. >>> hello, i'm heather childers. >> gregg: i'm gregg jarrett. welcome to america's news headquarters. >> heather: despite evidence to american hikers, they were just sentenced to eight years in an iranian prison after having been in captivity for the past two years. a look at their options. >> gregg: rebels in libya claiming that khadafy's number two has defected and aiding them trying to overthrow the libya strong man. >> and water blewl manhole covers up in the air. >>> a stunning turn of vaccines for two american hikers locked up in iran. the two have both been sentenced to eight years behind bars. the news dealing a major blow for the two that many thought would be freed in the recent weeks. the pair have been held for more than two years but now they have 20 days to appeal before they are locked up even longer julie banderas has more. >> julie: the state department which has repeatedly called for the release of these two men releasing a statement that reads in part, we are working to confirm these reports and are in contact with the swiss protecting power. they have been in pris

long america. >> gregg: hello, the noose may finally be tightening on moammar khadafy on rebel forces, remitted right on the doorstep of the capital of tripoli right now making dramatic advances. look at these pictures have government troops on their heels to the rebels racing toward the capital even in pickup trucks mounted with machine guns capturing a military base along way and inside the capital we are hearing reports that rebel units may have activated despite the khouy forces. streaming live nearby the border. what do you know? >> reporter: there is a major offensive being launched by the rebels from the west of the capital of tripoli. it begin a couple of hours ago. they managed to completely overcome the major base that the khadafy forces had, brigade run by khadafy's second son. they completely swarmed the base. what they do is scooped up thousands of ammunition from their arsenal, rebels running around with heavy weaponry and they sped straight off for the capital. khadafy responded immediately with an angry audio message on a telephone line, calling on few supporters he ha

. gregg: i'm gregg jarrett. just when it looked like things were settling down, a big loss setting the dow on a tail spin. that's down 14% since its high almost 4 months ago. martha: the world respond. look at germany down more than 3%. you have got new fears there could be another recession, global recession and that may involve the united states as well. stuart varney joins me from the fox business network. what are the indications? >> reporter: your 401k will lose ground at the opening bell. other markets are also moving sharply as well. the price of oil way down again, this morning it dropped below $80 a barrel. that's interesting news for gas prices. they are likely to fall towards labor day. the standout on the markets is the price of gold. it's up to $1,865 an ounce. up another $30. it's up $220 just in the month of august. these markets are going to be all off the place today. it's friday. investors will be saying do i want to hold stocks over a 2-day weekend when i don't know what's going to happen? martha: we'll be watch can the close closely today because you may see traders

"america's newsroom". gregg: it is a big one, martha. i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer. evacuations already underway on a very small north carolina barrier island, hurricane irene is threatening hundreds of miles of highly populated coastline, millions of americans told to be on high alert, emergency managers from florida to the carolinas, getting ready. martha: we've got team fox coverage for you this morning, phil keating is live in nassau, the bahamas, we'll get to him in minutes now. let's first get to maria molina, she has the latest from the fox weather center. >> reporter: that's right, irene has been upgraded to a hurricane category three, sustained winds of 115 miles per hour, it has rapidly intensified. yesterday it was a category one, now a category three storm, hitting the seen bahamas with hurricane conditions now and it's a very large storm system. we're still seeing impact acomes portie roebg -- puerto rico with showers, also the dominican republic and portions of haiti. it's much more organized, a lot of deep convection, a lot of heavy rain across the southeastern ba

martha maccallum on this very busy day in "america's newsroom". gregg: i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer. an apparent victory for the rebel fighters, president obama saying in a statement sunday qaddafi's time is gefer, but guess what -- time is over, but guess what, he may not agree with that. take a listen: >> everyone should go out, i am with you in tripoli, no going back, we should go to the end of the earth that we want to liberate from the occupier. don't allow the occupier to future their -- put their foot in our land. i am with you in this battle as i always promised. we will never surrender. martha: wendell goler live at the state department, we'll go to him in a moment but first to dominic di-natale. what's the latest on the ground in tripoli? >> reporter: i understand there is heavy fighting report ud outside the compound which is qaddafi's strong hold. it's uncertain whether he's inside there. the telephone calls in the past 24 hours, it is alleged he is inside the city but there are rumors he has fled to algeria. none of that is confirmed at this time. there's also he

maccallum here in "america's newsroom" gregg: what a busy morning it is, hello, i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer, the rebels involved in a fresh round of intense fighting against qaddafi forces just one day after gaining control of most of the capitol martha: let's go straight to jennifer griffin standing by at the pentagon jennifer, what a difference a few hours can make, a lot of explosions heard in and around qaddafi's compound what are you hearing from the pentagon now? >> reporter: this is still a very fluid situation, martha you can see that black, gray smoke rising up over the skyline of tripoli, that is coming from qaddafi's compound, we're told reporters on the scene are describing heavy, heavy fighting around that compound, nato just held a press conference in brussels and in naples, italy, it was broadcast here to the pentagon, and they are describing a very fluid situation, they say operations are continuing, but it is, it appears, rebels that are in opposition forces that are storming the qaddafi compound that's where the gunfire is coming from it is not nato air strikes

are warning residents to prepare for the worst in virginia. gregg: you are so cheerful in the face catastrophy. martha: what else can we do? we watch and we wait. gregg: we have got you covered up and down the east coast. but particularly the folks in the south not taking any chances. the hurricane center saying this is a nightmare scenario. evacuation order forcing people to secure their homes or get of town completely. martha: let's go down to john roberts who is live from kill devil hills in north carolina. first we'll go to janice dean tracking the storm in the extreme weather center. >> reporter: i hope you know your evacuation route if and when we hear those evacuation calls. this will be a storm that will scrape across the northeast. there is no way of escaping it. right now looking like a formidable storm. it's a category 2 and on the verge of category 3. there are signs this storm is strengthening. you can see the outer bands already moving across the carolinas, down towards daytona beach. this is a very large storm. tropical storm-force winds 290 miles from the center of

with you. gregg: warren buffet, the legendary head of berkshire hathaway will invest $5 billion in the struggling bank of america and the shares of b of a are spiking on that. of course, they've lost a lot of their value as they struggled for the acquisition of essentially a black hole, countrywide mortgage company. so we'll have more on that in a moment. >>> in the meantime, the courts, about to rule on what could be the toughest immigration law in the united states. we'll have a fair and balanced debate straight ahead as we wait for a federal judge to decide its fate. martha: we've got a lot of breaking news that is brewing. some things that we're seeing crossing that we're working on that we want to bring to you when we can get those reports verified, but potential big news coming out of tripoli, so stay tuned for that. this is a look at the celebrations that have been there all across the week as the big question remains, where is qaddafi. and we're going to have more to report, coming up right after this. >> the message expressed, guns, cars, anything at hand, it's clear, we've wo

on the road. a lot of that water dissipated. >> gregg: live in atlantic, new jersey. these are the pictures we've been saying how the rain has become a one-sided event. it was fascinating last night to see the dry air come kaim in all the rain was left side of the storm and rain and surf push was on the radios of push. honored to be joined by commander of the u.s. coastguard in atlantic city area. how are things from the seaside of things? >> good afternoon. actually i'm in st. resolution, i oversee the atlantic area. we've been dealing with irene since you it started in puerto rico. as you know up in new england we have actually stations in lake ontario as a result of the storm. >> lake ontario is still getting it? >> yes, they. >> shep: what has it been like? have you done a lot rescues? >> i am extraordinary proud to lead our coastguard team. this is an extraordinary experience. i think the teamwork has been great. preparation has been terrific across the board when i was down in puerto rico all the way up the coast. now, we're really fully into the response and recovery stages.

james whitey bulger goes before a judge today, she's six \on/zeroiers old, catherine gregg is her name, pleading not guilty to harboring and concealing a fugitive. these two were found in santa monica, florida, living on the beach. molly line, what happened? good morning. >> reporter: you're absolutely right, bill, catherine gregg today pleading not guilty, essentially saying she is innocent of these charges after 16 years essentially on the run with james whitey bulger, this accused bob and mobster. she says that she is innocent. the prosecution, however, has a different story, she believe that she used multiple false identities to help conceal herself while on the run, as well as james whitey bulger, identities from names like carol gasko, helen march thal, chairl shaifen, mrs. thomas baxter and the list goes on. gregg's attorney says they would be taking this to trial, that they would not be cooperating, kevin runnington saying at this point she's holding up well. she faces five years in prison and a few years of supervision after being released if she's convicted on these charges a