war continues and the government is trying to keep the pressure up on the rebels. there has been one very big bright spot for the rebels this week. they have reported that they captured a syrian air defense base. that s significant because inside that air defense base are a number of anti-aircraft missiles. as you might remember, the syrian president has been using his air force to pound away at the rebels it impunity with the surface-to-air missiles, if they figure out how to use them that would give them a way to fight back against president assad s helicopters and his air force. we also got disturbing word from the rebels. they posted the video. we have a still frame from the video to show you of a number of iranian hostages being held by the rebels. they say they will start executing those iranian hostages if the syrians and iranians do not start releasing syrian rebel prisoners. this will be a real test in terms of how much iran is willing to stand behind president assad, if they
blamed on hurricane/tropical storm irene. more than three million homes and businesses still don t have power. flood warnings still are in effect in five states from vermont to new jersey. all this brings me to my colleague, mary snow, in patterson, new jersey. mary, what is going on there around you right now? reporter: well, evacuations have been going on for the past 48 hours and they are only intensifying because you just mentioned, there are some rivers that have yet to crest. here in patterson, new jersey, which is about three blocks away from the passaic river, that has not yet crested. we are told it s about seven feet higher than it normally is, and there have been boats going out that were with the state office of emergency management, their search and rescue teams have been going out all morning. we are joined by the mayor of patterson, jeff jones. mr. mayor, thanks for joining us. what is your biggest concern right now? well, the biggest concern right now is t
pennsylvania but shifting to the east coast later half of the day, where some places will s another 2 inches ofn, upwaes iate new that will continue to add water to the rivers, which are alreadt melt frs ve win so, i hope you have your w you need them. thanks, ava. there is a developing story out of china we re following this morning. an earthquake there has shook a province in the country s southwest region near the myanmar border. there are many injuries and a growing number of fatalities at this hour. at least a dozen so far. china s news agency says it was a magnitude 5.8 quake that literally leveled a supermarket. members of nato meet today to address the deadly unrest libya but no immediate decision at iming several oil ins bur1 o cameraman were detained at a checkpoint monday and held for nearly a day. they said they saw some rebel prisoners who were tortured while being held.
team of journalists who were literally held by gadhafi s loyalists. a bbc correspondent and his cameraman were detained at a checkpoint monday and held for nearly a day. they said they saw some rebel prisoners who were tortured while being held. the journalists were accused of being spies and subjected to a mock execution. i just closed my eyes and asked my god to help me. i heard a lot of screaming. and i can t describe. it was horrible. the worst thing i ve ever seen. in my life. and i ve seen a lot of bad stuff. they are safe now and have all since left libya. well, president obama and top advisers discuss the crisis in libya at the white house, to go over diplomatic options for the u.s. as martha raddatz reports, there s a limited list of options. reporter: president obama sounded clear enough the violence must stop. moammar gadhafi has lost legitimacy to lead and he must leave. reporter: but that looks less