news with scott pelley" is next. latest news and weather, cbssf.com conficonfi >> pelley: tonig american soldier in afghanistan bullied to death? eight fellow soldiers are charged in connection with the death of private danny chen. bob orr is covering. did your pilot get enough sleep? we'll talk to sully sullenberger about new rules to fight cockpit fatigue. cheryl attkisson on a record settlement with a mortgage lender. the government says 200,000 more thans were ripped off. and christmas comes early for some of the last troops to leave iraq and their families. anna werner is there for the reunions. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. we begin tonight with another alleged case of death by hazing, but this one is different. it didn't happen at a school but in the united states army in the middle of a war zone. eight american soldiers were charged today in the death of a fellow soldier in afghanistan, a chinese american from new york. his family says h

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening, the secretary of defense says tonight that the united states will not allow iran to develop a nuclear weapon. in an interview with cbs news, leon panetta says that despite efforts to disrupt their nuclear program the iranians are reached a in

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening, in just 12 days 160 million work could see a tax increase in their paychecks and nearly two million others are struggling to get by without a paycheck could lose their

but for now, we'll take you to the cbs evening news in new york with scott pelley. we'll see you later. ,, >> pelley: tonight, inside syria. clarissa ward travels to meet syrian army defectors who refuse to fire on their own people. >> reporter: we left at night and were blindfolded in the backseat as the car twisted along back roads outside of damascus. >> pelley: the battle for iowa. our new poll tonight finds newt gingrich opening a wide lead. dean reynolds is there. in the investigation of a possible death by hazing, florida a&m defends itself but anna werner speaks to the victim's parents. and the final days. jim axelrod is with american soldiers as they get ready to leave iraq. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. dozens of bodies, some decapitated, others dismembered, have been dumped in the streets of one syrian city. the violence in the syrian rev lyings in hitting new heights as the obama administration increases the pressure tonight on the dictatorship of bashar

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. no white house has ever overruled a safety recommendation we the foo food d drug administration but it happened today. the question was whether the morning after pill, an emergency contraceptive, should be available over the counter to girls 16 and under. today, the f.d.a. was ready to say yes but the president's secretary of health and human services said no.

police are still investigating robert champion's death and have not said what the exact cause is, scott. >> pelley: anna there was another development today. in georgia the dekalb county school district in atlanta decided to suspend band activities at two dozen high schools. what can youically us about that? >> reporter: scott, officials suspended band performances for what they call inappropriate physical activity, but there are few details available right now. however, there are lots of connections between decab county high schools and florida a & m university. bria hunter and robert champion both graduated from the same dekalb county high school. >> pelley: in the race for the republican presidential nomination, it's just under three weeks to the iowa caucus, and as the time grows short, the knives get long. mitt romney and newt gingrich, the front-runners, went after each other today. first we'll go to romney. he talked with jan crawford here in new york today. jan. >> reporter: well, scotland, throughout the campaign, romney generally hasn't responded to his republican rifles. he's kept his f

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. their voices are not heard; their funerals are not seen. a revolution is under way to end one of the world's longest- running dictatorships, but we don't know the facts because the government of syria keeps reporters away from its brutal crackdown. tonight we have a rare look inside. since spring, thousands of syrians have been demanding the end of the 40-year dictatorship of the assad family. the u.n. estimates that since the uprising began, syrian forces have killed 4,000 civilians and just today the

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> glor: good evening, everyone. i'm jeff glor. scott's off tonight. you may not think we need another fancy name for a holiday shopping day but retailers think we do. megamonday joins other bonanzas like black friday and cyber monday. may sound like a gimmick, but megamonday could be crucially important for the fragile economy is. americans are expected to spend $29 billion today. as many as a hundred million shoppers could hit the stores this week. michelle miller is with the growing crowd here in new york. >> reporter: traffic was bumper to bumper just getting to the shore hills mall in new jersey. there wasn't much room inside, either. >> i see no sign of recession, that's for sure. and the prices are actually incredible. >> reporter: the day after christmas has become as much about buying as it is returning. good weather and a three-day weekend is expected to make today the third-busiest shopping day of the year. >> this is huge. we think overall $29 billion today which may be bigger than black friday.

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening, there is a deal tonight that would prevent a tax increase which would have hit most american households in nine days. date road, republican leaders of the house of representatives caved in and agreed to vote on a senate bill that would extend a

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening, there is a deal tonight that would ood ent a tax increase which would have hit most american households in nine days. este today, republican leaders of the house of representatives caved in and agreed to vote on a senate bill that would extend a two percentage point reduction in the social security payroll tax. the senate voted to extend that tax cut for two months and then promptly left for the holidays, leaving the house to take it or leave it. house leaders demanded changes in the senate bill, but in the end they were caught between sur render and the tax increase. nancy cordes has the late news from capitol hill. >>ncy? >> reporter: scott, house aneaker john boehner briefed house republicans on his decision this evening in a teleconference call. id did not take questions. ed did not ask for feedback, because that's what sparked this otandoff five days ago. deserted by senate republicans and derided by democrats, house republican leaders believed they had no choice but to back dow

don't go away, much more is ahead with cbs evening news with scott pelley. re look from inside syria as victims of the regime's brutal crack down speak out to the news. we hope to >> pelley: tonight, what the dictator doesn't want you to s see. clarissa ward gives us a rare first-hand look at the revolution aimed at syria's bashar al assad. the protesters have a message for him. >> leave now. you've got enough of our blood. >> pelley: the postmaster general delivers a bundle of bad news. nancy cordes reports it includes slower mail and thousands of jobs lost. a woman is raped and then forced to marry her attacker. mandy clark on a case raising calls for justice. and byron pitts with the story of the u.s. versus haiti. opponents on the soccer field with an astounding bond of brotherhood. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. their voices are not heard; their funerals are not seen. a revolution is under way to end one of the world's

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. good evening. we begin tonight with another alleged case of death by hazing, but this one is different. it didn't happen at a school but in the united states army in the middle of a war von. eight american soldiers were charged today in the death of a fellow soldier in afghanistan, a chinese american from new york. his family says he'd been bullied and taunted because of his race. we asked justice correspondent bob orr to fill in the details. >> reporter: the body of u.s. army private danny chen was found october 3 in a guard tower in kandahar, another casualty of the war in afghanistan. the army says the 19-year-old soldier died of what appeared to be a self-inflected gunshot, but military prosecutors today accused eight of chen's fellow soldiers of contributing to his death. chen's platoon leader is charged with eight counts of dereliction of duty, charges against the other seven soldiers ranged from making false statements to negligent homicide and involuntary manslaughter. chen's family today s

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening, you might say president obama needs a 333 plan. that's how many days he has to convince american voters that he should be reelected. 333. he's up against some tough new numbers tonight. take a look at the new cbs news poll. the president's job approval rating is 44%, and that poses a big challenge because, according to the gallup poll, no president since truman has been reelected when his approval rating was below 48%. then we asked this question. does president obama deserve to be reelected? more than half, 54%, said no. the weak economy is largely to blame. in a "60 minutes" interview with steve kroft today, mr. obama compared himself to a captain in a storm. >> no matter how well we're steering the ship, if the boat's rocking back and forth and people are getting sick and they're being buffeted by the winds and the rain, at a certain point if you ask them "are you enjoying the ride right now?" folks are going to say no. and if you say "do you think the captain is doing a good job?

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. just when you thought washington was hopelessly deadlocked, a conservative republican and a liberal democrat have net the middle with a proposal to save medicare. 49 million americans are on the government health plan, but it can't survive in its current state. it's projected that medicare will be bankrupt in 12 years. today's proposal would be a major change and we asked congressional correspondent nancy cordes to sort it out for us. nancy? >> reporter: scott, it's something we haven't seen in quite some time: an influential republican and a democrat coming together on an issue divide the two sides like almost nothing else-- medicare. >> this is the path to prosperity. >> reporter: the plan republicans introduced eight months ago went over like a led balloon with democrats and many seniors. so today, house budget chair paul ryan teamed up with a democrat, oregon senator ron wyden, to introduce a new cost- cutting plan for medicare. >> we want to show that a bipartisan solution is ou

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening began nine years ago with what the pentagon called shock and e.

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> glor: good evening, everyone. i'm jeff glor. scott is off tonight. six days now before iowa's republican caucuses. here are the headlines-- romney and paul move to the top, santorum surges, gingrich appears to be sliding badly. a cnn/"time"/orc poll of republican voters out tonight has mitt romney leading with 25%, ron paul right behind at 22, rick santorum now at 16%. newt gingrich at 14%, down from 33% a month ago. and rick perry in fifth at 11. we have two reports, dean reynolds is with the paul campaign. we begin with jan crawford, who is following mitt romney. jan. >> reporter: jeff, mitt romney had been taking a low profile here in iowa, but today he was all in, and everywhere he went he got an enthusiastic reception from voters who are focused on one thing-- taking the white house back from barack obama. >> i think to beat president obama, we have to have someone who has a vision of what america can be. and will make it stronger and more prosperous and create jobs. >> reporter: in campaign stops, r

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening a you have to proposal-- no phones for drivers period. even hands free. a national ban on calls and texting while driving. the ban was recommended today by the n.t.s.b.-- the national transportation safety boa

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. hazing scandal at florida a&m university took an unexpected turn today as the authorities were investigating the death of one member of the marching band and the beating of another, they uncovered something else. b.j.ns

scott pelley" is next. the latest news and weather are always on cbssf.com. mning testimony in the penn state sex abuse scandal. coach mike mcqueary gives a graphic eyewitness account of of jerry sandusky allegedly molested a young boy. armen keteyian was in the courtroom. mark strassmann reports the death of a member of a florida a&m marching band has been ruled a homicide by hazing. seth doane on a plan to save endangered tigers in the world that appears to be working. and "on the road" with steve hartman. how a secret santa changed a man's life. se captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> schieffer: good evening, scott's on assignment. new information in the penn scate sex abuse scandal. he got the first detailed account of what an eyewitness deys he saw when he walked in on a naked penn state assistant coach jerry sandusky and a young boy in a football locker room. details he says that he reported to school athletic officials and coach joe paterno. the lurid testimony came from monystant coach mike mcqueary at rohea

. >>> "cbs evening news" anchor scott pelley has been speaking with some of the nation's ceos about whathink needs to be done to fix the nation's economy. now scott speaks with the reverend calvin butts, the president of the church here in new york, one of the oldest churches in the nation. >> reporter: unemployment has been over 8.5% for more than two years now. what do you tell people who can't find work? >> keep looking. we have to be the ones. if you find a minister or clergy person who tells people anything other than what is hopeful and encouraging them to keep going, get away from that one as fast as you can. we have to encourage people to continue to look, retrain, go to school, or start your own. do whatever you need to do in order to survive. if we ever stop, if we ever give up, we're lost. >> reporter: but unemployment has never lasted so long for so many people in this country, never in our history. there are a lot of people, reverend, who don't see hope out there. >> well, that's my job. i have to continue to foster especially in this season that hope springs eternal. >> rep

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> glor: good evening, i'm jeff glor. scott is off tonight, one week from tonight republicans in iowa will cast the first votes of campaign 2012 and reshape where this race goes next. today candidates begin their final push with bus tours. at least two candidates-- michele bachmann and rick santorum-- have pledged to visit all 99 counties in iowa. we have two reports tonight. jan crawford is following mitt romney but we begin with dean reynolds with the gingrich campaign. dean? >> reporter: jeff, the news for newt gingrich hasn't been good for more than a week and now with only seven days to go he's chose an traditional way to turn the tide. newt gingrich brought his campaign bus to iowa determined to regain the momentum polls say he apparently misplaced somewhere in this state. >> it's going to be a gate week. >> reporter: however stiff his upper lip, gingrich replaced a wave of political commercial attacking his records. >> frankly, they plain lie. i don't know any other word for it. >> reporter: there hav

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. no white house has ever overruled a safety recommendation we the food and drug administration but it happened today. the question was whether the morning after pill, an emergency contraceptive, should be available over the counter to girls 16 and under. today, the f.d.a. was ready to say yes but the president's secretary of health and human services said no. wyatt andrews has our story. >> reporter: for five years, plan b, the emergency contraception drug, has only been sold without a prescription to women 17 and older. the issue is should that be changed? and the drug made available with no prescription to younger girls. when the f.d.a. looked at safety studies, it said yes. but it was directly overruled by kathleen sebelius, the secretary of health and human services. her denial stunned many public health proponents. >> i am flabbergasted. >> reporter: susan wood, ase pls pregnancy only if taken quickly. >> so having any kind of barrier means perhaps we wait a day. perhaps we wait

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. no holiday tax increase. after a week-long standoff, the senate, house, and president came together on a two-month extension of the temporary cut in social security pa

l captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> glor: good evening, i'm jeff glor. scott is off tonight. verizon wireless said today it had the wrong number. a $2 monthly fee is what it planned to charge many of its 91 million customers just to pay their own bills. compaharge is now gone. the company called it a convenience fee. national correspondent lee cowan reports? called it something else-- adudly. >> reporter: if verizon had hoped announcing a new $2 fee in th the middle of the holidays would go unnoticed, the response on the internet quickly proved them wrong. esthin minutes online petition drives blossomed and so did the youtube rants. >> i will be making your life mll! >> reporter: some customers came to voice their displeasure in person. like alex soto. >> if they tack anymore fees to my phone bill i'm ready to take hike. >> reporter: the $2 charge was supposed to apply to anyone making single payments on line or by phone. verizon tried to clarify the fee edday saying it was needed to offset the costs of processing those last-minute paymen

scott pelley has recently interviewed c.e.o.s of several major corporations for their thoughts on howhelp the economy and last week scott sat down with the reverend dr. calvin butts, pastor of the abyssinian baptist church. years ago, when promotional development in harlem was sparse his church stepped in and developed $600 million worth of property. landmark deals with pathmark grocery, starbucks and others. in the process, the church helped start the modern-day harlem renaissance. >> pelley: unemployment has been over 8.5% for over two years now. what do you tell people who can't find work? >> keep looking. we have to be the ones. if you find a minister, a clergy person who tells people anything other than what is hopeful and encouraging them keep going, get away from that one as fast as you can. we have to encourage people to continue to look, retrain, go to school or start your own. do whatever you need to do in order to survive. if we ever stop, if we ever give up, we're lost. >> pelley: but unemployment has never lasted so long for so many people in this country. never in our hi

evening news with scott pelley is next.emember the latest news and weather is always on cbs s-f dot-com. >>> more local news in 30 minute

this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> glor: good evening, i'm jeff glor, scott is off tonight. we begin with the latest good news about the economy and new signs that the job market is healing. today the labor department said in the past month unemployment claims averaged 375,000 per week, the fewest since june, 2008. for perspective, at the height of the recession in 2009, more than 600,000 american were applying for unemployment each week. today's news triggered a rally on wall street. the dow closed up 136 points. more now from national correspondent jim axelrod. >> reporter: the help-wanted sign is up at the ambrose group which provides personnel services for 700 small businesses. >> we added on about 20% year over year and we are already slated to add on another 10% next year. >> reporter: the economy has created an average of 143,000 jobs per month this fall double the pace set this summer. >> they need to speak to him. >> reporter: ambrose's hugh laroche says his company hires when other companies hiring. >> other clients are hiring, absolutely. no question abou

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening, in just 12 days 160 million work could see a tax increase in their paychecks and nearly two million others are struggling to get by without a paycheck could lose their unemployment. the house today said the clock ticking toward that new year's day punch in the pocketbook when it turned down a bill that has been passed by the senate. that bill would have extended the 2% cut in the social security payroll tax and kept job benefits flowing. what happens now? congressional correspondent nancy cordes is on capitol hill, nancy? >> reporter: scott, we are now official in a total stalemate and tonight most lawmakers are heading home for the holidays. >> reporter: the motion is adopted. >> reporter: house republicans doubled down on their risky strategy today voting to reject a two-month tax cut and to establish negotiations with a resistant senate. >> come back to washington! do your work! give the american people a year, not two months. >> reporter: democrats said house republicans were ens

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. the hazing scandal at florida a&m university took an unexpected turn today. as the authorities were investigating the death of one member of the marching band and the beating of another, they uncovered something else. thna werner has been following this story from the start and has the latest. >> reporter: scott, cbs news has learned that the fraud is financial, and it's associated assoa&m officials. the university did not comment tonight on the latest blow to pe school with a proud history of achievement and honor. there are now three investigations of the university and hazing within the storied marching 100 band. ek,s week, tallahassee police udarged three students in connection with the battery and hazing of freshman clarinet player bria hunter. he claims her leg was broken in ni initiation ceremony for a band clique called the red dog cader. hunter's lawyer is b.j. r.rnstein. >> this is nothing more than a e ng, a gang of young people, that has a form of initiation which essenti

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening, the secretary of defense says tonight that the united states will not allow iran to develop a nuclear weapon. in an interview with cbs news, leon panetta says that despite efforts to disrupt their nuclear program the iranians are reached a point where they can assemble a bomb in a year or potentially less. secretary panetta spoke with us at an end of an overseas trip during which he reviewed strategy in afghanistan and officially ended the war in iraq. on the way home, he boarded the jet nicknamed "the doomsday plane." this is the command post where he and the president would direct a nuclear war. in an interview for "60 minutes," we sat down in the compartment where he would execute the commander-in-chief's orders. panetta told us iran needs only one year to build a nuclear weapon. so are you saying that iran could have a nuclear weapon in 2012. >> it would be some time around a year that they would be able to do it. perhaps a little less. the one proviso, scott, is if they have a h

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good eveningnight, a u.s. official tells cbs news there is "high confidence" that a captured american aircraft shown on iranian television is, in fact, one of this country's most

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. today the supreme court said it will decide whether states may enforce their own strict immigration laws even when the federal government says they've gone too far. last year, arizona said it had to take matters into its own hands because illegal immigration was a crisis that the federal government refused to fix. one provision of arizona's law gives the police broad powers to check a person's immigration 'satus. arizona's example has encouraged courr states, including alabama, abamo much the same. jan crawford has been looking into this today. cr? >> reporter: well, scott, the justices have stepped into one ef the most controversial issues esviding america and will decide whether states like arizona can aass tough laws designed to get illegal immigrants out of their sits. arizona officials say they passed the law out of gasperation. the federal government wasn't doing enough about the problem of illegal immigration. among its key provisions: the law requires police to check a person

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good eveningst when you thought washington was hopelessly deadlocked, a conservative republican and a liberal democrat have net the middle with a proposal to save medicare. 49 million americans are on the government health plan, but it

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. tonight, a u.s. official tells cbs news there is "high confidence" that a captured american aircraft shown on iranian television is, in fact, one of this country's most sophisticated spy planes. the pentagon declined to comment but the american official says analysis of the video now confirms the r. areq.-170 unmanned drone was captured. we asked bob orr to bring us up to date. >> reporter: the aircraft presented as the unmanned u.s. surveillance drone appeared to be nearly intact, though the undercarriage was obscured by propropaganda banners draped bew the wings. the message on the left proclaimed "america cannot do any harm to us" and on the right, against a background of american flags and skulls, the message read "we have trampled on america." u.s. officials still studying the video convinced the aircraft is the stealth drone reported lost over the weekend. but the pentagon declined to comment. spokesman george little citing intelligence concerns. >> we did have a u.a.v. go miss

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good eveningu might say president obama needs a 333 plan. that's how many days he has to convince american voters that he should be

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. a coordinated global effort to mad off a panic over european debt sent stock markets roaring around the world today. the dow closed with its biggest ga deralin nearly three years. it started when the federal reserve bank in washington and central banks in europe and japan all worked together to upe borrowing easier. the dow was up just over 490 points today. it's been quite a week already. in the last three days, the dow is up 7.25%. back in the black. on e r senior business errrespondent anthony mason is nd the floor of the new york stock exchange. anthony. >> reporter: the dow is over 12,000 again, scott, and all 30 stocks in the index were actually up today, and as you say, the dow is now back in the black for the year. the rally began at the opening bell and never lost momentum. all three major armies were up more than 3% on the day. >> the european move definitely was a spark that lit the fire. >> reporter: the fed's coordinated move today with the central banks of europe, engla

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening, it's a you have to proposal-- no phones for drivers period. even hands free. a national ban on calls and texting while driving. the ban was recommended today by the n.t.s.b.-- the national transportation safety board which called phones a deadly distraction. we wondered how deadly and our research department found this: government records show that distracted driving caused 900,000 crashes on america's roads alone, injuring 417,000 people and killing 3,092. but elaine quijano tells us it was just one deadly crash that really got the attention of the safety board. >> reporter: the n.t.s.b. has been investigating distracted driving for ten years, but it was this deadly crash last year in missouri that finally pushed the board to make today's recommendation investigators say a 19-year-old driving a pickup truck exchanged 11 text messages in the 11 minutes before hitting another vehicle. he and a 15-year-old were killed. 38 others were hurt in the chain reaction collision that follow fol

. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories tonight on "60 >> i'm scott pelley. those stories tonight on "60 minutes." it blindsided us. what is it? our college savings account. how do you think it happened? not sure. i think something we bought a while ago turned out to be something else, annnnnd, i remember a lot of other stuff in there had the word "aggressive" in it. is everyone okay? well, now, yeah. who knows later. ♪ is the pain reliever orthopedic doctors recommend most for arthritis pain, think again. and take aleve. it's the one doctors recommend most for arthritis pain... two pills can last all day. ♪ [ male announcer ] you never know when a moment might turn into something more. and when it does men with erectile dysfunction can be more confident in their ability to be ready with cialis for daily use. cialis for daily use is a clinically proven low-dose tablet you take every day, so you can be ready anytime the moment's right. ♪ [ man ] tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexua

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. dozens of bodies, some decapitated, others dismembered, have been dumped in the streets of one syrian city. the violence in the syrian rev lyings in hitting new heights as the obama administration increases the pressure tonight on the dictatorship of bashar al-assad. today they buried the dead in the city of homs as many as 60 civilians were apparently kidnapped and murdered in the last two days. in geneva, secretary of state hillary clinton met with syrian exiles and called them courageous in their commitment to freedom and democracy. the uprising began last march, a revolt against the 40-year dictatorship of bashar al-assad and his father before him. assad has tried to conceal his crackdown by banning independent reporting. but, cbs news correspondent clarissa ward was able to slip into syria. tonight, she speaks to a growing army of rebels fighting for their freedom. >> reporter: it was not a long drive, but our guides were taking no chances. past a government checkpoint, the car

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening the strongest evidence yet that the economy is headed in the right direction. today came word that the

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. their voices are not heard; their funerals are not seen. a revolution is under way to end one of the world's longest- running dictatorships, but we don't know the facts because the government of syria keeps reporters away from its brutal crackdown. tonight we have a rare look inside. since spring, thousands of syrians have been demanding the end of the 40-year dictatorship of the assad family. the u.n. estimates that since the uprising began, syrian forces have killed 4,000 civilians and just today the spposition claimed 60 deaths in the city of homs. tonight, cbs news correspondent clarissa ward-- who traveled through syria without government supervision-- shows us what bashar al-assad doesn't want the world to see. >> reporter: for months, this is what we've seen of the revolution in syria: cell phone video of demonstrations met with bullets from security forces. to meet the people holding those cell phones we entered the country as tourists carrying only a small camera. razan zayt