08/05/2014 ABC World News with Diane Sawyer

Time now for a look at the news as seen across the United States a

couple of hours ago, in ABC World News with Dianne Sawyer.

Welcome. Tonight, spring scorcher. Severe weather on the move. And

after the snow, now unprecedented heat shadowing records with triple

digits. Speaking out. Hillary Clinton taking on the critics on

Benghazi, talking about the kidnapped girls. And a presidential

run? And surviving the fall. The girl, hanging only from her head,

telling us what happened in those terrifying moments.

Good evening. We are watching a wild shift in the nation's weather, under

way now. People who were freezing a few weeks ago are now sweltering in

an unprecedented heatwave. Parts of the country in triple digits, record

shattering. We report on what we are seeing first hand.

Tonight, spring is turning severe, sizzling across the south, with

cabbages as much as 20 degrees above normal. Kansas hit 96 degrees. ``

temperatures. That breaks the record set over 100 years ago. Snow fell as

late as April 14. 20 days later, the city recorded its earliest 100

degrees above. Parts of Texas are so desperate for water, they have hired

a plane, pumping chemicals into the clouds to help it rained. Is that

dirt? That would all be water! The heatwave follows powerful tornadoes.

The destructive Chaos captured in new video from Mississippi,

thrashing this preschool playground. `` chaos. We will support you every

step of the way. The heatwaves are exactly what climate scientists have

long predicted at what the president warned about this week. Had severe

drought and that's creates the threat of supercharged wildfires.

One prediction says that by the mid` century people living in areas like

this, the southern Rockies, could see wild fire activity double.

Oklahoma has been burning for days and tonight fire weather warnings

are out across southern States. We are looking at an upcoming very hot

and dry summer, which will put owl resources to test. Eight planes,

including these, are now ready to back up a shrinking civilian tanker

fleet. `` our resources. It spit out 3000 gallons in just five seconds.

It gives them the capability to slow down the advance of the fire.

Tonight, under storm watchers are keeping an eye on six states.

Turning out to an ABC News exclusive to Hillary Clinton sitting down with

our reporter and weighing in on the missing schoolgirls in Africa.

Talking tough about Benghazi and what about a presidential run in

2016? Here is what she said and what is coming next.

This was a Hillary Clinton crowd. The talk centring on women and girls

around the world breaking glass ceilings. The discussion was turned

to the highest glass ceiling of all. When I look at your Twitter page,

the last thing you list is saying you are a glass ceiling cracker. No

wonder feels it would be better to crack that glass ceiling than to

have a woman as president. Many believe that should be used. ``

should be you. I think we should crack it also. I

am 100% in favour of that but I have nothing further to say about... We

tried! But as she steps towards another presidential run,

Republicans are preparing to launch a special committee to investigate

the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, while she was

Secretary of State. Hillary Clinton said she saw no reason for another

investigation because there have already been several. Are you

satisfied with the answers and argue content with what you know about

what happened? `` are you content. Absolutely. There are many reasons

why, despite all of the hearings, all of the information that's been

provided, some choose not to be satisfied and choose to continue to

move forward. But they get to call the shots. She also spoke about the

kidnapping of the schoolgirls in Nigeria. The seizure is abominable

and criminal. An act of terrorism. It really merits the fullest

response possible first and foremost from the government of Nigeria. She

also had tough words for the government of Nigeria, saying it has

been derelict in pretty `` in protecting children generally and

has not accepted and asked `` enough help from the US. That is tougher

talk than we have heard from President Obama. Thank you John. As

John just said, the former Secretary of State called the kidnapping of

hundreds of schoolgirls are abominable, and called on the

government of Nigeria to do more. Later today, Michelle Obama lent her

voice to the chorus calling for urgent action, under the banner,

bring back our girls. Tonight, Hamish McDonald is on the ground in

Nigeria to show us the dark forest with the girls have vanished.

This is the moment families returned to the scorched school, where their

daughters were taken. The anguished cries tell a story of lost hope.

This man says he wants the world to know, we don't feel Nigeria can help

get our daughters back. 23 days after the kidnapping, frustration

and anger here is searing. Today, amid reports by fresh attacks by

Boko Haram, police offered a reward. $300,000 for information

leading to the girls' rescue. Do you think your government is doing

everything they can? No, we don't think so. That is why we are doing

this. That is why we are doing the advocacy and protest. It may be a

tiny group, but they have sparked a global movement to bring back our

girls. They know as well as anyone how difficult that task will be.

Adding to growing international support, a team of ten US military

personnel arrives in the coming days. Specialists in logistics and

intelligence. The challenge for Nigeria is enormous. The search will

focus here, in the forest where it is thought the girls were taken.

Remote, rugged wilderness, more than six times the size of Yellowstone

National Park. I think one thing it is almost certain is that they are

no longer together, they are almost certainly dispersed in small groups,

or even individuals. Some are already out of the country, sold

into slavery. It is what happened to this young woman, hidden in the

shadows. She was taken last year by the Islamist militant group and held

for three months, forced to sleep in caves, she thought death was

certain. Young girls, like Malawi use of site know that this battle to

the right for education is a real one. This will happen more and more,

if you want to stop it and you have to speak. Speak and act. The

pressure is now Nigeria's government to do just that.

Next, to Ukraine. A big shift in tone tonight from Vladimir Putin.

Today, he announced that Russian troops are pulling back from the

Russian borders, seemingly signalling a new push for peace, but

is it for real? Tonight, Ukraine has Chaos still growing.

The crowd was angry. Pro`Russian mobs staring down these men in

Black. Ukrainian troops guarding a prison. They are holding them over

their. Insight, innocent detainees, this woman tells us. Suddenly,

Chaos. The angry crowd storms the gate. The Ukrainian troops opened

fire. Unarmed bystanders run for cover, others call for safety. We

are here in a safe position where we can monitor what is going on. As we

zoom in with our camera, what you don't see is a sniper to the site,

aiming his rifle right at us. This is what happens next. The terrifying

moment, caught on camera. The shot going just above our heads. In the

end, the Ukrainian troops rescue there other comrades who had been

guiding the prison, then leave. On a day when Vladimir Putin says he

wants peace, there is only fear and fights like this one on the ground,

as this country slowly tears itself apart.

From Ukraine, to another International hot bet. This is the

scene in Homs, the birthplace of the uprising in Syria. Syria's

third`largest city a moonscape. Residents are evacuating, conceding

the stronghold President Assad's forces. They are leaving as part of

a larger ceasefire agreement. Back at home, a new national report card,

and one that probably won't be hanging on our refrigerators. Today

we learned that only about one quarter of high school seniors in

this country are proficient in maths. Only 38% are proficient at

reading. The results show no improvement over five years, and

reading skills are lower than they were in the early 1990s.

Coming up, surviving the fall. The girl who was right there, hanging

only from her hair, falling in the circus accident, tells us what

happened in those terrifying moments.

Now to Washington, where today either love it Hollywood actress,

Valerie Harper, appeared at Capitol Hill. She has been battling lung

cancer, but she says the number one cancer killer is not getting

priority in the search for a cure. The Senate headline today, Valerie

Harper, that fighting spirit on display today. She delivered the

hard facts about the lung cancer she suffers from. Lung cancer is the

number`1 killer in the US, among both women and men. It estimated

160,000 Americans will die from lung cancer this year. More than

prostate, breast and colon cancers combined. While nearly 90% of breast

and prostate cancer victims survive, lung cancer victims have only a 17%

survival rate. Still, lung cancer research is wrongfully underfunded.

They are now spending three times the research dollars on breast

cancer than it does on lung cancer. Wait a minute, this is the biggest

killer and it has the least funding. She says it is the social

stigma of smoking that hinders progress in defeating lung cancer.

The other hard fact is that 15% of those diagnosed with lung cancer

never smoked. I never smoked, my mother never smoked, she had the

same kind of cancer. Cancer has spread to her brain, and she was

given 3`6 months to live nearly 1.5 years ago. Now, every day is a gift.

Fighting for funding and refusing to go to her funeral until she dies.

Now for the first time we hear from one of the circus at about who

plummeted in a horrifying fall. Eight young women crashed during

their risky performance, hanging only by their hair. Now, the first

moment she knew there was trouble. 23`year`old Samantha Pittard was

living her dream, soaring high under the big top suspended only by her

hair. We all love doing it, it is a fun packed to perform, very unique

and beautiful. On Sunday, something went terribly wrong. Curtain falls,

we start doing our first little routine, and about three seconds

in, we hear a huge crack and we plummeted to the ground. It was

really fast. I landed on my butt and elbows. I was still conscious,

breathing was really hard, it was hard to catch my breath. She

immediately thought of the other girls. I said, is everybody alive,

is everybody OK? I thought, this was a miracle. This is bringing new

attention to what is an ancient circus act. This video of another

troop shows how the women tied incredible braids and not around the

still rings that suspend them three stories above the crowd. She says

being chosen for their hair act was an honour. We have to take very good

care of it, of course, use good shampoo good condition, we can't

dive our hair or blowdry at or straighten it. Although painful on

the scalp, a single head of hair can support the equivalent of two

elephants. On Sunday, it wasn't the hair that failed, but the metal hook

holding the chandelier. Tonight, seven of the young women remain

hospitalised. Two of them with critical spinal cord trauma. She

herself was lucky, suffering just minor injuries. I hope that

eventually someday I am able to hang by my hair again.

Thank you for watching, we are always here at ABC news .com. I will

see you back here tomorrow night. The showery weather of the past few

days will give way to more general wet weather. They are starting to

ease away, but we are watching this massive cloud down towards the

south`west, gathering moisture and gathering strength. It will not just

give us rain, but we have tightly packed isobars