we'll turn to ron claiborne. good morning do you, ron. >>> good morning, everyone. that breaking news is out of libya where moammar gadhafi more than 40-year grip on power appears to be slipping. rebels are reportedly advancing on the capital of tripoli from three directions and they y pear to have brought troops out of zawhia just 30 miles out of tripoli. >>> in syria, little evidence that the government is easing its crackdown on the five-month-old uprising in that country. despite a pledge for president bashar assad to stop the violence. forces stopped at least 20 anti-protesters on friday as thousands of people poured into the streets across that country. >>> and the death toll has climbed from last week's stage collapse at the indiana state fair. a 22-year-old college student has died. she's now the sixth person killed by that stage accident also on friday. there will likely be many lawsuits filed on behalf of the victims. >>> and arizona congresswoman gabby giffords now knows the full extent of the shooting. rampage that left her severely wounded. an aide says

>> reporter: i tried a vegan lunch and it tasted great. >> so, one lunch at a time for ron claiborne >> reporter: just a start. >> okay, thank you, and happy weekend to you. >> reporter: thank you. >>> coming up, watch as one of our biggest neighbors in the ocean says thank you for saving his life. mosquitoes or mosqui? huh. [ female announcer ] try the new design of off!f!lip-on repellent.. lab tests show this sprayless repellent really repels. in minutes, its fan surrounds you from head to toe with effective, odorless proroction. [ mosquitoes buzzing ] so don't spray it on. clip it on. off! clip-on. keeps bugs off. sc johnhnn. a family company. off! clip-on. keeps bugs off. a mouthwatering combination of ingredients...e for you! 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! and omega-rich nutrition for that shiny coat. ever think healthy could taste so good? [ woman announcing ] new beneful healthy fiesta

thanks, meg, we appreciate it. >> now let's turn to ron claiborne with the other headlines.rning. >> good morning. good morning again, everyone, america. in the news, tributes pouring in for the americans killed in the military helicopter shot down in afghanistan. 30 u.s. troops in all were killll, 22 were navy s.e.a.l.s, members of the elite team that killed osama bin laden. none of the men from that mission were believed to be killed in this incident. >>> roughly 30,000 people showed up at a houston football stadium saturday for a prayer rally led by texas governor rick perry. the controversial event was billed as a call to prayer, but some saw it as unofficial kick-off for the run to the white house. abc's aaron katersky has more. ♪ >> reporter: inside the football stadium in houston, there were prayers. outside, there were protests because a politician led this religious revival. >> the private fear you can do anything you want to do religiously. but for a public fear belongs to all of us. for an elected leader to privilege some over the rest is very problematic to me. >

our brave ron claiborne, lone man standing on the >> ron claiborne, our lone man standing on the jersey shore tonight. good to see that people followed the governor's advice. >>> new york city, the first hurricane warning in 26 years. you've all heard the saying, this is the city that never sleeps. they're not going to be sleeping easy tonight. they'll be tested. parts of new york in lockdown this evening. jim avila, in times square tonight. jim? >> reporter: you can see the rain is falling here. it's not falling strong enough to chase the tourists away. if you want to see an iconic picture, a picture of what's going on today, this is grand central station. the one that's supposed to be crowded all the time. today, it's empty. and that, like new york, is what's happeningngll over manhattan. it's a day like no other in new york history. mandatory evacuations of 370,000 people, living in low-lying, iconic neighborhoods. from battery park, to coney island, and rockaway beaches. >> this is a storm, if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, it can be fatal. >> reporter: patients in nur

ron claiborne, abc news, new york. >> bringing some jobs back. ron, thank you. >>> and we turn now to the developing story out of north carolina tonight, where late today, they were performing rescues when the skies over charlotte opened up in an instant. heavy rain and thunderstorms suddenly unleashing half a foot or rain or more. at least one person has died in the floods and here are the pictures coming in tonight. rescue teams racing to save children trapped in the flash floods late today. drivers stranded. their cars submerged. >> we came through there to cross and all of a sudden we were floating. >> repepter: the ceiling of a charlotte hotel giving way under the weight of all of the water, adding to the misery. neighbors rush to help neighbors as the waters quickly rose and lightning from the fierce storms used a different emergency. striking a church steeple, setting off a fire. >> we didn't realize it was all the ceiling knocked down just from a lightning strike. >> reporter: lindsay shelton of abc station wsoc reporting in just a short

>>> first, we turn to ron claiborne, for the news, including the breaking news out of afghanistan. >>t. good morning, again. we begin with our top story. a nato helicopter was shot down in afghanistan early this morning, killing 38 people. most of them, u.s. troops. the single-deadliest attack on u.s. forces since that war began nearly a decade ago. and abc's martha raddatz joins us now, from washington, with the latest. martha? >> reporter: good morning, ron. it was a chinook helicopter. and onboard, abc news has learned from a u.s. senior military official, there were 25 navy s.e.a.l.s, 7 afghan forces, 1 interpreter, the 5-member crew of the u.s. helicopter and 1 dog. the troops were apparently involved in some sort of raid or operation in wardak province in afghanistan, when the helicopter apparently was shot down. they are not confirming it was shot down. of course, they will do an investigation. but it was involved in the operations at the time. of course, this is devastating news for the u.s. special operations community. in fact, it was harmid karzai, the president of afghanis

ron claiborne is in new jersey on point pleasant beach. the hurricane still hitting there. hey, ron. >> the new jersey shore, good morning to you, has really been raked by this powerful hurricane. look at the social behind me. it is just royaling, last night, about 100 miles behind me. spilling over into the streets. the hurricane came ashore south of here about an hour ago, with high wind, driving rain, drenching this ate. i'm in a mandatory evacuation area, about a million people did leave this area over a period of 24 hour, although some stragglers have remained. about 400,000 people in new jersey without power. officials say that number is expected to go up. but the storm now is passing over this area. heading north toward you guys. we will be seeing the worst testify in the next hour or two. it is coming your way, robin and george. >> all right, ron, thank you very much. the sea, you know, it's a slow moving system, but once it gets past, you see the big difference with ron now as opposed to earlier this morning. let's go back out to montauk with our john berman, he's m

there is some other news this morning and to bring it to you here's ron claiborne. good morning, ron. >> good morning, bianna, dan, good morning, everyone. >>> wall street has snapped its losing streak after another turbulent day. the dow ended up on friday capping its first winning week in a month. stocks got a boost from federal reserve ben bernanke who said the economy looks strong in the long term. he also left the door open for more action if another recession looks likely. >>> and in libya some sense of calm is returning to the capital city of tripoli. people have started returning to the streets. many of them celebrating the downfall of moammar gadhafi. the rebels have now turned their attention 250 miles to the east of tripoli to gadhafi's hometown of sirt, his last major stronghold. >>> new developments in the search for missing utah mom susan powell. a judge has ordered her husband and father-in-law to stop publishing susan's journal entries. her familiar si says they were written when she was much younger and have no bearing on her disappearance two years

. >>> a lost other headlines, let's go straight to ron claiborne who has the news for us. >> good morning, dan, good morning, everyone, we begin with two american hikers.the case of sentenced to 8 years in prison in iran for illegally entering that country. abc's lama hasan has the latest from london. lama, good morning. >> the chief prosecutor said the two american hikers josh fattal and shane bauer have been sentenced for eight years in prison, five years for allegedly spying for the united states and three years for illegally entering iran. the two were arrested by iranian security forces in 2009 along with their f fend, sarah shourd, who was also with them when they crossed an unmarked border between iran and iraq. they all maintain their innocence and said they made a mistake and unwillingly strayed across the border. last september shourd was released on health grounds and on bail of $500,000. there is one glimmer of hope for fattal and bauer. in the past, iraq has sentenced foreigners and later reduced that sentence before finally freeing them. in the meantime, their lawyer said th

ron claiborne is back with us with the very latest on this case. ron?icials in aruba are talking to witnesses and reviewing surveillance tapes hunting for clues as to what happened to robyn gardner. now, the investigation into her traveling companion gary giordano has expanded to the u.s. fbi agents are seen here searching gary giordano's maryland home overnight. >> we're here this evening to execute a federal search warrant. >> reporter: at least 15 cars arrived at his residence to o execute the warrant. authorities can be seen carrying out boxes. giordano remains in police custody back in aruba. it has now been ten days since giordano's traveling companion, robyn gardner, was last seen on this idyllic beach in aruba. police, firemen and search and rescue crews are seen here working into the night combing a desert area filled with thick brush and deep caves. friends say thatatardner and giordano have had an on and off relationship for over a year and that his behavior has become increaeangly unstable. >> it's been a real roller coaster friendship. it's

i'm ron claiborne for "nightline" in new hampshire. world's best yogurts ekm for activia selects in paris we discovered the inspiration for a totally new yogurt. activia selects french so silky and smooth with lots of juicy fruit. then our search took us to beautiful greece and this thick and creamy greek yogurt, so rich and full of flavor. it was a grueling trip! try new activia french and greek yogurt. a world of great new tastes. my name is ashley and my blog is not without salt. when i take pictures of my food, you don't want to see spots on the dishes. i was using cascade actionpacs. they just didn't have that brilliant shine. when i took the finish challenge, i was thrilled. as soon as i opened up the dishwasher, i could tell there was a difference. my dishes had a shine on them. this little guy right here makes my dishes incredibly shiny. i'm moving on to finish quantum. take the finish challenge for yourself. if you don't see a difference, it's free. ♪ we were skipping stones ♪ and letting go ♪ over the river and down the road

ron claiborne is just north of atlantic city. how is the going? >> reporter: it's going pretty well now, robin. when the hurricane blew through here three hours ago, it was a powerful category 1 hurricane. strong winds, about 75 miles an hour and a lot of rain. things are settled down a bit in the last two, three hours. as you see here, the surf is impressive. but it was up on the dune that i'm on now and lapping up and coming close to the hotels and homes. that has settled down now. i was out in the height of the hurricane, getting blown around. and it was difficult just standing up in the windy conditions. the water coming up over my ankles at times. about 1 million meem have evacuated here in the area. and the words of the governor, get the hell out. his words, not mine. about 400,000 people are without power. 200,000 in philadelphia, just to the west of here. there have been a number of rescues, cars, in flood waters. and at least one report of a woman to who heeded the warning too late and trapped, swept away in her car. >> and the governor s

ron claiborne is at point pleasant beach. hi. >> reporter: good morning to you. the eye of the storm passed over this hour about three hours ago. we have still impressive waves in the background. at one point, the tide reached this dune, the berm that i'm standing on. this is a testament to the surf. this was a dune fence, completely mangled by the power of the incoming surf. 1 million people evacuated from the new jersey shore. they were under a mandatory order. about 400,000 people in the state are currently without power. beare hearing some reports of motorists, people that waited too long to venture out in the storm h to be rescued in flood water. and one report of a woman who waited far too long being trapped in her car and being swept away. >> so hard to hear. the people who did not evacacte. and just tell us a little more. it seems like it's really fine right now where you are. it goes in and out as far as the rain is concerned. but the conditions right now, ron? >> reporter: a lot better than it was. we are still gets some rain wind. i imagine the wind po

abc's ron claiborne has been following it from the beginning and joins us now this morning. asn't and they would just find her and bring her back home safe. >> reporter: ever since celina's disappearance a week ago there have been vigils for her and prayers for her safe return. tonight, a quiet somber vigil knowing this time that she won't be coming home. and investigators say that they are looking at vehicles. they are examining areas where she was last seen and talking to witnesses, and, josh, there will be an autopsy performed later today to try to determine how she died. as you said, a very sad story. >> indeed, it is. abc's ron claiborne, thank you for it. >>> and now here's diane sawyer with a preview of tonight's "world news." diane? >> so hello to you on this tuesday morning after the big monday night, josh. the presidential candidates have been talking about creating american jobs, so we have something new tonight. what is on the labels of what they sell on their campaign swing? they were surprised by what we found. hear their promises to switch tonight on "world new

abc's ron claiborne headed out to see how stranded families are getting by. good morning, ron. >> reporter: good morning to you, robin. take a look at over here at these toppled trees and ripped down power lines. this is the scene in countless cities and towns. from the outer banks, north carolina, for 900 miles to the canadian border. and many of those who lost power aren't going to get it back for many days. we met eileen and her son, anthony, as they roamed main street searching for an open store to buy water and something to read. >> i didn't think it was going to be this bad. >> reporter: like almost everyone else here, they are without power in their home. here in new jersey, population of 13,000, nearly 100% of the homes without power in the aftermath of hurricane irene. they're being told by their local utility they may not get power restored from two to seven days. at nightfall, it was plunged into darkness. and we went to her brother's home, where they went to spend the night. are you stressed? >> stressed? horribly stressed. horribly stressed. >> re

abc's ron claiborne is in vermont. >> reporter: good morning to you.f the areas that they'll be searching this stretch of the connecticut river. now, lot of people have been asking why her parents haven't been speaking out. one finally is, with an emotional plea for his daughter's safe return. for the first time since she disappeared one of celina cass' parents, her biological father spoke out. >> when you're ready to come home, your dadad will be here. >> reporter: her step father and her mother haven't spoken publicly. >> i can't speak for them because i'm not them. but being a parent, i think they would be doing something about it. speak to public about it to get more help from the people. >> reporter: in his last conversation with his daughter, she assured him that her home life was fine. >> i asked her questions, is everything okay? is everything going okay with her mother and your new daddy? she said, everything's okay, daddy. >> reporter: he looks worn from his battle with illness and trying to cope without having his little girl around. >> you