:00:00. > :00:00.Time now for a look at the news as seen across the United States a
:00:00. > :00:15.couple of hours ago, in ABC World News with Dianne Sawyer.
:00:16. > :00:18.Welcome. Tonight, spring scorcher. Severe weather on the move. And
:00:19. > :00:21.after the snow, now unprecedented heat shadowing records with triple
:00:22. > :00:25.digits. Speaking out. Hillary Clinton taking on the critics on
:00:26. > :00:32.Benghazi, talking about the kidnapped girls. And a presidential
:00:33. > :00:35.run? And surviving the fall. The girl, hanging only from her head,
:00:36. > :00:44.telling us what happened in those terrifying moments.
:00:45. > :00:54.Good evening. We are watching a wild shift in the nation's weather, under
:00:55. > :00:58.way now. People who were freezing a few weeks ago are now sweltering in
:00:59. > :01:04.an unprecedented heatwave. Parts of the country in triple digits, record
:01:05. > :01:10.shattering. We report on what we are seeing first hand.
:01:11. > :01:14.Tonight, spring is turning severe, sizzling across the south, with
:01:15. > :01:21.cabbages as much as 20 degrees above normal. Kansas hit 96 degrees. ``
:01:22. > :01:28.temperatures. That breaks the record set over 100 years ago. Snow fell as
:01:29. > :01:34.late as April 14. 20 days later, the city recorded its earliest 100
:01:35. > :01:37.degrees above. Parts of Texas are so desperate for water, they have hired
:01:38. > :01:44.a plane, pumping chemicals into the clouds to help it rained. Is that
:01:45. > :01:48.dirt? That would all be water! The heatwave follows powerful tornadoes.
:01:49. > :01:55.The destructive Chaos captured in new video from Mississippi,
:01:56. > :02:05.thrashing this preschool playground. `` chaos. We will support you every
:02:06. > :02:07.step of the way. The heatwaves are exactly what climate scientists have
:02:08. > :02:12.long predicted at what the president warned about this week. Had severe
:02:13. > :02:18.drought and that's creates the threat of supercharged wildfires.
:02:19. > :02:21.One prediction says that by the mid` century people living in areas like
:02:22. > :02:27.this, the southern Rockies, could see wild fire activity double.
:02:28. > :02:31.Oklahoma has been burning for days and tonight fire weather warnings
:02:32. > :02:35.are out across southern States. We are looking at an upcoming very hot
:02:36. > :02:41.and dry summer, which will put owl resources to test. Eight planes,
:02:42. > :02:50.including these, are now ready to back up a shrinking civilian tanker
:02:51. > :02:55.fleet. `` our resources. It spit out 3000 gallons in just five seconds.
:02:56. > :03:03.It gives them the capability to slow down the advance of the fire.
:03:04. > :03:09.Tonight, under storm watchers are keeping an eye on six states.
:03:10. > :03:18.Turning out to an ABC News exclusive to Hillary Clinton sitting down with
:03:19. > :03:22.our reporter and weighing in on the missing schoolgirls in Africa.
:03:23. > :03:29.Talking tough about Benghazi and what about a presidential run in
:03:30. > :03:34.2016? Here is what she said and what is coming next.
:03:35. > :03:38.This was a Hillary Clinton crowd. The talk centring on women and girls
:03:39. > :03:45.around the world breaking glass ceilings. The discussion was turned
:03:46. > :03:48.to the highest glass ceiling of all. When I look at your Twitter page,
:03:49. > :03:54.the last thing you list is saying you are a glass ceiling cracker. No
:03:55. > :03:58.wonder feels it would be better to crack that glass ceiling than to
:03:59. > :04:07.have a woman as president. Many believe that should be used. ``
:04:08. > :04:13.should be you. I think we should crack it also. I
:04:14. > :04:20.am 100% in favour of that but I have nothing further to say about... We
:04:21. > :04:24.tried! But as she steps towards another presidential run,
:04:25. > :04:26.Republicans are preparing to launch a special committee to investigate
:04:27. > :04:32.the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, while she was
:04:33. > :04:35.Secretary of State. Hillary Clinton said she saw no reason for another
:04:36. > :04:44.investigation because there have already been several. Are you
:04:45. > :04:49.satisfied with the answers and argue content with what you know about
:04:50. > :04:57.what happened? `` are you content. Absolutely. There are many reasons
:04:58. > :05:00.why, despite all of the hearings, all of the information that's been
:05:01. > :05:04.provided, some choose not to be satisfied and choose to continue to
:05:05. > :05:09.move forward. But they get to call the shots. She also spoke about the
:05:10. > :05:16.kidnapping of the schoolgirls in Nigeria. The seizure is abominable
:05:17. > :05:22.and criminal. An act of terrorism. It really merits the fullest
:05:23. > :05:26.response possible first and foremost from the government of Nigeria. She
:05:27. > :05:32.also had tough words for the government of Nigeria, saying it has
:05:33. > :05:35.been derelict in pretty `` in protecting children generally and
:05:36. > :05:41.has not accepted and asked `` enough help from the US. That is tougher
:05:42. > :05:52.talk than we have heard from President Obama. Thank you John. As
:05:53. > :05:54.John just said, the former Secretary of State called the kidnapping of
:05:55. > :05:59.hundreds of schoolgirls are abominable, and called on the
:06:00. > :06:02.government of Nigeria to do more. Later today, Michelle Obama lent her
:06:03. > :06:07.voice to the chorus calling for urgent action, under the banner,
:06:08. > :06:11.bring back our girls. Tonight, Hamish McDonald is on the ground in
:06:12. > :06:16.Nigeria to show us the dark forest with the girls have vanished.
:06:17. > :06:21.This is the moment families returned to the scorched school, where their
:06:22. > :06:29.daughters were taken. The anguished cries tell a story of lost hope.
:06:30. > :06:36.This man says he wants the world to know, we don't feel Nigeria can help
:06:37. > :06:41.get our daughters back. 23 days after the kidnapping, frustration
:06:42. > :06:48.and anger here is searing. Today, amid reports by fresh attacks by
:06:49. > :06:54.Boko Haram, police offered a reward. $300,000 for information
:06:55. > :06:58.leading to the girls' rescue. Do you think your government is doing
:06:59. > :07:03.everything they can? No, we don't think so. That is why we are doing
:07:04. > :07:06.this. That is why we are doing the advocacy and protest. It may be a
:07:07. > :07:10.tiny group, but they have sparked a global movement to bring back our
:07:11. > :07:14.girls. They know as well as anyone how difficult that task will be.
:07:15. > :07:20.Adding to growing international support, a team of ten US military
:07:21. > :07:24.personnel arrives in the coming days. Specialists in logistics and
:07:25. > :07:30.intelligence. The challenge for Nigeria is enormous. The search will
:07:31. > :07:35.focus here, in the forest where it is thought the girls were taken.
:07:36. > :07:40.Remote, rugged wilderness, more than six times the size of Yellowstone
:07:41. > :07:45.National Park. I think one thing it is almost certain is that they are
:07:46. > :07:49.no longer together, they are almost certainly dispersed in small groups,
:07:50. > :07:52.or even individuals. Some are already out of the country, sold
:07:53. > :07:57.into slavery. It is what happened to this young woman, hidden in the
:07:58. > :08:00.shadows. She was taken last year by the Islamist militant group and held
:08:01. > :08:05.for three months, forced to sleep in caves, she thought death was
:08:06. > :08:10.certain. Young girls, like Malawi use of site know that this battle to
:08:11. > :08:15.the right for education is a real one. This will happen more and more,
:08:16. > :08:21.if you want to stop it and you have to speak. Speak and act. The
:08:22. > :08:28.pressure is now Nigeria's government to do just that.
:08:29. > :08:36.Next, to Ukraine. A big shift in tone tonight from Vladimir Putin.
:08:37. > :08:39.Today, he announced that Russian troops are pulling back from the
:08:40. > :08:45.Russian borders, seemingly signalling a new push for peace, but
:08:46. > :08:53.is it for real? Tonight, Ukraine has Chaos still growing.
:08:54. > :08:56.The crowd was angry. Pro`Russian mobs staring down these men in
:08:57. > :09:03.Black. Ukrainian troops guarding a prison. They are holding them over
:09:04. > :09:08.their. Insight, innocent detainees, this woman tells us. Suddenly,
:09:09. > :09:15.Chaos. The angry crowd storms the gate. The Ukrainian troops opened
:09:16. > :09:21.fire. Unarmed bystanders run for cover, others call for safety. We
:09:22. > :09:25.are here in a safe position where we can monitor what is going on. As we
:09:26. > :09:29.zoom in with our camera, what you don't see is a sniper to the site,
:09:30. > :09:37.aiming his rifle right at us. This is what happens next. The terrifying
:09:38. > :09:44.moment, caught on camera. The shot going just above our heads. In the
:09:45. > :09:48.end, the Ukrainian troops rescue there other comrades who had been
:09:49. > :09:52.guiding the prison, then leave. On a day when Vladimir Putin says he
:09:53. > :09:55.wants peace, there is only fear and fights like this one on the ground,
:09:56. > :10:04.as this country slowly tears itself apart.
:10:05. > :10:09.From Ukraine, to another International hot bet. This is the
:10:10. > :10:15.scene in Homs, the birthplace of the uprising in Syria. Syria's
:10:16. > :10:21.third`largest city a moonscape. Residents are evacuating, conceding
:10:22. > :10:26.the stronghold President Assad's forces. They are leaving as part of
:10:27. > :10:29.a larger ceasefire agreement. Back at home, a new national report card,
:10:30. > :10:33.and one that probably won't be hanging on our refrigerators. Today
:10:34. > :10:36.we learned that only about one quarter of high school seniors in
:10:37. > :10:44.this country are proficient in maths. Only 38% are proficient at
:10:45. > :10:47.reading. The results show no improvement over five years, and
:10:48. > :10:53.reading skills are lower than they were in the early 1990s.
:10:54. > :10:57.Coming up, surviving the fall. The girl who was right there, hanging
:10:58. > :10:59.only from her hair, falling in the circus accident, tells us what
:11:00. > :11:56.happened in those terrifying moments.
:11:57. > :12:01.Now to Washington, where today either love it Hollywood actress,
:12:02. > :12:03.Valerie Harper, appeared at Capitol Hill. She has been battling lung
:12:04. > :12:10.cancer, but she says the number one cancer killer is not getting
:12:11. > :12:13.priority in the search for a cure. The Senate headline today, Valerie
:12:14. > :12:17.Harper, that fighting spirit on display today. She delivered the
:12:18. > :12:23.hard facts about the lung cancer she suffers from. Lung cancer is the
:12:24. > :12:29.number`1 killer in the US, among both women and men. It estimated
:12:30. > :12:33.160,000 Americans will die from lung cancer this year. More than
:12:34. > :12:39.prostate, breast and colon cancers combined. While nearly 90% of breast
:12:40. > :12:45.and prostate cancer victims survive, lung cancer victims have only a 17%
:12:46. > :12:51.survival rate. Still, lung cancer research is wrongfully underfunded.
:12:52. > :12:55.They are now spending three times the research dollars on breast
:12:56. > :12:58.cancer than it does on lung cancer. Wait a minute, this is the biggest
:12:59. > :13:03.killer and it has the least funding. She says it is the social
:13:04. > :13:08.stigma of smoking that hinders progress in defeating lung cancer.
:13:09. > :13:13.The other hard fact is that 15% of those diagnosed with lung cancer
:13:14. > :13:16.never smoked. I never smoked, my mother never smoked, she had the
:13:17. > :13:20.same kind of cancer. Cancer has spread to her brain, and she was
:13:21. > :13:27.given 3`6 months to live nearly 1.5 years ago. Now, every day is a gift.
:13:28. > :13:34.Fighting for funding and refusing to go to her funeral until she dies.
:13:35. > :13:38.Now for the first time we hear from one of the circus at about who
:13:39. > :13:43.plummeted in a horrifying fall. Eight young women crashed during
:13:44. > :13:50.their risky performance, hanging only by their hair. Now, the first
:13:51. > :13:56.moment she knew there was trouble. 23`year`old Samantha Pittard was
:13:57. > :14:02.living her dream, soaring high under the big top suspended only by her
:14:03. > :14:06.hair. We all love doing it, it is a fun packed to perform, very unique
:14:07. > :14:10.and beautiful. On Sunday, something went terribly wrong. Curtain falls,
:14:11. > :14:18.we start doing our first little routine, and about three seconds
:14:19. > :14:23.in, we hear a huge crack and we plummeted to the ground. It was
:14:24. > :14:31.really fast. I landed on my butt and elbows. I was still conscious,
:14:32. > :14:35.breathing was really hard, it was hard to catch my breath. She
:14:36. > :14:41.immediately thought of the other girls. I said, is everybody alive,
:14:42. > :14:47.is everybody OK? I thought, this was a miracle. This is bringing new
:14:48. > :14:52.attention to what is an ancient circus act. This video of another
:14:53. > :14:55.troop shows how the women tied incredible braids and not around the
:14:56. > :15:03.still rings that suspend them three stories above the crowd. She says
:15:04. > :15:08.being chosen for their hair act was an honour. We have to take very good
:15:09. > :15:15.care of it, of course, use good shampoo good condition, we can't
:15:16. > :15:19.dive our hair or blowdry at or straighten it. Although painful on
:15:20. > :15:23.the scalp, a single head of hair can support the equivalent of two
:15:24. > :15:29.elephants. On Sunday, it wasn't the hair that failed, but the metal hook
:15:30. > :15:33.holding the chandelier. Tonight, seven of the young women remain
:15:34. > :15:39.hospitalised. Two of them with critical spinal cord trauma. She
:15:40. > :15:43.herself was lucky, suffering just minor injuries. I hope that
:15:44. > :15:49.eventually someday I am able to hang by my hair again.
:15:50. > :15:53.Thank you for watching, we are always here at ABC news .com. I will
:15:54. > :16:12.see you back here tomorrow night. The showery weather of the past few
:16:13. > :16:17.days will give way to more general wet weather. They are starting to
:16:18. > :16:19.ease away, but we are watching this massive cloud down towards the
:16:20. > :16:26.south`west, gathering moisture and gathering strength. It will not just
:16:27. > :16:28.give us rain, but we have tightly packed isobars