i'm norah o'donnell. thanks for joining us and have a good night. sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >>> your realtime captioner is linda marie macdonald. >>> california is open for business. >> new at 6:00, a solar giant moves into the bay area, promising to bring hundreds of jobs. how it plans to avoid what went wrong with solyndra. >>> and the first wall street now oakland, hundreds of protestors who are joining the occupation and the powerful voice that just joined the cause. >>> they promised to kind healthy. the common dietary supplements that may be backfiring for women. >>> good evening, i'm juliette goodrich. allen martin is off tonight. >> i'm dana king. >>> just six weeks after solyndra went dark, another solar giant is poised to warm up the bay area market. sun edison moved here to take advantage of state tax breaks and it's promising hundreds

we asked norah o'donnell to look into that. norah? >> reporter: scott, the president's announcement today to end the war in iraq, one day after the death of libyan leader moammar qaddafi, is just the latest in a series of foreign policy milestones. it is remarkable for a president whose own foreign policy credentials were repeatedly questioned when he was campaigning for the job of commander in chief. >> i pledge to bring the war in iraq to a responsible end for the sake of our national security and the strength of american leadership around the world. >> reporter: today, mr. obama fulfilled a promise to end a war he has called "dumb and misguided." his opposition to the war was the centerpiece of his presidential campaign. in the end, it helped him defeat hillary clinton in the primaries. >> we are going to end this war in iraq responsibly, bring our troops home and start rebuilding america. >> reporter: as commander-in- chief, the president worked to end the wars that began under president george w. bush and took many risks to accom

i'm norah o'donnell. thanks for joining us and have a good night. sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org [ female announcer ] can a health insurance company be ahead of the curve and still completely behind you? dave thinks so. he's putting two kids through college. ♪ and aetna's payment estimator lets him compare in-network specialists and out-of-pocket costs. ♪ so he knows what to expect before getting the bill. money saved. ♪ see the savings. aetna.com. aetna. know more. get better. tonight," the most watched entertainment news magazine in the world. >>> paul mccartney marries again. ♪ i want to hold your hand >> what you haven't heard about the beatless' wedding to an heiress, the guest, the dress, the same location as the first i dos to linda. >>> we take a look at all the beatle weddings. >>> amanda knox, her first weekend free, the exclusive new photos. we'll reveal her w

norah o'donnell reports the u.s. ambassador to syria has been called home after threats were made on his life. most hispanic voters went for president obama last time, but bill whitaker found some are saying not this time. >> no, he does not have my vote. >> pelley: and john blackstone in los angeles, where folks wait all night for the only medical care they can afford. captioning sponsored by cbs >> this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley reporting tonight from los angeles. >> pelley: good evening. president obama attacked congress today with some of the harshest language yet. then he did an end run around the house and the senate. he offered relief to some homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages, and he did it with an executive order that does not need the approval of congress. the president is beginning a western campaign tour, which includes a stop here in los angeles tonight. but he made the mortgage relief announcement today in nevada and for one very good reason. bill plante is traveling with the

norah o'donnell is at the white house with the latest. norah. >> reporter: scott, tonight, secretary of state hillary clinton said iran must be held accountable for what she called a reckless act that the u.s. will not tolerate. >> this plot was a flagrant violation of international and u.s. law and a dangerous escalation of the iranian government's long-standing use of political violence and sponsorship of terrorism. >> reporter: secretary clinton said the plot was directed by elements of the iranian government, including the deadly quds force, an elite secret branch of the iranian military. it was a brazen murder-for-hire plot right out of a spy novel where an iranian-born u.s. citizen wanted to hire a mexican drug cartel to kill the saudi ambassador. the details are so bizarre, some u.s. officials said it looked like the work of amateurs. >> i would be careful about calling this a sloppy operation or amateurish or cowboyish. >> reporter: michigan republican mike rogers chairs the house intelligence committee. he says in fact this was a

norah o'donnell was with the president's point man on the economy. the secretary of the treasury tim geithner, when mr. geithner vis sited a fiber optics plant in north carolina today. >> reporter: our poll shows that 85% of americans think the economy is getting worse or will stay the same. that is a deep lack of confidence that i asked the treasury secretary about today. is the economy getting worse? >> it's still very tough out there. i think people are very frustrated and still hurting a lot. >> reporter: but is it getting worse? >> the economy as a whole, the economy is just not growing fast enough. >> are you convinced we've hit rock bottom. could there be a second recession? >> the strength of the economy right now depends over whel overwhelmingly on two things: how successful europe is in resolving the financial crisis and what people do in washington. again if congress does not act on these proposals on the president's jobs act then taxes go up for all americans, most americans, they go up for most businesses. growth will be weaker. more ame

bob orr, liz palmer, and norah o'donnell are on the story. jan crawford on a big boost for mitt romney. an endorsement from chris christie. dr. jon lapook tells us about a new study that links vitamin "e" to an increased risk of prostate cancer. and celia hatton on the search for the american dream in, of all places, china. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. tonight, the united states is accusing the iranian government of plotting to assassinate the saudi ambassador to the u.s. with a bombing attack on a restaurant here in america. one man who holds u.s. and iranian citizenship is under arrest, another suspect is at large. the justice department says the man in custody has confessed and identified iranian government officials who were involved. secretary of state hillary clinton says this "crosses a line an iran needs to be held accountable." iran has denied the allegations. we have a number of correspondents on this story tonight and we begin with bob orr. bob? >> reporter:

norah o'donnell our chief white house correspondent and john dickerson our political analyst.o joining us, julianna goldman of bloomberg news, white house correspondent for them. and julianna i want to start with you because you were one of the questioners at the republican debate last week. things sort of stayed in place. what did you take away from it? >> herman cain came across as very likable, authentic, compelling. but with his new frontrunner status comes the scrutiny of a frontrunner and questions about whether the 999 plan really adds up. rick perry really came to that debate needing to play. he didn't have an economic plan to put forth. this was a debate focused only on the economy. he also did not use the opportunity to really hit mitt romney very hard on health care. instead talking about the need to block grant medicaid dollars back to the states. mitt romney really did seem to be the most confident and comfortable on matters of the economy. at the debate. >> schieffer: it seems to me, john, to be a consensus in the political community that whether republicans are

norah o'donnell is with the president on his "it's not a campaign tour" campaign tour. we asked the secretary of defense why u.s. troops are being sent into another war zone. did you have reason to believe that this part of central africa was becoming a haven for terrorism? and john blackstone on how the creator of the iphone and ipad inspired a generation of americans to say "i can." >> stay hungry, stay foolish. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening, drivers in the las vegas 300 are telling us tonight it was an accident waiting to happen and, of course it did. taking the life of one of the superstars of this sport-- 33-year-old dan wheldon. now many are asking questions about how it happened and whether it could have been averted. today at the indianapolis motor speedway where wheldon twice drove to victory in the indy 500 fans paid their respects. he leaves behind a wife and two small children. wheldon's father spoke to reporters earlier today. >> daniel was born to be a racer and left us doing what he l

let's bring in chief white house correspondent norah o'donnell. norah, what's the latest? >> reporter: scott, tonight syria has reacted by recalling its own ambassador. all of this is a sign of increased tensions between the u.s. and syria. >> freedom, freedom! >> reporter: ambassador ford got a hero's welcome from anti-government protesters in the besieged city of hama this summer. ford explained why he went there in an appearance before congress. >> the syrian government was saying there are armed groups up in hama. i went there. i didn't see a single gun. the most dangerous weapon i saw was a slingshot. >> reporter: but the visit angered the regime of president bashar assad and three weeks later syrian troops attacked protesters in that city. ford's activism didn't stop. he appeared at a wake for a protesters and last month when ford visited a key opposition leader, assad supporters attacked his convoy. ford was called back to washington this weekend. state department spokesman victoria nualand says the u.s. is concerned about ford's safety. >> so i want to take this op

president obama spoke about the case, and we have more on that from chief white house correspondent norah o'donnell. norah? >> reporter: scott, today, for the first time president obama said iran will pay a price through sanctions and international pressure for what he called their dangerous and reckless behavior. >> we don't take any options off the table in terms of how we operate with iran. >> reporter: mr. obama did not offer specifics on what new punitive measures the administration might take. >> what you can expect is that we will continue to apply the sorts of pressure will have a direct impact on the iranian government until it makes a better choice in terms of how it's going to interact with the rest of the international community. >> reporter: the president would not say if he believes iran's supreme leader, the ayatollah khamenei, or president ahmadinejad knew about the plot but said the iranian leadership should take responsibility. even if at the highest levels there was not detailed operational knowledge, there has to be accountability with respect to anybody in the iranian governmen

chief white house correspondent norah o'donnell is traveling with the president. norah? >> reporter: scott, north carolina for decades was solidly republican. but in 2008 president obama won this state by a whisper, the first democrat to do so since jimmy carter in 1976. now with his approval ratings falling, the president has a tough sales job. >> we can't do nothing, too many folks are hurting out thereto to do nothing. >> reporter: in ashville, north carolina, the president rolled up his shirt sleeves and capped cast republicans as the party of no. >> they said no to putting teachers and construction workers back on the job. >> reporter: with his jobs bill dead in the senate, mr. obama said he would still fight for parts of his plan and he belittled his opponents. >> we'll break up my jobs bill. maybe they couldn't understand the whole thing all at once. (laughter) so we're going to break it up into bite-sized pieces. >> reporter: today we learned the first piece is a $35 billion provision to keep teachers in the classrooms and police and firefighters on the streets.

norah o'donnell is at the white house tonight. norah? >> reporter: scott, tonight a senior advisor to president obama tells me this is a dangerous escalation in iranian behavior. in fact, president obama's national security advisor tom donelan flew to saudi arabia two weeks ago to inform saudi king abdullah about this assassination attempt on one of his closest advisors and today the treasury department announced new financial sanctions against the islamic revolutionary guard corps. already, of course, the target of heavy sanctions because of their role in the nuclear program. now the u.s. government is targeting five individuals and freezing their assets. >> pelley: norah, thank you. as bob orr mentioned earlier, the plot was allegedly run by the secretive iranian military group called the quds force. we asked liz palmer in london to tell us more. liz? >> reporter: well, scott, the quds force is a sort of subdivision of the iranian revolutionary guard, thought to be about 15,000 men strong. a large part of their mission is to train and

norah o'donnell sat down with treasure secretary timothy geithner yesterday and asked if americans are right to feel that way. >> it's still very tough out there. the people are very frustrated and still hurting a lot. >> reporter: but is it getting worse? >> the economy as a whole? the economy is just not growing fast enough. >> reporter: are you convinced we have hit rock bottom? could there be a second recession? >> i think the strength of the economy right now depends on two things. it depends on how successful europe is in resolving their financial chronic and people in and it depends on the people in washington. if congress does not act on these proposals in the president's jobs act, taxes will go up for most americans and most businesses and growth be weaker and more americans out of work longer. >> reporter: did the president take his eye off the ball on jobs? >> absolutely not. he was relentlessly focusing on it. he was doing things that were deeply difficult politically for him. >> reporter: but people say he was focused on health care, not on jobs in the economy. >> we were

chief white house correspondent norah o'donnell is with the president in emporia, virginia, and has more about his southern strategy. norah? >> scott, make no mistake, if the president wants to win these two southern states again he'll need blacks and independents. here in virginia 20% of the votes were african americans. the president will need a turnout like that again in 2012. freedom rural southern virginia packed a high school gymnasium in emporia to hear president obama argue he is doing everything he can to get america back to work. too bad to just sit by and do >> there are too many of our fellow americans who are hurting too bad to just sit by and do nothing. >> reporter: mr. obama drove african americans to the polls in 2008 and won 92% of the black vote. one of those voters was candice pitts who we met today in emporia. >> somebody needs to bring some jobs here. >> reporter: upset that friends and neighbors are out of work, candice says her vote is not guaranteed in 2012. >> i can say that right now that no one right now can count on my vote. no one. not a republican, democrat

norah o'donnell reports the u.s.assador to syria has been called home after threats were made on his life. most hispanic voters went for president obama last time, but bill whitaker found some are saying not this time. >> no, he does not have my vote. >> pelley: and john blackstone in los angeles, where folks wait all night for the only medical care they can afford. captioning sponsored by cbs >> this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley reporting tonight from los angeles. >> pelley: good evening. pren

norah o'donnell is with the president on his "it's not a campaign tour" campaign tour. secretary of defense why u.s. troops are being sent into another war zone. did you have reason to believe that this part of central africa was becoming a haven for terrorism? and john blackstone on how the creator of the iphone and ipad inspired a generation of americans to say "i can." >> stay hungry, stay foolish. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley.

. >> pelley: norah o'donnell on what actions the u.s. might take.liday air travelers-- expect fewer seats and higher prices. ben tracy on operation hackerazzi, the f.b.i. arrests a man accused of hacking into the personnel e-mail accounts of hollywood celebrities. and dewey bozella wouldn't let a terrible injustice defeat him. now he's fighting for his dream. >> don't let nobody tell you what you can do, and that's what i'm doing. i'm letting my dream come to reality. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. president obama slapped new sanctions on iran today, and the white house said there could be more to come. all of that in response to that alleged plot to assassinati

norah o'donnell joins us this morning with the details. good morning. >> good morning to you. >> reporter: the president's jobs billed is stalled in congress. today, president obama is going to begin a series of executive branch actions in order to help jump-start the economy. first up, housing. guess what? the president is on the west coast today. he is going to be in las vegas which, of course, is the heart of the housing problem in this country. we know, of course, that many people believe that the housing recovery is tied to economic recovery. so here is what the president is going to be doing today. he is announcing what senior officials call major overhaul of the underused refinance program. bottom line, you've under water and you've been paying your bills and you can't refinance and can't get ahold of the great rates out there for people this program the president will announce will enable people to fix that and remove a lot of the barriers in place for people who can't refinance and take advantage of some of the savings out there.

norah o'donnell caught up with geithner on the road and joins us from raleigh, north carolina. good to see you this morning. >> good morning to you. let me tell you. we talked to the treasury secretary about this deep economic anxiety that is affecting this country and we asked him is the economy going to get better? when is it going to get better and whether americans should reelect a president under which unemployment has gone up. we met treasury secretary geithner at corning, now the larger fiber optics manufacturing facility in the world and a company that is hiring but even as the secretary promotes the president's jobs plan, a new cbs news/"the new york times" poll shows 85% of americans think the economy is getting worse or will stay the same. is the economy getting worse? >> the economy as a whole, the economy is not growing fast enough. >> reporter: what do you expect unemployment will be on election day? depends on what washington does the next three months or six months. >> reporter: will it be likely more than 9%? >> if they act on these proposals growth will be str

norah o'donnell puts the question to the treasury secretary. >> is the economy getting worse?in the madness of the turkish earthquake, a miracle. and dr. jon lapook on a new recommendation today on whether the hpv vaccine should be given to boys. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news"

. >> pelley: david martin and norah o'donnell on the cost of the war for americans and what may be aheaddy of a once-feared dictator becomes a public spectacle. what's next for libya? allen pizzey and elizabeth palmer are there. wyatt andrews on america's largest private employer cutting health care benefits. whose will be next? and steve hartman with a doctor who's healing what ails a great american city. >> anything else you need tonight? >> just a hug. (laughter) captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley.

bob orr, liz palmer, and norah o'donnell are on the story.tt romney. an endorsement from chris christie. dr. jon lapook tells us about a new study that links vitamin "e" to an increased risk of prostate cancer. and celia hatton on the search for the american dream in, of all places, china. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. tonight, the united states is accusing the iranian government of plotting to assassinate the saudi ambassador to the u.s. with a bombing attack on a restaurant here in america. one man who holds u.s. and

. >> norah o'donnell joining us, thanks very much. >>> this is a campaign bus trip. we know we're in full campaign season at this point. the republican presidential race is getting plenty of attention this morning as the candidates prepare for their latest debate. itp it happens tonight in las vegas. the issue of religion is popping up, once again. another supporter is raising questions about rumomney. >> texas governor rick perry has walked a fine line on comments critical of mitt romney's mormon faith. but another texas minister is calling the controversy a stroke of luck that could help perry with evangelicals. in a series of e-mails reported by daily beast, the reverend david lane who helped organize perry's day of prayer told a christian radio talk show host they should thank jeffress for raising the issue. he questioned romney's faith. >> it would give credence to a cult. >> reporter: perry didn't agree with jeffress but agreed to disown the remarks. >> if i have to spend all my time disassociating myself with something someone says about me or president obama,