temperatures today climbed into the 90s and the 100s, they're really feeling in the those states hit hard by that fierce weekend storm in the east. nearly 1.5 million homes and business there is still have no electricity-- no power, no air. what's behind the record weather? we asked chip reid to find out. >> reporter: it's not just hot out there, it's record-breaking hot. this spring was the hottest since the government began keeping records in 1895. 150 million americans have spent some portion of the past week under a heat warning. in tiny norton, kansas, last week, it hit 118 degrees-- hotter than death valley. >> i don't think we've seen any conditions like this before. >> reporter: climate scientist kevin trenberth is with the federally funded national center for atmospheric research. she shared the 2007 nobel peace prize for his work on climate change. trenberth says that for most of

the last century, record high and low temperatures were about even. but so far this year there have been 15,055 record highs but only 1,343 record lows. that ratio of about 11:1 trenberth says is some of the careerest evidence yet of climate change. >> look out the window and right now i think you can see climate change in action. there's a component of climate change to the weather that we're seeing and it is... we're breaking records. >> reporter: he says the searing heat is fueling new mexico's and colorado's biggest wildfires ever and is contributing to drought conditions that now cover more than half the nation. no one can say whether climate change caused last friday's ferocious storm that left more than four million people without power, but trenberth says it probably made it worse. >> the environment in which all of the storms occur nowadays, all of the weather that occurs

nowadays is simply different than it used to be 30 or more years ago because of climate change. >> reporter: not all scientists agree, climate change skeptics argue too much is being read into short-term data and that extreme weather events usually even out over time and don't turn into major trends. but a large majority of climate scientists say climate change is real and, scott, if they're right that means the extreme weather is only going to get worse. >> pelley: chip, thank you. as chip said, the heat is not helping with the wildfires in the west. 45 are burning tonight. tanker planes were cleared to fly again today. they had been grounded far day after an air force tanker crashed, killing four. the number of these firefighting planes is dwindling, and we asked rick sallinger of cbs station kcnc to show us why. >> you don't get much better than that. >> reporter: the specially designed c-130s can cover a quarter mile with 3,000

gallons of water or fire retardant. colonel paul hargrove is with the california air national guard. >> these are probably the most effective in the world just because they're turboprop aircraft that have instantaneous power. >> reporter: but after sunday's air tanker crash in south dakota, a replacement tanker will be needed to fly these missions in colorado. >> they're dangerous, but we put our most experienced and best pilots flying the mission. >> reporter: the u.s. air tanker fleet is a mix of government-owned and privately leased aircraft. in 2000, the forest service had contracts with private companies for 43 air tankers. now it's just nine. some of those planes are decades old. >> were troubled by the crash. >> reporter: tom vilsack is the secretary of agriculture. >> it is not a secret that the tankers that we have are aging. it's one of the reasons why we issued a report to congress this

year outlining a plan to replace and modernize the fleet. >> reporter: president obama signed a $24 million bill last month to lease seven more air tankers but they won't be joining the fight until august. scott, these tankers are so important because they not only fight fires they prevent the blazes from becoming massive and that's going to be even more important in the weeks to come in what's already been a historic firefighting season. >> pelley: rick, thank you. now, a story about a lifeline being reopened for american troops in afghanistan. a logjam of critical surprise finally cleared today when the pakistanis reopened a border crossing. they shut it back into november to protest a u.s. air strike that mistakenly killed 24 of their soldiers pakistan wanted an apology and david martin tells us today they got one.

>> reporter: for seven months, some 7,000 truckloads of equipment bound for the u.s. military in afghanistan have been stranded in pakistan. now that the supply lines have been reopened pentagon officials estimate it will take about two months to clear that backlog which stretches some 900 miles from the boarder to the port of karachi. the break through came when secretary of state clinton told the pakistani foreign minister the u.s. was sorry for the loss of life which occurred when american gunships accidentally opened fire on a pakistani border outpost last november pakistan had been demanding an apology but clinton's sorry apologized only for the 24 dead not for the incident itself which a u.s. investigation concluded was caused by mistakes on both sides. u.s. officials believe the pakistanis accepted that more limited apology because the closure of the supply routes was hurting pakistan at least as much as the u.s.

pakistan lost several hundred million dollars in aid the u.s. withheld while the routes were closed, $250 in fees paid for each truck which crossed pakistani territory and perhaps the biggest loss, the pentagon stopped buying the fuel it used in afghanistan from pakistani refineries. it cost the pentagon an extra $2.1 billion to ship materiel through a longer but safer northern supply route. despite the increased distance and costs the pentagon actually increased its stockpiles in afghanistan. u.s. officials say they're in no particular hur troy start using a pakistani routes again. they won't need them until the pentagon starts withdrawing all of its heavy equipment from afghanistan. >> pelley: david, thank you. if you are one of those who think the financial is is rigged there was some evidence of that today. a scandal at barclays bank claimed more top executives. the bank is accused of

manipulating an interest rate that is a benchmark for u.s. mortgages and credit cards a day after barclay's chairman announced his resignation, the chief operating officer and the chief executive officer stepped down. liz palmer is in london tonight. >> reporter: even after barclays was fined a record $450 million last week bob diamond, the american head of one of britain's biggest banks, insisted he wasn't going anywhere but by this morning he was gone. forced out as c.e.o. by a huge and growing scandal. the external pressure placed on barclays has reached a level that risks damaging the franchise, he wrote, i cannot let that happen. the scandal centers on something call the libor, or london interbank offered rate. it's the interest rate that the world's biggest banks charge each other to borrow money. but it's also the benchmark for more than $500 trillion in

financial contracts including student loans, credit card debt, and many adjustable rate mortgages in the u.s. nicholas dunbar is a london-based financial writer. >> that was supposed to be an honest process and we've now got evidence that it was dishonest. it was being manipulated for the benefit of traders. >> reporter: and the benefits could have been huge. british and american regulators suspect that barclays traders colluded with their counterparts at other banks to keep the interest rate low and their own returns high. in one e-mail, a grateful trader wrote to his barclays colleague >> reporter: the lower rates may have allowed some traders to make huge profits, but it may also have cheated consumers. the city of baltimore and the firefighters and police union of new britain, connecticut, have already filed a lawsuit against

barclays and other internationalbacks claiming that a low libor cost them a return on their investments. bob diamond, the ex-c.e.o. of barclays is due to face some tough questions by british politicians tomorrow and his line of defense is going to be that at the time back in 2007 and 2008 a lot of banks were fixing interest rates and he's going to say that the deputy head of the british central bank actually called him up and gave him a tacit green light to go ahead, an exclusive allegation, scott. >> pelley: a lot more to come. liz, thanks very much. phony cancer drugs from overseas end up in u.s. clinics. a ruling in the case of a jetblue pilot charged with disrupting a flight. and just ahead of the fourth. the sun sets off some fireworks. when "cbs evening news" continues.

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little-known trend and our chief investigative correspondent armen keteyian break this is story now. >> reporter: this is what cancer drugs that are not approved for u.s use in the u.s. looks like-- foreign labels, no stamp of approval from the food and drug administration. they're illegal for doctors in the u.s. to prescribe. >> it could be deadly. it could be fatal. >> reporter: this person who asked to be disguised works at a medical khreupb that i can purchased unapproved foreign cancer medications for years. when the drugs come through, do you see them actually with foreign writing on the packages? >> we have. >> reporter: in what countries? >> turkey, germany, german language on the package. and it was questioned and told that everything was fine. that these were the exact same drugs. >> reporter: but they weren't the exact same drugs, and we've learned the federal government has now identified at least 79 u.s. medical practices that

purchased drugs from foreign or unlicensed suppliers. the f.d.a. says the medical practices put patients at risk by exposing them to drugs that could have been fake, contaminated, ineffective and dangerous. here's what they are talking about. last year, vials of the cancer drug avastin began popping up in u.s. clinics. it turned out the vials were fake and had no avastin in them at all. when we investigated, we found the fake avastin was sold by companies in barbados, the u.k., denmark, switzerland, and a company in this building in a gritty neighborhood outside cairo, egypt. this is exactly why it's against the law to import drugs the f.d.a. has not approved. marvin shepherd is president of the partnership for safe medicines, the leading nation nag group fighting counterfeit drugs. >> the doctors should not be buying unapproved foreign medications. and they know it, too. i mean, quite often in the avastin case one side of the

label was in french and the other side of the package was in arabic. that's not an approvalled label by f.d.a., it was an unapproved product. >> reporter: the clinic employee says the motivating factor is money. foreign drugs are cheaper than u.s. drugs. for example, a european version of avastin could be as much as $600 less than the average u.s. manufacturer's price. >> people these days will do anything to make a buck. and they don't care about the people who are sick and dying. >> reporter: the f.d.a. says one of the clinics that purchased unapproved drugs is in this building in johnson city, tennessee. according to court records, f.d.a. investigators found some cancer drugs at the clinic last year were either misbranded or unapproved for use in the u.s. the owner of the clinic, dr. william kincaid, declined our request for an interview, so we went to his home in johnson city. hi, i'm armen keteyian from cbs

news. the person at the door asked us to leave. okay, thank you very much. in a written statement, dr. kincaid's clinic said it did nothing wrong and because the issue is currently under review by the f.d.a. the clinic will defer further comment on the matter. what's still unknown is how many patients nationwide received unapproved foreign cancer drugs from their doctors and the f.d.a. won't say if any doctors have been charged. are you frightened for the patients? >> yes. i've seen when patients suffer. they suffer enough when they get diagnosed, when they're initially told that they have cancer. this adds a level of anxiety now and i don't think any patient should be forced to deal with that. >> pelley: armen's joining us now. armen, what's being done about this? >> reporter: well, some good things, scott. both the house and the senate recently passed bills that will broadly expand the f.d.a.'s power to inspect these foreign manufacturing sites. in addition, these bills are going to dramatically increase potential penalties for

counterfeiting drugs from what is now three years in prison to a maximum of 20 years in prison and these two bills will go into law sometime this fall. >> pelley: fascinating reporting, armen, thank you. to see all of armen's reporting on phony prescription drugs from overseas, go to our web site, cbsnews.com. that jetblue captain who suffered the midair meltdown was found not guilty today by reason of insanity. he had been charged with interfering with a flight crew. the judge sent clayton osbon for further mental evaluation. osbon ran through the cabin yelling on a flight from new york to las vegas last march. it's getting crowded in the show rooms. new car sales move into high gear. new car sales move into high gear. that's next. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain.

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been called the god particle. the fourth of july fireworks started early this year. in this video from nasa, there's an explosion on the surface of the sun. these solar flares can disrupt communications and electronics on earth. this one is said to be moderate and no damage is expected. in the history of t.v., only three shows have ended their run in first place-- "i love lucy," "seinfeld" and "andy griffith." remembering sheriff andy next.

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[ male announcer ] fast relief, fresh breath, all in a pocket sized pack. >> pelley: some actors are so identified with the character they portray that when the actor passes away it's almost as if we lost the character as well. that's the way many of us felt when we god word that andy griffith, also known as sheriff andy taylor, died today. he was 86. bill whitaker now on the man who brought the fictional town of mayberry to life. >> reporter: when you think of andy griffith, whistle a little tune. ♪ ♪ >> i can walk through airplanes today and hear that theme whistled behind me. >> reporter: andy griffiths'

long career stretched from nightclubs to radio to movie to music, but it was a role as a small-town sheriff that made him beloved to millions of america americans. >> just twisted wrong. it's easy, though, see, just... >> good. just make sure it clears your underwear. >> right. >> reporter: andrew samuel griffith was born in a town much like mayberry-- mount airy, north carolina. >> i'm not just an entertainer, i'm an influence, a wielder of opinion, a force! >> reporter: griffith's first film was a departure from the idea we have of him, a hobo turned power hungry t.v. star in "a face in the crowd." but his next big film was a smash "no time for sergeants." >> every last one of them, all yours. >> golly! >> reporter: memorable also for a small role by a future collaborator, the late don knotts. >> what we do here, private, is

to evaluate your manual dexterity on a time scale in relation to digital visual coordination. >> reporter: they would work together in what most critics consider one of the top four or five sitcoms ever on television, the andy griffith show spun off from guest appearances griffith made on the old "danny thomas show." for eight years, andy griffith played straight man to mayberry's lovable collection of characters and taught heartwarming lessons, as when sheriff andy taylor's son opie killed a mother bird a slingshot and then was prodded by his father to raise and release the baby birds. >> cage sure looks awful empty, don't it, pa? >> yes, son, it sure does. but don't the trees seem nice and full? >> i tried in story telling and the old griffith show by just telling the story of love. >> reporter: griffith left the show at its peak and went on to

another successful run as a defense lawyer in "matlock" and spent his later years recording gospel albums. but andy griffith's down home sheriff will stand as one of the great roles in television history. >> andy taylor was a very good man. he's a lot better than than i am. >> reporter: not by much. bill whitaker, cbs news, hollywood. >> pelley: and that's the "cbs evening news" for tonight. for all of us at cbs news all around the world, have a safe and happy fourth of july. good night. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] a moment of silence for the internet as we know it.

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now, "entertainment tonight," the most-watched entertainment newsmagazine in the world. ♪ andy griffith the hollywood legend remembered. >> lived a rich life. >> ron howard's first interview on losing his close friend. >> what the 911 call revealed about his final hours and our favorite moments with andy. tom cruise on the move. his heartbreak on his 50th birthday. did he fly from his movie set to iceland back to california to file his own divorc