and writing's on wall. the school board after eliminating something taught for decades. will your grandchildren be able to read a simple john hancock? good evening, and we begin this saturday with breaking news here. the scandal involving congressman anthony weiner has now reached a tipping point. three top democratic officials including house democratic leader nancy pelosi are now calling that weiner resign. one quoted as sordid affair. follows new revelations that he'd been sending messages to a 17-year-old girl on twitter. but will he quit. tonight, congress simply says he wants a short leave. we're with david kerley. david good evening. >> reporter: he was adamant. he's determined to keep his job. >> i've made some serious mistakes. i have to redeem myself. and i'm going to try to get back to work. these are personal failings, so i'm trying not to let them get in my way with my work. >> reporter: a spokesperson is saying weiner is taking a leave of absence so he can get treatment to become a healthier person. cascading calling for his resignation. nancy pelosi who has never called for a democrat to resign saying if weiner needs help he should get it. quote, without the pressures of being a member of congress. i call on representative weiner to resign because of indefensible behavior. chair of the congressional committee calling weiner's behavior an insurmountable distraction. among those who weiner sent messages, a high school student, a 17-year-old. police visited her home to look at her messages to determine that there were no criminal or misconduct. news that he was chatting with a 17-year-old after finally admitting he has sent lewd photos to other women is too much. >> when the top party leaders tell you it's time to go, it's time to go. he just hasn't accepted it yet, but he will. >> thank you. nice for you to say. >> reporter: but he is get something support in new york. democratic leaders wanted to make this call for resignation, before the sunday talk shows, before congress comes back to washington on monday. it's now clear that weiner won't be back immediately if he comes back at all, david. >> abc's david kerley leading us off tonight. jon karl, our senior political correspondent was in washington. jon, we all got the e-mail with the quote from nancy pelosi. but you're learning about the actual phone call between the two. >> yeah, this was a couple hours before that at about noon, nancy pelosi called congressman weiner and told him basically, you need to resign on your own. during that conversation, weiner did say he was going to seek treatment and floated this leave of absence idea. pelosi made it clear that is not acceptable. she would go public with a call for resignation. >> what's the bottom line here, can nancy pelosi make him resign? >> no, congressman weiner does not work for nancy pelosi. that's the bottom line. he's been elected. it's been rare that we've seen expulsions for anything like this. if he want to stick this out, he can. but, david, he can. >> jon karl and david kerley letter leading us off. another key al qaeda operative is dead. haroum fazel was among. pakistani officials say in a drone strike and now faisal in somalia. we're getting a picture of how this suspect was caught. >> reporter: he was a key al qaeda operative behind the deadly attacks on u.s. embassies in africa. tonight, authorities say they have killed faisal. after the blasts killed 224 people in kenya and tanzania. the deadliest of those in east africa was not the result of intelligence. somali authorities now acknowledge it was luck. he was killed during awe routine checkpoint withdrawn wrong. on him, he was carrying fake i.d.s and the soldiers who buried had no idea who he was. as dana hugues reported to us today. >> david, after mortgages started matching photographs with older photographs of faisal, they decided to resume his body and notify officials. >> reporter: after notifying the u.s., dna tests came next. clint issuing a statement, fazu's death say significant blow to al qaeda. >> let's turn to christiane amanpour, she joins us in washington preparing for tomorrow. christiane, this latest case, more luck than intelligence. there's no question, when you put it all together, this has been a good month on the war on terror? >> absolutely. a good month for international justice, exactly as you can say. the president of counterterrorism has called this a big victory against al qaeda and its extremist allies. and important to know, within somalia which is not known for success in tracking down the militants which does house the african version of al qaeda, this al shabaab group is host to many. >> christiane, thanks to you. christiane will have much more including the latest on the anthony weiner scandal during the debate tomorrow morning on "this week." we turn next to the gigantic wildfire in arizona. flames spreading in neighboring new mexico. and the smoke and haze now a serious public health threat. firefighters are trying to battle back fighting fire with fire. how is that done? clayton sandell is in arizona with that tonight. >> reporter: two weeks into fighting this monster fire, crews are starting to make good progress. but strong, dry winds are back today, testing the defenses of more than 4,000 firefighters. they're using every tool in their arsenal, including fire. this area near the town of greer looks like a burned-out moonscape. but this was set intentionally. it's called a backfire. the point is to use up the main fuel where the main fire can use it and spread potentially farther. where there's fire, there's smoke in toxic levels. it's considered unhealth to breathe air at anything over 30 parts per million. today that spiked to 500. >> for those who have been inhaling it for quite some time, there tending to be respiratory problems created by this. problems in the lungs. you can't expel it because it's embedded in your system. >> reporter: lisa muth was so worried about their daughters that the family evacuated before they had to. >> this is for the girls. >> reporter: the blaze has now consumed more than 30 homes, most in the town of greer. that's where we met ann and harvey cook, desperately scrambling to evacuate. >> all of my kids, it was a place to come. >> reporter: the cooks had no idea that the log cabin they built 20 years ago had survived. it was too dangerous for us to see did. but we talked to firefighters who said that it's still there. >> that area is still there. >> reporter: at this point, your place is still there. >> oh, wonder. i'm so sad for those who lost their homes. >> crews are starting to advance into new mexico setting the backfires to do it. they're confident they can do it. but with winds like this today and tomorrow, there are no guarantees. >> at least we're happy for the cook family. great you made that phone call. tonight, a second danger is now developing in joplin, missouri, more than three weeks after that devastating tornado. more than 150 died in the twister and tonight the death toll is climbing. people were infected with a fungus, claiming to the debris whipping through the air and then infecting the people when the debris hit them. >> reporter: more than nine people are now believed to have developed what's called mucomycocisis a wear fungal disorder. >> it can invade not only the skin and soft tissues but also the blood vessels, that's where you can get into big trouble very fast. it can be fatal. >> reporter: the fungus was attached to the wood that held up all of those homes and the soil, too. it's been flying through the air from the twister. it's believed people injured with that debris with skin wounds may have been infected. the symptoms, pain, swelling and skin discoloration didn't show up until a week or more after the twister. it's now known that doctors who tended to victims unknowingly stitched up wounds only to find mold growing in their skin days later. while we do await the results from the cdc, we know this was dangerous in 2004. the u.n. says 368 afghan civilians were killed in may. most salted of insurgent attacks. that makes it the deadliest attacks since the u.n. began keeping record. and then learned today that 21 more people were killed in new attacks, one by a suicide bomber pushing an ice cream cart. and on the syrian border along turkey, thousands now freeing syria, where the syrian president is trying to quash a mutiny breaking away from the regime. alex marquardt reports. >> reporter: good evening, david. officials say more are on their way. exhausted syrian families running for their lives in turkish refugee camps,s skeining sources of al assad, after 120 government groups were killed there last week. the security forces raided our houses, killed and looted. the brutality of the government's month-long contractdown is evident in this vid video. we can't identify. soldiers repeatedly kicking an old man. and this, too graphic to show. for increasing numbers in security forces, it's too much. this soldier took his defection to the internet. "our mission, he says, is to protect the civilians, not children." it's clear for all the months of protests, all the regimes talk about reform, this arab spring story is still more about crackdowns than change. david? >> alex marquardt in turkey. a massive celebration of a royal milestone marking the queen's birthday. but it was the future queen many were out to see. and jeffrey kofman is in london don't. >> reporter: buckingham palace rolled out the pomp and pagea pageantry again. this time for the queen. this isn't actually the queen's birthday. she turned 85 in april. but this is when they celebrate. the eyes of this crowd, though, aren't just on queen elizabeth, they're on a future queen. and there she is, the woman formerly known as kate middleton, now the duchess. it's clear he has given the royals a big boost in popularity. as the queen pass, the a light applause. as kate passed, cheers. who's the bigger deal here, the queen or kate? >> definitely kate, yeah. >> she wants to see kate. >> and me, too. >> reporter: it was harder to spot kate's husband. but under that bear skin hat, that really is prince william. for royal watchers, pure delight. for a future queen, a taste of the role she is destined to play. jeffrey kofman, abc, london. >> they do love kate. still ahead, sarah palin. he's been taking on the first lady's fight on obesity. as a crash. how could a car disintegrate against the wall and how that driver is doing. incredible story. and the school board leader is called by the call or something she doesn't think that children need. >> the change for writing requires much drill and practice. yep. the longer you stay with us, the more you save. and when you switch from another company to us, we even reward you for the time you spent there. genius. yeah, genius. you guys must have your own loyalty program, right? well, we have something. show her, tom. huh? you should see november! oh, yeah? giving you more. now that's progressive. call or click today. no, no, no... i do not have a thing about bugs. i have a thing about bugs in our house. we used to call an exterminator. ugh... now i go ortho. home defense max. i use it once inside to kill the bugs. stops them dead. guaranteed. and outside to keep new ones from moving in. that's up to 12 months protection against bugs. and 12 months of keeping our house to ourselves. until your mother comes. right. ortho home defense max. defend what's yours. i'm friend, secret-keeper and playmate. do you think i'd let osteoporosis slow me down? so i asked my doctor about reclast because i heard it's the only once-a-year iv osteoporosis treatment. he told me all about it and i said that's the one for nana. he said reclast can help restrengthen my bones to help make them resistant to fracture for twelve months. and reclast is approved to help protect from fracture in many places: hip, spine, even other bones. [ male announcer ] you should not take reclast if you're on zometa, have low blood calcium, or kidney problems. or if you're pregnant, plan to become pregnant or are nursing. take calcium and vitamin d daily. tell your doctor if you develop severe muscle, bone or joint pain, if you have dental problems, or if you develop new or unusual pain in your hip, groin, or thigh. the most common side effects include flu like symptoms, fever, muscle or joint pain headache, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. share the world with the ones you love! and ask your doctor about reclast. once-a-year reclast. year-long protection for on-the-go women. tonight, we learn more about sarah palin through the e-mails while on the campaign trail. in fact, she brought cookies to a classroom to make her point, but her own e-mails showed her own concern about her children and too much sugar and carbs. here's john berman. >> reporter: just weeks before she electrified the crowd at the republican national convention, the gop for the most part has not had any support or assistance provided our station. though our time and efforts will continue to be spent on serves alask alaskans. they also show a governor nearly obsessed with what people said about her. she instructed aides, i need folks to really help ramp up accurate counter comments being spread out there. later she wrote, "sheeesh, i can't trust people as far as i can throw them." even at trigg's doctor apartment this morning, his doc said that's out there. and several variations of flippin', unbelievable, unflippin' believable. even bringing cookies to a high school. >> had to kind of shake it up a little bit. >> she once e-mailed an aide asking for low-carb foods. just don't want the kids to have too much sugar. >> reporters are thrilled with the e-mails. >> white house aides said everyone should read them and that sarah palin looks like a ceo here. for all the hype on the release, it doesn't seem like these e-mails will change any minds pro or con. >> john, thanks. when we come back on the broadcast, the unbelievable crash we saw today. the driver's team. they couldn't believe their eyes in the stands. how that driver is doing coming up here. for 18 holes with your buddies. more passion for the one ya love. more fun with your family and riends. it could be ! a treatable condition called low testosterone or lw t. come on, stop living in the shadows. you've got a life to live. 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