>> glor: tonight, arrest in yemen. security forces seize a woman suspected of sending mail bombs to the u.s. officials say at least one of those bombs could have brought down a plane. i'm jeff glor. also tonight, rally on the mall. jon stuart and stephen colbert mix humor and activism, a different kind of gathering in the capitol. the final push-- president obama barnstorms across crucial swing states but is it too late? and sleepy hollow, the haunting visit to the place where american ghost stories began. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with jeff glor. >> glor: good evening. the investigation is continuing

full speed on three continents tonight, and as we library more about that airline bomb plot, important clues have been revealed, and now a suspect is in custody we're told. here is the latest tonight: officials in yemen say they've arrested one woman and are searching for others. sources tell cbs news one of the bombs conattend six times as much explosive as the so-called underwear bomb last december. a british official says the bomb was powerful enough to bring down a jet plane. our team of correspondents is covering every aspect of this story tonight and we begin with our justice correspondent, bob orr in washington. >> reporter: yemen's president went on television tonight to announce the arrest of a woman who is accused of shipping the twin cargo bombs, destined for two chicago synagogues. it's not clear what connection, if any, the suspect might have with the yemen-based terror group qap. but u.s. officials are increasingly confident that add qap built the bombs discovered

in great britain and dubai. we know the hidden devices in computer printers could have been deadly. >> i can confirm the device was viable and could have exploded. the target may have been an aircraft and had it detonated, the aircraft could have been brought down. >> reporter: each of the devices was packed with a large amount of the chemical compound petn, the same explosive used in the so-called underwear bomb. but source say the printer bombs were much more powerful, containing at least six times the amount of petn. they were rigged with electrical components, designed to be triggered by a cell phone or time. >> this was a e attempt by an affiliate of al qaeda in far away yemen to reach the united states safely without even putting an operative on a plane. >> reporter: officials found the bombs after a very specific tip from saudi arabia. the two packages shipped from yemen contained explosives, but the f.b.i. and other law enforcement agencies have been

chasing down and checking all parcels recently mailed from yemen. at least 15 packages, originally thought to be suspect, have now been found and cleared. >> ultimately, we believe that in this case, the plot certainly was disrupted, but we're not sitting back. we are being very, very vigilant. we don't know that this was the entire universe of the plot. >> reporter: officials don't know if the bombs were intended to go off in the air or on the ground. and while the packages were addressed to two chicago centers of worship, it's not clear they were the actual targets. jeff. >> glor: bob orr leading us off tonight from washington. bob, thank you. whatever the plot's real motive, the revelations have clearly surprised and ragthsed chicago residents. dean reynolds is there. >> reporter: at the emmanuel congregation on chicago's north side today, rabbi zeddic raised the issue on everyone's mind. >> are we shocked? no. there's nothing shocking in this. >> reporter: the congregation

is affiliated with orr hada orr hadash said to be one of the synagogues apparently targeted. rabbi swraddic was notified of the threat by chicago officials on friday. >> we need to be vigilant. this is, alas, a new normal. i don't want to get used to it but i do have to recognize it. >> reporter: outside there was no sign of increased security, while inside, those who came for sabbath services were concerned but saw no drop-off in attendance. >> a mail bomb from yemen. i'm not going to lose sleep over it, you know. you can't stop being who you are. >> reporter: even if the shipment from yemen had reached its intended destination here in chicago, the staff at this synagogue is instructed to turn over such suspicious packages to the authorities. the that the scheme was to unfold just before an american election is consistent with the way al qaeda has tried to med nel domestic politics, but choosing chicago as an apparent

target has set off rampant speculation as to why. robert pape is an expert on suicide terrorism. >> why chicago? well, the president of the united states, obama, is closely identified with chicago, so it really is right in line with osama bin laden's previous patterns. >> reporter: in the hallmark of al qaeda is persistence, the community here intends to match it with vigilance. dean renned ons, cbs news, check. >> glor: this plot that appears to be based in yemen puts more focus now on an inpoverished country in the arabian peninsula. mark phillips has more on that part of the story from london. >> reporter: there was noticeably tighter security on the streets of yemen's capital today, particularly around the offices the packages were shipped from. but exotic sanna is not the problem. the vast countryside where tribal power, not government power, rules is where al qaeda

has a long-established presence that has grown over the past years. as the military pressure has increased on the al qaeda leadership in the afghan-pakistan border regions, the militantss' training ground of choice has shift to the more welcoming sands of yemen. political instability, vast lawless territories, and a sympathetic welcome provide the kind of environment that existed in afghanistan before 9/11. >> the yemen is right now engaged in the civil war. part of it are trying to secede and the central government doesn't control anything outside the capital city and its eni have rones. it's an ideal ground for al qaeda to base themselves, to have their training camps. >> reporter: and yemen is where anwar al-awlaki has gone, the american-born jihaddist and militant prop gantist warning there is more to come. >> america cannot and will not win. the tables have turned and there's no rolling back of the worldwide jihad movement. >> reporter: and the

yemen-based militants have combined their ambition with technical innovation. jihaddist web sites have included instructions on how to hide explosives in picture frames and cassettes in order to avoid detection. the uss "colonoscopy" was attack in yemen 10 years ago using an explosive-laden dinghy. >> the idea is the west can be lucky once but not all the times. i think we will have more of this coming. >> reporter: and coming from yemen. mark phillips, cbs news, london. >> glor: nato soldiers in afghanistan have killed some 50 taliban insurgents in separate battles. officials say at least 38 were killed during an attack on a combat outpost in pakika province and at least 10 insurgents died during an attack in southern helmand province. meanwhile back here in the u.s., on the national mall today, cable television comedians jon stuart and stephen colbert joined forces to host a rally.

there was fun, satire, and music with a message. here's wyatt andrews. >> an incredible gathering here on the mall today. >> reporter: it was much larger than the 60,000 people they expected. the crowd itself was part youth festival, part halloween party, and brought an attitude that was all tongue in cheek. >> are you ready to restore sanity! ( cheers and applause ) >> reporter: but this rally to restore sanity and/or fear was all about making a point. douglas and linda paul, mild-mannered iowans came to protest the name calling in media and politics. >> there's so much false outrage, phony outrage, and it's-- it doesn't need to be there. >> reporter: that was the sanity side. kathleen ford came from north carolina with her version of fear. your fear is bed bugs or the minions of al qaeda. >> they're terrorists. >> if you're here to keep fear

alive, on the count of three, let me hear you say, ," ooooo." >> reporter: no politician took the stage. this was more a concert headlined by kid rock and sheryl crow ♪ with these open arms i'll wat for you ♪ . >> reporter: stuart and colbert also played for laughs by singing ♪ i'd marry uncle sam if i coud do it legally ♪ . >> reporter: but stuart got serious and outlined why he was here pointing his finger at the insanity he sees in the shout-fest on tv. >> republicans lie! >> you cannot be a liberal and a christian. >> we work together to get things done every damn day! ( cheers and applause ) the only place we don't is here on on cable tv. >> reporter: for ron and anita honn, who took a bus here from oklahoma, sending that message was worth it. >> the important thing was that

we got here and we lent our voice to this call for reason. >> reporter: after two years of contentious politics, this was a unique event. typically d.c. rallies are held to highlight the heat of a particular issue, but this was the rising up of the more quiet american asking that the debate cools down. jeff. >> glor: all right, wyatt andrews on the national mall tonight. wyatt, thank you. with just three days to go until the midterm election, president obama hoping to maximize the turnout and minimize damage to democrats campaigned today in three states. our chief white house correspondent chip reid is traveling with the president. >> reporter: the president began his final two-day print of the twerch campaign in philadelphia. >> the fact of the matter is, we are in a difficult election. >> reporter: where he urged an audience at temple university not only to vote but to get their friends, neighbors, and fellow students to the poles, too. >> what i need this weekend is

20,000 doors knocked on by all the volunteers who are here today. >> reporter: most political analysts give democrats little chance of holding on to the house of representatives, so the primary focus of the president's late campaigning is hanging on to the senate. republicans need a gain of 10 seats to take control. the white house believes they can hold republican gains to eight at most. >> fight for change. >> reporter: in pennsylvania, democrat joe sestac, who trade badly in the polls for months, has made a late surge in a race that's now rated a toss-up. >> we're going to win this tuesday! >> reporter: next stop, bridgeport, connecticut, where the president led a really for democratic senate candidate richard blumenthal. >> we need that spirit today. i need that here in connecticut, bridgeport. >> reporter: polls show blumenthal leads linda mcmahon by anywhere from eight to 12 points. >> in three days you get the chance to say what? yes, we can. >> reporter: asked why the president felt the need to come here, a white house official says said, "we want to make sure

this race is in the bag." the day's final stop is chicago, where the president is campaigning for alexi giannoulias, who is locked in a tight race for the president's old senate seat with mark kirk. nearly all of the president's events in these final days are on college campuses or in urban centers, all part of his strategy to fire you want democratic base, especially young and minority voters. many people in these crowds voted for the first time in 2008, and they voted because of barack obama. the trick for the president now is getting them to vote in this election when his name is not on the ballot. chip reid, cbs news, philadelphia. >> glor: still ahead on the cbs evening news, school yard bullying get a high-tech boost from the internet.

>> glor: a disturbing new study this week shows that bullying is becoming a growing part of high school life, driven in part by cell phones and the internet. now, the u.s. education department is warning schools they better begin to battle bullying or risk being held legally liable. from los angeles tonight, bill whitaker has more. >> reporter: samantha gerson says the bullying started when she came out as a lesbian her freshman year in high school. >> i never let it show, but inside it was really getting to me. >> reporter: youtube is full of bullying taunts and fights. according to a new study, high school bullying, not just of gays but anyone considered different or weak, is much more widespread than previously thought. 50% of high school student they have bullied someone in the past year. 47% say they have been bull ed. 52% admit to hitting someone in anger, and 24% say they don't feel safe at school. michael josephson oversaw the study. >> there's a willingness to say

things that people would just think before and young people are suffering serious psychological harm. >> reporter: it was national news when three students took their lives over the past month after painful, often relentless bullying, kids say it's a sore fact of school life. >> people get picked on, jumped, beat, you know, it's a sad situation. >> i guess you could talk or be talked about. >> reporter: the us department of education warns schools that don't address bullying could be violating federal antidiscrimination law. l.a. schools are trying to give counselors tools to deal with bullying. >> we need to make schools more conscious of creating a community, a solidarity where it's all for one and one for all where it's the bully who is exclude not the student being bullied. >> reporter: as for samantha, she transferred to a new schooled with zero tolerance for bullying. >> i tell my students you don't have to be friend with everyone but you do have to respect them.

>> glor: in south end, declan sullivan was remembered with a moment of silence before today's football game. sullivan, who was taping football practice from a tower, was killed this week when that tower collapsed in high winds. state regulators now are investigating that accident. just ahead on tonight's cbs evening news, fighting cholera in haiti. what a three-ounce bar of soap might be able to do.

>> glor: the cholera outbreak in haiti has now killed more than 330 people and sent more than 4700 people to the hospital. when it comes to fighting such a huge outbreak, it turns out small efforts can be very important. our medical correspondent dr. jon lapook reports from haiti. >> reporter: shawn seipler used to be a high-powered

e-commerce executive. today he's something even more powerful. you're the pied piper of soap. >> absolutely, the pied piper of soap. >> reporter: two years ago, before the earthquake, before the cholera, seipler had a simple idea-- collect all those little bars of hotel soup that get used just once, clean them with restaurant steamers, and ship them off to places like haiti where diseases from lack of sanitation kill millions of children every year. >> we're trying to clean the world to create a hygiene revolution. we believe in these developing countries if we can bring the same type of sanitation and preventive maintenance in terms of cleaning one's body, the same way we do in the yiewt, we think we can change countries. >> reporter: cbs news first met seipler last october on one of clean the world's very first missions to haiti. conditions here, even before the earthquake, were appalling, and the people so desperate that distributions often descended into chaos. diarrheal diseases are the number two killer of children worldwide, claiming nine million

young lives every year, but studies show simple handwashing could cut those deaths by up to 60%. since the earthquake, clean the world has delivered 1.5 million bars of soap to needy haitians and the epidemic has spurred an even greater response. 40,000 bars were delivered last week with an 80,000-bar shipment arriving next tuesday. >> here now, seeing this, you know, the need, even though it gets a little tense, the need here is so incredible, this is the fulfilling part of what we're doing. this is just one tent city. there is so much need around here and it just lights a fire to get out there and get more soap and get it into their hands. >> reporter: dr. jon lapook, cbs news, haiti. >> glor: haiti and the dominican ruk to be in the path of hurricane tomas next week. it battered saint lucia, st.

>> glor: politician have always found it hard to resist babies, but this was an extreme example today as former president bill clinton campaigned for ohio democratic congressman john bucheri, bucheri ran off the stage. it turned out his wife head into labor. >> the baby is now being born! >> glor: mr. clpts clts joked i wish i could register the baby before it's too late. 18-year-old alexandria mills from louisville beat out women from 114 other countries and won the 60th annual misworld contest in beijing, china. emotional reunions today in north korea, separated since the korean war, they traveled to resorts where they were reunited with their north korean relatives. no mail, phone, or e-mail changes are allowed across that border. up next on the cbs evening news,

halloween with the heads horseman.

>> glor: halloween is being celebrated in many ways in many places this weekend. as jay dow tell uz nowhere is the party being done in a more professional manner than halloween's home town. >> reporter: there's no mistaking the horseman's hollow in new york sleepy hollow for an amateur production. it's staged with professional actors using movie-quality makeup and special effects. >> i'm just hanging around. >> reporter: it is set on the grounds of a spooky 300-year-o d mainor where "the legend of sleepy hollow" has been taken to its darkest extremes. >> this is not for little kids but it had a nice blend of horror and history. >> reporter: it's intense. >> it's intense. it was awesome. >> reporter: more than tree,000 haunted theme

attractions open their doors nationwide every halloween, easterning an estimated half billion clars. it turns out there's a science to creating a good scare, and the most effective attractions, including this room, which creates a real sense of claustrophobia, are designed to slowly build a feeling of controllable fear and anxiety. it works. >> basically just keeping up the level of suspense. it's the old hitchcock theory. it's just like you cannot show the monster and have a perfectly great movie. >> reporter: lance hollowwell is the creative director. >> creepy kids. people hate creepy kids. this freaked me out when i walked in here. then it's doing its job. >> reporter: experts say it's in our d.n.a. to crave a good scare. >> these are really safe thrills. it's not like climbing mount everest. you know you're going to come out the other end okay. >> reporter: even if the headless horseman does his best to make you think otherwise. jay dow, cbs news, new york.

>> glor: that is the cbs evening news tonight. i'm jeff glor, cbs news in new races... how one bay area candidate is still being challenged as voters prepare to head for the p two days left for the candidates facing some tight races. how one bay area candidate is still being challenged as voters head for the polls. the last chance for my age to make it to the world series and see the giants do it. >> giants not alone in the lone star state showing their colors for game three of the world series. another music event ends with police and paramedics at the cow palace. what went wrong at this latest concert? cbs 5 eyewitness news is next. david harmer wrote an education plan titled "abolish the public schools." he even called our schools "insidious" and "socialism." as families struggle to raise their kids, to provide a good education, harmer bragged, "we can design a plan to dismantle them." david harmer is just too radical. we need jerry mcnerney. protecting local schools from devastating cuts.