24/06/2014 ABC World News with Diane Sawyer

gathering dust on a departmental shelf. 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. A huge earthquake off the coast of

Alaska. Experts are watching for signs of a tsunami. In nationwide

sweep by the FBI releases nearly 200 children from traffickers. Tonight,

experts find stunning things buried inside your medical bills. How one

family saved $30,000. Good evening. We have breaking news from Alaska. A

powerful earthquake erupted off the coast of Alaska, triggering a

tsunami warning. Evacuations are under way on the islands off the

mainland. This is a significant earthquake and it carries with it a

tsunami warning. It struck just before one o'clock this afternoon,

local time, on and uninhabited island on the tip of that island

chain that stretches out towards Russia. We spoke with the city mayor

of a town just a few islands away from the epicentre. He said the

shaking was incredibly strong and that the water was receding from the

harbour. Because of the tsunami warning, people were looking for

higher ground and we had to cut short our conversation so he could

evacuate. We think of California as earthquake country but Alaska is

more seismically active. Half of the earthquakes that occur in the US

occur in Alaska. 1964, 9.2 on the Richter scale, one of the strongest

earthquakes ever in North American history. They are monitoring the

situation is far south as Oregon. Thank you. Now, a nationwide

crackdown on a problem that could reach into every community in this

country. The FBI moved in to rescue nearly 200 children in the US, most

of them girls, many enticed from their homes by sex traffickers. We

were with the investigators and captured the drama of that rescue.

This red light district is just one target on a nationwide crackdown

announced today, a place where prostitutes come to make their

money, many of them just girls. How young are we talking? The youngest I

have seen is 13. This undercover police officer is part of that sweep

and I'm here for the sting as the FBI and police try to rescue as many

goals as they can. Today, they announce that operation

cross`country but 281 alleged pimps behind bars and rescued 168

prostitutes in more than 100 cities from Tampa to Denver to Los Angeles.

These are our children on our street corners, our truck stops, our

motels, our casinos. Some of them are runaways, many forced into

prostitution, Lloyd by boyfriends offering promises of love and

affection. I was 17 years old. He said he would take me all and we

would go to the shopping mall first. He wheedled me into it. I was

scared. Police on the streets say they often see a pattern. They come

from a broken background so if anyone shows them any common decency

or love, tells them that they love them, they believe them because they

have to believe them. As the night goes on, Oakland police bring in

woman after woman. This is the problem. There are more prostitutes

and temps on the streets than there are police officers who can arrest

them all. The underage girls go to juvenile hall, where police say they

will get help and most importantly forced time away from their pimps.

We go after their exploiters to prevent future victims from

occurring. One girl at a time. Many of these girls were not even

reported missing. Police say if it weren't for these operations, they

might not have been found. We know that girls rescued in the same

operation a few years ago are now in college, studying nursing. Police

say the key is to say the key is to get to the girls

and get them off the streets. A state of emergency caused with

severe floods. What than 13 million people watching the water and the

sky. Tonight, thousands are still without

power in Texas. Drenched with four inches of rain in just one hour.

Neighbourhoods submerged. All of that water even knocking this house

of its foundation. In the midwest, floodwaters are still rising after

two weeks of heavy rain. In Minnesota, 35 counties are in a

state of emergency. They saw funnel clouds today. A state trooper's bash

camera caught this mudslide. As the waters creep higher, bridges are

being closed before they go under water. You can see the water is so

high they have had to shut it down. If you want to get from here to

Wisconsin today, you are going to need a boat. This woman is watching

the water slowly invade her home. It started coming in this morning. Her

backyard is now a marina. You accept the fact that it is going to take

over from time to time. The raging river is making daredevil kayakers

happy. But the rescue teams nervous. Stay away from the water right now.

It is too aggressive. Rivers are cresting in some small towns. In

Saint Paul, these waters are expected to rise another three feet

by Thursday. Today we learned that the global

temperature last month was the warmest May on record in history.

The average temperature just shy of 60 degrees. And we now go to the

crisis in Iraq. The country is unravelling. Today the White House

is taking new place as they try to avoid the civil war.

John Kerry went to Baghdad today with a blunt warning for leaders,

telling them if they do not get their acts together and form a

united front right now with minority groups, the country could fall

apart. US officials believe the biggest problem right now is a

political, not military. The government is so unpopular with the

country's minorities that they are unwilling to join the fight against

the militants. The military situation is incredibly grim. One

out of every three divisions is deemed unable to fight. The air

force has only two aeroplanes capable of firing missiles. If that

is not bad enough, they are out of vessels. `` missiles.

Now the news back in this country tonight. A woman who told the Mormon

Church to give women a bigger role. She was excommunicated. She argued

women priests should be included. She was tried and sentenced with

apostasy. After being tried in absentia by an all`male panel, this

afternoon eight got the news she was dreading.

A lifelong excommunication. Punished for forming a group ordained women,

which seeks to allow women into the priesthood. The officials said:

thank you for being here today. Since forming the group, she has led

several protests, saying she found the group so that young girls would

not doubt they were. She can be readmitted to the group if she meets

several conditions after a year. She tells ABC News tonight that she is

devastated by the decision and a spokesperson says the group will

continue. Now, sometimes the heavens seem to

be watching over a child at risk. An eight`month`old baby abducted by a

car thief and abandoned by the side of the road. The girl had

disappeared without a trace until a jogger happens to run by.

It is a heartbreaking picture out of Houston. A car thief took off with

girl all by herself in the middle of girl all by herself in the middle of

the night in this empty field. Police had helicopters in the air,

searching the streets, setting out and amber alert. That is when the

mother ran inside with the baby in the back. Police say this man stole

the car and abandoned the child ten minutes away.

Genesis was still strapped in her seat in the middle of the bush is

for nearly seven hours when this woman decided to go jogging for the

first time in her life. I saw the baby moving in the car seat and

crying. The police used their uniforms as blankets. She was

uninjured and brought home safe and sound. Babies like to be swaddled.

Up next, real money. Outrageous medical bills and the stunning

things buried inside. Next tonight, we are back on the

Trail of outrageous medical bills. Medical bills are the number one

cause of personal bankruptcy in this country. We show you what happened

to one family putting thousands of dollars back in their pocket and how

you can do it too. His parents from San Antonio are

still sifting through a mountain of medical bills for his delivery. We

owe $150,000. `` $50,000. We brought in our healthcare consumer advocate

to try and cut down that bill. Step one, ask for an itemised bill.

Contest any service you do not remember getting. Get a comparison

shop, even after the fact. Call down the hospital and is the guy down the

street is charging less. They found out they were being charged four

times the national average for a C section delivery and were able to

negotiate a whopping $12,000 off their bills. To get extra savings

you might have missed, consider hiring a professional negotiator.

They keep 30% of whatever savings they get you. You keep the rest. We

are seeing some kind of charging 85% of your bill. Almost all of them.

They are using advanced computer programmes to find out billing

errors. They said he was a sick at delivery and needed special

attention. That was not the case. That is $17,000. They will even help

your family find special discount programmes. I have saved $18,000

today. $18,000 so far. That is $30,000 in total. It stunned us all.

That is good news. What does this mean for your lives? It means we can

move on. Unbelievable. They fought back from

more than two years. Never give up. Even if you do not hire a help,

there are things you can do on your own. We have put

website. This is what you can do on your own.

Our instant index tonight starts with a piece of advice from someone

who knows a couple of things about sharks. A group of fishermen came

face to face with a 16 foot great white. Watched it snatched the bait

bag. It convinced them to leave. There is a certain number of great

whites along the east coast. A lot of people talking about a new role

for the family pet. Crawling coach. An extraordinary idea the dog had.

He is a loving companion to the baby, who was not making a lot of

tracks on her hands and knees until he kept slipping in front of her to

encourage her moving forward. We are told after a lot of tutoring by the

dog, she is now off and crawling. Finally tonight, the picture making

history. `` picture. The first major league pitcher to do something that

could light a revolution. It is something that could offer

protection from a street back. It is safe to 95 mph. Does it look odd?

Are they said the same thing when that in helmets became mandatorily

and the little ear recovering. Remember football, went from this to

this to this, because people kept getting heart. 2 million kids play

baseball. I hope they can use them. He may not go down in history as one

of baseball's greatest left`handers, but if the helmet catches on, he

will always have that footnote of having gotten their first.

We will always be here, Nightline later.

We saw some thunderstorms to end the day in the south of the UK

yesterday. But for many of us it is a decent sort of day. There is some

warmth and warmth and sunshine to be found. The

best is to be found in the south of the UK. Starting the day quite warm

here. In the far north, much fresher conditions. It will be filtering its

way south during the