their plan to overcome poverty because they say times have changed and survival isn t just about them any more. george howell, cnn, atlanta. american hikers josh fattal and shawn bower are returning to the united states tonight. they were locked up in iran for two years on charges that they were spies. since wednesday they have been free in oman where they made their first public statement just a short time ago. cnn goes to oman. mohamed, what did they say? reporter: well, it was just a short while ago, a press conference here at the vip lounge at the air temperature. shawn bower spoke first. he said getting off the plane that brought us here three days ago was is most incredible experience of our lives. we ll never forget seeing our loved ones. they went on to thank the leader of man for his work to secure their release. josh fattal spoke right after that. gave another short statement. said just hours after we left prison we were able to swim in the calm waters of the gu
to see how they re doing. a lot of damage. interestingly, jim, one thing to we do e-mailed me this which came from the national emergency management agency hout there where you are. they basically tell us it is the islands where the problems are. a lot of power lines down, a bridge out here and there, a report from cat island that all power lines were down and no telecommunications. so it sounds like the large islands have done pretty well. the smaller islands, either we don t know or they have had some problems. that s right. it s probably going to be another at least into tomorrow where they re able to get a sense. people can only get to those islands it s hard to communicate there. you know the first thing to happen is power is out. they don t even know that they re really facing yet. trying to send out the trucks. really, until tomorrow they can get out there, maybe get some planes out there. it s going to be tough for them to know the real impact on the bahamas.
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
inside the gadhafi compound. it s a huge compound. it s a gadhafi regime. he was running the country for 40 years from that place. the rebels declared that under the rebels control. some early reports not confirmed yet that there are in the house of gadhafi and they raised the rebels banner. the libyan flag, the new flag. they have raided gadhafi s house. nothing to confirm that. we hear those people are inside gadhafi compound. alfred, we know that the influence of social media had such a big influence on the arab spring. are you monitoring any of the social media websites to see what s being said? yes, on the facebook, on the twitter they are saying they are close. right now as we speak it s just happening. i have to monitor more. right now as we speak, rebels inside the compound. i think it takes some time just
. we re following breaking news out of libya where rebels reportedly are going from room to room in gadhafi s compound searching for the libyan leader. so far to no say vail. the question is is he really in the compound as rebels expected or has he moved elsewhere. the pentagon says they expect gadhafi is somewhere in libya still at the moment. alfred is our interpreter for msnbc. right now the rebels inside the compound, the gadhafi compound not only there, but this is the house of gadhafi. the house of gadhafi that was bombed back in the 80s by the americans after the scandal. this house gadhafi has been addressed his people for the last six months or so.