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Push for Bani Walid, Libya; Libya-China Arms Deals?; 9/11 A Decade On; Phone Apps Allow People to Remember 9/11 in New Way; Roger Federer Storms in Quarterfinals; Health Officials Fear Suicides In Wake of Tsunami In Japan

Aired September 05, 2011 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: Welcome to NEWS STREAM, where news and technology meet.

I'm Kristie Lu Stout, in Hong Kong.

And we begin in Bani Walid, Libya, where tribal leaders are meeting with the National Transitional Council. As Libya's new leaders seek a peaceful handover of power in pro-Gadhafi strongholds, to large Libyan convoys are spotted driving across neighboring Niger.

The 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks is drawing closer. We will revisit the emotions of that day with former U.S. president George W. Bush.

And the search for survivors from Tropical Storm Talas grows more desperate.

And we begin with the latest developments out of Libya.

Now, officials in Niger tell us that two large Libyan convoys have been spotted driving through the country over the past couple of days. One is en route to the capital, Niamey, and the other one has already reached the city, but there's still no official word on who might be traveling in these convoys.

Now, back inside Libya, the country's new leaders are pushing to take over the remaining pro-Gadhafi strongholds. Leaders in the National Transitional Council say loyalists will not be harmed if they surrender peacefully. They're meeting with tribal leaders in Bani Walid today to reassure them of that.

Our Ben Wedeman joins us now live from near the contentious city of Bani Walid.

And Ben, just how close are they to a breakthrough agreement?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're about 35 kilometers outside of Bani Walid, and we understand that the negotiators were talking all night long with elders from Bani Walid to try to work out some sort of peaceful resolution to this standoff, because, of course, this is a test case for the NTC, the National Transitional Council, and how it deals with its opponents, the people who were loyal to Moammar Gadhafi.

And fortunately, we're joined here today by Abdallah Kenshal, who's the chief NTC negotiator for Bani Walid.

Mr. Abdallah, how are the negotiations going? You were up all night.

ABDALLAH KENSHAL, CHIEF NTC NEGOTIATOR FOR BANI WALID: It was very difficult, because we are going on this negotiation many hours, and people go to Bani Walid, then came back. We finished that 5:00 in the morning, and they told us they agreed to send a delegate from Bani Walid this morning at 10:00. And it was optimistic.

There are a few questions from (INAUDIBLE) leaders in Bani Walid. They want to reassure that the revolutionaries are -- they will behave very well.

The second thing, what will happen to the people who lay down their weapons? And we told them we are a part of Bani Walid and that we will not harm our people. However, we really fear about their safety, as the snipers are still there, and we ask them if they can take this message to our people in Bani Walid, that there will be no prosecution, no (INAUDIBLE) treatment, and we follow the law and order -- this is the new Libya -- and there will be no storming of houses, killing the suspects who are even arrested? They have to go to their houses, and courts will solve their problems if they have crimes.

We can't guarantee any (INAUDIBLE) for anyone, if their hands, for example, are stained by blood of Libyans, or they have other criminal acts in dealing with their work with Gadhafi.

WEDEMAN: And as far as senior figures from the Gadhafi regime, who is inside Bani Walid?

KENSHAL: Unfortunately, I think there's (INAUDIBLE) in Bani Walid. I don't know who is -- because it's a lot of money circulating in the hands of the people who came to Bani Walid from different Libyan cities.

Of course, you know, we are Libyans, so we don't differentiate between Bani Walid citizens or others, but we know them. You know? And also, his spokesman, Musa Ibrahim, he's under control, and we follow him. And we know where he goes.

However, the revolutionaries in Bani Walid, we don't want to risk them or risk the population. But I think they have the order just to keep iron hand. But we don't know who's there. Saadi, (INAUDIBLE)? There's someone there.

WEDEMAN: And as far as a timetable, do you have any idea when the NTC fighters will enter the city?

KENSHAL: There's no timetable, and that will be left to the NTC leadership and its military council, and also to the locals. The most important for us, the safeguard of the civilians of Bani Walid, and to enter their city in a peaceful way.

WEDEMAN: All right. Thank you very much, Mr. Kenshal.

So, there you have it. Clearly, there's a standoff, an attempt ongoing to resolve this peacefully, because, as I said, this is a test case for the NTC. If they can resolve this peacefully, other cities like Sabha in the south, Sirte on the Mediterranean coast, may be able to switch over to the NTC in a peaceful manner -- Kristie.

STOUT: Ben Wedeman, joining us live from Bani Walid.

Thank you very much for that.

And while Libya's new leaders are urging a peaceful surrender, Gadhafi's spokesman, Musa Ibrahim, is calling for just the opposite. In a phone interview with Al Rai TV on Monday, he told loyalists to remain strong and said that, despite Gadhafi's noticeable absence, the colonel is alive and well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MUSA IBRAHIM, GADHAFI SPOKESMAN (through translator): Gadhafi is in excellent health and has high hopes, and continues his resistance and remains patient. He's a man of beliefs. He is good, and he is at a place that these gangs did not get to.

He is inside of Libya fighting. He's inside Libya, planning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: The toppling of Tripoli was a big coup for anti-Gadhafi forces, but their job is not over yet. There are still four major areas that remain loyal to the former Libyan leader.

As we've mentioned, Bani Walid is at the center of negotiations between the NTC and tribal leaders right now. And then to the east, there's Sirte. Colonel Gadhafi's hometown is still a bastion for loyalist supporters. And then moving south, the city of Sabha is another pro-Gadhafi stronghold. And finally, the expansive area of Al Jufrah, which stretches through the desert, south of Sirte and east of Sabha.

Now, back in Tripoli, there is evidence the Gadhafis have long prepared for a worst-case scenario. You may remember our Sara Sidner. She showed us some of the tunnels and bunkers built beneath Moammar Gadhafi's compound, and it appears Gadhafi's children had underground layers as well. They reportedly link back to Bab al-Aziziya.

Now, this video is said to show a house to Mutassim Gadhafi. And the bunker underneath it, it's designed to withstand nuclear, biological or chemical attacks. In addition to multiple bedrooms, it also has an industrial-size kitchen and an operating room.

But this is really interesting. The oxygen system could reportedly sustain the Gadhafi family for up to three years underground.

Now, bunkers aren't the only things Gadhafi may have been hoping to keep below the radar. New details are emerging about possible multibillion- dollar arms deals between Libya and China in the final months of his rule.

We go back to Ben Wedeman with the latest on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN (voice-over): It's a shopping list to make any arms merchant's mouth water: rockets, machine guns, anti-aircraft guns, pistols, night vision goggles, 150 million bullets.

A reporter for the Canadian "Globe and Mail" found this shopping list in the trash in Tripoli written by a retired Libyan army colonel, dispatched to Beijing in July. He met with representatives of state-owned Chinese arms manufacturers who, according to the report, were more than happy to do business.

The report recommends the arms be sent to Algeria and that Algeria, another buyer of Chinese weaponry, would ship identical types and quantities of arms to Libya.

MOHAMED SAYEH, NTC: During the killing of Libyans, we've seen lots of new guns. And we're thinking, where are they from? And there were endless of killers (ph) and guns coming to Gadhafi. Now we know it was coming through Algiers and through other African neighbors, and it was sent by China.

WEDEMAN: Chinese officials acknowledge the visit took place, but deny any weapons were sold.

(on camera): According to an old Greek saying, where there's blood, there's money. And Libya was no exception.

This report would indicate that in the course of the discussions in Beijing, no one thought to ask how or against whom these weapons would be used, or whether the proposed sale was in violation of the U.N. arms embargo on Libya. They did, however, discuss the price, around $200 million.

(voice-over): This is one of the items on the shopping list, a Chinese- made .122 millimeter ground-to-ground rocket packed with 5,700 steel balls. Loyalist forces regularly fired them randomly into Misrata for months. One of those killed was 14-year-old Ibrahim Abushaba (ph), ripped apart by those steel balls while washing his hands before dinner.

Before the uprising, China had huge investments and contracts in Libya, but its popularity in Libya is now in doubt as far as Tripoli's new leaders. The National Transitional Council, the NTC, are concerned.

ABDULRAHMAN BUSIN, SPOKESMAN, NTC MILITARY COUNCIL: Our chairman of the NTC, Mustafa Jalil, made it very, very clear that anybody who has helped and supported and stood by Gadhafi over the months will not be greeted well.

WEDEMAN: In the future, Libyans may not go for "Made in China."

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Tripoli.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STOUT: Well, so far there has been no response from Algeria to the accusation that it supplied Chinese-made weapons to the Gadhafi regime. Las week, the Algerian foreign minister said his country had always "resolutely applied" U.N. resolutions.

Now, there are other documents causing controversy as well. Captured earlier, and offering unique insights into the Gadhafi regime and its secret dealings with other nations, they reveal cooperation between Tripoli and Western intelligence agencies like Britain's MI5 -- or MI6.

A British inquiry says it will investigate new claims that MI6 was involved in the rendition of terror suspects to Libya. Here's what Prime Minister David Cameron has to say about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: As the House will remember, we acted to bring to an end the large number of court cases being brought against the government by former inmates of Guantanamo. We've issued new guidance to security intelligence services personnel on how to deal with detainees held by other countries. And we've asked the retired judge Sapeda Gibson (ph) to examine issues around the detention and treatment of terror suspects overseas, and this inquiry has already said it will look at these latest accusations very carefully.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: Now, Britain isn't alone though. Some documents also show discussions between Gadhafi's government with the Central Intelligence Agency in the U.S.

Now, still to come on NEWS STREAM, in a haunting interview, former U.S. president George W. Bush reveals what he went through on September 11th from this moment when he learned of the second plane crashing into the World Trade Center.

And in the U.K., the tabloid phone hacking scandal shows no sign of coming to an end. Former executives from the company's U.K. arm, News International, are testifying today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STOUT: Welcome back.

Now, in just under a week, the U.S. and much of the world will mark a decade since the day a four-pronged attack hit New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. Almost 3,000 people died in the attacks on September 11, 2001, and all this week, ahead of Sunday's anniversary, we're remembering them with a series of special reports and interviews.

Now, the man at the helm that day was, of course, George W. Bush. And now, in a chilling interview, he describes what was going through his head the moment he learned that America was under attack.

Our Becky Anderson has spoken to the journalist who secured that unprecedented interview, Peter Schnall.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TEXT: Nearly 10 years after September 11, George W. Bush looks back on the attacks that changed America. This is his personal story of that day.

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: September the 11th was a monumental day in our nation's history. It was a significant day, and it was obviously -- it changed my presidency.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two planes flew into the two towers, a small plane into the north tower.

BUSH: I went from being a president that was primarily focused on domestic issues to a wartime president, something I never anticipated, nor something I ever wanted to be.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We have seen many times George W. Bush's reaction in a Florida classroom to news that America was under attack. But only now, 10 years later, has a former U.S. president revealed in intimate detail how events unfolded that day.

He knew before entering the school that a plane had hit the World Trade Center.

BUSH: First, I thought it was a light aircraft, and my reaction was, "Man, either the weather was bad, or something extraordinary happened to the pilot."

ANDERSON: But then the second plane hit.

BUSH: In the back of the classroom was a full press corps and staffers and some adults. And I'm intently listening to the lesson.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These words that fascinate. Get ready.

BUSH: And I felt a presence behind me. And Andy Carr's Massachusetts accent was whispering in my ear, "A second plane has hit the second tower. America is under attack."

ANDERSON: The unprecedented interview was secured by journalists and documentarian, Peter Schnall.

PETER SCHNALL, GEORGE W. BUSH DOCUMENTARIAN: We wanted to give the president a chance to speak to those horrific days in September. You know, days that changed his presidency. And we wanted him to do it in a manner that was personal, that was in-depth, and that would speak to those events perhaps in a way that we haven't heard before.

They agreed to the format. They agreed to the manner in which we would conduct the interview. And that would be just one-on-one, the president sitting, you know, right across from me. And we just talked for almost five hours over the course of two days.

ANDERSON (on camera): What struck you most about what he said?

SCHNALL: What struck me the most was that during those hours, the days of 9/11, the president was overwhelmed by the events. Overwhelmed in the sense that, certainly in the first few hours of September 11th, they didn't really know who the enemy was.

They didn't know if there were more attacks about to happen. So he spoke about the fact that he was journeying through the fog of war, which I thought was a very interesting and powerful thing for a president to speak about.

ANDERSON: Do you think he remains troubled by that period?

SCHNALL: We could see in the interview that the president was very taken by the events of that day. Obviously, it was a day that will forever be the center from which his presidency changed.

He was very emotional. He talked a few times about decisions that he had to make.

Remember, now, he's not in Washington. He's literally flying across the country. They are literally running from an unknown enemy, and they are having to make decisions at 40,000 feet and in Air Force One.

And he talked about some of the decisions he had to make. For example, ordering the Air Force to shoot down commercial planes that had not responded to the FAA demand to land. And those were decisions that he had to make, and they troubled him then, and I think they still trouble him now.

He talked about the fact that when Flight 93 went down in the fields of Pennsylvania -- remember, now, he's still on Air Force One, and the communication was not as good as it was supposed to have been. He talked about that they weren't sure if that plane had gone down because of his order to shoot down commercial planes.

ANDERSON (voice-over): The other key decision that day amounted to, what has been a lingering war on terror.

BUSH: Make no mistake, the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts.

ANDERSON: That hunt culminated on May 2nd this year, with the death of Osama Bin Laden. Coincidentally, it came as Schnall was preparing to interview the former president, who has never commented on the assassination.

SCHNALL: He told us that he was sitting at a restaurant in Dallas when the Secret Service told him that President Obama wanted to speak to him. He then learned about the assassination. He said to us, certainly, that there was no sense of jubilation, certainly no sense of happiness. If anything, he felt that finally, there was a sense of closure.

ANDERSON (on camera): Do you get the sense that the former president, George W. Bush, has any regrets?

SCHNALL: You know, that's an interesting question. We often ask the people that we're interviewing, you know, "Is there anything you would do again? Is there anything that you regret?"

And he kind of looked at me and said, "I hate that dam question." And he did not ever use the word "regret." He did not ever say that he would have done anything differently. He did say in the interview, quite clearly, that he made decisions, decisions that were controversial, and they still are controversial.

I mean, look, we're still living through the conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq. Those decisions that they made in September will forever have changed our life and the world today.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STOUT: And you can catch "George W. Bush: The 9/11 Interview" on National Geographic. And to find out what time it is airing in your part of the world, head to NatGeoTV.com.

Now, ahead on NEWS STREAM, as our special coverage of the 10th anniversary of 9/11 continues, we will hear from one United Airlines dispatcher who was on duty during that fateful day.

And the U.K. phone hacking saga as members of parliament continue their investigation. We'll tell you who is on the hot seat today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STOUT: Welcome back to NEWS STREAM.

Now, reports from Australia say police have arrested a man who took a child hostage at a law firm in suburban Sydney on Tuesday. The man who claimed he had a bomb earlier revealed himself wearing a barrister's wig from an office window.

He reportedly held the girl, who some reports say was his daughter, in the room for hours after trying to resolve the matter peacefully. Then the police, they raided the office and took the man into custody. And thankfully, the girl was not harmed.

Now, former executives from "News of the World" are testifying before parliament. Here's a look at live pictures from the inquiry. They are being asked about allegations of phone hacking, and specifically how widespread the problem may have been.

You'll recall journalists from the now defunct tabloid, they have been charged with illegally tapping into voicemails belonging to thousands of victims. The suspected targets range from members of the British monarchy to a murdered British teenager.

Now, News Corp executive James Murdoch and his father, chairman Rupert Murdoch, they testified in July, and now lawmakers are trying to determine if James misled them about the scale of illegal eavesdropping. This latest hearing started about three hours ago.

Atika Shubert is outside the British Houses of Parliament, where it's all taking place.

Atika, which executives are being grilled today, and what are they saying?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, basically, right now we're hearing from Tom Crone, the former lawyer of News International, and Colin Myler, the former editor for "News of the World." And they've had a few heated exchanges. They've really been grilled on just how much they knew about the widespread nature of phone hacking and, precisely, when did they know it?

Just to give you a flavor of the kind of exchange that's been happening, I want to show you a little, cute question and answer between Labour MP Tom Watson and Tom Crone, the lawyer for News International. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM WATSON, LABOUR MP: The truth is, you didn't see it as gross misconduct, did you? You just thought it was a reporter's job at "News of the World."

TOM CRONE, FMR. LEGAL MANAGER, NEWS INTERNATIONAL: That is absolute nonsense.

WATSON: And as far as you're concerned, the only problem was he got caught.

CRONE: That is nonsense.

WATSON: And so now you had to conceal the crime.

CRONE: That is nonsense.

WATSON: You were desperate to ensure that it didn't become known that hacking was standard practice at "News of the World," weren't you?

CRONE: That is not true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHUBERT: As you can see there, the type of grilling that these two former executives are getting.

Now, the key question is, how much did they know and when? And specifically, how much did James Murdoch know?

As you pointed out earlier, James Murdoch had told members of the committee that he did not know just how widespread that hacking problem was. Well, what Myler and Crone have said is that they had a 15-minute conversation with James Murdoch, showing him the contents of an e-mail that specifically showed the problem was not confined to one reporter, that it may have gone beyond that at the newspaper, "News of the World."

So this is what MPs are really focusing on now, just how much was known about that e-mail and when was it known.

STOUT: Yes, it's always fascinating, Atika, to see Tom Watson ask those questions there.

Some pretty devastating evidence being brought forward again today. Will James Murdoch be called again to testify? And, if so, when?

SHUBERT: Well, we don't know the specifics of when, and we have to wait and see what happens at the end of this hearing. But it certainly has been indicated that they may call him to explain why he misspoke or may have, intentionally or not, misled the committee.

This is something that parliament members will certainly want to know. And, of course, while this is ongoing, there is also the judicial inquiry that is having its preliminary hearing today. So, really, we're seeing basically the hacking investigations going now into full swing.

STOUT: And also, the British prime minister, David Cameron, is set to face a lengthy committee session himself. What should we expect?

SHUBERT: That's right. He's going to be facing a number of different issues, but one of the things that he is most likely to be asked about is, of course, his hiring of Andy Coulson, the former "News of the World" editor who was later then investigated precisely for this hacking scandal. And there will be a lot of them. He's looking to ask questions from Cameron again about how much he knew. Why did he hire Andy Coulson if he knew that this phone-hacking scandal was still out there and unresolved?

This is something the prime minister has tackled before, but again, parliament has just come back into session after their summer break, and so he's basically being thrown right back into it.

STOUT: Atika Shubert, joining us live from London.

Thank you for staying on this story for us.

And coming up next on NEWS STREAM, we remember the heroic efforts of the passengers on board United Airlines Flight 93 on that day that changed the United States nearly 10 years ago.

And six months on, the grief from Japan's earthquake and tsunami is too much to bear for a growing number of survivors.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching News Stream. And these are your world headlines.

Now two large convoys reportedly have crossed the border from southern Libya into Niger. A Nigerian (ph) military captain is telling CNN that one convoy is on its way to the capital. And an interior ministry official says another rolled into the capital city yesterday.

Now the investigation into the phone hacking scandal that led to arrests, high level resignations, and the end of a 168 year old British tabloid, The News of the World, is far from over. News Corp. CEO Ruperb Murdoch and his son James were questioned by UK lawmakers in July. And today, another round of questioning has begun. Now four former executives from the company's UK arm, News International, are testifying.

Now Turkey is getting tougher on Israel as their feud continues. Today, Turkey's prime minister said his country will stop all defense industry trade relations with Israel. That follows a similar move to downgrade diplomatic ties with the country last week.

A UN court has handed down a 27 year sentence for this former Yugoslav army chief Momcilo Perisic. He was charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the Srebeninca massacre. Now Bosnian-Serb forces murdered some 8,000 men and boys there in 1995.

Now few days have changed the world so drastically as September 11, 2001 did. And this was a scene that confronted New Yorkers early that day after two planes slammed into the World Trade Center. Now a third hit the Pentagon, and a fourth crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. And all this week, CNN is bringing you special coverage ahead of Sunday's 10 year anniversary.

Now the haunting images of the attack on the Twin Towers have become synonymous with that day, but without the heroic efforts of the passengers on board, United Airlines Flight 93, it could have been even worse. They fought back against the hijackers, leaving the plane to crash in this field in Pennsylvania. And while they lost their lives, it is widely believed they saved countless more.

Drew Griffin reports one former United Airlines dispatcher is still pained by the warning he sent to Flight 93 shortly before it crashed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For six year, Ed Ballinger has been sailing away from his memories. His refuge, this boat named the Great Old Broad. He's been afloat with his wife, trying to escape the memory of a few brief words, "beware, cockpit intrusion."

ED BALLINGER, FORMER UNITED AIRLINES DISPATCHER: Tries to lock the so and so door. So I said hijacking alert, hijacking. I should have a possible hijacking.

GRIFFIN: Ballinger is footnote 69. 10 years ago on September 11, he was a dispatcher for United Airlines in Chicago handling 16 flights leaving the east coast and heading west, including United's flights 175 out of Boston and 93 from Newark.

BALLINGER: All I know was that there was trouble and I wanted to warn everybody.

GRIFFIN: One of those flights Ballinger tried to warn are the airline's version of an e-mail, United Flight 93.

BALLINGER: And I was sending out messages, one after the other, and I got sent 122 messages in a short time -- an hour, two -- I don't know what it was. But like screaming on a keyboard. And at that time, these huge TVs that we have came on with CNN.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This just in, you are looking at obviously a very disturbing live shot there. That is the World Trade Center and we have...

BALLINGER: And I saw the second airplane, which I didn't know at the time was my airplane 175, hit the second tower. And I thought the most succinct method of doing it with the least amount of words was "beware, cockpit intrusion" and I sent it to all my 16 flights.

And before I got that one off, 93 called up and said they had some (inaudible) going off and they're flying.

GRIFFIN: So at that moment, 93 was routine.

BALLINGER: Yeah, routine.

GRIFFIN: So you send out your note and you know they got that.

BALLINGER: It came out, hey, yeah, confirmed. I confirmed back with him by telling him two airplanes at the World Trade Center, which I sent to all the other flights.

GRIFFIN: But the confirmation came too late. Investigators say two minutes after Flight 93's pilot, Jason Dahl requested clarification, hijackers stormed his cockpit.

BALLINGER: Does "beware cockpit intrusion" say it all? Can you say it faster, quicker? And I wanted to quickly get the message out.

GRIFFIN: It's 10 years later, you're still thinking that.

BALLINGER: Yeah. Yeah. Maybe (inaudible) dissertation on the thing and sent it to everybody. But I had to send them the quickest, fastest I could. I could ask you, how would you do it faster? But I keep asking myself that question.

GRIFFIN: Isn't that the real reason you're out on this boat?

BALLINGER: Yeah, it could be. Yeah.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STOUT: And join us as we take a closer look at the people who became some say footnotes to the 9/11 terror attacks. They were the ones who went to work as they always did, and they became a part of history. And it is a CNN documentary, it's called footnotes of 9/11. That's at 10:00 pm Tuesday in New York, 10:00 am Wednesday in Hong Kong.

And now that Osama bin Laden is dead, though, is this where it ends? Now that -- could it signal that the war in Afghanistan will soon be over? Now our Nick Paton Walsh, he went back to Abbotabad, Pakistan where a team of U.S. Navy SEALs found and killed bin Laden.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The army now surrounds bin Laden's house, we're told, as we approach down the same back streets we freely roamed months earlier.

From down this road is the only physical reminder of the life of 9/11's mastermind, but the Pakistani army is keen to keep it out of sight, perhaps out of embarrassment, or maybe by now a little paranoia.

It's eery quiet, though. We catch a glimpse of the house, bushes growing thick around it, almost like they're trying to swallow this secret again. But out of nowhere, we're stopped by a soldier.

Well, we have been pretty quickly stopped by the police here, asked for our passports and were told to leave. In fact, we've been asked to stay with them for a little while. All quite surprising, really. Even only a few months ago, this place was teaming with journalists and quite open. Things have obviously definitely changed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STOUT: And soon after the death of bin Laden, seen now as a troop withdrawal, U.S. president Barack Obama announced that the 10 year war on terror had cost the country $1 trillion, not to mention, of course, thousands of lives.

As the scale of the terror attacks unfolded, it was mobile phones that people turned to for information, not Twitter or other social media web sites as is so often the case today. But now technology that didn't even exist 10 years ago is helping people remember the past in a new way. Laurie Segall reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I woke up. And I -- a friend of mine said -- she slipped up, she called and she said we're at war...

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're listening to memories of 9/11 in a storytelling app called Broadcaster. Using GPS, it pinpoints your location showing audio posted around you. In this case, the stories of Ground Zero.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You could see Manhattan and then not see Manhattan. And all of a sudden I looked up and there was just this explosion.

SEGALL: Technology that didn't exist 10 years ago is helping us remember the events of that tragic day in ways we could never imagine.

JAKE BARTON, PRESIDENT, LOCAL STORIES: There are 9/11 stories within each of us. And so essentially what we're doing is using technology to knit together all of those collective memories.

SEGALL: Jake Barton is the president of Local Stories, a New York tech firm that created an app called explore 9/11 in conjunction with the 9/11 memorial museum.

BARTON: 9/11 is arguably the most widely documented event in human history. We're essentially using different social media platforms to reach out to people around the world to tell their own stories about 9/11.

SEGALL: For many, the images of 9/11 tell the story best.

The app also uses an emerging technology known as augmented reality, showing the devastation of 9/11 as you stand at Ground Zero today.

BARTON: What you're doing, essentially, is your capturing photos from around the area and it basically overlaps them with the different landscapes around you.

SEGALL: And that was the landscape that day

BARTON: That's exactly right.

SEGALL: Basically as you would have seen it on 9/11.

BARTON: That's exactly right.

And so you can call up something like firemen, smoke, 9/11 itself or the World Trade Center and it will capture all the photographs that are location in this area and allow you to actually overlay them on top of what you're looking at.

BRIAN AUGUST, 110 STORIES CREATOR: And now it's telling me to raise my phone in that spot.

SEGALL: Photographing the towers as they once stood may soon be a reality with an app in development called 110 Stories.

AUGUST: It's using GPS.

Bring up the phone. We're right under the Brooklyn Bridge. There's the buildings coming up. They're big now, because we're close.

SEGALL: Creator Brian August hopes the app will invoke memories of the skyline before the terrorist attack. This high tech app started with a low tech idea.

AUGUST: It started as me just being fascinated by the idea that the buildings are not there anymore. I'm saying to somebody, here they are, here they were. I'm bringing them back for you in some small way.

SEGALL: It's not just about the technology.

BARTON: I think it's really important to basically meet people where they are in their daily life. And so you don't think about history as just ending up on books. It's critical that we use new technology to connect people to the meaningful aspects of the past so they can apply them in the future.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STOUT: And we will have much more on the attacks all week culminating of course in the 10 year anniversary on Sunday. But in the meantime, you could check out the special September 11 attack section online at CNN.com/international.

Now still ahead on News Stream disaster turns into despair in Japan. And we look at efforts to bring down a spike in suicides nearly six months after the devastating quake and tsunami.

Meanwhile, western Japan is cleaning up after Tropical Storm Talas. Two days after it hit dozens of people are still missing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STOUT: Welcome back.

Now on Sunday, Japan will mark six months since the magnitude 9 earthquake and massive tsunami. And the horror stories are still very much alive in the minds of those who survived that killer wave.

Now we brought to you Akiko Iwasaki's (ph) story on Monday.

Now Akiko (ph) is seen here running in the black kimono. She was sucked under. And she survived and is now determined to rebuild her hotel and her life there in Kamaishi.

But sadly, some people are still barely coping. Thousands died at the time, but health professionals fear that the death toll in the tsunami zone is quietly rising because of suicide. CNN's Kyung Lah reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Disaster as far as the eye could see, that's what the tsunami left in the town of Otsuchi, Japan gutting more than half of the city. Six months later, rescuers have cleared much of the rubble, but the pain for Kyoko Ogawa (ph) remained.

"I was tormented," she says. "I was in shock, because all that was precious to me was gone."

The hotel that Ogawa (ph) owned, seen burning in this picture shortly after the tsunami triggered a gas explosion, was destroyed, all her possessions gone, family and friends perished.

"I had no one to talk to," she says. She adds, "it was a living hell."

Until she met Dr. Morikawa (ph) who she calls sensei. A volunteer psychiatrist who simply listened.

Was talking to the sensei the difference between life and death?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Yes. If I hadn't met the doctor, I would have ended my life.

LAH: Suicide, that's the fear in post-earthquake Japan. Reports are surfacing from the disaster zone, a dairy farmer struggling financially in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear crisis hung himself in his barn, saying there was nothing to live for.

Japan has one of the highest rates of suicide in the entire world. There's one approximately every 15 minutes in this country. Social workers say there's an urgent need to deal with post traumatic stress disorder in the tsunami zone, but an extraordinary lack of resources and a strong social stigma against seeking mental healthcare.

That's why these social workers never utter the word therapy as they meet tsunami survivors living in temporary housing. They talk over make-up and massages as psychologist Mariko Okio (ph) slyly asks about their grief.

"A lot of the people here believe it's too painful to talk about the loss," says Yasiko Kikuchi (ph) who like so many lost her home. "But it helps," she adds, "knowing she's not alone."

Yukio (ph) says survival of the body was the focus on the wake of the tsunami. Now, six months after the disaster, it's about fighting PTSD and suicide. She believes suicide cases will begin to spike.

"They're realizing only now the sense of loss and deep grief," she says. "You can easily lose all hope for the future."

Kyoko Ogawa (ph) doesn't think about ending her life anymore, but now focuses on rebuilding her hotel and a new future. Dr. Morikawa (ph) says for every success story like Ogawa's (ph) there's an unfortunate reality.

As a doctor, does it bother you that there are going to be so many people you will not be able to reach.

"Yes." He says. "There's not a single psychiatric clinic in this region. I can't stand the thought that there will be so many people who died because they didn't have anyone to talk to."

A ravaged region trying to rebuild, but the devastation runs deeper than the eye can see.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Otsuchi, Japan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STOUT: And Japan is recovering from yet another natural disaster. Now Tropical Storm Talas swept across western Japan at the weekend and unleashed record rainfall. And the death toll from the resulting landslides and flooding has risen to 47.

Paula Hancocks has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is still a search and rescue operation, but emergency workers know the window of opportunity is closing. Typhoon Talas hit central and western Japan Sunday, dozens were killed, dozens more are still missing.

The typhoon was downgraded to a tropical storm when it made landfall, but it still unleashed record rainfall which caused floods and mudslides.

Bridges and railways collapsed. Some roads had become inaccessible hampering the rescue operation. This woman says there were three or four houses here and two or three on the left. When I woke up in the morning, everything was gone.

Another woman says it was very scary. Inside my house was a mess, lots of driftwood floated in. And floating houses and cars crashed into my house.

The Prefecture of Wafayama on the mountainous Kii peninsula (ph) was the hardest hit with more than two dozen residents losing their lives. More than 16,000 had been ordered to evacuate from this area, around 30,000 more were encouraged to evacuate voluntarily.

In the town of Natchikatsura (ph) a river flooded into a residential area. Residents say mudslides swallowed several homes.

New Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda was only sworn in on Friday. He has promised urgent assistance to save lives.

Japan is still reeling from the deadly March 11th earthquake and tsunami, which left more than 20,000 dead or unaccounted for. Six months later, mother nature has dealt anther deadly blow to the country with its worst typhoon in seven years.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STOUT: So in the wake of Talas, what can Japan expect now? Mari Ramos joins us. She's live at the world weather center -- Mari.

MARI RAMOS, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: Kristie, just amazing those images and that story that Paula was telling us about, what has happened in Japan with this very powerful storm. You know it was upgraded to typhoon by Japan just very, very briefly, but it didn't need to be a typhoon to cause all of this damage.

We were telling you since last week, remember, how well ahead of the storm they were getting in some cases 200 millimeters of rain at a time day after day after day. When you get that much rainfall, you really need to be expecting not only the flooding, but also the mudslides. Just such a tragedy here when we see this kind of situation.

Fortunately as we look right now, we're looking at a generally clear conditions, just a little bit of cloud cover, some low clouds here as we head back over toward Tokyo even.

As far as rain showers, though, maybe a little bit here to the north. Everybody else for the most part will be staying dry. And that's definitely going to help things out for the recovery for the clean-up effort that continues there.

There is a tropical depression that's off over here to the east of Japan. It's far away. It's not going to be bothering you weather wise. So we're not going to worry about that too much.

Watching another area right here across the central portions of the Pacific. We'll see what develops with that.

Scattered rain showers across the Philippines, general quiet as we head across the east coast of China.

And then I want to take you back over here toward India and Pakistan. You know, the monsoon should be retreating already, but we're not seeing too much of that across Pakistan in particular. Again, more flooding and in parts of India, over 200 millimeters of rain. And look at all of this rain back over here even as we head back over toward Karachi. That's going to be a concern over the next 24 hours for the potential for flooding.

I want to take you to the Americas now. And Kristie, I don't know if you've ever heard this sound before. Take a listen.

Get chills just listening to that one more time. You know what, this was the sound that we heard here across north Georgia right in the metro Atlanta area as tornado sirens went off as the remnants of what was Tropical Storm Lee moved through this area. Scary situation. You know, some of this damage happened just about maybe five minutes away from my house. We were huddled down in the basement as well, Kristie.

That severe weather, fortunately, is over. But we're still dealing with some of the aftermath farther north with rain and travel delays. And we'll talk about the travel delays in Europe next hour.

Back to you.

STOUT: Well, Mari, very scary experience. Thank you for sharing that with us. Yeah, take care. Mari Ramos joining us live there.

Coming up next here on News Stream, it was a long evening at Flushing Meadows for Roger Federer. We'll bring you details of his late night encounter.

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STOUT: Welcome back.

Now it was a late night at the U.S. Open on Monday, but one of the players was wide awake and raring to go. Don Riddell is standing by in London with the details -- Don.

DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONENT: Thanks very much, Kristie. The defending champion Rafael Nadal will be the star attraction at the U.S. Open later today. The Spanish world number two takes on Gilles Muller hoping to demonstrate that his very public bout of cramp really was nothing to worry about. You'll remember that from Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Roger Federer was in supreme form at Flushing Meadows last night. The five time champion didn't get on court until 10 til midnight, but he then destroyed his opponent Juan Monaco in just 82 minutes. And he was so confident that in one game he served four consecutive aces.

Federer was in no mood to hang around. He dropped only three games. And he stormed into the quarterfinals. Clearly he wasn't at all phased by the late stars.

The reason he was on court so late was because Caroline Wozniacki was involved in an epic match against Svetlana Kuznetsova. Wozniacki is still trying to justify her top ranking with a major title. This performance was certainly worthy of the world number one.

The Danish star did it the hard way as she was 5-2 up in the first set tiebreak only to throw it away. Kuznetsova won this title in 2004. She was 4-1 up in the second set, but Wozniacki fought back brilliantly to win 7-5.

After that, it was easy, but by the time Wozniacki took the decisive set by six games to one, they'd been on court for three hours.

It was Labor Day in the U.S. on Monday, and a great day for sports entertainment. The final round of the Deutche Bank championship in Boston, Massachusetts was a thriller needing a playoff to produce a winner.

It was a star studded field,but two relative unknowns were the last men standing. This is Chez Reavie at the 13 sinking one of his six birdies in a round of 66, but Webb Simpson was hot on his trail. Simpson won his first PGA tour event only two weeks ago. And he was two behind on the 18th. But that birdie changed everything.

That put the pressure on Reavie who needed only a par at the last for the title, but it wasn't to be. His putt was just off meaning he and Simpson had to go into a playoff.

Now you always tend to back the player that's come from behind in these situations, but Simpson was in trouble if they played the 18th again. He needed to make this tricky birdie to stay in contention and he did.

Great news for his wife, not so much for the little baby. One day his kid will dine out on that story. Simpson is already dining out on what happened next, playing the 18th again, he birdied it for the third time in less than an hour to clinch the Deutsche Bank Championship.

What an incredible win. Great moment there, Kristie.

STOUT: And that little baby, there, blissfully unaware of just how awesome his dad is. I love it.

Don Riddell, thank you so much. And take care.

Now wildlife authorities in the Philippines have reportedly captured the largest salt water crocodile on record. You're looking at footage from our affiliate ABSCBN of this one ton monster. Now just how big is that? Well, this picture gives you a better idea. That man's arm is barely stretch across the reptiles torso. And we popped the croc stats into Wolf from Alpha (ph) for some other comparisons. And at 6.4 meters, the crocodile is longer than the average giraffe is tall. It's nearly four times the size of an average human. And at more than 1,000 kilos, this croc weighs more than the original Mini Cooper.

Now that is News Stream, but the news continues at CNN. World Business Today is next.

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