. >> woodruff: and saving the famed manuscripts of timbuktu from the threats >> woodruff: and, saving the famed manuscripts of timbuktu from the threats of war, scholars work to revive a nation's pursuit of knowledge. >> mali is definitely a poor country when it comes to the budget, but when it comes to civilization, culture and dignity mali is a very rich country. >> woodruff: those are some of the stories we're covering on tonight's "pbs newshour." >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> it doesn't matter what kind of weather. it doesn't matter what time of day or night. when mother nature's done her worst, the only thing that matters to us, is keeping the lights on for you. we're the men and women of the international brotherhood of electrical workers. keeping the power on in communities like yours, all across the country. because when bad weather strikes, we'll be there for you. the i.b.e.w. the power professionals. >> at bae systems, our pride and dedication show in everything we do; from electronics systems to intelligence analysis and cyber- operations; f

another time he indicated he was in timbuktu. >> reporter: bizarre behavior is whatly friends say. fontroy -- what his friends say. fontroy drew concerns a few years ago when he went to libya claiming to have a relationship with moammar gadhafi. he was in hiding there fearing for his life, so we couldn't confirm his claims. right now friends fear for his safety and mental health. he says now that he's in dubai, but nobody can be certain. he's said in the past he's in nigeria and other west african countries. >> as of now really nobody knows where he is or if he's coming back? >> he's communicating through e- mail. you never know the source of the e-mail. nobody is talking to him, recognizing the voice. they're not doing skype. they're very much concerned about the mental state and safety for walter fontroy tonight. >> thank you. >>> 37-year-old laurence smith is behind bars tonight charged with shooting and killing her husband. police in spotsylvania county say she called 911 last night claiming that she accidentally shot her husband. investigators say 44-year-old sean smith was de

. >> brown: we also met a singer from timbuktu.her causes, making life better for african women. >> ( translated ): a woman she can also be very strong. women can find their own place in the world. i can go to school properly, just like men. i can work like men. that's the message that i send in my songs. >> brown: like all these musicians, this man has lived through political turmoil in his country. he spent 15 years abroad in exile during a military dictatorship. today the father of several albino children, he devotes himself to this more personal cause of fighting discrimination. working through a fundation he set up to raise funds and awareness and by his own example. early in life he told us, he wanted to be a teacher. his condition made that impossible. now he can laugh at how his life has unfolded. >> pi was black, i would have the good eyesight and i would maybe be a teacher now for 40 people. but now i'm the teacher for millions of people. that's funny. >> brown: in the past, goes the song, people did not want to know. tod

and we've seen this happening in iraq and syria, in other countries, in mali where they destroyed timbuktu'sey use it as a sort of psychologic warfare. they want to present themselves as being strong and in charge and show the iraqi central government is helpless and unable to stop them. they use it as a sort of recruitment tool and a sort of way of breaking what they see as their enemies. and the third thing, which is also important, is that they have -- there is enough evidence to point that they have been losing ancient artifacts and selling them as a money-making scheme. >> a great funding resource. mohammad, thanks very much indeed, for that explanation. >>> now, syrian state media are also reporting that the top military commander of al qaeda's syrian army the nusra front, has been killed. he died in a syrian air strike targeting a meeting of al nusra leaders in the province of islib. they have acknowledged the death of their commander, putting something out on social media. the al nusra front seen as one of the most powerful groups, fighting to overthrow bashar al assad. >>> the ameri

i talked to somebody about possibly going to timbuktu. said you can't do it.en though there are french troops in there stationed outside the city, you can't go in there at night. you as a westerner you could maybe drop in and drop out but it's not a safe city. even with french forces in place, sub-saharan africa is sort of a no-go area. >> chris, what do you think, outside of a common philosophy of terror and the use of these videos as propaganda what do isis and boko haram give one another? was boko haram saying we're not getting all the attention so we're joining you? >> absolutely. back in september, boko haram declared itself an emirate, like forget isis we're an emirate here in africa and nobody paid the least bit of attention. now we're all focused on it because it's pledging allegiance, its leadership is pledge eight lee jans to the emir baghdadi and because isis is such a hot topic, boko haram is a hot top pick once again. you should also know there are 30 other groups around the world from the philippines to afghanistan to egypt that have pledged alle

--not of-- napa >>reporter: by 5:00 timbuktu's will fall to the upper 60s for the bay and then windstween 10 to 20 mi. per hour across the open area temperatures in the 10:00 hour 01 in the '50s mid-60's during the lunch hour low to mid '70's were we can expect for daytime highs went to this area will be 10 to 50 mi. the rest of your storm track of 474 cast looks good will or to warmer temperatures the to the upper '70's a very warm the in-store mid-70s for the bay. >>reporter: we find cooler temperature by saturday. by sunday the bay area will see clouds the to move and with the chance for some land on monday it will conditions continue on into tuesday. >>george: we're tracking hot spots in the east bay in the south bay is an industry where ride is a real mess this morning into downtown oakland early recovery accidents northbound to the vicinity of high street that is why we are still slow coming out of union city 42 minutes the drive time from about 880 in the south bay it was a problem on 280 northbound their clear not look of highway 85 it has been the incident free and is backed