anyone else. >> an exit tax resulting from a coalition strategy designed to degrade the group from the bottom up. >> the elite leadership lives like kids, regional leaders live like barons, and the local military commanders and forces live better and are paid better than the average citizens. in the long run it could bring down i.s.i.l. from within. in the short term, the group has plenty of muscle to make up for the loss of revenue by financially pummelling the civilians it controls. we'll get back to i.s.i.l. in a few minutes. more on tonight's breaking news tory in new hampshire where schools will be closed tomorrow after receiving a threat.

the district website says there's a detailed threat of violence to harm students and staff at two high schools. superintendent of schools mark conrad joins us live on the phone. superintendent conrad, can you hear me okay? >> yes, i can. >> thank you for joining us. could you tell us when you received the threat, and how it came in to you. >> well i tell you we received the threat this weekend. i can't give you more details to what you cited. it is an ongoing police investigation. it was a detailed threat. it was specific for saying it would take place within the high schools, and specific on the means with which it would harm students and occur tomorrow. because we have not been able to work in with the police department, determining whether it was a credible threat. we decided to air on the side of caution and reassure parents that we were making a decision

to keep children safe in the community, and so we made a determination to cancel all 17 schools tomorrow. with the anticipation that we'll be agreeable to open on tuesday, since the threat was specific to taking place on monday. >> how many students are we talking about that will be staying at home tomorrow? >> we have 11,400 students across 17 schools. i sthaum you not only have been in touch with local authorities, but the f.b.i. . >> our - you would have to talk to the nashville police department. they have been working with agencies as appropriate. and have been actively working on this today. >> and you indicate that you don't know whether it's a credible threat. as you well know this part week we had an example of what turned out to be the same kind of threat in los angeles, received in new york, by was determined was not credible. are you concerned that may be it's somebody who doesn't want to show up at school to take a

test? >> well you always have that concern. you have to air on the side of safety. i don't know what the specific threat was that was made in los angeles or how much it came in. we can only respond to what we know here in nash, and the concerns we know is a community for student safety, and so i think every school district has to make its own decision, and we are going to air on the side of caution in saying we are closed tomorrow. these are difficult decisions that the superintendent has to make. we can see the decisions made in new york and los angeles. >> one final question before we let you go. will there be a search of school facilities? >> again, you'd have to speak with our police department about that. since that would be part of their investigation.

>> thank you superintendent mark conrad, nashville new hampshire, where they are closing schools because of a threat being vetted. thank you for joining us on al jazeera america back to the leap ahead in the financing of i.s.i.l. joining us via skype, the managing director at karduchi consulting, an intelligence firm focussing on energy in iraq and kurdistan, and from stamford california, brian fisher, counterterrorism official, and author of studies on terrorism and al qaeda. first question to you, mr fi [s]hma, do you have -- fi [s]hma, do you have any idea of how many money i.s.i.l. has, and how does it get its funds. >> your reporting shows the state of the art in terms of the amount of money that i.s.i.l. is bringing in. what is important to understand is it is getting revenue from a variety of ways, from the bottom um in terms of taxation and

extortion from the population, and the top down, through the large scale state run industries, much is oil, but you have cement, agriculture, and seems like it's running electricity grids. the notion of a multijip face eteded rev -- multifaceted revenue stream is important when we cut off one stream, they may get revenue in other ways. that's why there's a multi face eteded effort to cut -- faceted effort to cut down on the ability to raise money. the question about the effort of the united nations to freeze the assets of i.s.i.l., do you think the u.n. resolution has a chance of being effective. what is your opinion of that

strategy? there's a lot of measures. the finance of terrorism has been under scrutiny from financial institutions. the new measures are rehashing the old ones. it's difficult for terrorist groups to raise finances or move money about and so on. they worked out, as we saw in paris, they used prepaid credit cards and so on. that - only a small amount. most of the financing in cash. as guests alluded to, most of the trades and cash generations were within syria for i can. these groups proved to be versatile when a stream is blocked or hindered. they find other ways to make money. the electricity grid and other things were alluded to. today i was talking about a

group and how if you bomb the oil facilities, what do you end up with. they make money out of the trucking, taking surcharges from the drugging, so they'll have fuel -- trucking. so they'll have fuel coming in. >> let me ask you about some specific methodology that are used at i.s.i.l. financiers. the remittance, salaries of government workers. they appear to work out a means of tapping in to finance with or without revenues. for example, within the i.s.i.s. territory, you have tax collectors, people who have no - informers who know the bigger businesses or individual businesses to have access to the books. they have worked out

sophisticated ways to cream of money or extortion. these guys are not - just disappear, and if you - if you are blocking high finance, i think it will work. i.s.i.l. finances was taking away territory. huge territory, and nearly 5, 6 million population. that's the resource. that was the resource, whether it's human or assets on the ground. they worked out how to take the money out of the system. >> next question to you, i'm curious. do have you already idea who the brain trial and trust is of i.s.i.l.'s finance. who organized this thing. it takes someone who has

knowledge, and we understand it is the issue, issuing passes and selling arms that they have. they have a very organized way of doing that. who is behind that. when you get down to it, a lot of people. one of things is i.s.i.l. has been running extortion rackets reframed as taxation, because they are quarter and quarter state. they've had a 10-year head start doing this. when they were taught of has a terrorist organization. they were pulling revenue out of construction companies, getting contracts. they've been doing this for a long time. a thing we have seen throughout the period is that these fundraising mechanisms have been driven from the local provinces

within what we now call the islamic state. and so you are going to have taxation officials running for the local provinces, raising money, pushing some revenue up to the national level, islamic state. what is interesting here is that taxation is going to be very, very federated out to regional organizations. at the top level where you have complex economic processes, where you are both, you know, pulling oil out of the ground, refining it, moving it to market. potentially to a market outside of i.s.i.l. controlled territory, those are the areas where you have centralisation at the national level and you have revenue probably coming from the top down. at this point, you know, that is the place where you actually

might be able to have a real impact with some - if you can - the proof is in the pudding. it's harder to actually get iraq, turkey, syria and the fairs elements of the militaries to crack down. >> hold that point for a second. in addition, fighters took about $500 million from the central bank. 12 million from volts owned by the city, and took control of 1 million tonnes of grain. i.s.i.l. is in growl of 8,000

props from which it takes rent. the loot is sold on the markets. look at this, a car, motorbike, tables, chairs, television will go for about half price for those that pledge allegiance to i.s.i.l. so here is the question. there is this debate. is i.s.i.l. a state. is it an organization. my question to you. maybe we'll go back to you for this one - does it really matter whether or not i.s.i.l. is a state or organization if it can direct those kinds of funds? >> well, the thing is i.s.i.s. behaves like a state. and what they are trying to do, they become hard in the state. their asset. the territory is where they get the resources from. for me, if you let them stay there. they'll carry on, there's not going to be much movement,

whether you have various forces from the ground, or the other noted rate that occurs. neither will he be able to move them. the reality is on the ground where you have the group. the ideology. they prove that they are unable to run their territory, pretty much like a state. we are talking about taxation and electricity grid. oil industry, running. they control most of syrian oil. they have been trying to go for the iraqi wells. and you mentioned all the elements that - the banking systems in iraq. and we forgot the military, tens of billions of equipment. and they have been trading with this stuff. >> we are about to run out of time. i want to get back to that point about the military equipment. which came from the iraqi

military, that came back to handing over when they pulled out of there. >> what do you do at this point. really, to stop i.s.i.l. in its tracks? >> i don't think i.s.i.l. will be stopped in its tracks. i think the campaign against i.s.i.l. will take a long time. we have to get comfortable with the fact. the reality is i.s.i.l. in iraq and syria is on the defensive. it's losing territories in iraq. that is going to be a long slow slog, and we'll have this conversation years from now. you know, cracking down on i.s.i.l.'s financing is going to make a difference. you know, this sounds like a lot of funny, hundreds of millions. when you compare it to a group like al qaeda, it's an extraordinary amount of money, i.s.i.l. has an infrastructure that a group like al qaeda never had to worry about. they have more people, soldiers,

hospital, they have to pay people to run of the streets. they are things that the terrorist organizations don't worry about. so a terror attack like the paris attack. those are the kinds of things al qaeda needed to fund. i.s.i.l. has to fund, us know, the sort of vagaries of every day life because they are claimed to be a state, and they want to - in order to maintain a certain level of legitimacy, they want to provide a minimal standard of living. that is much as our own leaders know, is easier said than done. they are having a hard time doing it. >> thank you very much. brian fi [s]hma. thank you for joining us this evening on al jazeera america and before we go. here is a look at other stories we'll watch in "the week ahead". europe's refugee crisis expected to hit a milestone by tuesday. it is expected 1 million refugees would have arched on

the continent this year. >> u.s. army sergeant bowe bergdahl appears in military court accused of desertion and endangering troops when held captive by the taliban for five years. the president will be in moscow. he is expected to discuss joint military and nuclear projects. the deal could boost its economy amid the western sanctions next - new hope for a.l.s. patients. a windfall of funding for technology allowing them to communicate when the ability to speak begins to fail.

a programme at boston's children's hospital got a boost to give hope to people suffering a.l.s., technology allowing them to communicate request loved ones when vocal ability fails. we are shown how it works. >> on a snowy day in the off season the training camp for the baltimore ravens football team seems deserted, but the senior sidsor to player development -- advisor to player development is at his desk. >> what keeps you coming here? >> sure i could have stayed hope and gone into seclusion after a.l.s. coming to work is about refusing

to give up. >> reporter: aj was diagnosed with an incurrable disease, a.l.s., at 37. he speaks through his eyes, gadsing at his screen producing a sin they say sissed voice. >> how frustrating is it to hear your voice. . >> frustrating for a while. but i'm thankful to communicate through the use of technology. >> what happens is the camera looks how the light is reflecting out of your eye. >> reporter: the computer is sending out infrared rays. the dark spots absorb the rays and the light spots reflect it back to the computer. >> exactly. >> reporter: my eyes work the keyboard like fingers. there's almost 3,000 words or phrases i can choose from, or i can type my own. the melding of computers and

personal recording is a brain child of speech pathologist. we started with a hand-held recorder. >> that is significant. >> reporter: recordings are uploaded to the computer and assigned to phrases and short cuts like medical, food for social. >> i love you too, joanie. >> when you hear that, how does it make you feel? >> well, it helps me out. >> i thank you for everything. >> you're very welcome. emotional. happy. sad. bittersweet. don't want to lose it. and the good news, i guess, that the message bank - i don't have to lose it i don't know lost her partner but is thankful for the

voice making it able to communicate until the end. the man behind the programme joins us now, from boston children's hospital. congratulations on the $4 million windful. what will it allow your programme to do. >> thank you so much. the gift was given to us, was actually a $1.5 million gift from jay and randy fi [s]hma to help us begin to see many more people who have a.l.s. and help people who were at every turn, everything is taken away from them. and be able to preserve both their voice and their ability to have control through communication. respect in addition to that date. >> sorry, go ahead. >> so in addition to that 1.5. the fi [s]hma's spearheaded the

start of an endowment so - with the goal of the $10 million endowment. some of the funds are towards endowment. so we can hopefully continue the programme in perpetuity to help as maybe as possible. >> the story focused on the eye-tracking computers. you have been very much involved with message banking. tell us exactly what is it about message banking that is so important and how did you come up with the idea? >> well i think that our voices are really our acoustic fingerprint. they define us in a way that is beyond almost anything else about us. so the way one says something. the intonation, the pros itty is a reflection of who you are, and also a reflection of how people

understand us. we began thinking about message banking at boston children's hospital, in our intensive care unit, more than 20 years ago, as we started to work with children trying to addresses communication needs. it became clear there was some children we saw, who if we met them before their surgeries, before the planned surgeries, rather than at bedside in an i.c.u. when they are intubated and unable to speak. they'd be able to record their own messages in their own voice. >> how do you decide - sorry to interrupt you, because we are coming close to the end of the broadcast. how do you decide what comments, what words that you will ask people to record? >> we really ask people to think about words, messages, fradss that are re -- phrases that are reflections of who they are. because we have the luxury and honour of working with so many

with a.l.s. really, their family members are integral to figuring this out with them. family members will say you know, dad, you say it that way. make sure you record that. or when i hear you say aha, in that method, i know exactly what it means, and if i couldn't hear that, if it had to be delivered with just a flat synthetic speech, the richness of who you are would be lost and so the computerized speech is obviously good, but to hear the real voice is so much better. >> it's a real reflection of who we are and again allows someone to preserve that - that peace of self at a time when so much is being taken away from them. >> thank you for joining us on al jazeera america good luck with the project. >> before we go, a reminder of breaking news regarding the threat to new hampshire's school

district. we spoke with superintendent mark conrad on the phone about the ongoing situation. >> we decided to err on the side of caution and make a decision to cancel all 17 schools in tomorrow. with the anticipation that we'll open on tuesday. with more, coming up when we return at 11:00pm eastern, 8:00p.m. pacific. thank you for joining us. i'm randall pinkston in new york. stay tuned, "faultlines" is next. molly crabapple. >> who emerges from life unscathed? >> i lived that character.

>> we will be able to see change.

>> when i became aware of my surroundings, there was no electricity. it was quiet then. >> the land was wide. no dust. nothing but green grass, tall green grass, so pretty.