audience and powerful voice in the fight against childhood slavery. port-au-prince, haiti. there's lots more on line at our website and all the days top stories at aljazeera.com. >> panic on the las vegas strip, a driver mows down people outside a casino. >> it looked like she wasn't trying to stop the car. >> one dead, dozens injured in what police call an intentional act. in new hampshire, public schools shut down over a specific threat of silence. the head of national soccer plans to appeal after handed an eight year ban.

this is aljazeera america live from new york city, i'm stephanie sy. a young woman is behind bars this morning suspected of mowing down dozens of pedestrians on the las vegas trip. one person is dead, more than three dozen are injured, including six who were in critical condition. this happened with a toddler in the car. this morning, the suspect is undergoing alcohol and drug testing. we have more. >> a chaotic scene on the vegas strip after a driver crashed into the crowd. >> she was running over everybody. >> police say a female driver ran over dozen was people near the paris hotel and planet hollywood, the venue for last night's miss universe pageant. >> this group of people here and just ran over about 30 people,

children, families. >> it was like oh my god, what's going on, this is las vegas, this is christmas. >> witnesses say the driver steered on to the curb multiple times. >> it looked like she wasn't even trying to stop the car. she had both hands on the wheel locking straightforward. >> investigators ruled out terrorism but say the crash was done on purpose. >> we have determined that this is an intentional act. >> police say a child was also inside the car. >> we do know that there was a toddler in the vehicle with the driver who is three years old and that toddler is unharmed. >> some witnesses tried to stop the driver. >> people were touching the window trying to get the child out of the back seat. the public school in new hampshire is shut down after a detailed threat of violence to harm students and staff at two high schools. the superintendent mark conrad told us that it's still too early to tell if the threat has

connection to those at other schools last week. >> i think time will tell whether it becomes more of a pattern. if it becomes a pattern, school systems may decide to deal with it differently. these are difficult decisions and i don't know what the los angeles threat was specifically. it may be very different from the threat we received, each community superintendent working with their police agencies have to make that determination for their community and i think you'll find most err on the side of caution particularly in these times. parents are very concerned about the safety of their children which is one of the reasons we decided to close the entire district, because if we're saying two of our schools housing four of our grade levels are unsafe, we just felt that many parents would have determined to keep their children away from school today and i think it made sense to be cautious so that when we do open, we can say to parents we are focused on safety and believe it is safe to reopen our schools.

he expects classes to resume on tuesday. nato says at least six foreign soldiers have been killed in a suicide attack in afghanistan. it is not clear what nations those soldiers came from, but nato says a man on a motor bike attacked a joint u.s. afghan patrol they're baghram air base. the taliban claimed responsibility for the bomb, which injured three other troops. afghanistan's president is promises swift action as the taliban makes major gains in the south. gunman seized a district in the province. more than 90 afghan soleeries have been killed. this is considered the biggest victory for the taliban since september when kunduz in the north briefly fell to the group. a friend of the attackers in san bernardino is due in court today, enrique marquez is expected to enter his plea. prosecutors say he bought the guns that sayed farook and

tashfeen malik used to kill 14 people. there were raised in brussels in connection to the paris attacks. police arrested five over two days. it's not clear what role any had in the attacks. police are still looking for another person in connection to the attacks. on: peter sharp has a report from moscow. the french defense minister will be meeting with his russian counterpart at the kremlin where france will formally ask for an extension and an increase in the airstrikes being carried out by russia in syria. they also will be consulting on how to share intelligence between the two countries.

the french defense minister said he knows that there are many russian speakers in isil and he would be asking for information on them and be prepared to supply information on french speakers in the jihadist group. russia now has about 60 aircraft, fighters and bombers in the latakia air base and is carrying out continued strikes against isil and other what it deems terrorist targets. it's carried out 4,000 sortes since it started at the end of september. meanwhile, the french have moved their aircraft carrier charles de gaulle into the gulf and it has 26 bombers onboard. >> peter sharp reporting. this is only the sect bilateral meeting between the french and russian ministers. it is going to be a warmer day in central and western new york state after the region got a taste of winter over the weekend.

a foot of heavy snow fell near lake ontario. a few places received three feet of lake effect snow. there will be high winds today, which could mean difficult driving conditions this morning. santa said bringing back warm weather for much of the east this weekend. let's bring in nicole mitchell. not considered a gift for all of us. >> i would like the white christmas. >> me, too. >> we were showing the video of lake effect areas. sometimes, i've lived there and it's all that shoveling, you can watch the weather and say it's going to melt if i just wait a day or two, so maybe you can procrastinate and mother nature will take care of it. the western half of the country has definitely the cooler air. this is going to be our pattern for the rest of the week, while the west is hit and miss above below average, the eastern half of the country not only clearly above average, but some place 3. cities that should be in the 40's this time of year, could be

in the 70's. we could see that forecast if i jumped right forward to thursday, christmas eve day, look at this, 70's up the east coast, 73 in memphis, so you really have to get behind that to get some of that colder air, and where we have the colder air, that's our best chance for places that could actually have a white christmas. not great chance, the eastern half of the country to see that snow. we see it in the western weather systems, winter officially hails in overnight tonight, the one in the western tier of the country clearly snow and it stays that way into tomorrow, as well. >> as a result of this warm weather, i'm getting spring allergies. nicole mitchell, thank you. amtrak has now reportedly activated a new crash prevention system between new york and philadelphia. the system called positive train control can take over a train before it speeds through a curve or if the engineer becomes disabled or distract. eight people were killed and

hundreds more injured earlier this year when an amtrak train derailed near philadelphia. the average cost of a gallon of gas nationwide now costs less than $2. the average is now $1.99. that is 40 cents lower than a year ago. falling gas prices are due in part to increased domestic production and weaker global demand. suspended from the game as a punishment, the head of international soccer over bribery, seth blatter plans to appeal. new hope for a.l.s. patients, allowing them to communicate even as they lose their ability to speak.

two soccer top officials are planning to appeal now they're band from the game. the fifa president seth blatter and michel platini were both suspended for eight years. an internal ethics panel found them guilty of abusing their positions connecting them to a $2 million bribe. blatter said it's not true. >> suspended eight years, i will fight for me and i will fight for fifa. suspended eight years for what? >> i think a few years ago, if we had the president of fifa banned for eight years, it would

have been surprising, but there's been scandal embroiling fifa since the decision in 2010 toward the world cups in 2018 and 2022 to russia and qatar, which is something american soccer fans in particular will remember with the u.s.a. having been in line to be hosts. we were expecting a ban of seven years for both of them in line with what other officials have received. what would have been a surprise i think today would be if they had life bans. that would only have happened in the case where they were found guilty of actual corruption. in this case, they were found guilty of other issues which i think in many people's eyes would still relate to corruption, but whether it's a surprise or not, it looks like very likely the end of seth blatter's career in football and dicey moments for michel platini if he wants to be the president

of fifa in the future. i've been speaking to people close to the appeals process. what he'll initially need to do is go through the appeals committee that fifa have. after that, he'll have to go to the court of arbitration for sport. before that can happen, he'll need a full written response from the ethics committee about why exactly they made these bans and these fines. it's only been a summary decision so far, but in terms of seth blatter, he's really yesterday's man in terms of football, but he's also a very proud man, as we saw during this press conference today, and he will just really want to be out to clear his name and when his successor is elect february 26, he was hoping to go out on a wave of triumph, really, and as a successful penalty of fifa, which is very much in the balance now. >> both men have been fined

$40,000 for blatter, $80,000 for platini. breaking political news in the presidential race. senator lindsey graham is suspending his bid for the presidential nomination, saying he's hit a wall in trying to get support. he has been polling at the bottom of the pack for months. >> a new poll puts ted cruz at the top among republicans. the survey shows cruz lead, 40%, donald trump has slid to second there at 31%, marco rubio is in third. dr. ben carson is now in fourth place. >> hundreds marched outside the trump international hotel and tower here in new york on sunday. they were rallyion against what they call trump's racism. he was called out on saturday by hillary clinton during the democratic debate.

>> he is becoming isis' best recruiter. they are going to people showing videos of donald trump insulting islam and muslims. >> she just made it up. she made it up. it was a sound bite. >> trump saying that clinton lies like crazy about everything, his words. afterwards, a clinton spokeswoman saying there is no particular video to which she was referring. the family of former president jimmy carter is in mourning, remembering his grandson, 28-year-old jeremy. carter revealed the death during his regular sunday sermon. >> when he got ready to eat supper, he told his mother he thought he'd go lie down a while. he went to his room to lay on the bed and she went to see if he was ok and his heart quit beating. >> his grandson was revived at the hospital but his heart stopped again. the cause of death is unclear. two weeks ago, the former president announced he was in remission from brain cancer. knoxville tennessee is remembering a teenager they are

calling a hero. police say the teen shielded three girls from gang related gunfire. even the president is praising his courage. >> in knoxville, tennessee, they are remembering a teen they say was a hero. he was sitting on this porch with a group of kids thursday night when several men with gang ties randomly shot at them. >> a 15-year-old fulton high school student and football player was struck and killed after he had jumped on top of three girls to shield them. sorry. to shield them from the shooters. >> the girls were not injured, but they were shaken. >> i was like you can get up now. he didn't get up, so i just went upstairs and i came back to make sure everything was all right. i looked at him. he had got shot in the head.

>> dobson's high school football team released this photo to honor the linebacker, tweeting we want you to know that he was an outstanding young man who will always be remembered as a hero. >> to think that bullets were flying and zavian was trying to get some ladies to lay down so he could get on top of them and try to protect them speaks to his character. >> sunday, president barack obama also tweeted about the teenager's death, writing dobson died saving three friends from getting shot. he was a hero at 15. what's our excuse for not acting? one of the girls he saved tweeted, he died laying on top of me. i love him, that's my brother, man, rest easy, i'll never forgot you. more trouble for a drug company c.e.o. hackers took over martin shkreli's twitter act after he took to the service to plead in

fence on fraud charges. he raised the price of one life saving drug by 5000%. some say that show patent laws need to be overhauled. >> shkreli has made the grievous sin of speaking the truth. he's an extreme version of what is in fact business as usual, and it's important to point out nothing he did was illegal. now maybe it should have been, but it really wasn't. there are many, many decisions in health care and in the health care industry that aren't really done in the public interest and he illustrated it with that quite stunning statement that he gave at a forbes conference, so last year, cancer drugs, the newest ones coming on the market probably cost over $100,000 each and many older drugs have been around for 20 years have, you know, quadrupled or gone up five times in price, even though they're supposed to be coming down.

in a sense, cancer drugs, the new drugs for hepatitis c. is also extremely expensive. insulin, which has been around 100 years is still not really available as a generic. a lot of the pricing is supported by a patent system and patents are supposed to reward innovation and reward people who really are bringing value to patients, but i think what we're seeing is it's not doing that. the system is seriously broken. the reality is it's not just drugs. in fact, health carey pricing in general is quite irrational and there's been a lot of scrutiny. if we're really going to be honest, what we have to do is examine what is the public interest and how do we actually get pricing that's truly rational in the health care system. >> shkreli has repeatedly defended his decision to price hike.

he said it would allow turing pharmaceutical to develop new drugs. a program at boston children's hospital got a big financial boost, some $4 million to help patients suffering with a.l.s. continue to communicate with loved once. >> on a snowy day in the off-season, the training camp for the baltimore ravens football team seems deserted, but a.j., the senior advisor to player development is at his desk. >> what keeps you coming here? >> sure, i could have stayed home and gone into seclusion after my a.l.s. diagnosis, but coming to work is about refusing to give up. >> o.j. was diagnosed with the paralyzing and incurable disease, a.l.s., when he was 37 years old. he speaks through his eyes, gazing at his computer screen to produce a synthesized voice named mel. >> how frustrating is it to not

hear your own voice? >> frustrating for a while, but i learned to be thankful that i could still communicate through the use of technology. >> so the camera scans my eyes there. >> exactly. >> what happens is the camera looks at how the light is reflecting out of your eye. >> the computer is sending out infrared rays. all the dark spots in your eyes absorb the rays and white spots reflect them back to the computer. >> exactly. >> now calibrated to my gaze, my eyes work the keyboard like fingers. there are 3,000 programmed words or phrases i can choose from or i can type my own. the program was the brian child of speech pathologist john costello, boston's children's

hospital. >> we started with a hand held recorder. >> the recordings you are uploaded to the computer and assigned to the short cuts, like medical, food or social. >> i love you, too, joni. >> when you hear that, how does it make you feel? >> well, it chokes me up. >> 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, about the message banking is that i don't have to lose it. since the interview aired, joan loft her partner, holly. you can watch "tech know" today. the pageant winner that wasn't, the t.v. host on the hook for botching the crowning moment at the miss universe competition.

>> this morning, it seems the whole world is talking about the screw up at the miss universe pageant last night. >> miss universe, 2015 is colombia. >> steve harvey crowning miss colombia for the winner, there was excitement and disappointment for the runner up and then this happens. >> i have to apologize. the first runner up is colombia.

miss universe, 2015 is philippines! >> it was my mistake. it was on the card. >> miss university pageant officials apologized to both finalists for the faux pas. harvey apologized on twitter for his error. >> artist molly crap apple's life is full of experience from the middle east to the courtroom at guantanamo bay. i spoke to her about the profound message behind her art. >> your memoir, drawing blood starts with a scene of you drawing the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. why did you start there? >> i was summarizing everything paradoxical about art. i was sitting in this kangaroo court in guantanamo bay drawing the man who probably murdered

2,000 of my neighbors and while i was drawing him, i was breaking his face down into lines and angles. it sort of sums up everything that merit is about and it is taking something that is this moment that shows the raw edges and raw horrors of the world and combining that with esthetics. i've been to many places where bad things are happening, but guantanamo is our thing, the american horror. it is a place where when i went, they were force-feeding and torturing, really, dozens of men, while at the same time there was a cheerful gift shop that sold tee shirts saying it don't get more better than this. it was a place without self reflection where terrible crimes against humanity were were done with a chipper smile and down home accent.

i think that is why it struck me so deeply, even though obviously i've been to places where city blocks were being flat bombed and isis car bombing a garage near a refugee camp. i think guantanamo hit me closely because it was so intrinsically related to being american. >> you can watch the entire interview tonight. the force awakens is on track to becoming a billion dollars blockbuster. the movie took in at least $238 million here in the u.s. over the weekend, $20 million more than jurassic world opening this past june. disney c.e.o. predicted worldwide it may have taken in $28 million over the weekend. analysts say it should easily break the $1 billion mark. thanks for watching. the news continues next live from doha. have a great day.

♪ >> hello, and welcome to the al jazeera news hour. i'm martine dennis in doha with the world's top news stories coming up in the next 60 minutes. >> suspended eight years. i'll retire. i'll retire from fifa. >> defiance from sepp blatter. he said he'll challenge his eight-year ban from football. the