beginning with abc's stephanie sy. stephanie, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, david. we have been given special permission to stand on one of many beaches closed along the east coast. people have been driving here to catch a glimpse of the swelling sea, they're turned away because it's too dangerous. you can hardly see because of that fog. the ocean is growing by the minute. in the next several hours, those waves could reach as high as two stories tall. bill blew through bermuda with 100 mile-per-hour winds. cutting power to thousands of residents and sending massive waves crashing on shore. >> they went like 20 feet in the wall. >> reporter: the category 1 hurricane is moving north up the east coast. turning up seas from new york to newfoundland which take a direct hit. canada is taking its precaution. on the u.s. mainland the massachusetts coast is predicted to see the worst of bill's winds and waves overnight. many parts of the coast, including martha's vineyard, remains under a tropical storm warning. dangerous rip tides and high surf are prohibiting swimming on o

abc's stephanie sy has the details. >> reporter: the view from space shows the enormity of hurricane bill. >> have a large spread-out storm, and this is a nature of a lot of atlantic hurricanes. >> fortunately the center of the storm and most of its destructive power has remained offshore. bill passed off the coast of bermuda sending huge waves on to beaches and though residents suffered power outages and flooding, there were no casualties or major damage. >> came out this morning just to walk around, get some fresh air. we've got no electricity. >> though bill is expected to miss the u.s. mainland, beaches along the east coast began preparing for his side effects friday. many are closed to swimmers from new york's long island through new england. the high wavers are a favorite of sur experience. but the rip currents generated by hurricane are particularly dangerous. >> water and waves will be un-- even for strong swimmers. all the beaches on nan you can the and several beaches on the vein injured and outer cape are or will be closed. >> what began in the northeast as an inconvenienc

here's stephanie sy. >> reporter: they were rescued after more than eight days adrift at sea, subsisting on crackers and chewing gum. james phillips, curt hall and tressell hawkins owe their lives to a local car dealer who was fishing on his yacht. he spotted the stranded men atop their capsized catamaran. >> they got the binoculars out and said "well, somebody's up in flagging a white flag." it turned out it was a t-shirt. >> reporter: just two days before, the coast guard had given up their search when yaklin found them, they were more than 180 miles from shore. >> i was trying to help them into the boat. hell, they jumped in the boat. >> reporter: he captured their return journey on his camcorder. their first phone calls home -- >> i'll be home sometime late, late tonight. >> reporter: their first real meal, steak. >> they were hungry. they hasn't eaten in eight days. they hadn't drank water. they had been rationing the water. crackers -- one guy on the boat said, i'm taking all the crackers. he said, i'm dealing them out. he gave them one cracker a day. and that's all they had to eat

stephanie sy is along the coast tonight. stephanie, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, dan.ell, bar harbor, maine, as most of the east coast was under a high surf advisory today. at this hour, the coast guard is continuing to search for two missing people, but the incident was several hours ago, and that water is a cold 55 degrees. they were able to rescue nine people, some of them suffer broken bones. we have learned that a 7-year-old girl was pulled from the water, unresponsive, and we do not have word on her condition tonight. >> we had three ultimately handed over to ems. there's about nine people involved. one male with a heart problem. we had a female with a broken leg. to the best of our knowledge, we know the wave came over the rock, swept them offshore. >> reporter: this is video from a stormy day in 2006 at the national park. the crowd today was watching the unusually high surf kicked up by hurricane bill in the same area of thunder hole. as you can see, the waves can be unpredictable. the high tide from the new moon cycle combined with the affects of bill, which p

stephanie sy, abc news. >>> a powerful hurricane off the coast of mexico, jimena is getting strong e tonight. it's now a category 4 storm. forecasts show it reaching mexico's baja california by tuesday. >>> president obama, back in washington tonight, after a less than relaxing family vacation on martha's vineyard. it was interrupted among other things, but the funeral for senator edward kennedy. now, it is back to the battles in washington. starting with a blast today at the president, and his attorney general, from the former vice president, dick cheney. here's john cochran. >> reporter: attorney general eric holder decided to name a special prosecutor after a newly-released report said that the cia used not just water boarding, but a handgun and an electric drill to threaten terror suspects. now, dick cheney says politics drove the decision to investigation those techniques. >> i think it's an outrageous political act that will do great damage long-term to our capacity to be able to have people take on difficult jobs, make difficult decisions without having to worry about what the

here's stephanie sy. >>eporter: they were rescued after more than eight days adript at sea, subsisting on crackers and chewing gum. james phillips, curt hall and tressell hawkins owe their lives to a local car dealer who was fishing on his yacht, when he spotted the strandened men atop their capsized catamaran. >> they got the binoculars out and said, "well, someone's up there flagging a white flag. it turned out it was a t-shirt." >> reporter: just two days before, the coast guard had given up their search when yaklin found them, they were more than 180 miles from shore. >> i was trying to help them into the boat, but they jumped in the boat. >> reporter: yaklin captured theireturn journey on his camcorder. their first phone calls home -- >> i'll be home sometime late, late tonight. >> reporter: their first real meal, steak -- >> they were hungry, they had not eaten in eight days. they hadn't drank water. they had been rationing the water. crackers -- one guy on the boat said, i'm taking all the crackers

stephanie sy, abc news, new york. >> she's still sleeping.ote to self, not at the nuclear power plant. good luck with the boss tomorrow on that one. >>> tomorrow morning here on "good morning america," sarah palin calling the new health care panel a death panel. we'll have a sort of fact check tomorrow morning on "gma." charlie gibson is back here tomorrow night. thanks for watching.

stephanie sy, abc news. >>> in afghanistan today, a scene that would have been unimaginable under the taliban. candidates for president debating on television. the election there is just four days away, and afghans seem energized despite the taliban's repeated attempts to vie atlalo derail the process. our jim sciutto is in afghanistan tonight. >> reporter: afghanistan's presidential candidates took their campaign to the airwaves today. an american-style televised debate watched by millions of afghan voters. "debating the election is a good thing," said one kabul resident. "we get to know who is good, who is bad and who will have the best policies." thursday's presidential election is a crucial test for afghanistan's leadership. eight years after the fall of the taliban, many afghans are disillusioned with the government of president hamid karzai. the election is an equally important test of security here. the taliban is vowing to disrupt the vote, attacking polling stations, even threatening voters themselves. the afghan defense minister told reporters today, "unfortunately, the elec

stephanie sy up in massachusetts.e'll bring you the latest, coming up. >>> also this morning, could you ever forgive someone responsible for the death of a loved one? we've heard a lot of outrage in the last few days from some of the families of the lockerbie bombing victims after the bomber was set free in libya. others have forgiven him. and they say it's helped them come to grips with the tragedy. we're going to explore the roots of forgiveness and whether it works. >>> also on the topic of forgiveness, green bay packer fans will never forgive brett favre for suiting up for the minnesota vikings last night, hatred will be white-hot for many years to come. after a very controversial week. all the drama he played for a all of two minutes on the field. we'll tell you how that came out. >>> first, let's go back to the latest on hurricane bill. the storm lashed bermuda, with high winds. now, bill is moving to the north. and marysol, as we said, is out on montauk, new york, on long island this morning. good morning, mary

we begin with abc's stephanie sy. stephanie, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, dave. the mayor of new york is calling this tragedy on the hudson, not a single survivor. we have learned the's a temporary flight restriction over this stretch of the hudson as salvage crews doing the very work of looking for wreckage and bodies. against a clear blue sky, the mangled helicopter plunged into the hudson river, astounding onlooker zmrs something hit the blades and the playeds weren't flying. >> the helicopter carrying five italian tourists and a pilot had just taken off for manhattan on a sightseeing tour. the piper aircraft was carrying three people, including a child. witnesses describe seeing the helicopter blindsided from the rear and one of the plane's wing sheered off by the helicopter's r row or the blade. >> reporter: within minutes, boats and rescue divers went to look for survivors. >> if anybody had survived we would have been there. sadly, it apoors to us at this point, that this was probably not survivable. >> reporter: the helicopter and the plane were under wat

more from abc's stephanie sy. >> reporter: from the air and the ground, an all-out search involving more than 100 law enforcement officers is in its fifth day for kristi cornwell. a mother of one. and a former probation officer. investigator says she was on an evening stroll along a remote rural road last tuesday when she was abducted. she was on the phone with her boyfriend. >> he immediately called 911. >> reporter: the cell phone was discovered friday night by a man mowing his lawn, 3 1/2 miles from the scene. investigators also found some of her personal belongings along the road. >> we have not focused in on any one suspect. >> reporter: police are looking for two vehicles seen in the area that week. there also pouring cornwell's former cases as a probation officer. so far, no links have been drawn. the small tight-knit town has joined together in the search and is even distributing these water bottles with her photo on them. >> i just can't even scratch the surface on the things that she's done for the community and our friends and family. >> reporter: for "good morning america," s

stephanie sy reports. >> it may be a new era in u.s.ations with the reclusive regime of myanmar. acting out a bizarre vision, this man swam across a lake in may to reach the home of an opposition leader who has been under house arrest for most of the last two decades. both were convicted for violating the terms of her house arrest. senator jim webb was granted extremely rare access to the head of the ruling military junta. >> the most important part is i believe this was a gesture that we should be grateful for and hopefully build upon. >> reporter: analysts say regardless of his action, the junta would have continued to detain her through next year's national election. many consider the meeting a step forward for u.s. relations, important because the regime has notoriously kept foreign aid out, even after last year's deadly cyclone. >> you can argue that having webb go there means you have added will thecy to that government. at the same time, there is an element of possibility of change. how can we meet our objectives? and it means de

stephanie sy, abc news, new york. >> you can't knock napping. our 3-year-old naps on the weekends and we do. when he's ready to give it up, i'm not ready to give it up. just talking about it makes me tired. >> lean against the green wall there. >> the heat sucks the energy out of you. my 3-year-old is trying to work out of naps. we're begging him to keep taking them. please. for daddy, please. how about i just lean against the world trade, huh? >>> 85, feels like 89 already. we got full sunshine. we're going to bake today as we're 85, feeling like 92 in owings mills at the harbor school. hopefully you have a pool, hopefully you have some place if not in the house, outside the house to go to keep cool today whether it's a library or the grocery store, even a movie theater. great places to try to escape some of the heat. in fact, even being at the pool probably not recommended because even in the shade with the humidity in play it's going to be very uncomfortable. what i am seeing here, interesting, the hot weather really building in, this complex

. >>> and it is friday, good morning, i'm stephanie sy in for jeremy hubbard. >> and i'm vinita nair. it may feel more like a campaign trip hopscotching across the west to sell his health care reform ideas. >> he's held one town hall this week but today's crowd might not be as friendly. emily schmidt has the details from washington. good morning, emily. >> reporter: well, good morning, vinita and stephanie. so far the town hall participants have reserved their angriest health care reform for members of congress. today we'll see if they include the president as he takes his case for change on the road. president obama goes to montana today making a pitch for health care reform. it's proven a tough sell at town hall meetings across the country. >> my trust and faith in the united states government and its leadership has been destroyed. >> i think somebody in congress needs to go to jail. a whole bunch of them. >> reporter: members of congress trying to explain health care proposals are running into opposition. fears of the government spending too much money for systemic change. >> why o

i'm stephanie sy in for jeremy hubbard today. >> i'm vinita nair.resident is on the road again today holding another town hall meeting on health care reform. >> add to that a new e-mail campaign to counter critics and major tv ad help from an unusual coalition of organizations. here's jake tapper. >> reporter: the fight over health care reform has become as heated as any presidential campaign with shouting at town hall meetings and near saturation levels of tv ads. including this one from a new coalition made up of unions, hospitals, the ama and pharmaceutical industry. >> what does health insurance reform mean for you? >> reporter: almost $60 million of tv ads have run so far, some of them true, some false. >> the radio and television and web ads are going to have to complement each other for these messages to get through. there's so much clutter right now. >> reporter: the white house began pushing back more aggressively against various claims by opponents. in this white house e-mail listing so-called health care reform myths signed by senior advi

that's where abc's stephanie sy is this morning. joining us from chatham, massachusetts. good morning, stephanie. >> reporter: good morning, bill. the good news is, by the time hurricane bill had got on shore here, it had weakened a lot. and it moved by quickly. the houses on the shoreline were never in danger. i think we can safely say that all we're left with are the remnants of bill. we're experiencing some wind, big waves and riptides. wind, rain and towering waves, along the massachusetts coast overnight. the long-range effects of a beefy hurricane bill. >> i'm a little surprised it didn't intensify a little more than it did. but what's happened is, all that power, instead of being concentrated in a small area at the center, is spreading out over a larger area. >> reporter: weakening. but still a threat, the category 1 hurricane is heading towards canada, where folks in nova scioscia are preparing for a direct hit. offshore oil rigs there are being monitored carefully. as bill moves cooler waters today, forecasters say it will continue to weaken. but the big swells pr

. >>> that's where i'm joined by my colleague, stephanie sy, in chattham, massachusetts. >> reporter: good morning, marysol. we're under a tropical storm watch warning here along the massachusetts coast. you can see right now the waters are pretty calm. we could see winds up to 40 miles per hour later today. this is kind of the calm before the storm because the big news here is going to be the waves. hurricane bill is expected to create the largest waves right here in cape cod. by tomorrow, the waves are expected to reach up to 23 feet. that is more than two stories high. people watching out for that. some precautions being taken. the coast guard yesterday, battened down the hatches. they sealed up their windows. but the big story here, also, the boaters. there's so many boaters and fishermen here. and most of them have come into safe harbor. they've moored their boats. some of them have taken their boats out of the water completely. of course, here, along the entire east coast, maryso we are expected to see dangerous, life-threatening rip currents. so, the word is here, beachgoers be

"the roundtable" is next with al hunt, al malkin, cynthia tucker and stephanie sy. can you hear them? food is talking to store shelves. cargo containers are talking to supply chains. power lines are talking to the grid. now that's smart. systems that allow carrots to tell truck drivers how fresh they are. roads alert cars about traffic patterns. cars alert mechanics before they break down. when things communicate... systems connect. when systems connect... the world gets smarter. that's what i'm working on. i'm an ibmer. let's build a smarter planet. most people try to get rid of algae, and we're trying to grow it. the algae are very beautiful. they come in blue or red, golden, green. algae could be converted into biofuels... that we could someday run our cars on. in using algae to form biofuels, we're not competing with the food supply. and they absorb co2, so they help solve the greenhouse problem, as well. we're making a big commitment to finding out... just how much algae can help to meet... the fuel demands of the world. medicare supplement insurance plan card.