flintstone's character. >> how nice that. is going to do it for us. >> thanks for watching. tonight on "world news," choosing her. astronaut mark kelly announces he's retiring from the skies to take care of wife gabby giffords here on earth. what is their future? turning point. the president ready to announce the beginning of the end for the united states in afghanistan. troops will start to come home. super tick. the new increase in a dangerous infection from tick bites. a disease even more threatening than lyme. and, the magic moment. sasha and malia get to meet the man who changed a people, a nation, a world. good evening. and welcome to the first official day of summer. and, a new turn in the human drama we have been following for

most of this year. the congresswoman and the astronaut. today, commander mark kelly announced he is retiring from the navy and from nasa, to take care of his wife. congresswoman gabby giffords. to help her fight for recovery from the gunshot wound to her head. and bob woodruff starts us off with their story tonight. >> reporter: after 25 years of service, mark kelly announced his retirement today on faceweek facebook, writing, "gabrielle is working hard every day and he mission of recovery. i want to be by her side." giffords will remain in houston while she continues her outpatient rehab. kelly says her comprehension is almost back to 100%. she continues to work on issues like vocabulary and mobility. after spending so much of his career flying high above the earth, mark's coworkers at nasa say he'll be missed. >> it's great to see that stability. he's a great role model for us. >> reporter: for this all-american hero, whose military career spanned combat

missions during desert storm and command of the final mission of the space shuttle "endeavor," speculation abounds about what's next. we know that the couple will be co-writing a book, and a question of politics still lingers, as mark kelly told diane five months ago. >> reporter: do you want her to go back into congress? after this? >> that's a tough, touch decision. probably not. but i know that's probably not going to matter to her. >> reporter: if she didn't, would you ever go and run? >> you know, i -- probably not. it's a lot harder job. the way she does it, the way she does her job, which would be the standard that i would have to live up to, i'm not willing to work that hard. >> reporter: this weekend, for the first time since january, giffords and kelly visited tucson, the city she loves so much. along the way, they flew over

the monument fire, burning in part of her congressional district. and there, in town, a sign, which the congresswoman read out loud. "we love you gabby." and mark and gabby are living in his house just outside of houston, where she gets a nurse 24 hours a day. also mark himself has been in charge of taking her to the therapy at the hospital. he's now on his leave of absence from nasa. his official retirement, diane, is actually in october. >> and it's wonderful to have medical professionals, but you were telling me, bob, having your family there in charge of your recovery is everything? >> reporter: it is so important for coming back physically and mentally and all that. but your major frustration, depression, and if you have family around you, you have your kids, your parents, your husband, that's very, very helpful. >> nonetheless, it is a big decision and we both talk to commander kelly often, but i was thinking back, when he told me before the last space mission, about the choice he was facing between taking care of her and his joy being up in the sky, here it was.

>> just to see our planet as this big blue marble floating in the blackness of space -- you know, there aren't borders between nations, and that's the only place we have. i mean, we can't go anywhere else. we need to be able to work together, as a nation and as a community. we've got nowhere else to go. >> reporter: being an astronaut was a dream, and to be on this mission, this valedictory mission, a dream. >> it was, but things don't always turn out as you expect. they just don't. so, my number one priority is her. >> and as he said, he will be by her side. and now, tomorrow night, the president will go on television and change a decade-long war, afghanistan. there's one image that says it all. in ten years of war, over and over again, the number of troops

kept climbing, climbing, during the obama administration, skyrocketing. tomorrow night, the president will say it is the beginning of the end of the war, and however long it takes, a strategy to bring american troops will be in place, next week, to bring them home. and martha raddatz, who has been to afghanistan dozens of times, including just last month, has more. martha? >> reporter: diane, behind all those numbers are human beings, and no matter what numbers the president announces tomorrow, it will be the beginning of the end of the u.s. troop mission in afghanistan. this is what a drawdown means in human terms. more scenes like this. more emotion. sisters jessica and kristen, searching for their brother, lance corporal michael acquaviva, as he arrived home. they search and search, and then --

>> the most amazing thing in the world. you feel like rock stars walking through here. >> reporter: so, what does tomorrow's announcement mean in the long run? when president obama took office, there were only 34,000 u.s. troops in afghanistan, given that iraq had been the focus. by the end of 2009, the president nearly doubled that number. today, with the surge of 30,000, there are nearly 100,000. tomorrow's announcement means that number will go down. what does it mean for america's bottom line? since 2001, more than $288 billion spent, a decrease of just 30,000 troops would save $30 million. and what does tomorrow mean in terms of human sacrifice? more than 12,000 have been wounded and 1,500 americans died. these two soldiers flown home just this morning.

it seems everyone we have met in afghanistan has lost a buddy. can you tell me his name? >> i can't even get it out. i can't even get it out. >> reporter: it's too painful to say? >> yeah. >> reporter: tomorrow's announcement will mean fewer americans in harm's way and hopefully fewer deaths. no one is saying the fighting is over, but with bin laden dead and american public weary of war, the president believes it's time to start bringing the troops home. diane? >> all right, martha. i know you'll be standing by tomorrow night as will george stephanopoulos and i to be covering the president's announcement. it will be right here on abc at 8:00 p.m. eastern time. and now, the new man in town who wants to be president, the brand new republican candidate, john huntsman, former utah governor, and, until recently, president obama's ambassador to china. our senior political correspondent jon karl got the first exclusive interview on the campaign trail. >> reporter: it's no accident

that the republican perhaps most feared by the white house chose a familiar backdrop. >> i'm john huntsman and i'm running for president of the united states. >> reporter: ronald reagan was here more than 30 years ago. >> the carter record is a litany of despair, broken spromss, sacred trusts abandoned and forgotten. >> reporter: but unlike reagan, huntsman didn't offer even a morsel of republican red meat. >> we will conduct this campaign on the high road. i don't think you need to run down someone's reputation to run for the office of president. >> reporter: almost everything about huntsman is unconventional. he's got a big mormon family, including an adopted daughter who he is raising hindu. he speaks chinese, not one, but two different dialects. yet he dropped out of high school to join a rock band. he was the most popular republican governor in america two years ago, and then gave it all up to serve as barack obama's ambassador to china. in an exclusive interview aboard

his campaign plane, we asked huntsman if a moderate could win the republican nomination. >> if you look at my record, it's pretty much as a conservative problem-solver. people throw these labels around as if they mean something. >> reporter: you don't consider yourself a moderate? >> well, i don't use labels of any kind. >> reporter: not long before he became ambassador, huntsman was asked about congressional republicans, and i said, i don listen or read to what they say, because it is inconsequential. that was john boehner you were talking about. >> we learned some important lessons from that. i think the party and party leadership, i think they've gotten the message loud and clear and they stepping up to the plate. >> reporter: feared or not, huntsman is a long shot. you think you can win? >> of course. >> reporter: 1%, you got a long ways to go. >> hey, listen, i like our chances. >> reporter: huntsman is beginning his campaign with a sprint. over the next week, he will make 18 stops in 15 different cities. he has a lot of ground to make up, diane, and he knows it.

>> reporter: all right, jon, thanks to you. and john huntsman will make one of those stops on "good morning america" tomorrow. tonight, half a world away, first lady michelle obama and her daughters transformed a schoolhouse in south africa into a "cat in the hat" poets corner. >> to hot to go out and too cold to play ball, so we sat in the house, we did nothing at all. so all we could do was sit, sit, sit, sit, and we did not like it, not one little bit. >> no, no, make that cat go away. tell the cat and the hat you do not want to play. >> i can hold a red fan. i can fan with the fan as i hop on the ball but that is not all. oh, no, that is not all. >> and after that, the three obama women made a kind of pilgrimage to another teacher, a man who taught the world the dignity of forgiveness. here's john donvan. >> reporter: it was brief and

informal and caught only in a snapshot or two. her unscheduled drop-in to see a man whose own standing as a symbol has endured for decades. they've not had a lot of direct contact, the obamas and nelson mandela. there was a brief meeting in 2005, snapped with a cell phone, before the younger man was anywhere close to being the other best-known black leader on earth. because, of course, mandela's fight took a lifetime. consider his guest today. by the time she was just starting school, in south africa, mandela was already in to his 27-year prison term here on robin island. at princeton, she was just graduating when he, still here, refused to renounce violence in exchange for his freedom. and it was only a few months after a christmas trip to hawaii, with the new man in her life, that mandela, fully victorious, finally walked free. >> taking his first steps into a new south africa. >> reporter: mandela's peace prize was perhaps a great deal more earned than mrs. obama's

husband's. but both of these men had much to overcome. a link between them that neither has ever discussed in public. though perhaps mandela referred to it when he wrote the new u.s. president in 2008, "your victory has demonstrated no person should not dare to dream." and if mandela helped him dream, perhaps that's what obama meant in a recording celebrating mandela when he turned 90 two years ago. >> in part of because what you mean to the world and in part because of what you mean to me. >> reporter: to him and to his wife and to their kids who get to come back home with one spectacular new picture for the family photo album. john donvan, abc news, washington. and still ahead on "world news," think norma ray. tonight, after the supreme court decision, women joining forces to win the fight for equal pay. super ticks? a dangerous increase in serious infection from ticks, and it's not lyme disease. and there is an official rank, tonight, of the most

unbearable sounds in the world. is it possible this adorable little girl could top that chart? or more insurance? host: is the pen mightier than the sword? decision, women joining forces chart? ninj vo: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. good night, frank. good night. desperate for nighttime heartburn relief? for many, nexium helps relieve heartburn symptoms caused by acid reflux disease. talk to your doctor about your risk for osteoporosis-related bone fractures if you take multiple daily doses of nexium for a long time. possible side effects include headache, diarrhea, and abdominal pain.

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decided to regroup on other ways to beat down the door, and claire shipman has those stories tonight. >> reporter: this isn't a woman you would think would need help with salary equality. with her successful morning show, she certainly didn't think she needed help, either, until -- >> i got a sense of what the guys were making on the set, and i looked around one morning and i realized i was the lowest paid on the set and, in one case, by far. >> reporter: she details her own uncomfortable, but ultimately successful, battle for equal pay in her new book, "knowing your value." she didn't wage a legal battle but engaged in hard ball negotiation. >> i think we apologize too much. we worry about whether or not we're liked by our employers. let me just tell you, men don't worry about these things when they go in and negotiate for themselves. >> reporter: and she has another tip. >> only do an ultimatum if you are ready to walk. and i was. >> reporter: her unpleasant discovery highlights a key problem that promotes salary inequality. salary secrecy.

a new study finds that 60% of private sector employees are discouraged or forbidden from discussing their pay. that may be why, in the private sector, the pay gap between men and women is a stunning 23%. in the federal government, where salaries are transparent, the pay gap is only 11%. dr. marg ree mcmillan, a massachusetts veterinarian, had the same "you got to be kidding me" moment when salaries were suddenly exposed. >> an article was published in the newspaper where the salaries of all the other department heads were published and mine was at least $30,000 less than all the other department hes. >> reporter: after assurances from her bosses she was paid at the same level. >> i had been deceived and lied to, i was outraged. >> reporter: she tried negotiating but ultimately filed suit. not a class action of the walmart variety, but as an individual, and won. but it took a draining nine years. >> it's made a difference for women in my profession and so, i

have no second thoughts about it. >> this is the part of the equation that we can control. we've got to learn to ask for more. >> reporter: so, the critical question, how do you get the goods? how do you find out what other people around you are making? well, most government jobs, nonprofit jobs are supposed to disclose. you can also consult surveys. but the best method, good old fashioned discreet reporting. talk to trusted colleagues and friends. but be careful. you might not like what you find out, diane. >> do your own investigations. thank you, claire shipman, reporting in tonight. and, coming up, that super tick on the loose. and, a new warning for your health this summer. and now the surprising fact about this day in history, brought to you by citracal. on june 21st, 1768, john archer of maryland became a doctor. what's so historic about that? he was the first graduate of medicine in america, making him the first medical graduate of the new world. to learn more about this day in history, go to abcnews.com/worldnews.

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>> the whole season, so far, has been brutal. we are on vigilance with our tick population this year. >> reporter: a good idea, because it's not just lyme disease she's looking for now. that same black-legged deer tick is responsible for a rare but in the northeast and upper midwest, fast-growing, and perhaps even more dangerous disease called babesiosis. deadly for people with already weakened immune systems, as much as 20% of the time. >> the incidents of this infection is increasing. and it can cause very severe disease and in some cases, fatalities. >> reporter: like lyme disease, the tick has to have dug into the skin for hours for the disease to transmit. unlike lyme, this disease is easy to miss. it does not leave a skin rash. the best way to prevent both diseases is to remove the tick, not by burning it, but with tweezers. trying to keep it alive for tests at the doctor's office. >> it's the tick that you don't

see rather than the tick that you see that generally causes these diseases. >> reporter: if caught early, this disease is easily treated. but since there's no red ring, watch for flu-like symptoms, chills, headaches, body aches. jim avila, abc news, new york. and, now, a more winning creature with some not so happy feet tonight. a 10-month-old emperor penguin took a wrong turn and wound up 4,000 miles away from the rest of his family, on the beaches of new zealand, instead of the icecaps of antarctica. this hasn't happened in nearly 50 years. scientists say he is eating well but has to find his own way back home. and coming up, why this adorable little girl could be responsible for one of the most unbearable sounds in the world. a new list. on our car insurance. great! at progressive, you can compare rates side by side, so you get the same coverage, often for less. wow! that is huge!

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purina cat chow. share a better life. how serene. and finally tonight, summer has begun. it began officially today at 1:16 p.m. in the east. and we also received the official list of the sounds we all love and hate to hear in the coming months. here, with the playlist, from joyful to awful, the mother of

an 18-month-old, sharyn alfonsi. to the songs of crickets -- but >> reporter: from the sounds of the shore -- to the songs of crickets -- but there's no summer sound more instantly recognizable than this -- ♪ hoi far could you hear that sound when you were a little girl? >> i mean, like five blocks away. >> reporter: for kids, it's a beacon. they can hear that sound from miles away. >> oh, i'm telling you. and i hate to admit it, so i can. >> reporter: but for monos the ice cream man, it's haunting. he estimates he hears that same 40-second jingle 1,000 times a day. >> i keep hearing the sound all day. even when i go to sleep, i still hear it. >> reporter: and it turns out, ice cream may not be the only thing to start melting down on a hot summer's day. is there any sound more annoying? >> no! >> reporter: she's right. researchers recently gave a group of people math problems to do while listening to everything from a screeching saw -- -- to a baby crying.

but the one sound that paralyzed most participants brains -- the most annoying sound by far -- a toddler's whine. scientists believe it may be an evolutionary phenomenon. we're all wired to respond to a child in distress, unable to ignore it. >> i know, i know. >> reporter: despite our best desperate efforts. >> no. >> reporter: which is why some parents may already been counting the days until sumer vacation is over. sharyn alfonsi, abc news, new york. >> and we citizen firefighters in the oakland hills with a heat wave, you'd think the fire department would want their help. >> first day of summer brought heat to the inland east bay. i'll give you a look. >> tonight paycheck punishment

facing california legislature after meeting a constitutional deadline. >> backlash at city hall over the embattled muni chief. the settlement he's getting for quitting. >> the bay area swelters tonight under a blistering sun. a live picture here on the hottest day of the year so far. >> we didn't set records but temperatures have been in triple digits. there is a cooling trend not too far off. >> good evening, we turn first to our spencer christian with temperature readings and outlook for tomorrow. >> just as soon as sweltering heat arrives we started to get a cool down. you can see here, showing coast cooling down. there is fog beginning to fill in nooks and crannies. that held temperatures down along the coast. highs into 60s and take a look at this, sizzling heat