captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> welcome to the journal. >> thank you for joining us. >> the eu's foreign policy minister holds talks in geneva on italian territory. they make the call for national unity and and and for the strikes. ana couple of astronaut take a virtual walk on the surface of mars and a simulated mission for the red planet. the european union's foreign- policy chief has arrived in tunisia. in the capital, they expressed support for the caretaker government and said that it was committed to supporting tunia

they are also going to address the issue of all undocumented migrants trying to reach europe. other north africans have arrived on the italian island in the last week. >> they have been coming in small boats like this one. 5000 arrived in the last week alone, more than and all of last year. >> we have friends in france. there are lots of workers, and there is not as much unemployment. the russian political unrest has made many of them nervous about their country'y's future. that is creating a problem for european leaders. >> people that don't want to be in tunisia can all come to europe. -- can't all come to europe.

our goal is to help these companies -- countries solve their problems. >> the tide of migrants was also on the agenda. they promised europe would help. >> to support civil society. and to help provide opportunities. >> italy is sending the refugees to processing centers while the ropean union looks forays stem the flow coming from north africa. >> for more on this story, i spoke earlier to our brussels correspondent. i asked what they were doing to help cope with the crisis. >> first the ease the tension

between brussels and italy. and as you say, she has already spoken about the situation. what can thedo? the accord means the national responses to border security in europe. -- how they coordinate and national response to border security in europe are. it could be days or weeks before that could be coordinated. it is not like there is a pool of european naval vessels. there is a bit of tension between italy and brussels over what has be request andow swiftly? -- swiftly. there is a real technical problem going on right now. >> egypt's army his colleague

for national solidarity and has criticized the spread of strike action in a number of sectors. the plea came after thousands of employees demanded better pay. the army spokesman says the professional unions and labor unions need to play their role fully. huneds of police officers marched into tahrir square. >> these police officers are shouting, we the people belong together. hundreds of police officers gathered in the square to show their support for the protest movement. seeing that they were victims of the system, too. >> i am for the people, we love the people. we serve everyone. we never hated the people. may god take revenge on the tyrants.

>> many are still angry with the security forces. earlier, the military had cleared tahrir square. the military wants life in cairo to return to normal. fresh rumors have emerged about the whereabouts of former president mubarak. >> and we are [unintelligible] we need that money to come back to our country to refresh our economy. >> they have promised free and fair elections in six months. >> it has appeared to have spread to iran. police cracked down on an opposition n.y. demonstration using tear gas.

internet access, mobile phone networks, and some satellite channels have been blocked. in syria, a military court has sentenced the female blogger to jail for spying for the u.s. the 19-year-old was arrested in 29, saying she yearned for a role in shaping the future of syria. she asked president barack obama to do more to support the palestinian cause. this is another side ofofhe crackdown on opposition in syria. >> and big debt problems in communities across germany.

the debt has risen dramatically. despite an economic rebound, and german towns and cities broad anfar wer revenu las year and then they spent. it rose to nearly 10 billion euros, the largest in post-war history. >> like many other cities in germany, frankfurt is struggling to make ends meet. the economy is booming but spending is on the rise. basic social costs are a heavy burden. >> let's take a look at my city. our basic social spending was 19 million euros in 2010. it was 27.5 million euros in

2005. >> off and cultural services are the first to go. >> in recent yearswe had to close theaters. there even discussion about closing the museum. so the cost-cutting measures are getting tougher. municipalities are raisingq locl fees to increase revenues. and even the dogs tax is set to increase. there is a summary from the frankfurt stock exexange.

fuel demand for german stocks, for example, the chemicals conglomerate were among the biggest gainers. germany's life insurance companies have to provide higher cash reserves because in recent years, interest rates were hier. a guaranteed higher returns. but now, as interest rates are very low, in order to fulfill those contracts, insurance companies have to set aside much more money. >> the leading blue chips gave up a bit of ground on monday finishing 1/5 of 1% lower. the dowurrely trading just a bit lower.

on currency markets -- u.s. president barack obama has unveiled his fiscal budget plan for 2012. he wants to slash 1.1 trillion over the budget in the next decade. the president's proposal will have to be approv by congress in the plan will face a long and tough battle amid resistance from both republicans and democrats. the world's largest mobile phone fare is under way in the spanish city of barcelona. the smart phones are the stars of the show. and rightly so. more smart phones are being sold worldwide than personal computers. >> sony ericsson is hoping to

win game lovers. google's mobile operating system. >> android is an open system. and we are happy that we can use it. wheat and talking developers that what to launch their games. >> anyone can develop applications and games. they offer a felon with -- phone with 3dcapabilities. the company is focusing on cooperation with microsoft. >> our message to the customers is that we have an opportunity to deliver the highest quality experience between the device, the applications, and the services that surround them. the culmination of efforts between microsoft and nokia re a

very compelling offer. -- create a very compelling offer. google has a 33 % share of the market. >> hardware is taking a back seat. the maturity of cellphone programs are being developed in the u.s.. european competitors are falling far behind. >> let's go to the movies. >> anotr bigfilm premiered in thecompition sectn ofhe berlin film festival. ralph fiennes' directorial debut says his version of the shakespeare classic was inspired by the 24 hour coverage of wars and riots.

vanessa redgrave plays volumina. and the russian movie "innocent saturday" screened. it deals with the accident at the chernobyl plant. in the of communist party official that wants to flee the area with his girlfriend. i asked them to tell me what is so special about this movie. >> it takes this catastrophic event at tilsit from a very personal side -- in details its from the very personal side. they don't know why this cloud is descending on them. it mixes the personal with the political. this is the film to look out for

when the awards are handed out. >> another interesting film was shown today, was this endeavor as successful as his acting? >> is different from what we are used to seeing him in. he took the money he earned from the harry potter franchise and stucit in this passi project. it is a very powerful performance, and i think we should expect to see ralph fiennes getting best actor. >> thank you for that update. from movies to space now, ever since the first space flight was accomplished, astronauts have been fascinated with going to mars. scientists in russia have gone a step closer to achievi that al.

in an ambitious experiment for interplanetary travel. >> they are taking their first steps on the surface of mars. they want to be the historic moment. it is the halfway point in the mission for these pioneers. >> the technical conditions would be different with a real mars mission. how they react in extreme situations is the same. that is what makes the work so important. >> 6 volunteers have been living in this container at the space center to allow scientists to see how humans would respond to such a long voyage. they have been suggested -- subjected to constant testing. >> we can examine the test subjects in a controlled way over a long period of time.

we can look in the assault content in their food and blood pressure. that has never been documented in this way before. >> they still have another eight months in isolation. >> finally, brazilian soccer legend reynaldo says he is retiring, putting the end to what of the most successful careers in soccer. he is telling out after 17 years in the spotlight. injuries and health problems were stopping him from playing in top form. he was named fifa world player of the year 3 times. we will be back after a short we will be back after a short break.

>> welcome back.

egypt's military has called on protestors to return to work and not to strike. after the toppling of the mubarak regime, new stirkes have be in -- strikes have been in a number of locations demanding better pay and working conditions. millions of egyptians are calling to an end to corruption that they say is rampant. more often than not, only the well-connected get business permits. that ensures that wealth is concentrated in a few hands. >> employees of private sector and state of the banks went on strike in cairo on sunday to demand better pay and removal of executives they say are corrupt. >> the general managers are

appointed by the sons of mubarak. they are being paid incredible salaries. >> 30 years of mubarak meant 30 years of bribery. transparency international has regularly given them poor marks. the challenge facing any future government is job creation. many people are casual laborers or farmhands. people wait for hours for offers of work. poverty is widespread. at the same time, inflation is rising, food prices increased 20%. it is an unsustainable situation for many.

a stable commodity is wheat. used to make bread. egypt doesn't grow enough to feed its people. a lot of it is important of the global market where the price has soared over the last year. people are demanding not only democracy, but an economic revival. >> earlier, we talked to middle eastern affairs expert, and we put it to him that the egyptian revolution had a strong economic component. what does the military need to do to create jobs for the millions of unemployed? >> military does not really have an answer for this question. they will try install a

cilianovernment to havehe government solve the issue. the revolution will only be successful if egyptians not only achieved democracy, but also economic well-being. let's not forget that almost half of the egyptian population lives below the poverty line of less than $2 a day. this is a very severe burden on the egyptian economy. tourism plays a big deal. it will probably be seen again, and there is the strategic importance, lots of the biological food is being imported from egypt. and there is more room for

imports from egypt. and there is the educated middle class that is able to really op its markets into the telecommunications sector, for instance. >> what can the u.s. to do from here? let me direct its funding? >> if the united states puts it on the backs of the military leadership, they invite these people to send this money to bank accounts in switzerland and elsewhere. it would be more helpful if it was directed to the egyptian people and those who need it. i think the american government should develop a marshall plan.

most of the university professors, they are very well educated. they need to have two or three jobs at the same time. it will be much more helpful for egypt if they earned a decent salary. that is a very important step forward. they have already paid hundreds of millions of dollars to egypt , in germany has a positive image. it could continue to support civil society in order to help with the educational field and the pressional field to get more professionals to work.

>> there has been a seismic shift in how people see themselves and their understanding of their relationship demonstrated to the world that egyptians have the capacity to govern themselves and they are not innt on being ruled by the leak. >> most of the patrons in this [unintelligible] some of the older people do not fall of the news closely. but the younger ones do. >> i call home every day, or i

use my cell phone so i know what is going on in algeria. >> they have relatives back home. there is a significant moroccan community. they often meet at the market. mubarak and his wife have lived in france for 20 years. >> it is something new. people said arabs don't enjoy basic rights. that got me thinking that things have changed. >> they cannot imagine a similar uprising. >> and there is the freedom of press, human rights. we feel free and morocco.

>> he agrees. he was visiting his son that studies there. the father and son say that there will not be an uprising because things are not bad there. >> i was born there and grew up there. things have improved a lot since the young king took the throne. >> thea north africans we spoke to welcome the changes indonesia and egypt. they believe the movement will improve the perception of arabs in the rest -- west. >> that is all we have time for on this edition of "the journal." thank you for joining us.

captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> ifill: good evening. i'm gwen ifll. president obama submitted a $3.7 trillion budget for fiscal year 2012. it shrinks some government progms while increasing spending on others. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. on the newshour tonight, we talk to white house budget director jack lew and ohio republican senator rob portman about cuts, taxes, and the political battles ahead. >> ifill: then, margaret warner, just back from cairo, helps us look at the role social media and mainstream media played in the egypt uprising. >> brown: and we report on a battle that pits human champions against a machine. our science correspondent took the challenge.

>> m miles o'ien. just played jeopardy against a very smart computer. it was great for the computer. i'll tell you about artificial intelligence and the pursuit of language understanding. for machines. >> ifill: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: breathe in. breathe out. as volatile as markets have been lately having the security of a strong financial partner certainly lets you breathe easier. for more than 140 years, pacific life has helped millions of americans build a secure financial future. wouldn't it be nice to take a deep breath and relax? your financial professional can tell you about pacific life, the power to help you succeed. >> you can't manufacture pride. but pride builds great cars.

and you'll find it in the people at toyota. all across america. >> chevron. we may have more in common than you think. >> and by bnsf railway. >> and by the bill and melinda gates foundation. dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chance to live a healthy, productive life. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and conibutions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: president obama kicked off what is shaping up to be a pitched battle over the budget today. but emboldened republicans are

kicking back. ray suarez begins our coverage. >> suarez: the president's annual budget blueprint arrived on capitol hill this morning. the price tag: $3.73 trillion. and a record $1.6 trillion deficit, the highest dollar amount ever. mr. obama touted his plan today at a school outside baltimore. >> the only way to truly tackle our deficit is to cut excessive spending wherever we find it. in domestic spending, defense spending, health care spending and spending through tax breaks and loopholes. so what we've done here is make a downpayment, but there's going to be more work that needs to be done. >> suarez: under the proposed budget the deficit would drop to under $1.1 trilln next year with some dramatic cuts. among the items on the chopping block, some programs popular with democrats including community

development block grants which help fund low-income housing and anti-poverty programs. they'd be cut by $300 million. the plan eliminates $2.5 billion in home heating aid to poor families, reduces funding in pel grants for needy college students by $100 million. $125 million would be removed from a great lakes clean-up project and expition of tax cs are proposed for energy companies and families making more than $250,000 a year. the budget also calls for a five-year non-security discretionary spending freeze. and a two-year freeze of federal government employees' salaries. states would also lose grant money for airports, water treatment plants and other infrastructure. the end of the federal stimulus and the tax increase for affluent americans account for the bulk of the plan's estimated $1.1 trillions of deficit reduction over the next ten years.

but it is ill creates $7.2 trillion in new debt through new spending on investments like high-speed rail, transportation improvement and new education programs. today marks the first time president obama has submitted his budge oat to a republican- controlled house. house budget committee chair paul ryan called it a disappointment. >> we've looked at these numbers. these numbers are very, very clear. you really cannot borrow and spend and tax your way to prosperity, but unfortunately that is exactly what this budget does. >> suarez: while senate minority leader mitch mcconnell called the president's budget irresponsible. >> the president's budget is the clearest sign yet that he simply does not take our fiscal problems seriously. it's a patronizing plan that says to the american people that their concerns are not his concerns. it's a plan that says fulfilling the president's vision of a future of trains and windmills is more important than a balanced

checkbook. >> suarez: the president and congressional republicans are sparring over a narrow slice of federal spending. the 15% devoted to so-called discretionary programs, not related to security or defense. the president's budget does call for $78 billion in reductions to growth in pentagon spending over five years, savings recommended by defense secretary robert gates. but neither party is yet tackling the so-called entitlement programs: medicare, medicaid and social security, reforms recommended by the president's deficit commission. for his part, white house budget director jack lu defended the need for bipartisan action on spending. >> i think that we've put down a reasonable plan, a comprehensive plan. it's our plan. and we understand that that's the beginning of the process. we've also said that we don't have a monopoly on all wisdom. we look forward to working with the congress. >> suarez: congressional

republicans will have the chance to question director lu in a series of hearings next week. in the meantime house republicans plan to vote on their own plan to cut federal spending for the current fiscal year this week. >> ifill: for more, we get the view from the white house from jack lew, director of the office of management and budget. i spoke with him a short time ago. welcome. you said today that this budget is all about priorities. can you give us a sense about what this budget tells us this administration's priorities? >> yes. this administration's priorities start out with kind of the big frame which is that we have to live within our means. we have to reduce spending. we have to reduce the deficit. we also have to invest in the future. just like every family that sits around the table and has to ke the tough choices in tough times, that's what we need to do in this federal budget. we've made a lot of decisions which are difficult, but we've made the trade-off to try and ensure that we can have a much better future where we can outeducate, outinnovate and

outbuild our competitors so it's about reducing spending in some places, having the bottom line show the results, but also investing where we need to. >> ifill: you're talking about making tough choices. this is a $3.73 trillion budget. where are the cuts coming from? >> he cuts really come from quite a lotf places. in the area of annual discretionary spending we freeze spending for five years which saves $400 billion over ten years. that brings spending, this part of the budget spending, down to the levels that haven't been seen since the eisenhower administration. and we're at a level of savings that are way beyond what one can say you do with waste, fraud and abuse. we're going into programs, programs that we care about, and saying, we have to make the tough trade-offs and cut back in some places. i can give you a few examples because they're hard choices. you know, the community services block grant program going from formula grant to a competitive grant, cutting it

in half, that means that there are going to be fewer community action agencies that get federal funding. the low-income home energy assistance program, a very important program that helps people, old people and poor people, pay their energy bills in cold winter. it's a hard thing to do. why are we reducing it? because in 2008 it went from 2.5 to 5 billion because of a big spike in prices. as we look at all of the areas of the budget we said we can't just level off at $5 billion. we need to go back to where it was before the price spike. >> ifill: even that is only $2.5 billion in a pretty big budget. kent conrad think you should be cutting deeper in the name of trying to cut that deficit. >> i've only given you a few examples. if i move out of the area of domestic discretionary spending, we've taken defense and said it can't continue to grow fast every than inflation as it has for more than ten years. it needto come to a zero

real growth level. that reduces defense spending by $78 billion for the base defense budget from where it would have been in last year's budget. when we look at defense overall including spending on afghanistan and iraq because of the reductions in troops in iraq, we see more than a 5% reduction in defense spending compared to last year's budget. outside of the area of discretionary spending i think we all agree, we certainly believe, you cannot deal with the fiscal challenge we have by just dealing with discretionary spending. >> ifil:elephant in the room, mr. lew, entitlement, social security spending, medicare, medicaid, nowhere in this budget. >> reporter: let me start with what's in this budget. i'm happy to talk about the things that may not be in the budget. in the budget we take in both entitlement programs and revenue programs very important steps. in the case of medicaid medicare, for years congress and successive presidents have agreed we shouldn't let a provision go into effect that

would cut reimbursement rates to doctors in medicare by 30%. the problem is that for years we've just put it on the national credit card. we've built up the debt. this year we say it's time to stop. we put $62 billion of specific proposals in to pay for that extension of that provision for two years. and we've said with a three-year window because congress did the right thing last december and paid for it, with a three- year window let's figure out how to solve this once and for all so we're not in the business of kicking the can down the road. in the tax code, there's a provision called the alternative minimum tax where because of the way it works middle class families would slip into it. that was never the intention. so there's been a bipartisan agreement don't let that happen. >> ifill: what about entitlements, mr. lew? >> let me just finish that example. the alternative minimum tax, what's happened over the years is we haven't paid for fixing it. we've put a proposal in the budget that would have real revenue provision that pays for extending the alternative

minimum tax that it doesn't hit middle income families for three years. what it would do is it would put a limitation on how people in the top tax bracket-- that's families that make $250,000 or more-- how much benefits they can get from itemized deduction and would limit them to the people of the bracket below them. >> ifill: entitlements? >> the $62 billion in medicare. there's clearly more that needs to be done in the long term. you askd about social security. on social security first let me be clear. there's nothing in the projections for the next ten years that is... that suggests that social security is causing the deficit problem. the social security issues are farther down the road. we believe that we need to address them. the president said in the state of the union that he wants to work on a bipartisan basis to address social security so the current retirees and current workers who will be future retirees can count on their benefits now and in the future. we really believe that. we think the right thing to do

is to work together like we did in 1983 to solve the problem. the problem is that the history tells us that if you put a proposal out there, it doesn't necessarily move the process forward. you know, i saw when i was working on social security on the hill in the '80s that in 1981 a proposal set things back. it polarized the parties. we saw that in the 1990s as well. what the president did in the state of the union was try to set out principles so that we can actually prepare the ground for a constructive conversation. we think that's the right way to move the ball forward. >> ifill: opening bid? >> it's not a bid but a statement of principle. we stand proudly saying we want to work together to make the changes so that we can say social security is sound for 75 years. i want to be able to tell my new grandson that he doesn't have to worry about social security. >> ifill: jack lew, director of the office of management and budget, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> brown: now to judy woodruff

with a republican view. >> woodruff: rob portman of ohio is a member of the budget committee and he served as budget director under president george w. bush. senator portman, thank you very much for being with us. we just heard budget director lew say that this blueprint will cut spending $400 billion over the next ten years. that sounds like a big number. >> well unfortunately it's not nearly enough. i'm quoting here om the democrat co-chairman of the president's own fiscal commission who said it's nowhere near what we ought to be doing. i just listened to jack lew's comments. look, i feel a certain sympathy for director lew having been in his position four years ago. it's tough. but it's tough to defend this budget. he talked about how he's proud of the fact that there's something on social security. there's nothing on social security. the questions were actually very insightful. you know, where is the changes in terms of these entitlement programs? it's now over 60%. budget and the fastest growing part of the budget.

the $400 billion, judy, that you're talking about is a result of freezing so it's not a reduction in spending. it's a freeze. so it's as compared to what the spending would have otherwise been. had we followed the president's budget from last year. so this is is not about reducing spending. by the way that $400 billion is about 4.5% of what we have to do in order to get to a balanced budget. as the democrat co-chairman of the democrat fiscal commission it's about 4.5% of the way there. we need to do a lot more. we need to do it together. i'm not saying that we're looking to the president for all the leadership here but this budget document is a political document today. it's very disappoint to go me because the president's own description of the problem is so eloquent. he talks about our fiscal condition. and the fact that we need to get out from under this historic deficit we have this year. and this debt. and yet the budget proposal calls for the debt to almost double. during the ten-year period of this budget. >> ifill: when mr. lew says that this budget would get

federal spending as a percentage of the gross domestic product down to the lowest level it's been since president eisenhower you're saying that's not significant. >> i was very surprised to hear him say that. the historic level of spending as a percent of the economy is about 20.6%. and this year we will be at 25%. so we've gone from 24% last year to 25% this next year. and my understanding is that the percentage does not go down below the historic level. in fact, because again we're not making some of these tough choices we continue to spend more as a percentage of g.d.p. certainly in fiscal year 2012 which is what this budget is all about. you know, we need to do better. again these are tough decisions, tough calls to be made. but you cannot do it just by sort of nibbling around the edges. that's what this budget does. it does not make the tough decisions. >> woodruff: you're saying that claim is false? >> well, i don't know. i need to look... i told you i was surprised to hear it.

it may be true as to the narrow issue of what the president called about 12% of the budget which is the domestic discretionary budget that's non-security which is the part that i think the director was talking about. but it's certainly not true as a matter of the entire budget. that's because most of the budget is off limits. in other words, it's not even addressed in this budget document. yes, i think it is false. i'll check it after the show but it doesn't make sense to me that that would be true except as to that narrow part of the budget and that may well be true. >> woodruff: when you and other republicans say the administration is not serious about cutting they come back and say, look, we're cutting money in inner city neighborhoods and for clean water and clean air, college loans. we're cutting money forow- income home heating bills. >> those are decisions that they've made, judy. as we talked about and as the director just said, the president has chosen to have a five-year freeze at the 2010 levels. in other words, the relatively

high-level spending that we have now. within that freeze over the next ten years, they're going to increase spending on certain things like high speed rail as you've heard about and reduce spending in other things. the president has made decisions within that freeze. but this freeze, remember, is after a 24% increase in this same category of spending over the last two years. so it's freezing this higher level of spending and then, yes, there are decisions made within there to increase some programs and decrease others. but these are political decisions. then not to touch again the bulk of the budget where you see the fastest growth. >> woodruff: let me ask you about that the so-called entitlements, medicare, social security and the rest of it. mr. lew said when it comes to social security he says it's not a factor in the deficit but the next ten years it should be tackled but there's some time. and he said with rerd to the rest of it, medica and other so-called entitlements, he said that's got to be a joint effort. he said in recent history it

shows that for a president to put his own ideas out there without the other side in essence can set the whole process back. >> i agree with him. it has to be a joint effort. i would disagree with him again on the fact that social security does not add to the deficit. the trustees of the social security system just told us that the deficit is already in place in the social security trust fund. in other words, this year social security will pay out more than it brings in. this was not supposed to happen until 2016 but unfortunately because of a rough economy, because we haven't had the payroll tax revenues coming in as expected it's in a deficit position so i was also surprised by his statement there that social security doesn't add to the deficit. the other issue is we always have a huge internal debt in social security because for years the social security trust fund has been used for every day government spending so this is a huge issue. we do have to tackle it. it will affect people's payroll taxes and workers in america. for us to just say it's not a problem-- which i'm not saying

he said, but that was sort of the implication-- i think just false. we need to tackle the social security issue because it is about the future. those who are near retirement ought to be able to keep the benefits that they've earned but those who are not near retirement, those who are young people who are looking to the future, we need to have a program that works for them. under the current trajectory it will not be there. in fact of about 2021 i think it is there would be under current law about a 21% decrease in the benefits under social security even if you assume that all of the debts build up in the trust fund are accounted for. so we have a real problem in social security and in medicare. i agree with director lew that there needs to be something that we join hands on as republicans and democrats but it needs leadership from the president. that is certainly a lesson we have learned over the years. >> woodruff: thank you very much. >> thanks, judy. great to be on with you again.

>> brown: still to come on the newshour, new and old media in egypt's uprising; plus, playing "jeopardy" against a supercomputer. but first, the other news of the da he's ri sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: the budget unveiling had mixed results on wall street today, as investors weighed the impact of the proposal. the dow jones industrial average lost five points to close at 12,268. the nasdaq rose nearly 8 points to close at 2817. china has officially become the number two economy in the world. the country overtook japan after japanese data confirmed its economy shrank during the last quarter of 2010. japan had been the world's second largest economy after the u.s. for much of the last four decades. the ripple effects from the massiveprising in egypt have spread further across the region. security forces in iran clashed with thousands of opposition protesters today, at a banned rally in central tehran. iran's semi-official news agency reported one death in the demonstrations. we have a report narrated by lindsey hilsum of independent television news. >> reporter: a solitary protester telling others today

is the day. the first anti-government protest in iran for a year. tunisia, egypt, now iran they chanted. naming the deposed leaders ben ali, mubarak adding the supreme year. the pictures taken by protestors. no journalists were allowed to film. the several thousand iranians who braved the authorities on the streets of tehran and other cities today. someone filmed the militia on their motor bikes heading downtown. cameras hidden in the car. thousands were arrested and assaulted when iranians protested in 2009. there were scuffles on the street today as protestors tried to burn a government poster and attacked a man who tried to stop them. iran's main opposition leaders

were confined to their houses today. the government determined to stop them joining the protest. by evening fires were burning in tehran. last month alone 67 people were executed in iran. hundreds arrested during the post election protest of 2009 remain in prison. but despite the dangers, egypt appears to have reignited iran's anti-government movement. >> sreenivasan: in washington, secretary of state hillary clinton put her support behind the protesters, and she called on the iranian regime to open up its political system. the upheaval in egypt also inspired rallies in other countries. thousands of people took to the streets of yemen for a fourth straight day of demonstrations. they marched in sanaa to demand political reforms and the resignation of their president. meanwhile, in iraq, ndreds protest in centrabagdad against cruption and a lack of government services. and protesters in the tiny gulf nation of bahrain called for greater political change there.

in the west bank, the palestinian prime minister dissolved his cabinet. the government plans to hold new elections by september. at least two people died in a bombing in the capital of afghanistan. a suicide bomber detonated his explosives near an upscale hotel and shopping complex in central kabul. it is the second attack in less than a month on a site regularly visited by foreigners. separately, two british soldiers died in fire at eir base west of kandahar. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to jeff. >> brown: and we return to egypt, where much of the action moved away from tahrir square to other kinds of protest. >> brown: with egypt's mass uprising having achieved its main goal of pushing president hosni mubarak from power, labor unrest today set off a new wave of smaller protests and strikes. transportation workers marched in front of egyptian state television demanding better pay and working conditions.

>> our wages are so low. there are no incentives for prospects. no medical coverage. >> brown: ambulance workers also joined in the protests with similar concerns. and the egyptian police who had been criticized for their violent crackdown on demonstrators today marched to defend their actions and show their support for the revolution. >> we are marching to retain the good image of the police force in egypt. some of us made some mistakes. we are calling for the excuse of the former interior minister. he is the reason all this happened. >> brown: many in the tourist industry are desperate to return to their jobs. so much so they're begging foreigners to visit and enjoy the historic sites. >> tell everyone that egypt is safe. come back. we are ready to host a lot of people. maybe millions and millions that we uses to have. we are ready. please come to egypt sneef in the meantime a day after dissolving parliament and promising other moves toward holding free elections egypt's

military rulers called for an end to the latest round of strikes and common stations saying the country needs a calmer climate in what they called a, quote, critical stage. in the meantime in the aftermath of the drama that played out in egypt over 18 days, the role of new media continued to be discussed in the region and beyond. for several years on-line blogs and social media have been increasingly important tools used by activists in egypt, a country with 5 million facebook users. in 2008, for example, the april 6 youth movement used facebook to gather supporters and raise awareness for striking workers. more recently that page and others called on egyptians to take to the streets on january 25. the first day of protests. in cairo last week a prominent activist told margaret warner she believes that social media was a spark to many who had

been reluctant to join past protests. >> you see several hundreds of people together which was very strange. very strange. and then we started marching and people are joining for the rst time asif t ground producing human beings. >> brown: one galvanizing force for the protest was clearly this brutal photo shown on facebook of an egyptian businessman. in june he was detained in an internet cafe and beaten to death by two plain clothesed police officers for trying to expose corruption. within days of the beating google's regional marketing manager for the middle east set up a facebook called we are all this man that included other photos of police brutality. within months it it attracted half a million followers. last friday as protestors celebrated he spoke with cnn.

>> first tunisia, now egypt. what's next? >> ask facebook. >> ask what? facebook. >> you're giving facebook a lot of credit for this. >> yes, for sure. i want to meet mark and thank him one day. >> brown: last night on "60 minutes," he said that the egyptian government's decision to cut off internet access had backfired. >> they had told four million people that they are scared like hell from the revolution. by blocking facebook. they forced everyone who just, you know, is waiting to read the news on facebook, they forced them to go to the street to be part of this. really like if i want to thank one, thank anyone for all the... all of this i would thank our stupid regime. >> brown: older media, television, also clearly played a huge role in the uprising both within egypt and outside. >> in cairo....

>> brown: satellite tv in particular al jazeera offered egyptians a view of events that was in stark contrast to government monitored newspapers and state television. al jazeera provided wall-to-wall coverage finding ways to continue to transmit even as the mubarak government shut down its cairo bureau, seized equipment, and arrested members of the staff. we look further now at the role of med in the egtian uprising. our own margaret warner is just back from cairo and joins me here. also with us is adel iskander, who teaches contemporary arab studies and media at georgetown university. he writes a column for the english language newspaper, the "egyptian today." lawrence pintak is a former middle east correspondent whose latest book is titled the "new arab journalist." he's dean of the edward r. murrow college of communication at washington state university. and abder-rahim foukara is washington, d.c. bureau chief for al jazeera's arabic channel. the first thing