towards the capital. this is the city of zawiya. on this day, even if you couldn't see the fire fight close up, you could hear its deafening sounds reverberating from the eastern part of the city. just getting too close. there are snipers on the tops of buildings. loud bangs. artillery fire. morta mortars. we've got to get out of here. despite the major battle going on around him, a rebel fighter, who did not want to be identified to protect his family, was confident of victory. considering the fighting is to fierce here, how long before you think you're able to push into tripoli? >> hopefully a couple of days. or one week maybe. >> reporter: you think it's going to be that soon? >> i think so because we are, we are in control in 80% of zawiya. >> reporter: but to push forward, they need to secure the whole city where gadhafi's army is doing everything it can to keep hold of this town. why is zawiya so important? >> because of oil factory. >> reporter: zawiya has one of the last remaining functioning oil refineries in the country and is the most direct supply root to tripoli. as of now, rebels have captured the refinery. there is a large amount of oil left in the storage tanks, but the opposition fighters say for them, this is not about oil. it's about securing their homes and neighborhoods. most of the town is shuttered, abandoned by frightened residents, but some families remain. ♪ this family is staying put including the children. even though missiles and mortars are falling around their home. >> translator: a person feels unsafe and can't rest because of the rockets. they hit us every night, but we are resisting by staying in our homes until liberty, but we do feel fear. especially for the children. >> reporter: she and the rebel fighters are convinced the end of the gadhafi regime is near, but most here agree. trying to take control of nearby tripoli will be one hell of a fight. and more breaking news. iran state-run tv says two american hikers detained in tehran have been sentenced to eight years in prison. josh fattal and shane bauer were seized by iranian authorities two years ago and charged with spying and illegal entry. reza has been covering the story and joins us now. what more are we learning about these two men and the news they received? >> oftentimes, information coming out of iran is sparse, sketchy and incomplete and it's no different this time. but let's tell you what we do know. iran's revolutionary court has convicted shawn bauer and joshua fattal of trespassing and spying and has sentenced them to eight years in prison. this is obviously very bad news for the parents of joshua fattal and shane bauer who were hoping the ordeal for their sons would be over. i think it's a verdict that's going to surprise people outside the u.s. who were expecting these two individuals to be released after they spent more than two years in prison in iran waiting for this very lengthy case to be completed. but again, the revolutionary courts convicting and sentencing shane bauer and joshua fattal. according to the source cited by state media, they're saying the two individuals are getting three years for trespassing and five years for spying. a charge their lawyers have strongly denied. we have reached out to the hiker's lawyer and what's bizarre, he seems not to be up to speed on what's happening. he said he wasn't aware of the verdict. he heard it in the media and is not going to comment on this verdict until and unless he speaks with court officials. of course, this is a case that garnered worldwide attention shortly after july 2009 and increased tensions between washington and tehran. i don't think this is a verdict that's going to help relations between the u.s. and iran. we should note that this case is probably not over. the lawyer has 20 days to appeal and you recall back in 2009, another american, american journalist roxanne na was detained, convicted of spying and was released shortly there after. don't rule out the possibility of these two being release d as well. >> that was going to be my follow up question. thanks so much. appreciate that. so, the u.s. state department just issued a statement saying it's working to confirm the report on shane and josh's sentencing and reiterated that it has a call in of course for the hiker's release. susan candiotti has been in touch with the families of these two men. she joins us live from new york. what have the families said and just riding on that last comment from reza, will the families feel that doesn't mean a hard core eight years, that perhaps there is a possibility there may be an early release? >> that would be the hope of the families. we've been reaching out to the families and their representatives throughout the morning. so far, we have not been able to talk directly to the families. it's not unusual when there has been a major development in this case for the mothers and the relatives to get together to figure out what they want to say, to study the situation, make sure they have the most up to date information before they get together and agree on what it is that they're going to say. so that apparently, is what is happening right now and in fact, in the end, we may be hearing strictly from their lawyer they hired, who is in iran. and that might be the conduit throughout the day, but certainly, it's an ordeal, yet another step many this long ordeal that they've been living through. >> wow. i know it's very difficult for them to feel any encouragement especially after a sentence like that. how are the mothers of shawn bauer and josh fattal kind of keeping it together? >> you know, they tell us constantly that they gain strength from each other. they talk to each other every day. sometimes more than once a day. they've been sending letters to their, to shane and to josh throughout. we're also understanding that the swiss ambassador by the way has not yet been informed of what is happening now according to our sources, so she's aware of the reports. this is someone who is the main conduit from the families as well as for the state department since the u.s. has not diplomatic relations with iran. so that's what we're hearing at this time. but remember, one key thing about this, fred, is that in the trial, the lawyer has consistently said that he never saw any evidence presented by iran that shane and josh and sarah were spying. never saw that presented in court. never the less, the verdict is what it is. according to the source and now, we will find out what will happen next. >> thanks so much. we're also watching closely a few u.s. legal cases. a tweet posted on a rapper's twitter account jams police phone lines. find out what game had to say about this straight ahead. in this hour. and people still want to travel in this economy, so how can it be afforded? 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[ male announcer ] they'll see you...before you see them. cops are cracking down on drinking and riding. drive sober, or get pulled over. is best absorbed in small continuous amounts. only one calcium supplement does that in one daily dose. new citracal slow release... continuously releases calcium plus d for the efficient absorption my body needs. citracal. looking for a travel deal? look no further. when you're looking to fly cheap, it's all about timing. alison kosik tells you how the price is right in this "on the go." >> the cost to fly is up about 10 to 20% higher than last summer, but you can still find the right price if you know when the buy your ticket. >> six to eight weeks out is probably not the best time. about four weeks out, there is what we call a sweet spot where air fare tends to soften and goes up about two weeks out of your flight. >> but if you can wait until the week you want to leave, airlines often give great deals to fill the remaining empty seats. >> airlines usually will release on tuesday's. >> signing up for deal alerts from airline and travel sites is ko to take advantage of the quick sales that last only 24 to 48 hours and connecting through facebook and twitter can also provide deals just for friends. >> we know a lot of last minute sales are released through these social media sites. if you're a friend, better odds of getting that from them. >> buying at the last moment can cost you, so flexibility is the must to get you on the go. from traveling to places to setting down, money magazine is out with its best places to live and this year, it's focusing on towns with less than 50,000 people. can you guess the community we're talking about today? here's a clue. >> this town has something in common with the home of the kentucky derby and has more than 300 days of sunshine. what place has plenty of space to horse around in? we'll let you know after the break. at exxon and mobil, we engineer smart gasoline that works at the molecular level to help your engine run more smoothly by helping remove deposits and cleaning up intake valves. so when you fill up at an exxon or mobil station, you can rest assured we help your engine run more smoothly while leaving behind cleaner emissions. it's how we make gasoline work harder for you. exxon and mobil. what place has plenty of space to horse around? louisville, colorado. not to be confused with louisville, kentucky. it has 27 parks and 27 miles of trails to keep you out of the sun. >> when you get a little older and need a little space, louisville's the perfect place. >> and the perfect place to own a home. real estate values in town have barely budged in six years. the l.a. county sheriff's department says the rapper known as game won't face criminal charges for a tweet gone awry. here's what happened. last week, the compton county sheriff's station was flooded with hundreds of calls causing the phone system to shut down. investigators traced the calls back to the rapper's twitter account. the rapper says the tweet was a prank gone wrong. the sheriff's department says the prank was no joke. >> the people who were calling through with important calls, to include two robberies, a spousal assault, missing person, hit and run. >> i spoke to game and the incident and here's what he said happened. >> it was hacked, but by my friend. my phone was laying around and when ever is phone is laying around, we tweet from each other's page. that's what happened. >> so, what's your response to the l.a. police which are saying some real legitimate calls didn't make it through because of this mishap? >> it's a real sensitive subject. i never want to be the source of anything happening wrong to anybody or anyone not being able to get through the help lines tat police station. but it was a ten-digit toll free number and you know, when people are in trouble, they call 911. that's not to take away from the police. them doing a job with them saying that there was a robbery or something happened. i don't ever want to see anybody hurt. i got kids at home. woman at home. i'm not that guy. my sincerest apologies to the sheriff's department and like i said, it was just a joke gone wrong. >> all right. apparently, apology accepted. authorities say game will not face any charges. another phenomenon interfering with first responders, so-called swatting, our legal guys are at the ready and will help explain what this is all about. swatting, not that moex motion you do when a fly is in the room, but making prank calls to emergency services some think of this as a joke, but authorities say it is down right dangerous as in the case of a 15-year-old naples boy. and richard hermann, a criminal defense attorney and law professor from new york. finally. i know new york is happy to see you, richard. in t in the case of this 15-year-old boy, hunt r, his x-box apparently got hacked and this next thing you know, a s.w.a.t. team had descended on his home. richard, how often is something like this happening? >> apparently, it's an incredible phenomena right now. you don't tug on superman's cape, you don't yell fire in a crowded movie theatre and what's happening here, groups of individuals for revenge or jealousy or ego, not for money, go after target individuals, get into their x-box, make up these scenarios where these people are being held at gun point, they've been slashed, they're holding their parents and what happens is when law enforcement hears this and gets it, they dispatch s.w.a.t. teams to try to break it up because they can't tell if it's a prank or it's real. it costs about $10,000. people could get killed in these raids and very dangerous. federal, federal penalties for this. federal. using the wires. >> avery, this is dangerous, costly. and the sad thing about this, another sad thing about it is the people who are doing the hacking, they often get away with this because it's very difficult for authorities to trace and track down who is responsible for this. >> yeah, 911 systems actually were created around 1968. long before this technology. so the difficulty, it's hard to get ahold of these people, but what these cyber freaks are doing is bragging about it. since late 2010, congress decided to do something about it. they enacted the truth in caller i.d. act and richard's right. the penalty is up to five years in the pen tenturery and there's a man in massachusetts who this year was convicted. he is spending 11 years for swatting. so it's serious. i'm not sure how widespread it is, but it's growing and that's a concern to law enforcement. >> another big concern, this for big tobacco. the fda saying you got to put these new labels. there have already been some labels put on cigarette packaging, warning you of the potential health effects. now, it goes a step further and these tobacco companies are saying, wait a minute, you're essentially telling our customers, richard, to not buy this product. do they have a good case? >> i think they do, fred. i think -- look, this is what's going to be on cigarette packages. this probably goes too far. whether it's going to avoid people from smoking, i don't think so. there was a study that said smokers completely ignore warnings. this is pretty devastating. this is a lawful business, cigarettes. if it wasn't lawful, okay, but it is lawful and five of the six big tobacco companies are saying the government has gone too far and they've got to stop it. >> they're going as far as saying this is unconstitutional. >> yeah. >> is it? >> it's a constitutionally tantalizing case, but the problem is, the tobacco industry originally challenged the question of smoking may be hazardous to your health. and they lost. now, they're challenging, smoking will kill you. they think there's a big difference. no, there isn't. the constitutional basis, which is an intriguing one. this is big tobacco being backed up with some very good lawyers. at the end of the day, i think they're going to lose. >> interesting. now, let's talk about a very, very unusual case. i think we can all agree this is rather odd. a deaf man wanting to attend a nudist festival wants an interpreter to come along, but the park refuses. he is suing on what grounds now, avery? >> under title 1 of the americans with disableties act. a federal law passed in 1990. he is saying, i can't hear what's going on, so i want my interpreter right next to me and the nudist colony is saying, he's got to take his clothes off, too, at least give us three days notice. he's saying, that's unreasonable. believe it or not, the case is a little closer than one might think. if the three-day notice is too much and doesn't make sense, believe it or not, tom willard, who brought the case, wins. if there is a connection, they want to get an interpreter that will take their clothes off, then they lose. so, thest a fascinating case. goofy case, but lots of fun to look at. >> i wonder if this is something that really does challenge the american disableties act. this american needs the interpreter, period. this is a necessity. why should clothing, no clothing, stand in the way of what he believes to be his right? and his right protected under this federal act? >> fred, i don't think the as fascinating case and i think it was a set-up case. i don't think this guy generally wanted to attend. but in any event, under the act, under the act, if it's a place of public accommodation, they must provide interpreters. that is what the law says and that they have not done it, they have violated the law and avery's right. i think it's going to come down. he's going to be successful here, but i think it's a ridiculous case. give me a break. this is ridiculous. >> i think he's prejudice against nude, deaf nudists or something. >> still want to communicate even if you're at a nudist camp, right? verbally. you don't want your body to say everything. >> you've got to use your fingers to do it. >> okay. we're not done with you. we've got other cases involving of course, the name is back. casey anthony and the emergency petition -- yeah, i know. you haven't heard it in a couple of weeks, right? the case is not over. it's taking another turn. the emergency petition that her lawyers have now filed. see you in a few minutes and rebel forces are getting ever closer to libya's capital. will the country's long time leader fight or run? we'll take you live to tripoli just minutes from now. 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[ pigeons ] heyyy! hooo!!! those are top stories right now, rebel forces in libya could be just days away from advancing on tripoli. right now, they're battling gadhafi's forces in zawiya. libyan officials deny rebel claims that gadhafi and his family are preparing to leave. two years ago today, scottland released lockerbie bomber. he was jailed for the 1988 bombing of a pan am jet liner over scotland that kills 270 people. he was released on compassion at grounds after a cancer diagnose sis and report that he had three months to live. the movement and returned to a hero's welcome in libya and is still alive today. and tensions are rising between egypt and israel. egypt has recalled its ambassador from tel aviv and is demanding israel investigate the death of three egyptian security members. they were killed during israeli strikes in gaza. hundreds have protested, demanding egypt serve ties with israel. authorities in norway expect more than a thousand people today in utoia island as survivors of the shooting rampage return to the scene. families of those slaughters july 22nd visited the island yesterday. and brefic amitts to the attacks, but has pleaded not guilty. back to libya. an