i'm patricia sabga.his morning millions of americans are taking to the sky, the road, and the rails, trying to get to their holiday destinations. this is a live look at the crowded sky right now from flightaware.com, but many travelers could be seen delayed from severe weather. today is the worst day for holiday travel, so expect traffic jams and exceptionally long lines at the airport, and be prepared to wait if you are just now starting that christmas get away. del walters has more on the dangerous weather. >> reporter: interest busy travel holiday week started off wet for many people. and it's not getting any better. more than 100 million travelers will hit the road over the next two weeks, more than ever before. and they will have to keep an eye on the sky just as much as they do the road. fog may have lead to this crash in arkansas, killing at least three people. across parts of the west, snow is so heavy, it is slowing a search and rescue mission in washington state. officials had to suspend the se

patricia sabga reports. >> what do i do? what do we do individually? what do we do collectively?t do we do institutionally? what do we do? >> reporter: one artist and engineer is meeting head on. she creates practical scaleable works of art. >> the work i do is invitation to coproduce the future. >> reporter: like this project that reintegrates trees into cities not as ornaments but as office landlords. >> it is owned and operated by the tree. the tree is the landlord. so this idea that we can change the revenue structure and the way that we value nature. >> reporter: and the role people play in it. the idea behind the urban farming city that encourages city dwellers to grow flowers. she -- one artwork solving many problems, a theme that drives her creative process. like filtering black carbon from the air we breathe to make pollution pencils. >> so we put the lead back in to make a pencil. >> reporter: encouraging zip lining as a viable form of urban transport. >> once you have earned your wings, you can strap on your wings and explore emissionless radically inextive mobility. >

dollar. >> patricia sabga.a trillion dollars of global reserves could switch to chinese assets over the next five years as a result of the yuen's new reserve status according to estimates by standard charter. >>> india will be launching its first gold bonds, the government launched the scheme, to pull the gold reserves into the bang being system. but so far, the indian citizens are reluctant to bring their gold reserves into the economy. fez jamil reports. >> as a sign of security and prosperity, the government wants some of that wealth to be put into the financial system. it has created several new mechanisms such as depositing gold in exchange for interest. but people here will need some persuading, to hand over the most precious of metals. >> it sounds good but most people don't know about it. we'll only put our gold in if we believe our family will benefit from this scheme. >> reporter: gold holds a special significance in indian culture. it's far from being just a commodity. >> here they want to be able to

al jazeera's patricia sabga takes a look at i.s.i.l.'s finances. >> u.s. air strikes, targeting i.s.i.l.'s oil fields, border foot holes for its black market oil trade. a strategy aimed at a pillar of i.s.i.l. economy and which analysts say is starting to bite. >> in the last few weeks we've seen the price of oil in raqqa doubling. we've seen new agricultural taxes imposed a couple of days ago in darasur. economists estimate i.s.i.l. brings in $80 million u.s. per month. taxes tolls and protection money from civilians in areas it claims as a state. >> a very large number for a terrorist organization but a pretty small number for a state. >> one that has to pay and arm fighters while providing basic services like electricity and education. oil revenues have been squeezed, the population it controls has been squeezed even harder. >> in iraq, the slaict ha islame has now been charging people a fixed price for leaving the caliphate. >> an exit tax resulting from a coalition strategy designed to degrade the group from the bottom up. >> the elite leadership live

patricia sabga takes a look at i.s.i.l.'s finances. >> reporter: u.s. 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 peo

as patricia sabga reports, air strikes are starting to take their toll. >> reporter: u.s. strikes targeting isil oil fields. a strategy aimed at a pillar of isil's economy in which analysts say is starting to bite. >> in the last few weeks we have seen the price of oil in raqqa doubling. we are seeing new agricultural taxes imposed a couple of days ago. and other creative measures of raising revenue from the population. >> reporter: analysts estimates isil brings in $83 million a month, 43 from oil, and the rest from taxes. >> that's a very large number for a terrorist organization, but pretty small for a state. >> reporter: budget pressures that help explain why isil's oil revenues have been squeezed, the population has been squeezed even harder. >> they are started to charge people a fixed rate for leaving the caliphate. >> reporter: an exit tax designed to degrade the group from the bottom up. >> the regional leaders live like barons, and the local military commanders and their forces live a whole lot better and are paid better than the average citizen. >> reporter: in

as patricia sabga reports, air strikes taking aim at the oil fields isil controls are starting to haven impact. >> reporter: u.s. air strikes, targeting isil oil fields, refineries, tanker trucks, and border footholds. a strategy aimed at a pillar of isil's economy in which analysts say is starting to bite. >> in the last few weeks we have seen the price of oil in raqqa doubling. we have seen new agricultural taxes imposed a couple of days ago. and we have seen other creative measures of raising new revenue from the population. >> reporter: analysts estimate isil brings in $80 million u.s. a month, 43% from oil sales and 50% from extorting money from civilians. >> that's a very large number for a terrorist organization. >> reporter: one that has to pay an arm fighters while providing basic services like electricity ade indication in territories. budget pressures that help explain why isil's oil revenues have been squeaked, the population it controls has been squeaked even harder. >> in iraq, the islamic state has now started to charge people a fixed rate for leaving the caliphate. in t

i'm patricia sabga. we're expecting a statement from president obama the next hour. he's speaking with defense, intelligence and law enforcement officials. polls show mr. obama's primetime dresprime address last week did little to ease american's fears of attack. >> because the president has to steadfastly refuse to make changes in his anti-isil strategy, i think you can expect to hear anything that he has said in the past. when you look back to the last time president obama made a visit over to the pentagon to meet with his national security team. in a statement that i gave in the briefing room back then, he said that this was going to be a long fight. the progress against isil was being made. the key was to enable forces on the ground. he cited back then the territorial losses that isil had suffered. isil has suffered more since then. he'll probably highlight that. and continue to say that this is a strategy that he believes over time will bear fruit. we're not expecting to hear any new initiatives. secretary carter, who is of course in the meeting with the pentago

i'm patricia sabga.awmakers are trying to finalize a trillion dollars spending deal to prevent a government shutdown. house speaker paul ryan says an agreement is in place. the deal would fund the government through 2016. it does, however, increase the deficit, expending dozens of popular tax breaks, but it also lifts the 40-year-old ban on exporting u.s. crude oil. nancy pelosi shared her concerns today about the tax and spending bill, she says, quote: well senior washington correspondent mike viqueira is live in washington for us. mike, give us some of the highlights of this bill. >> reporter: you know, it's interesting, this is congress doing the bare minimum that it is supposed to do every year, that is alindicating or appropriating $1.1 trillion in discretionary funding to keep programs running. the brinksmanship happens every year. this is early by most standards, but still no shortage of drama, as there was a government shutdown looming. among the victories for republicans here, something they dea

. >> i'm patricia sabga.ore than 1,000 schools are closed after what officials say was an electronic bomb threat. >> the second largest that district has 700,000 students and more than 900 schools and 187 charter schools. >> directs superintendent ramÓn cortinez called the threat rare, and he said all campus also be searched until they are deemed safe. >> i think it is important that i take the precaution based on what has happened recently and what has happened in the past. i have asked the chief to be working with the city police department in the sheriff before the day is over. i want every school searched to make sure that it is safe for children and safe for staff to be there. >> let's go live now to al jazeera's rob reynolds in l.a. what do we know now at this hour about the nature of the threat? >> well, del, ramÓn catrinez, who we just heard there, also mentioned the threat involved the possibility of backpacks and packages left on school property. not a lot of details beyond that. however, the very l

. >> and i'm patricia sabga. breaking news out of los angeles where all schools have been closed due to what officials are calling a electronic threat. >> it has more than 640,000 students and more than 900 schools in 187 charter schools, all of the students are being asked to stay at home today. children who are already at school are being taken to safe locations to be picked up by their parents. >> the threat was called rare and brood. he says all campuses will be searched until they are deemed safe. >> john, what have we learned? what do we know about this threat? >> this was a press conference held moments ago, and the superintendent turned the threat electronic in nature, but would not specify what that meant. the new york sometimes is reporting that someone telephoned a bomb threat to a member of the school board. and the superintendent says he wants every single school building searched. now imagine this, there are 640,000 students as del mentioned in the school district, so you can just imagine what a mas

. >> i'm patricia sabga.,000 schools are closed after what officials say was an electronic bomb threat. >> the second largest that district has 700,000 students and more than 900 schools and 187 charter schools.

patricia sabga has more on how the numbers will likely effect their decision. >> reporter: the novemberport pretty much seals the deal on the federal reserve raising interest rates later this month. it would be the first interest rate increase in nine years. first the headline h.b. numbers. the economy added 211,000 jobs last month. while the unemployment rate held steady at 5%. meanwhile, average hourly wages ticked up $0.04 to $25.25 an hour. that's a 2.3% increase year-over-year. wages have been the sub part of this recovery. in her testimony before congress this week, janet yellen did outline her concerns over waiting too long to raise interest rates from the near zero level. she specifically sited the lag effect, saying it could force an abrupt tightening that could disrupt financial markets and possibly push the economy in recession. but leaving the interest rates at zero for too long could undermine financial stability. >>> the labor department saying most job gains were in construction and retail. >>> a bill that would do away with parts of the affordable care act is now headed

patricia sabga, al jazeera, new york. >> joining us now is jain jamesb and andrea bartoli. >>> prioritywith syria some candidates say that assad must go and there are others that suggest wait a second, because russians are supporting soofd, , let's try to get everyone to focus on i.s.i.l. who's right? >> the once who think that assad cannot be a partner against i.s.i.l. are right. i mean, there's an argument about how much assad actually assisted the rise of i.s.i.l. i can't be certain about that. at the very least he ignored them for a long time. they had a kind of nonaggression pact. his focus has always been on the domestic rebellion. i.s.i.l.'s attack was not against assad, it was seizing its own territory. now that i.s.i.s. has begun to threaten assad he has turned towards them a bit. but you look at the focus of russia's military effort almost entirely against the nationalist or mainstream rebels who the united states believes are the only potential future source of legitimacy in the area. so the future is going to be not with assad, without assad. >> do you agree? >> no i don't.

patricia sabga, al jazeera. >> joins us from washington, d.c, tom very good to have you with us. let's start with the news out of opec today and the saudis resisting any cuts in production that would lead to prices going up. saudis have rarely bent to pressure from other opec members in the past but with a barrel of brent crude below $40, the saudis can't be terribly popular right now. >> well, they're certainly not popular with some other oil producing countries, including iran. and that's part i think of what the saudis are trying to achieve here. they're pursuing their own well thought out oil policy that's been fairly consistent for years. and if it happens to inflict some economic damage on countries they're not on good terms with, that's a beneficial side effect. >> right so they're happy to keep the oil prices low as iran is now able or soon able to start getting into the world oil markets. but is it more? is their policy more a strategy to break the back of shale oil producers in the u.s. who have helped push prices down and if that's case are they risking what goldman sa

patricia sabga reports. >> reporter: hours before the 35th mass shooting in the united states, a plea from doctors around the country for congress to lift restrictions on gunning for research into gun violence. >> there are 89 people a day dying from gun violence, we can present this if we have the data to take in the measures we need >>> for two decade the n.r.a. backed dickey amendment blocked the centers for disease control to research the causes of gun violence, a constraint the n.r.a. lobbied congress to extend to the national institutes of health in 2011. the dickey amendments says research caned be topped with money on gun control. researchers say researching the causes of gun violence sa a legitimate use of fund for what is considered a public health crisis. last month house demands took the same tack, arguing the u.s. spends 240 million on traffic safety research, 223 million on food safety, and 331 million on tobacco effects, but nothing on firearms that killed 33,000 americans annually. >> this is commonsense that we would put money into researching the different ways that

. >> and i'm patricia sabga.news out of los angeles where all schools have been closed due to what officials are calling a electronic threat. >> it has more than 640,000 students and more than 900 schools in 187 charter schools, all of the students are being asked to stay at home today. children who are already at school are being taken to safe locations to be picked up by their parents. >> the threat was called rare and brood. he says all

ers -- del walters, and i'm patricia sabga. >> paul beban has more on the plan to keep the country safe. >> reporter: with the race entering the final stretch, stakes in las vegas were high. nine candidates debated on who would be tougher on terrorism. donald trump's plan to bar muslims drew fire from all the other candidates. former florida governor noah bushell was itching for a fight. >> this is the chaos candidate. he would not be the commander in chief we need to keep the country safe. >> jed doesn't believe i'm unhinged. he said that. he failed in his campaign. >> trump and bush were not the only ones sparring. calling ted cruz and others on national security. >> does ted cruz rule out legalizing people in your country. >> do you rule it out? >> i have never supported legalisation and i do not intend to. >> chris christie saw an opening there. using the senators victory to count experience. >> this is the difference between a federal prosecutor doing something. spending your life as one of 100 debating this. let's talk about this, not about which bill they liked more. >> overall t