keach: it took nearly 4,000 years. but around 3500 b.c., in a culture known as sumer, the world's first cities emerged. now, a more complex economy required more complex record-keeping. accountants took a ball of clay which they poked inside with the fingers to make a cavity. you know, it's just like a tennis ball of clay or even smaller. and once they had a good cavity, they would put inside tokens, and then a flap would be put on top, and all of this was closed. and we are in pre-writing time. and at that time every sumerian had a seal. and when the stone is pressed onto the surface of the envelope, it leaves then a design which is then the mark of the person or the administration involved. keach: with these seals, up to four parties could sign a transaction. these envelopes could hold several tokens securely. but there was no way to know the contents until accountants began to press the tokens into the clay before dropping them inside. the system quickly evolved. it did not take a long time for these accountants to

keach: mr. sakkout is employed by market officials.he occasionally serves as auctioneer if asked, but in the main, his job is to settle disputes. everyone in the fez tanning industry is dependent upon others. the man who dries the finished skins cannot function without those who remove the hair, or without any of the other specialists in the trade. with so many dependent upon forces outside their control, new institutions inevitably develop. in fez, every specialty within the tanning industry has its own guild or craft association. the guilds serve their members by setting standards, restricting membership and controlling prices whenever possible. but perhaps more importantly, guilds represent the interests of their members before various authorities. sometimes this means catering to the public relation needs of the government. steward of the tanner's guild is sherrif mohamad alaoui. interpreter: if the king is coming or if someone from america or france is coming, we are asked to go out and show our happiness, our appreciation that th

can i throw out i'm having a very merry christmas, because your wife gave us a delicious keach, all of us at abc7 news -- quiche, all of us a at abc7 news. we were also fed, thanks to the thomas family. >> i'll be glad to pass that along. >>> 24 hour strike involving more than 1,000 registered hospitals set< to less than an hour at 7 a.m. this is the 8th walkout by members of the california nurses association against sutter health this year. the union has been in contentious contract negotiations for 18 months. sutter health says the strike was shrewdly calculated to cost extra because they have to pay fill-in nurses for the entire week for one day. >>> we havertpÑ new video showig firefighters putting out flames on a us airways jet late last night at sky harbor international airport in phoenix. fire officials say a small fire erupted in the rear of the plane. crews sprayed theb foam, it is believed that the auxillary power unit which supplies electricity to the plane overheated. no passengers were on the plane. >>> southwest airlines downplaying it, passengers tell us something happen

his wife with was kind enough to give me some keach, and it was an incredible interview as he brought me pack in time. his son told me something very striking, that arlington had denied their request for burial, because at the time of the war he was a french citizen even though general eisenhower had personally given him the distinguished service cross. and he was in uniform, in american uniform, and after the or war he became an american citizen as well as a world-renowned heart doctor that had done incredible things for america. to make a long story short, sent general petraeus ap e-mail, in ten minutes he got back to me, and we had for the next three months so-com, general petraeus, people had basically gone in and worked -- had written, the letters had been written to basically create a justification, an exception. three days ago rene will be laid to rest in arlington. [applause] yes, bob. >> dog company, do you see any proper recognition for what they did if. >> you know, i'm so pleased that many of the family and people that i know very perm hi are here -- personally are here. b