tripoli. rebels say three of colonel gadhafi's sons are captured by the search continues for the leader. it's 10:00 a.m. in tripoli, 9:00

a.m. in london, 4:00 p.m. in hong kong. hello, i'm andrew stevens. >> i'm charles hodson, you're watching cnn's continuing coverage of the uprising in libya. history is unfolding today in libya as colonel moammar gadhafi's 42-year grip on power appears to be coming to an end. here now the latest. anti-gadhafi forces say they're in control of most parts of tripoli. the rebels caution there are still some pockets of resistance in the capital. colonel gadhafi's own whereabouts are unknown now, but there have been sporadic gunfire and explosions near his al aziz la compound in tripoli.

rebels say they have now capt e captured three of gadhafi's surviving sons. prosecutors for the international criminal court say they hope to put saif gadhafi on trial, but a spokesman said the libyan people should decide whether to handover the sons to the icc. we've been able to speak with some libyans who say they are ready for change. one young woman says the country has been put through 42 years of hell. listen to the pure joy that change has brought to this 19-year-old living in the capital city. >> this is something we've all been dreaming of forever. the second this started, everyone is so happy. it's something we've been waiting for. we were living in fear for the past four decades, now you can go out, say what you want, what you feel. i can talk on the phone without being scared. >> an official with libya's

opposition movement says a great majority of the capital is under control. guma al gamati spoke with us from london in the last hour. >> the great majority of the capitol, tripoli is under freedom fighters control. it is liberated. there are still pockets of gadhafi forces in three positions. one is just outside what's known as the hospital. and one around the hotel where foreign journalists have been based. the other is the bab al azizla barracks. hopefully as the freedom fighters are engaging with them at the moment this will be sorted out in a few hours or in a day or two.

>> where is moammar gadhafi right now? >> it's very difficult to tell exactly. we believe that he is either hiding somewhere closer to tripoli or in the south of the country, or could already be out -- out of libya, maybe in a neighbor i neighboring algeria to the west of libya. >> why do you think he has chosen to go there? >> those are the only neighboring companies showing support to them. chad is close to gadhafi. the rule tlr there is a close friend. algeria has been engaged in sanction busting and allowing aid and fuel and mercenaries and a arms to come through. so we believe if he were -- if he has escaped, he would have

gone to either of those two countries. he wouldn't have been able to fly out of libya, because there has been a no-fly zone for the past six months. >> we are talking about the situation with the transitional council moving to tripoli. when will that happen? >> i think we look to stabilize the situation in tripoli as soon as possible and hopefully within a few days the ntc will be based in tripoli, the capital, the process of stabilization of tripoli and getting on with the transition period will begin. >> what sort of government will this be? a lot of people are concerned about islamic influence among the rebels, possibly al qaeda-linked fighters fighting alongside you during this uprising what will this government look like as it takes shape? >> it will be a government of

nationalists, mainly libyan nationalists. there will be technocrats, you know, experienced, qualified people who will be appointed to oversee the various portfolios during this transitional period. the transitional period is only temporary transitional, with spasm task of stabilizing the country, ensuring that the main services are maintained for the population. and also ensuring that there is a constitution casted by the libyan people and then approved through referendum and that constitution would provide the political framework for libya, what we hope will be a nationalist, democrat ic democr framework. after that, elections, possibly

presidential and parliamentary elections and arriving at a permanent status for new order, new system, a new dawn in libya, based on democracy, freedom, justice and totally doing away and departing from the dark episode of the last 42 years. the uk coordinator there for the national council in libya, which is expected to be comprised, the next leadership, of that country. charles? the voices of libya's people tell the emotional side of this story. we're joined by a witness in tripoli who's been riding out the storm that's sweeping through libya. for security purposes we are not identifying him. what is the situation in the capital this morning? there was a lot of celebratory gunfire overnight. is it quiet now? >> well, actually, it was a

celebration last night, but today, this morning, there is sporadic gunfire going off. we can't tell if it's in one place or moving from place to place. looks like there's rebels around the area, not in one place. from time to time you can hear clashes between two sides. i cannot see them. i can hear gunshots on the right side, from the left. this morning i heard continuous fire shooting in bab al azizla

area along with tank or grenades. but it was like small bombs. in my area which is -- which is close to bab al azizla, the freedom fighters looks like they don't speak arabic. some of them were there, some were not. definitely there's something going on in bab al azizia area. the they seem like these mercenaries

came up from this -- looks like they are centralized there. people go there and investigate because of snipers in the area. still the area around bab al aziziya is not heavily armed, but is well armed. there is snipers. there's machinery, there's the gadhafi regime around the area. i know they think it will be easy for the freedom fighters to go into bab al azizia, maybe at night there will be changes unless the heavy artillery goes

into the equation. until now, i'm just hearing clashes. that's it. >> okay. we're going to have to leave it there. thank you very much for joining us. we'll talk to you later on. we've had some problems with the sound quality there. thank you very much, indeed. we have been talking to an eyewitness live on a rather poor telephone line from tripoli. andrew? it was clear, though, that the rebels are still not in full control of the libyan capital yet, reuters is reporting between 15% to 20% of the capital is under government control. we want to show how the rebels got to tripoli and where it all started? john vause takes us through the twists and turns. >> reporter: for a long time it seems as if this conflict has been at a standstill. remember how the rebels swept out of bengahzi out of the east to the west to misrata. that was back in may.

the rebels have won some territory and lost some territory. for the last few months, rebel fighters with the help of nato air strikes have been making gains in the nafusa mountains. then they began a push towards the capital tripoli. first they took the town of gharyan, that put them 90 kilometers away from the capital. in the last week owe so they moved through zawiya. 200,000 people live there it has a major oil refinery and is on gadhafi's doorstep. people are saying that this could be the beginning of the end, because the capital is now surrounded. it's under siege. with the rebels controlling zawiya, they control the supply lines between tripoli and tunisia, the territory to the south, to the east, nato controls the skies and sea. right now moammar gadhafi is

isolated, cut off from the rest of the world. >> john vause reporting there. we will take a break. we'll continue our coverage of the developing situation in libya after this. tripoli's gree

celebrate what they hope is the end of moammar gadhafi's regime. rebel forces say they renamed it martyrs square. libyans celebrating in bengahzi, the headquarters of libya's opposition movement. scenes of jubilation as well in a suburb of tripoli. thousands of miles away, libyans living in manchester, england, also turning out to celebrate and further west, libyans in

washington, d.c. gathered in front of the white house for prayer and smiles. moments ago, the secretary-general of nato spoke. >> the gadhafi regime is clearly crumbling. the sooner gadhafi realizes he cannot win the battle against his own people the better, so that the libyan people can be spared further bloodshed and suffering. the libyan people suffered tremendously under gadhafi's rule for over four decades. now they have a chance for a new beginning. now is the time for all threats against civilians to stop as the united nations security council demanded. now is the time to create a new libya, a state based on freedom, not fear, democracy, not

dictatorship, the will of the many, not the whims of a few. >> nato leader anders fogh rasmuss rasmussen. moammar gadhafi tried to rally those loyal to him just hours ago even as the rebels were swarming into the capital city. >> translator: do you remember the million martyrs? i'm with you, alongside with you in this fight. we will not -- we will not give way or give up. >> remarkable piece of video as the rebel noose tightens around tripoli, moammar gadhafi's options are growing limited. one possibility is exile. it is said gadhafi has asked neighboring countries to give refuge to his family member bs t

not himself. he has had strong support from venezuela president hugo chavez. gadhafi seems determined to stay in libya until the end, when that is. we have another witness on the line now, he's a pharmacist who helped organize a civilian hospital in a tripoli suburb. he says he has been treating wounded rebel fighters and has seen two deaths over the past two days. thank you very much for talking to us. can you tell us what you're seeing and hearing? can you still hear the sounds of battle from where you are? >> yes, actually from here we can hear the tanks bombing? >> i beg you're pardon, you are hearing tanks shelling? >> yes. >> about how far away are you from where you think these

battles are taking place? >> because we can't hear it very clear, it could be 200, 150 meters away from us. >> okay. do you have a sense of just how big these firefights could be? does it sound like they are still significant battles in the capital? >> actually, what happened, all the civilians surrounding bab al aziziya, gadhafi's house, the tank came out from bab al aziziya in the east side. and started shelling everywhere. our civilians tried to stop the shelling. this is what is happening right now. >> and are you now receiving casualties at your civilian

hospital that you've created? >> actually, at the moment, we -- we have not received any casualties from two hours ago. >> can you give us a sense of how much casualties have been treating in recent days? >> yes, actually, we receive about 24 killed. we lost two civilians, right? and around eight of them in the severe stage. >> do you know where the victims -- where these wounded fighters were from? were they from typically or rebels outside the capital? >> you mean this evening? >> yes. >> no. no. actually all of the cases came from our area here in -- which

is very close to bab al aziziya. >> okay. >> is there a lot of damage around the area where you are at the moment? >> actually, the shelling from the tanks started two hours ago. and most of the shelling are on the opposite side of our area. we had one shell here, it damaged one house. the people ran out of the house. >> okay. do you have medical supplies? do you have access to medical supplies? >> actually, what happened, we had meeting on the 16th, and at

that time we decided to organize to help based in our area. there were many small hospitals in these areas, right? so we started organizing hospitals. we got a lot of support from the people. they gave us money, some of them, they own medical companies, they support us by giving us medical devices. >> doctor a rshr. armeli, do yos is the end of the gadhafi regime? >> of course, because of the people surrounding bab al aziziya, they are speaking with

the libyan army inside gadhafi's house, they need to leave peacefully. they don't want to kill the people inside because they are libyan as well. so it's -- >> all right. thank you very much for joining us. dr. nouri armeli there, who has set up a hospital and said he heard tanks shelling not that far away from where he is based in the capital, tripoli. charles? now, when we return, beyond borders. we will tease out some of the impact of the end of the gadhafi regime on financial markets, in particular, the obvious one, how will it effect oil prices around the globe in nted moisturizers with scientifically proven soy complex and natural minerals.

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while i took refuge from the pollen that made me sneeze. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec® i can love the air®. welcome back to our coverage of the uprising in libya. investors are watching the outcome in libya closely. the effects of the uprising being felt strongly, particularly on the oil markets. >> that's right. for most of the past few months the price of oil has been dictated by the events unfolding in libya as well as the rest of the middle east/africa region,

and the end of gadhafi's power may mean a drop in oil prices. right now we are looking at brent. it's trading at 106.70 to the barrel, down by about $2.44. analysts are expecting prices to fall further. that means reversing the gapes we've seen since the uprising actually began just in the last -- the half year. if we can take this off and we'll click that. so, at this point, oil was trading at about $103 a barrel, the violence in the region and the uncertainty it fostered sent the price of oil higher. it reached its peak in april at $126 a barrel. over the course of the last few months the balance of power in libya also tips on who controls

oil facilities. on sunday, the oil hub of al brega was captured. libya's economy is heavily dependent on oil revenue, that's a stream that's been cut off during the fighting. libya was producing more than $1.5 million barrels of oil a day, so it supplied 2% of the energy the world consumed on a daily basis. let me show you which countries were its big egest consumers. 32% went to italy. 14% to germany. 10% to china. about 5% went to the united states. so, libya has a clear impact on the world's supply of oil. we can expect the price of oil to fall through the rest of the year as supply increases.

>> all right. thank you very much for that. coming up, what's next for libya? stay with us.

from cnn london, i'm charles hodson. >> and i'm andrew stevens at cnn hong kong. welcome back to this special edition, our continuing coverage of the uprising in libya. let's bring you up to date on the dramatic and fast-moving developments in libya. an official tells cnn that a great majority of libya is under control of rebel forces, but opposition leaders caution there are still pockets of resistance

in the capital. moammar gadhafi's whereabouts are unknown now. earlier there were explosions near the leader's bab al aziziya compound in southern tripoli. the european union is calling on gadhafi to step down from power. the rebels say they captured three of colonel gadhafi's seven surviving sons. prosecutors for the international criminal court say they hope to put saif gadhafi on trial, but a libyan rebel spokesman said the libyan people should be the ones to decide whether to handover gadhafi's sons to the icc. it's been startling for all of us watching from afar to see the libyan rebels move so quickly to tripoli over the weekend. how could it have happened so fast? jonathan mann spoke with nic robertson in washington. >> reporter: tripoli had, while we were there, while the nato

bombing began and gadhafi's forces still controlled the capital, a ring of steel around it. the brigade there was controlling the capital and was able to draw on munitions from multiple bases from inside the city which have become nato's principle targets inside the city, and sarah seidner came right past one of the most feared bases of gadhafi's brigades controlled by his son, hamis, which was originally the force that went into zawiya. the fact that there wasn't resistance there, the fact this ring of steel that we had seen tanks, armored personnel carriers evaporated gives rise to the perception of how the rebels were able to get into the

city so quickly, but also how gadhafi may have been caught in surprise of how quickly people have deserted him, and proven not to be loyal. the writing has been on the wall for these forces and now it seems they have, in fact, collapsed. that will enable rebels throughout the city, the people of the city who don't want gadhafi who have been too afraid to come out on the streets because they don't have the weapons will now realize the big military machine that they have so feared to a degree has melted away. we don't know the details and we don't know the parameters of the areas that gadhafi's forces, those still loyal to him still control. certainly there seems to be some of them in the city at this time. >> libya is an oil-rich country with, what, 140 different tribes and clans and prominent families. and they have something to fight over if they want to fight each other now. what do you think will happen?

is the transition going to be as smooth as it suddenly seems? >> the military transition may be -- may be quick. may appear to be smooth in the initial analysis and securing control in tripoli and other cities will be sort of the most immediate need. getting a political consensus beyond that is difficult. you have a traditional east/west split within the country. that's historic. you have a lot of the rebels coming from the east of the country. you have tribes that have been loyal to gadhafi, like the zunusi tribe, the tribe that the head of intelligence is from, abdullah zunusi, wanted by the international criminal court, the right-handyman man of gadh. that tribe has always been in power in government what will they settle for now?

have those tribes that sat on the sidelines, will the rebels want to take them in and give them political power? we know the rebels have different views there are more moderate elements, more elements within the transitional national council as we know it today and politicians who fled libya say the political makeup and tribal makeup is diverse, and this is what may -- may slow the sort of arrival, if you will, or the announcement of any sort of transitional government. there are many, many hurdles. this initial phase, the military phase is not over. it may be the simplest one, and a counter insurgency by gadhafi loyalists cannot be ruled out of this phase. nic robertson there talking to jonathan mann earlier. as we hear the gunfire and see the victory signs in libya, we are reminded this is another

country attempting to form a new government with a patchwork of rebel leaders. a short while ago, we spoke with the ambassador to the united states from the transitional national council, the main rebel movement. and he spoke confidently about how the coming days will play out. >> tnz will run the country. they will move to tripoli as soon as possible. they are preparing for the election of the temporary council, and of course they have to take care of the security of the city, and of course there is our concern now where is gadhafi. woe have to find out where is he. and i believe very much in what the tnc is doing. i think the takeover of tripoli today is amazing but expected. now i believe gadhafi's hand is

paralyzed, because two of his sons have been captured. i don't think that will be a major issue with gadhafi's resistance. at the same time it was made clear they are ready for any changes happening and ready for any surprises. you know, the celebration and the people there are getting together. i think it is a historic moment in the life of the libyan people. >> you raised the issue there of gadhafi's sons. what will you do with them? what will the libyan people want done with them? >> it's a very difficult question, you know, the libyan people, i think they want to bring them to justice. at the same time, the icc, they want them, too. i believe the choice is for the libyan people, we have the right, what they want to do with them. that's what will be decided in

the coming few weeks or months. it's difficult to say at the present time. i have very good news from brega now. i understand the gadhafi brigade raised the white flag, and the army will enter the third section, what they call the industrial area. this means libya is under the control of the tnc now. the ambassador of the tnc there of the united states. financial markets opened for a new week of trade. do the fear and uncertainty from last week remain? kind of a new mood. we'll find out more about it in just a moment.

let's update you on the latest from libya. joyful libyans have turned out in the capital of tripoli and other cities to celebrate what

they hope is the end of moammar gadhafi's regime. an official with libya's transitional national council tells cnn a great majority of the libyan capital is under control of the rebels but caution there are still pockets of resistance in the city. no one seems to know where colonel gadhafi is at the moment. earlier there were explosions and gunfire near his bab al aziziya compound. the rebels say they captured three of colonel gadhafi's seven sons. let's see what's going on in the financial markets. starting in europe where 105 minutes into the trading day and here is how they look at the moment. quite interesting. we are seeing gains, clearly a new mood. lower oil price, the ftse up 1%. same story for the paris cac,

and the zurich smi. the market doing badly is the dax. still off just slightly, was off by more than 1%. i'm going to stick my neck out and guess this is because over the weekend the german chancellor, angela merkel, said no, no, no, to euro bonds, eurozone bonds that is not welcome as far as investors in germany's export industries are concerned because they have the most to lose from a euro collapse. the markets idea is that without euro, without bonds whether see the euro in a great deal of difficulty. >> interesting. german stocks down 8% last week, charles, as you point out the uncertainty remaining there. in asia, markets bouncing around today as they tended to steady after another round of uncertainty last week. that's the numbers here. the nikkei down over 1%.

hong kong finishing up by a half percent. shanghai going the other way. and the bse in mumbai, up 0.75%. what can we expect in the week ahead? mark, good to have you back. nothing has changed between now and friday, very difficult to read, you expect more volatility? >> i think so. but investors are getting used to the volatility, and we are bracing for manufacturing data this week out of europe. but i think investors are climatizing. >> so what are they saying? what are the market numbers telling you about where they think the economic performance of europe and the u.s. is going to be? is it a full recession they're pricing in now? >> not just yet. the slowdown is seen as more

than a mid cycle slowdown, it's structurally based because of the debt that's incumbering many of these markets, but much more focus on earnings. in asia we are significantly impacted by global sentiment and the global economy, in previous slowdowns earning have been hammered in this region. >> there's a clear effect about what happens in europe and the u.s. will effect earnings here. >> indeed. >> some earnings were down about 50%. >> during the slump, some earnings were down 48%. >> it's not all exporters in asia, though. is there some decoupling here? should investors be looking at the local markets? >> that's been the watch word since the end of '08, looking at they decoupling effect. exports to other countries in the region, but also exports to

other emerging parts of the global economy. we see korean car exporters starting to export more to eameric emerging economies than to developed countries. >> so we are seeing this decoupling now somewhat? >> we have seen it, but not quickly enough to reassure investors. and in particular with china, china is well advanced in the current cycle. their ability to stimulate while the external environment is weakening is limited now. >> this is the big question, isn't it, what happens with china? we're seeing downgrades of economic growth in china q4 around 8%, which for china is getting quite low. what's the impact going to be on asian economies of the china slowdown? >> the chinese leadership has been starting to prepare the world and the community in china for a slightly moderating growth level in china.

that's been the case over the last probably 12 months, expecting to see the impact of that excessive stimulation starting to ease off. what's the impact for the rest of the region? we have an appreciating value on the rmb which makes other exporters more attractive or competitive. all the time china has been moving up the value-added scale so starting to come fepete with other areas like china and japan. >> so it's not all good news? >> it's not all good news. >> all right, mark, thanks for coming in. charles? well, if that's not depressing enough, let's look at the global weather picture now. the first hurricane of the atlantic ocean's hurricane season does appear to be forming and millions may be in its path by later this week. our meteorologist joins us from the international weather center

with more on this. is this going to be a big one, pedram? >> i think so at least for people across portions of the dominican republic and puerto rico. governments of these particular islands have issued hurricane watches and warnings. we have gone through nine storms so far. irene being the ninth one. all of these have been tropical storms, irene is the one destined to become a hurricane in the next 24 hours this one looks like it has what it takes. winds at 113. if you know anything about the hurricane force winds and what strength it's supposed to get to before it's designated that title, 119 or about 73 miles per hour is what we're looking at here. so only six kilometers shy of becoming a hurricane, right now impacting portions of san juan, puerto rico. if we can look at your graphics, there you go heaviest rainfall around 25 centimeters or so,

northern tip there, portion the of do the minute can republic, the system then pushes towards haiti and the concern is where it will end up as we head in towards the later portion of this coming week it looks like it will brush the northern tip of haiti. port-au-prince should be on the quieter tip of this storm. but miami, ft. lauderdale, this is an area we are washing closely as this could become a dangerous hurricane. charles? >> thank you very much, indeed. andrew? >> we will take a short break. when we come back, we'll update you on the latest from libya.

welcome back. if you are just joining us, you're watching ongoing coverage of the uprising in labia on cnn, the world news leader. now the latest developments in labia where the question of the hour is where can colonel moammar gadhafi? it appears his government may be falling, i think that's an understatement because clearly nobody seems to be -- certainly not colonel gadhafi, himself, is exercising power across tripoli, but there is no sign of the embattled leader himself. anti-gadhafi forces say they don't know his whereabouts. world leaders are calling on him to give up and to order his

supporters to give up. a great majority of the libyan capital, as it was put, is under the control of the rebels, but opposition leaders caution that there are still pockets of resistance in tripoli. the rebels say they captured three of moammar gadhafi's seven surviving sons. saif, saaid and muhammad. and prosecutors say they hope to put safe on trial, but a libyan support says the libyan people should decide whether to hand him over to the icc. >> stay tuned. we'll leave you with some scenes of crowds gathering to celebrate the rebels advance. this i-report came to us from the action in bengahzi's freedom square. >> it is 1:00 a.m. sunday,

august 21st. quite possibly the first night of freedom for all of libya. freedom square, bengahzi. this is by far the largest crowd i've seen in probably months of coming to this area.