Good evening. Diane is off on this thursday night. We do begin with an american treasure threatened by that fierce and growing wildfire tonight. Yosemite National Park and that fire inching closer by the minute. This is the scene on the ground this evening. The ancient sequoias, fire trucks rushing through valleys of fire. And just listen tonight. The sound of that wildfire raging out of control, hundreds of firefighters now deployed. New evacuations under way. That fire one of at least 50 burning in the west tonight in the county where yosemite is just declaring a state of emergency. Abcs Neal Karlinsky is on the front lines for us and he leads us off tonight. Good evening. Reporter good evening from the south side of an angry fire tonight. These are not clouds behind me. This is smoke. This gives you a sense of the size and the soap of this blaze as these plumes continue to intensify and get darker and die down again as this fire is fought mainly from the air. At the yosemite rose bed and breakfast built for the thousands who flock to its untouched beauty each year, theyre making their last stand. The fire is coming over the hill straight at them and the owner in his bulldozer to help out is making plans with the fire team. Give me the signal and i can make laps around the house without a problem. Reporter just down the road this man has another fire team at his house, staring down an intense aerial fire fight to stop the flames before they burn through his property. Are you sticking here throughout . Absolutely. Slel ter shelter in place, protect what i can as long as i can. Reporter the wind has caused rapidly changing conditions as we found out first hand. It shot up again, the flames did. While shooting this material in the fire zone whoa a chunk of flaming tree big enough to seriously hurt someone fell near our car. Its unusually bad right now even though the wildfire numbers are down nationwide. Theyre way up in california where there have been nearly 40 percent more fires than last year. Hundreds more caused by lightning within just days. We found homeowners packed up, ready to leave if they have to. If we lose it all, we have a great insurance policy, so. Hopefully it wont come to that. Well start all over again. Reporter the fire is not threatening any more homes right now but it is continuing to grow. It has tripled in size since yesterday. Theyve got a real fight on their hands. That dark smoke behind you, neal. Thanks to you. I want to bring in abcs meteorologist ginger zee who is tracking this fire for us. You were telling me the fire is close to yosemite and the park is not in the clear yet. Not at all. They have that dry foalage. Its all of the west. 50 large wildfires in nine states out west dealing with this. Lightning as neal mentioned a huge issue. Thats why we have red flag warnings for so many places. I want to show you who has this. See that low pressure system. Thats part of the issue. Kicking off thunderstorms, gusty winds and in just the last 24 hours over 4,400 lightning strikes starting 45 new fires just in california. Ginger, thanks to you as always. We turn overseas to syria and the stunning numbers tonight we heard from the state department, potentially more than 1,000 victims in the latest possible chemical attacks, the world still studying those disturbing images, the victims, including women and children of this newest attack. This evening that disturbing headline from washington about what we could be looking at now. U. N. Weapons inspectors are on the ground facing huge hurdles trying to determine if chemical weapons were, in fact, accused. Abcs chief Global Affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz is in the region for us tonight. Reporter its a terrible and urgent task. Tonight the u. S. And u. N. Racing to find out whether chemical weapons killed these men, women and children and just how many died. Today a shocking new number from opposition groups revealed in washington. The most recent estimates weve seen range from 1,000 to 1800 which is obviously a broad range. Reporter the assad regime says the claims that it carried out a chemical attack are baseless. But the world is reacting swiftly and forcefully. As u. N. Investigators beg for access to the site, the evidence may be quickly dissipating. David, tonight president obama has directed the Intelligence Community to do Everything Possible to find Additional Information about this suspected attack, but we dont know what the u. S. Response would be. David . Martha raddatz with us again tonight. Thank you. Also new word this evening on americans now believed to have joined the fight on the ground in syria potentially helping terrorist groups there. Could those americans, in fact, pose a threat to our homeland. Our senior justice correspondent Pierre Thomas sat down with fbi director Robert Muller today. We know muller is about to step down after 12 years. This was really something today in your interview expressing real concern about americans on the ground in syria . Reporter the fbi director is concerned about radicals who have gone to fight including members of al qaeda, and he said there is intelligence americans may have joined them. You are concerned about what they number one, the associations they will make and secondly, the expertise they will develop and whether or not they will utilize that expertise to undertake an attack in the homeland. So, yes, we are concerned about that. As he gets ready to leave his post, pierre, you asked what still keeps him up at night and what did he tell you . Reporter he was blunt as always. He worries about terrorists taking on a plane with a bomb or using biological or chemical weapons. He said those threats are very, very real. Pierre thomas with us from our washington bureau, thank you. From syria to the breaking images from egypt tonight where after more than two years behind bars, former president Hosni Mubarak was let out of prison, taken away in a helicopter. A dramatic change of fortune from our time there during the revolution that brought him down. Our Abc News Team was on the ground in cairo as they pushed him from power. We all remember that moment in the square as supporters with whips rode in on camel and horse back targeting the protestors. Not long after, this image, around the world of mubarak disgraced in a cage in a courtroom. Tonight the eyes of egypt and the world were on that helicopter, mubarak being whisked away to a military hospital. The man elected to replace him, mohammed morsi, in prison instead. Back at home to an american who shared secrets before Edward Snowden and the nsa. Bradley manning was the army private who leaked the top secret documents, just sentenced to 35 years behind bars this week, tonight revealing he wants to live behind bars as a woman. The American Military responding to that request. Heres abcs Senior National correspondent jim avila now. Reporter Bradley Manning had one more secret to tell, the small statured man in the army greens is actually a woman inside. Those pictures of him cross dressing shown at trial were real and not a defense tactic. In a letter released today, manning wrote, as i transition into this next phase of my life, i want everyone to know the real me. I am chelsea manning. I am a female. Manning wants to be called she and begin the transformation immediately. Given the way that i feel and have felt since childhood, i want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. That may be difficult because at Fort Leavenworth where hes to serve a 35year sentence for releasing 700,000 documents to wikileaks, the military does not offer that type of treatment but mannings attorney vows to fight. Im going to change that. Reporter the attorneys first demonstrated their clients feeling about being a woman during the pretrial hearings. Manning called himself brie yan na back then. Today the signature reads chelsea. Jim avila, abc news, washington. Next to california tonight and the teenager kidnapped and rescued from the woods, Hannah Anderson. We had learned about the dozen Text Messages sent back and forth with the kidnapper in the hours before it unfolded. Tonight she reveals in her own words what those Text Messages were about and the letter she exchanged with the alleged kidnapper, too. Heres abcs linsey davis tonight. Reporter she was kidnapped, her mother and brother tortured and killed. Now a little more than a week after her rescue, 16yearold Hannah Anderson seen by so many as a victim, feels the need to defend herself. In an interview broadcast on nbc news, she explained why she had written letters to jim dimaggio her 40yearold abductor who she had always known as uncle jim. The letters were from a year ago when me and my mom werent getting along very well. Me and him talked about how to deal with it. He helped me through it. Reporter as for the 13 phone exchanges with dimaggio the day of her abduction, she says they werent phone calls but Text Messages because he was picking her up from cheerleading camp and didnt know where to find her. As the Community Comes together to raise money for the funeral of her mow and 8yearold brother, hannah expresses gratitude for the amber alert that she says saved her. I didnt really know what it was but i know it helped people find me. With everyones support it can help a lot. Reporter her hope now, that people wont see her as a victim but as a survivor instead. Linsey davis, abc news, new york. To boston tonight, new developments in the case of the former football star charged with murder in massachusetts. Former new england patriot Aaron Hernandez didnt speak but mouthed the words i love you to his mother in court today. He was indicted by a grand jury for shooting his friend. Prosecutors say he orchestrated that killing. Hes being held without bail and remains in solitary confinement. To a case playing out in san diego tonight involving the embattled mayor there. All week protestors putting pressure on the mayor to resign after the Sexual Harassment scandal, that 1800 number set up for alleged victims. One protester taking to the air writing, surrender bob, across the sky. Tonight a new image giving us a clue about what the disgraced mayor may be planning next. Abcs ryan owens on the case again tonight. Mayor filner, are you going to resign . Reporter if this video is any indication, it may finally be over. San diego mayor bob filner loading boxes into his suv outside city hall last night. Good to see you guys. Reporter affiliate kgtv has learned mayor filner is prepared to resign tomorrow if the City Council Signs off on a deal hashed out over three days of mediation. The 70yearold is accused of sexually harassing 18 women. There was a hand that went to my back, to my buttock and i was shocked. Reporter the details of the settlement are confidential but many dont want taxpayers to pay filner another cent. His parting gift should be good riddance instead of a handout. Reporter especially according to his critics because hes become such a punch line. Maybe its time you left reporter in fact, some voters want him recalled before he can quit. They say resignation is too easy for a man who has embarrassed americas 8th largest city. Ryan owens, abc news, san diego. Now to the breaking headline weve been following all day from wall street. Real concern today when computers suddenly froze, stocks halted, no one knew what was happening at the nasdaq as americans and their 401 k s, their retirements, were for a time frozen for three hours. I want to bring in our chief business and economics correspondent rebecca jarvis. You were with us all afternoon. You were telling me this is unprecedented. This is something weve never seen before in companies most people own in their Retirement Savings apple, google, microsoft, facebook. All of these companies ceased to trade for three hours today. Much of that time was spent trying to determine just why that was. Very Little Information coming out. Theyve traced it to a technical problem at the nasdaq but still we dont know why that happened. We know there was a fear that this was a potential terror threat, a possible hacker. The fbi director told abc news this is the kind of thing that keeps him up at night. This is why the president was notified. The s. E. C. , the treasury all watching this situation to determine exactly where it goes. There is a very real cyber threat and if it impacts our markets it could impact peoples lives. We should mention when it was all over the nasdaq closed up 38 points today. The dow was up 66 points. No money was lost but some real nerves were tested on wall street this afternoon. There is still much more ahead on world news this thursday night. Look at these trees this evening. This is no scifi thriller, this is the real thing in an american town, a massive sink hole. What caused it. Why Scientists Say it can happen again and where. Breaking, a husband overboard, lost at sea, just found, survived 18 hours, no life vest, how did he do it . [ male announcer ] this is claira. To prove to you that aleve is the better choice for her, shes agreed to give it up. Thats today . [ male announcer ] well be with her all day to see how it goes. 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Tonight a remarkable scene in louisiana caught on camera, everything vanishing in 30 seconds but what caused it and could it happen near you. Heres abcs matt gutman tonight. Reporter this is not an optical illusion. A stand of trees seemly melting into this swamp in louisiana is being swallowed into a massive sink hole, sucking everything down with it. Watch those trees again dipping slowly at first and then quickly vanishing into the hole. Scientists say its more than a football field deep. Its near an old salt mine. Workers were using water to dissolve and pump out the salt deep underground and eventually pumped out enough to make the ground give way. Now the earth slowly moves into the cavern causing growing sink holes above. Its going to continue to grow until it finds a point where it can support itself. Reporter the sink hole appeared a year ago. 150 households were evacuated and the state is suing the company that mined the salt. Sink holes are common and often occur naturally. This one in downtown Guatemala City bore a hole big enough to swallow the statue of liberty. They riddled the state of florida because most of the state sits on pourous limestone. It burns through the rock. Were talking hundreds of thousands of years. Reporter this sink hole near orlando gulped down part of a resort, forcing dozens to evacuate. Another one in florida earlier this year turned deadly, killing jeff bush as he lay sleeping in bed. Perhaps there is no greater visual of a sink holes destructive power than this. Matt gutman, abc news, louisiana. When we come back, breaking tonight, an amazing tale of survival, a husband who survived 18 hours, tossed overboard, no life jacket. Where this happened when we come back. And a pop star who surprised an entire flight. He didnt say, this is your captain speaking. He sang instead, when we come back. Instead, when we come back. It was very painful situation. The rash was on my right hip, going all the way down my leg. 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If you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or if you have any allergic reactions such as rash, hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. Ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a 30tablet free trial. Our instant index tonight starts with an amazing survival tale. At 10 00 a. M. A man set out on a solo fishing trip in the gulf of mexico. Three hours later he texted his wife this picture but that was last she heard from him. By 8 30 at night she called the police. Rescue crews searched by air and sea. At 4 00 in the morning they found him alive floating without a life vest, treading water, 18 hours later found, and a wife relieved tonight. Something millions of American Families who welcome a puppy into their home can relate to. President obama revealing something about the newest addition to their family today, their puppy, sunny. Not completely potty trained. Saying to the folks there hes not completely potty trained. Given that information tonight, there is no word on whether sunny has been allowed into the oval office tonight. Well keep you posted. Some passengers on board a southwest flight from phoenix to los angeles got quite a surprise. Look who showed up and sang a tune. Pop star gavin degraw in an impromptu serenade, part of southwests new program, surprising passengers at 35,000 feet with a concert, a new program they started, something they do when they have stars on board the plane. Gavin degraw isnt the only one singing this week. Im back tonight after sitting down with superstar alicia keys, and tomorrow night youll see the amazing project shes working on right now and youll hear the song she chose to sing to me. Shes singing it right here. And why she chose that song. If you have any guesses, send me a little tweet, our person of the week tomorrow night. When we come back, a father and son we all know well here, put to the test tonight and what they did wrong that so many of us do on those trips with the children and grandchildren. When we come back, how to get that cash back. That cash back. Stiffness. Accomplishing even Little Things can become major victories. Im phil mickelson, pro golfer. When i was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, my rheumatologist prescribed enbrel for my pain and stiffness, and to help stop joint damage. [ male announcer ] enbrel may lower your ability to fight infections. Serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, nervous system and blood disorders, and allergic reactions have occurred. Before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether youve been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. You should not start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. 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To treat my low testosterone, i did my research. My doctor and i went with axiron, the only underarm low t treatment. Axiron can restore t levels to normal in about 2 weeks in most men. Axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18 or men with prostate or breast cancer. Women, especially those who are or who may become pregnant and children should avoid contact where axiron is applied as unexpected signs of puberty in children or changes in body hair or increased acne in women may occur. Report these symptoms to your doctor. Tell your doctor about all medical conditions and medications. Serious side effects could include increased risk of prostate cancer; worsening prostate symptoms; decreased sperm count; ankle, feet or body swelling; enlarged or painful breasts; problems breathing while sleeping; and blood clots in the legs. Common side effects include skin redness or irritation where applied, increased red blood cell count, headache, diarrhea, vomiting, and increase in psa. Ask your doctor about the only underarm low t treatment, axiron. Finally tonight if you are heading out with the children, the grandchildren in these final weeks of summer, some tips to save real money. Nick watt with real mistakes weve all made before. Reporter my little boy milo and i are spending the day at the world famous fishermens wharf. What else do you want to buy . Reporter were making some classic tourist mistakes, spending too much and not seeing the real San Francisco. I need a knight in shining armor, and here he is. The trap is getting stuck and not knowing where to go and following the crowds that dont know where theyre going. Reporter johns rule number one to avoid that fate. Ask yourself that question, whats two streets over. Reporter sure enough, a secret passage way to a real Fishermans Wharf. Later we jumped a cable car two streets over from the main tourist line, no crowds. They even let milo ring the bell. Onto rule number two. Leave the tourist attraction and follow the locals to lunch. Reporter is it really cheaper . We bought two bottles of water at the wharf. How much is that . 4. 89. Reporter then followed the locals to lunch. The water here is only a dollar a bottle. I thought i was being smart going inland to buy souvenirs. We bought two cable cars today. The one at Fishermans Wharf was 9 and this one was 2. 99, but to be fair, the wheel did just fall off of it. Reporter rule number three, a surprising one, the time we wasted, the time we spent just getting there, just plain not worth it. Sometimes its okay to wallow in the tourist hot spot just for a San Francisco state of emergency over the rim near near yosemite what. 84 square miles of flames and smoke are sending there. A two week sweep of homeless sex owe grerndz. And a fight to save one of the states Biggest Community college will be waged in the court. Abc 7 news i team looked into the death of a hily regarded member of the San Francisco police brass. In fire is so large that is what were seeing now. Huge flames roaring outside of yosemite tonight. Firefighters have been unable to tame them. This is a terrifying fire. The governor declared a local state of emergency because of the rim fire. So did the city which operates a camp and gets water and power from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir there. The fire is sprou shaeding up and down the canyon. And toured the community of Pine Mountain lake. Highway 120 into yosemite is still closed. The winds have picked up had afternoon. But today, the day began with a red flag warning lifted enabling firefighters to makeup ground lost after the fire tripled in acreage. This fire exploded out of control when just the wind banned the flames. This is a very complex fire. Just unique fire behavior. But at tack continues to play a key role pounding the fire with retardant and water one of the main ways to fight the fire because much is not accessible. Folks