a colorado man who set out on a mission alone to hunt osama bin laden is returning home. gary faulkner arrived in los angeles yesterday after a flight from the mideast. he has been detained in pakistan for ten days. faulkner was apprehended in a remote area with a pistol sword and night vision equipment. the pakistanis did not charge faulkner and he promises to return to his mission. sex abuse accusations against al gore in oregon four years ago are now being made public. portland police confirmed tabloid reports about a portland massage therapist accusing the former vice president of unwanted sexual contact. no charges were filed back in 2006. police said there was not enough evidence. three years later the woman complained again to police and gore was not charged. a spokesman said gore will not comment. bp says it has made an undersea fix capping the oil well once again at the bottom of the gulf of mexico. abc's michael bard explains what caused the problem and its impact. >> reporter: after a major setback a containment cap bumped loose from the gushing oil well has been put back in place. oil had spewed at an uncontrolled rate for 11 hours on wednesdayoff anfteran underwater robot hit a vent. >> reporter: bp says full operations resouped after the cap was replaced. over the next 24 hours crews hope to take in about 15,000 barrels of oil. the normal amount. on many beaches tar balls are washing ashore. >> days count, hours count. we are in an emergency situation right now. >> reporter: the justice department wants to delay a federal judge's ruling. he struck down the six-month moratorium on deep sea drilling. interior secretary ken salazar said investigations show reckless conduct on the deepwater horizon rig and says that trouble extended to the agency that oversaw the rigs. >> sex, drugs, various -- secret handshakes, so on. >> i hope and i think it is not pervasive across the agency. >> reporter: and lawmakers are demanding proof from bp that it's paying claims in the gulf and may issue subpoenas. michael barr, abc news. now here is a look at your thursday forecast. 70-mile-an-hour winds, hail and flash floods from maine down to washington, d.c. thunderstorms in tennessee, kentucky, and the gulf coast. severe storms from denver to albuquerque. rain from washington state to minnesota. >> 84 in the twin cities. 86 in omaha. 99 in dallas. mostly 90s up and down the east coast. 87 in colorado springs. 93 in salt lake city. and 110 in phoenix. the joke is on him but this guy is taking it all in good humor. >> a furniture store manager in suburban kansas city is looking a lot more like the ice cream man these days thanks to a prank by his bosses. they took colin goodwin's company car to be detailed and returned it dressed up like an ice cream truck complete with music. >> goodwin decided to play along with keeping a stocked freezer in his back seat. he says passing out ice cream boosts morale at work. good guy. >> everyone loves ice 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plan... insured by unitedhealthcare # insurance company. call this toll-free number on your screen now... for this free information kit, including this... / medicare guide and customized rate quote. joran van der sloot's mother says she now knows what it's like to lose a child letter her son is in custody in peru on suspicion of murder. it's likely he will never be free again. >> in an exclusive interview anita van der sloot looks to joran's childhood to see what may have been gone. . >> reporter: these are new pictures of the crime scene obtained by abc news. joran van der sloot's victim, stephany flores. her bloody sneakers. her bruised and bloodied hands. showing clear signs of a violent struggle. >> my heart became heavier and heavier. >> reporter: joran is gambling in peru when his mother hears some shocking news. >> there was a girl found in the hotel in the room of joran murdered brutally with a knife, blood everywhere. and i thought, no no. this cannot be. i mean, no way. no way. >> reporter: joran is on the run. he calls her from a taxi on his way from peru to chile. she explains in her native dutch. i told hill, joran, you're wanted for the murder of a girl a girl named flores who was seen with you. then he started crying and he said, oh, no they didn't do anything to her, did they? the only thing i said was go to the police now and turn yourself in. within 36 hours joran is captured in chile and the young man long suspected in natalee holloway's disappearance is now accused of murdering stephany exactly five years to the day that natalee went missing. >> terrible. i just can hardly speak about that. i thought this is a setup. it can't happen. >> reporter: when stephany's family finds out the name of the man she was last seen with her sister-in-law googles it. joran van der sloot. >> when i pulled up i was sure that he was the killer. >> reporter: within hours of his arrest, joran, say police, has given a confession. he's paraded in front of the press. >> joran, i'm with abc news can you tell us how you feel right now? >> i think part of me still wants to believe that it's all a movie or a very bad movie. but i -- i -- i thought immediately of the parents of the girl. as a mother, well, in a way i lost my child too, but it's the circumstances. i mean, he is the whole cause, probably. i hope that he get a chance to talk with the parents of 7 ss ss of stephany flores in a normal way and he can tell them what happened. he's my son. he's not a monster. he can be very gentle. but it could be that he has a bipolar personality. i hope he gets the help. >> reporter: in an interview with a dutch newspaper, joran says he was framed, told by police if he signed some documents he would be extradited to the netherlands. in my mind panic, he says i then signed everything. but i didn't even know what was written down. >> if joran is involved, and i don't know, i'm not a police officer. i'm a mom. if he's involved, then he needs to be punished. >> reporter: among her many regrets, says anita, is the fact that she never spoke with beth twitty after her daughter natalee went missing. we were unable to get in touch with natalee's mother beth twitty, she says. i can only imagine what was going through her mind and i thought it was horrible. and i tried to put myself in her shoes. i really would very much have liked to put an arm around her and give her a big hug. but now, five years later, she herself is a mother in mourning. mourning the death of her relationship with her son. >> there's no relation anymore. no. >> reporter: i'm john quinones in new york. >> it's such a peculiar interview in that you feel bad for her, yet at the same time you have to sort of understand why she's distanced herself from him. in fact, she went on to say in that interview, she's not going to visit him in jail, she says it probably will bring up a lot of moelgss she's not ready to deal with yesterday. >> presumably she was lied to as well by her son, so she's sort of in that same boat. she says that a lot of her son's problems probably grow from his gambling addiction. she was trying to get him some help for gambling addiction before he went to peru. when we return the gruelling and exhausting tennis match that set a world record. >> the ten-hour wimbledon competition and what the tired opponents are saying about the unforgettable day. that's next. >> i'm a big believer in the power of we. we can tackle the tough challenges we face and build community through service and volunteering. the reality is - we're all in this together. it's time for you to raise your hand, go to serve.gov and get involved in something you believe in. are you with me? are you with me? it was a thrilling vehicle fee for team usa at the world cup in south africa. facing elimination they survived more bad calls to go on and score in the 91st minute. landon donovan got the goal on a rebound for a 1-0 win over algeria. the team will face ghana on saturday. the last time team usa has made it to the round of 16 was way back in 1930. we were saying this is really payback for team usa because four years ago they had a really disappointing showing, there were a lot of high expectations. this time around finally they've made it to the round of 16. >> this thing felt like it was on loop all day long. whatever you did it was on tv. still every time he makes that goal it makes me smile. such a wonderful wonderful game. >> absolutely thrilling. another remarkable sports story at wimbledon, a tennis marathon. american john isner and his french opponent nicolas mahut play the longest match in history. >> they are still not done. they will resume today tied at sfwin-59. don guevara reports. >> reporter: a standing ovation and the crowd saying, enough already. you could say john isner of the united states and nicolas mahut of france are in the middle of a wimbledon marathon. the two have been playing for ten hours. >> we're just fighting like we never did before. >> nothing like this will ever happen again, ever. >> reporter: beating the 8 hour 25 minute minor league baseball game that went 33 innings between the paw sox and the rochester red wings back in '81. in the time these two have been at it they could have spun their wheels at the indy 500 and played six world cup soccer matches. >> someone has to win. we'll come back tomorrow. >> reporter: mahut and eisner keep running out of light. thursday will be day three for these exhausted players. they've rallied through five sets, tied 59-59, two more sets remain. >> i don't know what to say. he's serving fantastic, i'm serving fantastic. that's really all there is to it. >> reporter: any longer and one of them may just throw in the racket. john guevara, abc news. >> wow. >> you know how greedy the fans are. after all that the chant was still "we want more!" >> easy for the crowd to say. these guys are exhausted. >> what would it be like if you and i were at wimbledon and found ourselves 59 games into the match? at least i crossed my legs that's lady-like. >> that's me before the match. ta-da! 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"world news now" delivers your "morning papers." >> it started as a weird idea to promote the world cup. now a burger at a restaurant in phoenix is really drawing a lot of ire from a lot of people. it's a $21 lion burger. now exactly what you think, this thing is supposedly made of lion meat mixed with ground beef. it comes with spicy homemade chips, roasted corn on the cob. they're serving it for 21 bucks. they've gotten bomb threats and more than 250 angry e-mails from animal rights groups across the country. in their defense they say these lions were raised at a free range farm in illinois regulate the by the u.s. department of agriculture, they went on to add lion meat's uncommon but not illegal. the newest twist is there are rumors that in fact this meat came from a place that it shouldn't have come from maybe came from hunters, hunters that are sort of poaching these animals unlawfully. >> yeah i don't think -- this seems a little nuts to are this restaurant. >> right, yeah. would you ever even try lion meat? >> why serve up simba from "the lion king." >> not nice. >> that's just not nice. this next story, we're going to show you an x-rated calendar. because we can do that on early morning tv. we're trying to prove that beauty is not skin deep, it's bone deep. that's miss october with the beautiful tibia that we're displaying. this is all part of a promotion by a japanese medical display monitor company. they sort of put their own spin on the pin-up calendar that they're sending out. sending out this calendar to their clients. i think it's pretty ingenious marketing. sexy poses. >> weirdly erotic isn't it. >> does nothing for me does nothing for me. >> wow. so are they -- what are they promoting for the calendar? >> it's a medical display company. you put your x-rays on the thing. i guess they're sending it to doctors, and you know. >> i now know what a still the low toe looks like in an x-ray too, something i'd never seen. this next story is weird but sweet. a woman's son died, and she decided to take the ashes and she used part of those ashes to give herself tattoos. take a look at this. she says she mixed the ashes with ink and her husband happens to be a toot due artist. she wanted to take the remaining ink and she made three different things on her back. one's a tree, one's an angel releasing a burter fly, and a poem dedicated to her son. she said, i've put lloyd back where he started, he's in my body again. >> her son is going to be close to her. >> yeah, it's weird but nice. >> final story, drunk driving obviously is not a funny story but you've got to laugh at this guy. a guy in the uk got caught, in an accident, waiting for the paramedics to show up, he was fine. what did he do to kill the time? cracked open a beer. military shakeup. stanley mcchrystal is out and david petraeus is in. the big change and what it means in afghanistan. then, bp's fix. the underwater setback. the repairs. and the pollution's impact. >> they can't find their food and they can't find where they're going. >> the oil spill's major toll. and, vision quest. giving sight to the blind. the medical advance with so much promise. it's thursday, june 24th. >> from abc news, this is "world news now." >> a remarkable medical break-through, one that has implications not just for blind people. but people with all sorts of ailments and conditions. >> it's really revolutionary to see what's being done with stem cells. we continue to see all these advances with them. >> good morning, i'm eric horng sitting in for jeremy hubbard. >> i'm vinita nair. general stanley mcchrystal's military career is over. he is expected to retire after he was forced to resign as commander of the war in afghanistan. >> the end came after his extraordinary meeting at the white house. t.j. winick is in washington. good morning, t.j. >> reporter: good morning, vinita and eric. this was not the first time general mcchrystal had angered the president. but this latest indiscretion was more than the commander in chief could forgive. the president accepted general stanley mcchrystal's resignation as the commander in afghanistan after an intense 30-minute one-on-one meeting in the oval office. >> today i accepted general stanley mcchrystal's resignation as commander of the international security assistance force in afghanistan. >> reporter: mcchrystal had been summoned to washington after a "rolling stone" profile of the general in which he belittles the president and key members of his administration and offends key allies. >> the conduct represented in the recently published article does not meet the standard that should be set by a commanding general. it undermines the civilian control of the military that is at the core of our democratic system. >> reporter: standing beside the president during the rose garden announcement, mcchrystal's replacement, general david petraeus, highly respected and the man who successfully led the surge strategy in iraq. >> i believe that this mission demands unity of effort across our alliance and across my national security team. and i don't think that we can sustain that unity of effort and achieve our objectives in afghanistan without making this change. >> reporter: it looks like the armed services committee will hold a confirmation hearing for general petraeus no later than next tuesday. vinita and eric? the response to general petraeus' nomination on capitol hill has been widely positive and he is expected to be quickly confirmed by the senate. martha raddatz reports. >> reporter: president obama wants general petraeus to do what he did in iraq for president bush, in afghanistan. >> this is the most pressing theater, the most pressing mission. and petraeus is somebody who has the relationships and has the relationship with the president and this is as close as you can get. >> reporter: a warrior and a scholar. the 57-year-old petraeus has spent nearly half this decade in iraq. and since 2008, he has headed central command, encompassing some of the world's biggest hot spots and most importantly, overseeing the war in afghanistan. >> there will be nothing easy about any of this. indeed, i noted several months ago during my annual posture hearing that the going was likely to get harder before it got easier. >> reporter: in fact, taking day-to-day operational control of afghanistan now may be the biggest challenge petraeus has ever faced. there are now more than 90,000 u.s. troops in afghanistan. far fewer than petraeus had in iraq. and a major operation in kandahar is set to begin in the coming months. june has already been one of the deadliest months of the war. but petraeus brings a strong history with him. he has made frequent trips to afghanistan. he is widely respected by the highest levels of the afghan government, down to many of the local tribal leaders. but no matter how familiar he is with the country, the challenges are immense. with corruption rampant in some areas, slow civilian progress and a very determined enemy who will no doubt try to take advantage of this change in leadership. however slight. until petraeus is confirmed, british lieutenant general will take over duties in afghanistan along with mcchrystal's deputy commander. but petraeus is expected to be on the ground within weeks. martha raddatz, abc news, washington. bp's fix last night has stopped the out of control gushing from its well at the bottom of the gulf of mexico. engineers had to remove the containment cap from the well after a robot hit it. the containment system, when it works, collects up to 29,000 gallons of crude an hour. the coast guard confirmed the accident which caused the set-back. >> they indicated that the problem was a remotely operated vehicle that had been around the lower marine riser package had bumped into one of those vents that allows the excess oil to come out. >> the obama administration is asking a judge to overturn his ruling that would allow new drilling in the gulf. the government has been pushing on a ban on any new drilling but a judge overturned that decision tuesday. the heartbreaking images of pelicans, turtles and other sea creatures covered in oil has brought home the impact of the oil spill. marine scientists are convinced it could change the gulf ecosystem. matt gutman explains why. >> reporter: evidence of marine biologists' doomsday scenario, sharks thrashing in these waters. feeding frenzies are common in the gulf but not sharks of this size in water this shallow. >> what we're really witnessing may be a shift in the whole ecosystem feeding structure. the food web. >> reporter: biologists say marine life is fleeing the spill zone as animals would a forest fire. >> the habitat is shrinking. we have had tens of thousands of square miles that are now affected. and these animals are now moving away from them. >> reporter: scientists tell abc news plumes of dense oil a few feet beneath the surface are sucking up oxygen. tests indicate oxygen levels, four times lower than normal. and we're learning the food chain has been affected from algae to dolphins. the dolphins that are following us are hitching a ride. they're right here. they're leaping in and out of the water, going northward away from the site of the spill. and sign saiss say oil may also be affecting sea creatures' built-in gps systems they can't find their food and they can't find where they're going. >> reporter: in some cases leading them directly into this toxic mess. matt gutman, abc news, gulf shores, alabama. the corruption trial of former illinois governor rod blagojevich is bringing an unwanted headache to the white house. blagojevich's attorneys want to see fbi summaries of the interviews agents conducted with president obama. blagojevich is accused of trying to sell the president's former senate seat. the attorneys claim the president had direct knowledge about who would succeed him in the senate. he is already in prison but former detroit mayor kwame kilpatrick is in more legal trouble. kilpatrick was indicted on federal fraud and tax charges yesterday. he's accused of exploiting a charity for his own personal gain, using it for cash, travel and other perks. kilpatrick is currently serving a 14-month prison sentence on probation violations. blowing vuvuzelas, just like the horns used at the world cup, pro-democracy protesters made plenty of noise in a rally in hong kong. they were trying to drown out what pro-government lawmakers were saying. as chinese leaders try to impose reforms on the hong kong political system. demonstrators are concerned about any reforms there that would be a step backwards from democracy. now here is a look at your thursday forecast. stormy in the northeast. 70-mile-an-hour winds, hail and flash flooding from new england to the nation's capital. thunderstorms along the gulf coast to miami. severe weather in colorado and new mexico. showers from the pacific northwest to minnesota. >> 70s in seattle and portland. 93 in salt lake city. 110 in phoenix. mostly 80s across the midwest and 90s from new york down to miami. there were two huge sports stories yesterday. >> absolutely. >> of course the world cup, and then wimbledon. the story that just keeps on going and going and going. the net broke down, the scoreboard got stuck, but they kept on with it. >> it's the longest pro tennis match in history. after ten hours of court action, yes, ten hours, it's still not over. the competition was postponed for american john isner and nicolas mahut of france when they ran out of daylight. >> they played 118 games yesterday alone, stopping to use the bathroom and wolf down a sandwich and bananas. hopefully they can break their 59-59 tie when play is resumed this afternoon. incredible. >> i heard there were four match points but they just couldn't close the deal. >> on top of that i heard the umpire, who is well-known for being this very straight, doesn't say anything guy, at one point asked for a massage because his neck was hurting so bad. we'll be right back. >> probably started crying. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] try fixodent with a time-released formula. use just once per day for all-day hold. it is important to use the product as directed. / for poor-fitting dentures, see your dentist. / for hold from dawn to dark... / fixodent and forget it. n honking. a short time ago, this woman suffered from limited mobility. / a month ago thi man wasn't even able to get / around his house. these people chose freedom over restrictions. independence over limitations. they chose mobility. they chosehe scooter store. and this is the team of mobility experts who made it all happen. ii great news, you've been approved for payment. dr. cruz, i'm calling on behalf ofmarie stanford. and they can make it happen for you. hi, i'm doug harrison, if you're living with limited mobility, call the scooter store today. i promise, no other company will work 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anywhere in the country. call the sco÷"er store today. find out what great lengthsthe scooter store / will go to fo you. / improve lçur m it was a travel nightmare for 300 passengers trapped aboard a sweltering virgin atlantic jet. storms forced the flight from london to newark to land in hartford, connecticut. passengers waited on the hot dark plane with no food and little water for nearly five hours. new federal rules that limit tarmac standings to three hours do not apply to international flights. >> that's terrible for all those passengers. you know, you don't normally think of canada as a seismic hot spot but a magnitude 5.0 earthquake struck there yesterday afternoon. >> the jolt sent thousands of people rushing out of high rises in downtown toronto and could be felt in several u.s. states. ctv's richard madden reports from ottawa. >> reporter: suddenly, the ground shook and parliament hill was evacuated. along with dozens of high rises in ottawa, confused onlookers flooded the streets. >> the whole building was shaking. we're all standing there going, oh my god, what's going on? >> the floor just started to shake like crazy. the whole building felt like it was trembling. >> i felt dizzy. thought i was going to be sick, actually. >> reporter: canada's environment minister tried to stay cool as the ground shook. >> -- how to improve the situation, absolutely. i've never been in an earthquake. let alone to be in one in the middle of a television interview. >> reporter: scientists say the epicenter of the 5.0 quake was in buckingham, quebec, north of ottawa. tremors were felt as far east as montreal, as far west as michigan, even ohio, and all points in between. >> and all of us are freaking out because we never experience earthquake in quebec. >> there are reports a bridge has collapsed and wires are down in parts of rural quebec, caused by the quake. no reports of any injuries. scientists say dozens of quakes happen every year in this region, most of them too minor to be felt. but there's a caveat. they do predict in the next 50 years there's a 10% chance of a major tremor in this region that would cause some major structural damage. richard madden, ctv news, ottawa. >> apparently the quake was felt as far south as here in new york as well. did you feel it? >> i didn't. jim, did you? >> i didn't feel it at all. >> they're so rare. he's mentioned so often these do happen but a magnitude 5.0 is so rare east of the rockies, it makes you wonder even when it was happening if they had any idea what was going on. maybe just this building? >> tense moments in those high rises. >> i can only imagine. when we return, a different kind of shaking. shaking to the music. a country music veteran meets his fans far away from the national scene. >> willie nelson overseas. you can tell there he's got a new look at age 77. you're watching "world news now." the ruler of the tiny kingdom of monaco will soon be married. prince albert has announced his engagement to long-time girlfriend charlene wittstock. the bride is a former olympic swimmer from south africa. the couple met when she visited monaco for a swim meet ten years ago. charlene will be monaco's first crown princess since the death of albert's mother actress grace kelly. country music icon willie nelson wraps up a european tour this weekend. he is 77. living on a bus and working nonstop. >> that's right, on the road again. that's what fans have come to expect from the country music bad boy. what's taking some time to get used to is his brand new look. . bbc's charlie stay has the story. ♪ i just can't wait to get on the road again ♪ ♪ my love is making music with my friends and i can't wait to get on the road again ♪ >> can i ask you something straight away? i'm looking at you and you don't look quite the same. something has changed. >> cut my hair. there was a maintenance problem. it was just too long. i could have cut it off not so short, but i was a little, you know, aggravated at the time. i'm trying to sleep and my hair was in my eyes. so i said, enough is enough. i pulled the braid around and cut it and went back to sleep. >> what have the fans made of the new look? >> i hope they didn't come to hear my hair. >> we're kind of used to the idea of instant fame. instant success now. from the tv shows and stuff. yours is a very different story, isn't it. >> boy, very different, yeah. of course, i had -- there's degrees of fame, you know. i thought i was successful when i made $10 a night playing at the bohemian festival in west texas. from that point on, you know, everything was -- for me was good because i've been picking, you know, cotton for $2 a day. so all of a sudden i'm a professional. and i felt like i was successful back then. so to a certain degree it was just kind of like a growing success. ♪ you were always on my mind you were always on my mind ♪ >> you have a sort of -- i guess it's -- you'd have to call it an iconic status now. do you think that's true? it's a strange thing to talk about yourself. >> i don't know, i think it's something they don't quite understand so it's iconic. if you live old enough you might be a legend. there are no young legends i know that. has a lot to do with age. >> one of the things that does happen now is that a lot of people want to work with you. ♪ >> you've done a lot of collaborations. it's so diverse. the people you've done -- you've worked with julio egrace sister. you've worked with snoop dogg. what do you make of rap music? >> i like -- if it's good i like it. but i understand what snoop said, you know. makes a lot of sense. funny. i love it. >> you're not afraid of controversy, are you? >> i love it. >> and you have been linked in the past with stories to do with drugs and the use of marijuana, for example. and you campaign in favor of marijuana use. >> yes, i do. >> why do you do that? because you must know it's a controversial issue. >> well, you know, if it makes it even more important to speak out for fit you think that it's not the way people think. >> it has got you into trouble. am i right in thinking it was on one of your tour buses you were raided? >> i got in trouble smoking cigarettes. regular lucky strikes, you know. when i was this old. and my neighbor told me that if i ever drank a beer i was going to hell. so by 6 years old i was gone. ♪ i'll keep drinking champagne and feeling no pain ♪ >> wow. still trucking. it's great that he's still touring. he looks pretty good. for 77. i don't know if it's that he doesn't look 77 or just for the last 20 years he's looked 77. >> it's funny. when he first got the haircut he called it on his website the haircut heard around the world. but some people are wondering, this happened within a month of his birthday, maybe this was his sort of, i want a new look, i want to update things. after a quarter of a century, he looks better i think. >> definitely better than the ponytail. >> he looks a little younger i think. the medical promise that is bringing eyesight to the blind. >> the major advance that is impacting the eye doctor's office. finally this half hour, stem-cell research has produced a stunning success. doctors use stem cells to restore the sight of dozens of blind people. >> the technique could someday help patients needing transplants. dr. richard besser explains. >> reporter: imagine all the beauty of life, gone in an instant. suddenly blinded by a terrible accident, you can only make out light and dark. but now a seismic breakthrough using stem cells from one's own eye promises new sight to those blinded by burns. >> it's very exciting. for an ophthalmologist, it really is as good as it gets. >> reporter: this is a human cornea created with human stem cells. remarkable images of a replacement eye part grown in a laboratory. here's how they did it. stem cells were taken from a part of the eye that was still unaffected. scientists then put them in an incubator to grow more. the damaged cells were then replaced with the new ones they created. recipients, one blind for 50 years, could see within a matter of months. in some cases with 20/20 vision. professor graciela pellegrino is behind this miracle. >> how did it feel when you realized this was really working? >> to have seen one of those patients, you think that you have a reason to wake up and start running to do all your job. because even a single patient a is a reason to do that. >> i imagine, yeah. >> something that is unbelievable. give a reason to your life. >> reporter: an accomplishment that extends the boundaries of science. >> this may extend to internal organs like the liver. we may learn techniques from this work that apply to liver bioengineering and regrowth. very exciting times for all physicians. >> reporter: as once-blind eyes find themselves open wide with wonder and possibility. dr. richard besser, abc news, new york. >> just such an unbelievable reality these days. and it gives a lot of hope to people who have chemical burns. there's thousands of people who have chemical burns from working with things like heavy-duty substances. this could offer them the ability to have full, great eyesight once again. >> remarkable the results. 75% success rate for those who were tested. in some cases as dr. besser reported some were restored to 20/20 vision. >> the sad news is for people who have damaged retinas or macular degeneration this doesn't seem to be the cure. hopefully this breaks ways for more work to be done to help those people as well. command change. the general forced out, and who's stepping in. the impact in afghanistan after a u.s. military bombshell. then, rambo's return. an american's one-man mission to hunt osama bin laden. >> we don't get scared by people like this, we scare them. >> what happened in pakistan? and, tech tryout. we've tested the new iphone before it goes on sale today. it's thursday, june 24th. >> from abc news, this is "world news now." >> i told myself i didn't want the iphone, then i saw that story, now i want iphone 4. i want to upgrade. >> what will they think of next? iphone 5, you'll probably be able to toast bread. >> takes care of anything you could possibly want. you'll hear all about it this morning. good morning. it's ringing for us right now. good morning and thanks for being with us. i'm vinita nair. >> i'm eric horng. jeremy hubbard is on assignment. general stanley mcchrystal's military career is over now that he's been fired as commander of the war in afghanistan. >> mcchrystal is being replaced with a general very familiar with the challenges of war. t.j. winick has more from the white house this morning. hi, t.j. >> reporter: good morning, vinita and eric. this was not the first time general mcchrystal had angered the president but this latest indiscretion was more than the commander in chief could forgive. the commander in chief made his decision after an intense 30-minute one-on-one meeting in the oval office. >> today i accepted general stanley mcchrystal's resignation as commander of the international security assistance force in afghanistan. >> reporter: mcchrystal had been summoned to washington after a "rolling stone" profile of the general in which he belittles the president and key members of his administration, and offends key allies. >> the conduct represented in the recently published article does not meet the standard that should be set by a commanding general. it undermines the civilian control of the military that is at the core of our democratic system. >> reporter: standing beside the president, mcchrystal's replacement, general david petraeus, highly respected and the man who successfully led the surge strategy in iraq. >> this is the most pressing theater, the most pressing mission, and petraeus is somebody who has the relationships and has the relationship with the president, and this is the closest you can get to the missing piece. >> reporter: heading up the afghan operation is likely the biggest challenge ever faced by petraeus. there are more than 90,000 u.s. troops in afghanistan, far fewer than he had in iraq. and a major operation in kandahar is set to begin in the coming months. >> i believe that this mission demands unity of effort across our alliance and across my national security team. and i don't think that we can sustain that unity of effort and achieve our objectives in afghanistan without making this change. >> reporter: it appears the armed services committee will hold a confirmation hearing for general petraeus no later than next tuesday. vinita and eric? june has already been one of the deadliest months of the war in afghanistan. nato says 80 troops have been killed so far. that's after four deaths yesterday in a traffic accident. 46 americans were killed in afghanistan this month. a colorado man who set out on a lone mission to hunt osama bin laden in pakistan is now returning home. gary faulkner says he will not give up on the mission. brad wheelis reports from los angeles. >> reporter: a 50-year-old colorado man on a rambo-like mission to hunt down and kill osama bin laden is back in the united states. >> i had a great trip. they took good care of me. >> reporter: he quickly changed his tune. >> i got a funny feeling that someone's going down very shortly here. and it's not us. >> reporter: pakistani police detained gary faulkner on june 13th in a forest in northern pakistan where they said he was found carrying a pistol, a sword, and night vision capabilities. faulkner has said he was determined to behead bin laden for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. >> we can't let people like this scare us. we don't get scared by people like this, we scare them. and that's what this is about. >> reporter: the united states has a $25 million bounty for the capture of bin laden. faulkner is an out of work construction worker with kidney problems. >> i got dialysis. anyone got a kidney they want to lend me so i can finish this up? >> reporter: faulkner arrived at los angeles international airport on a flight from dubai wednesday afternoon. before he was escorted into a van for a flight back to his home state of colorado, someone asked him if he had plans on returning to pakistan. this is how he responded. >> i can't say that because there's a lot of -- there's a lot more to it. but i will -- i will give a story. >> reporter: brad wheelis, abc news, los angeles. sex abuse accusations made against al gore four years ago are now being made public. a massage therapist from oregon accused the former vice president of unwanted sexual contact. but no charges were filed at the time due to lack of evidence. three years later the woman contacted portland police. she claimed gore tried to have sex with her. again, no charges were filed. a spokesman said gore would have no comment. bp says it has fixed an undersea oil well containment cap, the source of a major setback in the gulf of mexico. for 11 hours yesterday the oil gushed into the gulf at a rapid rate. making the pollution problem even worse. as sharyn alfonsi reports that's not the only problem on the shores. >> reporter: an undersea robot crashed into the containment cap system, shutting down a vent. 60,000 barrels a day now gushing into the gulf. and closing down those pristine beaches of pensacola. oily syrup now all over the sands of those famous florida beaches. and now word that work on the sand barriers that were supposed to be the first line of defense against all that oil have been shut down. we traveled 50 miles off the coast of louisiana and saw it. dredges idle. this is one of those pipes that should be shooting dirt out right now, creating that barrier. but it was shut down. federal officials told work crews they needed more permits. >> every hour, every day that we waste is another hour, another day that oil comes in our wetlands. >> reporter: and the second line of defense, these booms, are in short supply. bp says there's less than 3 million feet of boom left. keep in mind they've already deployed 7 million feet and much of that needs to be replaced. repairmen now working furiously to restore used booms. cobbling them back together. armor the gulf is increasingly desperate for. sharyn alfonsi, abc news, off the chandelier islands. some of the starkest images coming out of the bp spill are those of marine life covered in oil. cleanup crews in pensacola, florida, managed to rescue an oil-coated baby dolphin. it was unable to swim and apparently beached itself on a sand bar. wildlife experts are hoping to nurse the dolphin back to health and release it back into the wild. an earthquake that struck canada was felt as far away as chicago and maine. the epicenter of the magnitude 5.0 quake was in quebec north of the capital city of ottawa. the jolt rattled government buildings there, interrupting meetings. the quake was felt across much of eastern canada and in many u.s. states. there were evacuations in downtown toronto and as far away as new york and new jersey. but we didn't feel them here. >> no. >> we were lucky. now a look at your weather. severe storms move to the northeast bringing hail and gusty winds to portland, maine, boston, new york, and washington, d.c. thunderstorms from texas to the southeast. thunderstorms in parts of colorado and new mexico. wet from washington state to minnesota. >> 80s in sacramento, boise and billings. 79 in chicago. 83 in detroit. 85 in kansas city. dallas 99. new orleans 93. 89 in boston. 94 in atlanta. well, it smells like a rotting carcass but hundreds of people have stopped by just to get a whiff. >> why are people so weird? they soon found out they don't call it the corpse flower for nothing. the rare flower nicknamed bella just bloomed at the university of north carolina in charlotte for the second time since 2007. the flower is native to indonesia and that smell that's making everyone gag, it does not last long. >> the stench only lasts 12 hours, and while it may smell horrible to us, to a fly it's as lovely as chanel no. 5. >> we'll be right back with more "world news now." sosososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososo [ female announcer ] switch to swiffer wetjet and you'll dump your old mop. / but don't worry. he'll find someone else. ♪ who's that lady? ♪ ♪ who's that lady? ♪ ♪ sexy lady ♪ ♪ who's that lady? ♪ [ female announcer ] used mops can grow bacteria. swiffer wetjet starts with a clean pad every time. and its antibacterial cleaner kills bacteria mops can spread around. swiffer gives cleaning a whole new meaning. ♪ lovely lady ♪ / important news for diabetics on medicare! i'm a diabetic and i want you to know over 230,000 u.s. doctors have authorized their patients to receive / their diabetic 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victims' credit cards with apps designed to be used by small businesses. the new iphone 4 appears to be a high-tech breakthrough and we got to test it before the rest of the customers. >> as bill weir discovered firsthand, this iphone might break new ground. >> are we on? are we on? here we go. all right, this is very exciting. sure, it might not be alexander graham bell yelling for watson but this is our first attempt ever to shoot an entire network story with cell phones. no lights, no cameras, no microphones. >> we hope to be able to do this entirely with these two phones, but just in case we run into any problems, we've got old school. with us over here. andy? you may be obsolete by the time the day is out, you know that, right? >> reporter: of course, this is not the first phone with a camera, nor the first apple gadget that has people with jobs and homes sleeping on sidewalks. >> we've been here since 12:00 in the morning. we slept here. >> since monday all of us. >> reporter: this redesign has people twitching with a whole new level of anticipation. thinner, faster, smarter crows the "wall street journal." 600,000 people plunked down 200 bucks to reserve one on the first day. >> do you want to sell it? >> do i want to sell it? i would but the guys from apple would taser me in the neck if i tried to sell to it you. >> reporter: in addition to the quality of the video you're watching right now, people seem most excited about a feature we've been waiting for since the jetsons. an extra camera on the face allows for video calling. hey, jenny, how are you? bill weir in new york. >> i'm good. wish i was there with you. looks like you guys have a fantastic day in the park there. >> reporter: at the other end of the line, jenny, a tech blogger in los angeles. >> where are you? show me around. >> hang on, i'll show you the view. >> i want to see a palm tree, i want to sit in central park and look at a california palm. >> reporter: right now this only works between two iphone 4s over a wi-fi internet connection. once cellular networks can handle this sort of chatting, imagine the possibilities. friends on opposite coasts sharing concerts or sunsets. parents making kids show them where they go at night. among the other bells and whistles iphone 4 has the ability to shoot and edit high-definition movies and then post them to youtube. and to test the relative ease of this program i directed the final heart-wrenching scene from casablanca using "nightline" interns. >> but what about us? >> we'll always have paris. >> cut, brilliant, brilliant. >> reporter: after a grueling shoot of just over four minutes, i hunger down on the grass to edit our masterpiece. >> harder than it looks. i'm having trouble figuring out -- >> maybe it's you? >> maybe it's me. i'm the nut steve jobs couldn't crack. a little bit like wrapping a present with a butter knife. >> reporter: the program has its limitations. no one will ever win an oscar with one of these phones. but the editing program is fairly easy to figure out. 42 minutes after yelling "action" we premiered on youtube to rave reviews. >> here's looking at you, kid. >> and cut! brilliant. >> and i felt it, i really felt it at the end. >> reporter: even though the cinematographer was obviously shaky with caffeine or excitement or both. it would have taken several hours to upload high definition on at&t, however. which brings us to one flaw most tech critics agree on. the iphone may be a fairly flawless device, but it is at the mercy of a very flawed network. >> the big frustrations that i've had involve some call droppiness and garbled calls. >> reporter: whether by design or accident, my one scientific test call went through. hey, shug. i'm talking to you on a new iphone. but after that video chat, the old-fashioned call seems really old-fashioned. and the threat of those constant dropouts didn't matter to the 600,000 who preordered one of these babies on the first day. on a little bit narrower. feel like my old iphone is looking at me with jealous rage. before this one gets too cocky, got to remember there's always going to be iphone 5. hey everybody, look what i have. i'm bill weir in new york. >> no doubt it's going to be a hit. i love how you can shoot movies, edit movies, video chat. phone calls? >> you'd think that would be really important. but bill wasn't the only one. a lot of people who preordered the thing got it two days early. it was like techie christmas, these people walking around with the iphone 4 before everyone got it in the stores. before it was released. >> already a hit, something like 600,000 preorders. >> i want one, i want one. coming up, lindsay lohan in "the skinny." you know, eric, you're coming late to the party. because this is now day three of the jake pavelka/vienna craziness. >> talked about it all week. >> this one is particularly mean. she has now come out and said the reason they broke up, according to her, that is she doesn't think jake was into girls. >> oh! that's a low blow. >> a little bit of a dagger. if you watch the show this guy made out with everyone. more so than any of the other bachelors. it's a little shocking to hear all of this. according to her she says, even though i was in love with him, she knew -- even though i was in love with him, i knew he didn't return all of the emotions. keep in mind she broke up with him in a note. she's being linked to another person. she is now telling "star" magazine she went six months without any physical affection from jake in all that time. >> december speed despite what you're seeing here. >> he made out with every single contestant. she said it was all for the cameras. she said every time they were on the red carpet she felt that was the moment he'd hold her hand, that was the moment he'd kiss her. that's the latest. >> i think she's just bitter that it didn't have to work out. >> why do you have to blame her? no, just kidding. we're not all bitter, okay, eric? >> sorry. in other breakup news. mariah carey apparently has parted ways with her veterinarian. she's got three dogs, cha cha, dolomite, and j.j., jack russell terriers. her veterinarian is suing her for $30,000. dr. cindy bressler said she did a number of services, basically raised these dogs, helped deliver one of these dogs, and mariah has not paid the entire bill, she's paid about $8,000 but owes $30,000. so now she's suing the singer. >> what was she treating these dogs with that cost $30,000? >> it's expensive to have three spoiled dogs. >> dogs named j.j. and dolomite and whatever else. >> according to mariah's rep they don't know anything about this lawsuit, they say they haven't been contacted, so it's hard to know who to believe at this point. >> let's talk about lindsay lohan. she's concerned you might find her unprofessional. >> really. >> and she says in this particular case, i'm not at fault, bravo is. i'm going to let you see what played out on the new show they have called "double exposure." she's supposed to be showing up. this is what took place on the show. >> we are waiting for lindsay to arrive after hearing over and over that she's on her way. >> we have a situation -- >> no, no, we're not filming this, we're not filming this, we're not filming. >> i just got off the phone with nate. we've been trying to get her. she's saying, hey, we really tried but she's not going to come. >> why? >> now, lohan has taken to twitter because that's her favorite way to communicate with all of us. she says what basically happened is they told me to show up -- they told her to show up at 10:00 a.m., she claims they told her to show up at 9:00 p.m. 11 hours late. she says she feels like bravo did her a disservice. she says they went out of their way, they lied to her to make her look like a fool on tv and she is not unprofessional. >> she says it was a setup essentially what is she's saying. i believe her because she's never late for anything. >> no. >> ever. >> no. >> always on time. >> she's always on time for the dui charges as well, the ongoing court case as well. which in case you're wondering the update on that, july 6th is the next court appearance for that. >> we've got an interesting photo, a couple of photos of lady gaga, walking through the airport in london the other day and you've got to check out this outfit she is wearing. maybe we don't have -- there we go. she was wearing this sort of outrageous outfit, she had these shoes -- you've got shoes like this in your closet, right? she apparently took a header, fell in front of everyone. i don't know how she made it through security. wearing these. >> this is why i don't have shoes like that in my closet. assistance getting around their homes. there is a medicare benefit that may qualify you for a new power chair or scooter at little to no cost to you. stay tuned for this important medicare benefit information and free scooter guarantee. imagine... one scooter or power chair 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improve relations with the u.s. house lawmakers dig for more answers today as they investigate the deepwater horizon oil rig explosion. and members of the senate will investigate so-called cozy relationships with big oil companies. and, a marathon tennis match at wimbledon continues today. that is after ten hours of action between john isner and nicolas mahut ended in a tie at nightfall. their competition as you imagine has set a new record. >> remarkable. finally this half hour, soccer's team usa is not coming home from south africa today because they've advanced to the second round of the world cup with a stunning victory over algeria. >> for the team that had suffered more than its share of bad calls the key was never to give up. john berman has the story. >> reporter: for 90 minutes it was almost, nearly, not quite. the u.s. needing a win to advance at the world cup, missed chance after chance. >> absolute agony! >> reporter: with former president bill clinton looking on, they faced a top team from algeria and more tough calls from the refs. in the first half the referee disallowed this goal from clint dempsey, calling it offsides. replays clearly showed the goal should have counted. this came just five days after a different ref stole a victory from the u.s. squad by nullifying this goal with no explanation. after 90 minutes it looked like the bad calls and bad luck were going to send the americans home. their world cup appeared to be over. but then, in the 91st minute, magic. this dramatic run ending with landon donovan burying the ball in the back of the net. >> donovan has scored! oh, can you believe this! >> reporter: it was the latest u.s. goal ever in a world cup. an overwhelming moment for hero landon donovan. >> i've been through a lot in the last four years. i'm so glad it culminated this way. and it makes me believe in when you try to do things the right way, it's good to see them get rewarded. >> reporter: the victory means the u.s. finishes first in its group. the team moves on, riding this wave of emotion to the next round on saturday. >> they delivered! >> reporter: john berman, abc news. >> a huge moment for usa soccer. four years ago the team had a disappointing showing. they did not make it to the elimination round. sort of payback. >> there's always talk in the u.s. people aren't as glued to the world cup. this might be what it takes to change it, for people to realize how much fun it is.