captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> woodruff: the budget drama began to shift today to the battles ahead over raising the national debt ceiling and lowering the deficit next year and beyond. good evening. i'm judy woodruff. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. on the newshour tonight, we look at reaction to the deal that averted a shutdown, and preview what's to come. >> woodruff: then, as new aftershocks rattle japan, we examine how the nation is coping, one month after the massive earthquake and tsunami. >> brown: special correspondent

anna werner reports on an investigation showing safety risks in some california schools. people won't find out until a disaster happens or an earthquake happens. and at that point it's too lachlt i don't want to see kids get killed. >> woodruff: margaret warner updates the revolution in egypt, where protesters are back in cairo's main square. >> brown: and ray suarez has the story of a warm welcome back for detroit's symphony orchestra after a six-month strike. >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: during the first year a humpback calf and its mother are almost inseparable. she leds him to its first breath of air and protects them on the long journey to

their feedg grounds. one of the most important thing you can do is help the next generation. at pacific life we offer financial solutions to accomplish justhat. your financial professional can tell you about pacific life, the power to help you succeed. >> i mean >> i mean, where would we be without small businesses? >> we need small businesses. >> they're the ones that help drive growth. >> like electricians, mechanics, carpenters. >> they strengthen our communities. >> every year, chevron spends billions with small businesses. that goes right to the heart of local communities, providing jobs, keeping people at work. they depend on us. >> the economy depends on them. >> and we depend on them. and by toyota. bnsf railway.

and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the federal government opened for business today as usual, no longer in immediate danger of being shut down. instead, washington's focus shifted to spending battles that will dwarf thdeal fashioned on friday. . >> the action at the capitol was all behind the sciens today with lawmakers still negotiating out details on funding the government for the rest of the fiscal year. leaders reached agreement on a general framework late

friday night just in time to avert a shut down of federal agencies. house speaker john boehner hailed the inclusion of 38 billion in spending cuts over the next six months. >> this has been a lot of discussion and a long fight. but we fought to keep the government spending down because it really will, in fact, help create a better environment for job creators in our country. >> reporter: in his own late night remarks president obama said both sides had made sacrifices. >> like any worthwhile compromise both sides had to make tough decisions and give ground on issues that were important to them. >> reporter: on saturday the president celebrated with a visit to the lincoln memorial which remained open because of the deal. he said he hoped the groundwork was laid for future cooperation in congress. today mr. obama welcomed about 50 eighth graders from colorado to the white house.

he excited them friday about how a shutdown would affect their trip with. those fears quieted, it's on to two new fiscal fights with trillions, not billions at stake. raising the federal debt ceiling and passing a budget for the next fiscal year at a fund-raising dinner in connecticut saturday, speaker boehner said there is a moral obligation to raise the debt ceiling so the government can legally borrow what it needs to operate. but he said republicans would demand concessions. >> how can you raise the debt limit without dealing with the problem that's causing us is to have to increase the debt limit. there is no plan to deal with the debt that we're facing. and i can just tell you this. that there will not be an increase in the debt limit without something really, really big attached to it. >> reporter: this afternoon white house press secretary jay carny warned the consequences of not raising the debt ceiling would be catastrophic.

>> it is to hold hostage in return for an exchange for some proposal that one party wants. it's not the way to treat this issue. it's too dangerous to do it that way. >> reporter: carney also said the president now regrets his own vote against raising the debt ceiling in 2006 when he served in the senate. the new vote could come as early as mid-may. at the same time, lawmakers will be sparring over the 2012 budget. the president released his blueprint in february and said it produces $1 trillion in savings over the next decade. last week republican paul ryan the house budget committee chair unveiled his plan to slash 5.8 trillion in spending over the same period. it includes reforming medicare, by providing payments for private health plans instead of reimbursing doctors and hospitals directly.

ryan defended the plan sunday on nbc's meet the press. >> we're preserving and protecting it. no change occurs to medicare for anybody who is on medicare or ten years away from retiring and for future generations what we are proposing is a personalized medicare. >> reporter: on cnn white house senner advisor david plouff said the president was offer a different in a speech on wednesday. >> his approach is different. how do we preserve the program, not end it, how do we squeeze every dollar without putting the burden on seniors. >> reporter: the white house is expected to take up the compromise bill for this year's budget on wednesday. with details still unknown, supporting both in both parties could slip. >> brown: still to come on the newshour, new tremors in japan, one month on; making california schools safe in an earthquake; new protests in egypt; and applause for detroit's symphony orchestra. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: republican mitt

romney took a major step today toward his second presidential run. the widely perceived frontrunner announced he's formally exploring the race. he spoke to supporters in a you tube video. >> it's time that we put america back on a course of greatness, with a growing economy, good jobs, and fiscal discipline in washington. i believe in america. i believe in the freedom and opportunity and principles of our constitution that have led us to become the greatest nation in history of earth. >> sreenivasan: romney is a former governor of massachusetts and businessman. he said president obama's policies have failed the 20 million americans without jobs. the man who has been clinging to power in ivory coast, laurent gbagbo, was finally forced to give in today. he was captured in his bunker in abidjan, and televised images showed him led into a room in his undershirt. but he refused to sign a statement formally ceding power.

gbagbo lost last november's election to allassane ouattara. outtara's fighters, backed by french tanks, arrested gbagbo. in washington, secretary of state hillary clinton said what happened in ivory coast is a warning. >> this transition sends a strong signal to dictators and tyrants throughout the region and around the world. they may not disregard the voice of their own people in free and fair elections. and there will be consequences for those who cling to power. >> sreenivasan: gbagbo's arrest came after a 12-day assault that left him cornered in his compound. security forces in syria cracked down on hundreds of college students demonstrating in damascus today. and further north, the syrian army moved into the port city of banias, a day after police shot and killed four protesters there. in all, more than 170 people have been killed in three weeks of antigovernment protests. in libya, rebel forces rejected a cease-fire plan offered by the african union. at the same time, moammar

qaddafi's fighters bombarded misrata in the west, after being turned back from ajdabiya in the east. we have a report from emma murphy of independent television news. >> on the road to age dabi at the evidence of the qaddafi advance and the nato shells. direct-- the vehicles that tried to take the strategic town they were stopped only by air strikes. the regime's might still too great for the makeshift bands of rebels. >> these are some of the qaddafi vehicles used in the assault on ajdabiyah yesterday. and when you see just how close they got to the western gate and the town itself, it makes you realize why the reb rels need the air strikes so badly. though prot qaddafi troops didn't enter the town, the rebels left this place deserted, and well it might, the hospital taeted in the advance, the doctor told me at the dreadful human costs. snipers taking off those

approaching. >> coming, she was pregnant and she was killed. we tried to save her life but unfortunately, a bad shot in her chest damaging her heart so we couldn't save her. she was pregnant and we lost her. >> reporter: the rebels regrouped on the front line the african union proposed a deal to end the violence. qaddafi will be allowed to day but the fighting was to end. the prospect was rejected by the rebel leership and those on the front line. too much has been suffered to accept the deal that leaves him in power. no good. >> reporter: the african union delegation faced a day of protests. they. >> sreenivasan: the u.s. called again today for qaddafi's departure from power and from libya. but one of his sons told a french news channel that it's "ridiculous" to imagine his father leaving.

opposition groups in yemen have rejected a proposal from gulf arab nations for president ali abdullah saleh to step down. instead, thousands protested across yemen again today. saleh has accepted the peace initiative. it would have him hand over power to his vice president at an unspecified date, and it might offer him immunity from prosecution. a subway explosion in the capital of belarus killed 11 people today and wounded more than 120 others. the blast in minsk hit during evening rush hour at an underground train station crowded with passengers. officials did not say directly what caused the explosion, but president alexander lukashenko called it a terrorist act. lukashenko has ruled belarus with an iron hand since 1994. prosecutors in the netherlands are looking for answers after a weekend shooting rampage. 24-year-old tristan van der vlis walked into a shopping mall saturday and fired more than 100 rounds. he killed six people and wounded 17 more before turning a gun on himself. van der vlis left two suicide notes, but neither gave a motive. and it remained unclear how he

acquired his weapons in a country that has some of the toughest gun laws in europe. france today became the first country in the world to forbid face-covering veils anywhere in public. violators face a fine of more than $200 or lessons in french citizenship. opponents have criticized the law as an infringement on religious freedoms. the government says it is about preventing inequality and extremism. concerns about rising gas prices undercut the momentum on wall street today. the dow jones industrial average gained just one point to close at 12,381. the nasdaq fell nearly nine points to close at 2771. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to jeff. >> brown: and we turn to an update on japan, one month on from the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami. -- amid the destruction on japan's northeastern coast today a moment of silence. as workers there and millions of japanese nationwide stood in quiet contemplation. among them, prime minister

kan. >> it's been one month since the quake happened. i conduct a silent prayer to give our condolences for the souls killed in the disaster. >> brown: the day's reflectionses were disrupted by another powerful aftershock measured at magnitude 6.6, the second big one in four days. it rocked tokyo and cut power to more than 200,000 homes. the tsunami warning was issued then cancelled when no wave appeared. but the aftershock again interrupted efforts to cool the crippled reactors at the fukushima dyeism-- dai-ichi nuclear plant. workers were evacuated and external power was temporarily cut. in recent days crews at the plant have imagined to plug a major water leak that have sent tons it of highly radioactive runoff spewing from a cracked containment area. less radioactive water was dumped directly into the pas civic ocean. that was finally stopped today. government officials also added five more communities to the evacuation zone to

prevent long-term radiation exposure. the spokesman said the zone could be expanded further. >> at present we have requested people to stay outside a 20 kilometer radius of the damaged fukushima nuclear plant. however if the radiation situation worsens in any way, we will review that limit of 20 kilometers. >> u.s. and other nations have told their citizens in japan to stay 15 miles from the plant. meanwhile a month long search for bodies continued today. more than 13,000 are confirmed dead. 14,000 more remain missing. and many may never be found. among the hardest hit coastal areas, soldiers face a dauntingly large task. >> we are in a very difficult situation because it is impossible for us to remove the massive rubble by just manpower so we have to use heavy equipment but must do it very carefully. we're trying to retrieve bodies as cleanly as

possible. >> reporter: for the living life gets no easier. hundreds of thousands are homeless and home for many is now a sparsely appointed shelter. in one corner of the coastal prefecture 36 families won a lottery for temporary housing. more than 2,000 more are waiting. still a small fraction of overall need. housing in these units is guaranteed for two years but doubts abound with fears of what could still happen. >> i am sure that another tsunami is coming. i hope the government rebuilds the tsunami barrier so we can go back to the life we used to have. but i doubt that we can do it within two years. >> brown: at the same time, there is hope in tokyo school girls from the evacuation zone recently sought donations to assist those in need. and one retiree struck an optimistic note. >> we will rise up from the devastation as long as we keep the faith strong and everybody works and cooperation with each other.

>> brown: the cost of that work to rebuild and recover is huge and growing. one recent estimate $315 billion dollars, leaving the march 11th disaster the most expensive ever. for a closer look at the situation, we turn to yuki tatsumi, senior analyst on u.s.- japanese relations at the stimson center, a non-profit non-partisan international research group. she's a native of tokyo. nan buzard is senior director of international response for the american red cross, which is working directly with the japanese red cross. she spent time there after the tsunami. and james acton, a physicist in the nuclear policy program at the carnegie endowment for international peace. >> james acton, let me start with you. the latest on the expansion that we just heard about the evacuations. what's going on? >> have they expanded? >> well, these reactions were very highly-- reactors were highly damaged by the earthquake and tsunami.

and there's been extensive releases of radiation into the environment and there's been extensive releases of radiation due to the very large quantity of contaminated water. so because of that, the japanese government has felt the need in certain hot spots where higher levels of radiation has been detected to ask people, actually over a fairly long time, about a month to pack up their stuff and leave, because there would be potential long-term health effects. >> brown: are you looking at that, does it sound precautionary or does it up the ante of warning and danger? what is your assessment? >> well, radiation at low levels can lead to an increased rate of cancer. so what is really represents is a precaution. because the longer you are exposed to radiation, the worse the affects are. so ensuring that people are only exposed to still very low levels of radiation but not for a prolonged time is a precaution. >> brown: and how do you

assess the continued challenges with the water, the water in and around the plant which we talked about a few weeks ago here. what is the latest. >> well, jeff, we're certainly not out of the woods yet. the situation is much better than it was two or three weeks ago but it remains volatile. and in particular this very large quantity of radioactive water, is it necessary to pump not reactor core because you want to keep it cool, has to be kept somewhere. but finding the space for that large quantity of radioactive water and doing that safely in a way that doesn't put the plant workerses in excess danger really remains a very significant challenge for the operator. >> brown: let me turn to the humanitarian challenges. because amid all the talk about nuclear fears, it has gotten less attention, i think. what is going on in these towns that were essentially flattened by the tsunami. >> well, you know, hundreds of miles of coastline were obliterated by the tsunami. it takes everything. it's not like an earthquake on land where you have crush injuries, here either you

survived or you didn't. it is a line right there that you can stand on which i did. >> brown: you mean literally on a line. >> in the mud with collapsed vehicles and the next on clean pavement. nothing like it and everything just completely taken away, the search for still 15,000 people. it's true that almost from the beginning the nuclear situation has in some ways eclipsed the humanitarian situation that were affected on the coast but there has been a huge relief operation not only search-and-rescue but supporting tens of thousands of people in hundreds and hundreds of centers. >> brown: where are the biggest needs, what are the biggest needs right now. and how much is getting, you know, the huge infrastructure challenges of moving things in that local area as well as getting to them. >> in the first few weeks you are correct that not only did we have roads and bridges that were down but we also had fuel, electricity, water lines, everything was broken. a lot was reestablished so there is still significant gaps. the real focus is where to

put people who have not been able to return either to their home because it was destroyed or they don't have family or the family is not close by. we have 160,000 people inside these collective centers, most of them are schools, kidses need to go back to school. the big issue is how you can build transitional shelters where is it safe and how to move them out. >> brown: now yuki tatsumi we talked about the political structure. you listed the problems here, what is the situation now in terms of the government's ability to act and how it seen by people in japan? >> i think like nan suggested, the government's reaction to the humanitarian needs of those who were affected were very much eclipsed by their urgent need to attend to the nuclear power plant accident. and i think that still remains the case. but as the day goes on i think there is a growing frustration amongst the public, certainly for those who have been displaced from their homes about their instability and their life. like nan suggested, kids need to go back to school. school has already started.

and not only that, they just need to know when or whether they can return to their homes and about when and how they can collect themselves and going back to the life they are hoping to get back. and government has not been responding to the needs from those people for those answers. >> brown: when you say government, are you talking about both local and the national government. >> actually, i'm mostly talking the central government. like central governments falling behind the curve in terms of providing assistance to those who were affected, i think th local governments really stepped up to the plate opening up the public facilities for evacuees, allowing them to be in temporary shelter for those residents. but that-- ultimately central government has to move pretty quickly to build whether a temporary shelter or permanently replace, relocate those people. >> brown: now james acton you told a reporter earlier

today that this has become the most complicated nuclear accident in history. not the worst but the most complicated. now explain what you mean by that, and put it in the context we're hearing about the demands on the political culture, the technology, the scientific community. >> i think it's very important to remember when assessing the nuclear disaster that it was caused by the biggest earthquake in japan's history and by the biggest tsunami in japan's history. so the authorities were always going to be incredibly stretched, even if there hadn't been a nuclear accident. the nuclear accident itself is incredibly complicated because you know, four reactors in a very serious way are involved in it there were three reactors that were operating where there still remains a significant chance of core melting, even more core melting than we've already seen. and spent fuel cores involved in that. so that combination of the cause of the accident plus

the nature of four reactors involved into it has turned it into what i believe a quite complicated nuclear accident in history. >> brown: and what do you see happening? early on we were talking a lot about the lack of information coming out. is there more coordination now. is there more information or is it still a lot of confusion necessarily so about what is actually happening inside those plants? >> there is still significant confusion. part of that is because of the stress the authorities are under. part of it is because the authorities themselves don't necessarily know what is going on in the cause of these reactors because a lot of the equipment is damaged. there has to be an investigation afterwardses to find out whether or not information has been deliberately withheld. i think it's too early to be making accusations. and as for the future, i think this crisis is likely in the best case to drag on for a number of months still. >> brown: i wanted to ask

you briefly about the threat to the u.s., the west coast, the threat around the world, any changes there? >> no, i think the analysis there hasn't changed. the chances of significant radiation injury to people in the rest of japan let alone foreign countries is still very slim. >> brown: nan let me ask you the same question. when you listen, talk about the political situation and you look at the humanitarian crisis, what is the japanese government have to do now in terms, by itself and reaching out to other countrieses to get a grip on this and to perhaps at some point move to a new place of recovery. >> actually they are, the international community the humanitarian community and other governments around the world gave huge amounts of support, much of it was accepted which is rare for japan who doesn't normally accept it. there has been a lot of good work done in the relief. i think we just need to note that not only the red cross but others, particularly local communities really stood up and took care of their own when the government was stretched. the big issue now is going

to be land. just like haiti, a very different country but issues of where do you build back, who owns that land. i think will you see in japan a much more decisive government that's goinging to take eminent domain, take up a lot of the land that was destroyed by the tsunami and decide what kind of housing to build back for whom. but that's going to be a big issue, which is do you build it back on the coast. dow bring people in. what do you do with an elderly population that is going to need quite a bit of medical care. these are the kind of issues that will face our country too. >> brown: and is there an ethos that allows for a discussion like that or movement like that, to deal with these kinds of problems? >> i think it's going to be a significant challenge. this is a very emotional issue especially for those who are displaced from their original homes. and it's normal for them to hope for the return to the home that they were living. and depending on what the government decides in terms of their buildup plan, their hopes may not come to tru true-- fruition, so how to

balance that, in terms of meeting the resident's needs and desire to return to where they originally were living. and while relocating them to a safe enough place so that they won't be exposed to this kind of a calamity again. i think it is a quite difficult challenge. not how to finance those projects, is going to be a huge challenge for government. >> all right. yuki at that time sumi and nan buzard and james acton, thank you very much. >> woodruff: the earthquake in japan is prompting concerns about whether some buildings in the united states would be able to withstand a similar disaster. we have a report from special correspondent anna werner about seismic safety risks in many california schools. her story was jointly produced by the center for investigative reporting and kqed television. >> two mileses from the sea along the coast sits the town of tuscadari, population 2042, it is where

brian lives and works on his family's ranch. >> our family has been here roughly about 116 years. >> reporter: town built its middle anhigh school on property his family used to own. >> i knew that the earthquake fault went through the property. i didn't know exactly where. >> reporter: so burns started asking questions about the safety of those school buildings. what did you find out about your school? >> that most of the buildings are uncertified. most construction has been illegally done. >> reporter: illegal under a state law known as the field act which says all school construction projects must be certified as earthquake resistant. the law was put into place after the devastating 1933 long beach earthquake. 70 schools collapsed and 120 people died. and when burns and fellow resident looked further they found structural work was done on their school without the state's approval. >> that's when the light bulb went off. and we begin to realize that there are potentially

thousands and thousands of other projects. >> people won't find out until a disaster happens or an earthquake happens and at that point it's too late. i don't want to see kids get killed. >> reporter: and the risks are statewide. a california watch investigation finds thousands of school projects don't comply with the field act. and those schools aren't just in small districts. los angeles unified school district trict finished this new middle school just six years ago. yet state records indicate that huge window walls, three stories high, may not be properly anchored. even the original architect on that project, jim smith, says those windows as constructed could pose a risk to students in an earthquake. >> the whole window wall could come out or glass shattering. and obviously if that happens, it's not a good situation. >> reporter: and what would your concern be. >> they could be injured. >> reporter: the state agency charged with enforcing school earthquake

regulations is the division of the state architect or dsa. when california watch brought its questions there -- >> i'm going to tell you, there is no evidence that children are in unsafe buildings. >> reporter: scott harvey is acting director of the department of general services which oversees that division. he says california watches investigation did uncover problems but mainly with incomplete files. >> can we do a better job of that? absolutely. should we streamline that, absolutely. >> reporter: but harvey insists -- >> i don't think those files have lead to any safety violation. i don't think we have ever put a child at risk. in fact, the field act ensures that california kids are in the safest buildings nationally. >> reporter: but a california watch review of the dsa's own records suggests the problems are more serious. this 2006 report concluded that some school projects were being concluded without adequate testing and inspection, sometimes with

dangerous construction flaws. >> what that tells me is that we're building schools in california that are not properly designed, and checked in the field to make sure they are properly built. that's a problem. >> reporter: peter is an earthquake engineer and consultant. >> obviously the system is not doing what it's supposed to do. >> reporter: and it's not just the thousands of uncertified school projects. california has another major problem. old schools that were constructed before stricter building codes took affect in 1978. state senator ellen corebit a long time earthquake safety advocate commissioned a study to identify those schools over a decade ago. >> there wasn't statewide information about where the need mrs. . >> reporter: her study produced this list, more than 7500 school buildings statewide considered most at risk. one of them, philadelphia elementary in pomona. district administrator scott

stark. >> we've got schools that are old and that have been deteriorating over the years. >> reporter: state evaluators said four of philadelphia's 7 buildings are likely not to perform well in an earthquake. but the school hasn't received any state funds to fix them. >> we didn't qualify for funding or what was considered by those standards the dsa put out as a seismically vulnerable, critical site. >> reporter: in fact an a sal-- an analysis by california watch shows just 38 of the 7500 most vulnerable school buildings even qualifi for funding. why? to be eligible, a district had to show that an earthquake would subject a school to an intense level of ground shaking or what is called g-forces of 1.7 gs. >> these are very, very large earthquake forces. >> reporter: that's a requirement some experts say exceeds ground shaking during the 1994 northridge earthquake, a requirement he says doesn't take all risks into consideration.

>> in fact, some schools that are in lower earthquake areas undoubtedly are higher azard because they are older, not built as well, built-- . >> reporter: undoubtedly are higher hazard. >> absolutely, higher hazard. >> reporter: so they have less, some schools, essential-- left some schools out of the equation. >> i would expect that to be the case, yes. >> reporter: in fact documents reveal the dsa's own structural engineers recommended using a lower ground shaking number of 1.35 gs. so what lead the state to set the number so much higher? liability. documents show state officials worried that with a lower number, too many schools would be classified as vulnerable and yet sit unaddressed. >> you suddenly created a unfunded liability for which somebody has got to be responsibility. >> so to avoid that documents show state officials simply raise the number to 1.7 gs to limit

the number of schools eligible, despite knowing some at-risk school buildings would not qualify. and harvey's explanation for raising the number -- >> the rationale was to ensure that we were taking care of the worst of the worst, starting at a point where we would not exhaust the dollars available. >> reporter: so what about the schools less potentially at risk that were shut out of funding. does that mean that those schools would not be equally vulnerable. >> no, it does not mean that. >> reporter: did they know that? >> you will have to ask them. >> reporter: so we asked pomona's scott stark. >> that's-- okay, yeah, very interesting. there was nothing in the guideline that came down to us that said, by the way, this was based on the fact that we have only got so much money and so we ar trying to exclude schools. assuming what you are telling me is true. we had no knowledge of that. it is something the legislation spoferntioner

didn't know either. >> hearing that is very shocking. sounds like they weren't doing the best they were doing for our children. and that should never be the case, ever. >> in the end, just two schools got that state funding which leads to the real question, are california schools safe for children when that next big earthquake comes? there even acting director harvey admits. >> i don't really know. i'm hopeful that we have done the best we can to insurance that kids are safe in their schools. >> back in tuscadaro that is not a comforting answer. >> they just don't know. they honestly don't know. and that is the scariest thing. that report >> woodruff: that report was based on research done by california watch, affiliated with the center on investigative reporting. there's a link to more of their reporting on our web site. >> brown: next, we update the situation in another part of the world. it's been two months to the day since president hosni murbarak

was forced from office. margaret warner reports. . >> warner: there has not been this many protestors in tahrir square in weeks but on friday tens of thousands showed up to vent their impatience into the ruling military council. the crowd with a few soldiers joining in also demanded the military move more quickly to prosecute former president hosni mubarak anhis family for corruption. after night fall in the early hours saturday, troops stormed the protestor's camp killing two and injurying dozens more. the army denied using live ammunition but it was the worst violence since the uprising that drove mubarak from power two months ago. yet on sunday hundreds of protestors continued to defy army orders to clear the square. they repeated demands to speed up a probe into the mubarak family's wealth. shortly afterwards in an

audio statement on the al arabbia news channel, mubarak defended his honor and denied he or his wife have hidden money abroad. >> i have spent my whole life serving the nation with honesty and integrity. i cannot remain silent in the face of continual campaigns of defamation and false accusations that aim at ruining the reputation and integrity of my family and me. >> warner: later sunday there were signs the demand for action were being heart. egypt's public prosecutor issued a summons for questioning to mubarak and his two sons. mubarak is living in the resort town of sharp el shake. signaling their unhappiness some protestors friday also were demanding the ouster of field marshal-- leader of the governing military council. today the council held a referendum on changes to the constitution it also set parliamentary elections in september with presidential elections to follow.

>> warner: late today, egypt's prime minister apologized for the weekend crackdown and said he'd ordered an investigation. for more, we go to nabil fahmy, former egyptian ambassador to the u.s. he's now dean of the school of global affairs and public policy at the american university in cairo. and michele dunne, a former national security council and state department official. she's with the carnegie endowment for international peace, and edits the "arab reform bulletin." -- welcome to you both. ambassador, let's start with these crowds, why are we seeing these huge crowds again in the square. >> i think it's natural and to be expected. this is a revolution that is in progress. the first phase h what they asked for was the president leaves office. and they achieved that. now what they are trying to do is build the tenet of a better egypt, a more democratic one, a more inclusive one and with more stakeholders. since we haven't done this before, this is actually happening on the square and different squares around egypt, it's happening

through a public debate, demonstrations are used as political leverage. and there are many, many more stakeholders and different opinions about what egypt should look like than there were, for example, during the demonstrations where there was-- . >> warner: . >> the original objective of getting people out. so i hope this won't continue endlessly. but i completely understand it. until we put together a clear-cut road map, and people are comfortable with it, demonstrators will come out, particularly on fridays to express their opinions and try to pursue their demands. >> warner: but this demonstration was one of the largest, michele dunn, how serious is the tension between-- you were just there as well, how serious is the tension between these activists and the military, and the military council that is running the show? >> tension is mounting. and what i think it is about is that the protestors are really determined to take down as many figures as they

can from the old regime. because they are worried that as often happens in these situations, that after a year or two, some of the officials and people from the old reg team-- regime would start to resurface and they want to prevent that from happening. so they are demanding the prosecution not only of president mubarak and his sons but of a large number of officials, the head of the ruling party, the former prime minister, et cetera, a number of these people now are either in jail or are facing charges and questioning. >> warner: mr. fahmy, as we know during the original uprising the activists embraced the armey as their protectors, is it now just s it a dispute over the pace of reform or do you think there's some deeper distrust developing, at least on the part of the activists toward the military? >> as of now, it's mostly about the pace. but if 2 is prolonged, and

the pace continues to be slow, or there are issues that aren't address ready, the natural consequences when you have an open public discussion, people become more cynical and will start challenging the military. and that's frankly why. the military itself has announced they don't want to do this in six months. they want to hand it over to civilians who pursue the continuation of the process. >> woodruff: . >> warner: but are they, is the plic growing suspicious about why mubarak, nothing has happened to mubarak yet? >> the public wanted it to happen more quickly. the public also understood that by demonstrating, you get what you want. and that's why the attorney general just yesterday or day before yesterday after the demonstrations said i'm going to bring in president mubarak, former president mubarak and his family for an investigation. >> warner: how much of a flashpoint michele dunn is this about president pew

barak and his family and corruption investigations? >> i think it is really a difficult issue, it is a very fraught issue for the military leadership. for the demonstrators it is highly symbolic. that you need to take down the head of the old system to be sure that the old system is really gone. but for the military it's really difficult. and i think they're subject to a lot of different pressures. they are feeling the pressure right now from demonstrators who are able to show that they can still call out large numbers of people. on the other hand, mubarak was the patron of the military. and let's face it, if a lot of information starts coming out about mubarak and other people in the regime and their dealings, one has to wonder if this will eventually lead to information that the military might find uncomfortable. and also there are reports in the egyptian press. they are not confirmed. but there are reports that there is pressure from saudi arabia on the egyptian military leadership not to allow the prosecution of mubarak.

>> warner: let's move on to the broader path to democracy and you refer to this, ambassador fahmy, how well do you think or in what way do you think egypt really is on this, and she said it is a complicated process and you've never been down it before. and where have there been some misstepped or some missed opportunities, have there been? >> the most positive point has been the engagement of the public. this was a revolution lead by you. but supported by the public. we had a referendum a couple of weeks ago. 44% of those revolting went out and voted. in the past the numbers were in single figures. and beyond that, everybody wants to participate in the new party, in debating constitution and so on and so forth. so i'm actually quite optimistic because people now want to get engaged. where i see concerns is if we do this too quickly, and

a rock and a hard place, we want-- if we do this too quickly, will you end up legitimately electing a parliament that does not represent post revolution officially it will represent those who have been in politics before and know how to get the vote out and so on. >> warner: you mean the old lyulling party and the muslim brotherhood. >> yes, but also just basic people who joined-- joined the ruling party or were quite prominent and so on and so forth. what's changed is eye true belief, i have mentioned this frequently, friends of my kids came up to my house after the demonstrations and gave curfew. i said sleep her. they said we own the country, we decide when there is a curfew t is different here. you need to have a

parliament. >> warner: how do you say they are dong this path to democracy. >> well, the ambassador mentioned this referendum. i quite agree that the large public participation was a really good sign. but i also think that some of the demonstration we're seeing right now is a response to that. because the military pressed forward with a referendum on limited constitutional changes that a lot of the activists who were behind the uprising o posed. and the military felt that by getting 77% voters in favor of the referendum they showed okay the public is in favor of the political timetable. we've established which means pretty quick elections, parliamentary elections in september. meanwhile, the protestors, i think that these, you know, hundreds and thousands in tahrir square were a little bit their response to the referendum, to say oh yeah, we're not happy with that fast timetable. and we want to show you that we still have a lot of pport too. >> i agree with you completely. >> warner: on that note of agreement, we'll leave it there. michele dunn and ambassador

nabil fahmy, thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: finally tonight, the city of detroit gets its symphony back after a long strike that captured national attention. ray suarez has the story. >> suarez: it was the civil fon-- symphony away of rewarding an audience that stood by it through a long absence. amid cheers and applause, the detroit symphony orchestra took to the tag this weekend for two free performances, their first since a six month long strike. much of the dispute was over how deep a pay cut musicians would have to take to help the struggling symphony balance its budget, after marathon negotiations, a salary decrease that averages 23% over three years, was finally agreed upon last week. that brings the minimum salary down to roughly

80,000 dollars. the orchestra also has fewer musicians. the union did manage to preserve workers health insurance and even improve tension,. when the reunion concerts were announced, ef reeve ticket was quickly snatched up. the orchestra's musical director told detroit public television he believes the six month absence may have presented a new opportunity. >> we learned that there is a global community out there whose phenomenally interested in what we do. our job now is to capitalize all those people who were involved in the discussion. and to say how can we reach you. how can we become actively part of your life. >> suarez: local supporters hope the publicity will help bring the detroit symphony orchestra more business. the dso still faces a $3 million deficit for this year. for more on the symphony and the back story we turn for more on the symphony and the

back story, we turn to arts reporter and music critic mark stryker, who's been covering the dispute for the "detroit free press." it looks and sounds liked orchestra got a raptureous welcome home. how did this all get started? >> well, the economy here in detroit has simply battered all of our cultural institutions and the symphony in tichblingt the orchestra has lost about $20 million since 2008. it has lost ticket sales have been down, donations, corporate support. they have a ton of real estate debt. and all of which has put the orchestra in a situation where it needed to drastically reduce costs. it turned to the musicians asking for at one point as muchs a 30% pay cut. and the musician resilsed on a variety of grounds including the fact that they were afraid that if pay fell too much the orchestra would lose its status as one of the top ten, 11, 12 best paid orchestras in the country and it would be impossible to attract and retain the best musicians.

>> suarez: by this point the orchestra had lost 75% of its season. with pressure increasing on both sides, the risk increasing on both sides for not settling. >> absolutely. the subscription base has fallen to its lowest point in decades. and there was great fear that if the strike had gone on much longer, if we had lost the entire season, you would enter into, you know, what people have described as a kind of a death spiral and it really would have been impossible for the orchestra to pull itself out. as it is, it is going to be very difficult. >> is the orchestra trying to come up with a new business model as the musicians come back to work? >> well, absolutely. this whole thing in many respects is about restructuring the business to create a sustainable institution here in detroit that can take this orchestra another 20, 30, 50, 100 years. and we had reached in many ways an analogous situation to the car industry.

and we were at a point where the orchestra needed to make drastic changes. it went in many different directions here. not just on the pay cut side but there was a lot of talk during this disputeover what the role of-- job description should be for 21st century orchestra musician. and the management here had thought in some ways a redefinition of that role to include much more community outreach, chamber music, teaching, coaching, that kind of work to create a more what people would talk about as a relevant institution here in the city of detroit, and the musicians had resisted those kinds of changes being built that into their contract. >> suarez: how much of these problems have to do with detroit's well publicized economic woes and how much are common to dance companies, orchestra companies symphonies across the country. >> it is a little bit of both, of course. i think that detroit is an extreme case economically, throws all of the issues

that 3r pulse ating through the industry, the orchestra industry in particular into really bold relief. so i think that the problems that we faced here, are issues that are, have been of great debate all across the industry and the symphony orchestra will for a long time now. and i think you are going to see, in particular places like cleveland, philadelphia, pittsburgh, the conflict in issues here in detroit i think are going to play out in years to come in those cities as well as they begin to renegotiate contracts and try and come up with sustainable models that make sense for 21st century orchestra, in our culture today. >> suarez: detroit and many of those cities that you just named have had trouble attracting people from inside the historic urban corps to come to the concerts. has the dso managed to do any better. does really its future lie with reaching into its geographical center. >> well, the audience

largely for the detroit symphony is a suburban audience so are you talking about people driving 15, 20, 25 miles or more to get to the extraordinarily wonderful old historic concert hall in the center of our midtown cultural district. so you have a complicated equation here in detroit. you have an institution that needs to reach into all communities here, inside the city and outside the city. one of the things that the music director is instigating is a program in which the symphony will go out into the suburban areas and play concerts as well as playing concerts here at home at orchestra hall. so you have an institution that is fighting a battle on many different fronts. >> suarez: mark, you attended the weekend's concert. what was the ats to-- atmosphere in the concerted hall? >> it was extraordinarily thrilling and very, very emotional. i have been attending

concerts here for 16 years. i have never experienced the overwhelming sense of cathartic release that was expressed when musicians walked out en masse a few minutes after 8 on saturday night it was as if someone from the detroit tigers had hit a home run to win the 7th game of the world series it had that kind of electric feeling about it. >> suarez: mark stryker of the "detroit free press", thanks for joining us. >> of course. thank you. >> woodruff: again, the major developments of the day. the focus in washington shifted to major new spending battles, friday's deal that sidestepped a government shutdown. republican mitt romney formally announced he's exploring a second presidential run. and another major aftershock rattled japan, one month after the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami. and to hari sreenivasan, for what's on the newshour online. hari? >> sreenivasan: on this week's political checklist, david chalian talks with judy about

the budget showdown, just the start of bigger spending battles to come. every monday, our foreign affairs team lists stories to watch. we call the feature "world week ahead." plus we have a lesson plan for teachers explaining the science behind japan's aftershocks, and you can view our map with live seismic data from the region. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. judy? >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. on tuesday, we'll look at the details of the federal budget agreement, and the 150th anniversary of the start of the civil war. i'm judy woodruff. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. we'll see you online, and again here tomorrow evening. thank you, and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> oil companies make huge profits. >> last year, chevron made a lot of money. >> where does it go? >> every penny and more went into bringing energy to the

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