making news in america this morning. >> disaster zones. another major quake overnight, in a region already shaken to its core, as the death toll rises from earthquakes and a tsunami. nuclear ambitions. today, iran explains its atomic program to the world. will there be just talk? or tough sanctions. and star power for olympic committee voters. but the biggest booster is still to come. it's thursday, october 1st, to come. it's thursday, october 1st, 2009.

captions paid for by abc, inc. good morning. thanks for starting your day with us on this thursday. relief workers are in overdrive this morning, responding to several natural disasters. >> first, new aid is arriving in samoa and american samoa, a response to the deadly tsunami there. but that's becoming overshadows by an earthquake disaster zone, on sumatra. >> the indian oeshen had a destructive earthquake. abc's margaret conley is in tokyo with the latest. >> reporter: this morning's quake sent thousands of already on-edge people, running to higher ground, fearing a tsunami. just 24 hours prior, an even more powerful quake hit this poor town, a common transport spot for surfers and an area prone to earthquakes. its tremors resulted in chaos, cut power, fires, road closures and hundreds of flattened buildings in a city of nearly 1

million people. hundreds of bodies have been found in the rubble. the death toll is over 400. that number is expected to rise. here, rescue workers and volunteers move large pieces of rubble, formerly parts of people's homes, to search for any signs of survivors. a disaster agency estimates hundreds of families have been displaced. their homes completely destroyed. jeremy? vinita? >> margaret conley reporting. in the samoan island, some aid has arrived. a c-130, touched down in samoa. and more is on the way. >> the death toll following tuesday's disaster, is nearly 150 and climbing. neal karlinsky is in a hard-hit area. >> reporter: in the village, the coconut's beach resort and spa, looks more like a garbage dump. tania penny was here, home with her two children, when the ground started shaking. you were in here?

when the earthquake struck? >> in here, which was over there, like, 500 meters that way. >> reporter: she made it out before the waves hit. the quake, she says, was the longest and worst she's ever been through. >> the earthquake want on forever and ever and ever. everything went flying everywhere. >> reporter: people here say the waves hit so fast, they had little time to reach higher ground. in all, 4 waves as high as 15 to 20 feet slammed coastal villages and resorts. >> the wave was coming from that side. >> reporter: this man's father was washed away in his car. but he escaped between waves. >> lucky the window was up. and -- >> reporter: so, they were floating in their car like it was a boat? >> yeah. >> reporter: on neighboring american samoa, dozens of park workers are reported missing. power outages and poor communications have made it difficult to assess the hardest hit places, places that in many cases are very difficult to reach. back in western samoa, we

witnessed people digging out under piles of rubble, looking for belongings with nothing but their bare hands. even so, the word most often heard around here was "lucky." people feeling lucky to be alive and thankful the quake didn't strike at night, when scores would have been washed away in their beds. most foreign relief has yet to arrive. people here have a lot of work left ahead of them. neal karlinsky, abc news, samoa. the damage in the samoas has some experts pointing out the limitations of the warning system put in place since the 2004 indian ocean tsunami. they say the warning system wasn't much good, especially with the tsunami approaching with the speed of a jet. we'll get another update from abc's neal karlinsky in samoa, later on "good morning america." in geneva, switzerland, this morning, talks about iran's nuclear program are getting under way. representatives are all at the table. along with the iranians.

our lama hasan joins us with the latest. >> reporter: good morning, jeremy. the focus of these talks is iran's nuclear program. the u.s. and five other world powers will be turning up the heat today, wanting to know more about iran's second nuclear site in qom, which was revealed last week. they want to know the nature of the program. and you'll remember that the iranian president has maintained all along it is for civilian purposes only. so, what the world powers will be asking for is for more access. for international inspectors to be allowed to go in, talk to scientists and review documents. as and spokesman for the national security council, mike hammer said, iran should either cooperate or face consequences. >> we'll see if the iranians are prepared to start a process that would lead to them being reintegrated into the international nations. or whether they choose a path of isolation. they have a choice to make here. >> reporter: and ultimately, the

idea of these talks is to put pressure on iran and galvanize more talks and move forward on this issue. if further discussion break down, the u.s. has identified possible sanctions against iran. but those aren't expected to come up today. this is not the first time that the u.s. sits down with iran for these kins of talks. but it is the first time that the u.s. delegation will participate. previously, they were just observers. >> lama hasan in london for us this morning. no final decisions were made at a white house meeting on war strategy in afghanistan. president obama and his national security team met for three hours yesterday, to discuss how the situation has changed since march. top pentagon brass, including the u.s. commander in afghanistan, are pushing for up to 40,000 additional troops. well, it was a stressful night in michigan, which narrowly avoided a government shutdown because of a big budget crisis. the state began preparing to close offices and lay off workers. but at midnight, lawmakers

approved a stop gap deal. they have 30 days to close a huge, $2.8 billion deficit. some really dramatic video. something we don't see too often. a sailor being plucked off a massive navy submarine. the coast guard came to the sailor's rescue tuesday, off the coast of oregon. he was suffering a health problem. the coast guard crew lowers a basket to the waiting sub and evacuated him to a portland hospital. for security reasons, the name of the sub hasn't been released. and the sailor is doing just fine. now, for a look at this morning's weather from all around the nation. it will be stormy from texas to tennessee today. hail, gusty winds and isolated tornadoed in places like dallas, little rock, kansas city, st. louis and memphis. heavy rain and flooding from bismarck to des moines. and leftover snow in wyoming and colorado. high fire danger in southern california. scattered showers in the northeast. >> highs in the 60s from boston to baltimore. 74 in st. louis.

63 in chicago. and 56 in minneapolis. phoenix climbs to 92. sacramento 84. a wet 59 in seattle. 65 in portland. and 62 in salt lake city. coming up, why today's communist celebration in china has outraged people in the u.s. the end of the line for one brand that was one the future of general motors. a truly amazing rescue, as a good compare tsamaritan pulls a a truly amazing rescue, as a good compare tsamaritan pulls a 4-year-old from a burn owwww.... (announcer) not just sinus headache... but pressure... and congestion. (announcer) you need a sinus medicine ooohhh... that rescues you from all three symptoms introducing new sudafed pe® triple action™. for more complete relief from the sinus triple threat. get more complete relief. with new sudafed pe® triple action™. also find sudafed® behind the counter.

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talk to your doctor about prescription treatment options. and make this time, your time. another general motors brand is about to disappear. gm says its saturn division will

be eliminated, after a deal collapsed to spin off the company. once advertised as a different kind of car, saturn was created to compete with japanese imports but never made a profit. 13,000 saturn employees is affected. bank of america is searching for a new ceo, now that ken lewis is stepping down. the embattled ceo says he is leaving voluntarily, after more than a year of controversy, over bonuses and big mergers, including the acquisition of merrill lynch. the investigation into lewis' role in the merrill deal will go on. in potentially big media news this morning. comcast may be in talks to buy all or part of nbc universal. the sale would include the nbc and telemundo broadcast network, several cable channels and a movie studio. nbc's owners, g.e. and vivendi could get a lift from the deal. comcast is denying any talks of a merger. comcast's stock price is lower on that news. this morning, tokyo's nikkei

average fell over 145 points. in london, the ftse opened higher. wall street starts the fourth quarter with the dow jones industrial average at 9712, after slipping nearly 30 points yesterday. the nasdaq dropped almost 2 points to close at 2122. in this morning's "new york times" tech review, acoustic pianos are great, if you have money and the space. if not, you might want to consider casio's px-130 keyboard. >> when you strike the keyboard more forcefully, the notes are louder, just like on a real piano. and when you're playing at the lower register of the keyboard, the notes are a little stiffer. the px-130, has a usb port. so, you can connect it to a mac or pc. any mel disyou've reported, you can drag and drop into a music editing software. >> the px-130 lists for $500. >> much less than a grand piano.

up next on this thursday, the lobbying has begun. but will chicago's big guns be able to woo olympic voters? and laying down the law. one sports league tells its athletes, they tweet too much. still haven't tried activia? listen to this story. my problem was occasional irregularity. my commercials didn't convince you? i am definitely a skeptic. actually, my mom convinced me. and i have activia every morning for breakfast. activia definitely helped with my occasional irregularity. activia is clinically proven to help regulate your digestive system in two weeks when eaten every day. chances are someone you trust can recommend activia. take the activia challenge. it works or your money back! ♪ activia!

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considerable star power to copenhagen for the final push. and the president leaves tonight. yunji de nies reports. >> reporter: from the moment her feet touched the ground, the first lady was in campaign mode. >> we're so happy to be here. i am so excited. we've got a lot of work to do. so, we're not taking anything for granted. so, i'm going to talk to some voters. >> reporter: on her team, chicago's mayor. >> this is a very tough campaign. these are very competitive cities. these cities, tokyo, rio de janeiro, madrid. they're fantastic cities. >> reporter: brazil's president lula da silva brought soccer star pele to woo the voters. but chicago does have glamour of its own. >> hi, everybody. it really is a campaign. not even of sorts, it is. i don't think people are as mean and ugly. >> reporter: most of the campaigning is happening behind the scenes. the first lady is meeting one-on-one in this hotel with ioc members. there are more than 100 members. and she's reaching out to every single one. there's nothing like making the pitch in person.

>> it will be an athlete's paradise. >> reporter: this contest is going down to the wire. many of the ioc members are power players themselves. even the prospect of meeting president obama on friday leaves some of them unfazed. so, you're not impressed by the president? >> never. never. >> reporter: this is a crowd accustomed by being schmoozed by european royalty, and dream team royalty alike. in the shadow of all this glitz, there's another lobbying effort, albeit with a much lower profile. >> it feels quite intimidating. >> reporter: tom tresser runs no games chicago. >> we think the bills are going to go through the roof and the taxpayers will be soaked. >> reporter: but for michelle obama's team chicago, right now, it's not about money. it's about votes. they have less than 48 hours to bring home the gold. yunji de nies, abc news, copenhagen. china is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its communist revolution.

officials rolled out the red carpet, literally, for a huge, two-hour celebration of china's transition from starvation to major industrial power. president hu jintao called the anniversary an occasion to celebrate the rerival of china as a great nation. in new york, the empire state building was lit in red and yellow to salute the anniversary and the relationship between china and the u.s. but not everyone was in the mood to celebrate. human rights protesters were calling it approval for a toll tall taryn government. and some members of congress agree. also here in new york, a little boy is alive this morning, thanks to a brave, good samaritan. a firefighter handed the boy to an store owner. the store owner stopped on a landing, gave the boy cpr. and had him awake and breathing, clearly within seconds. he said he did what anybody would have done. >> amazing. well, the nba has put a twitter ban in place, sort of.

the league says players, coaches and many team employees are not allowed to tweet from 45 minutes before a game, until the time when all their team responsibilities are done after the game. and there will be no tweets at half time, either. there's no word on what penalties the -- will face the offending tweeters. in major league baseball, the spots in the annual postseason playoff party are quickly being snapped up. in fact, there are only two left. j.w. stewart at espn news has the details. >> good morning. the philadelphia phillies are going back to the playoffs to defend their world series title. taking on the astros in the ninth. brad lidge needs one out to clinch it. he gets lance berkman to ground out. that will do it. the phillies win the n.l. east for the third-straight year. the braves, trying to chase down the rockies in the n.l. wild card. brandon nolasco. and nolasco got on a strikeout streak from the third inning on. he said something weird about it

is ever since high school, i keep a mental tally in my head of how many i have every, single game. i knew how many i had and what was going on. but i wasn't aware of any record. the record he's talking about, nine-straight strikeouts, one shy of tying a major league record. he finished with a career-high 16 ks in 7 2/3 innings. drama in the bottom of the ninth. braves down a run. tying run on third. the pitch gets away. matt diaz stops about halfway down the line and gets thrown out. that's how the ball game ends. the braves' playoff hopes may have ended with it. the rockies, closing in on the n.l. wild card. taking on the brewers. bottom three. 2-2 game. not anymore. todd helton, two-run home run. his 15th. 4-2, colorado. bottom six. it's carlos gonzalez. two-run home run, his 13th.

the rockies clinch the wild card with one. jeremy and vinita, back to you. he looked like he was going to end it all. but he was just looking for a breath of fresh air. >> a little dog decided to hang on to a third story ledge of a manhattan building became the center of attention yesterday. bystanders who thought he was stranded called police. they eventually opened the window and brought the dog inside without incident. all right. well, coming up. a look ahead at what we'll be following today. another big earthquake in indonesia overnight. and back at the controls. captain sully sullenberger returns to the skies today.

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the death toll already over 500. a smaller quake rocked the area today. they are also combing the damage of tuesday's tsunami in the samoan islands. u.s. negotiators and representatives from five, other countries are opening nuclear talks with iran today. the sessions are aimed at getting the iranians to stop their atommic program. fed chairman ben bernanke goes to capitol hill, where he's expected to call for tougher financial regulations. he'll tell congress the companies should be prevented from becoming too big to fail. and in salt lake city, elizabeth smart will face her alleged abductor for the first time since she was kidnapped in 2002. a homeless street creature is accused of holder h her captive for nine months. and a hero pilot returns to the cockpit today. it will be the first flight chesley sully sullenberger is piloting since january. he'll fly the name route as was planned that day, new york to charlotte. coming up on "good morning america," the latest fallout

from mackenzie phillips' bombshell allegation about her ongoing sexual relationship with her rocker dad. >> on "gma." for some of you, your local news is next. >> for everyone else, "america this morning" continues after >> for everyone else, "america this morning" continues after this. while i was building my fri, my family, while i was building my life, my high cholesterol was contributing to plaque buildup in my arteries. that's why my doctor prescribed crestor. she said plaque buildup in arteries is a real reason to lower cholesterol. and that along with diet, crestor does more than lower bad cholesterol, it raises good. crestor is also proven to slow the buildup of plaque in arteries. crestor isn't for everyone, like people with liver disease, or women who are nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant. simple blood tests will check for liver problems. you should tell your doctor about other medicines you are taking, or if you have muscle pain or weakness. that could be a sign of serious side effects. while you've been building your life,

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it was -- it was -- it was a lot of fire when we went upstairs and opened the door. everything was on fire. she was on fire. >> we are going to meet the city's two newest heroes. how two teens rushed into a burning building to save a life. the h1n1 flu now deadly, ly destinee parker becomes the first in the state to die. we have the latest. and we have news about your driving. so slow down and don't text. it's the first of october.

thank you for joining us. >> first of october. >> do you believe it? >> no. here's justin berk with the fall-like forecast. >> second day with the second 50 years. >> why are you laughing? >> jamie, you remember the 40s? there's a 40s now. just about everywhere outside the city. 48 joppa. 45 monkton and westminster. 43 ellicott city. we had some clouds try to roll through over the last couple of hours but looks like a partly cloudy morning. range from 43 to 53 by the bay. we'll turn mostly sunny with a high of about 67 this afternoon. lets check the roads with kim. >> no problems so far on the beltway and tunnels are looking good so far. but we have a broken watermain in baltimore city, west 29th street between sisson and