Reporter well scott, unsurprisingly the opposition has released a statement condemning todays bombing and saying that the assad regime was to blame for this attack. Of course, the Assad Government saying it was, in fact extremist elements within the opposition who were responsible. But the meetings that are going on here in cairo among the Syrian Opposition are essentially to determine the conditions for possible talks between the Syrian Opposition and the assad regime. Those talks would likely be brokered by the u. S. And also by russia. Pelley emphasis on possible talks. Clarissa, thank you very much. Clarissa has another story for us tonight about some of the people who are suffering the most. A few of the many rebel groups are connected to islamic radicals and christians who have lived in syria for more than 2,000 years are now fleeing right next door. Reporter this convent in the mountains of lebanon is a refuge for syrian christians who have been forced from their home and their country. There have been christians in syria as long as there have been christians. Now, they are caught up in a civil war, increasingly dominated by islamic militants. We came to lebanon because there is no more living in syria,. Its dead there. He made the dangerous journey out of syria with his wife and three children two months ago. Already, churches have been burned, homes destroyed, and christians kidnapped. Who are you most afraid of . We are afraid of both sides the armed militias and governments, he told us. One side is shelling us, the and other side is shooting at us. We have no guns. We have nothing. Christians make up roughly 10 of syrias population. Traditionally they have supported the assad regime, which has always protected minorities. Father Simon Faddoul is the president of the catholic caritas carrity. Many of them are loyal to the government yes or maybe they say, you know, an evil i know is better than an angel i dont know. Its like i know the regime at least. I dont know whats going to come next. Reporter many christians are fearful of what might happen if the rebels win. They worry they could face the same kind of religious persecution theyve seen there iraq and elsewhere in the middle east. You see militiamen come in in front of churches and making screams and shooting in the and a stuff like this to scare people off. Reporter there are no official statistics on how many christians have left syria since the civil war began. Aphram says he hopes to start a new life in the west. West. If things keep going the way they are in syria there will be no christians left there, he said. This ancient community may be the next washult of the civil war. Clarissa ward, cbs news beirut. Pelley well in washington today, something remarkable happened the president spoke by phone with republican leaders. They hadnt talked about the looming budget crisis in weeks. Hundreds of thousands of americans are looking at layoffs or smaller paychecks when big cut in federal spending kick in automatically a week from tomorrow. The cuts were designed to be so harmful, that they would force the president and congress to find a better way, but the trouble is they didnt, not yet. John dickerson is following developments. John, anything out of that phone call today . Reporter in a word, scott, no. Im told by administration and republican congressional sources that no progress was made in these conversations today. The president wants to replace the acrosstheboard cuts with savings found through the tax codes. Republicans resist that and theyre blunt. They think the president called today for Public Relations reasons so that he could say he tried everything, not as a new basis for negotiation. White house aides think the president has a Strong Political hand. New polls show support for the president s position on taxes, and hes almost twice as popular as house republicans. The republican view is that they are not likely to get any more popular by capitulating, which is how their supporters would view an agreement. Proof of that is tonight scott, that the conservative national rereview has endorsed letting the sequester go forward arguing the cut are better than any lastminute alternative. Pelley the sequester the washington name for the budget cut coming up. Those spending cuts would not be good news for a lot of folks still struggling to recover from super storm sandy. Jim axelrod is on the jersey shore tonight. Reporter when i look at this i see the iconic image of sandy. No doubt about it thats it. Reporter the mayor of Seaside Heights, bill akers, is overseeing a recovery that is challenging, even by the standard of super storm sandy. Its mindboggling to think how that number one got there, and now how eats its going to come out. Reporter this jersey shore town has borrowed 15 million for repairs they need done before the summer tourism season. If the work isnt done one way or the other, Seaside Heights does not exist. Reporter the mayor hopes to get federal aid to help pay off the alone, but the automatic budget cuts that begin on march 1, could result in a 5 decrease in sandy assistance. Seaside heights may end up at least 750,000 short. Where do i have to cut the services . Is it going to be in protection . Is it going to be in garbage pickup . Is it going to be in make we dont do a road this year . You know, where where does it end . Reporter the pace at which theyre driving piling for a new 15block boardwalk leaves the mayor hopeful but paying the 7. 5 million repair bill does not. Its a scary thing. Like i said, its like living on a credit card right now. Reporter and right now the mayor isnt seeing anything in washington inspiring confidence. I think its not just communities like Seaside Heights. I think its the community in iowa, and the community in culifornia. Wherever you live youre always nervous the way these guys do business. Reporter mayor akers tells us he expects this boardwalk to be financed by may 10, the start of the summer reason, which is when they raise roughly 75 of their revenue here. Pelley jim thanks very much. Speak of violent weather a winter storm is pummeling the nations midsection tonight with everything from snow and ice to thunder and lightning. Warnings are up from colorado to illinois. Parts of kansas got 14 inches of snow. This is lawrence kansas. Even fire trucks got stuck in the drifts. Highway traffic came to a standstill. In missouri this car slid off i70. It was a sheet of ice. A short while ago we spoke with chris suchan, who is the chief me eorologist at our kansas city station, kctv. Ill tell you what scott, the worst of it is over with. This morning we had widespread thunder snow from kansas to missouri. Snowfall rate of two to three inches per hour brought this area to its knees with our motorists. We had strand city bus. Bridges were closed for a while. Now what were anticipating is another round for this evening perhaps another two to four inches of snowfall, some freezing drizzle right now, and wind chills in the single digits. Storm total for us is 81214 inches of snowfall for kansas city. Pelley chris suchan of our station kctv. Chris, thanks very much. Chris mentioned thunder snow. We wondered about that. It turns out that it happens when warm moist air collide requests cold air. Its a clash of energy that creates thunder and lightning. It happens all the time in rain storms but only rarely during a snowstorm. The Labor Department told us today that another 362,000 americans have joined the line for Unemployment Benefits but there is good news. The number of people who have been out of work 27 weeks or more the longterm unemployed is trending downward. Have a look. The number of longterm unemployed rose from 1,78,000 to 6 headquarters 704,000. Ben tracy talked to one of the longterm unemployed, and he may look familiar. From my perspective from my eyes, i still see that were in a deep recession. Reporter jack walerius has not had a fulltime job for more than three years. He now spends his time volunteering at an unemployment networking group. Do you have any sense of how many jobs you have applied for, how many interviews youve been on . No. Reporter too many to count. Yeah, ive just stopped counting. Reporter what lace used to sell advertising to car dealerships. He has been without work for more than six months. The longterm unemployed often find employers are worried their skills have degraded and wonder why they have been unemployed for so long. Those who do land a new job earn on average 17 less than they did before. We first met what loose in 2011 when he spoke with scott pelley. Pelley in those 3 00 a. M. Moments you ask yourself what . Why cant i get a job . I still have those 3 00 a. M. Moments. This morning it was a 2 30 moment. Reporter he has been living off of savings and worked at a costco for two months over the holidays. He is now 61 years old. At this point, what are you willing to do for a fulltime job . Quite frankly, the seasonal job i had i was hoping turned into a fulltime job. Thats whats out there, thats what i will take right now. Be professional from the moment you get out of the car. Reporter he says volunteering keeps him sane and gets him out of the house. There are people who are gainfully employed who will say wow, after three and a half years if you cant find a job, you must not be trying hard enough. People make those judgments themselves. Im aware of that. Reporter what do you say to them . You just have to walk a mile in my shoes. I hope it never happens to you. Reporter he had his first inperson Job Interview in four months. Hes still waiting for an answer. Pelley the Oscar Pistorius murder case takes another strange twist. Cana woman win the daytona 500 . This woman says dont bet against her. And it rained on the sun when the cbs evening news continues. If youre living with moderate to severe crohns disease, and it feels like your life revolves around your symptoms, ask your gastroenterologist about humira adalimumab. Humira has been proven to work for adults who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohns disease. In clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief and many achieved remission. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma or other types of cancer have happened. Blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions and new or worsening Heart Failure have occurred. Before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. Ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. Tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. You should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. Get headed in a new direction. With humira, remission is possible. More than two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. An pelley in a Surprise Development today the lead investigator was pulled off of the Oscar Pistorius murder case in south africa. The investigator himself has been charged with attempted murder in a separate case. Pistorius is the olympian who lost both legs and runs on custom blades. He shot his girlfriend to death on valentines day says he mistook her for a burglar. Emma hurd is covering the bail hearing for us in pretoria, and she comes to us from outside the Police Station where pistorius is being held tonight. Emma, what happened today . Reporter well, it was a huge embarrassment for the South African police. With the world watching every twist in this case, their investigation and the credibility of it appears to be crumbling. The revelation that the lead detective is facing seven count of attempted murder has shocked everyone including prosecution, who claim they have no idea hilton botha is accused of shooting at a minibus taxi while he was drunk in 2011. The charges were reinstated on february 4 but still, he was allowed to lead the investigation into the shooting of Reeva Steenkamp on sal types day. Now, he has now been replaced on the case by another highprofile detective. All of this came as the judge heard final arguments in the bail hearing. The prosecution has tried to show that Oscar Pistorius is prone to violent outbursts. He is spending the night here again in this Police Station, but he should find out tomorrow whether he will be released on bail scott. Pelley emma, thank you very much. Well, odds are you have never seen anything quite like this. They call is solar rain. Nasa put out pictures of a storm on the sun that shot out a huge flare of hot gas but strong Magnetic Fields caused the gas to curl back and rain down on the surface. This sequence that youre seeing took place over an entire day last july. A rare look at our sun. Can Danica Patrick win big one . I think that throughout my career, no matter what ive been, i always feel like i have popular to prove. Pelley we will meet the race car driver next. So ditch your dishcloth and switch to a fresh sheet of new bounty duratowel. Look a fresh sheet of bounty duratowel leaves this surface cleaner than a germy dishcloth, as this black light reveals. Its durable, clothlike and its 3 times cleaner. So ditch your dishcloth and switch to new bounty duratowel. The durable, clothlike pickerupper. [ fishing rod casting line, marching band playing ] [ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat . Campbells healthy request soup lets you hear it. In your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. Great taste. Mmm. [ male announcer ] sounds good. Its amazing what soup can do. I have low testosterone. There, i said it. How did i know . Well, i didnt really. See, i figured low testosterone would decrease my sex drive. But when i started losing energy and became moody. Thats when i had an honest conversation with my doctor. We discussed all the symptoms. Then he gave me some blood tests. Showed it was low t. Thats it. It was a number not just me. [ male announcer ] today, men with low t have androgel 1. 62 testosterone gel . The 1 prescribed topical testosterone replacement therapy increases testosterone when used daily. Women and children should avoid contact with application sites. Discontinue androgel and call your doctor if you see unexpected signs of early puberty in a child, or signs in a woman which may include changes in body hair or a large increase in acne, possibly due to accidental exposure. Men with Breast Cancer or who have or might have prostate cancer, and women who are or may become pregnant or are breastfeeding, should not use androgel. Serious side effects include worsening of an enlarged prostate possible increased risk of prostate cancer, lower sperm count, swelling of ankles, feet, or body, enlarged or painful breasts problems breathing during sleep, and blood clots in the legs. Tell your doctor about your medical conditions and medications especially insulin, corticosteroids, or medicines to decrease blood clotting. So. What do men do when a numbers too low . Turn it up [ male announcer ] in a clinical study, over 80 of treated men had their t levels restored to normal. Talk to your doctor about all your symptoms. Get the blood tests. Change your number. Turn it up. Androgel 1. 62 . [ slap ] [ slap slap slap slap ] ow ow [ male announcer ] your Favorite Foods fighting you . Fight back fast with tums. Calciumrich tums starts working so fast youll forget you had heartburn. Tum tum tum tum tums pelley history will be made at sundays daytona 500 when Danica Patrick becomes the first woman to start at the head of the back. She punched the pole position in a qualifying race today. But can she make it all the way to victory lane . Mark strassmann has spent some time with her. Ready to race. Reporter Danica Patrick in the lime green number 10 car had the fastest qualifying time for nascars biggest race, more than 196 miles per hour. That was a great lap, guys reporter the 30yearold who gapped fame for racing against the boys and for her racy tv commercials says she wantes more. So is winning the pole enough or to establish yourself as a nascar driver tore do you have to win one of these things gialways feel like i have more to prove. I feel like i have to keep earning the respect and earning my keep and showing people they belong. Reporter even as a nineyearold gocart racer in illinois, patrick says she was not raised to be the fastest girl but the fastest driver. What are you going to do today . Im going to win. Reporter in 2005 patrick finished fourth in her first indianapolis 500. This is absolutely amazing reporter then switchd to the more roughandtumble nascar circuit for a new challenge. Danica sideways. Oh no, into the wall. Reporter but she crashed in two of her first 10 races last year, and her average finish was 28th. Still, nascar is heavily promoting patrick. For every good old boy, good old girl. Reporter the sport hopes she can grow and diversify its fan base, twothird of whom are men. Do you feel welcome in your first full nascar season in what is one of the worlds great testosterone pits historically . I love the people. I love the racing. They made me feel welcome and they were embracing of my difference. I mean, there was a point in time 40 years ago, where women werent even allowed in the garage area. So weve come a long way and im fortunate to be here in a time where its embraced. Reporter only nine of daytonas 54 previous pole winners have gone on to take the checkered flag, about one in five. But deifying odds and expectations is what drives Danica Patrick. Mark strassmann, cbs news daytona beach, florida. Pelley a teacher is driven to assign his students to meet the families of american heroes. Thats next. Ed f res boost® high protein nutritional drink. Each delicious serving provides fifteen grams of protein to help maintain muscle and help meet expert recommended daily protein needs. Plus it provides twentysix essential vitamins and minerals and is glutenfree. Help get the nutrition you need with a complete and balanced nutritional drink.