i'm richelle carey. here is the latest from al jazeera. as the white house repeats its stance that there will be no boots on the ground in syria, the un says there is now a million refugee children from syria now. and a wildfire is growing at an alarming rate near yosemite national park. three years into the war in syria, and efforts to end the conflict have gone nowhere.

president obama has expressed grave concerns over the alleged gases of hundreds of shrivelance. but he doesn't expect to send u.s. troops to syria. the top disarmament official is expected to arrive tomorrow to push for cooperation and investigation into alleged chemical weapon's attacks. and 1 million syrian children have now become refugees. >> reporter: normally being described as one in a million is a compliment, for these children it is nothing but. abraham is ten years old and likes to tease his sister. he arrived in the camp a few days ago, and so fart has one big adventure. >> translator: we fled shellings and bombings.

we were scared and ran away. now i'm here. i just want to go back to school, go back to my friends. >> reporter: in iraqi kurdistan, 10,000 children have arrived here since thursday. and the un says registering them is top priority. >> now they are identifying all of the children of their school age and also the chirp with the special needs, so this information will be relayed -- relayed to unicef, and unicef then after will work on them regularly. >> reporter: this camp has a long way to go before it is ready to deal with the needs of children. so for now the children help out as best they can, and play in the dust of the camp. it's a very grim picture here, and so is this un report. the big problem is going to be the psychological effects on the children. unicef says they are seeing the

kinds of effects they are seeing across the region, not just here, children being unable to speak, others simply lying in their tents frightened and scared and unable to move. i have seen those effects, dealing with that long term is going to be the key. now they have to set up schools, rehabilitation centers, and child psychologists. that will take time and money. now the border crossing is shut on friday, but it is likely to open again. they have been seeing nearly 3,000 people come across the border crossing a day. erbil at the moment has about 192,000 refugees living in the area. about 25% are children. mike viqueira joins us on the phone from washington to talk more about the situation? syria, more about what the options are for intervention.

mike we hear about this awful situation with the children. with the children being refugees, right? let's talk about what the options are. the president has made it abundantly clear, and continues to reiterate that boots on the ground are not an option, could you elaborate about that? >> reporter: the president had an interview this morning where he gave a number of reasons why that was not an option. and his spokesman spoke with reports a few minutes ago, and he said the president indicated very clearly he did not foresee a situation in which american boots on the ground would be in the best interest of national security. he repeated it three times, richelle. this after the interview where the president said that the images that came out of syria

were very troublesome, and core national interests are at stake, he said. however, he is emphasizing the need for international cooperation, and the president clearly saying his belief that there is war fatigue among americans, the best estimated to be a billion dollars. a billion dollars a month, i should say is really not an option, and beyond the simple question of the money, it's to what end with all of the disparatement -- elements. he said . . . that obviously a clear reference to the situation in iraq. he counts one of his major

achievements ending american involvement there. john mccain yesterday called for limited air strikes to degrade assad's military capabilities. >> i'm sure his critics will still continue to feel the way they do about this, but he did call for an international response for what is going on? to that end, even russia who the u.s. has not seen eye to eye with in quite sometime, they have called for the syria to allow the un to come in and investigate these attacks. might that be more of a unified response or some sort of cooperation between the u.s. and russia, perhaps? >> i think that's absolutely right, richelle, and that statement from russia today is because of the images that came out of syria.

a lot of people were saying the attack was sarin or ricin. >> okay. mike viqueira thank you for that wrap-up. keep us posted throughout the day. and the death toll continues to rise at least 42 people are dead after two car bombs exploded out of two mosques in northern lebanon. this happened as whir shippers were leaving the mosques after prayer. >> reporter: security forces have arrived at the scene. they are sifting through the rubble trying to find out who was responsible. according to lebanese politicians the aim of the attack was to create sectarian strife in lebanon, but you talk

to people here, and what they'll tell you is that we, the sunni community has come under attack. these mosques were sunny mosques, and we are in a predominantly sunny city. it is also a city where there is a lot of support for the syrian opposition. the blasts just a week after civilians were killed in beirut. so the danger now is we are seeing explosions in - in -- targeting two different communities. and that's the fear here. so a very dangerous time for this country. lebanese politicians trying to play down the sectarian nature of the attacks, but there is no doubt lebanon security is at risk. keep it here for continuing coverage of syrian's war. go to our website for the latest

updates, aljazeera.com/america. in new jersey the detection of low level radioactive water triggered a plant shut down of the plant. the leaks were discovered overnight. the plant remains closed today, as inspectors are not yet able to get to the leak. officials say there is no threat to the public, the agency goes on to say the spill is confined. the housing recover ray may be loosing steam. sales of new homes fell sharply last month. it dropped to the lowest level in nine months. mortgage rates have steadily risen since may on bets that the federal reserve will wind down its plan to keep mortgage rates low. robert bales faces his

sentencing now. a jury will decide whether his life sentence should also include the possibility of parole.ife sentence and a life sentence with a chance for parole after a couple of decades is a mere is sliver of light. they argued that after 20 years he should be given an opportunity to ask for parole. the prosecution, and defense have rested. the judge has given instructions to the military panel in this case, and the this

jury, this panel has the case. >> allen can you tell us

allen great detail there. thank you so much. jury ror -- jurors have resumed deliberations in the

case of the fort hood shooter. he passed on his final chance to address the jury on thursday. we're told the jury will be returning to the court in a few minutes. we do not know why. he faces multiple charges for shooting 13 fellow soldiers in 2009. thousands of americans are traveling to washington to commemorate the march of washington event.

al jazeera america - a new voice in american journalism - >>introduces america tonight. >>in egypt, police fired teargas at supporters of the ... >>a fresh take on the stories that connect to you. [[voiceover]] they risk never returning to the united states. >>grounded. >>real. >>unconventional. [[voiceover]] we spent time with some members of the gangster disciples. >>an escape from the expected. >>i'm a cancer survivor. not only cancer, but brain cancer. my name is jonathan betz. i'm from dallas, texas, and i'm an anchor for al jazeera america. >>my name is ranjani chakraborty, i'm from houston, texas. >>i'm kim bondy. >>nicole deford. >>and i'm from new orleans. >>san francisco, california. when i was a little kid, i just really loved the news. >>news was always important in my family. >>i knew as a kid that was exactly what i wanted to do. >>i learned to read by reading the newspaper with my great-grandfather every morning. >>and i love being able to tell other people stories. >>this is it, i want to be a part of this. >>this is what really drove me

to al jazeera america. ♪ welcome back let's recap our top stories. the white house reiterated that president obama does not expect to send u.s. troops to syria, and the un says one million syrian children are now refugees because of the conflict. in lebanon at least 37 people are dead, and hundreds are injured after explosions happened after morning prayer. and a jury has resumed deliberations in the court-martial of nidal hasan. he passed on his final chance to address the jury on thursday. he faces multiple charges for shooting 13 fellow soldiers in 2009. now to egypt where ousted

morsi supporters call for a return to power. david jackson has more. >> today was called the friday of martyrs. and that was set that way by the muslim brotherhood as a day of demonstrations to take place all across the nation cheer in egypt. 26 or 28 numbers of demonstrations to take place in small towns and large cities across the country. they were smaller than expected. they were after friday prayers, and outside of the mosques in various areas. there was mar down the geza boulevard that had a couple of thousand people there. and also up in an area toward the delta -- the nile delta. there's a report of one person being killed in one of the demonstrations that took place

up there. all in all it was less than expected on this friday of martyr's day. that is trued as something of a -- what you want to call it, setback for the muslim brotherhood because they were not able to rally the number of people that they had before. part of that had to do with the government crackdown. is but that's where things stand right now. i would say quieter than certainly had been thought or believed, and we'll have to see if it remains that way. it may be san diego mayor bob filner's lastollowing this story for us, and joins us live from san diego. stephani

deal, so we just don't know at this point, but that's what sources are saying, and there are a lot of people who are really angry about that, who don't believe that bob filner should get any money from the city in order to leave office. yesterday we spoke to a political analyst who talked about some of the issues that the council has to weigh. >> the spin the city is going to put on this, is it's going to be a pure cost benefit analysis, that whatever deal they cut will be cheaper than any lawsuits. does that

if in fact bob filner does step down. >> but stephanie he might have a very long path in front of him. tell us more about him to move e

city wants to get back to doing business. >> thank you, stephanie. coming up the latest on the wildfires burning near yosemite national park. >> and we'll show you areas that are getting too much rain with the national forecast. that's coming up.

we are also hearing that bob national park.

♪ new developments in the

wildfire burning near yosemite national park. fire officials say it has now spread inside the park's border, and tourists have been told to leave. meanwhile the flames haveo cut bureaucratic red tape and get more firefighters to fight this fire. over 100,000 ache verse been destroyed. we are standing in one of the charred remains of forest where we have seen the fire sweep

not a lot of progress. >> can you t alert.

>> thank yo you for that update. celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the martin luther king dream speech. robert ray is joining some of those travels to the big occasion. robert? >> reporter: hello again. we are actually driving now. we are on i-10 east, and a little bit of tropical florida rain has started to come down on the bus. you can hear people singing the hymns of the celebration as they head to washington, d.c., i'm with karen who is with her son. why did you come on this trip? >> well, i wanted to get my son to experience what was -- what hand -- a little bit of history. what happened 50 years ago, so he could have some hands on,

face-to-face time, to hear some of the people that are going to be there speaking, and i'm hoping it has some kind on influence on him. >> reporter: you were 11 when this occurred. for you, what is the weekend about? >> well, for me, it's -- i didn't come before, and i said, you know, i'm going to come this time. i want to be there. i think if we want change, we have got to do those kinds of things -- not only talk about it, but we have got to do it. so i wanted to be a part of what is going on here, and show that i support it. and i wanted it to give me energy to go back home and have the energy they needed to have -- >> i think the weather had something to do with us losing robert. and now let's talk about the

weather. maybe a few showers and storms developing a little bit north. this is the rim fire, not seeing any rain there, so it continues to spread. the howers are not coming down where we need them, but they are coming down over some dry areas. you still get the lightning on the dry ground, though, so this is a red flag warning, because these storms may start more fires. a little too much rain in the southeast, as more showers and storms coming in in the panhandle of florida. scattered flood warnings in effect, and look at the predicted rainfall, still heavy over some of that area. so we're expecting to see more flooding across the southeast. not much rain in the forecast

here to the northeast, although there is some rain around there today. that rain will clear out, and this is cooler air that is moving in. minneapolis is 80, 79 in chicago. the cooler air will be pushing south and southeast. our temperatures will be dropping in the northeast, not before they warm up to 80 degrees today. and then showers and storms moving through washington, d.c., and that will be followed by cooler air. 87 and dropping to 80, 81, and 84 saturday sunday and monday. the weekend looks pretty good, because this is low humidity and comfortable temperatures. richelle. >> thank you very much. i'm richelle carey be sure to visit aljazeera.com to stay on top of all of the day's news, and keep it here for "people and power," that is up next. thank you so much for your time. do have a great day, and do keep it here. ♪

every year in south africa thousands of teen-aged boys in the xhosa tribe undergo ritual circumcision which according to ancient custom, will make them men. but there are growing concerns that too many of these ceremonies are ending in tragic mutilation and death. "people and power" asked a south african filmmaker, who has himself been through the ritual, to investigate.