these veenlts. these eventualities. that's our show. the news continues on al jazeera america. >> on "america tonight," who sacrificed for those holiday gifts? there's pain hidden behind the screen. >> tell me what happens to the fingers on your right arm and your left hand. >> maintain's christof putzel exposes the rirvegz that the workers take to give us the goods. >> thanks for joining us i'm joie chen. think sweatshop and you will likely imagine unsafe working conditions half a world away.

but what if the products of that hard labor end up in your living room? as the market for bigger and better flat screens goes, there's the market across the border. christof putzel investigates the peril in the workplace. >> two miles south of the texas border, lies the city of reynoso, panasonic, black and decker and lg electronics call it home. the city is a source of cheap labor for these global giants with tens of thousands of workers bussed in and out of their shifts each day. reynosa the capital of employment the billboards read but behind the campaigns of smiling workers we found a different reality. >> can you tell me what happened to your right arm and the fingers of your left hand?

>> 26-year-old los castro was born and raised in raynoso, 26 months ago he went to work for a company and stamped the lg logo on front of tvs. just the second day on the job there was an accident.

>> like many of his co-workers, castro had little to no training before being put on the assembly line. reynosa's factories often run 24 hours a day to keep up with global demand. but to add insult to injury, companies like lg electronics have found a way to limit their liability when workers get hurt. it is common for big companies to contract smaller more anonymous ones to manufacture parts before final assembly. just driving down the road here we can see the lg electronics plant clearly labeled with the company logos. but where a lot of the manufacturing of their tvs actually takes place is just a short drive down the road here in a factory that's labeled only hd electronics. here at the imposing facility of hd electronics, the security

guards and darkened windows, is where castro had his accident. >> lot of corporations decided to go to mexico in order to avoid lawsuits in the u.s. lawsuits that would probably result in million dollar settlements, large, large settlements. i was able to stand up a lot straighter than -- >> in nearby edinburgh, texas, we were able to meet joe. >> what are the conditions like for workers inside these factories? >> unfortunately, the conditions have been very, very poor. there's so much injustice in the machilodores and the pay is so very poor in most cases. >> reporter: as krueger

watched the number grow, he formed a committee of support to educate the workers of their rights. at age 84, he still drives his rickety car over the border. organize weekly worker meetings, he compares it to bible study. the workers complain of poorly maintained machines, safety precautions, but their main grievance is the lack of alternatives they have. >> they make the products in the shell companies basically and they put it all together and put it together in the lg factory

and put their name on it. essentially, the companies are not following rules. workers are being injured constantly. and in the end lg doesn't have to take responsibility because lg says that's not my factory, my name's not on the front door. >> we were introduced to rosa moreno, a worker in the same electronics factory as castro. >> moreno was putting backs on

tvs when her be machine sunlt sy malfunctioned, molding her hands to the inside of the tv. >> what happened? mower knomoreno struggled to ren consciousness. the work injury would be officially recorded. she had seen other workers pass out during accidents only to be taken to hospitals where there would be no record of the injury. as a single mom raising six children her pay of $1.50 an hour was the only thing keeping her family afloat. after the accident she asked her factory manager if there were other jobs she could do.

without hands, moreno would never find work in the reynoso factory again. and she knew that this wasn't going to be enough to support her family. moreno filed a lawsuit against lg electronics. the case was thrown out. she also sued hd electronics but four years later that case is still pending in court. your lawsuit keeps reaching a dead end. what keeps you going, why do you keep trying?

>> "america tonight" reached out to hd electronics multiple times with no response. >> how are you? my name is christof with al jazeera america. >> a maintenance manager briefly spoke with us. >> people have there been accidents? >> nothing. >> no accidents? >> no accidents. >> never? >> never. one year there was no accidents. >> except for one year there have been no accidents. we have spoken to form he employees who lost their hands working here.

how did that happen? >> i don't know, they work in mistake or -- >> they made a mistake? when the north american free trade agreement was signed in 1993 the united states was supposed to be part of the solution. politicians vowed to increase mexico's labor protection as the industry boomed but 20 years later the protection may not have worked as planned. today moreno lives off of a small disability pension, less than $150 a month. >> what do you want americans to understand about the people that are making their televisions?

>> as for castro, he lives off a pension of roughly $175 a month. he has opened up a pet shop with his wife to make a little extra money. >> as we left reynoso over the border, another billboard loomed overhead, speak well of reynoso, here you have work. christof putzel, al jazeera.

>> a lawyer who called hold the phone. and a really tall tale of one that very nearly got away. later, on call. she's the emergency worker who delivers a surprise. with every crisis.

>> the makings of an expwhrcial

crisis resolved thiinternationad last week, one actor nicholas cage learned the skull he bought came from an illegal location in mon goelmongolia, one of the mot remarkable almost got away stories ever told. the great gobi desert in southern mongolia covers half a million square miles and is home to countless long extinct life forms. one of them turned up for sale in new york city. at stake the impending and legal

tarbasaurus batar. a smaller cousin of tyrannosaurus rex. >> this is really writ happened. for batar. all the travel that he did in the world and he ended up here. >> yeah, he went from i guess mongolia to japan, to england. to florida. to texas. to new york. >> that is one well traveled dinosaur. when heritage auctions advertised the sale of the dinosaur, the mongolians tried discretion. >> which is basically, auction company, how did you get this thing? we think it might be ours, can you show us the prov proaf pro y

said buzz off, no. >> in the saga of batar. >> make it official tell us who you are and what your role is. >> i'm the president of mongolia. >> that's president to you. >> can you tell me why the dinosaur is important for mongolia? >> because that is our nation's treasure. i think dinosaur, it is part of our heritage. >> to rescue that heritage, painter had to act fast. >> we have restraining orders but a really tough thing to do on a friday night is to find a judge that will hear the temporary restraining order. >> a colleague of painter's found it in dallas. it was in the middle of a music

festival and 10:00 at night. >> i got a phone call from an attorney who doesn't ever call me. he says here is the deal, i have a friend that went to law school, they are tyrannosaurus, batar or tyrannosaurus rex i think he said. i thought i was being pranked. >> the odds are close to zero. >> the texas judging issued a temporary restraining order to the auction house not know to sell the dinosaur. >> i heard it when i was in the awauction house. >> you went into the auction house. >> the sale of this next lot will be (inaudible). >> suddenly called the judge on his cell phone. he said you need to tell them i told mr. painter to remind them

that this was an order not a suggestion. >> you are the guy at the wedding that said stop. >> that's it. >> it's a good thing you're a big die. >> i'm just like da da da dial my phone, a blackberry, a dinosaur of itself. >> i need to interrupt, the judge -- >> who signed the restraining order that you're about to violate and he wants to explain why. >> the puzzle of auctioneer proceeds with the auction and it's finished and the guy on the phone bought it. >> for how much? >> $875,000 and that is -- >> so it is this 70 million year old monday goala mongolian fossg such a fuss, t rex and his cousin were fierce.

the auction house was asked to cooperate, with the batar safely moved to a warehouse in convenes. pleaded guilty to three felonies. transportation of stolen property, expir conspiracy and smuggling. the judge in texas has been officially recognized by the government of mongolia for his service. and he was flown back to mongolia first class. >> that's a great lesson to young generation and you have to fight for this in mongolia, have

something valuable. >> truly fitting end and by the way, the translation for mongolian word batar? it's hero. next, 9/11 and 87. the unlikely combination saving lives in maine. have

>> the new trend in retirement,. a recent survey finds most of

the people over the age of 65 don't want to retire. not the matter of having enough money, some people are just not ready to hack it up. "america tonight's" lisa fletcher foind a mainer putting the pedal to the metal redefining what it means to be an older worker. >> reporter: if you need emergency medical care in southern maine don't be surprised when edna mitchell shows up. an 87-year-old great grand mother edna mitchell is maine's olds emt and ambulance driver. >> basically when the pager goes off i'm ready. all i have to tell them is liberty 202 is responding. >> i imagine you hear, she can't do this, what are you thinking,

the surprise factor is huge. >> a couple of years ago, i went on a call and one of my swimming friends said, a woman in new hampshire was in an accident and some old woman helped them. so i know who they were talking about. >> a volunteer for the liberty fire department, mitchell covers 400 miles of coastal maine handling nearly 100 calls a year. nearly 4,000 calls in 37 years on the job. >> that is a lot of pressure. >> it is but you know i feel kind of dedicated to it. >> mitchell is a pioneer. her interest in emergency medical care goes back to world war ii, a time when women in jobs like emt or firefighter were rare. >> what got you interested in being an emt? >> well, during world war ii, my mother and father took a first aid class and i get right into it with them and i was a

teenager. when it was time for the final test, they let me go with them. and i took the final test and the word came back that i'd got highest rank. >> reporter: through the years, mitchell's has had other jobs, as a teacher, as a farmer but being an emt is her true calling. >> i got to hit my radio. >> reporter: the radio is always by her side. even when she's out tending to her 80 acres. >> isn't that a good sized beet right there? >> yes, look at that one over there. >> and that's my collards right there. there, am i a farmer or not? >> you're a farmer edna and an emt and a teacher and -- >> i should have brought a bag. >> what do you love most about doing what you do? >> i call it my social life. i get to see people.

i know, people i know and people i don't know and people i should know. the other ambulance people treat me like i was their age actually. they treat me so well. it's nies and it's fun and you feel like you've done something maybe it's an answer to your prayers. >> being a part of the gang keeps mitchell mentally young. staying physically young is also an important part of the job. >> when i get up in the morning, i -- the first thing i do, i do some situps before i even get out of bed because the quilts hold my feet down then i do 20 minutes of exercise then. >> so i challenged her to a friendly competition. >> we're dpog do it. >> well i'm ready, are you? >> look at you! >> you sure you're 87? >> i think so. >> dang! how many more? >> i don't know, i don't want to do them forever.

i've done 'em once today.all call it quits. >> okay. thank god she wanted to call it quits. >> even the recent death of her husband elmer has not slowed mitchell down. she's always ready to pick up a call, grab her gear and run out the door. her accomplishments haven't gone unnoticed. she's been recognized by the state legislature. and her dedication has inspired a family tradition. two granddaughters and a great granddaughter have followed in mitchell's footsteps. >> how old were you when you thought oh grandma does this pretty cool, i want to do that. >> i took the class for an ambulance tenant at 15 and at 16 for an emt, the next step up. >> did you go with her? >> we answered a lot of calls together. she has probably been the greatest influence in my life.

clearly i couldn't have had a better example. >> you've created quite legacy here. >> it's fun, they have felt so bofnld it. >> next year, her contract set to run out she's decided it's right time to finally call it quits. walking away from her life's calling won't be easy. until then though neighbors and visitors the liberty can rest assured edna mitchell is on the job. >> 202 to waldo com. >> you'll miss it? >> more than anything i can think of. >> lisa fletcher, al jazeera, liberty maine. >> sounds like she has another career ahead. tell us what you think. at aljazeera.com/americatonight. please come back, we'll have more of "america tonight,"

tomorrow. fp tomorrow. >> gaining ground. iraqi government claims it could retake the strategic city of ramadi from i.s.i.l. by the weekend. but u.s. officials say it could be a much more protracted fight. syrian crisis, opposition accuse the government of using serin