09/09/2011 GMT with George Alagiah

Anniversary under high alert. A terror threat is uncovered as

America prepares to mark ten years since the September 11th attacks.

The US authorities say intelligence points to possible car bombs,

targeting strategic points in Washington or New York.

The NYPD is deploying additional resources around the city and

taking other steps to keep our city safe, some of which you may notice

and some of which you will not notice. In New York I'll be

reporting live from Ground Zero on the preparations for the 9/11

anniversary and how the city is dealing with the latest security

Welcome to GMT with me, Zeinab Badawi. Also in this edition of the

programme: Obama's multibillion dollar plan to try to get the US

working again, will it succeed and will he get it past a divided

Congress any way? Interpol calls for the arrest of Colonel Gaddafi,

his son and the regime's intelligence chief.

It's 12.30pm here in London, 1.30pm in Tripoli and 7.30am in New York,

where Americans are awakening to the grim news that there is a high-

level terror alert in the US, as the country prepares to mark the

10th San rers I of 9/11. In New York, the mayor has increased

security across the city. Laura Trevelyan is there and joins us now.

Uncorroborated but they're taking no chances presumably? That's right.

And the mayor of New York, David Bloom, has been at pains to say

this is an uncorroborated threat. Nonetheless, security has been

increased this morning, increased security at bridges, at the tunnels,

more random checks on the subway. With just two days to go until the

10th anniversary, New York city official s are taking no chances at

all. As New York prepares to mark the

tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, there's a specific,

credible, but unconfirmed threat against America, according to US

officials. US news organisations have reported that it could be

aimed at either New York or Washington. New York's mayor had

this to say: The threat at this moment has not been corroborated. I

want to stress that. It is credible, but it is not corroborated. We live

in a world where we must take these threats seriously and we certainly

will. ABC News reported that three people, one believed to be an

American citizen, came into the US by air in August intending to

launch an attack using vehicles N May 2010, an American -- Faisal

Shahzad who attended a militant training camp in Pakistan, tried to

set off a bomb in Times Square. President Obama was briefed on the

threat say White House officials and called for counter-terrorism

workers to redouble their efforts. Security in New York is already

heightened ahead of Sunday's anniversary of the 9/11 attacks,

which killed nearly 3,000 people. And now that security will get even

tighter. There will be more bomb dogs on patrol, increased

deployment of radiation monitoring equipment and vehicle check points

in particular. There will be increased focus on tunnels and

bridges and infrastructure in general. As well as landmark

locations, houses of woreship and government buildings. This is an

unconfirmed threat, but given how specific it is and how close the

9/11 anniversary is, US officials are taking no chances. However, one

news agency is reporting a national security official has -- is

cautioning that experts think this threat may not ultimately check out.

So increased security is something that New Yorkers have simply got

used to living with in the ten years since the 9/11 attacks, which

brought down those landmark Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.

Now there is, despite everything that has gone on, there is now

finally something of a rebirth and a renaissance at lower Manhattan.

Can you see behind me the foundations of the Twin Towers of

the World Trade Center themselves, and in those foundations now, is

the memorial, the official memorial to the nearly 3,000 people who were

killed in the September 11th attacks, and on Sunday, there will

be a very solemn ceremony of remembrance here, as that memorial

is formally opened, a ceremony that will be attended by the President

of the United States, Barack Obama, and the former President, George W

Bush. Thanks very much indeed. Laura

Trevelyan there in New York. Well, staying in the city of New York,

let's bring in the BBC's Ros Atkins at the South Street sea port. So a

very significant anniversary of 9/11, tell us more about what to

expect for the memorial? Well, to be honest, I think New Yorkers in

their own ways are beginning to commemorate those lost ten years

ago already. I spent the last couple of days walking around near

Ground Zero, it's astonishing the amount of people when you stop to

speak to them, who have been personally affected by the attacks,

who lost loved ones or relatives or know people who were killed or

injured in the attacks. In their different ways they are

commemorating already. I met one woman yesterday who was walking

around a nine -month-old son. She lost both of her brothers on the

attacks. Every month she brings her child down to show him where his

uncles lost their lives. You're right to say of course, there are

official commemorations as well. I'm staying in a room which looks

down over Ground Zero. You can see preparations being made to allow

the public to come into the two, to see the two footprints of the two

towers, which now are huge pools into which enormous amounts of

water are pouring. There's trees all around them. The public will be

able to come into that memorial in the next few days, something which

hasn't been possible before. There's a lot of focus on that.

Also, down a couple of blocks from Ground Zero, there are plany flags,

flags for every person killed on 9/11, fluttering in the cool

morning breeze. I I passed them in the car a few minutes ago. Many

people are stopping to look at the flags. The flags bring home to you,

more than a figure does, quite how many people lost tir lives. Thanks

very much. As we've been reporting memorial

services are planned for Sunday in New York. In Afghanistan, they are

marking the exact tenth anniversary today of the assassination of the

Afghan commander Ahmed shaz shaw Massoud who was killed just before

the 9/11 attacks. He was leading the resistance to the Taliban, who

were in power at the time. The Taliban were provided Al-Qaeda with

safe havens. They were ousted by the us-led invasion in 2001. We're

joined from the Afghan capital by the brother -- by his brother,

Ahmed Wali Massoud. It is interesting to say what would have

happened had your brother survived. Would Afghanistan have been

different? Do you think he would have signed up to the US War on

Terror? Well, let me say that the national hero of Afghanistan, he

fought against the terror before the United States even realised

what was all about the terror. He was fighting the terror alone.

After he was assassinated on the 9th of September, if only he was

alive today, of course, Afghanistan would have been much different. I'm

pretty sure that he would have been able to save the rest of the world

from this terror network, spreading from the region to different

countries across the globe. He was dedicated leader, dedicated leader,

committed Muslim and also, a man, a charismatic man who fought the

terror until he was killed in 2001. With all respect, though, can you

say with confidence that Afghanistan would have been a

different place, presumably you mean peaceful, because he was an

ethnic Tajik, of course, that could have led to divisions with the

Pashtun majority in Afghanistan. The resistance which were born

under Massoud, it was a national resistance, from across the globe,

from across the country. Therefore that was not a question of Pashtun,

Tajik, the Taliban were a project of Pakistan. They were imported

from Pakistan to Afghanistan. So therefore it did not have nothing

to do with ethnic conflict or anything. If only he survived, I'm

pretty sure that he was the man would could have rooted out

terrorism and Al-Qaeda from Afghanistan. By doing so, they

could have saved the rest of the world. He was the man with the

experience. You made that points. - - that point. I want to ask you

briefly, the government in Afghanistan and the international

community now want to talk to moderate members of the Taliban in

order to get a political settlement in Afghanistan. Would your brother

have backed this, talk to the Taliban? First of all let me say

that there is no moderate Taliban. Taliban are Taliban. There's a

school of thought that the Taliban believe in that one, therefore you

cannot separate the Taliban into hod rat or extremists. Of course,

my brother was the first to propose peace with Taliban. He himself

risked his life. He went to the Taliban, but then he realised that

the Taliban were not the people to make peace. There forethis Taliban

continued their war against him and against the rest of the people of

Afghanistan. If he was alive, of course, by knowing and

understanding Taliban, he could pretty manage how to start this

onslaught coming from Al-Qaeda and Taliban to Afghanistan. What are

people like you now saying in Afghanistan, as we come up to the

tenth anniversary exactly of the September 11th attacks, preskreeded

of course by the death of your brother? Well, of course, there was

connection between the ninth September and 11th September. Al-

Qaeda and Taliban wanted to make sure that the leader of the

resistance and the leader of anti- terror, they wanted to make sure

that he is not in Afghanistan. And his territory being under control

of Taliban, then they could have launched their activity to the rest

of the worldment Ahmed Wali Massoud, in the Afghan capital, Kabul, thank

you very much for talking to us on the anniversary of the death of

your brother. Now the other stories making headlines around the world

today: An enormous power cut has affected millions of people in

Southern California, Arizona and Mexico. All out bound flights were

cancelled at San Diego airport and traffic came to a stand still in

the city. Electricity companies say human error is to blame and power

won't be back for some time. The North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il

and his son and heir apparent Kim Jong Un watched a massive military

parade on Friday, marking the 63rd anniversary of the country's

founding. Kim Jong Un, believed to be in his late 20s, is already a

four-star general and vice chairman of the Communist Party's military

commission in North Korea. There have been more protests

across Chile in favour of education reform. Students clashed with

police in the capital Santiago. It's the third month of protests,

with stuends putting pressure on the government to raise standards.

The mass mobilisation has caused the President's approval ratings to

plurching. -- plunge. Still to come: Rock gods

up close and personal. A candid look at U2's premiere at the

First of all, let's get all the business news with Aaron. First of

all, there is a G7 summit in France tackling the financial downturn or

trying to. Trying to. With a capital "T". G7 ministers gathering

and the aim, to try to come up with some way it avoid another global

economic downturn basically. The task is huge, because how do you

stimulate growth without hiking public spending? I can tell you

what the markets would love to see, they would love to see the G7

invents a new way to revive flagging growth. But all the

experts tell us that's just not going to happen. Listen to this:

The problem is that the action that is needed is that surplus countries

have to expand their demand in order to permit deficit countries

to both have some growth and, at the same time, reduce their

government deficits. The surplus countries, primarily China and

Germany, are artificially keeping their exchange rates down, in the

German case by being in the euro. And as a result, in they stimulate

demand, they get inflation, which is what the Chinese have got. We're

stuck until either the euro breaks up and Germany appreciates or until

the Chinese relax their linkage of the Chinese yuan to the dollar.

also went on to say that's not likely to happen either. So, we are

stuck. From Germany and China to Japan, where there have been new

revised figures and they're looking not very good. It's Japan's economy

facing big problems. They were revised the second quarter numbers.

We had a negative number of 1.3%. They revised it and said no we fell

2.1%. That's a steep drop. Problem for Japan, of course, the terrible

devastating earthquake and tsunami earlier this year, has had a big

impact. The big problem is the global slowdown. Japan exports,

relying on a healthy global economy. That ain't happening. The strong

yen hurting Japan. Will the new Government take any action? I feel

that this government headed by Mr Noda is a much more proactive than

the one before and the one before that as well. This is a government

that clearly depicts about increasing taxes and rejuvenation

of nuclear energy side. He is much more a realist. So So optimistic

going forward to the latter half of this year. We may see some new

methods coming from this new Japanese government. Do you want to

This is GMT from BBC World News. I'm Zeinab Badawi. The headlines...

Officials in the United States say they're investigating a specific,

credible terror threat to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the

9/11 attacks. Interpol has emerged -- urged forces around the world to

arrest Colonel Gaddafi, Saif al- Islam and Abdullah al-Senussi. The

International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for them in June

but while the colonel is a large negotiations for the surrender of

forces loyal to him are proving difficult. Our world affairs

Correspondent joins us from Tripoli. We are getting reports that more

Gaddafi key people have fled into neighbouring areas. Can you tell us

more? These are reports coming to us specifically from the town in

central major, where a large convoy passed through the earlier in the

week travelling south from Libya over the border. According to

officials in the last 24 hours another convoy of three vehicles

has gone through the town in the same direction carrying General Ali

Khan a, he was in charge of Colonel Gaddafi's forces. This convoy was

accompanied by security forces. you able to tell us anything more

about what is going on? What are the NTC saying? The first thing to

say is we have had really no information that sheds any new

light on the possible whereabouts of Colonel Gaddafi. The Prime

Minister of the NTC gave his first news conference here yesterday.

Most of the former rebels have been in their stronghold of Benghazi and

are trying to facilitate the move to Tripoli. Mahmoud Jibril said it

was not wise to disclose Colonel Gaddafi's whereabouts, even if he

did know. But clearly at this stage they do not seem to know. There is

a possible scenario that he is One of the big fixtures in the

movie business, the Toronto Film Festival, has begun with an

eagerly-awaited a documentary on the you to. -- U2. Bono and the

edge of the opening night of the Toronto Film Festival. The

documentary from the sky down revisit a crucial moment from the

band's history, the making of their album in Berlin. It is seen as a

time that they reinvented themselves. The reason we are still

here probably as a band is because we went through that moment in

Berlin in 1991 where we ended at all that people love to about a

band and began afresh. There is an environment out of which music

grows. A kind of faith which is necessary to move from one no to

the other. The film uses animation, archive footage, it shows the band

returning to the studios where they filmed the album. -- are recorded

the album. His estranged to look at this and see yourself 20 years ago?

It is. I thought I would be taller, better looking, it is the same.

This is a moment we forced ourselves to look back. In a funny

way it is the reason we are here now. The film-maker David Gugenheim

was given free range to make this. Those who have seen it maintain

there is not much in it that could tarnish the brand. No uncomfortable

references to recent criticism of their alleged arrangements to

enable them to avoid taxes in This documentary is the first time

the documentary has opened the Toronto Film Festival. It is one of

250 pictures being screened over the next 11 days. Three years ago

Slumdog Millionaire was unveiled here and went on to pick up eight

Oscar trophies. And The King's Speech premiered here and won the

four Academy Awards. For Oscar watch has Toronto is a festival

Britain's prime minister is preparing to travel to Russia on

Sunday. He'll hope to repair relations between the two countries

which went into sharp decline following the murder in London of

Alexander Litvinenko five years ago. Investigators in the UK blamed a

former KGB member who they want extradited. Danield Sandford

He remains one of Britain's most wanted men. Andrei Lugovoi is

accused of a shocking murder in a luxury London hotel. But he agreed

to let us join him for two days and the Russian will then us. He then

urged Britain to get over the crisis the killing caused.

TRANSLATION: Are we going to fight about it for 100 years? We should

be looking for a way out. The ball is not in the Russian court, it is

in the English court. While he can visit this remote peninsula 5000

miles from Moscow he has not left Russia since 2006. If he does he

will be detained on an international arrest warrant. For

almost five years now he has been the source of huge diplomatic

friction. Britain wants to put him on trial for murder and Russia will

not give him up. Alexander Litvinenko died be slow, painful

death, poisoned by polonium 2010, lethally radioactive. He had also

been a KGB officer but had recently become a British citizen. Andre

look for it was the key suspect, having left a trail of polonium

across Europe -- Andrei Lugovoi. Confident that he will never face

trial David Cameron is about to be the first British Prime Minister to

visit Russia since the poisoning and he will meet Vladimir Putin.

Besides the 9/11 anniversary, a major preoccupation in the US right

now is the state of the economy. America's employment figures are

the worst for decades, 14 million are jobless and President Obama is

trying to get the US working again. He's announced a multi-billion

dollar jobs plan to a rare joint session of Congress. As our

Washington correspondent, Marcus George reports, the President is

far from assured of success. Smiles and handshakes marked the arrival

of President Obama but is easy demeanour did not last long. At the

start of the address he laid down a challenge to both chambers, stop

the political gamesmanship and pass this plan to get America working

again. I am sending this Congress a plan that you should pass right

away. It is called the American jobs act. There should be nothing

controversial about this piece of legislation. Everything in here is

the kind of proposal that has been supported by both Democrats and

Republicans. At a cost of more than $400 billion the plan aims to jolt

America's ailing economy into gear. It would create a construction jobs,

safeguard employment and extend tax cuts for employees in small

businesses. The President also urged lawmakers to surrender tax

breaks for big business. Should we keep tax loopholes for oil

companies, or use the money to get small business owners the tax

credit when they hire new workers? We cannot afford to do both.

Unemployment is dark at just over nine per cent and there were zero

jobs created last month. Even if it survives Congress There are no

guarantees the plan will breathe life into the economic outlook for

The Rugby World Cup is due to get under way soon. Tom all take on the

nation in the first match. This four-legged friend is planned to be

as accurate as the late Paul the octopus who picked a winner in last

year's football World Cup. We have special coverage this weekend

marking the 10th anniversary of 9/11 on the BBC website. We look at

one of the most notorious attacks in history. You can view a timeline

tracking all the key events, starting from when the hijackers

Our main story... Officials in America are investigating a