on the broadcast tonight, fighting to the finish in the battle for libya. celebrations in the streets as the rebels close in on gadhafi's front door. tonight, who's in control there, what happens next and where is he? gathering storm. we have a hurricane in the atlantic and the projection maps are making a lot of people nervous all the way up the east coast. case closed. he was one of the world's most powerful men, accused of rape by a hotel maid, tonight the charges have been dropped. and superfoods, raspberries being used instead of medicine, a salad to help ward off illness, real evidence about how eating can also mean treating the human body. also tonight a monument for a man with a dream. also tonight a monument for a man with a dream. "nightly news" begins now.

captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. tonight in libya, things are quickly coming to an end for moammar gadhafi. while there are battles still being fought, there are also celebrations underway. his remaining loyalists are fighting it out in the streets. pockets of resistance really as his 40-year-plus rule comes to an end. this was tripoli today, these rebels streaming into the city have cobbled this revolution, really a full scale war out of home made weapons at first and now with help, they are an overwhelming force. this means more change in that part of the world and this is a changing situation still tonight. our team is in place tonight and we begin our coverage with our chief foreign correspondent richard engel who was among the first to report from tripoli last night, having come into town with the rebels. and richard, as we understand it, gadhafi's two sons in

custody and yet we still don't have a real good idea of where gadhafi is at this hour, correct? >> reporter: good evening, brian. no one knows where gadhafi is, no one in this country, certainly. we are now in tripoli's green square and it was in this square that gadhafi promised to crush the rebels. now the square is controlled by rebels, they have been coming in and out of here all day celebrating their near complete takeover of tripoli. it was a day of embraces, cheers. >> free tripoli, gadhafi dies. >> reporter: and of course here, slat celebratory gun fire. libyans this morning poured into tripoli to see what they thought was their fully liberated city. >> the city is under siege and control of the rebels. >> reporter: rebels were greeted like heroes, some kissed the ground in thanks. the outpouring of emotion wasn't only in tripoli.

in benghazi, the rebel's capital saved by nato's intervention and misrata, a town bombarded with artillery and rockets and nearly destroyed. >> libya is free finally. >> reporter: nationwide, they tore moammar gadhafi's old green flag and paraded the rebels tri-colored banner. nearly all signs of state control here on gone. libyan government tv is off the air. but away from the celebrations, tripoli is still at war. >> there's many snipers from gadhafi. >> reporter: the rebels hold about 90% of the city but don't control gadhafi's compound, fortified like an army base. we're just about 300 yards from zbad dafgadhafi's compound, it't

the end of this street. loyalists inside have been firing tank and mortars to defend it, making a final stand. its unclear if gadhafi is still inside, his whereabouts unknown. >> even his big corps and his army, they lose control. >> reporter: rebels are preparing to take the compound and have it surrounded. a day that began with such joy, ended with the realization these rebels still have fighting to do. and, brian, the rebels here are already changed the name from green square to martyr square. >> richard, gadhafi has said, actually rather recently, that if it came to it, he would die in libya as a martyr, is there any reason not to take him at his w0rd? >> reporter: there doesn't seem to be, some speculate he may have left the country and gone to some sub saharan african

country, but there are other rebels that believe he's fighting in that compound and he's prepared to die there. >> thanks, richard, we'll remain in touch. it's a new day in libya, but that's about all we know and it could be wild for a while yet. for more on what could happen next, from tripoli all the way to washington, we turn to our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell watching all this in our washington bureau, andrea, good evening. >> good evening, brian. president obama today paid tribute to the people of tripoli for rising up to claim their freedom and in his words, a future where fear can give way to hope. >> free libya! >> around the world, libyan from england to khartoum, from athens to washington, libyan rebels and exiles were celebrating. but president obama warned today it isn't over. calling on gadhafi to end the resistance. >> he still has the opportunity to reduce further bloodshed by explicitly relinquishing power to the people of libya and

calling for these forces that continue to fight to lay down their arms for the sake of libya. >> reporter: and when the cheers die down, many worry what happens next. libya's leaders have to create a new government, write laws, establish police authority, hold elections. after working with the rebels in benghazi, a top state department envoy is impressed. >> can't tell if this is all going to work, but so far the picture is encouraging, there are plans of how you sort of run the country afterwards, how you build legitimacy, how you make sure that you're including the breadth of libya's geography and tribal structures in the governing structures. >> reporter: can libya avoid the looting and civil war that took place when saddam was toppled? >> this is the message we have been sending to the libyan people since the beginning of this revolution, no retaliation, no revenge. >> reporter: the world isn't waiting to recognize the new libya, washington reopened libya's embassy last week, next week france's sarkozy will host an international gathering to plan foreign aid.

but what about gadhafi and his sons? the u.n. argued today for an international war crimes trial in the hague. the interim government said it wants gadhafi to stand trial at home. as mubarak is in egypt. it's leader said we will give him a fair trial. and finally, what does this all mean for the region? some believe it could breathe new life into protests elsewhere, even in syria, others warn even successful revolutions can breed chaos, most recently new violence between egypt and israel. the u.s. is now working to give the interim government access to $30 billion of gadhafi's frozen assets, if the new leaders can impose order on chaos, experts expect another benefit, lower world oil prices as libya's oil production comes back online. our pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski broke this news last week on this broadcast, that gadhafi's time in power was coming to an end.

one of the big questions at the pentagon and elsewhere tonight, what about this big nato operation that the u.s. has been a part of, does it end? jim's with us from the pentagon tonight. good evening, jim. >> reporter: good evening, brian. u.s. officials tell us that as long as moammar gadhafi and of his military remain on the loose, the u.s. and nato air strikes will continue to hammer libyan military positions and gadhafi himself would be a target. u.s. officials are convinced that he's still holed up inside libya, at or near his compound inside tripoli. but a bigger concern is gadhafi's stockpile of 20,000 shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles that are capable of bringing down airliners. stockpiles have been looted and u.s. officials fear that many of those missiles have been smuggled out of the country, perhaps into the hands of terrorists, brian. >> an ominous note before the celebrations get out of hand. jim miklaszewski from the pentagon, thanks. when gadhafi first came to

power, nixon was in the white house. he's been regarded as an eara earant're -- irritant and a murder and a terrorist by u.s. presidents for the last 42 years. jim maceda has more on gadhafi's decades of rules. >> reporter: tonight moammar gadhafi is a hunted fugitive. for the u.s. and it's allies, it marks the end of a four-decade saga. by the 1980s, crushing all opposition at home, gadhafi went global with terror attacks, the u.s. its prime target. in 1986, the bombing of a nightclub allegedly ordered by gadhafi killed two marines and triggered a deadly response, air raids on libya including gadhafi's own compound. president ronald reagan has had enough. >> well, we know that this mad dog of the middle east has a goal of a world revolution, but there's no question but that he has singled us out more and more

for attack. >> reporter: the 1988 bombing of pan am flight 103 over lockerbie scotland killed almost 300. gadhafi denied involvement for years but finally accepted responsibility and he paid out billions of dollars in compensation. tom ammerman died in the crash, today's news a huge relief for his brother bert. >> i never thought i would live to see the day that this killer, this coward, would be removed from power. >> reporter: just a few years ago, gadhafi was being embraced by western leaders, the alleged terrorist has abandoned his weapons of mass destruction. but the thaw ended when the arab spring spread through libya. gadhafi's response? more brutal repression. jim maceda, nbc news, london. now we turn to a developing story in this country with

millions of americans stretched along the east coast on summer vacation, we have a hurricane to tell you about tonight, hurricane irene. its heading towards the bahamas and then later this week targeting the united states. late this afternoon, the international space station took some photos of irene as it moved off puerto rico. weather channel meteorologist brian norcross is with us tonight, and, brian, all those eyes are on the blue lines, the projection maps doesn't make the folks in the carolinas very happy. >> not the carolinas and not points north, brian. it's an 80-mile-per-hour category 1 hurricane now but it's forecast to get much stronger and head toward the eastern u.s. takes a look at the track map, we'll show you where it is right now. that's just north of the dominican republic here, it's forecast by tomorrow to move by and intensify into a category 2 hurricane and then as you said, head into the bahamas. then as you say, headed into the bahamas this could be a very significant hurricane event, a catastrophic event, potentially

in the bahamas with a major hurricane through there, not ruling out the effects in florida, but it looks like a side effect not a direct hit in florida. the carolinas are right in the path at this point, too soon to tell exactly where. and that's on saturday as a significant hurricane coming ashore likely there on the southeast coast. and then after that, into the northeast, we have to talk about the possibility of the most significant hurricane event in decades, the possibility, but the likelihood of some kind of significant event affecting people's lives by late in the weekend and of course we'll watch it here all week. >> we sure will, brian norcross, another ominous note tonight. we'll take a break. up next here on "nightly news" on monday evening, charges dropped in a sensational rape prosecutor's reasoning? also foods that help fight cancer, how they're being harnessed and what you can do right now. and later, keeping the dream alive on the mall.

a lot of americans now know him by the tabloids' shorthand of dsk, dominique strauss-kahn, the power line international banker from france who was accused of rape by a maid in a midtown manhattan hotel. tonight the case came full circle as prosecutors in new york asked the court to drop all charges against him. nbc's ron allen covering tonight

has more for us, ron, good evening. >> reporter: good evening to you, brian. yes, this case has been falling apart for several weeks now. through it all dominique strauss-kahn has maintained his innocence all along, ever since he was arrested and pulled off a plane back in may. he has one more appearance in court tomorrow and he's expected to become a free man after that. the problem is the accuser, the housekeeper and her credibility. prosecutors today in their court filings say they just don't know what to believe about what she says happened in that hotel room that day, whether any sexual relations were forceded or were they consensual. they said that during the investigation she has told them so many conflicting stories about what happened today. the bottom line is they don't think they can convince a jury that she is telling the truth. the woman's attorney insists that she is still the innocent victim of a violent sexual attack, he wants a special prosecutor to take over the case, but legal experts that we

talked to said that is very unlikely to happen and strauss-kahn will likely go free tomorrow. >> ron allen with the latest, ron, thanks. the nation's largest bank bank of america saw its stock price fall sharply again today, down almost 8% just today, to now $6.42 a share. fears about exposure to bad mortgages and reports that it will have to raise new capital have contributed to the pounding bank of america has taken in the markets, losing more than 50% of its value in just the past year. as for the rest of wall street, the dow hung on to a 37-point gain after a big rally at the opening bell then faded. the u.s. olympic committee said today it won't submit a bid to host the 2020 summer games, even though chicago and las vegas have expressed interest in trying for the games, a standoff for the international olympic committee over revenue sharing is part of the problem, they did not cite the fact that both

chicago and new york both went down to defeat for the 2016 and 2012 games, the u.s. won't have another shot at hosting another olympic games until 2022. up next here tonight, what you put in your meal could help improve what ails you. and an oscar-winning actress to the rescue in a devastating house fire. >and an oscar-winnino the rescue in a devastating house fire. >and an oscar-winnin to the rescue in a devastating house fire. >and an oscar-winnin to the rescue in a devastating house fire. and an oscar-winnins to the rescue in a devastating house fire. and an oscar-winnin actress to the rescue in a devastating house fire.

there is new science to report tonight on a subject that's becoming more important all the time, given the rates of

obesity and diabetes and heart disease and cancer in this country we report on here night after night. because what you eat really can affect your long-term health, researchers are trying to harness the power of what some are calling superfoods to go even further than they already do in every day use. our report from our chief medical editor dr. nancy snyderman. >> reporter: you've seen the story -- >> broccoli will fight against those cancers. >> eat those fruits and vegetables. >> reporter: what if science could take what's good in these healthy foods and produce a superfood that prevents disease? >> we take certain foods that are known to have anti-cancer properties and combine them in way to create foods that will toorg target very specific cancers. >> dr. clinton's lab makes these lollipops loaded with chemicals from black raspberries that could be used by smokers to help fight oral cancer and this almond bread that can help fight prostate cancer.

while crinkle trials are still underway, dr. moska says you can find the ingredients to make a supersalad. >> these foods are high in fiber, and they can help prevent cancer. >> it's rich in vitamin d and omega 3 fatty acids. >> it's the good fat instead of the bad fat, it's high in mono unsaturated fat. >> i like to tell my patients, if it doesn't come from the ground, a tree or the sea, it's not what you want on your plate. >> reporter: from the old food pyramid to the usda's new portion guide, it's easy to see, half of your plate should have

fruits and veggies. back at ohio state, dr. clinton and his team are work hard on the next generation of food, hoping cleaning your plate will one day also mean preventing disease. jerry leiber has died, known to music fans has 1/2 of lieber and stoller, along with his song writing partner michael stoller. even the partial list of what hilts jerry leiber left us with, hound dog, jailhouse rock, poison ivy, spanish harlem, take out the paper and the trash or you don't get no spending cash. jerry leiber dead at 78. anxious moments at the private island owned by the wealthy british businessman richard branson and this involved the actress kate winslet who was there with her children. a lightning strike related to the oncoming hurricane irene started a fire that spread

through the private island that branson purchased back in the '80s. branson said kate winslet scooped up his 90-year-old mother, rescued her from the flames. the main house burned to the ground, but thankfully, no one was injured. when we come back here tonight, a new tribute nearly 50 years later for a man whose message changed the world. >> my four little children will one day live in a nation --

in the nation's capital, a new memorial opened to the public today for the very first time and this coming weekend, it's possible half a million people will be there for the official dedication ceremony of the memorial to the reverend dr. martin luther king jr., he's the first non-u.s. president to be so honored and the current president will honor him. the statue is 30 feet tall and the day will mark the 48th anniversary of the march on washington. today we talked to some of the people who got the first look at the memorial to honor the dream, including one who was there back then. >> the memorial to dr. king is the first one on the national mall to celebrate a man of color, hope and peace. and you can see this location is powerful. >> i have a dream.

>> martin luther king jr. liberated not just a people, but a nation. >> i'm old enough to remember segregation, the jim crow laws, and it's hard to believe that we have this monument to a black man. >> i saw a dream that came alive, that someday you could see a monument statue of black people. >> he did so much for this country before i was even born and he helped shape the country to where it is now. >> i'm very touched. and i'm also moved that we finally have arrived and the community as a whole, everything that i have obtained, throughout my entire life has been his dream. >> people from all over the world will come and see this memorial. it will be inspiring, they will be moved to act, to stand up, speak up and speak out. >> i saw like martin luther king jr. on a rock and it felt like, it was awesome.

it was like so amazing, i don't know what to say. >> hear, hear, some of the voices in washington today. that's our broadcast on a monday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams reporting tonight from new york and of course we hope to see you back here tomorrow evening. course we hope to see you back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com they are bending my hand. >> we begin with breaking news out of san francisco. protests once again disrupting the evening commute. bart trains and muni buses now skipping stops after police move in again to make arrests. good evening, and thanks for joining us. i'm jessica aguirre. >> and i'm rauj