Beyond today for a live concert, friday, august 23rd, 2013. Announcer from nbc news, this is a special edition of today with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie, live from studio 1d in Rockefeller Plaza. Good morning. Welcome to today on a friday morning. Im matt lauer. Im sorry, did you Say Something . I cant hear you over all the squealing fans that are here for one direction. Guys i have a little present for you. Ear plugs, because it can get rather loud. I gave you three. This crowd is massive. If you dont live in new york its hard to put in perspective but it goes from 48 street two city blocks to 50th street and down the side streets. If youre still thinking about coming in to see one direction head in the other direction. You wont get close. Stay where you are. You have the best seat right now. The biggest concert ever. We have a chopper flying above. We have ed hughes in that chopper looking down for us. Kind of give us a sense of the crowd. Ill tell you matt. Were about 2,000 feet above Rockefeller Center here in new york city. You can see in the center part of your screen, we are looking at least 1,000, if not 2 to 3,000 people here on the plaza between 48th street and 50th street. We have been watching this crowd grow and grow here. We have been out there for an hour and it keeps getting bigger and bigger. If youre thinking about coming down here you want to do it soon because you are not going to get a good view at this point. But all of these teenage boys and girls here to see one direction here in new york city. And by the way, ed, youre not normally in the chopper during your shift. Simon is initially up there, and do you want to tell us where he is today . I have a feeling kai is down there on the plaza. Its not to be very exciting for him. Were happy to have him here. Ed, thank you very much. The concert is coming up in our 8 30 half hour. First, a lot of news to get to as well. Good morning everyone. A Massive WildfireNear Yosemite National Park is burning out of control. The rim fire broke out last week, and today more than 1,300 firefighters have been unable to stop its quick spread. Miguel almaguer is in california where evacuation orders are in place. Miguel, good morning. Tamron, good morning. The Growth Potential for this fire is considered extreme. Were only 15 Miles Per Hour from Yosemite National park and flames are moving in that direction. Leaping from trees, and racing across ridge tops, and the fire raged on with no end in sight. Its a very extreme fire. Youll see it increase. Reporter thursday, this plays tripled in size, the governor declaring a state of emergency. Nearly 2,000 firefighters are on attack, using everything they can to battle the blaze. On this ridge, crews are using fire to fight fire. Theyre setting this hill afire on purpose so it can close in on this blaze burning in that direction. Making the fire burn itself out. With 200 homes destroyed, thousands of structures still threatened. Evacuations have been ordered. Summer camps closed early. Im shook up but its in good gods hands. Reporter flames are heading east threatening Yosemite National park. For now, just smoke. No immediate danger. Natures beauty not far from mother natures fury. This fire is 1 contained and it has cost some 3 million to fight so far, and across the country it cost 1 billion to fight all fires. Tamron. All right miguel. Thank you very much. Now to syria where a civil war sharply divided senior white house advisors over a moral delima. How far should the u. S. Go to stop the violence when actions could lead to war with syria . President obama addressed that issue in an interview earlier this morning. That starts getting to Core National interests that the United States has. Both in terms of us making sure that weapons of mass destruction are not proliferating, as well as needing to protect our allies, our bases in the region. This is something that is going to require americas attention and hopefully the entire international communitys attention. For the latest on the information in syria lets go to nbcs chief foreign correspondent, richard engel, in cairo with the latest. Good morning. Reporter good morning, tamron. The administration is weighing its options trying to figure out what happened in syria and who was responsible before taking any action, let alone military action. The un secretary general says if its proved that chemical weapons were used by any party it would be a crime against humanity and should result in serious consequences. Meanwhile, russia which is an ally of the Syrian Regime has joined other nations in calling u. N. Inspectors who are in damascus right now to be allowed access to the areas where these alleged atrocities took place, and the u. S. Also said today that 1 million children have been made refugees by the on going war in syria. We have more on that. In an exclusive interview with ann curry, Antonio Gutierrez said the war in syria reached a shameful milestone. As mentioned now, 1 million children have become refugees. I understand you want to announce an important milestone in the crisis in syria . Yes, as a matter of fact we have unfortunately reached 1 million refugee children that have to flee the country. We have about 2 million children displaced inside of syria, and we have millions of others trapped by the conflict. I think we need to recognize that syria faces the risk of a lost generation. You can see more of anns interview on nbcnews. Com. Authorities in lass vegas say two people in Police Custody were plotting to kidnap officers, put them on trial and execute them in a vacant house. For more on this alleged plot we go to Pete Williams in washington, d. C. With the latest. Pete, what can you tell us. Police in las vegas say the two were arrested after an undercover investigation that lasted several months. Authorities charged david allen, age 42, and another with attempted murder. Both planned to follow police cars and if an officer made a traffic stop the two would take the policeman away to be tied up and killed. They were members of a radical Extremist Group that doesnt believe police have any legitimate power. I feel that they are going far beyond what the constitution allows. Im in jail because the government with undercover agents want me here. Authorities said an undercover policeman took them to a house where they began building their own jail. Theyre said to be members of the movement whose members have been known to kill police before. All right, pete, thank you very much. Now to wall street and what is moving the markets. Jackie joins us with the latest. Good morning. Good morning to you, we are looking at microsoft shares. The positive reaction. Share holders thinking the new leadership could reinvigorate the company. The news comes just months after microsoft announced a broad Restructuring Plan to capitalize on mobile technology, tamron. Jackie, thank you. Caught on camera, a motorcyclist meets his match on a canadian highway. Take a look at this. A bear runs across the road. Not a chicken but a bear. The motorcyclist could not avoid it. It happened in vancouver. The helmet camera video was just released by the police. The bear ran away unharmed. The motorcyclist will be okay as well. That is incredible. Its now 7 09, matt and savannah. We always say what happens when the chicken crossed the road . What happens when its a bear . Theres going to be a pun. Do you know what i was thinking, beary scary. Im a teenager at heart because of one direction. Youre a 4th grader. All right tamron, thank you very much. Als not even going to comment on that. Theres 7,000 people out here. There was crickets during that joke. Unbelievable stuff. But look at this crowd. It is crazy. Theyre here at one of the biggest intersections in america and look at this. All the way across here to 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Thousands and thousands of screaming teens just all ready for one direction. In colorado there was one direction, it was all coming down. Were talking hail, over 6 inches of hail fell in colorado. Take a look at this video that we have. Kids are playing in it. They actually had this is just outside of littleton colorado. They had to break out snowplows to get the hail off of the streets. Unbelievable stuff and guess what, theres more rough weather coming from the southwest. Parts of the southwest had flash flooding. Why . You can already see, we have more rain and showers and thunderstorms firing up. We have a tropical depression off the mexico coast. This thing is going to push moisture into the southwest and its going to bring flash flooding over the next 96 hours. Were talking about a real mess coming anywhere from 2 to 3 inches of rain by monday morning. Some areas picking up to 5 inches from Southern California into Southern Nevada and parts of new mexico and arizona as well. And thats whats going on. Were going to bring your forecast to you, but first, these messages. 9 out of 10. 9 out of ten . Thats great. Nothing says, im happy to see you too, like a milkbone biscuit. Say it with milkbone. Good friday morning to you. Im moatologist christina loren. Taking a look at a cloudy sky. We have flight delays about an hour out of sfo. Were the only city, major airport across the United States reporting delays except for boston, about a 30minute delay getting into that airport. 87 in livermore temperatures staying unseasonably cool. Average in livermore, 80 in santa teresa, a little below average in cher. A comfortable weekend headed our way. Biggest crowd weve ever had. Here is what we have got. The new York City PoliceDepartment Just gave the estimate of this crowd, 18,000, plus. Whoa. Standing around you. But we want to be specific, al, so if you can get people to start counting off one at a time. Start counting one, two, three, four 10, 11, 12 well check back in with you in about 18,000 seconds. All right. He takes everything literally. Its going to be a long morning isnt it . Well check back in with al in a moment. But it looks like this is going to be a very busy day for san diego mayor bob filner. It could be his last day in office in the wake of Sexual Harassment allegations by more than a dozen women. Joe is there with more details. Good morning. Good morning. City counsel will meet behind closed doors to vote on a tentative deal reached this week. Sources tell our station that filners resignation is part of the agreement but its unclear what the mayor could get in return and if that will spark a backlash. In a hint of whats expected to come, cell phone video shows bob filner leaving city hall with paxed boxes in the backseat. It happened moments after city leaders and filners attorney emerged with three days of mediation. We have reached a proposed resolution. But theyre barred from discussing the deal until the City Council Meets this afternoon behind closed doors. When we have something to share well get back to the public. Reporter the Political Science professor says filners resignation was likely his primary negotiating tool. So we could also say, giver me a deal and ill leave, and other than that go ahead and try to recall me. Reporter the big question, what might he get from the city in return. He wants to make sure if he leaves office he doesnt spend the next six years or six months in court paying out money or going bankrupt or going to jail. Reporter last month filner apologized for his behavior and promised to get therapy. The behavior i engaged in is wrong. Reporter theyre now getting signatures in the wake of Sexual Harassment allegations from 17 women. Attorney Gloria Allred represents the only accuser to file a lawsuit so far. She says she doesnt know the details of the deal negotiated this week but criticized anything that gives him taxpayer money. It would be a slap in the face to his victims to see him get anything from the city of san diego. His parting give should be good riddance. Reporter before todays closed door meeting, the public will have a chance to comment. If the mayor does resign, a special election will be held within 90 days. Savannah . Thank you. Lisa bloom is todays legal analysts, and her mother, Gloria Allred, represents one of the women suing filner. Good morning. This will be hard for taxpayers to swallow. Explain how sit that san diego would be on the hook for some of these legal claims when in some cases this behavior took place before he was even mayor. Thats right. What mayor filner had was leverage. The recall process in san diego is complicated and time consuming. Hes a oneman liability problem for the city, and they want to get hid of him so they dont have to face more claims, and the bottom line is they may have to pay him money for him to walk away. Is it your view he was holding on to this seat as a negotiating tactic . Probably. He does face tens of millions of dollars in liability. One person has come forward, and about 17 people made claims against him. Havent sued him yet. He is facing a catastrophic financial outcome. And very quickly, these lawsuits, if they come, can still go forward and the settlement with the city has nothing to do with that. Thats right. The lawsuits go on. Lisa bloom, thank you very much. Thank you. Theres fall out tied to thursdays bombshell announcement here on today that the army private sentenced in the wikileaks scandal plans to live as a woman. Peter alexander is in washington. Good morning to you. Matt, good morning. That sentence is 35 years in prison and the inmate known as Bradley Manning is waking up today inside the maximum Security Military prison. Also this morning were learning new details about what the 25yearold who wants to be called Chelsea Manning wants for her future. For all the explosive secrets that Bradley Manning leaked, the most stunning revelation was personal. Delivered in a letter read by savannah here on today. I want everyone to know the real me. I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Reporter this photo of the army private wearing a womens wig and lipstick was presented as proof of a gender identity disorder. He wants to live as a woman and begin hormone therapy treatment as soon as possible. That will be a long shot. They dont provide the treatment or sex reassignment surgery. He has not yet requested a sex change. As for the future, manning could be eligible for parole in seven years. She wants to get a degree. She wants to hopefully find somebody that she loves. Get married. Perhaps have a family. Reporter within hours of thursdays bombshell Chelsea Manning was trending on twitter worldwide, with outrage and sympathy. You guys can laugh about bradley Chelsea Manning now but when our tax dollars pay for gender surgery hell be laughing at us. And another, humbled again by chelseas courage and honesty. Now kristen beck, the selfproclaimed Warrior Princess said for this person whether male or female to use gender identity to act badly is a slap in the case. The anoun tphoupbsment raced unusual questions on how to refer to manning. Manning asked to be called she, not he. People need to understand that this is for real. A person that has gender disforia wants to live as the other. It requires psychiatric treatment and sometimes surgery but not necessarily. One other concern is mannings safety, and the arm yes reports that transgender prisoners are more likely to be assaulted by other inmates, but Officials Say they have taken the necessary steps to protect those prisoners like manning who may be at a higher risk. Peter alexander in washington. Thank you very much. We talked about this yesterday after your interview. I said, is there a chance that she, as were now referring to her, would be transferred at some point to a womans prison . I think it would be far down the road and probably if she had that sex reassignment surgery that we dont know if she actually wants and by the way, the army said it doesnt provide hormone therapy or gender surgery so if they want to go down that road theyll have to sue to get there probably. Meanwhile, coming up, much more ahead on a friday morning including Nancy Kerrigan. She is speaking out in an exclusive live interview for the first time. Shell talk about the controversial trial tied to her fathers death. Then well shift gears and head outside and join our one direction crowd. It is a big one out on the plaza. But first, this is today on nbc. Coming up, ben afleck, the new batman . The controversial casting taking people by surprise this morning; were counting down to one direction live on the plaza. But first, these messages, your news and local weather. Chronic plaque psoriasis to another new stylist. It was a total embarrassment. And not the kind of attention i wanted. 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