new young owner. join us for that at 6:00. >> thank you. thanks for watching us at 5:00. "cbs evening news with scott pelley" is next. >> pelley: it's not working. america's attempt to train fighters for the war against isis is being called "an abject failure." also tonight, ten republican presidential contenders face offff in their first debate. it could have been worse. turns out the theater attacker had explosives. we'll look at what some theaters are doing to protect their customers. and what a ride. poking fun at the world on 16 trips around the sun. >> the world is demonstrably worse than when i started. have i caused this?th (laughter) captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: this is our western edition.

the starting pistol sounds tonight in a 50-week race to the republican presidential nomination. a race that begins and ends in cleveland, site of the g.o.p. convention next july. tonight the first debate with the top-ten candidates in the polls. five governors, three senators a neurosurgeon and a real estate developer. major garrett is in cleveland for us this evening. >> reporter: scott, that real estate developer, donald trump is also the undisputed front-ev runner in a crowded republican field. trump has promised he won't attack first tonight, but he's already been criticized here for being a celebrity, not a conservative.ze donald trump arrived here in hiser own plane for his first debateer as a political wild card. the other nine candidates on thene stage are trying to halt trump's momentum. his sharp rhetoric has struck a chord with republican voters. nearly 80% think trump says what he believes. earlier seven other republicans met on the same stage for what south carolina senator lindsey

graham called the happy hour debate. n in the fox news forum, graham had sobering words about the fight against isis. >> if you're running for president of the united states and you don't understand that we need more american ground forces in iraq and that america has to be part of a regional ground force, then you're not ready toea be commander-in-chief. >> reporter: former texas governor rick perry took aim at trump. >> i've had my issues with donald trump. i talked about donald trump from the standpoint of being an individual who was using his celebrity rather than his conservatism. >> reporter: one of the ten in, tonight's main event, kentucky senator rand paul, said he's eager to mix it up in prime time and will be looking for an empty suit. is donald trump the empty suit? >> we'll see. there will be a good debate. we'll see whether it's all going to be bombast or whether it willst be substantive, and the american people will have to make that judgment. >> reporter: those not on the stage tonight are on the outside looking in.

rick perry, rick santorum and lindsey graham will commiserate and hold their own debate watch party. >> pelley: we've learned that a key military unit that cost u.s. taxpayers millions was routed in syria in its first contact with the enemy. both the cost and the stakes are high. the obama administration is depending on u.s.-trained syrians and iraqis to roll back the islamic extremist group isis, which has dismembered both countries despite daily u.s. air strikes. one pentagon official described the defeat as the u.s.-trained troops as "a friggin mess." here's david martin. >> reporter: this video purporting to show u.s.-trained fighters captured in syria could c not be independently verified, but there's no doubt the pentagon's first attempt to insert fighters into syria met with what one official called "abject failure." nearly half the force was either

killed, captured or missing. and they never even came in contact with isis. of officially called "the new," syrian force," the first contingent of 54 fighters was trained by the u.s. military at a base in turkey and sent across the border into northern syria. [explosion] but instead of fighting isis they unexpectedly came under attack by a different radical islamic group called al-nusra. the new syrian force called for american air strikes, and the al-nusra attack was repulsed. f only one member of the new syrian force was killed while the enemy lost an estimated 30 fighters, but what appeared to be a victory turned into a defeat when the rest of the new syrian force scattered. some were captured by al-nusra some made it back to turkey, others are simply missing. despite the bad start, the pentagon insisted it remains committed to the training program. rec

it's a linchpin of a strategy that depends on local groundy forces taking advantage of american air strikes tore recapture territory seized by isis. hundreds more fighters are currently in training or waiting to start. p so far the pentagon has spent $42 million setting up the program and plans to spend a total of $500 million to train and equip 12,000 fighters. scott? >> pelley: david martin at the pentagon for us tonight. david, thank you. we learned today that the police were looking for vincente montano before he attacked a tennessee movie theater yesterday. his mother had called the police to say that she was worried because her mentally ill son had disappeared. david begnaud has the latest. >> reporter: vincente david montano was carrying a pellet gun when he attacked moviegoers. he was also carrying peppermo spray, a lighter, a propaneat

canister and lighter fluid. a metro nashville police spokesman don aaron. >> there is a great possibility that he intended on using this propane canister as some type of an explosive. >> reporter: two minutes after being alerted to the attack,na officer jonathan frith was onnf the scene and confronted montano. >> i got a job to do. i have to save lives. if i have to, i have to go in there and engage the target. >> reporter: the 29-year-old montano fired his pellet gun several times before he waser killed by swat officers as he ran from the theater. montano's mother reported him missing three days ago. denise pruett told police her son had been diagnosed withpa paranoid schizophrenia and as early as 2004 she reported her son was having thoughts of suicide as well as homicide. the visual of frightened moviegoers running from the theater wednesday has mothers like cina thomas rethinking movie nights with her kids. >> my family won't be going to the movies anymore.

this has opened my eyes. there have been too many too close together. >> reporter: the attacker pepperto sprayed two women in the face, and the man who came to their aid was struck in the shoulder with a hatchet. but scott, in the end, despite all of that, no one was seriously hurt. i >> pelley: david, thank you. you just heard the woman say she didn't want to go to the movies, but 230 million americans did go last year. and don dahler is looking at what's being done to make theaters safer. >> reporter: there are almost 6,000 movie theaters in the u.s. security consultant tom deluca's company, global security services, has 500 armed guards in 175 of them. let the potential shooters see there is armed security there? >> 100%. no one undercover. we want to be seen. we want to be deterrent through visibility, yes. >> there's a shooting at the grand 16. >> reporter: since the recentte shootings, his company has been fielding two to three calls a day from concerned theater owners.ng

new york state senator tony avella says metal detectors are the answer. he's proposing legislation that would require them in theaters. >> i think it would cut down oncu anybody getting into whether it's a movie theater or shopping mall undetected. >> one at a time please, thank you. >> reporter: magnometers are already used at many major sporting events and concerts but fewer than 1% of movie theaters do. metal detectors can cost up to $5,000 each and operator costs could add up to $1 million annually at a time when most movie theaters sgins. do you think the small mom and pops will be able to do this? >> in my opinion, they probably won't. i think they'll take the risk that it won't happen to them. >> reporter: the national association of theater owners has not endorsed the use of magnometers. instead it urged members to make sure emergency plans are up to date and that emergency exits, like the one colorado theater shooter james holmes entered through, are properly secured.rg

the largest theater chains have also banned costumes, face masks and toy weapons. but if security measures areur expensive for theaters, so are these shootings. cinemark, the owner of the aurora theater where 12 people were killed and 70 wounded is40 being sued by 40 victims or family members of victims. >> pelley: thanks very much. in memphis today, a funeral was held for officer sean bolton. the former iraq war veteran was shot over the weekend when hewa interrupted a drug deal. an ex-convict is charged. firefighters are gaining againstt the biggest fire in the west the rocky fire north of san francisco is 40% contained, but most of the hot, dry fire season lies ahead. ben tracy is in lake county, california. >> we'll make sure that it'spe completely mopped up so that this doesn't restart. >> reporter: firefighters are chasing smokers, putting out hotn spots so wind-blown embers don't reignite the fire.

heinz maibaum dug out smoldering tree roots while collette harmon roped off dead trees. >> it's tedious. it's tedious.th the most important thing is the fire goes out and everyone goes home safe and the town is safe as well. >> reporter: this work is a whole lot more dangerous than it looks. a lot of these trees are hollowed out and fall downnd without warning. firefighters call them "widow makers."nd the wild and wicked rocky fire burned 109 square miles and destroyed 43 homes. it was a fire fueled by drought that has robbed california of two years worth of rain. on average, fire season is nows 78 days longer than it was in the 1970s. >> fasten your seat belts. it's going to be a rough ride here. >> reporter: governor jerry brown visited the fire zone and said the intensity of the fire is a wake-up call. >> you can imagine if theou drought would continue for a year or several years, california can literally burn up.

>> reporter: some of theat mandatory evacuation orders were lifted today so some people areg going back to their homes, butgh firefighters still have quite a bit of work to do, scott. s they say they will be putting out hot spots until at least monday. >> pelley: ben tracy in the part of california that's already burned up. ben, thanks. tonight too much rain is on ai collision course with taiwan. this is typhoon soudelor churning the pacific with gusts of 120 miles per hour.he it could drop 20 inches of rain t when it hits tomorrow. it left a path of destruction in the mariana islands, a u.s. commonwealth. much of saipan is without power and water. it was 70 years ago today that a man-made firestorm was unleashed on hiroshima, japan. 140,000 were killed. but the atomic bomb did spare u.s. forces the invasion of japan by forcing the empire tode surrender. a peace bell was rung to mark the anniversary.

thousands attended. lanterns floated in memory of the victims. seth doane is in hiroshima. >> reporter: the scars of 70 years ago have been paved overeb in the rebuilding of this bustling, modern city, but theil pain is still there. ma >> reporter: so many people died here. >> yes. keiko ogura was eight years old when america dropped its atomic bomb a mile and a half from her home. >> reporter: it was just one designed to stop world war ii and force japanese surrender. the intense heat from the explosion incinerated the centerd of the city and the woodens buildings in it.he this was the only building left standing in this part of town, and it remains today as a stark reminder of the devastation. at the hiroshima peace memorial

museum, director kenji shiga showed us everyday items that became artifacts. >> this is one of the things people want to come and see. a four-year-old boy was killed while riding this tricycle. it's grim evidence of the nuclear explosion.r temperatures reached 7,000 degrees. shiga told us these personal be belongings, including an incinerated school lunchbox burned by heat waves conveys how lethal and powerful the bomb was. "today there are 16,000 nuclear weapons on earth," he said, "so it's important to take another look at what happened here."it it's difficult to tell the's story, but you feel it's a story that must be told. >> reporter: this city straddles t a desire to move forward and to never forget. seth doane, cbs news, hiroshima, japan.

>> pelley: turns out there is a reason some flights get delayed more than others. a stradivarius stolen decades ago is back with its rightful o owners, and 16 years of jon stewart. everyone was fair game. >> the only thing missing from this story in my kid fantasy is newsman scott pelley's non- futuristic sense of style. yeah!y: >> pelley: when the "cbs evening news" continues.

>> pelley: well, this won't improve your mood next timeoo you're waiting to take off. it turns out the airlines often choose which planes get stuck at the gate. between january and may, more than 400,000 flights were delayed, and that's more than 19%. here's kris van cleave. >> reporter: the 90-minute flight from chicago's o'hare

airport to knoxville, tennessee, was the worst-performing route last year, not surprising to traveler larsen jay. >> we take this flight a lot. we're always delayed and we're always behind. it's a crapshoot. >> reporter: the flight is a recipe for headaches. the route flies from an airline hub prone to delays. last year 15 of 20 of the least on-time routes came to or from o'hare. it typically uses smaller regional jets, the case for 17 of the 20 worst-performing routes. those regional planes often make several stops a day. josh marks of mass flight says there's a reason for all the delays on short-haul regional routs. >> that's because those regional aircraft are smaller planes. there are fewer number of people that the airlines have to reaccommodate. >> reporter: inside united airline's network operation center in chicago, everyone from maintenance to meteorology is working to keep 5,000 daily flights operating as on-time as possible. >> our key hubs are great. >> reporter: jim deyoung says. the airline tries to anticipatear travel problems but acknowledges some planes get an advantage. do certain types of flights get s a preference if push comes to shove?bl

>> just by the length of the flight and the nature of the flight, you're going to see the international flights will get priority, but ultimately we'rein looking at customer connections, we're looking at the crew connections. we're looking at the aircraft flows and balancing all of those types of things. >> reporter: since 1980 the seating capacity on regional jets has increased 268%.je that as the industry as a wholewhol has been reducing capacity of late. scott, in 2013, about one quarter of all domestic airline passengers were flown by regional airlines. >> pelley: kris van cleave in washington's reagan national tonight. kris, thanks. bill cosby will have to testify. that story is next.

>> pelley: a judge in los angeles has ordered bill cosby to testify in a sexual misconduct lawsuit. judy huth claims cosby abused her at the playboy mansion four decades ago when she was 15. more than 40 women have accused cosby of raping or molesting

them, but he has never been charged with a crime. a stolen stradivarius worth millions has been returned. the 18th century violin vanished in 1980. the owner said it was like losing an arm. he died three years ago. the break came in june when a woman who had the violin appraised took it to an expert who recognized it and called the f.b.i. the news is music to the ears of the owner's daughters. they plan to sell it to make sure its voice is heard again int concert halls. in a moment, the maestro of satire is hanging it up. >> jon stewart leaving "the daily show" is really reminding us all that we're going to die.

>> pelley: jon stewart won't be

around to comment on the republican debate. he's taped his final "daily show," the end of 16 years of razor-sharp satire. >> this is "the daily show with jon stewart." >> the world is demonstrably worse than when i started. have i caused this? i'm a new member of this family, your family, and i'll be here for you every night. >> i think what the "daily show" did was start commenting on the absurdity of the culture and the hypocrisy in media and government. >> i'm going to try and download every movie ever made, and you try to sign up for obamacare and we'll see which happens first.fi >> okay. >> jon stewart is not afraid to get in the arena and throw punches.ec >> i can't reconcile the brilliance and knowledge that

you have and the intricacies of the market with the crazy [bleeped] i see you do every night.or >> i felt uncomfortable for theu guy because you know he's going to get skewered. >> you gerrymander these clipsra like crazy, clip, clip, clip clip, clip. >> gerrymander? are you saying i have redistricted my clips? >> you certainly have. >> i felt like his interviews did not have the tone of i'm attacking you, more like i'm trying to understand. >> i think i know why you're here. let me just deflate the tension right off the bat. apology accepted. >> is he an equal opportunity insulter? you bet he is.ou >> you ran on very high rhetoric, hope and change, and the democrats this year seem to be running on, please, baby, one more chance.ir now, this is our first show since the tragedy in new york city. >> 9/11 was such a world- changing event, and there was such a blanket of sadness indn this town.

we looked to those guys to comment on how we're feeling. >> a lot of folks have asked me, "what are you going to do when you get back, what are you going to say, geez, what a terrible d thing to have to do," and i don't see it as a burden at all. i see it as a privilege and... >> i think what september 11th did on an emotional level is what happens at any time when the comedian lets the wall down. >> jon's humanity is the thing that's really going to be missed. it cannot be replaced.ng >> nothing feels better than making you laugh. >> i'm really amazed by what you did here. it's really like one of the great comedy accomplishments of all time that you did. >> very nice. congratulations. >> pelley: that's the "cbs evening news" for tonight. for all of us at cbs news all around the world. good night.

the bomb squad on the scene of a world war ii weapons stash. items found while someone was cleaning out their house. >> new at 6:00, copper thieves strike in the middle of the night! and it's all caught on camera. >> and it's the first big test for will be n presidential hopefuls. the top 10 going at it in their first debated of the cam sane season. good evening, i'm veronica de la cruz. >> i'm ken bastida. let's get out to our breaking news tonight. grenades, this is strange. that has cleared out a complete neighborhood right now. someone cleaning out a home on the 1900 block of webster street found a box containing world war ii grenades and mortars. the area has been evacuated. people have been ordered out of

two neighboring homes, as well. the santa clara county bomb squad is now on the scene. we'll have a live reported in a few minus fins. metal thieves targeted a san jose business. new at 6:00 our len ramirez says it's what they didn't notice that may lead to their arrest. copper thieves knew what they wanted and wasted little time in taking it. >> it's a big loss for us. it happened thursday morning at recycling in san jose. surveillance video cameras recorded the caper at about 1:00 in the morning. the remarkably clear video shows two men getting out of a dark chevy pickup one walks down the sidewalk while the other appears to be casing the building. then the first men casually throws the heavy barbed wire gate wide open and walks inside. second later another camera captures