making news in america this morning. >> testing limits. iran again test fires missiles testing the patience of the u.s. and its allies. >> filmmakers fight roman polanski's arrest on a 30-year-old warrant. why not and can he still avoid justice. night lights much the first family enjoy the sights of washington after dark. >> it's monday, september 28th, washington after dark. >> it's monday, september 28th, 2009. captions paid for by abc, inc. good morning. thanks for starting the week

with us. well, iran showed a new sign of defiance with new missile tests including one capable of hitting u.s. bases and israel. >> these tests come just days before a face-to-face meeting between the u.s. and iran over its nuclear ambitions. >> john hendren starts our coverage. good morning, john. >> reporter: good morning, jeremy and vinita. iran is facing intense scrutiny today amid new concerns that the persian nation could become a nuclear power within three years. in yet another provocative move, iran tested missiles capable of striking israel and europe over the weekend. and again early this morning. there are new reports of a secret nuclear facility. >> the islamic roman polansespi republic is building one near qum for several years. >> iranian president ahmadinejad denied the project had anything to do with nuclear weapons.

>> how can he possibly accuse us of secretly engaging in an activity that did not take place? >> reporter: row liver race experts say a weakened ahmadinejad is showing force for the domestic audience. iran is believed to be five year as way from a nuclear weapon and ten years away from ray long-range missile that could strike the united states. >> ahmadinejad's regime might be in a death spiral losing support of its own people. i think the clock is ticking on iran and for once it's ticking in our favor. >> reporter: on thursday in geneva the u.s. holds its first diplomatic meeting with iran in 30 years. >> this is part of a pattern of deception and lies on the part of the iranians from the very beginning with respect to their nuclear program. >> reporter: diplomatic experts say the squeeze is on and iran could face sanctions from the u.n., the u.s. and europe by the end of the year. jeremy and vinita? >> john hendren for us live in washington.

thank you. and now let's get reaction from the middle east. >> abc's simon mcgregor-wood live in jerusalem. do these help israel's argument that iran is a threat? >> reporter: good morning, jeremy and vinita. well, i think they do. i think this whole focus on iran with this defiant missile testing today is in a sense both good and bad for the government of prime minister benjamin netanyahu. it's bad because iran's nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal is a very serious threat to israel. israeli analysts have long told me here that the combination, if you like of its secret nuclear program and long-range missiles, a bomb atop a long-range missile is israel's doomsday scenario. it's good because this is where benjamin netanyahu has wanted the world's focus of attention to be. don't forget last week at the u.n. general assembly he was demanding that the world focus on the iranian threat, and it

certainly plays into his diplomatic and political strategy because let's face it this week who is talking about the peace process with the palestinians? who is talking about sll settlements and other more difficult things that netanyahu has been trying to avoid in the few weeks. it's a mixed bag and you can guarantee that on thursday when the talks start in geneva there will be close attention paid to those in israel. >> simon, thanks. well, how will iran respond to the growing international pressure? we'll get insight coming up later on "good morning america." and another foreign hot spot on the white house agenda this week. afghanistan. president obama will meet with general david petraeus and defense secretary robert gates tomorrow to consider increasing u.s. troop levels. top commander general stanley mcchrystal says the u.s. needs to deploy more troops asap and develop a new strategy on the ground or risk complete failure. back here at home the trustee overseeing bernard

madoff's assets says he plans to go after the family for money. he'll sue madoff's sons mark and andrew, his brother peter and niece shanna to recover moneyment irving pick card says well over $150 million was loaned, transferred or paid to those four. the sons say those claims are baseless. allen stanford the accused ponzi schemer is back in jail after being treated for injuries sustained during a prison fight. stanford's attorney says he was taken to the hospital last thursday awaiting trial on charges that he bilked investors out of $7 billion. also in texas, coast guard crews are working to clean up an oil spill in the houston ship channel. about 10,000 gallons spilled after an accident between a tanker and a barge friday night. that collision created a huge gash in one of the fuel tangs. it has closed ship traffic along the channel. at least nine ships are waiting to get through.

take a look at these pictures after a big rig went off the interstate in why oling. parts of the rig were hanging over the bridge. the crash triggered several other accidents and it took most of sunday before the stretch of i-80 between cheyenne and laramie were open. if you live in a big city and have out of town guests you possibly would take them sightseeing. president obama is no different. they went on a nighttime excursion in washington, d.c. last night along with the president's sister and her family. they took a private tour of the washington monument and the thomas jefferson memorial where they were cheered on by surprise tourists. sometimes it's good to be president. and now for this morning's weather from around the nation. rain and strong winds from the great lakes to western new york and pennsylvania. 60-mile-per-hour gusts in chicago, detroit, milwaukee, cleveland and pittsburgh. a chance of evening snow in upper michigan, showers in parts of new england, florida and south texas. and high fire danger out west.

>> where it is warm. phoenix hits 107. sacramento, 85. boise, 90 today. just 54 in fargo, though, and chilly and in the 60s for much of the midwest. 75 for boston. 80 in new york. 7 78 in baltimore and dallas is 84. and coming up on "america this morning," a new sign of trouble for social security. plus surprise arrest. roman polanski may get help in his tight to keep from facing charges in the u.s. school days. the president's plan to make the school day and school year much longer.

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overseas stock markets starting the week in the red after the dollar fell to an eight-month low versus the yen. tokyo's nikkei average tumbled 2.5%. in london the ftse opened lower. wall street starts the day with the dow at 9,665 after falling 155 points last week. the nasdaq lost 42 points to close at 2092. a big player in the pharmaceutical business is getting a little bigger this morning. abbott laboratories is buying the prescription drug unit of belgium company salva. the deal is worth nearly $7 billion. it gives abbott control of two cholesterol pills the company sells together and several other drugs. well, a surge in early retirements caused by the recession is putting a strain on social security's finances. social security will pay out more in benefits than it will collect in taxes in the next two

years. that's the first time it's happened since the '80s. its finances are being hurt by an increase in disability claims and a loss of millions of jobs. don fisher, co-founder of the gap empire, has died after a battle with cancer. frustrated they couldn't find jeans that fit, fisher and his wife opened their first gap store in san francisco 30 years ago. that grew to 3100 retail outlets in more than 25 countries with sales of nearly $15 billion last year. don fisher was also a philanthropist and avid collector of modern art. he was 81 years old. meatballs were in the forecast at the weekend box office. the animated movie "cloudy with a chance of meatballs" held on to the top spot taking in nearly $25 million in ticket sales. the bruce willis action thriller "surrogates" is opened in second place and updated version of the hit "fame" debuted in third. advance screenings to michael jackson's documentary

are sold out. fans snapped up 3,000 ticks to the sneak peek within two hours. it opens nationwide october 28th but these fans get to see it one night earlier. well, from a filmmaking news to a filmmaker making news, next on this monday will roman polanski finally be sentenced for a 30-year-old crime? we'll get a live update from london. at the track they call the amongster mile, a monster of a crash. so how did the driver walk away?

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delays in chicago, detroit, cincinnati, philadelphia and new york. expect an escalation today in what's becoming an international tug of war over oscar winning director roman polanski. >> the acclaimed filmmaker was arrested in switzerland this weekend 341 years after he fled the u.s. rather than face sentencing for child rape. sonia gallego joins us from london with more on this. good morning, sonia. >> reporter: good morning. roman polanski is now in jail facing a possible extradition back to the u.s. for drugging and raping a 13-year-old over three decades ago. it occurred on the same day polanski was to receive a lifetime achievement award. instead waiting for him at the airport when he arrived were the swiss authorities who were tipped off by the los angeles district attorney's office. it is still a mystery as to why this arrest has occurred now. after he was accused he pled guilty to the charges and served 42 days in jail but then fled

the country during bail. he has since never been back to the states. >> i think at that time i had a hard time to persuade myself that it was wrong because i don't think anybody was hurt. >> you don't? >> at that time i said. later on i realize, you know, just -- you know, i was too close to the forest to see the trees. >> reporter: polanski has been careful to avoid countries where he would have been immediately extradited back to the u.s. but its frequent trips to switzerland were no trip. he even owns a chalet there making the timing of yesterday's arrest more puzzling. even his victim now in her 40s has dropped the charges against him. >> i through it was just as bad for him as it was for me. you know, if he could i'm sure he would go back and wouldn't do it again. >> there have been strong shows of support from the film industry and even from the french government who rallied around the oscar-winning director and that could complicate this high-profile

case. what is certain is that polanski's lawyers will put up a fight to prevent him being extra indicted back to the u.s. and in fact one of his lawyers was reported to have told a french radio station it was too early to tell if that would owe cuff. the american authorities have just 60 days to file a formal request for his transfer. jeremy, vinita? >> abc's sonia gallego joining us from london. thanks, sonia. chancellor angela merkel will continue her leadership of germany. the conservative merkel won her second term over the weekend. she's expected to push ahead with economic reforms as germany continues to struggle with huge government debt. in central italy testimony is wrapped up in the murder trial of american college student amanda knox. she and her former boyfriend are accused of stabbing her british roommate mere dit kircher to death during a sex game back in 2007. both defendants deny the charges. the trial is set to resume next week with closing arguments. longtime conservative columnist william safire has

died. he worked at a speechwriter for richard nixon before joining "the new york times" back in 1973 and won a pulitzer prize for his coverage of president carter's budget director burt lance and later safire famously called hillary clinton a congenital liar. he's also known for his on-language column in which he told the world what's okay to say. safire had pancreatic cancer. he was 79 years old. the obama administration isn't giving up on its push for more school time for america's children. the president has called for longer school days, school years, even weekend classes. in a recent interview education secretary arne duncan said students in other countries are in schools up to 30% longer than our students. experts say test scores go up significantly when the school day is lengthened. well, in sports michael vick played in his first official nfl game in nearly three years, a victory for his eagles over kansas but not exactly a star

performance. he only accounted for 30 yards of offense before the game. a few animal rights protesters gathered outside the stadium. here's anish shroff at espnews. good morning. brett favre may be old but on sunday he looked like the brett favre of old. favre and the vikings taking on the niners and vikings needed late heroics from number 4. vikings down 4. less than 10 seconds to play. favre trying to create something. fires for the end zone and greg lewis. greg lewis makes the catch for the touchdown. take another look. lewis, a game-saving catch and a game-winning catch. he gets both feet inbounds. the vikings stunned the niners, 27-24. minnesota now 3-0 on the season. meanwhile, the steelers have won eight straight in cincinnati going into sunday. first quarter, looked like more

pittsburgh domination. brett favre we call this ad-libbing eludes the pursuit. finds willie parker, 10-0, pittsburgh. steelers led 20-9 going into the fourth quarter but here come the bengals. down 5, 36 seconds to play. carson palmer to brian leonard gets t first down to keep the drive alive. now at 18 seconds left, second and goal, palmer to andre caldwell. cinci finally beats pittsburgh in its own building. bengals got 2-1. yankees looking to clinch the american league east with a sweep of the red sox. mariano rivera the final out of the game. yankees division champions and have home field advantage throughout the playoffs. that does it for this espnews update. send it back to "america this morning" with jeremy and vinita. >> and one last sports note. spectators at a nascar race over the weekend were holding their breath and here's why. they watched this crash unfold. rookie driver joely logano hit

the wall on the 32nd lap then got hit from behind. hard to watch. his car flipped over seven times before finally coming to a hard stall. everyone feared the worst but logano walked away without any injuries. in fact, he said he wasn't even sore. >> sort of the perfect nascar crash. he wasn't hurt and you got to see something spectacular in the meantime. >> they build those things unbelievably strong and that's why. >> thankfully, right. coming up a look ahead at the stories we'll be following later today including new overnight missile tests by iran. i'm semi retired and i'm here to tell a story. my parents all smoked. my grandparents smoked. i've been a long-time smoker. you know, discouragement is a big thing in quitting smoking. i'm a guy who had given up quitting.

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if prescription chantix is right for you. now a look ahead to the stories we'll be watching on this monday. there is sure to be worldwide condemnation after iran's newest missile test. the nation claims it test-fired a long-range missile capable of reaching israel and u.s. bases in the gulf. the u.s. is expected to pressure iran to reveal blueprints for the new latest disclosed nuclear site. administration officials say sanctions and diplomacy not military action will get results. the u.s. and iranian diplomats meet face-to-face on thursday. the trustee in charge of bernard madoff's assets says he is going after his sons. his brother and a niece in order to recover millions for victims of the ponzi scheme. fugitive filmmaker roman polanski has hired a swiss attorney to prepare for possible extradition from switzerland to the u.s. polanski was arrested in zurich this weekend 31 years after he

fled the u.s. to avoid sentencing for child rape. million millions of jewish people around the world are observing yom kippur, the holiest dave the religious calendar. the day of atonement is usually spent fasting and praying. new $1.1 billion dallas cowboys stadium make its monday night football debut. the cowboys host the carolina panthers and you can watch the game on espn. coming up later on "good morning america," we will meet a woman who took her battle against one of the country's biggest banks online and won. now bank of america is responding to her complaint. one of those stories you hear more and more about, customers sort of taking their grievances to the internet. that story coming up again later this morning only on "good morning america." for some of you your local news is up next. for everyone else, "america this morning" continues after this. mmm... hot fudge sundae.

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this was a choice that was made, but we love these people, we love this family. >> in a town so beautiful, the unthinkable, a man wipes out an entire family including the family dog. mt. airy mourns this monday. either slow down or you will be hearing a lot of snapping, speed cameras are pointed at you this morning. and the ravens go 3-0, we'll have all the highlights and sound from your sunday stars. look at the score. leave it up, leave it up.

and touchdown. that was great. that was great. good monday morning. how are you feeling? >> wonderful, you? >> wonderful. >> meteorologist susan shrek in for justin burke today. looks like a nice one today. already a little chilly, if you're about to step out be aware of that. it's not as muggy as it has been. it's nice and clear. let's take a look outside, you can see temperature wise we are in the 50s, 58 in fulton, that's why we will be seeing temperatures whoeverring, and then temperatures will warm up in the afternoon. we are looking at mainly clear conditionsment we have a system that's going to come through here for this afternoon. we may see a few showers and a couple thunderstorms by this afternoon. daytime high of 77 degrees. let's check out the roads with kim. thank you, susan. good morning, everyonetr