as elizabeth palmer reports, a mortar attack today put that plan in jeopardy. >> reporter: as the cease-fire came into effect a few residents dared to come out into the open, ready to leave, while the very weak or sick were carried across the no-man's-land that separates the rebel-held streets from the syrian army. from there, buses took them shelters where they received medical care and food. this old man said at times he'd had nothing but grass. just like rabbits, he said. look at this. in november 2012, the syrian military took us to see how they'd sealed off the old city. more than a year later, the rebels inside haven't given up. no one knows exactly how many civilians were trapped in their with them, but the ones who have emerged during the cease-fire are hungry and exhausted. tonight, there are reports that the humanitarian operation in homs was attacked. amateur video appears to show the u.n. truck stopped deep in the old city after coming under mortar fire that injured a driver. both sides blamed the other for the violence. it's a setback for the u.n., but not a surprise in a war th

elizabeth palmer is there. >> reporter: towns along the river thames west of london are awash, as the across the south of england continues to rise. it's turned houses into islands, streets into rivers, and the countryside into a vast sea. britain's prime minister david cameron has promised whatever it takes to tackle the crisis. >> if money needs to be spent, it will be spent. if resources are required, we will provide them. if the military can help, they will be there. >> reporter: today, soldiers did arrive in the flooded town of wraysbury to start sandbagging, though, for many homeowners, it's too late. january storms left thousands facing evacuation, and even washed the ground away under a section of railway, leaving the swinging in midair. today, there was a bit of a sunny break, but even when the water is not falling from the sky, the ground is so waterlogged that it's welling up from underneath. and the weather forecast for tomorrow? more rain. elizabeth palmer, cbs news, wraysbury, in the thames valley. >> pelley: a washington showdown was avoided this evening when the republ

elizabeth palmer has reported on the civil war from the beginning in 2011.turkey, she reconnected with the syrian woman who was lucky to make it out. >> reporter: this is a story of survival. two years ago we first met ameenah working as an anti-al- assad activist in a rebel-held suburb of damascus. at night the whole area around her home came under constant shelling by the syrian army. but as bad as things were, they were about to get a lot worse. in august 2013, ameenah'sÑi neighborhood was attacked with chemical weapons. but the poison gas that killedÑi more than a thousand people blew away from her house. and she lived to tell us in a skype call how she ran to the clinic. >> i asked to help, the people were screaming. >> reporter: it was risky, but life had ceased to mean very much by then. >> if i didn't die from theçó chemical weapon, i'm going to die from the starvation. >> reporter: that fall the syrian military had cut off all food supplies the suburbs. when the army lifted its siege long enough to allow the vulnerable to escape, ameenah managed to

we have more with elizabeth palmer. good morning. >> good morning.witnesses say that shortly after takeoff a man told flight attendants that he wanted to be taken to sochi where the olympics were on and if they didn't take him there he was going to blow up the bomb using a cell phone to detonate it but the pilot decided he was going to carry on to his original destination. he landed the plane, which had been accompanied in the air by two scrambled f-16 fighter jets in istanbul. the governor of the city said the authorities examined the man's luggage and quickly determined he had no bomb. while traffic to the airport was diverted, turkish special forces evacuated the plane. here's the would-be hijacker. a 45-year-old ukrainian man. he's under arrest. authorities say he may have been drunking on drugs, or perhaps mentally ill. another passenger described the scene on board which remained surprisingly calm. after the man threatened to detonate his bomb he told reporters he returned to his seat and didn't get up again for three hours. that may be because

the main focus is on journalists being held in egypt, and elizabeth palmer reports where one of the demonstrationsn london is now underway. journalist and activist have assembled in the heart of the city. the theme is journalism is not a crime. it's a direct reference to the charges against the al jazeera journalists of spreading lies and having links to an terrorism organization. one man had been reporting on the up heval. and sue says her colleagues have committed no crime. >> it's part of the huge media crackdown in egypt, and they are trying to silence anybody that criticized them. >> their so called crime was talking to and reporting on the opponents of the government, specifically the muslim brotherhood of mohamed morsi. three years ago, tens of thousands of young people filled the square demanding the right to freedom of speech. that freedom has died. the security forces filmed the journalist's arrests from their hotel room and then broadcast it on egypt tv with a bizarre soundtrack with shots over broadcasting equipped. last week the three men appeared in court for the first time and the h

elizabeth palmer thank you. >>> and it is rare to hear the president of the united states use the east room of the white house to talk about his past drug use but it was part of the president's announcement of a new initiative to create opportunities for minority boys and young men. in a group, in front of a group of chicago teenagers, the president shared some of his own personal struggles while growing up. >> i didn't have a dad in the house. and i was angry about it even though i didn't necessarily realize it at the time. i made bad choices. i got high without always thinking about the harm that it could do. i didn't always take school as seriously as i should have. i made excuses. sometimes i sold myself short. >> now the president says his family and teachers never gave up on him. several foundations are pledging $200 million to help with this new program. >>> general motors is racing to fix more than 1.5 million faulty ignition switches this morning. the automaker issued another apology thursday for its failure to act earlier, saying "we deeply regret the events that led to the r