research in motion is trying to scramble to keep up. this past week they said they're going to make music available to users. how late to the dance are think on that? >> i have a blackberry and i feel like i'm carrying around this antiquated thing in my hand. i think its ys are numbered if i think that. >> don't forget the third contender, the windows 7 phone. >> joya dass. american morning continues right now. a strong man stronghold in rebel hands. i'm christine while in hiding. he's calling on libyans to drive the criminals, traitors and rats out of tripoli. >> i'm ali velshi, something you don't see every day or decade. a earthquake epicenter felt up and down the east coast. the quake raising concerns about a nuclear power plant that had to go into emergency mode. >> hurricane irene carving out a path of destruction and the united states may be next.

i'm carol costello. the eastern seaboard bracing themselves for the worst of irene on this "american morning." good morning, everyone. it is -- it's wednesday, wowp halfway through the week. august 24th. welcome to "american morning." feels like it's halfway through the week. he had like a hundred years of news in two days. >> we started off yesterday with what was going on in libya, these hurricane preparations, and then an earthquake. >> right. >> did you feel it? >> christine and i were together working. i thought it was a little vertigo. i said, is that the subway? and we were with somebody who said the lights are swaying. >> yeah. >> this ligds grid was swaying. >> i did not feel it. i was in a shoe store buying shoes. >> you thought that's what it was. my husband is in baltimore, he really felt it. he e-mails me and says, get out of wherever you are. i'm thinking, how does he know

i'm buying shoes. >> hopefully, gladly there are more stories of that sort. >> only something like that could take libya off the moment by moment, because remember, we were watching yesterday amazing pictures for the battle for tripoli. >> rebel fighters tightening their grip on the capital, in control of the gadhafi family compound, the biggest prize, gadhafi himself continues to elude them. the rebels stormed the heavily fortified complex yesterday. you saw that while be were on the air. it's the symbolic center of gadhafi's power for the last four decades. it fell with remarkable speed. cheering, a lot of celebratory gunfire. rebels looted his arsenal, trashed the symbols of the gadhafi reign. gadhafi did speak to a radio station and said his retreat from the compound was a tactical move. in a second radio message overnight broadcast on two

arabic networks, gadhafi remains defiant. >> translator: i call to all libyans, tribesmen, youth, seniors, women and loyal fighters, to clear the city of tripoli and eliminate the criminals, traitors and rats. we could let the tanks and cannons shell the city of tripoli and demolish it on their heads but this is not right. the military cannot shell the buildings and the houses. the rebels are hiding between the families and inside the civilian houses. it's your duty to enter these houses to take them out. >> now, there are still pockets of resistance from pro-gadhafi forces in tripoli. case in point, dozens of journalists including cnn's matthew chance are virtual hostages at the rixos hotel in tripoli. gadhafi loyalists are in charge there. they're not allowed to leave the hotel. matthew told us yesterday morning that the gadhafi forces are saying that they're protecting them. >> he reports he had a mars bar

for breakfast. they have been able to secure some food but still stuck in that hotel. >> that must be like hell now because -- >> oh, yeah. >> yeah. for many, many reasons. >> yeah. >> the world watched as libyan rebels broke through the walls of moammar gadhafi's fortress like compound. it was symbolic as historic. scenes of joy and chaos. sarah sidner followed the rebel fighters inside. >> following behind rebels who are taking us into the compound. they say it's safe. we know that sometimes they are not sure exactly what they might encounter even inside of that large compound, but we were seeing amazing celebrations in the neighborhood near bab al azizya and we're hoping to get into that compound in just a few moments here. we are walking into gadhafi's compound of bab al azizya. the rebels have taken the compound. we're going in to see what we can see. this is bab al azizya.

they now have people standing as security. they're telling us okay, okay. we can go inside. to the compound. so as everybody runs into this compound, you're seeing people go in and take out weapons. look just over there behind you, is a huge box. this box -- can i look? some of the weapons inside of the gadhafi compound of a handgun and a rifle. >> more guns. more guns. these guys have found. and so they've been taking some of these things out. the weapons that are coming out of this compound are just massive. there's so many of them. boxes of them just people carrying them. carrying them out, taking some of the trucks that belonged to gadhafi forces. we're having to run out of the compound now. we see gunfire coming from outside the compound.

it's getting -- it's getting too close. we're leaving. we're not going into the compound. from outside the compound firing towards us. we're getting out of here. bab al azizya. yes, the rebels have been inside and going around it. but there's definitely still some resistance. sounds like it's coming from the other side. rebels saying on the other side of the compound there are some rockets and gunfire coming from gadhafi loyalists. so there's no way we're going all the way inside. we went in the second gate, but i think it's not safe. >> wow. that is remarkable and what sarah was experiencing all day yesterday and into the night. joining us live from tripoli. cnn's sarah sidner. remarkable what you've seen in the last 24 hours. and i understand moments ago, that you are still seeing, still witnessing fire coming into that compound or toward that compound

from presumably from pro-gadhafi forces? >> yes. it is coming, it is coming basically from the neighborhood where we do know there has to be some of gadhafi forces. basically what's happening, you're seeing the rebels going into the compound right now, because there is this fire fight still going on. basically, just over my right shoulder, you can see some of the damage and how far these mortars are falling. we have so far heard about six mortars fall around the area. one second. okay. we've heard some mortars fall around us, about six mortars have fallen and seen smoke coming from some of the compound as well. we know that fire is getting

into the compound of bab al azizya and it is still not a safe place to be. >> so, sarah, who are all the people surrounding you, beeping their horns? >> these are the rebel fighters who are going in. i think now basically what's happening is they're hearing all of this gunfire and they're going in so they can try to push out the gadhafi forces from the other side. and it's getting quite loud. what you're also seeing are a few, just a few, civilians, who have come to this area. they've never been inside this compound. this was a place where you had to be a very close friend or ally to get anywhere near it. there was massive amounts of security and so now, people want to come and sight see. the problem with sightseeing, we've seen families with children driving in, is we have

literally heard bullets fly past our head and seen mortars falling not far from us. a very uncertain place to be. we know the gadhafi forces are outside of the bab al azizya compound, but that doesn't mean anything, because the mortars can fall right there as we saw today. >> sarah, it's christine, can you tell me how organized the rebels seem to be? some seem to be opening boxes of guns as if they've never had a gun. we know that nato, we heard yesterday from the transitional national committee, that nato is helping organize things, but street to street, these are the rebels who are in charge. how organized are they at this point? it seems more like a celebration than a military offensive? >> well, it's a celebration now. it was a military offensive less than 24 hours ago. there was a massive fire fight here and they are organized enough to push the gadhafi forces out of one of the most

important buildings or the most important building in this entire city. it is equivalent to the white house. it's equivalent to a king's palace. this is one of the most important places that people feel is a symbol of the gadhafi regime, his personal space. what i can tell you now is that in the streets of tripoli, things are very calm in much of the city. we've driven around the city a bit today. we are hearing mortars now, just one second, we have to figure out if this is incoming or outgoing. okay. so that's outgoing. it sounds like that's outgoing. all right. we got to go. sorry. that's coming -- that's coming towards us. we got to get out of here. sorry, guys. let us get to a safer place and we'll get back to you. >> go, sarah, go. >> get to safety. that's something else. we're hearing as well there's shots being fired outside the rixos hotel where matthew chance and his three colleagues from

cnn are staying as well. tells you something when sarah can stand there and distinguish between incoming and outgoing. >> have you ever been to the war training cnn offers. you learn to differentiate the sounds. they're distinctive. she has at love people around her. he ae she's not standing alone. people that know the ways of warfare. >> the transition committee, the rebel government at this point, said they hoped to have a security committee to be in charge of that facility n charge of tripoli, but it was going to take several days. when you talk about the organization of the rebels it doesn't look like that's in place, as though there's not -- >> supposedly they're moving in the headquarters for the rebels has been gaza. supposedly benghazi to tripoli and set up shop and make that their headquarters. they can't do this until this thing with the compound is said and done. >> sarah sidner, matthew chance, arwa damon have done amazing

reporting over the past several days. to see sarah at the gates trying to recognize what's incoming and outgoing -- >> i don't think her mother would feel the same way. >> i think you're right. >> a story everyone else is talking about, the day that east coast shook. the 5.8 magnitude earthquake collapsed some homes near the epicenter in virginia, caught millions off guard in the middle of a work day in places like new york city where people were -- dozens of stories above the ground feeling the floors move and sway and now the earthquake is bringing attention to a nuclear power plant that sits just about 85 miles from the nation's capital. our brian todd is live outside the north anna nuclear plant in mineral, virginia. p tell us what the situation is there, brian. >> we've found out a short time ago that power from the main grid was restored to this nuclear power plant overnight. that's the power that fuels the cooling systems for the nuclear reactors and spent fuel pools here. both nuclear reactors at this

power plant remain shut down as they walk through the safety checks. that's one part of how an entire region is recovering from this quake. >> may be an aftershock, but you're allowed to go back in the building at this time. >> reporter: to millions of people on the east coast, this was the big one. >> you believe you've just witnessed an earthquake in washington, d.c. >> reporter: it's the strongest quake to hit the virginia area since 1897, a 5.8, rattling nerves and shaking buildings in the nation's capital. >> i thought it was some kind of bomb. i never felt nothing like that before in washington. >> i was on the bus and the bus did a shimmy. >> i thought the building was about to ke lapse. >> reporter: the quake centered near mineral, virginia, 83 miles from d.c., but could be felt in martha's vineyard where the president is on vacation. shaking felt in more than a dozen states in all even into canada. nbc's cameras focused on the white house caught the shaking as it happened. some of the masonry of the national cathedral fell off and

the national park service says engineers found a crack near the top of the washington monument and will be closed indefinitely to keep visitors safe. many government buildings, including the pentagon, were evacuated. but no major damage was reported. further north in new york city, people ran from skyscrapers, down flights of stairs as they sway. >> the building shook back and forth. it rocked. >> reporter: near the epicenter of the quake, the north anna nuclear power station. the earthquake triggering an automatic shutdown there. diesel generators kicked in to keep the reactor cores cool, but i spoke to a plant executive who wanted to make sure we knew everything was under control. >> the power plant is safe, the operator responded well, both units are shut down, maintain g ing a safe shut down condition. >> reporter: to clarify the nuclear reactors are still shut down and an official toll told

me a short time ago it's unlikely they'll be back on-line later today. they did get power from the main grid back here overnight. the power that fuels the cooling systems here for the reactor and for the spent fuel pools. christine? >> brian todd in mineral, virginia, thanks. coming up on "american morning," a new gadhafi messages from parts unknown urging libyans to take out rebels who have taken over tripoli. we heard from sair sa sidner there is still a fire fight going on at the gadhafi compound in tripoli. we're not going to leave that story. explosions rock a small town in iowa as a school bus goes up in flames. the terrifying thing caught on video on this "american morning."

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hurricane irene is on the move and gaining strength. check it out this video from the turks and caicos islands yesterday. 90-mile-per-hour winds ripping through the trees, rain relentless pounding the area. puerto rico reports one death linked to the storm already. irene may hit the u.s. by the weekend. widespread damage is possible from coastal carolina to major cities in the northeast and emergency preparations are under way. all right. jacqui jeras on the cnn hurricane center tracking. she is tracking irene. jacqui, a lot of people in the carolinas are watching this nervously. they haven't seen one like this in a while. >> they haven't. it's been 15 years, you know, since they've seen at least a major hurricane. this one just shy of major status, but it's going to get there, 110-mile-per-hour maximum sustained winds. it has to be 111 to be a major hurricane. the hurricane hunters will be flying in two hours from now and sample the atmosphere, take

their instruments in there and find out how strong the winds are as opposed to estimating it by looking at the satellite picture. look at that soot light picture your can really see the eye on this thing now. it is tightening up and intensifying and getting stronger as it heads towards the west/northwest through the turks and caicos and into the southeastern bahamas. the forecast track does it have it taking that more northwest early turn and then rounding up and taking a turn towards the north. we're not talking about impact until we head towards this weekend. notice how large that cone is, guys. look at how far into the northeast this thing goes as well. so a lot of people need to be on alert and these models have been trending eastward and some of them even keep it off the coast. even if it stays off the coast, we do think it will be a big rain and wind maker, especially in the mid-atlantic and northeast. we'll talk more about that and the flood threat in the next hour. >> jacqui has her hurricane emergency kit with her and it's not going to hit atlanta.

>> might show it to you later. >> the epitome of preparation, as we should all be. >> have your junk bag at a moment's notice. >> she's a weather geek. >> she is. now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. the question, should perp walks be public. dominique strauss-kahn is a free man. you know the story by now. the man once considered to be a good bet to be the president of france is accused of rape charges. the rich and powerful dominique strauss-kahn was taken downtown by new york city police and became the star of a very public perp walk. many in france were appalled. even new york mayor michael bloomberg eventually came out against public perp walks saying, i've always thought the perp walk was outrageous, even if they're guilty they're not guilty until they're convicted and we vilify them. one new york city councilman has

banned perp walks in light of the dst perp walk. as cnn legal analyst jeffrey toobin says they're practical. the perp needs to be transported. jurors are smart enough to recognize a perp walk is not proof of anything. casey anthony? she was walked in front of the cameras a million times and found innocent. the perp walk can be a way for a suspect to thumb his nose at accusers. remember mob boss john gotti. no one did perp walk like him. he celebrated it. he owned it. the talk back question today, should perp walks be public? facebook.com/americanmorning. i'll read your comments later this hour. coming up, facebook is making some changes to its privacy settings. find out how it could save you from potential embarrassment. >> will i know how to do it? >> that's the second question. 22 minutes after the hour. ♪ [ upbeat ]

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26 minutes after the hour. minding your business this morning. the dow gained about 3% in a solid rally on wall street yesterday. the nasdaq up more than 4%, the s&p 500 almost 4.5%. good news from the fdic that a number of failing banks shrank for the first time in almost five years. markets got a boost from the growing buzz that the federal reserve chief ben bernanke could announce new measures to help the economy later this week. but economists tell cnnmoney.com they think bernanke will not make such an announcement in his speech in wyoming, opting for a holding pattern to ride out the ailing economy. lots of buzz about this address because at the event last year the fed chief hinted at another

round of economic stimulus which it imme meanted a few months later. economic goods orders for july comes out in two hours. u.s. stock futures for the big three indicators are trading lower ahead of the opening bell. weighing on investor sentiment moody's cutting japan's credit rating. the reason, wide budget defici s s growing debt problems. after the announcement the japanese government unveiled a $100 million emergency package. after a ton of consumer complaints facebook is switching up its privacy controls. users can choose who sees a photo or status update when they post it. no more photo tag surprises when you log on. they have to be user approved. also peek at what your profile looks like to other people. "american morning" right back after the break. stay with us. [ woman ] jogging stroller. you've been stuck in the garage while i took refuge from the pollen that made me sneeze.

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it's half past the hour. good morning. top stories, new reports of incoming fire around the gadhafi compound, but no sign yet of a libyan dictator. in a radio message, gadhafi calls on libyans to clear tripoli of the rebels he says who stormed his compound and taking control of the city. also, our matthew chance reports that fresh clashes are now taking place outside tripoli's rixos hotel where some foreign journalists and some dignitaries are being held by gadhafi loyalists. all the power has been restored to a nuclear power plant in virginia after an earthquake that shook the east coast yesterday. however the plant's two reactors remain off-line while workers walk through safety checks. generators kicked in and the plant says no radiation was leaked. hurricane irene ripping through the turks and caicos islands. take a look at these pictures and the bahamas. it strengthened into a category 2 storm with winds over 100 miles per hour. jacqui jeras says irene could intensify and slam the u.s. by

the weekend. widespread flooding, damage possible from the coastal carolina areas all the way up to major cities in the northeast. emergency preparations are under way. meantime puerto rico reports one death linked to the storm. okay. now back to libya. his whereabouts are still unknown, but moammar gadhafi continues to voice his defiance, urging libyans to cleanse tripoli of traitors and rats. he said that in a radio message. it comes after rebel fighters overran gadhafi's fortress-like compound in the heart of the capital. the rebels claim to control 90% of tripoli. john burns is the london bureau chief for "the new york times" and joins us from cambridge, england, via skype. thank you for being with us this morning, john. >> thank you. >> so, you heard moammar gadhafi's radio messages. he remains defiant even though tripoli is falling. what do you make of that? >> oh, i think it's absolutely in character with this, to put it politely, quirky man. i think he's been delusional for

quite a few years and becomes more delusional as this end game for him develops. >> is there a comparison to saddam hussein? >> well, saddam was a more cold-blooded killer. they're both killers. much more calculating. that's not to say that gadhafi is not a fellow with moxie of his own. there are, of course, situational comparison. both of them vowed to stand with their people and both of them then at the last minute vanished. we don't know whether these radio calls are coming from, but one very dark possibility, i don't want to be an alarmist about this, having stayed for a considerable length of time this summer in the rixos hotel where the journalists are, i think we need to bear in mind that gadhafi has appeared in that

hotel before and appeared to us, occurred on one occasion when i was there, to have some sort of secret access to the hotel interior, possibly by tunnels. the darkest possible interpretation of the current events, since they are holding journalists, in effect, as hostages in that hotel, would be if gadhafi himself had resorted to the hotel or some sort of tunnels beneath it. it would be high on the list of possibilities along with the underground complex under his own command. >> it's interesting, john, you say that. right now, there's a fire fight going on outside of that hotel and yesterday, we interviewed the spokesperson for this opposition group and he believed that this was the new headquarters, if you will, for moammar gadhafi. do you really think it's possible? is there a tunnel underneath that hotel, you think? >> we don't know. all i can tell you, when i was there, he managed on at least

one and possibly two occasions, one we're certain of, come into the hotel, to have an audience, tribal leaders, not more than 50 yards from where the journalists were sitting, having dinner. that suggested that will was a means of getting him and out of the hotel, not through the lobby, not through any access point that we knew of, and there were strong rumors when i was there that this vast hotel complex -- which by the way was built by his son, saif al islam al gadhafi who appeared there, you'll recall, about 36 hours ago when he turned out not to have been captured by the rebels, the hotel is some people call it a six-star prison. it's extremely modern. it has a huge 18,000 square foot spa. and it seems to me that it would be one place that he might go. another reason, again i don't want to be an alarmist about this, my colleagues, including your matthew chance are there,

you have to ask yourself why would those regime elements who are evident to the journalists in that hotel, who are middle-level or low-level people, why would they not have fled and taken their families to safety somewhere else? why would they stay there? there's something they're protecting there. it's not the hotel. the hotel is a very [ inaudible ] place to defend. it's vulnerable, flat planned, almost all the ground floor space has great big plate glass windows looking to the outside. it's not a good place to try to defend, unless, unless your trump card was you could say you had somebody in there and that you were going to protect him at all costs including the lives of others. that's possibly to be an alarmist and we have to hope that's not the case and he's more probably in his own command compound in the underground complex which we know of, definitely, beneath bab al

azizya complex. >> let's hope that's not true, because then you know, all types of scenarios come to your mind, how do you get the journalists out of there safely and they're there alone and the opposition, the rebels, out there firing upon the gadhafi supporters and that's a scary scenario. >> i think -- it's not good to raise unnecessary alarms, but i think if we, put it this way, why are -- are the low-level, medium-level elements of the regime staking things out at that hotel? why would they do that? it might be possibly because they have their own families there. some of them. and they want to protect them. they know nato is not going to bomb, they think, they assume that the rebels will not launch a full-out attack, when 35 foreign journalists are there and the rebels still depend on the support from nato and the west, so, you know, it's a very, very complicated situation. the longer that goes on, i must say, the more concerned i've

become about my colleagues in that hotel. >> john burns, london bureau chief for "the new york times" thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. >> very insightful and gives us something yet more to think about or worry ibabout. washington expected to unfreeze some of the $30 billion it holds in libyan assets now. the question is, where does that money go? who gets it? joining us live from the state department is our foreign affairs correspondent jill dougherty. good morning. this is the age-old issue, when the u.s. is somehow involved in the overturning of a regime somewhere in the world about not being entirely clear on who it is who's replacing that regime, and to what degree they get the assets of the old regime? >> right. well, you know, for a while, ever since march when this began, they've been talking with the body that now really effectively is in charge because, obviously, gadhafi is not in charge of the country at this point. so that is the nts, national

transitional council. the u.s. in the initial stages they have a lot of doubt about them and still kind of a desperate group of people. they believe they are working for a democracy and they are now in charge of a lot of parts of the country, so they have to get the money to them. we expect this week that they are going to be, they hope, to be announcing that they will be -- that they are going to be unfreezing 1 to $1.5 billion of the $35 billion that u.s. froze and that was in order to keep that money out of the hands of gadhafi. so they give it to the ntc, ntc decides how to spend it. how do you guarantee that they will not spend it on weapons, but spend it on what they say they're going to spend it on, which is humanitarian and getting back services to the people? here is how the spokesperson for the state department, victoria nuland, answered that question. >> the tnc has made a strong

commitments to the united states. it has made strong commitants in support of the u.n. -- u.s. request to the u.n. sanctions committee with regard to the use of the money with regard to transparen transparency, et cetera. i'm not prepared to go into details from the podium, but we would not have taken this step if we didn't have confidence that the money will be used, get to the people who need it and used appropriately. >> and then also, there is the stabilization team and yesterday they gave a report saying they're already in operation, working with the united nations on some of these things. they're interested in security, working with the military groups on the ground, also restoring electricity. they say they tried to. there was in equipment breakd n breakdowns. getting gsn and internet backup and getting supplies, food, medical, and helping people in

hospital, things like that. that is the initial thing that they are working on. >> all right. jill, lots of decisions to be made very quickly at the same time, we're trying to figure out who's forming the government and what control they will take of tripoli. we'll stay in touch with you on this topic. >> it's interesting that gadhafi was a gold bug, if you will. $8.6 billion is the value of the gold that gadhafi held. that's all part of this equation about how much money there is and where it goes. just in from the tripoli international airport right now, our em is reporting several rockets have landed nearby, to the tripoli airport. arwa damon is there. our team is on the ground hearing this. they're seeing the smoke. we're going to try to get arwa damon on the phone to talk more about what's happening now at the airport, but several rockets landing there. >> there's gunfire at the rixos hotel. >> that's right. >> there is gunfire and mortar shells at the gadhafi compound. >> that's right. >> and now shelling -- >> rockets landing -- >> if it's a last stand this is

what's going to happen. there are pockets of resistance. we'll speak? in a while little from somebody from the transitional authority, the rebel group, the opposition, if they have 85% of the city, there's still 15% they don't have. >> hopefully it will be over soon. coming up, the bahamas bracing for irene's impact. the storm packing winds of 100 miles per hour. a live report out of nassau next. >> a scare involving nancy reagan. we'll show you what happened. it's 42 minutes after the hour. have i got a surprise for you! a mouthwatering combination of ingredients... i know you're gonna love. [ barks ] yes, it's new beneful healthy fiesta. made with wholesome grains, real chicken, even accents of tomato and avocado. yeah! come on! [ barking ] gotta love the protein for muscles-- whoo-hoo!

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okay. hurricane irene, powerful destructive, and it's only getting stronger. >> irene intensified into a category 2 storm. that means winds near 100 miles per hour aiming for the bahamas, possibly hitting nassau by tomorrow morning. jim spellman joins us live from nassau. they're preparing in the islands for what looks like a monster storm, aren't they, jim? >> yeah, indeed, christine. we've already seen the winds pick up here steadily this morning. the message is clear, get out or baton down the hatches. u.s. state department has put out a travel warning for

tourists encouraging them to leave. the cruise ships pull out a few hours ago. the airport is packed with people trying to make their way out on the last few flights before they shut down around midday. for the people who live here, about 200,000 that live on the island they have a lot fewer options. the whole island is only about 20 miles long. so they don't really have too many places to go. government setting up shelters, trying to be sure people who live in seaside areas like this can have inland place to go. right now the scramble is on just like we always see with a big storm, food, water, prescriptions, diapers, things like that. stores are packed with the bahamians trying to ride out the storm. most of the hotels for the tourists if they can't get out, feel like they're secure. they have shelters set up, built to withstand this and they're confident, used to storms but this is a serious storm not to be taken lightly. it's a review of what the united states will see in a few days. christine. >> jim spellman, in nassau, bahamas, thank you so much. stay safe, please. >> definitely. 16 young children escape

from a school bus that literally went up in flames. take a look at this video. you will not believe it. wow. >> just amazing. you can see the explosion, the bus -- i don't know what happened on the bus but something bad happened. you can hear the kids screaming. terrifying scene for residents in this iowa neighborhood. no one was hurt, thanks to the quick-thinking driver, noticed smoke coming out from the steering wheel and ordered everyone off the bus. a first day of school these kids will never forget. >> just the bus going up in flames and it was loud noises and sparks everywhere and -- >> little scary? >> very scary. >> all the smoke started coming out more and caught on fire and like kept popping, like the gas parts or something and the tires were popping. it was horrible. >> people were screaming, like they all said, we're going to die.

we're going to die. but we all came out fine. >> see, those drills that kids have to do, they worked. >> but yesterday, there was a bus in iowa in council bluff that had to get the kids out because it was in four feet of water. what's going on in the middle of the country? >> only see in the movies. didn't think you had signs like that in real life. >> no word on what caused the explosion. still investigating. it is 48 minutes after the however. the morning's top stories straight ahead, including the tourist attraction damaged in yesterday's earthquake. meet luna, 5'2", happy to take your commands. luna is a personal robot, he says his intention is like an ipad on wheels. >> i'm projecting myself to a remote location using my laptop. this is robotic telepresence.

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how'd you learn to do that? what'd you use? every project we finish comes with a story built-in. it's how our rough ideas become "you did that yourself?" so when we can save more on the projects that let us fix, make, and do more... that just makes the stories even better. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. add some style to your sink, with this moen banbury faucet for the new lower price of $79. 51 minutes past the hour. here's what you need to know to start your day. this morning fresh fighting around the gadhafi compound in tripoli, but no sign of the libyan leader.

gadhafi in a new audio message urged residents to cleanse tripoli, he said, of criminals, traitors and rats who have overrun the capital. also our matthew chance reports that clashes are now taking place outside the rixos hotel where he and 30-some other journalists are trapped. all power has been restored to a nuclear power plant in virginia after that earthquake that shook the east coast yesterday. generators kicked in and the plant says no radiation was leaked. the seismic waves felt by millions from georgia to northern new england. national park service says engineers found a crack near the top of the marble in the washington monument. this after the quake. it will be closed indefinitely to keep visitors safe. hurricane irene strengthening to a category 2 storm as it hits the bahamas. forecasters say irene could, could intensify and slam the u.s. by the weekend. widespread flooding damage is possible from coastal carolina all the way up to major cities in the northeast. emergency preparations are under way right now. a man fell 4,000 feet to his

death while hiking at yosemite national park on monday, although no word yet on what caused him to fall. it's the 17th fatality this year, making 2011 one of the park's deadliest years in at least a decade. a minor scare last night at the reagan library in california. former first lady nancy reagan lost her footing and fell. luckily she was caught by florida senator marco rubio. reagan's spokesperson says the 90-year-old former first lady is just fine. will smith and his wife jada pinkette smith denying a report they're splitting up. "in touch weekly" citing a source saying their 13-year marriage was ending. but the couples say rumors of their breakup are false. that's the news you need to know to start your day. "american morning" back after this break.

we asked you to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. and pretty much to say. we asked you this question, should perp walks be made public? here are some of your responses. this from caleb -- of course we do! this from benny -- >> keep the comments coming. tell us on facebook, that's facebook.com/americanmorning. why are you laughing? >> i think that's true in a lot

of cases. i think in dominique strauss-kahn's case, nobody denied that two people had sex in that room. >> it's not a crime. >> that's true. good point. there you go. >> wow. a little early in the morning for me to be having that conversation with you guys. >> perhaps we'll take a quick break. coming back, storming that compound, coming out with guns, some made of gold. out of this compound, this gadhafi family compound in tripoli, but still no gadhafi which is more valuable than gold to these rebels. the latest on the hunt for the libyan dictator coming up after this break. where do you go to find a super business?

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just say, show me the carfax. breaking news. new clashes taking place right now outside of tripoli's rixos hotel where our matthew chance is hunkered down, but no sign of gadhafi. rebel fighters say he can run, but he can't hide, after they seize his command post. where were you when the east coast shook? new aftershocks and new worries about a nuclear power plant that had to go into emergency mode. >> hurricane irene is getting stronger and nastier leaving

only destruction in its wake and the national hurricane center warns irene may be on a collision course with the united states. a basketball legend diagnosed with a crippling disease but pat summitt says she's not going anywhere on this "american morning." good morning. wednesday, august 24th. welcome to "american morning." >> breaking news out of tripoli. let's get to that, shall we? we're hearing reports of fresh clashes breaking out near the city. reports of smoke rising. in the meantime a new round of fighting at the gadhafi compound. still no word on the whereabouts of the libyan leader. the gunfire has forced cnn's sarah sidner to move from her location there as sarah was with the rebels yesterday when they stormed this compound. >> that is the eastern, the first part of the eastern gate. there are large blast holes in that gate.

this honestly is the nicest part of the city. you're seeing these large, very nicely [ inaudible ]. >> let's pull back a little bit. i'm getting hit by some of the shells. all right. >> sarah sidner this morning is back at that compound. the gunfire there not as intense as it was yesterday, but there is gunfire. we'll check back with her when it's safe. arwa damon also in tripoli, she joins us from outside the tripoli national airport where there are sounds of gunfire and shelling. tell us what's happening, arwa. >> good morning, carol. we're at the tripoli international airport just south of the capital itself and we're hearing nato jets flying overhead right now. there has been intense fighting around this airport for the last three days, especially coming from the east and the south.

we just spoke with the rebel commander who led the operation to take over this critical strategic location and he informed us he believed that fighting around this airport has been so intense because he believes gadhafi loyalists, gadhafi troops, are trying to clear some sort of an escape route for moammar gadhafi himself. he says that last night, as the rebels were breaking their fast, he believed this situation was taken advantage of. they spotted an official convoy that included an armored mercedes and possibly that convoy could have been transport moammar gadhafi himself. we have seen the fighting continuing into today. there have been a couple of occasions where grad rockets have been fired at this complex. the commanders here most certainly believe gadhafi loyalists in the area are going to do all they can to win back this strategic location, carol.

>> arwa damon, many thanks to you. new clashes outside the rixos hotel in tripoli where about 35 journalists remain trapped this morning. they're being held by armed gadhafi supporters. overnight, the journalists slept in hallways to avoid gunfire. it's also quite uncomfortable, no air conditioning and electricity is sporadic. cnn's senior international correspondent matthew chance is inside that hotel. here's what he told cnn's anderson cooper late last night. >> we're still very much in the same kind of grim situation which is that, you know, we're in a hotel on the top floor of the hotel. we've corralled ourselves into that top floor where gadhafi loyalists are still very much in control of this hotel and the immediate perimeter around it. beyond that, i can't give you any good indication of what extent gadhafi forces, what extent they have control around this area. >> overnight matthew tweeted

quote, woke early, gunman in rixos lobby gone. still forces on this perimeter. hoping this nightmare will end in a fizzle, not a bang. there's gunfire outside this morning. >> john burns from "the new york times" told you last hour there's a lot of speculation about why that hotel is so important to the gadhafi forces. could there be a high value target in around or near there, could there be gadhafi loyalists, their families in that hotel. speculating, wondering, could he be there? >> could moammar gadhafi be there. maybe there's a tunnel underneath that hotel. >> a lot of attention on this one hotel and not just because matthew chance and his colleagues and other journalists are staying there. something's going on. we're continuing to stay in touch with our people on the ground. another developing story, officials say we could still feel more aftershocks from yesterday's 5.8 magnitude earthquake in virginia. there are reports that it was felt in 22 states, from maine to georgia to illinois and into

canada. this morning, the washington monument remains closed. structural engineers will evaluate cracks found at the top of the 126-year-old landmark and figure what to do about it. >> the national cathedral closed today. three of the four spirals on the main corner cracked and fell. pending further investigation several government buildings remain closed including the departments of homeland security, health and human services, labor, interior and agriculture. the earthquake's epicenter about 90 miles southeast of washington, d.c. in a place called mineral, virginia. brian todd rushed to the scene in the quake's aftermath. he's there for us this morning. brian, what's the situation where you are? >> reporter: concern here over the safety of a nuclear power plant, the north anna facility, just a few miles from the epicenter. we were told a short time ago that power from the main grid was restored here overnight, the power that fuels the cooling systems for the reactor and for the spent fuel pools.

but both reactors, two reactors housed here, both remain shut down and will be for the rest of the day as they walk through their safety checks. this is one part of how the region is recovering from this earthquake. >> there may be an aftershock but you're allowed to go back in the building at this time. >> reporter: to millions of people on the east coast, this was the big one. >> you believe you've just witnessed an earthquake in washington, d.c. >> reporter: it's the strongest quake to hit the virginia area since 1897, a 5.8, rattling nerves and shaking buildings in the nation's capital. >> i really and truly thought it was some kind of bomb. i never felt nothing like that before in washington. >> i was on the bus and the bus did a shimmy. >> i didn't know what was happening. i thought the building was about to collapse. >> reporter: the quake centered near mineral, virginia, 83 miles from d.c., but could be felt in martha's vineyard where the president is on vacation. shaking felt in more than a dozen states in all even into canada. nbc's cameras focused on the white house caught the shaking as it happened.

some of the masonry of the national cathedral fell off and the national park service says engineers found a crack near the top of the washington monument and it will be closed indefinitely to keep visitors safe. many government buildings, including the pentagon, were evacuated. but no major damage was reported. further north in new york city, people ran from skyscrapers, down flights of stairs as they sway. >> the building shook back and forth. it rocked. >> reporter: near the epicenter of the quake, the north anna nuclear power station. the earthquake triggering an automatic shutdown there. diesel generators kicked in to keep the reactor cores cool, but i spoke to a plant executive who wanted to make sure we knew everything was under control. >> what do you want to say to the public as far as right now? >> well, the power plant is safe, the operators responded well, both units are shut down, maintaining a safe shutdown condition. there was no release of radioactivity.

>> and officials clarified a short time ago, both reactors remain shut down this morning. one official telling me it's unlikely they'll be back on-line later today. they have a lot of safety checks to go through. the power interest the main grid restored here overnight, that's the power that fuels the cooling systems for the reactors and spent fuels. >> if there was a year ago, there would be pressure saying get this back on-line. after what we saw in japan no hurry to get it back until every last safety check is performed. brian todd in mineral, virginia. since, you know, it doesn't seem there is major damage, the best joke i heard yesterday, was fox news reporting that washington monument is leaning to the right, msnbc, the washington monument is leaning to the left, looks like it's straight up the middle. also developing this morning, hurricane irene gaining strength overnight, back up to category 2 storm right now. here's a look at the sheer size of the hurricane seen from the

international space station. isn't that something? jacqui jeras joins us now live in the cnn hurricane headquarter. where is the storm now in any computer models on where it might be going next? >> speaking of leaning a little right or left. >> yeah. >> those computer models have been trending to the right or to the east and we've seen that progressively over the last couple days and they just continue to do that. speaking of size, by the way, when you guys showed that map from space, take a look at this thing. if we put on distance tracker, just to give you an idea, this is not how far the winds extend but the cloud shield itself, take a look at that. we're talking almost 800 miles across. this is just a monster of a storm when it comes to size. it's going to be a monster when it comes to intensity soon. category 2, 110-mile-per-hour winds this will be a major hurricane later today. hurricane hunters are heading into it an hour from now, sample the winds from the atmosphere and we'll find out it will be a category 3 at that time.

look how tight that eye is. we're seeing that stadium effect as we call it there. talk about the forecast track, where this is headed. going through the turks and caicos now, slamming through the southeastern bahamas today. throughout the day tomorrow into friday we'll see it pull out of there and then it takes its aim towards the carolinas. is it going to hit it? >> we don't know for sure at this point. we also have to take note of what's going to happen up here into the northeast. let's check out those computer models. it had been trending off to the east and notice they're clustered through the bahamas. that gives us a lot of confidence in the forecast but they start to may have odisplay little bit. all the models bringing it this way yesterday and look how many keep it offshore. that's a possibility at this point as the carolinas could get lucky. you need to be prepared any way you slice it. we need to watch the mid-atlantic and parts of new england for this and even as this stays offshore, guys, the big thing to keep in mind is this will still likely be a big

wind and rainmaker. take a look at the precipitation forecast or how much rainfall potentially we could see in the next five days. as much as 6 to 12 inches of rainfall towards those coastal areas. a lot of threats, a lot of potentials with this storm and we'll continue to keep it up to date. i'm going to try to not lean but those models keep going one way or the other. >> you stay down the middle, jacqui. >> that's what i'm going tore. >> and report which ever way it's going. >> thank you. still to come this morning, a big save by florida senator marco rubio. this is not political. before he delivered a speech at the reagan presidential library last night, see what he did. >> and probably the most frightening 45 seconds of their lives cashier stares down the barrel of a gun at the food mart. employees fight back. the amazing surveillance video ahead on that. plus the family of amy winehouse revealing what was in the singer's system at the time of her death. the results may surprise you. you're watching "american morning." it's 11 minutes past the hour. ♪

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if such a thing were possible after watching our coverage yesterday, the situation in libya actually appears to be growing more tense this morning. gunfire, mortar shelling being reported at the gadhafi compound. a day after the rebels took control of it. >> we're hearing of shots being fired outside the hotel where dozens of journalists, including cnn's matthew chance, are holed up. joining us now with his insights in these new developments, fawaz azam my. we heard from john burns at "the new york times" and someone from the bbc writing why is i this hotel important, could gadhafi be there? >> i love john burns. he's a celebrated reporter and having covered the iraq war, having spent eight years of my life thinking about iraq john is ama amazing. what's interesting about matthew chance and this hotel, matthew chance is a human shield. that's what it is. he's captured by a dying regime and where gadhafi is, of course

we don't know. he's looking for a spider hole. he's looking for a spider hole. and howling that he says calling on the tribes to rebel, all this is meaningless. the regime has fallen and the regime was just the house of gadhafi. >> people are wondering where he is and i'm sure the opposition would like to parade moammar gadhafi through the streets. arwa damon reported she saw reinforced mercedes speeding towards the airport and the airport has come under fire. so, she's saying it's possible they're trying to carve out an escape route for moammar gadhafi. would it be possible he could get out of the country? >> he could be at the algerian border. take a look at neighborhood of this new libya, free libya, which is what it is, a free libya, it has favorable boarders, tunisia on one side, egypt on the other, but the algerians are committed to moammar gadhafi, they're corrupt like him. he has options. he could go to chad where he paid tons of money to the rulers there. i think he is a man, he is a

man, hunted man. we should see him for what he is, a fugitive from libyan justice and international justice. >> we've been fairly obsessed, rightly so, with the question of what happens next. we've spoken to people in the opposition movement, they're surprised at how quickly tripoli fell. it's going to take a few days to get organized. you wrote an op-ed, pause and think about what happened. this wasn't just a democratic movement in the streets that got a regime to fall. this is people who took down an army and an iron-clad regime. >> how could you not love them and how could you not wish them well. there's something i saw on a report from al jazeera, a man who's 47 years old, his daughter on his shoulders, he says, i am 47 years old, 47 lost years. this is the first day in my life i feel happiness. we know libya very well. the man terrorized his population, willfully imporch

rished his population because poor people are easier to control. 42 years he owned a country. if you want to know the scale of evil, this is really what we're talking about. a mad man who owned a country. >> so going back to where this mad man is, and what happens once he's caught, i mean, what is your best prediction about what will happen? we heard from the opposition saying we don't want to kill anybody. we want justice to be served. but let's say the wrong rebel finds gadhafi. >> right. good. as far as i'm concerned. that's okay. but look, there is this transitional council. we know something about them. we've seen them. the american diplomats who were skeptical of them and went to benghazi over and over again, look at the cast of characters, old man, the former minister of justice, is chairman, mahmoud ja little, a ph.d. from the university of pittsburgh is prime minister, the minister of fitness, quit his job as at the

university of washington professor of economics and went back to his country. there are many decent libyans eager to claim their country, to take it back back from this man and his terrible children. >> the road to freedom and the road to new birth is paved with thievery and fighting and we've seen the history books are littered with examples of where the money corrupts. $30 billion -- >> look what happened to the compound. the gadhafi compound they went the and took stuff out, took the gold guns and everything of value they could carry. >> even in the case of iraq, remember the shrink pallets of iraqi money we brought back in from c-130s and disappeared. how do you make sure the next step and money used in the right way? trust this council? >> we don't know. there is an uncertainty about history, if you bill will. forgive me, i'm sure i'll lose your audience, the great roman historian said the best day after a bad emperor is the first day. the first day always good and things get complicated.

>> this is the first day. >> yes. you have to trust in freedom's possibilities. 6 million people are eager to claim their country. rule it better than gadhafi, not bring down civilian aircrafts and so on. we have to celebrate that. >> you wrote that in your column, so i quoted it on tv yesterday and we've quoted it twice on "american morning" for the first time in history. >> thank you. >> our audience does appreciate it. >> they're with us. >> we love the romans. don't we? >> thank you so much. staring down the barrel of a gun, not in libya, at a food mart. a really scary armed robbery caught on tape in texas. three thieves, one with a gun, stormed in. you see him leaping over the counter to grab the cash. the clerk fights back. and she's a tiny thing. she tries to grab the gun. not -- >> i think they recommend you don't do that. >> look at her. she is not taking this. >> she has a broom in her hand and beating the guy. police say the robbers got away with about $2,000 but everybody is okay. >> oh, my gosh. >> don't do that. >> i would not do that.

you know what, good for her. fights back. ouch. all right. another scary moment, this one for nancy reagan. former first lady lost her footing, nearly hit the ground during an event last night at the reagan library. >> breaks my heart. >> here's the good part. marco rubio, florida senator, be he grabbed her. she never made it to the ground. escorting reagan and able to break her fall. spokesperson for the 90-year-old reagan says she is doing just fine. good on both of them. casey anthony has until noon friday to report to the probation officer in orlando, florida. an appeals court ruling anthony must serve a year's probation in the state on a check fraud conviction. the court rejected a claim that she had served that sentence while in jail awaiting trial for murder. anthony as you remember was acquitted in her toddler daughter's death. ♪ ♪ tap your boyfriend ♪ to buy his own >> toxicology tests are in.

amy winehouse had no illegal drugs in her system when she was found dead in her london apartment last month. singer's family say authorities did find evidence of alcohol, but it's not clear whether alcohol played a role in her death. no mention whether any prescription drugs were found. winehouse, known for battling drug addiction, was just 27. >> big loss. big loss for the artistic world. still to come, facebook making more changes to its privacy settings. how it could save you from potential embarrassment. interesting changes and what you can do about it. >> mark your calendar, sprint getting ready to get into the iphone game. more details about this after the break.

25 minutes after hours. minding your business this morning, the dow gained about 3% in a solid rally on wall street yesterday. the nasdaq up more than 4%. the s&p 500 gaining almost 3.5%. pushing stocks higher good news from the fdic that the number of failing banks fell for the first time in almost five years. markets also got a boost from growing buzz that fed chairman ben bernanke could announce new measures to help the economy later on this week. but, economists tell cnn money they think bernanke isn't going to make any kind of announcement in his speech at jackson hole, wyoming, even though there are concerns about another recession. last year the fed chief hinted at another round of stimulus and implemented it a few months later. the u.s. stock futures on the dow, nasdaq and s&p are trading lower. a market mover report on durable goods orders for july that comes out before the bell. investors looking for any signs of an uptick in the economy and economists are forecasting a

rise in the durable goods orders last month. weighing moody's is cutting japan's credit rating. the reason widespread financial problems because of the natural disasters that rocked the country this year. right after the announcement, the japanese government unveiled a $100 billion emergency package to fight the spike in the yen. that's been hurting the country's crucial export business, making it more expensive for the japanese to sell goods abroad. after a ton of customer complaints facebook is switching up its privacy controls. users can choose who sees a photo or a status update when they post it. new photo tags will have to be approved so you won't see any more surprise tags when you log on. you can peek at what your profile looks like to other people. "wall street journal" reporting sprint will start selling apple's iphone 5 in october, that news journal attributes to inside sources pushed sprint stock 10% higher. sprint and apple declined comment. for the news about your money, check out the new cnnmoney.com.

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welcome back. your top stories now. this just in from our crew on the ground in libya. nato planes have been heard overhead at the airport in tripoli. rebels are telling our arwa damon there's been intense fighting there. some believe gadhafi loyalists are trying to give their leader in hiding an escape route. just to bring you up to speed, we have reports of nato aircraft over the airport, we have reports of fighting outside the rixos hotel where our matthew chance and moved sarah sidner away from the gadhafi compound where she was reporting live for us gunfire started to intensify and mortars started to fly. >> a lot going on here in the united states in the atlantic, hurricane irene now a category 2 storm as it's reaching the bahamas at this hour. its winds over 100 miles per hour. jacqui jeras says irene could

get stronger, could strike the u.s. this weekend. widespread flooding damage is possible from coastal carolina all the way up to the major cities of the northeast. and the east coast shaking, rattled and rolled. all power restored to a nuclear power plant in virginia after the earthquake that hit the east coast. generators kicked in and the plant says no radiation was leaked. however two of the plant's reactors remain off-line while workers walk through safety checks. the fight for tripoli wages on. new reports of clashes outside the rixos hotel and incoming fire at gadhafi's old compound. rebel fighters took that massive compound tuesday where they found and helped themselves to plenty of weapons. but no colonel gadhafi. the libyan leader still remains m.i.a. but managed to send out an audio address this morning. >> translator: i call to all libyans tribesmen, youth, seniors, women, and loyal

fighters, to clear the city of tripoli and eliminate the criminals, traitors and rats. >> gadhafi also called his retreat from his compound tactical. retired general james marks joins me to discuss the battle in tripoli. good morning, the middle east scholar told us it's a new day for libya but chaotic day and there are still these skirmishes, still, you know, still a dangerous situation, and we still don't know where moammar gadhafi is. one of the sort of theories this morning is that maybe he is right under their noses, maybe in tunnel compounds under, you know, his compound, maybe at the rixos hotel. why are they still guarding that hotel so carefully? what is your best guess? >> it is a guess. i don't think anybody knows other than those that might have been following this very, very closely for some time, but he probably is with his loyalists, if not in the compound, could very much, i think that's

probably a good theory, he could be in the rixos. i don't have any indications that would be the case. christine, what's important is, what you see playing out right now, is a very intense tactical fight. we should expect that to take place through today, maybe tomorrow, but what's critically important is the ntc, national transitional council, needs to be rolling into town right now and establishing calm where they can establish calm and get very, very directive in terms of gathering in all those weapons that they're policing up. those things have to be controlled or they're going to end up some place where we don't want them to be. >> we're not seeing that control quite yet. >> not at all. >> talking to our reporters and it's celebrations, it's gunfire, then it's squirmishes again and yesterday a leader of the ntc told us that tripoli fell so quickly for them, they needed a few more days to set up a security council and it would take them a matter of days. wear seeing these boxes of guns and that's one thing. but libya has amassed a great

deal of weapons in different locations around tripoli, 20,000 shoulder-fired rockets, ten tons of mustard gas, tons of raw uranium yellowcake. the people we're seeing take tripoli don't look like they have the organization, the man power, the experience to be able to secure these locations. what's happening? >> christine, i hope the guys we see that are assaulting the compound, are not the ones in charge of manning and inventorying and ensure that these things, these facilities with the yellowcake, mustard gas, are rendered safe, inventoried and locked down and rendered safe. i have no clue how that's taking place. the united states, the international community, knows very clearly what were the designated or known locations for this stuff. i hope somebody's now in a position to do something about that and to make sure they've got a control. that's why all along we've danced around the notion of boots on the ground. if not some other nation or some

international body controlling that stuff, these guys aren't. i think that needs to be addressed asap. in the euphoria of this moment, this is great, but there has to be a real focus on the next step. not the celebratory fire. what's the next step to make sure this stuff doesn't get out of control. >> boots on the ground, notwithstanding, can we assume there are americans maybe in wind breakers, combat boots and sunglasses who know where these things are and watching carefully? >> yeah. blue jeans, yep. i would certainly assume that, yes. that there are -- and, and we probably have a number of our national systems with some capabili capability, precise capabilities, looking at these. >> satellites and the like. >> clearly watching from the sky. >> satellites, uavs, fixed wing aircraft and probably folks on the ground, personal experience in my case, tracking wmd from a distance is difficult to do. >> all right. major general spider marks,

thank you for joining us. i know your expertise is excellent in this situation. thank you. >> thank you. we'll stay on that story. bring you back to the united states, new this morning, a tragedy at yosemite national park. a man fell 4,000 feet to his death while hiking the half dome summit on monday. no word on what caused him to fall. this is the 17th fatality this year. making 2011 one of the park's deadliest years in at least a decade. at a meeting this afternoon protesters and officials from san francisco's transit system will square off over the agency's decision to cut cell phone service. a move to stop some demonstrations after transit police shootings. airports got fly i friendly, two big changes after new government rules took effect yesterday. travelers who get bumped off their flights can expect more compensation. you can get up to $650 depending on the kind of delay. airports will be forced to pay

heavy fines with international flights with long waits on the tarmac. >> travel delays caused by weather still don't get you compensation. a lot of travel delays are caused by weather and air traffic control. some say it means more cancellations. because whether them get into -- just cancel my flight two hours ahead of time so i don't have to go there. >> don't waste my time. and secondly, it didn't end up having the cancellations when they imposed the first fine, $23,000 a passenger, you know, if delays happen. frankly, probably works. >> you could go in your separate corners and duke it out. >> carol has to officialate. >> i still have to do more news. >> okay. >> we'll take a break and then i'm going to do more news. we'll duke it out in the break. the news that shocked the sports world. pat summitt diagnosed with early onset alzheimer's. we'll talk to dr. sanjay gupta about living with dementia and

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this is cnn breaking news. we are going straight to the rixos hotel in tripoli. matthew chance is there on the phone for us. matthew, we've been reporting about the situation around there all morning. what is happening at the rixos hotel and with you? >> the past few minutes there have been developments, quite negative ones for those concerned. we've had one journalist come through, managed to find a way through from outside, from tripoli, into the rixos hotel. he negotiated with the guards, came through on the basis he was going to be allowed international jurm journalist be allowed to take one of the journalists who are inside the rixos holed up here, it's still controlled by the government, on what was a shopping trip and take them out, take that one person out, and basically take

them away. but what happened when they got outside with this journalist who was leaving with him, there was a gun fight and the driver of the car who was waiting for them fled in a hurry and left them stranded at the hotel. that's an additional person at the hotel. shortly afterwards more journalists arrived at the hotel, gun fight, they fled into the hotel and an additional four people came inside. within the past 30 minutes we've had five additional international journalists, most of them american citizens as far as we can make out. who have come into this hotel, perhaps as an attempt to do reporting on what's going on here. they found themselves now in the same situation that we are in, ali. which is very negative. >> matthew, before that, before that, we understood there to be about 35 people and what's happening is we've been getting reporting all morning that there's some importance to the rixos hotel, other than the fact

that there are just journalists there. what is your sense of why the government is treating this location as so important? >> you know, absolutely no idea. i really don't know the answer to that question. yeah, there's all sorts of rumors about how this place is of some strategic significance to the gadhafi regime, but we've scoured this hotel from top to bottom and can't see any other reason it would be valuable to the remnants of the gadhafi regime except for the fact that international media is inside it and perhaps that's what's happening now. maybe there's a sense in which we are not being allowed to leave, we want to leave, we feel we're in danger, we feel we're victims. but, of course, not being permitted to leave. we've seen examples now over the course of the past 30 minutes vividly illustrated with the gun fights taking place outside as journalists attempted to enter the hotel without negotiating.

the other situation occurred as well, which i mentioned to you. we're in a very -- very fragile position and we're very concerned about how it's going to come to an end. >> you said five more journalists are inside. that brings up the total number of people and already food is in short supply, electricity spotty. how will this -- i just can't imagine what life is like there now. >> yeah, it's pretty grim. we have enough water and food for a couple days. we're talking about snacks and chips and things like that. fast food, junk food. we've got some bottled water, soft drinks things like that. no more than for a couple of days. after that we're going to be in real trouble. water has been cut off in the hotel. we've filled up bottles of water from the swimming pool which is in the hotel. that's slowly draining as well. that water we use it to flush

lavaer tos and washing and stuff like that. we're in a dire situation. i would encourage other journalists in tripoli moving around, not to attempt to come into the hotel because it's dangerous first of all and secondly there's been a lot of pressure on our resources. >> yeah. let me ask you, john byrnes from "the new york times" said something compelling. said he's been in that hotel many times and he's met with gadhafi at that hotel and gadhafi seems to just appear there before, seemed as though he had a secret entrance into that hotel. is there any talk that, perhaps, somehow this is connected to bunkers or connected to the gadhafi compound, which i know is not right next door, but is near? >> it is near. it's in the same area, as all the offices of other prominent members of the gadhafi family, but as i say, we have absolutely

no evidence that i've seen in this hotel any way connected by a secret tunnel network, tunnels rather, to any of those other key government installations in this town. i'm not saying it's not the case. it's just we've scoured this hotel top to bottom, in search of food, down to the basement -- >> matthew, why do you think they're holding you in there? what's the point? >> it's difficult to give an answer to that. you know, there have been some international organizations that have commented on why they think we're being held here, being held by a regime, what one organization reported, [ inaudible ]. you know, it's not clear whether we're [ inaudible ] not clear if they want -- [ inaudible ]

gadhafi part of the story. hardly any contact with any officials, so, you know, it's really hard to put your finger on why we are here. what the purpose of us being essentially kept here against our will is. >> matthew, are you in touch with rebels? what's your contact with the outside world, whether it's rebels or the government sources? >> well, communications out of the hotel are very poor indeed. through our headquarters in atlanta, obviously, with our management, we're talking to the gadhafi loyalists who are on the ground here in the hotel, but low-level people. they're not people with any authority. they've been given orders to police the grounds of this hotel and they're doing that. beyond that, we've not got any contact with, you know, the world beyond the perimeter wall of this hotel. >> what's the mood like among you and your colleagues? are you able to remain calm?

is everyone in good health? i mean, is there any kind of a situation where some people might have to somehow be escorted out of there? >> we'd love to be escorted out of here. in terms of the people's moods, it's occasionally there's a degree of, you know, we're all frustrated, obviously. we're all very concerned. there's a collegiate atmosphere as well. we're joined together in sort of as a group of international correspondents, many of whom are very experienced indeed. we've got, you know, some, you know, some top people from the world of foreign reporting from all the big news agencies, from cnn, obviously, from bbc, from the associated press, from reuters, there are people here from british television networks as well, and so yes, i mean,

there's a collegiate atmosphere but obviously we're all very aware of the dangers that we've found ourselves in and we've all got pretty much the same opinion, we feel like we've become, you know, the victims of this crisis in libya in many ways. we wanted to, you know, kind of end that as soon as possible, but negotiating that end is proving very, very difficult indeed. >> matthew chance, we're praying for you and the rest of the journalists. >> i've got to go. >> bye, matthew. >> reporter: got to go. listen. >> we are getting a lot of tweets of people who are very concerned about matthew and his team. they have been tweeting out there as regularly as they can to give us an update but that is some of the most crucial information we are getting out there. we have arwa damon arnd her tea and sara sidner and her team.

>> a lot of these people have seen about everything and they are pretty frustrated about what they are experiencing right now. >> i can't imagine what their families are going three so i much admire them. thank you for your work. we will be back.

welcome back. she is the winningest college basketball coach in history but legendary tennessee coach pat

summitt has never faced anything like this before. >> earlier this year, the doctors at the mayo cling diagnosed me with an early onset dementia, alzheimer's type at the age of 59. i plan to continue to be your coach. for that reason, i will be relying on my outstanding coaching staff like never before. >> wow. what a candid expression. 59 years old. joining us to talk about living dementia is chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta. unusually young for this diagnosis at 59. >> is there an early onset type of dementia and occurs in people under age 65 is what the early onset mean. you're right. when you look at the dementias across the board, only 5% of these dementias occur in people under the age of 65. so it is young.

that tends to be more likely to happen in someone who has had a family history incidentally. her maternal grandmother she went on to say had this type of dementia so she has some family history here. they develop memory loss and personality changes and develop withdrawal and these can the early signs and symptoms of alzheimer's type dementia. she said i was forgetting appointments and second-guessing myself and she had to ask her son the question over and over again to get the answer and what tipped her off and those are the early signs as well. >> but, sanjay she says she wants to continue to coach. first of all, can she do that and are there any treatments that might help her along the way? >> it's interesting. when you look at a diagnosis like this, first of all, it is still very much a clinical diagnosis meaning a series of questions are often presented, basic math questions and basic memory questions and to get an idea, first of all, does the dementia exist and to some

degree the severity of it. i should point out doctors rule out other things as possibilities of causing memory loss first. as far as her coaching goes, i think that this is a tough decision. there is no absolute sort of rule book and this question is posed to us as doctors all the time exactly what is a person capable of continuing to do. it is a progressive problem usually. so what she is able to do now may be different than what she is able to do several years from now and that is going to be something she is probably getting constant feedback from her coaching staff and the people who support her in this sort of position but your judgment is not as impacted as your memory. some of the activities of daily living. to the es tenth her judgment is being called for as a basketball coach, that is something that could remain intact for many years to come. >> inspiration for people who are living with dementia, early onset dementia or alzheimer's or people caring for someone who could be in their role. i think an inspiring move. >> sanjay, thank you very much. >> you got it.

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breaking news. gadhafi loyalists making a last stand. i'm christine romans. reports of new fighting around the gadhafi compound now controlled by rebels and rocket fire right now at the tripoli airport. hurricane irene tearing a deadly path through caribbean. i'm carol costello. warnings that the united states may be its next target. we are tracking irene live from our hurricane headquarters. a earthquake knocks a nuclear power plant off line not far from the nation's capital and raising concerns about whether we are ready for something bigger on this "american morning." ♪

good morning, everyone. it is wednesday, august 24th. >> lots going on. let's get to it. new clashes between rebels and gadhafi loyalists around tripoli. listen. there are reports of rockets lappeding near the tripoli airport as well. nato jets have been heard overhead and rebels telling cnn's arwa damon they believe gadhafi loyalists are trying to establish an escape route for him. >> they are also reports of new clashes between rebels and pro gadhafi forces outside the rixos hotel in tripoli where cnn's matthew chances and other journalists covering the conflict are holed up and unable to leave and hostages of the gadhafi loyalists. >> just a horrible situation for them there. gadhafi has visited that hotel that is under siege before. here he is back in may at the very hotel we are talking about.

earlier, we spoke to john burns of "the new york times." he said he wouldn't be surprised if gadhafi popped up out of nowhere in that very hotel again. >> we don't know whether he is -- calls are coming from but one very dark possibility, i don't want to be alarmist about this, but having stayed for a considerable length of time this summer in the rixos hotel where the journalists are, i think we need to bear in mind that gadhafi has appeared in that hotel before and that it appeared to us that it occurred on one occasion when i was there to have some sort of secret access to the hotel interior, possibly by tunnels. >> still no sign of gadhafi, though. but the libyan leader in hiding delivered that new audio message overnight. you heard john mention it. gadhafi urge is his supporters to cleanse tripoli of the rats and traitors who stormed his compound and taken control of the city. >> cnn's arwa damon joins us

live from tripoli and near the airport where we have heard jets overflying overhead. have you heard the jets and what is the latest at the airport, arwa? >> reporter: good morning. yes, in fact, we had been hearing them until recently. there were rockets fired at the airport complex earlier today. the fighting around here has been quite intense and the rebel commander who led the assault on the airport believes that that fighting is directly linked to the whereabouts of colonel gadhafi himself. >> translator: the clashes are fierce because i think a route for gadhafi to escape. traffic all day and breaking people in the sunset and we spotted a convoy. possible he may be inside it. there has been intense firing from all directions for the last three days. there has been a focus on this

airport complex more than other locations even in tripoli. this is evidence that gadhafi is in the area but wants to escape from tripoli from here. >> we lost the signal from arwa damon but she says she has been hearing firing around the airport and we don't know anything for sure at this point whether that was gadhafi trying to escape in a fortified mercedes. it looks like a chance for a brighter future in libya. the u.s. role in that still uncertain right now. >> this morning, we have been speaking with a senior fellow at the hoover institution, formally the director of middle east studies at johns hopkins university and leading authority on the region. since we last talked, faweed, we spoke to arwa damon and sara sidner and matthew chance. now 35 or so foreign journalists are holed up inside that hotel

and not told they are hostages but they are not allowed to leave. >> but they are. >> what is so important going on at this rixos hotel hichlt? >> i respect people reading reports and being in the library stacks, i admire that. reporters have an instinct and they smell something and have an instinct for it. i think what john burns says carries its weight but i think it's very speculativspeculative >> arwa, we have you back. pick up where you left off you had speculation from others whether or not they are trying to create an escape route for moammar gadhafi. >> reporter: yeah, ali, the chief rebel commander here believes the intense iity is lid to the escape route for gadhafi.

or that he is possibly is around the airport itself most likely to the east. this, of course, is speculation at this stage. they did spot a convoy they said contained an armored mercedes yesterday at around sunset, dusk, when the rebel fighters breaking their guard and they spotted this convoy coming through the rebel commander tell us they passed this information on to nato and so they most certainly are upping their efforts here as well as passing on those -- this critical information because, of course, rebels most certainly do want to capture gadhafi. that would be main and top prize at this point. >> right. arwa, we know the rebel leadership is really in ben ghazi. as you're watching tripoli and watching the rebels go, sort of, i guess, street-by-street, road-by-road, how organized are they at this point? how well are they coming together in what is now, i guess, the first full day after

the crumbling of that regime? how are they faring? >> reporter: well, look. they are more organized than they have been in the past and most certainly picked up a critical lesson from in the field experience they have obtained the last five or six months as they made their way up to tripoli. at the end of the day this is not a fully trained military. this is a civilian who decided to rise up, pick up weapons and literally learn as they go. of course, they face numerous challenges. the commanders at the airport were telling us themselves that after the initial rush into tripoli, they were forced to pull back from certain locations after it appeared that gadhafi forces reorganized and managed to launch counterattacks. while the commanders here are telling us that they most certainly have seen many suks, they are not quite saying just yet they are victorious. they do realize the gadhafi loyalists out there could be a threat and they realize they need to structure themselves militarily that they can hold the ground that they have gained

so far, but what they have done is moving into tripoli, they have managed to set up sleeper cells inside the city when they gave the signal a few days ago, those sleeper cells that had a sew fisted indicated military structure managed to join in the uprising. on the one hand we have seen them gain this experience, gain a certainly level of sew fastication. on the other hand we have seen them act as a rag tag group and moving in without paying full attention to the situation and fully militarily analyzing the situation they are getting into. >> i'm continue to be obsessed where moammar gadhafi is. is there some organized effort on the part of the opposition to look for him? >> reporter: well, look. the units that are being at the airport most certainly are trying to push out to the east where there are two military complexes located, where the bulk of the incoming fire that has been landing at the tripoli international airport has been coming from. they have also been trying to

clip the route to the north to the main highway that would be from the airport complex to the bab al aziziya compound. it's been very challenging for them. they are telling us, because, again, of the intensity of fighting that they are encountering and continue to emphasize it, this has been rather unexpected and that is why they are going so far to say that it has to be because forces around here are trying to protect gadhafi or clear an escape route for him. if he were to escape, the commanders here are speculating that he likely would be trying to go to the south, possibly to sirte, another stronghold in the east. >> interesting. the other thing i was wondering if moammar gadhafi has all of these chemical weapons inside, is there a fear that those loyal to him might use them against the opposition? >> reporter: no. i think that sort of a fear that lingers. there is always the fear and the

concern and also been brought up that he would possibly -- some sort of a spectacular last-ditch attack. when we see the fighters that not really their main concern. what their main concern is gain full control over the country so that they can move into the next phase of trying to rebuild a new libya, but most certainly there is a realization in the back of everyone's mind because this is a man who has proven to be entirely unpredictable and been a man that has on many occasions threatened the officials and they say it is unexpect of him. they say they fully expect he is going to try to destroy anything and everything on his way out in trying to defend himself. >> arwa damon at the tripoli airport, amazing reporting. stay safe. we want to bring in middle east scholar who has been with us this morning and walking us through what is happening here.

you heard arwa talk about the quality of the rebels and you talked about these are teachers and professors and economic professors from the united states who come back to -- tell us how about how important it is for u.s. and international help in the next steps for this country. what it should look like and the u.s. role in particular. >> well, i think it's interesting. president obama did not want to really get deep into this libyan crisis. we have to understand this. the only reason we went into libya, the only reason a limited american role is because gadhafi was a fool. we got into this but reluctantly. we led from behind the famous expression. other people are more involved in this liberation of libya. if i were to give the gold medal, if you will, for the man who helped this libyan rebellion

is sarkozy, the french president. one thing good about libya, it does not have any -- on its borders. the region around iraq wanted iraq to fail. the neighbors in libya want libya to succeed. >> i know the president talked to the president of france about this. i don't know. if you could be a fly on the wall. >> sure. >> what is the president of the united states asking of sarkozy? >> i think not so much what asking. i think now international rescue committee to help the libyans. interestingly enough, the arabians have done well and try to stay out but in the case of gadhafi he has alienated the arabs he turns his back on them and went into the whole african thing. i think qatar is helping and in

the success of libya they have probably hundreds of thousands of laborers who want to work in libya. so it bodes well. >> let's go to sara sidner. she joins us from the square in tripoli. you have relocated. what is the situation where you are on the ground? >> reporter: we are in green square now, renamed by the rebels martar square, where there are still celebrations going on today. cars driving around. there was a bit of sporadic shooting in the air. i think when you hearing there and seeing in that video there is overnight we were here as everyone came out on the streets and started blasting away and celebrating and saying that libya was free and that moammar gadhafi's regime was no more. a lot of excitement, but one thing i want to point out here. there is still a battle going on.

when we were still outside bab al aziziya, mortars were still coming toward that compound. that means still gadhafi forces in this city that the rebels have not been able to control the entire city and one thing we want to mention is that the organization is such that in some areas of the city you're having celebratory gunfire and people going around and doing doughnuts and the other part of the city there is a firefight. and you -- >> sounds like we lost her. >> the funny thing is we know that nato planes, reports of nato planes flying over the airport and whenever that happens they sort of block transmission to like jam things for those who are loyal to moammar gadhafi so maybe that is what is happening. you heard sara say that there are still parts of the city under gadhafi force control which is to be expected. it's a big city. >> absolutely, absolutely. you have to think of the nato planes as the air force of this rebellion. this is the air force of this

rebellion. it leveled the killing field and gave these people a chance against the forces of a man who had four decades to organize his regime such as it is. >> you read a message by somebody who said he is 47 years old and he has lived -- he has hated his life for 47 years here. here is something that is different from iraq, different from egypt. the infrastructure, when this new group takes over, they don't have the bureaucracy and infrastructure that existed in a lot of other countries. moammar gadhafi really ruled this place not with just an iron fist but he decimated what you would think of as normal infrastructure. >> absolutely. the arabs say dictators devour the green and the dry. he ate everything. he left his country denuted of public life and something moved me deeply yesterday watching this upheaval. people are being interviewed and they delighted in giving their names! they said this is my name!

you know? i exist! it's not just moammar gadhafi and saif and his terrible daughter, we have to give her also credit in this evil. >> a lot of people you were talked about were being interviewed with sara sidner. the world was glued to your conversation with the rebels yesterday. what was your read on them? because we saw some of them opening up boxes of gun is like they had never seen guns before and we saw you telling some of them be quiet if you can because you were hit by shell casings. are they going to be able to finish the job? >> reporter: i think they will be able to finish the job because there are some very serious fighters here who are very serious about getting the job done. what you have, though, is a difficulty where you have people from all over the country. a lot of people are not from here that have come into this city and from places like

misrata and ben ghazi and come into this city because they want to make sure that they really do have a grip on all of the country and this being the capital, is the most important. one thing people are very clear about is that they want a libya that is united. they do not want to divide libya. they do not want to change where the capital is. we have heard that over and over again. if there were people in this city which there certainly were and are that supported the gadhafi regime but they are going to look at now is how they can include everyone in the next libya, in the new libya. we are hearing that over again. people are being clear they want to include everyone in this process of being a different country than they were for 24 years. remember, moammar gadhafi came into this country as a revolutionary himself. a green book telling them how people should act and what they should do and they saw him as a revolutionary. i think you're seeing now the

young people of libya, they are now the revolutionaries and therapy the ones who want to form a better nation for all of the people here and that is giving us real hope that libya will grow, that it will be a better nation in the coming years and people will not live in fear of a regime that really cracked down on anyone who decided to even mention their dislike or their distrust of the regime. >> sara, i'm just wondering, for those who are not fighting, who don't have a gun in this battle, the women, the children, and the younger men when he are no are fighting, how are they staying safe? >> reporter: yeah, we are first seeing people fleeing the city yesterday. today and last night, a big difference. we actually saw a few people coming into the city. there were children waving. the rebel flag which is the flag that existed before moammar gadhafi took over libya.

there were mothers in the street. i do want to mention your gentleman guest there, i'm not sure he is speaking to me because i didn't hear but he did say something poignant. throughout of the reporting we have done, cnn correspondents and crew, if they had family because they were terrified that if there faces were shown, that their family would be harmed. now people are willing to show their faces, they are willing to say their names, they feel like their family are safe because they have seen the rebels have pushed through a place that they just could not believe -- so, yes, people feel lying this is over in a sense, although moammar gadhafi and his family have not been found. >> speaking with the middle east scholar fouad ajami to fill you in. i wonder what people think about the audio messages from moammar gadhafi if he called them traitors and rats and scum, the

people who are, you know, threatening his regime, do they just dismiss it? they are not afraid of him any more? >> reporter: when he first started saying that he was going to go corner-to-corner and was going to rout out like rats, it really hit people in their hearts, it made them very angry, it made them fiercely, fiercely angry. now, they are basically laughing at him. they are basically saying, you said you were going to do this, you don't have the gun power. we are here and we are in your compound and we are in your personal space and you can say whatever you want but we have taken over the capital and we have taken over the country. so i think there's a little bit of -- they are almost sort of laughing at him saying, you know, wherever you are, you're one in hiding, not us. >> sara, we are hearing gunfire about you constantly. everyone is glued to your reporting has been hearing this with you. obviously, you got a still soul about you. who is shooting?

>> we lost her! >> i really wanted the answer to that one! >> yes! >> to some degree, she was saying some of it is sell vertebra tore why were fighting but some of it is real. still fighting going on. >> there is something very interesting, ali, about this upheaval. gadhafi kept calling his people rats. the city dictator who we come in a couple of months and we will talk about him. he called his people germs because he is an eye doctor. somebody carrying a placard in syria saying the germs of syria salute the rats of libya. it was this moment. you know when regimes fold is when it becomes material for jokes. >> yes. >> it is interesting in watching what is happening in egypt. it's been a rocky road there to democracy if that is what, in the end, that form of government will be. the young people why egypt are

upset because they still don't have jobs with the change in the leadership and that is certainly going to be the case in libya. >> absolutely. but libya has something unique, 1.6 million barrels of oil a y day. >> don't forget the gold! 8.6 billion in gold. >> tons of money. when you think of 6 million libya libyans, a vast country, a rich country, close to europe, think of egypt as 85 million people. it's a different burden and libya really is privileged and blessed. it's the luck of the draw that the young man virtue lal illiterate seized power. ukrainian nurses who traveled with him everywhere, the tent he carried into other places. it became kind of like it's a combination of terror and farce. this was the gadhafi regime, the

fear. >> is he crazy? >> i think he was a psychopath. i also think there is something which we know he had -- we had a sort of a half successful hair transplant, right? then i think we believe, and i think this possibly true, that he attempted a massive surgery and massive plastic surgery and it failed because if you see the difference. >> he looks very different, yeah. >> looks very different. i think this added to his psychosis. >> it is really watching history in the making, what we have been seeing the last 72 hours, we may not see in the world again. hopefully, we do, but in other places. this is something else. >> absolutely. i actually, to paraphrase the great words with blessened that day to be alive, i said, but to be middle age is very heaven. if you are out of my generation watching the fold of this terrible death spots and watching one after the other and they are frauds because they talk about dying on my soil, of my country and fighting and then they make a run for it.

guess what saddam did? he said all this and when we find him in the spider hole, it was amazing. he didn't know any english but he knew this much. guess what he said? he said i'm saddam hussein. i'm the president of iraq and i want to negotiate. this is the guy who was going to torch the world with a weapon. not only do they terrorize but they run away. >> which is what moammar gadhafi has done so see if he turns up any time soon. thank you for joining us. >> always great analysis. hurricane irene strength is to a major category 3 storm as it steams towards the united states. when and where is it expected to hit? we have got a live update for you from our hurricane headquarters next. [ female ] we will always be dependent on foreign oil. [ male ] using clean american fuel is just a pipe dream.

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just in to cnn. hurricane irene is strengthening again and it's now a category 3 storm. its winds topping 115 miles per hour. here is a look at the sheer size of this hurricane as seen from the international space station. >> jacqui, bring us up to date. when will this hit the united states? >> not until this weekend. have to get through the bahamas first and this storm is barreling through there. you mention it's a category 3 now. winds 115 miles per hour. and take a look at the satellite picture here. you can really see that eye. this thing is tightening up and it's intensifying. the pressure has dropped by another couple of millibars and whenever we watch the pressure drop, in turn, it takes a while but see the winds increase. we are expecting more intensification as we head throughout the day today. the hurricane hunters are

currently flying into this thing right now. they took a sampling of the environment and how they got that 115. they were estimating it earlier this morning by satellite and now we have the truth to go along with it. the forecast remains the same, although we have been seeing the shifts eat ward. the eastward trend has been going through friday. it will take through tomorrow. this is a long way to go as a major hurricane. look at how huge this cone of uncertainty is. it stretches from south carolina all the way up into new england. so everyone needs to be on high alert and even if we miss a landfall here and stays offshore, we are still going to have major impacts all across the northeast with heavy rain, strong winds and power outages. look at this. this map right here showing you anywhere between 6 and 12 inches of rainfall over the next five days as irene makes its way up towards the north. >> we will stay on top of it with you. thanks so much.

jacqui jeras in our hurricane center. we have a lot of stories and this is talked about across the country the day the east coast shook. reports it was felt in 22 states from maine to georgia to illinois. was even felt in canada. it collapsed some homes in the epi center in virginia and caught people off-guard in the middle of the work day. new york city people felt the floors move working. washington monument is closed. structural engineers will examine cracks found at the top of the memorial. nuclear power plant was knocked offline. >> small earthquake shook also the bay area late last night. the u.s. geological service says magnitude 3.6 earthquake centered six miles southeast of oakland and was also felt by people across the bay in san francisco but they do not expect

any serious damage there. we don't want to leave the west coast out of the earthquake story. >> no, we don't. although the west coast is making fun of the east coast this morning. that brings us to this. your chance to talk back on one of the stories of the day. the question today it's got to be about the earthquake. never has a shaking of the earth jolted so many people, at least on the east coast. many in virginia, pennsylvania and new york and d.c. were terrified and comedians were terrified-to-! they had to joke about it! >> a lot of people react differently to earthquake down at the city hall, mayor bloomberg they felt the earthquake. he ran and looking for cover and they found mayor bloomberg during the earthquake standing under his desk! it was crazy! they traced the epi center of the earthquake to governor chris christie's aerobic class and to kim kardashian's honeymoon

suite. you can see the ripples going through donnell trump's hair! undulation. >> awesome! >> oh, that is so awesome. so the west coast watched the east coast in what -- how should we put it? the west coast watched us in puzzled amazement. read these tweets. get over it! join us next time for the real thing! this from peter lamont. oes, calm down. you're embarrassing us in front of california! some of these are really harsh! west coast friends, please understand we are not as courageous as you so, be gentle. we must ask this question of our east coast friends this morning. so the question is where were you when the earthquake struck? facebook.com/americanmorning and i'll read your comments later this hour. >> west one i heard is

california is so broke, even the earthquakes are moving to the east coast! >> ouch! payback, west coast friends! still ahead, how does libya avoid complete chaos after ga d daf gadhafi's fall? the rebel movement will join us live. 32 minutes after the hour. at is? oh, i'm a fidelity customer. okay, but what does it do? well, it gets me the tools and research i need to help me make informed decisions. with fidelity, i can invest in stocks, bonds, all at a great price. wow. yeah, wow. ♪ [ male announcer ] fidelity investments. turn here.

this is cnn breaking news. new gunfire reported this morning at the gadhafi compound in tripoli a day after it was captured by rebel fighters and there's still no sign of moammar gadhafi. cnn's arwa damon has said

intense fighting now at tripoli's international airport. she says rebels believe gadhafi supporters are trying to secure an escape route for moammar gadhafi. >> the situation is growing more serious at a hotel in tripoli, where our senior international correspondent matthew chance and his crew and about 30 other reports are trapped at the rixos hotel. >> the last half hour, we have learned more reporters entered that hotel. they wanted to go in and do a story. they entered the hotel and they were not allowed to leave. they are now being held by moammar gadhafi loyalists. >> earlier, we spoke to matthew chance about what is taking place inside the rix os hotel. >> reporter: one journalist found his way from outside into the rixos hotel. he came through on the basis he would be allowed to take one of the journalists who are inside

the rixos holed up here because it is controlled by the government. one watched what is a shocking trip and take them out, take out that one person out and basically taken away. but what happened when got outside with this journalist who was leaving with him, there was a gunfight and the driver of the car who was waiting for them fled in a hurry and left them stranded in the hotel. then shortly afterwards, some more journalists arrived at the hotel. they fled into the hotel. additional four people came inside. the past 30 minutes we have had five additional international journalists, most of them american citizens as far as we can make out who have come into this hotel. do some reporting on what is going on here. they have found themselves now

the same situation we are in. >> what is the sense of your government treating this location as so important? >> i have absolutely no idea. i really don't know the answer to that question. yeah, there is all sorts of rumors about how this place is some strategic significance to the gadhafi regime, but we scoured this hotel from top-to-bottom and we can't see any other reason that it would be valuable to the remnants of the gadhafi regime except the fact the international media is inside it and perhaps that is what is happening now. maybe there's a sense in which -- but we are not allowed to leave. we want to leave and we feel we are in danger and we feel we are victims. >> we are trying to stay in as close touch with matthew and their team and sara sidner and arwa damon and their teams. dictator suddenly gone and pal looted. military disappearing was a scenario when iraqi president

saddam hussein was toppled. is there a plan in place for a smoother transition in labia? joining me from dubai is the new libyan ambassador to the uae and chief operations officer of the libya stabilization team. this is a subgroup of the national transitional council. ambassador niyad, thank you for joining us. what is your latest information? we are hearing nato planes flying low over the airport and hearing still fighting going on. what is the latest information you're getting about the status of tripoli? >> well, the situation is volatile and one needs to keep following. i've been on the move for the last couple of hours, so i'm not completely updated. the last updates i have is that we liberty riation over all of tripoli. some pockets of gadhafi thugs who are -- who are trying to --

to harm civilians and our young fighters are trying to secure those areas. but as for the last report i have is about 95% of the city is under control and is secure and we now have a unified command and control structure for all of the security forces in tripoli since the prime minister forming a unified supreme security room or operation center. that's actually tracking and synchronizing and commanding the forces on the ground in greater tripoli and synchronizing their efforts. so this committee just started work yesterday formally. there was siynchronization durig the liberation but this is a stabilization synchronization at the security level and it has --

since the decree was issued yesterday. >> this is an issue. yesterday, we spoke to the minister of information under the new traditional council. he was saying, look, this has happened very quickly and there are issues of what you do with a police force with securing weapons, including weapons of mass destruction and what you do when you find moammar gadhafi. where do you stand on those particular issues? >> well, mr. shamaam was referring to the rapid -- of gadhafi forces in tripoli and that was -- that was unexpected to -- to some extent. however, it was planned for in that the uprising of the tripoli population was synchronized with the coming nato forces from the western mountain, military command and from misrata and

from zawiyah. perhaps they had to rush in faster than expected but these things happen in any situation of conflict as far as war. things do happen that are not expected. however, the plan for the new -- did work and now that -- that is -- in terms of implementation and what is the stabilization plan which has been in the works for several months now and which is already in its third day of implementation since we declared day one three days ago. this implementation plan included stabilization of all sectors and all dimensions of life from security to food security to medical emergency services to communication infrastructure. >> let me ask you this then. you declared that as day one of

the liberation of tripoli but the fact is you don't have moammar gadhafi in hand. at what point -- you've been recognized by various governments as the legitimate government of libya but at what point does the flag get raised and at what point are you in charge and you start staffing ministries and you start doing that? >> we are in charge and our minute stristers are arriving i tripoli as we speak. already three in town and council is traveling to tripoli and six already in town. our stabilization team is fully deployed in tripoli and in zawiyah and other towns and cities and close to coordinating with the local council and already achieved great success by restoring the operations and reoperating the internet so people can have internet service again and sending early messages of harmonizatioization to the fs

to keep calm and to respect due process and the law and to treat prisoners in a proper manner. so things are being synchronized and the stabilization team is already in tip a lee so there is governance in trip aoltripoli. things take time but we are already on the ground. the only reason i'm still is i was coordinating with our international departments on security dimensions and now i'm off to talk about the release of frozen funds so we can have the help we need for buying of food and fuel and other supplies. already medical and food supplies are coming from jordan -- >> ambassador, let's talk about those funds. the u.s. says it's working to free up a billion dollars or more in frozen libyan assets. what kind of access to money do you have? what kind of access to money do you need? and what are you going to be talking? what are you asking for?

>> we don't have much access to anything right now. what has been given doesn't even begin to cover the needs. for example, the stabilization team has been doing all of its work on voluntary basis with zero budget and only one dimension of life. so we are in dire needs of funds. we did receive some donations of food and fuel and so on, but it's not nearly enough. what we are asking for is no less than $5 billion of the frozen assets which are the assets of the libyan people and which should be paid to address the urgent needs of the libyan people. and that is what we will be discussing and we will reach consensus with our partners so we can get on with life. stable saigs doilization does c. medicine has to be felon in. you know?

we need -- we need the money for the comfort of the libyan people. >> ambassador, let me ask you about oil. 2% of the world's "comes from libya and pumping 1.6 million barrels per day. i don't know what the status is of your refineries. apparently you have got control of the zawiyah oil refinery. reports of one refinery burning and that will help your cash flow if you can get oil going into world supply. where do we stand with oil? >> oil production has ceased and we are trying to restore production as soon as possible. the liberation of zawiyah and gives access to the pipelines bringing oil from the western fields and the liberation of brega and which will bring -- give us to export from the eastern area are significant and

assessment, damage assessment is ongoing. our engineers are working very, very hard to get production going again. we are also working very hard on fuel supply in this position and also on the complications of trying to get the offshore oil platforms to begin exporting again. so we are trying to get production going as soon as we can and it's hundreds of young engineers who are risking their lives and working very hard at no pay who are trying to do this and we salute all of them because it is through their hard work and the hard work of the communications team and power team that we have been able to restore internet services and other services up and running again for the most part. these are for young people who

are on the ground being coordinated through the stabilization team. >> doctor nayed, thank you for joining us. he is on the phone with us from due buy and on his way to try to free up the international money because, at this point, they don't have the money as he is saying. >> think of the people working for no pay in the telecom industry and the oil fields and engineers all of the people trying to get the infrastructure of the country up so they can move on. >> the fighting isn't over yet. >> pro gadhafi forces saying the battle is not over and they will continue fighting. but the rebels of libya are claiming control of 90% of the country now. saying they are days away from a new libya and planning to move key ministries into tripoli and already talking about getting the infrastructure up and running again. the morning opinions pages looking at the difficulties and setting up a new government. the best way is let libya take charge of its own revolution and u.s. should keep silent.

if we make ourselves too visible in libya with troops on the ground or too many advisers in dark glasses we will instantly become another enemy. max boot writes in the "los angeles times" a real danger of catastrophe if libya doesn't get outside help. at a minimum he says a stabilization force should be put in place. if nato refuses to send a peace keeping force and if the u.n. doesn't step up a real risk of libya becoming a failed state. >> we will continue to stay on top of the breaking developments from libya. did you feel it? a rare earthquake hits the east coast rattling air traffic, train lines and, boy, did it rattle people's nerves. we have a live report for you. 48 minutes past the hour. now get an incredible offer on the powerful c300 sport sedan. but hurry before this opportunity...disappears. the mercedes-benz summer event ends august 31st.

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good morning. washington, d.c., mostly cloudy and 73 degrees. mostly sunny later and 89. no forecast for earthquakes today. >> we could still more aftershocks from the earthquake in virginia. there are reports it was felt in 22 states from maine to georgia to illinois and it was even felt in parts of canada. >> now this earthquake is bringing attention to a nuclear power plant that sits about 85 miles from the nation's capital. brian todd is live from mineral, virginia. brian, tell me what the situation is there. >> reporter: well, ali, a short time ago, we found out that power from the main grid was restored to this facility here. this is the north anna nuclear plant near to the epi center.

it cools the reactors. it was running on generator power. the two main reactors remain shut down today and we are told they may not be back up, at least until the end of the day. as people here run through security checks and other safety measures just to make sure everything is solid. this is just one part of how an entire region is recovering from this earthquake. >> may be an aftershock but you're allowed to go back into the building at this time. >> reporter: to millions of people on the east coast this was the big one. >> i believe just witnessed an earthquake in washington, d.c. >> reporter: it's the strongest quake to hit the virginia area since 1897. a 5.8. rattling nerves and shaking buildings in the nation's capital. >> i really and truly thought it was some kind of bomb because i never felt like like that in in washington. >> i was on the bus. the bus did a chamois. >> i thought the building was about to collapse.

>> reporter: it was 83 miles from d.c. and felt in martha's vineyard where the president is on vacation. shaking was felt in more than a dozen states in all even into canada. nbc cameras focused on the white house and caught the shaking as it happened. some of the masonry of the national cathedral fell off. and they found a crack at the top of the washington monument and closed indefinitely to keep visitors safe. many government buildings including the pentagon were evacuated but no major damage was reported. further north in new york city people ran down skyscrapers as the building suede. near the epi center of the quake the north anna nuclear power station and triggering a shutdown there. i spoke to a plant executive who wanted to make sure we knew everything was under control. what do you want to say to the public as far as right now? >> the power plant is safe.

the operate orors responded wel. there was no release of radioactivity. >> reporter: those two reactors as we said remain shut down at least through the end of today. while the power was restored to the -- from the main grid here to the areas that cool the spent fuel pools and the nuclear reactor so positive news but they are monitoring the safety systems around here because there could be more aftershocks. we are told four initial aftershocks after the initial earthquake. >> i think we care more about them making sure it's entirely safe than we do about the rapid restoration from the power jin radiation from there and i guess a lesson we all learned after japan. >> we had to ask the question. where you when the earthquake struck? this is from scott. i was putting a stethoscope on a patient's heart when i felt my

feet moving out from under me. i'm a cardiologist in sea girt on the jersey shore. at first i thought it was me p.m. within minutes the entire office was evacuated. the scene was somewhat humus. everyone was on their cell phone calling a loved one! i from sharon, i fell down. i was outside jogging. i couldn't balance moi body at all. it was frightening. deanna says i was in line at the grocery store. the man ahead of me was telling the cashier about the earthquake he just felt. i thought he was kraeeds shras i guess i'm the only person on the east coast who didn't feel it and now we have a hurricane heading here this weekend. oy! >> get out of denial, deanna! we will take a break. ce-line ne♪ is it true that name your own price.... >>...got even easier? affirmative. we'll show you other people's winning hotel bids. >>so i'll know how much to bid... ...and save up to 60% >>i'm in i know see winning hotel bids now at priceline.

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quick update on breaking news we have been following. action all over tripoli this morning. new gunfire reported at the gadhafi compound in tripoli. still no sign of moammar gadhafi. >> arwa damon is at the tripoli airport and spoke to a rebel fighter saying gadhafi supporters are trying to clear a path for him out of libya.