investigation into how qatar was awarded the 2020 world cup. and how a computer passed a decade's old challenge fooling judges into thinking it was a real live teenager. ♪ at this hour, members of congress are holding a rare nighttime hearing to tackle one of the biggest scandals to hit the department of veteran affairs. 121,000 veterans are still waiting for va health care. almost 60,000 had to wait 90 days or more just for their first appointment. and it is getting rid of its two-week scheduling goal for appointments. mike viqueira joins us with more. how are house members reacting? >> this is monday evening and i don't think i have ever seen a hearing on a monday evening. members are outraged. the gao has come out with the report, the inspector general has come out with a report, it all boils down to numbers that are disturbing. let's have a look a little bit more. john, the longest average wait times for new patient primary care, honolulu, hawaii has the distinction, 145 days. texas, 145. another dubious accomplishment. durham, north carolina, people waiting 104 days. it boils down to a number of things. this 14-day waiting period. this was the goal. no one was able to meet this around the country. and then the system for making appointments. the computer system has to be ripped out by the roots. the deputy va secretary was here talking about the need to urgently address that issue. and integrity issues, people flat out lied, they fudged the numbers, cooked the books, there are calls for criminal investigations from congress. the deputy assistant secretary also had to say this. >> i apologize to our veterans, their families, and their loved ones. members of congress, veteran service organizations, our employees, and the american people. >> many people, john are convinced that the entire management structure has to be ripped out by the roots. john? >> you mentioned one way to try to fix it. are there any other ways to stop all of these wait times and get veterans the care they need. >> a lot addressed is the urgent need. they have gone to the 1700 in the phoenix facility. approached each of them individually. they are talk about hiring additional staff. they have suspended some performance awards -- some bonuses that were seen as a reverse incentive for people to try to fudge the numbers to make things look better than they were. they have reached out to those individuals, and promised some new and better accounting and of course the systemic problems, the archaic computer system that made the appointments, and the search goes on for a new va secretary. toby cross grove from the va clinic was discussed. he unilaterally withdrew his name over the weekend. so the search goes on. >> the job gets bigger every day. mike thanks very much. it has been a violent couple of days in pakistan where the taliban is claiming responsibility for two major attacks in 24 hours. a suicide bombing killed four people today, and followed an overnight siege on pakistan's largest airport that left 29 people dead. >> reporter: another funeral in one of the world's bloodiest insurgencies. the pakistan taliban killed the elite ranger in sunday's attack. the unfolding disaster was clear from afar, as smoke covered the night's sky. just before midnight, the rebels had shot their way into the old terminal. a gun battle followed with real members of airport security then the army was called in. >> lot of security forces -- >> reporter: security forces confronted and killed them. they destroyed them. it was good this operation was over in about four or five hours. >> reporter: but four or five hours is enough to bring up the question of the state of security in pakistan again. this is the country's busiest airport. last year more than 16 million people passed through here. security analysts say corruption within pakistan's many security services is part of the reason the attack was so easy to carry out. >> i think it's a great threat to security. no place in pakistan is safe. so i think the government has to take serious view of this, and take action. >> reporter: this is what the rebels brought with them. an arsenal of suicide vests and heavy weapons. they say it is revenge for a u.s. drone stroke that killed their leader last year. and it has warned its campaign of revenge has just begun, promising more killings to come. and ken is the president of terror free tomorrow, and the author of terrorists in love in which he interviewed numerous taliban fighters in pakistan and joins us tonight in washington. welcome. >> thank you, john. >> how is this particular attack on the airport different? this >> it is really not different. this is a long series of attacks. we don't necessarily read or hear about it in the united states. but these attacks are occurring on almost a daily basis. this one is larger in scope and greater ambition than some of the other ones, but the violence has been increasing throughout the country. >> i was talking to someone who suggested when you attack the largest airport in pakistan, you drive a nail through the heart of the nation's economy. how -- how do you respond to that? >> i think that's absolutely right. i think the symbolic value, and thank god there wasn't a greater loss of life. they never made it to the main terminal. in terms of the pakistani security response, they contained the damage. however, this is the main commercial city in pakistan. but several months ago there was a major attack in islamabad, and the intelligence agency and military have supported the taliban for years, and now they have created a franken tine -- frankenstein monitor. >> is this the beginning of more attacks? >> i'm afraid it could be. in scope and in -- and in force these attacks are continuing, and the taliban appears to be gaining strength -- >> and -- >> and this doesn't argue well for afghan either. >> and no sign the government can get this under control. what does the government need to do? >> they need to make a fundamental strategic decision. it has tried for years through the isi, which is the intelligence agency which is part of the pakistani army has tried to separate good taliban, from bad taliban, good terrorists from bad terrorists. i understand why they want to do that. they don't want an afghanistan dominated or too friendly to india, but by supporting the taliban for years, arming them, and giving them refuge, they have created a pakistani, frankenstein monster, and you can't separate these out. you have to make a decision, what is more important the future of pakistan itself or these idealogical groups who have been doing the bidding for years by carrying out attacks against americans, indians, afghans. >> how is pakistan different today than it was say two years ago? >> well, i think unfortunately what has happened is the radicalization has been increasing, and gaining strength, and while many -- when i found -- when i interviewed a lot of taliban members there was a loyalty to omar, who is kind of like a pope. and almost uniformly i found that. however, with the increasing radicalization, there is real questions whether even omar can control the taliban out there, and there are a lot of different factions, there's increasing urbanization. there is occurred in carachi, so there is a problem that is growing, and this is a problem that i think real strategic decisions have to be made both by the pakistani government and the united states. we have given $20 billion to the pakistanny government since 9/11 with very little to show for it, and they used some of that money to support the taliban. >> ken thanks for your incite. >> thank you, john. tonight disturbing news out of egypt. a brutedal sexual assault in the middle of the celebration of the nomination of the new president. roxana saberi joins us with more. >> reporter: sexual harassment is getting worse in egypt. this time a video showed up on youtu youtube. a warning, some of the images are disturbing. this video posted on social media, appears to show a woman naked with blood covering parts of her body. tens of thousands of egyptians celebrate the inauguration of their new president. the video has created a stir. along with this clip posted on social media sites. it shows a correspondent reporting from the square. she tells an anchor woman we must also report there are isolated cases of sexual harassment. as she speaks the anchor is laughing, and saying so what they are having fun. all of the people are having fun. the anchor later wrote on her facebook page, i was commenting on people's joy not the harassment. the network said . . . but the numbers sexual harassment is a phenomenon in egypt. >> many egyptians don't want to accept this is a pervasive problem. in fact the numbers are showing that it is becoming more and more prevalent. >> reporter: many incidents have taken place at the cite of rallies during the arab spring and today. >> you have women publicly protesting and participating in celebrations like this weekend when -- when the former field marshall sisi was elected, and so there's more opportunities also for these men to act on their frustrations, their rage, their pathologies. >> reporter: some men are joining women in egypt to might sexual assault. volunteers roam the streets to stop sexual hararesment. >> whatever happens in the assaults harms the society as a whole. it's not only women. >> reporter: egypt amended it's laws on sexual harassment to make it punishable by up to five years in prison. >> roxana thanks very much. the armed group boko haram is expected in another attack. gunmen seized 20 women less than 100 miles from the location where more than 300 schoolgirls were kidnapped in april. the government has been criticized by many nigerians who say more needs to be done to protect. the obama administration is still trying to explain why it made a deal to free star gent birddoll. randall pinkston has been following the story. what kind of information are they getting? >> this is a repeat of the same briefing the white house provided to the senate last week, trying to explain the proof of life video that showed the sergeant to be in poor health. that was one of the reasons, the administration gave. critics blasted the administration's failure to notifying congress 30 dies prior to releasing detainees. >> there were 80 to 90 people who knew about the birddoll release, not one of which was with the u.s. congress. it's safe to say people were extremely disappointed and underwhelmed at what was put forward, and also there was a sense of anger that members of congress didn't know about this. >> while there were some democrats who have criticized the administration, others are defending the decision. >> i am completely mystified and quite frankly disgusted that they -- there has been a demonization of the soldier? every american deserves to be considered innocent until proven guilty; that there is a -- a demonization of this administration for doing what is clearly in the tradition and the constitution. >> and president obama has already said that he makes no apologies for making the deal to free the sergeant. birddoll, by the way remains hospitalized in germany. u.s. officials are reporting that he is able to travel, but tell the new york times that he is not yet emotionally ready to reunite with his family. and there are also some reports that birddoll has told medical staff that he was kept in a small box after trying to escape. john? >> all right. secretary hagel will be weigh in on this later this week. what is expected there? >> he is sure to defend the decision to release birddoll. >> we have had a policy of never negotiating with terrorists. the last question was who made this decision? and they indicated secretary hagel. i asked -- i said, wait a minute, are you saying secretary hagel made this decision or was this the president of the united states? >> that is chairman of the house armed services committee, he will be one of many who will have some very tough questions for secretary hagel. >> randall pinkston. randall thank you. coming up protesters clash with police three days before the games kick off in brazil. and a computer passes a ski test of artificial intelligence. ♪ this week the world soccer fans turn their attention to brazil for the world cup. gabriel reports. >> reporter: before sunrise and sao paulo is burns. several hundred protesters burn trash blocking entrances. >> translator: today we are here in solidarity with the metro workers in their fight for better working conditions and salaries. >> reporter: later on the police move in to break up the crowd. everywhere the buses are left stranded. traffic backed up for as far as the eye would see. the strike was declared illegal by a court order. 60 metro workers were fired. >> translator: we may have been talking to the government for more than two months, but they have not been negotiating with us, and now they are criminalizing our movement. >> reporter: but midday, more protesters for a homeless worker's movement marched to show support for the workers. when they reached the state transportation office, security was on high alert. but locals are confident the strike won't threaten the world cup. >> translator: for any issue that can come up, we have a contingency plan. not just for the metro. >> reporter: this strike seems to be the catalyst for all of these new protests here. the big question is, is this the beginning of the end of these protests, or will they continue through the world cup? the answer isment doing in a matter of days in a city gripped in an unsettling mix of public transport paralysis after protests. controversy also surrounded the 2022 world cup. the times of london has reported that fifa officials took up to $5 million in bribes from qatar businessman. >> fifa has launched its own investigation. the report was concluded today with results expected in the coming months. the controversy now has major advertisers rethinking their support. and some members are open to rethinking the idea of rethinking the 2022 bid. in a statement they say . . . the committee also said it would take any steps necessary to defend the process. al jazeera's parent company is based in qatar and founded in part by that country's government. we reached out to fifa for comment. they declined to comment while the investigation continues. british journalist, andrew jennings has spent decades investing corruption within fifa. he was banned from attending press conferences from the president. and he told me the blame lies at the top starting with the president. >> if the government of any country has something like a third of its senior officials accused on documentary evidence of corruption, the government folds, the president or prime minister is out. and it would happen all over the world, and really, it says a lot about fifa that nobody is saying we have got to get rid of this guy our name stinks. and he is so remote and so out of touch, starting with their congress tomorrow which they think they will get away with, he will blame everybody except the greed and corruption around him. >> as he is just turned a blind eye to these problems? >> i think it's in-built corruption. and forgive me to plugging my new book, but, i found that the previous president was mobbed up, and i found photographs of him with the biggest gangster in rio de janeiro, which is a very criminal city. in 1974 when joel took over fifa, we brought the culture of criminal rio with him. and fifa has been run like that. they just need washing away. it's not about reforming. it's not enough for him to be forced to stand down. the whole leadership and their staff at fifa need to be just abolished. i think the headquarters has to come out of switzerland, and come to a country that is far more transparent, the united nations, or european union, somebody needs to call a conference to discuss how do we organize the world's biggest game without the leader. >> shouldn't we hear what the investigation has to say before moving forward? >> this isn't an investigation. they say there is, but let's look at the reality. he and the bunch around him who run world football, back in 2010 when i was at the bbc, and sunday times, both came out with big corruption evidence. so he hires his own policeman. can you imagine an gangster in any country -- he has a private lawyer. he can't seize bank accounts. he has no rights to insistence of interrogation, it is a lackadaisical, very expensive so-called investigation. and he wanted it to take well into next year. and these latest allegations are saying they are bringing it forward, but they have done one investigation already, and they don't publish the results. the game doesn't deserve this. we don't need these terrible people. coming up next, dangerous trek, a surge of children crossing the mexican border on their own. and tests of endurance, crews try to row from california to hawaii. ♪ this is al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler in new york. coming up, hope for some of syrias refugees. why one family turned their simple tent to classroom of sanctuary. and the computer that tricks people into thinking it's human, what it could mean for artificial intelligence. ♪ hundreds of children have been caught near the mexican border trying to enter the u.s. illegally and alone. they are being kept at a warehouse, but they keep coming, and supplies are running dangerously low. jennifer london joins us. what are officials saying? >> reporter: for the first time today we are hearing firsthand accountins of what it is like inside the warehouse where i'm told some 1100 undocumented teens and children are being held. we're talking about undocumented minors from el salvador, guatemala, and honduras. customs and border protection was only informed of the operation to move these minors on thursday. the children began arriving on friday. the state officials said it has been a logistic call nightmare. those that toured the facility today say the children are being fed, there are catering services, and phones have been set up so the children can try to reach anyone they may know in the states. i did have a chance to speak with the major here and a state senator after they toured the facility. >> i was able to talk to some of the children, and i asked them how they felt. they said they felt really good. two little girls told me that they were very sad. and i asked why they were sad. and they told me that they missed their parents. >> these kids a lot of them are refugees, and this may be the best-treated refugees in the world, but it's just sad that they have to be refugees and separated from their families. >> reporter: john, the major told me that this is only meant to be a transitional place for these children and teens. he stressed that this is not meant to be a permanent holding facility. >> this is a really tough situation, jennifer. what is going to happen with the children? what can the government do with them? >> this facility is only supposed to hold these children for up to 72 hours. what i am told is they are processing the minors in groups of 300. 300 come in, and 300 are processed out. and they have started the process of moving these teens and children to longer safe facilities in texas, california, and oklahoma, and i'm told by the state senator who was in our piece, that this operation she has been told will last through september. >> all right. jennifer thank you. nearly 3 million refugees have fled the civil war in syria, seeking shelter in neighboring countries, about half are children. most have not been to school in years. but we found one school offering hope to children and the teachers. >> reporter: even in a school that might seem foreign, you can find a game that's familiar. there's a universality to being a child, the understanding of musical chairs, the love of drawing, and the attraction to butterflies. but look a little closer and know these students are syrian, these children are refugees who fled to an unfamiliar country. >> 400,000 in lebanon alone are out of school. we are at risk of losing an entire generation. >> reporter: this 7-year-old is drawing from what he remembers from what life was good. when he had a house. >> reporter: what do you think about your home here? it's a tent he says. because of safety concerns the teacher must say anonymous. >> reporter: when you arrived what was the condition of these children? >> translator: of them have seen their fathers killed in front of them. so when they arrived they were afraid. >> reporter: this little guy is one of about 250 people who live here. in the last year this settlement tripled in size. lebanon doesn't allow formal refugee camps so you have these informal settlements. you have a thousand of these across the country. with no running water sewage runs along the edges. the toilets are portable. this is a child safety zone. this school is a sanctuary. >> translator: they are talking to me. their situation has really improved. >> reporter: by day the tent is classroom, but by night it's a home. the family who lives here has given part of it away so the kids can go to school, and the daughter is the teacher. >> reporter: what did you see in syria? >> translator: we arrived here. we had no home, no job, nothing. my husband was with me, but then he returned to syria. >> reporter: that's our son playing next to us. his father never made it back. so just as it has for these children, this school has healed them. >> translator: when my husband died i didn't want to see anyone. it's lated myself, but then i started teaching, and when you people who have suffered like you, you feel like your problems are becoming smaller. >> reporter: a refugee helping to save other refugees to ultimately save herself. >> nick joins us in the studio. you just got back from the middle east and lebanon in particular. so talk about -- i mean, after all of the work that has been done to help these refugees, are their lives any better? >> i think they feel like they are safer. and if you ask every single refugee, they will say they left to save their children. they left so their kids could be in school. and what is extrordanaire about lebanon in particular, there are more syrian kids in lebanese schools than lebanese children. so, yes, they feel safer, but their lives are not very hopeful, a lot of kids and parents have ended up on the streets, and that is really taxing lebanon. >> we are talking about huge numbers of people who have lost their homes. so when you see those numbers go up, i assume that means more violence in syria and they are running. >> yeah, about 60% of all houses and homes in syria have been damaged or destroyed. so for example, we spent a night right along the border of mount hermann. this is a place where people escape, one particular town that was 100,000 people is now 100. and every night they come over the mountain, an eight-hour walk. and that's how desperate they are. >> you have shown us -- you have given us a view -- an inside view of what these camps -- these settlements are like. can you -- can you talk about the enormity of it, and what you see when you get there? >> it's heart breaking when you go into these camps and talk to these children, these parents, the stories that they have of running from shells, running from airplanes firing at them. that family that came over the mountain were bombed as they left. i mean somebody noticed they were trying to flee and they were still being attacked. so the stories are heart breaking, and what you find is a huge amount of wounded. there is some half a million wounded also leaving syria, and you get these stories of people having lost limbs, arms and legs, and they need new legs and they are getting them, some of them. >> but they are not always getting such a warm welcome from countries like lebanon. >> the border in lebanon is open. but it's absolutely taxing the system. when you talk to lebanese off of the record, they are not really welcoming off of though refugees. the infrastructure is not there. the medical support is not there. the schooling is not there. so they are safer, but they are deeply worried that their lives simply aren't hopeful, and there is really going to be no future, until they get back to syria. >> it's great to have you back, even if it is for a few days. thanks, nick schifrin. now to ukraine, for months russia has tried to paint the struggle as a struggle with nationalists. al jazeera has found that ukraine's military is recruiting those separatists to help fight pro-russian separatists. >> reporter: training on the shore of the sea that laps the coasts of both russia and crimea, the latest recruits to ukraine's battle against the separatist uprising in the east. these volunteers have joined a special force raised by the interior ministry in kiev. just over the horizon is the crimea peninsula. some of the volunteers have come from crimea. they have also come from sweden, and italy, and some of them have come from russia. but the one thread that links all of these men, getting the basics of how to strip and reassemble [ inaudible ] in a beach hotel is they believe in national socialism. they are all neo-fascists. this russian volunteer has adopted the battle name of merman. >> translator: in another ten years i will not belong in my country. a lot of people won't belong in their country. we'll be like the red indians in america. >> reporter: also we found a 52-year-old italian who had left behind a wife and child to volunteer to fight. >> i fight where my comrades are, so i -- i felt immediately at home. and they let me feel at home too. >> reporter: further east, a border guard came under a rocket attack overnight. this in a city that is supposed to be backing kiev. i found the separatist fighters downtown where they showed me around their fort -- fort if indications. >> translator: i don't know what the future holds. we have less support in our city. >> reporter: the beaches were full of sunbathers, making the most of the weather. most of them seemed unaware or uncaring about the war being fought around them. but just along the coast, the members of the battalion were standing too at dusk under the ukrainian flag. the past is rearing its head again and eating the future of ukraine. andre is an executive board member of the ukrainian congress of america, and he joins us tonight in our news room. thank you for being here. >> thank you very much. >> let me start with the report that ukraine's military is recruiting neofascists, do you think that's true? >> no. i'm very shocked by that report. what we saw in the election was a resounding declaration that they are not interested in ultranationalism, as we saw in the european election. we saw in ukraine ultra nationalist parties didn't get more than 1.6% of the votes. >> you were just in western ukraine, what do you hear about what is going on in the east? >> what i hear in the east is a lot of repression. what i met were internally displaced people from the eastern ukraine. it's a shocking situation in your own country you are displaced. first we see people from crimea who are not wanting to be hunted down by the pro-russian people. there is no political leadership right now that has ahold of eastern ukraine right now, so they are targeting people like priests, doctors, teachers, their families, and these people have had to leave their homes behind, and travel to the west one to remain safe and two to get their story out to the world that they are being hunted down over there. >> poroshenko promised to return crimea to ukraine. >> i don't see a country like ukraine physically attack against crimea in the next six months or so, but what i believe will happen is people in crimea will more and more get to realize what occupation under russia will be. what they're having is no access to international flights, there's no mail that will be delivered to crimea. it's a conflict war zone and as such will not receive those services. also there is a lack of medication. russia has promised to send medication within a couple of months. however, if you have something like diabetes where are you getting your medication from. you don't have energy. russia promised new power plants will be put up within a month of their annexation. >> you would suggest that those who might have voted to break away won't be happy in the coming months. >> i can tell you i have read diary entry after diary entry of people posting online or people i have met saying that some of them believed they might have a better life. a lot of them are coming to realize it is not coming to realization. >> how does poroshenko turn this around? what western business is going to invest in a country that seems to be torn by civil war. >> well, there's no civil war -- >> well, whatever it is -- >> yeah. >> -- i mean if you have got a business how much do you really want to get involved in a country that is going through this. >> i'm going to 100% agree with you. because i know of businesses who's contracts have disappeared. but ukraine is a vast untapped potential of a, people who have seeking jobs for close to a decade, you have natural resources, natural gas, aluminum, the steel reserves are still untapped another this point. the president announced a trilateral meeting going on with russia and ukraine sitting down, and he is trying to achieve a ceasefire. we have seen a ceasefire not necessarily work out -- >> but it's possibility. >> but there's possibility. and there's a brief period of time between a ceasefire, and a time when ukraine to be a big lightning rod for business. >> thank you very much. coming up a computer passes an artificial intelligence test by acting like a teenager. and a key test of endurance gets underway in the pacific. the same storm that brought in tornados from colorado to tennessee is tracking eastward tonight. a lot of rain, a lot of lightning, hail, and that risk of a tornado continues across the southeast tonight. most of our storm-damage reports have been from large hail and very strong wind gusts. the rain amounts are impressive. dumping so much rain, memphis, tennessee almost 2 3/4 of an inch of rain. whereas your record is almost 4.5 inches. so i don't know that we'll get there. but we'll look for mainly showers across portions of the mid-atlantic states into the mideast. touching parts of louisiana all the way up into kentucky. afghanistan over the weekend had so much flash flooding folks were bringing in medical help, families were stranded in the mountains, and as you look at these pictures, you can see landslides occurred after the flash flooding, villages destroyed and trees down. al jazeera america news continues. from the start of the computer age the goal has been to create a machine that can actually think. the classic test was whether a computer can fool a human into believing it was a person. jake ward is live with the story. how did computer scientists conduct this test? >> the test is called the touring test. it is gamed for alan touring who was one of the great code breakers of world war ii, and the father of artificial intelligence. and he is honored each year by an annual test like the one that happened in london last night on sunday, in which, in this case, five different pieces of software were put to the test and tried to get one third of human interrogators to believe they were human in conversation. >> how convincing is this software? and have you tried it? >> yeah, i have personally tried it. there was a convenient back story sort of built around this piece of software. it was a 13-year-old boy from the ukraine, and a lot of critics have been up in arms under these conditions. i was talking to this kid and i was thinking he is 13 and english isn't his first language, so maybe that's why he isn't so good at typing. but it's pretty easy to tell he is starting to repeat himself. but he talked about odessa and didn't like soviet movies, but he is not terribly convincing. he forgets the answers you have given him, and pretty soon you are like no no no, you are a ro bot. >> how did he convince the judges? >> i think if you ask him the right kinds of questions, he'll get lost. think of it as a phone tree that goes on and on and on, and after a while you go maybe it's human, i don't know could be a teenager. in my case i got him pretty quickly. so we're nowhere near the day where you can tell the difference between a robo call and a representative. >> thanks jake. take care. coming up violating constitutional requirements, the conditions inmates in the l.a. county jail are having to live in that has the justice department investigating. plus the controversy surrounding plans to put the shine into st. john cathedral. those stories and much more tonight at 11:00 eastern. it's an endurance test at sea. the great pacific race got underway today. contestants are rowing from california to hawaii. >> reporter: they are off, on what may be one of the most gruelling sports events ever invented. it's the great pacific race with competitors from around the world rowing from california to hawaii, a distance of nearly 3,900 kilometers, you heard that right. they are rowing. the whole way. no sails, no motors, just muscles. this is the canadian crew practicing before the race began. >> the great pacific race is the first-ever human powered race across the pacific. we have 13 crews, representing ten different countries. it will take them between one and three months. it's brutal, but brilliant. >> reporter: unlike many other sporting events there are no big corporate sponsors, some of the racers put up their own money for boats and equipment. matt is a 33-year-old part-time actor and self proclaimed adrenalin junky. >> i have spent about twice what i thought i could get away with, and about three times what i originally had in the bank. so i'm flat broke right now. >> reporter: and as this british competitor points out, there's no prize money either. >> people keep asking what is the prize money? and you are like, honor and glory? >> reporter: safety is their top priority. each vessel has satellite phones to call for help if they run into trouble. at a time when many sports have become million billion dollars events, this reminds us that some athletes complete not for money for fame, but simply to prove themselves. in addition they are rowing for charities ranging from autism to fighting pollution. matt worries most about what is behind him. >> the thing i fear the most is butt pain. i'm really concerned about how my butt is going to fair. >> reporter: viewers can track racers' progress online. and you can track the race by visiting great pacific race.com. tonight's freeze frame comes to us from the hong kong international airport. 1600 paper pandas on display. part of the month-long complain to highlight the endangered species. the number is important because there are 1600 giant pandas believed to be left in the wild. our headlines right after this. america mobile app, available for your apple and android mobile device. download it now welcome to al jazeera america. i'm david shuster. here are tonight's top stories. koongal hearing is happening right now on the growing scandal of va hospitals across the country. the va released an intern audit today. about half of the patients have waited 90 days or more for their first appoint. 20 more women have been kidnapped in nigeria. it is suspected that the armed group boko haram seized the girls. they have been attacking northeastern nigeria for the past five years. the government is facing criticism over its ability to protect the public. . in egypt seven men have been arrested over mass sexual assault. the celebration took pla place -- attacks took place during the celebration of the new president. those are your headlines. i'm david shuster. "america tonight" with joie chen is up next. on "america tonight": 100 days sie disappeared from a shelter in the shadow of the nation's capitol. where is relisha rudd? how a little girl could simply vanish and what's being done to keep another child from meeting the same fate. >> i think people are paying attention. i've seen some changes. >> also tonight, tens of thousands of children at risk, as the u.s. scrambles to find them shelter. why are so m