>> tonight, buildup in the persian gulf. the u.s. readies an amphibious ship as a forward base in the nuclear face-off with iran. david martin reports from the pentagon. hunting the pirates. charlie d'agata shows us how satellite imagery is exposing the somali pirates' hiding places. harsh words in the closing days of florida's volatile primary. >> he was fined for ethics violation. he ultimately had to resign in disgrace. >> dan crawford, dean reynolds and john dickerson have the latest from the campaign trail. and workers in silicon valley say they're owed millions because of a secret deal among seven high-tech companies. captioning sponsored by cbs

this is the "cbs evening news." >> good evening. i'm maurice dorks bois. the u.s. military is raising the ante in its stand-off iran. vital strait of hormuz. the move comes against a backdrop of escalating tensions over iran's nuclear programs. david martin is at the pentagon tonight. >> reporter: in what could well be the beginning of the end game, u.n. inspectors left for iran today, looking for answers to their suspicions about a secret nuclear weapons program. >> we hope iran will engage with us on the-- our concerns regarding the possible military dimensions of iranian's nuclear program. >> reporter: the three-day visit comes as the u.s. is rushing to upgrade this massive 30,000-pound bunker buster which can be carried by a b-2 stealth bomber and would be used to attack iran's underground nuclear facilities if it comes to that.

the bomb, shown here in mock-up on the manufacturer's web site, has been in development for several years, but the discovery of this uranium enrichment complex dug into the side of a mount, has raised concerns that the device, called a massive ordinance penetrator, cannot dig deep enough to destroy it. israel, which regards the iranian nuclear program as a threat to its very existence, has said there are only six to nine months left before iran's facilities are so well buried as to be safe from attack. while the pentagon tries to build a bomb that can penetrate that complex, the u.s. and its european allies are trying to squeeze iran with economic sanctions including a ban on imports of iranian oil. europe accounts for about one-fifth of iran's oil revenues. the pressure has triggered threats from iran to close the strait of hormuz, through which nearly 17 million barrels of persian gulf oil pass each day.

the u.s. has warned iran both publicly and privately, it will not alout strait to be closed. the navy has now begun a crash project to convert this amphibious ship to a floating forward base that would be stationed inside the persian gulf and service as a mobile platform for mind sweepers, patrol boats, helicopters, and teams of commandos to keep the strait open. the ship is expected to arrive in the gulf this summer. 2012 is shaping up as a decisive year in this long-simmering crisis over iran's nuclear program. and it's all going to play out right in the middle of u.s. presidential campaign. >> david martin at the pentagon tonight. thank you. jessica buchanan, the young american aid worker navy seals rescued from somali pirates early this week remains at a u.s. naval base in sicily. ize in the sky play a role in the hunts for pirates and their other hostages as charlie

d'agata reports tonight from london. >> reporter: despite the military firepower of 30 nations patrolling the coast of somalia, pirate attacks are on the increase. in 2011 alone, somali pirates captured 47000s. 15 of those hostages were killed. 151 are still being held. the ransoms paid out amounted to more than $250 million. it's an astronomical amount of money in one of the poorest countries in the world where the average salary is less than $300 a year. piracy is big business. and business is booming. dr. anja shortland has studied high-resolution satellite images to track the treasure trail with surprising results. far away from the coastal villages where they launch their attacks, the safe havens have become boom towns. >> they happen to be two cities

very closely associated with piracy. one being the source for the militiamen who provide the firepower, and the other the boomtown through which all the pirate equipment would be imported. >> reporter: the satellite images reveal the sprawl, including a new mosque in a growing neighborhood. and elsewhere, a new hotel. and even though just tiny specks not easily seen, she also found images of night time light, another giveaway. electricity is a luxury in somalia. surprisingly, the coastal towns are left in the dark. >> what i don't see and what i did expect to see was the pirate villages on the coast lighting up like a string of pearls and there's nothing. >> reporter: coastal villages have failed to benefit from any pirate booty. the brains and muscle of the operations merely use the villages to launch their attacks and keep their hostages well away from the coast.

american journalist michael scott moore is among those still held in somalia. he was abducted last saturday. somali pirates threaten to kill moore if the united states attempts another navy seal rescue. >> now to campaign 2012, and tuesday's high-stakes republican primary in florida. the latest poll shows mitt romney surging. he's widened his lead over newt gingrich to nine points, 38% to 29%. and jan crawford and dean reynolds are with the candidates tonight. first to jan in panama city. jan, good evening to you. >> reporter: well, good evening, maurice. sounding confident today, an energized mitt romney took his message and his allies right into the heart of what many say should be gingrich country. that's the staunchly conservative florida panhandle. >> i will fight with all my energy to keep america the strong nation it's been and the hope of the earth and the shining city on the hill. >> reporter: in pensacola,

romney was greeted by big crowds and conservative supporters like shirley mccraw. >> we need somebody that has good morals and we need somebody as a role model. >> reporter: for mccraw, that candidate is romney, not newt gingrich. >> it seems to me that every time he gets a new wife, he gets a new part of his religion. >> reporter: at a ship building yard in panama city romney hit gingrich on ethics charges when he was house speaker. >> he ultimately had to resign in disgrace. he can't rewrite history. >> reporter: that message is resonating with panhandle voters like francis johnson. >> we all forgive, we do, but i just cannot vote for a man with that kind of baggage. >> reporter: now, with supporters like that, romney was sounding even more optimistic this afternoon. after his event here, he sahd he thought things were going in his direction and that he was going to win on tuesday. now here's my colleague dean

reynolds with the gingrich campaign. >> reporter: jan, i'm here in orlando with gingrich, and he is well aware that the polls here in florida show him down, but he likes to point to other surveys which have him ahead of mitt romney by six to nine points nationally. arguing that he is the true conservative in the race, gingrich took the fight to romney and the republican establishment. >> under the elites, the people who oppose me,some in the democratic party, some in the republican party, under these elites, we have become the america that couldn't. >> reporter: gingrich bristles at criticism of his record, and especially charges that he was insufficiently devoted to ronald reagan's policies of low taxes and small government. >> some fairly crazed people who are terrified i'll become the nominee have been writing this genuinely whacked out things, some of which are that i didn't know ronald reagan, i wasn't actually involved in the reagan years. >> reporter: a feature of his

reallies lately is the attendance of romney campaign surrogates, including members of congress, mingling with reporters and defending the former massachusetts governor from gingrich's attacks. mr. speaker, what do you make of all these romney surrogates who are bird dogging your events day after day? >> it's a free-- it's a free country. >> reporter: what do you think it's a sign of by them? >> i don't know. does the term "desperation" come to mind? >> reporter: now gingrich admits he was unhappy with his two debate performances this week, thrown off stride, he says, by what he calls mitt romney's dishonesty. maurice. >> dean reynolds in orlando tonight. thank you very much. cbs news political director john dickerson is on the campaign trail in miami. okay, john, three days to go. romney's got the momentum, gingrich seems way off balance. the exact opposite of what happened in south carolina. i mean, who could have predicted this? >> reporter: that's right. mitt romney is the one with the spring in his step now, unlike a week ago in south carolina.

and gingrich is off his game. with no more debates to allow him to remind people what they liked about him-- which was that he could be a forceful advocate for their conservative cause-- he's left a complaint about romney. as a gingrich adviser put to me, what gingrich needs to do is remind people why they want to vote for newt gingrich, not why romney is bad and that message doesn't look like it's getting through. >> for gingrich, going forward, the establishment is against gaens him. he hasn't got the money. he hasn't got the organization. he has to be worried tonight, don't you think? >> reporter: they are worried. those establishment attacks, the attacks from his peers, have hurt him, along with the barrage of negative ads. he's trying it turn around the criticism saying he's being attacked because he's a challenge to the establishment but that's not workings. coming into the florida, the republican race was a contest of gingrich's momentum versus romney's superior money. if gingrich loses florida and the momentum, we will lose his big advantage against the

superior romney machine. >> and later, what florida small business leaders think of the republican field. a fight over natural gas fracking in one small american town. and don't call us and we won't call you. have high-tech companies illegally agreed not to poach each other's employees? those stories when the cbs evening news continues. [ male announcer ] when a moment suddenly turns romantic, men with erectile dysfunction can be more confident in their ability to be ready with cialis for daily use. even if it doesn't happen every day, you can be ready anytime the moment's right, because you take a clinically proven low-dose tablet every day. [ man ] tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications

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a probe by the u.s. justice department revealed at least six companies kept "do not call" lists to avoid recruiting. the companies settled that antitrust complaints but now the employees involve read seeking damages. their lead attorney, joe saleri, argues that the alleged conspiracy kept workers' salaries artificially low by stifling competition. >> they are definitely putting the interest of the company ahead of their employees, and that's-- that's fundamentally wrong. >> reporter: according to just-released court filings, an e-mail leaked from apple's late c.e.o. steve jobs, to google executive eric schmidt, about google's attempt to hire away an apple engineer. jobs right, "i would be very pleased if your recruiting department would stop doing this." google's response, the recruiter would be fired. "please extend my apologies as appropriate to steve jobs" the google e-mail read. >> these were agreements that

were hatched and implemented, spread and concealed at the highest levels of these companies. >> reporter: another document, he says, reveals that some executives felt uncomfortable with any arrangement. in an e-mail addressed to steve jobs from the then-c.e.o. of palm read, "your proposal that we agree that neither couple will hire the other's employees, regardless of the individual's desires, is not only wrong. it's likely illegal." all the companies insist that the case should be dismissed and argue any allegations of some grand conspiracy are implausible at best. but if the case does gain class action status, lawyers say damages would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. lee cow an, cbs news, los angeles. >> to syria now, the arab league today suspended its controversial monitoring mission in the country amid a surge of violence. protesters have been calling for an end to president assad's regime. at least 80 people have been killed in the past three days.

still ahead, a pennsylvania town and its fracking fight for clean water. d due to nasal inflammation. so i can breathe. advil congestion relief. so i can breathe. i remember the day my doctor told me i have an irregular heartbeat, and that it put me at 5-times greater risk of a stroke. i was worried. i worried about my wife, and my family.

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ask your doctor if you can reduce your risk of stroke with pradaxa. [ slap! slap! ] [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. ♪ tum tum tum tum tums em an instrumless.faster. system. >> president obama this week pushed for expanding natural gas production as a way to fuel economic growth. right now, the gas industry generates more than 600,000 jobs. that could grow to 870,000 by 2015. pennsylvania is already at the center of a natural gas boom, but as tony guida reports, the

drilling in one town may be damaging the water. >> reporter: in tiny dimock, pennsylvania, there is trouble just below the surface. methane in some of the water wells, enough for ignition at the tap, made famous by a scene from the documentary "gas land." dimock, population 1400, has become ground zero in a national battle over hydraulic fracturing, or fracking a controversial technique for extracting natural gas. >> spent christmas day looking for water, new year's day looking for water, this past sent looking for water. >> reporter: craig sautner and other resident have dealt with leaks wells. fests found sautner's water contains toxic levels of arsenic, barium, manganese and glycol compounds known to be common in drilling fluids. the cause-- fracking by the

cabot oil and gas company according to john hanger, former head of the state's department of environmental protection. >> there are 18 water wells that have been impacted. >> reporter: fracking involves millions of gallons of sand, water, and potentially toxic chemicals blasted deep into the earth, shattering underground shale and freeing natural gas for collection. it's at the surface where spills and blowouts causeicallyically-infused water to seep into the water table. in 2008, after testing the wells of concerned residents, hanger's agency wrote to craig sautner and other homeowners, blame the contaminated water on drilling activities conducted by cabot oil and gas. >> the water came out looking like coffee with milk in it. >> reporter: the state agency ordered cabot to stop drilling new wells and to deliver fresh water to affected residents. but now, three years later, pennsylvania's environmental agency has changed its mind. a new administration tells cbs news, "there is no evidence in pennsylvania of fracking ever

having contaminated drinking water." and said cabot no longer has to deliver water. >> all of a sudden this year, they're saying there's nothing wrong with the water. how would he even know? the guy has never been to dimock, nor does he ever plan on coming to dimock. >> reporter: enter the federal government. eight days ago, the e.p.a. made its first fresh water delivery to dimock after its analysis raised flags. >> our ultimate goal is for everybody to have clean water. that's all. >> reporter: now the e.p.a. will do its own investigation of the water. tony guida, cbs news, new york. >> the last american combat troops left iraq in december. and today, st. louis became the first city in the nation to welcome them home with a parade. about 600 veterans took place as thousands of people in the gateway city lined the route to cheer them on. still ahead, florida businessmen with different takes on the g.o.p. candidates. that story is next.

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battle is tonight's "weekend journal." the jacksonville metro area is home to 1.4 million people, a busy port, and a growing high-tech sector. but the unemployment rate of 9.2% remains above the national average. >> so this is a sheet press. >> reporter: 24 of the newly unemployed worked for jon cummins until he shut down his printing company last month. the presses stand idle, for sale. >> the overall business level has been down for a very long time and we did not know when it was coming back. >> i want your vote. >> reporter: cummins let the romney campaign stage a rally here this week so he could meet the candidate. >> i'm definitely hoping that the economy turns around, whoever is in the white house. >> reporter: the visit turned comments from undecided to romney supporter. >> he talked about a free market economy and ending government regulations that are crippling business and small business and it's nutty how many new rules there are now. >> reporter: shawn lednick also wants less regulation and

lower taxes. 30 people work for him, manufacturing medical devices and repairing industrial parts. lednick considers romney's business experience too corporate. he's backing newt gingrich. >> i feel he's the most qualified. he has some-- a lot of experience with speaker of the house. he preside over surplus. he preside over a budget that was actually balanced, things we aren't doing tent and i think he knows how to get back to that point. >> reporter: paul nowaskey fixes motorcycles and sells them on consignment. he was for gingrich but changed his mind during this week's debate in jacksonville. >> he's not aware of the investments being made in his name. >> i can't. it's a blind trust. >> i'm sick and tired of the arguing between romney and gingrich. for me, i just don't like the constant bringing up the baggage on both of them. you know, they've got to cut that stuff out. >> reporter: he's backing rick santorum. >> i don't look at it as throwing away my vote. i look at it that i'm backing

the person they think would make an excellent president. >> reporter: ron paul had been first choice for real estate financier tarek bateh, but now he's voting for romney to stop gingrich. >> i see him as very unstable, very much a hot head, can fly off the handle and rush to rash decisions. further, i don't see any track record of his in the business world, at least they would be proud of, taking fees from freddie mac as a lobbyist is not something i would be proud of. >> both ron paul and rick santorum have effectively conceded florida and did not campaign in the state today. and that was the cbs evening news. later on cbs, "48 hours." i'm maurice dubois, cbs news in new york, good night. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org