jer@foxnews.com. a fox news alert, president obama promising a, quote, responsible end to the war in afghanistan will come to a close by the end of the year. welcome to america's news headquarters. the president making the announcement during a surprise visit to afghanistan this memorial day weekend, air force one touching down under cover of darkness. the president meeting with u.s. troops and officials while at home concerns are growing over the va scandal and our senior veterans not getting the care they need. wendell, before we get to the va scandal, i want to talk about

this. we understand that there's some big news about troop levels coming shortly. >> some positive indications from the president. hamid karzai has backed away from a deal to keep a limited number of troops in afghanistan after the end of the year to act as trainers and to conduct counter terrorism missions. president obama will not meet with him today. there's a runoff election on june 14. abdullah abdullah says he will approve the deal. the president said he was in the neighborhood, he thought he would drop by, actually they sneaked him out of the white house about midnight. he thanked the troops for their sacrifice, he said we'll know soon if some soldiers will stay behind to preserve the gaines others fought for. >> i'm going to have to mike some decisions in conjunction with the folks on the ground about how we manage to

transmission, not just through the end of this year, but post 20423. we'll make the announcements fairly shortly. but i felt it was important that i check in face to face directly before those decisions were finally made. >> this is the president's fourth trip to afghanistan since taking office. the last one in 2012, came exactly a year after osama bin laden was killed. >> i want t go back now to the va scandal. what's the latest on the situation coming from the white house? >> the president's aids traveling with him on air force one say the scandal over veterans having to wait for medical care and the va hiding the time they had to wait did not play a role in the timing of this visit, but it did, the visit, that is, did provide a positive background for the president after a week of negative press reports. the secretary announced this weekend that some va facilities

will be sending vets to private doctors for care, that's something they already did, to the tune of about $4.8 billion a year and some critics say it's something they could have increased much earlier than now. >> wendell, thank you very much for that flag report. meanwhile as wendell just reported, the president ask -- after mr. obama took office in may of 2009, the number of troops surpassed 50,000 as fighting intensified. in december of that year, the president gave the pentagon the authority to deploy up to 102,000 troops to the afghan war. in august of 2010, the additional troops were in place as the u.s. force size hit 100,000. and in june, the president announced a withdrawal plan, and in september of 2012, troop levels fell to 77,000 as the final surge of course is

preparing to leave afghanistan. that leads us to today with 38,800 u.s. troops there. a fox news alert, new information on the gunman responsible for the vicious killing spree in southern california. police are gathering more evidence as they piece together the background and mental history of 22-year-old elliott rogers seen there, he had been characterized for months before the attack as mentally disturbed, airing his hatred for humanity in those disturbing youtube videos and his chilling 141-page manifesto. claudia is live with more. >> reporter: new details coming to light today about the desperation surrounding the gunman elliott roger and how close he came to having his murderous rampage discovered by sheriff's deputies when they visited his home last month, and the desperation for his parents, who along with his therapist,

were braces up here on friday night after becoming aware of that man fegso and his youtube video frantic that their son might be planning to do some violence and hoping to get to him before he did. they told me that during the two-hour drive north from los angeles rogers parents heard news reports on the car radio about a mass shooting, called 911 and spent the rest of the night with authorities. their son had gone on a killing spree that left seven people dead for stabbing hiss three housemates before randomly shooting through the densely populated streets. he had detailed it all in a chilling manifesto about how authorities almost thwarted his plan. they checked on him after a call from a concerned relative. in the manifesto, roger expressed relief that his apartment wasn'ted searched because deputies would have then

found his weapons and his writings. the county sheriff says he won't second guest his deputies decisions that day. audio from the scanner clearly conveying the rapidly unfolding chaos. >> we have witnesses a dark colored bmw, one occupant, a male wearing a white shirt that was firing as he goes by. >> we have another gunshot victim at -- shots fired, shots fired. >> reporter: along with the six innocent people who died, a does seven were wounded, six remain hospitalized. the president and first lady expressing their condolences to victims and their families, a lot of grief weighing heavily here in this beach front community rilight next to uc saa barbara and the memorials growing as well at the crime

scan. a fourth victim has died from the shooting inside brussels museum today. belgium releasing this chilling security footage, you can see the shooter there in the bottom right corner of the screen. now police in belgium saying they are looking for a long suspect, police detained one suspect yesterday, who was soon released and is knew considered a witness. and there are major developments in the presidential election in ukraine, the polls have closed despite pro russian separatist destroying the ballot boxes and blocking access to some voting centers. an exit poll now showing that billionaire candy maker has won the election out right. president obama praised the ukraine. it seems like everything turned

out at this point, greg? >> reporter: it looks like an important development, important outcome for a very troubled situation. as you mean, the industrialist billionaire declaring victory tonight after several exit polls show him with a clear majority in today's presidential election, he was one of the heroes of the protest in kiev late last year. he said tonight, he wants his first official trip to be here no the east to try, in his words to resolve the crisis, he will indeed have his hands full. prorussia separatist showing what they're -- as well as across this region, attacking polling stations, trying to thwart the ballot. it is reported that no votes were cast. only 20% of the election districts in the east were operating. we went to one town, just not

too far from here, a bit more friendly to kiev, we did find people voting but even there we saw precautions being taken, we witnessed a well armed militia just in case rebel militants tried to stage an attack. outside of this area, turnout was strong. putin has said that he could recognize or at least respect the outcome of this vote, maybe the two sides can get together, we should have official results of this vote on monday. >> we will look forward to that, greg. meanwhile here at home, big developments this memorial day weekend in the va scandal. the obama administration, now paving the way for more veterans to get private health care outside of va hospitals. it's also pledging to expand the capacity of those facilities. this of course comes in response to accusations of long backlogs and secret waiting lists.

hi, steve. >> reporter: there's support on both sides of the isle for the administration's move to provide private hospital health care to velocity trachbs. the white house who's expangding a program for treatment in private hospitals. >> in terms of veterans being able to go to private doctors and hochts. i think it's great, we have been calling on this for quite some time. i introduced a women similar to this last year. i'm also go to stay what took so long. >> an inspector general report says there's 26 facilities under investigation for allegedly falsifying records reveals delays in care. some are not satisfy with the that ig probe and want to go one

step further. here's what he had to say this morning. >> the department of justice has to be involved, i urged the secretary privately and in fact publicly to request and involve the department of justice. these are allegations, but there's evidence to support them, we're not rushing to judgment. the ig cannot. >> reporter: meantime there are continued calls for the reservation of the veteran affairs secretary. >> thanks a lot, steve. >> you bet. well, a fox news alert, an american winning the indianapolis 500 for the first time in eight years. just moments ago, ryan hunter-rea makes a dramatic finish, it was the closest race in the race's history.

andretti was leading with three laps to go and finished third. congratulations to ryan hunter-reay. the annual rolling thunder motorcycle rally reving up today in our nation's capital. also pope francis holding some high profile meetings in the holy land, calling for peace between aa ancient enemies. >> my hope is this holy land by exploiting the value of their own religious tradition prove intolerant and violent towards others. bla blacks doing this all day, my feet and legs got really tired.

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. a palestinian official confirms they both have accepted an invitation from pope francis to visit the vat canniican to pr peace. already meeting with prime minister netanyahu, on his ap l pilgrimage to the middle east. >> the pope arrived a few hours ago in bethlehem doing what he's been doing for the past year, surprising everyone around him. pope francis used really harsh language in describing the situation in palestine as

unacceptable. then the pontiff made a surprising stop to a security wall that would separate israel from -- he closed his eyes and prayed, it was a powerful image in a very controversial spot, later while celebrating mass, palestinian president mahmood abbas. both aheaders quickly accepted the offer. the pope condemned the attacks on a jewish museum in brussels. now francis is wrapping up his visit to the middle east. they said a prayer together, it was a sign of christian unity. he will continue on tomorrow, meeting with israeli officials before heading back to rome later tomorrow afternoon. connor, thank you very much. meanwhile pope francis may

stir up some controversy on his trip to the holy land. he will meet with an islamic religious leader with a long history of anti-semitism. so what if anything will come out of this meeting, bringing in jamie winestein here on the set with me. i want to cover a lot in a short amount of time. let's move -- do you feel like this goes beyond protocol of two religious figures meetings? >> i have no doubt that the pope has great intentions with this trip, he's obviously a very good and decent man, . he's a very controversial figure, in 2012 he gave a passioned speech. it called for the murder of jews, of course the day will come when the profit returns.

he's legitimized suicide bombings so he's made some very controversial statements, genocidal statements in some respects. >> i don't know what the protocol is, i wouldn't talk to him. but this is a type of palestinian rejectionism of israel to the jewish people that has prevented peace, it has nlts helped enable peace. >> can this pope be the savior to bring peace to the middle east? >> i think he can have good intentions, but it's going to take more than good intentions to create peace in the middle east. the palestinian authority has made a reconciliation to hamas are which controls the gaza strap. it's hard to imagine that the pope is going to be able to bridge that divide here and create peace when the hamas terrorist groups believe that it's a religious duty not only

to destroy israelly to murder jews. >> you've got to give him an e for effort, he's trying hard. i want to -- showing pope francis stopping, he's on his way on his way to bethlehem to bring up those images. he stopped at the wall to pray. this wall that divides israel from the west bank. when you see these images here, what thoughts come to mind? >> i think again it's good intentions. i don't think he meant to do anything wrong. he's played into palestinian propaganda. the writing on the wall, comparing it to warsaw ghetto. a terrible analogy. one portion of what is largely a fenced security barrier that prevented tourist attacks from coming to israel. that wall and that fence, security barrier has saved lives, thousands of lives in israel. it's sad that it has to exist but that existence has created many more lives today than would have been otherwise. >> we wish for something. >> absolutely.

>> you've got to have hope. >> jamie weinstein, thank you very much. we'll see you next time. >> thank you. appreciate it. the sound of the rolling thunder taking over washington, d.c. today. their trebt to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. that's next. i'm m-a-r-y and i have copd. the ultimate sacrifice. that's next. to those who have the ultimate sacrifice. that's next. t to those who have the ultimate sacrifice. that's next. ri to those who have the ultimate sacrifice. that's next. b to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. that's next. u to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. that's next. t to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. that's next. e to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. that's next. ea once-daily breo ellipta helps increase airflow from the lungs for a full 24 hours. and breo helps reduce symptom flare-ups that last several days and require oral steroids, antibiotics, or hospital stay. breo is not for asthma. breo contains a type of medicine that increases risk of death in people with asthma. it is not known if this risk is increased in copd. breo won't replace rescue inhalers for sudden copd symptoms and should not be used more than once a day. breo may increase your risk of pneumonia, thrush, osteoporosis,

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>> it's a perfect day, but you can hear and feel the rolling thunder in washington, d.c. tens of thousands of motorcycles from every corner of this country are lined up for a slow ride in honor of america's veterans. a parking lot at the pentagon was a starting point, then the bikes rode through arlington, across memorial bridge, into the district, stopping in a shadow of the lincoln memorial. anyone is allowed to ride, but everyone is saluted by marine corps vet tim chambers standing at the constitution for the 12th year in a road where some riders stopped and gave him a hug to say thanks for the salute. this started as a tribute to american prisoners of war but evolved into much more at a time when many veterans aren't being treated the way they deserve. >> this is what we call a protest rally. we want people to know in

congress that we have people missing in action that need to be brought home. >> the veterans need the best they can get. they write a blank check, willing to die for the country. >> a lot of hardworking people at the v.a. it's like that bleed over effect, some -- there are people doing everything they can there, too. >> these riders came. they saw. they made a lot of noise saluting america's veterans. now all that's left is the ride home. and for some a very long ride home. >> peter doocy, thanks so much. always good to see that rolling thunder rolling through there in d.c. if you see a service member or vet, say thank you. that's it for us right now. i'm arthel neville, "a healthy you" with carol alt up next. trin of great-tasting ensure. 24 vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and 9 grams of protein. [ bottle ] ensure®. nutrition inharge™.

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welcome to "a healthy you." i'm carol alt. our show focuses on keeping you healthy, fit and happy. so today we're zeroing in on the connection between the mind and the body and how important both are to maintaining your health. we begin with the ancient discipline of yoga, which i've kind of been practicing for years. and recently i visited one of new york's leading yoga studios to learn the ins and outs of this age old form of exercise. let's take a look. ♪