petn is considered a high explosive, and it's more powerful than c-4 plastic explosives. it's a bit volatile and that's an issue with it. but you're going to get a large, large explosion. >> reporter: early today in chicago, fbi agents warned jewish community centers and synagogues to be on the alert as possible targets of al qaeda. >> we did receive a phone call this morning informing us of a potential threat of packages from yemen, saudi arabia and great britain, packages that would be delivered to jewish institutions in the chicago area. >> reporter: the fbi would not say which synagogues were targeted, but the white house said the synagogue across the street from president obama's home in chicago was not one of them. president obama will spend the night there tomorrow. >> well, chicago could be selected by someone in yemen because obama comes from there. it can also be selected because they might think it's not as well guarded as new york or washington. >> though we are still pursuing all the facts, we do know that the packages originated in yemen. and we know that al

how does that compare to the petn that was found in the failed christmas bomber attack? >> reporter: this amount is seven or eight times as much as was used by the person in the attempt to bring down that northwest flight over detroit so extremely powerful. if exploded, for instance, in the basement of the synagogue, it would have done serious damage, and they believe it may have been the intention that the printers were to be delivered to the synagogue sometime yesterday with, of course, services friday evening at the synagogues. >> all right, brian, thank you for that latest report. we appreciate it. dan? >> so here's the question this morning. what has the government been doing now to make sure there are no more bombs headed here from yemen? pierre thomas has been looking into that. he joins us also from washington this morning. pierre, you heard brian say the plot has been contained officials believe. is that what you're hearing, as well, and what is the focus this morning? >> reporter: well, they're increasingly confident that it has been contained, but i can tell y

. >> 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

dubai tell the story, showing what was inside those printer cartridges, the high explosive known as petn. the same substance was in richard reid's shoe bomb and abdulmutallab is accused of concealing it in his underwear on that flight to detroit last christmas day. last january, "dateline" asked an explosive expert to demonstrate the force of roughly petn in the underwear bomb. now u.s. officials say the toner cartridges held five times that amount of the same kind of explosive, potentially very powerful. in england where one of the packages was intercepted, authorities say it contained a working bomb. >> the target may have been an aircraft and had it detonated, the aircraft could have been brought down. >> reporter: officials say the bombs were also made with liquid detonators and cell phones acting as timers. investigators believe the terrorists may have actually been targeting passenger airplanes which some experts say carry roughly half the air cargo coming into the u.s. the packages were intercepted, officials say, because an intelligence source gave the u.s. their actual tracking

>> larry: is it true that the two intercepted packages contain petn, is that what they're supposed to have? >> that's what we understand, larry. just to give you an idea of how damaging petn can be, a small amount, about 6 grams, enough to fit in the end of my pen here can blow a hole in a piece of metal twice the thickness of an aircraft fuselage. we don't know what was the intended target here, but just a tiny, be tiny amount and we're seeing the size of these devices here, can do a huge amount of damage. the underpants bomber we were talking about a few minutes ago who tried to bring down that plane over detroit, he had about 80 grams of this explosive. it's very hard to detect. it's easy to transport because it won't just suddenly go off. it's highly destructive when you detonate it properly, larry. >> larry: nic, unless the sender was a name known to the synagogue, wouldn't they have immediately been suspicious? >> that's one of the strangest things about this. a package being sent from yemen with everything we know about yemen to a synagogue in the united states, you have to bel

even a small amount of petn can cause huge damage, as seen in this demonstration. early today in chicago, fbi agents warned jewish community centers and synagogues to be on alert. as possible targets of al qaeda. >> clearly, they are looking to identify vulnerabilities in our system. and take advantage of those vulnerabilities. there's nothing about al qaeda that surprises me anymore. >> reporter: the discovery of the two bombs set off a scramble to inspect every package and many flights coming from yemen. late today, two f-16 fighter jets escorted a flight from dubai as it landed at kennedy airport in new york. earlier, authorities in newark and philadelphia searched ups and fedex cargo jets thought to be carrying packages shipped from yemen. and in new york city, police actually intercepted a delivery truck believed to be carrying a package that had originated in yemen. no explosives were found on the truck. u.s. officials are hardly resting easily tonight. shipments from yemen to the u.s. going back weeks are now being examined as fbi agents in chicago and cia o

this is the force of the petn. now we hear the toner cartridges held five times that amount. in england where one of the packages was intercepted friday, authorities say it contained a working bomb. >> the targets may have been an aircraft. had it detonated, the aircraft could have been brought down. >> reporter: officials say the bombs were made with liquid detonators and cell phone timers. investigators believe the terrorists may have been targeting passenger airplanes. some experts say that carries half the air cargo coming into the u.s. they were intercepted because the tracking numbers allowed them to be located quickly. it was that information and not the repeated screening that led to their discovery. homeland security says it is part of the nation's defense. >> we need a multi-layers system. no screening system is a silver bullet where terrorism is concerned. >> reporter: the package in the uk came from yemen. the other went to dubai where it was stopped. both were on cargo planes which are under less strict rules. federal law doesn't require all such cargo to be scre

british officials believe the powder hidden in a toner cartridge inside a shipped commuter may be the petna small amount can cause huge damage. >> concerned the device was viable and could have exploded. >> all the hallmarks of al qaeda. >> alan: germany. >> alan: a wild night at the cow palace. drug and alcohol overdoses. lisa amin gulezian tells us it's not the first time the now frustrated local officials are calling for tighter controls. >> 14,000 people packed the cow palace. the 16 and over rave started at 6:00. by 8:00, met ricks and police were called. >> we saw a lot of altered levels of consciousness, vomiting, as separation type stuff. >> reporter: 17 people were rushed to area hospitals for drug and alcohol-related overdoses. one 16-year-old remains in critical condition. >> tracts more problems. it's usually the young people that are more sensitive to drugs. they don't know how to handle it. they don't know how to handle themselves. >> reporter: warren, who did not want to talk on camera, was at spookfest. he was also at etd pop in may, another cow palace rave for those 16 and

found bomb components contained in printer cartridges, as well as the powerful explosive compound petn>>> when voters go to the polls in the east bay on tuesday, the department of justice will be watching how it all goes down. alameda county is one of two california counties to be monitored by federal election observers. the other is riverside county. more than 400 observers will be working in 18 states to ensure that everything goes smoothly and to document any irregularities. the observers have been in place since the passage of the 1965 voters rights act. >>> cbs 5 is putting together the best election coverage you will find in the bay area. it starts at 9:00 tuesday night with our election special. for two hours, we'll track all of the local and state races and follow what's happening nationally, of course, followed by a special hour-long edition of eyewitness news at 11:00 on tuesday night. >>> well, you may have seen it. a mysterious yellow patch on the marin headlands that can be seen for miles. it's prompting a lot of people in the bay area to ask what is that? don ford went to

we believe it was the explosive material walled petn that was in the shoe of richard reid and the underwear bomber that came to detroit on christmas day. we still don't know the mechanism, how these were supposed to work, when they were supposed to go off. those are big questions, brian. >> pete williams, who has been reporting out this story all day in our washington newsroom. pete, we appreciate it, thanks. >>> michael sheehan is a veteran terrorism analyst, richard engel, our chief foreign affairs correspondent, both with us here to talk about this. richard, you compared it to your time in iraq when there would be fake ieds for the purpose of watching to see how the american military responded. >> this kind of attack is a very low probability of success. you're sending a device, almost inept, i think too inept. it doesn't make sense. you're sending something suspicious, addressing it to a synagogue. you know you're going to get caught. you know that red flags are going to go up all over the world. you're sending something that's been tampered with from yemen to a synagogue. so the questi

. >> reporter: cbs news has learned the devices contained significant amounts of the explosive petn. as much as six times the amount used in last year's failed christmas day bombing. u.s. officials suspect al qaeda's arabian peninsula branch is behind the attack and also responsible for the latest plot. while security at u.s. airports was immediately beefed up after the bombs were found, many say that does nothing to correct a major security loophole. mos packages on cargo planes are not in specked in any way. >> that is -- inspected in any way. >> that should be worked on. it should be uniform. >> they need to be careful. and they are finding other ways to get stuff into the country. >> reporter: for now, the u.s. government has temporarily banned all mail and cargo originating in yemen. catherine brown for cbs news, newark, new jersey. >>> game three of the world series has the giants deep in enemy territory. but lots of bay area fans, some bearing their beards, made it to texas to cheer on the giants against the rangers. the nlcs champs brought with them a 2-0 series lead to texas

. >> officials believe the powder may be the home made petn. used by the shoe bomber and underwear bomber. a few ounces can cause huge damage as seen in this demonstration. f.b.i. agents warned the centers to be on the alert as possible targets of al-qaeda. >> the american people should be confident that we will not waver in our efforts to route out extremism in all its form. >> 11 other shipments from yemen stopped yesterday proved to be harmless and authorities think they have contained the plot. >> back here in the bay area, a world series win in four games would be a dream come true for giants fans. amy hollyfield reports on the city's contingency plans of two celebrations colliding sunday night. >> san francisco loves halloween. >> san francisco loves to celebrate giants' victory. both parties have been known to get out of a handled. here a youtube fight. just imagine if police are dealing with a world series victory on halloween fight. >> it will definitely be a big night. >> they say it would be messy and crazy. >> the bosses and mayor's

the explosive is called petn, hard to detect. and dan, very destructive. >> thank you. and the san francisco man is accused tonight of beating a priest he claims abused him with his brother. the 44-year-old was booked on assault charges today and n.santa clara county jail. and police say he punched the 65-year-old so badly he had to be hospitalized. >> at the time he was not aware who it was. to my knowledge. and... until today, the first time when one of you called me is the first time i heard the name, actually. >> lynch got a settlement in the 1997 lawsuit against a priest claiming he was assaulted back in 1975. his lawyer says did he not attack the father and will plead not guilty. >> another disappointing poll for republicans tonight. this time, it's the race for senator between incumbent barbara boxer and karly fiorina the poll shows her trail big eight points. and so what changed? abc 7 is here with poll numbers and the response. >> you know to be down by eight spoints not good. she is down by a bigger margin coming to women and independent voters. that is worse.

british officials believe a powder in the card trim may have been the petn, the same powered used in the fail not of the shoe and underwear bombers. a small amount can cause significant damage as seen in this demonstration. >> it does contain all the hallmarks of al-qaeda. >> reporter: one of the apparent targets, this synagogue in chicago, shard by two congregations, including one that primarily serves the gay community. >> maybe somebody new knew that and thought it was way to get both jews jews and home sexuals. >> reporter: it was part of an attack on the u.s. and other western countries. abc news, washington. >> alan: hayward police want to get more guns off the street, and they're willing to pay for it. today is gun buyback day at the barret station b.a.r.t. station in hayward. the guns are accepted on a no-questions-asked basis, and all of the ofirearms are destroyed. the hayward police department's annual gun buyback program has received more than 700 guns so far. >>> game 3 of the world series just got underway at the ball park in arlington, texas. the giants have a two-game

the powder hitten in the toner cartridge in a shipped computer printer may be the highly explosive petnst a small amount can cause huge damage. >> i'm concerned the device was viable and could have exploded. >> all the hallmarks of al-queda. >> yemen officials are examining dozens of other passengers to see if this is part of a wider terror threat. back here at home california is coping with the worst whooping cough outbreak in 60 years. nearly 300 more cases were shown this past week. as nanette miranda reports, health officials are focussed on vaccination other worried for their two-week old daughter. a whooping cough epidemic is hitting babies the hardest. >> they can't get vaccinated. it's up to the family members watching them to get vaccinated. scary. they can get really sick. babies die. >> the department of public health show ten babies have died this year from whooping cough. no more than three die in a typical year. the state has had the most cases of whooping cough since 1950 with 6,200 cases reported since january. >> we realize today that immunity from vaccine and from the

preliminary tests indicated the packages contained the explosives petn, which is the same chemical usedn the attempted christmas day bombing last year. san francisco international airport say there are no changes to the security because of this threat but they are taking increased security measures, some visible, some not. area passengers say they are being extra vigilent and most are comfortable with the security in place. >> i fly a lot. it is a good sign that they caught the bags. good thing that they are finding them. >> tsa says there is heightened cargo screening and additional security at airports but they don't specify which airports those are. >>> imagine someone hacking into your facebook account and posting elicit photos of you to all of your friends. this is exactly what a man is accused of doing to thousands of people across the couldn't interest i. the suspect is 23-year-old george bronc. he was arrested yesterday on 30 felony accounts including i.d. theft, extortion and child pornography. investigators with the chp say that bronc would break into people's e-mail account a

so that is a little less than a pound, but for petn, that's a significant amount. >> and you had reportedrom a tip from saudi arabia. i talked to homeland security secretary janet napolitano earlier and i asked her if they hadn't received the tip, would the packages have made it to chicago. let's listen to the response and then i want to talk to you further. >> i don't really play the what-if game because of the plain fact of the matter is that we have these information sharing understandings, and agreements, with our allies. we know we have to have a multilayered system. we know that there's no screening system that in and of itself is a silver bullet where terrorism is concerned. terrorists are constantly pulsing whatever system we have so we have to have multiple layers and we have to keep changing our system, too, so that predictability doesn't become part of the tools in their arsenal. >> pete, she didn't want to play what-if. but clearly the u.s. caught a break here with the intelligence apparatus. what's the thought about what the intended target really was? >> well, based on an in

reporting, i guess some officials are saying the substance, the explosive substance, may be what they call petn. it's the same substance that the christmas bomber back in 2001 used. >> well, that's right. and this is a-- this is one of the worrisome aspects here about al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. they have a sophistication in bomb-making capability. they've been able over the past year to get liquid-based bombs very close to two targets, including a saudi prince. in that case the bomb actually blew up. it was hidden in the body of the attacker, but the prince survived. and then, of course, on christmas day last year, when the nigerian accused in that plot smuggled a bomb that was hidden in his underwear and was able to get on board. so this is a group that has demonstrated an ability to devise bombs they can get past security. >> woodruff: and so, you know, to pick up on that, then they-- there is a measure of sophistication they're seeing behind this. >> there is sophistication behind it, and this is a group that has a high level of determination, and also a flexibility. i mean, one of t

its passenger planes from yemen to doha and then from doha to dubai, and they're saying that this petnxplosive simply evaded their x-ray screening, their sniffer dogs. >> uh-huh. it's my understanding. >> i mean, that's very dangerous. >> well, it is. what we need to do is take a look at the procedures in place, the different airports out there again working very closely with them, see if there needs to be any type of adjustment, procedures, screening or technologies. we need to be able to detect these packages, whether they be on a cargo flight or on a pages flight. we've stayed ahead of a lot of these adaptations of al qaeda. we need to continue to do so. but that's -- >> can you because if it's avoiding and evading those screening mechanisms, what can you do and particularly on a passenger plane? >> well, i think what we've tried to do over the years is have a layered defense and have a multidimensional effort and rely heavily on intelligence and security services and work closely with others and were fortunate that our saudi partners were able to support us in this effort. >> how d

. >> reporter: sources tell cbs news, the devices tested positive for petn, the same explosive compound used in last year's christmas day attack in detroit. his so-called underwear bomb was built by members of al qaeda in arabian peninsula, the same ye pen-based terror group authorities believe is behind the latest devices. >> they were not letters, they were larger than. think about bread boxes or so in terms of, you know, maybe size. we don't know yet how they were intended to be activated. >> reporter: the pair of suspicious packages never made it to the u.s. but their discovery sent security forces here scrambling. authorities swept three ups cards go jets after landing in philadelphia and newark. a passenger plane from dubai believed carrying a package from yemen was escorted into new york by fighter jets. and police searched the ups truck in balloon but no other dangers were discored. >> the specific tip which led to the discovery of the potential bombs overseas came from saudi arabia. intelligence also suggests there could be other dangerous packages still in the pipeline out the

saying this morning in a story by scott shane on the front page, it says the panels seized contained petn the same explosive in the bombs soerpbed into the underwear of a tphaoeupblen who tried to blow up an airliner over detroit. that was hatched in yemen a country that is regarded as one of the most significant fronts in the belt with extremists. ms. harmon said that both packages contained computer printer cartridges filled with explosives but the wuone used a cell phone and the other used a timer as a detonator. a call from washington. democratic line. caller: good morning. i'm very shocked at the news and hearing about these packages. i'm a veteran. my son is in the army. and he has been over to iraq three times already. i'm sick of war, you know? but i know that we are not going to deal from a premise of tpafe but we are going to deal from a freshmen of freedom -- from a premise of freedom. and the soon are the arabs that are warring against us get that message, the better. host: lake wales, florida. go ahead. stpwhrao yes. my comment is that i think that the american people really

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