accumulates a lot of mercury. if a person consumes two servings of this fish per week they're getting 7.5 times the safe limit of mercury according to the world health organization. it takes two ounces of mercury to produce a single ounce of gold. that means 50 tons of mercury are used to extract the 25 metric tons of gold mined here each year. miners mix the soil with mercury often using their hands and feet, creating a clump of amalgam that contains gold. most miners are unaware of the dangers posed by mercury to the environment and their health. >> there are very few studies about the contamination of people due to mercury. >> reporter: biologists has closely monitored the dramatic increase of mercury use in this region. >> we recently finished one study made on a sample of 30 people in one mining area, and they were contaminated with mercury above allowable levels. the people that had the worst levels of contamination are those who are not miners, those not linked to the activity itself. they are the merchants

you don't even see where the mercury is. it's just a gas at that point. >> reporter: so this is the result of her work? >> right. >> reporter: this is the gold that's left over after the mercury is burned off. let's get it back to her and she'll have this weighed now and see what it is. ma'am, this is yours. after consulting an ancient scale and today's gold price in mali's capital, the verdict comes in. >> so almost a gram, $30. that seems well below international norms for the price of gold. >> yeah, sure. a lot of very hard work goes into it. >> very hard work indeed and incredibly dangerous. when we come back, richard engel goes in to find out what it's like down there. >>> aside from the rock, the rest of the surface is just soft mud, and a big concern, at least that i have, is that this mine could just collapse. center." the skyrocketing price of gold of late has driven some of the poorest people on earth to desperate measures to dig it out of the ground. for just a fraction of what the gold will fetch on the open mark

mercury.ce gets harder. it could save up to 11,000 premature deaths a year, john, by increasing these standards. >> what are the power companies saying? >> not everyone's going to love this, as you might imagine. the power companies, you know, this is going to cost money, they say. it's going to -- people may be laid off from the existing power plants, it could cost jobs as well and potentially affect the power grid. the epa responds to all of these things you have to hire more workers to bring these plants up to standard, you're going to save lives which will save money in the end. while they acknowledge an effect on the power grid, they think it will quickly come back up to speed. >> dr. sanjay gupta, appreciate your help. take care. >>> the prospect of retirement means no more money coming in. maybe social security, maybe money in the bank. if you're a politician or sports champion, a lot of money coming in. giving up political power could be the first step to collecting some big bucks. >>

but so is mercury. pluto's a lot punier-- 1/20th the mass of mercury. of mercury. gingerich: that's less than the mass of the moon. touchdown right there. (laughing) tyson: if we were to keep score of pluto's oddball traits versus its planetlike characteristics, how would it add up? brian thinks pluto's puny size disqualifies it from the planet team. so he gives one touchdown and, of course, the extra point to pluto the oddball. this is ridiculous. marsden: it's not ridiculous. tyson: mark disagrees. for him, size is less important than shape. pluto, like every player on our planet team, is round and not potato-shaped like nearly all asteroids. this sequence of images taken by the hubble space telescope, shows pluto as a sphere with a textured surface. sykes: when we fly our spaceship to pluto we will arrive at a round world that has an atmosphere that has bright and dark areas on the surface. and it will look much more like objects we call planets than these little irregular inert objects we call asteroids. so, roundness... you give it a full touchdown. yeah. two

rules curtailing toxic mercury emissions from power plants. >> brown: from morocco, ray suarez reports on muslim clerics tackling a taboo subject. >> ifill: margaret warner looks at egyptian women on the front lines of protest, some of them brutally attacked. >> brown: and we close with poet mark doty on a community coming together to sing a christmas tradition, handel's messiah. >> brown: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> intelligent computing technology is making its way into everything from cars to retail signs to hospitals; creating new enriching experiences. through intel's philosophy of investing for the future, we're helping to bring these new capabilities to market. we're investing billions of dollars in r&d around the globe to help create the technologies that we hope will be the heart of tomorrow's innovations. i believe that by investing today in technological advances here at intel, we can make a better tomorrow. >> and by the bill and melinda gates foundation. dedicated to the idea that all people deserve

rules curtailing toxic mercury emissions from power plants. >> brown: from morocco, ray suarez reports on muslim clerics tackling a taboo subject. >> ifill: margaret warner looks at egyptian women on the front lines of protest, some of them brutally attacked. >> brown: and we close with poet mark doty on a community coming together to sing a christmas tradition, handel's messiah. >> brown: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> intelligent computing technology is making its way into everything from cars to retail signs to hospitals; creating new enriching experiences. through intel's philosophy of investing for the future, we're helping to bring these new capabilities to market. we're investing billions of dollars in r&d around the globe to help create the technologies that we hope will be the heart of tomorrow's innovations. i believe that by investing today in technological advances here at intel, we can make a better tomorrow. >> and by the bill and melinda gates foundation. dedicated to the idea that all people deserve

rules curtailing toxic mercury emissions from power plants. >> brown: from morocco, ray suarez reports on muslim clerics tackling a taboo subject. >> ifill: margaret warner looks at egyptian women on the front lines of protest, some of them brutally attacked. >> brown: and we close with poet mark doty on a community coming together to sing a christmas tradition, handel's messiah. >> brown: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> intelligent computing technology is making its way into everything from cars to retail signs to hospitals; creating new enriching experiences. through intel's philosophy of investing for the future, we're helping to bring these new capabilities to market. we're investing billions of dollars in r&d around the globe to help create the technologies that we hope will be the heart of tomorrow's innovations. i believe that by investing today in technological advances here at intel, we can make a better tomorrow. >> and by the bill and melinda gates foundation. dedicated to the idea that all people deserve

. >> in his mercurial -- a great story about his -- mercurial, i love the word. >> and dictatorial style. how was he able to engender such loyalty -- let's go to mercurial. he wasmer curlal. so he is showing off the next computer at symphony hall here when it's been unveiled and he helped invent digital book outside but he put a thesaurus and shakespeare's book, and he is showing off the thesaurus and he says sometimes i am calmer curial and he says, let me look it up and it says changeable moods and then it described another word, somebody who doesn't have enough emotions. and he says, maybe it's not so bad to be mercurial. so i think he understand his mercurial nature and that was part of who he was. and having said that. i've now forgotten the second half of the question. >> how did he engender such creativity -- >> oh, look. when you're creating a machine as insanely great as that, even if you're in the middle of the night saying, this code is -- sucks, you got to make it better, by the time you've created as an engineer the original macintosh, you're loyal to the genius and the visi

the mercury news reports, a statement adopted last night identifies a long list of discrepancies betweenhe current project and the one approved by voters three years ago. it says palo alto believes the voters were not given accurate information during the 2008 election so they could not make an informed decision. city leaders believe the business plan is fatally flawed and not credible. >>> attention last minute shoppers! you and you keeping up on the latest deals is a fulltime job. a free web browser add-on called drop down deals may make it easier. it automatically displays coupons as you visit online retailers. it runs silent in the background. >> we won't display, we won't get in your way at all if we don't have a coupon ordeal. we have over 17,000 coupons. >> you punch that. >> chick that, drops down showing all the best coupons and deals for that website. >> drop-down gives you the coupon codes and information needed to get the deal allowing shoppers to search for specific products. >>> toys "r" us stores nationwide are open for business no rush they are going to stay that way unti

when we talk about reducing mercury levels in our environment, we're talking about lower amounts of mercury the fish americans eat each and every day. >> again, that was at a children's medical center. that is how the obama administration wants the country to understand this new rule. they rolled it out publicly with a pitch. mitt romney calls this new rule the invisible boot of government. which is a really ridiculous phrase, but it does get at a really important point. in the economy that we have, with the economic disparity we have, with the middle class longing that we still have, though we don't have much of a middle class anymore. from where we are now as americans, do we look at changes like these? changes like air pollution rules on mercury levels? do we look at changes like making it not as hard to form a union where you work. >> do we look at the changes an believe those things are helping us as a country or hurting? not every american is going to answer that question the same way. that's a good debate to have. whether or not we have to talk talk invisible boots to do it. joining

as soon as the police pulled up, the 16-year-old leapt out of a rusty mercury comet, almost identical to the one jennifer spalding reported to detectives two years earlier. the girl told police the old man had kidnapped her, raped her and held her prisoner in a basement dungeon. the old guy looked harmless, but the police decided to arrest him anyway and sort it out later on. quicker than you could say karaoke, it was over. >> he immediately exercised his fifth amendment rights, asked for a lawyer. >> what police didn't know is that they had one of the most prolific sexual predators in the region's history in custody. onondaga county sheriff kevin walsh said law enforcement and the local media hadn't even known there had been a single kidnapping and sexual assault, much less a series of them. >> as they were driving into the police station, he started telling them about the fact that he was with this girl who was a friend of his, and they'd had a relationship. >> and he's 67 and she's how old? >> 18. >> according to him? >> according to him. she's, in fact, 16. >> so he is talking wit

of nasa's spacecraft has alien hunters abuzz saying it shows a spacecraft parked near the planet mercuryit shows a flair revealing the object that was right there to the right of mercury. >>> the world's oldest dog has died in. japan at the age of 26 years and eight months. by some calculations, that would make his age 125 human years. >>> now here's your first look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens after gaining 46 points yesterday. the s&p gained 2 points. the nasdaq was down a fraction. overseas, the nikkei lost 50 points. the hang seng fell 132. wall street eeped out another day of gains as investors keep their fingers crossed over the summit. traders position themselves for either summit success, yielding a clear plan to put europe's debt under control, or a failure. those hedging against failure drove up the cost at the treasury note as well as gold. some sat on the sidelines. financials rose. the agency put the european union's credit rating on watch negative. . a second straight monthly gain in borrowing. bloated oil and gas supplies pushed oil prices lower.

the video shows a massive solar flare supposedly revealing the about to the right of mercury. >>> and the world's oldest dog according to guinness died at the age of 26 and 8 months. by some calculations that would put his age at a whopping 125 human years. >>> well, now here is an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,196 after gaining 46 points yesterday. the s&p added two points but the nasdaq was down a fraction. taking a look at overseas trading this morning in tokyo, the nikkei lost 58 points while in hong kong the hang seng fell 132. >>> well, wall street with another day of gains on wednesday as investors keep their fingers crossed over the european financial summit which starts today. traders positioned themselves for either summit success yielding a clear plan to put europe's debt plan under control or a failure and crisis escalation. those hedging against failure drove up the price of the u.s. ten-year treasury note as well as gold. some just sit on the sidelines as wednesday's light volume showed. financials rose again led by jpmorgan cha

and if you look closely at the little mercury dot, look just to the right of it.ink it's a spaceship? >> ufo believers are saying cloaked alien spacecraft. nothing else would show up like that. if not for a cloaked spacecraft. >> cloaked. >> cloaked. >> that means the klingos are coming, because they are the only ones with a cloaking device. >> i don't know what aliens use on their spacecraft to hide themselves. but believers are saying this is proof of alien life. nothing else behaves like this. scientists and detractors say -- what you see is a pixelated artifact from where mars was the day before. >> of course they're going to tell us it's some artifact or something. yeah, it looks like a ufo, it loose like a spaceship. because then everybody will freak out. i think it's an alien spaceship. >> i think it's an artifact. >> i'm going with artifact. >> who wants to believe it's an artifact? >> everybody knows stephen hawking says you don't want to communicate with aliens, because they're probably more advanced than us and would probably kill us. >> we've got will

the department of environment says the incinerator exceeded its mercury emission limit during a 2010ey reported an employee mistakenly shut you off a mercury control system. >>> a maryland senator and new york senator are going to introduce a bill to create two new stricter civil penalties for those trying to intimidate or suppress voters. cardin and schumer say the proposal is narrowly tailored to apply to communications to the last 90 days of the election cycle. >>> you'll soon pay more for a cab ride in the nation's capital. prices going up 44%. cab drivers complained the fare structure is hurting their revenues and the fares are lower than other jurisdictions. the new rates could go into effect as soon as february 3rd. >>> today mayor stephanie rawlings-blake will unveil plans to make the inner harbor swimmable and fishable by 2020. it's part of a partnership and involved with the living classrooms foundation. it hopes to come up with solutions to things like trash, sewage leaks and stormwater runoff. the news conference is set for 10:30 this morning. >>> the department of educat

it will create >> need, it's not gareat for the utiliws industry or power bill, but lowers mercury levels in people. >> brenda: 're t s> this is a matter of continual overreaching by the epa. and the and thre g 'tis the season for a frenzy, the hot gift causing frenzy, and hot topics for one stock. get the names next. forty years ago, he wasn't worried about retirement. he'd yet to hear of mutual funds, iras, or annuities. back then, he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement solutions for our military, veterans and their families. from investments... to life insurance... to health care options. learn more with our free usaa retirement guide. call 877-242-usaa. >> predictions, gary b? >> brenda, i'm in the-- am i the only one in the holiday spirit? >> come on. >> you're wearing red. listen, forget the online glitches that companies like best buy had. online is still the place to go. ebay is a stocky love. up 30%. >> jonas, bull or a bear? >> i'll say that i think it's a-- >> and jonas. >> gary k?

but here it is when it hit mercury and there's this big fluff of plasma heads towards mercury and when finds that little object and many think that may be an alien spaceship going around mercury, but we've debunked that theory. it looks something like a spaceship. you can maybe see dr. spock in there, but not really. this is not what it seems. this is an image of a, phantom image of what the computers and how the computers block out other stars. on a regular day, you would see many, many stars. there would be so many stars on this map you would never see that plasma coming by. so what the computer program does through nasa, it takes all of those bright white spots, if it sees it in two passes, it blacks them out. so you see one if you take a picture here, another image here, if both bright spots are in the same spot, they black them out. so that lets us see the plasma. blacked out. but guess what? this one right here looks like a spaceship, is not. in fact, it's the old picture of mercury from yesterday. remember i said it would have to have two pictures, two images that have the same

>> he worked to support his family. >> reporter: police are investigating to see why the mercury left the roadway. traveled up a grassy em bankment and hit grande. the driver identified as 24-year-old tasfay of rockville then slammed into this red toyota pickup parked in a driveway before crashing into a tree in the same yard. grande's family describes him as a loving husband, father and grandfather. he leaves behind a wife of 35 years. >> translator: it's a very big loss that i've had today. >> reporter: he worked at manor country club, reporting to work every day at 6:00 in the morning for the last 25 years. >> very respectful family. all the members love him, you know? he's going to be missed. he was a great worker. all i can say is, you know, that he will never be replaced. >> reporter: relatives say losing grande a week before christmas makes it even harder. >> it's a time to be happy, you know? i don't know how we're going to do it. but we have to, you know. keep life going. >> reporter: relatives say there were some reports that this car may have been swerving before this crash

. >> there's mercury in this. >> and the mercury-- >> and just the cfl's know the in the halogen bulbs and led bulbs, i'm a nerd, i know that. >> with the government look the other way with something that's green. not regulating the green and they'll micromanage it and this is groo en-- >> ultimately if they're energy efficient and makes that much sense the american people would have moved to them without the mandate. >> there you go, ben, the free market is making the choice. >>, but they're not green. the whole thing is a fraud. they're not green. they're incredibly difficult to dispose of. >> they're much more energy efficient, they are-- >> and with the energy, if you assume that our eyesight have no value and ruining our eyesight. >> and eyesight, somehow we'll keep them on and not break them in ten years, so we can break even. by the way, call me anti-progress, but i don't like the government mandating that ethanol gets mixed in with my fuel, so-- >> we're going to leave it there, my thanks to anti-progress, dagen, you've been fantastic. >> and what better way to ring in the new

turns out the mercury is also is highly toxic. it causes severe impacts on the brain, and throughout history has been identified as the poison behind many other notable illnesses and deaths in the history of our planet. by defining nuisance dust this way, the republicans are essentially providing the mining industry with the holiday gift of pollution. instead of goals, the republicans are bearing gifts of arsenic and mercury for every american. the so-called nuisance dust doesn't include poisonous arsenic or other heavy metals that are hazardous to human health because cancer is not a nuisance. the development of a child's brain is not a nuisance. yet, the republicans would treat these conditions as a nuisance rather than as medical can t.s.a. row fees for the familiar -- catastrophes for the families of america. so let's be clear what this bill is all about. this is another attempt by the republicans to protect big coal by creating another loophole to avoid the clean air act so that families don't have to worry that their childre

there's more on mercury news website. >>> how could a toy drive cause controversy? it is.there's a controversy over an effort to help kids have a brighter christmas in san francisco. it involves toys, firefighters and strippers. >> on behalf of the entertainers of gentlemen's club of san francisco we would like to present you this $20,000 check. >> reporter: this donation check has caused controversy. not necessarily because of where the money came from. >> it is called bfc management, they manage the gold club, hustler club. >> we donated our dances and took time 15 songs we donated money they gave us to the charity >> reporter: the trouble came when it was time to present the check. it was supposed to happen here at fire station 1 on howard near third, the fire chief said no. >> we were asked to find another location we thought it would be a good fit to have it where the toys are. >> reporter: i spoke to the chief she said the proper paperwork hadn't been filed even if it had been she probably would have still said no she said she didn't want anything to impede the opera

according to the mercury news, chief griff moore says high stress levels might be a reason for a lot of those sick calls. the head of the police union says there is a morale problem. there has been a 40% increase in sick time taken by police department employees. this year, compared with last. and sick time is up 81% from four years ago. >>> and from those sick calls to pension reform, city of san jose has its hands full. the mercury news reports, the city pays $100,000 a year to nearly 35% of the retired police officers and firefighters on the books. more city workers are also retiring early. tomorrow, the city council will try to come up with a measure for the june ballot. to cut pension costs. >> so there is no doubt over the past 10 years, we've seen not only an increase in our pension benefit, but increases in salaries. and the two of those combined to create larger and larger pension benefits for our employees. >> city leaders say it is a pressing issue because the san jose budget problem, but union leaders say they have been shut out of discussions and are warning about potent

according to the mercury news, the police chief says high stress levels might be the reason for a lotf sick calls. there's been a 40% increase in sick time taken by employees this year as compared to last. sick time is up 81% from just four years ago. >>> six-figure pensions will be top on the agenda in san jose this week. the city council will tackle the heated topic of pension reform. a new analysis by the mercury news find a third of san jose's retired police officers and firefighters collect a hundred thousand dollars a year from the city, and more city workers are retiring early. so on tuesday, the city council will try to come up with a measure for the june ballot to cut costs. >> no doubt that over the past 10 years, we've seen not only an increase in the pension benefit, but increases in salaries, and the two of those have combined to create larger and larger pension benefits for our employees. >> city leaders say it is a pressing issue because of san jose's budget deficit; but union leaders say they've been shut out of discussions and are warning about potential lawsuits. >>>

there are already strict regulations relating to mercury emissions. all of the hearings we held on this utility regulation indicated that overwhelmingly the benefits would come from reduced par particula par particulate matter, not mercury at all. the epa is being misleading on that issue. alisyn: they say this new rule would create 9,000 long-term jobs, and of course it didn't calculate, and here is where the rub is, the jobs that would be lost from closing some of these utility companies. do you buy the 9,000 new jobs claim? >> no, i do not. we've had extensive hearings on this. those are pure speculative numbers. it's so interesting, this epa indicates that when they issue new regulations they are always going to create new jobs. that has not been the case. we do know that there will be a significant loss of jobs, because many coal-fired plants are going to be closed as a result of this regulation, and epa never considers the costs in the communities where the jobs are lost. alisyn: see, here is the balancing act. obviously jobs versus health or ve

the san jose "mercury news" obtained a copy of the letter after a delaware court ruled that it shoulde public. celebrity attorney gloria allred wrote the letter on behalf of jody fisher and it says on the first day fisher worked for the palo alto company, hurd took her to dinner, touched her with his hand, and asked her to spend the night in his room. >>> all right. verizon wireless customers are soon going to have to pay more to pay their bills. the country's largest cell phone company is introducing a $2 fee for every payment made over the phone or online with a credit card. the fee will not apply to electronic check payments or automatic credit card payments. the new charge will kick in january 15. >>> no sears or kmart stores in the bay area are affected by a first wave of closures. the parent company of both chains sears holdings plans to close up to 120 stores nationwide. so far the only california stores that are being closed are down in the southern part of the state. so that is bad news for them but good news for all the folks up here in northern california, that's for sure.

mercury switches... kaflooey! that's heavy stuff. sarge, sarge. i think we got something over here. the detective wants to see you. ok, here it is. a bunch of kids playing this morning. one of 'em saw a guy checking theeter. where? here at dixie's. he was playing some kind of game, hiding under the porch. says he saw the guy pretty good, too. it could be a break. what? those kids are 6 years old. if that. you call the gas company? sure did. no one's supposed to check that meter for at least another month. let me handle this. be my guest. here's the little fellow that saw the guy. hi! my name is detective murtaugh. what's yours? don't tell him your name, alfred. oop. alfred! oh, this is-- it's alfred. hey, meet alfred. this is alfred. alfred, hi. you like ice cream? yeah. yeah. ice cream. ice ice cream. no, no, no. not you, alfred. now, alfred, uh... the man you saw, the meter man, you get a good look at him? i saw him. great. picture him in your head. close your eyes and think what he looks like. got it? mm-hmm. can you draw him? mm-hmm. get some drawing paper and crayons. hurry up.