christiane amanpour. reporter: as bashar assad tries to crush the popular uprising against him, any doubts about his regime s brutal response have been erased. at least 12 people, including five children, were reportedly killed when the syrian army attacked a peaceful protest in rastan, a mostly rebel-held town. the assault on rastan comes after what looks like a victory for assad in homs. ground zero for the rebellion. paul conroy, a news photographer, was seriously injured last week trying to document the horror of homs. conroy has only just managed to escape. and several activists gave their lives trying to save his. the intensity of the shelling. we were taking direct hits after direct hits on the building we were in. the time for talking is over. somebody must act bah because we re not going to see the next phase. the next phase will not be televised. the activists won t be there because they re all going to die in the next few days. there will not be any witnesses.
and this is pretty much an exclusive to abc news. and it s interesting to see how when our correspondent mark greenblatt did the story last week this is kind of what came out of it. some new legislation. essentially people gambling on gas prices. that s why we re we re all paying more. definitely stay tuned for that story coming up in just a second. also, snow is now falling on some areas, those same areas that were hard hit by those powerful and extremely deadly tornadoes over the weekend. it is a one-two punch for mother nature as storm survivors are exposed to both summer and winter storms in just a matter of days. no rest for the weary in the midwest and south. and later this half hour, what could be a big moneymaker for hollywood? forget about those vampire movies and the harry potter series. see why fans, a whole lot of young female fans are lining up to see stars from the hunger games. but first, we begin with a world news now special report on wall street
how did this self-proclaimed dork hide her secret life of crime? and she s back. troubled actress lindsay lohan stages yet another comeback. this time on late-night tv, but can joking about her infamous brushes with the law really save lohan s tarnished public image? just heartbreaking. this morning, to see more images of devastation in the south and the midwest. we ll have the latest on the after math, the horrifying storms, live from the disaster zones in just a moment. also ahead chock up another victory for mitt romney. he s won the caucuses in washington, his fourth in a row, leading up to the super tuesday showdown in just two days and our very own george stephanopoulos will be here coming up. mitt has some momentum. he s had it and lost it before. it continues to be an interesting race. speaking of politics, a rare and surprising apology from rush limbaugh overnight. the conservative radio host said he was sorry for insulting a female law student about her