jeffrey brown has that story. >> brown: the assaults began in earnest on wednesday, as supporters of president mubarak set upon journalists they accuse of favoring the protesters. fox news reported two of its employees were beaten and hospitalized. and mobs confronted abc's christianne armanpour. >> you are not with us. you are not with us. >> okay, okay. >> we want mubarak. we want mubarak. we want him. >> brown: in alexandria today, lindsey hilsum of "independent television news" reported the attackers are being egged on. >> on state television, they've been broadcasting that roaming around the country are israeli spies disguised as western journalists. now that is a very pernicious thing to say and that is one of the main reasons that so many journalists have been attacked in cairo. and we did experience a little bit of it ourselves today. >> brown: besides the attacks, interior ministry forces detained at least two dozen journalists. in washington, the state department called it "a concerted campaign to intimidate." >> at this stage, we have information that has primarily come fr

i'm jeffrey brown. libyan security forces fired on demonstrators, leaving hundreds dead or wounded as antigovernment protests engulfed the capital, tripoli, for the first time. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, we get the latest on this bloody challenge to moammar gadhafi's 42-year regime. >> brown: then, two budget stories: an update on the "week of rage" over union bargaining rights and benefits in wisconsin. >> woodruff: and we look at the political face-off here in washington after the republican controlled house voted to cut federal spending this year by $61 billion. >> brown: plus, margaret warner explores the problem of sexual harassment and violence against women in egypt, and whether the revolution will change it. >> woodruff: and we have the story of one activist who became a symbol of the young protestors after she took to the cairo streets. >> i told you this day was coming. you didn't believe me. now it's here. i feel as though i've been vindicated. >> brown: that

. >> woodruff: jeffrey brown zeroes in on the moves by the government of iran to crack down on demonstrators. >> ifill: betty ann bowser tells the story of a colorado clinic helping diabetepa

thanks very much. >> thanks, judy. >> lehrer: and to jeffrey brown: >> brown: and we continue our look at egypt and beyond with: tarek masoud, assistant professor of public policy at harvard university; rami khouri, a journalist and director of the issam fares institute at the american university of beirut. he's now a visiting scholar at tufts university. and hishem' melhem, washington bureau chief for al-arabiya tv, an arab language satellite news channel. hishem, i want to start with this word, historic. explain in n what ways is it historic. >> it iss, because of egypt's size, its culture, its history, its homogeneity, past influence and hopefully renewed influence. you have a regime that was entrenched for more than 30 years. and in the span of 18 days, peacefully, creatively, noisely, this regime was brought down. and this is people's power. the likes of which we did not see in the arab world. and even arabs themselves became so cynical about the promise of a better future. the egyptian its today are telling us our best days are not necessarily behind. our best days are in the fut

themselves peacefully in iran. >> ifill: now, to that resurgent iranian opposition movement, and to jeffrey brown. >> brown: and i'm joined by afshin molavi, senior fellow at the new america foundation and author of "the soul of iran: a nation's journey to freedom." and robin wright, longtime reporter and now a joint fellow at the u.s. institute of peace and woodrow wilson international center for scholars. her latest book is "dreams and shadows: the future of the middle east." >> brown: step back before yesterday's demonstrations to the last couple weeks in egypt. the iranian government reaction to that was a first congratulatory. explain what was going on. >> it was indeed. the iranian government was trying to frame the egyptian uprising as kind of an islamic awakening. that was the language they were using. they were trying to depict it as similar to the 1979 revolution against the shah in which ultimately an islamic republic was created. the opposition was framing a different narrative. they were saying that this protest in egypt in 2011 was similar to the 2009 protest which followed the elec

. >> lehrer: plus, jeffrey brown explores how egypt's government blocked the internet during the uprising. >> woodruff: then, we have two budget stories. we get a liberal's view of the president's blueprint from vermont senator bernie sanders. >> lehrer: and we look at the political battles over cutting defense spending. retrenchment brought about by cu >> woodruff: and from juarez, mexico, bill neely of independent television news reports on the bloody war against the drug cartels. >> three more killings here and already. this year is on course to be even deadlier than last year, when more than 3,00op

. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown.n 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.

jeffrey brown has the latest. >> brown: it began in august 2004 with a high-speed crash involving a lexus that left four dead. over the following months thousands of drivers complained that their toyotas were experiencing problems with "intended accelertion," leading eventually to a worldwide recall of more than 12 million vehicles. the company and investigators focused on mechanical defects involving brake pedals and floor mats, but there were also widespread concerns about potential electronic flaws. the results of a ten-month investigation were released today. transportation secretary ray lahood joins us now to discuss it. welcome. >> thank you. >> brown: bottom line here is in your findings no electronic flaws. can you say that with confidence? >> absolutely. no electronic flaws. i will say it that with a lot of confidence. we've used the very best safety people we could from nasa. we think these folks really got as far down in the weeds as you could possibly go. their results are that there was no electronics involved in these accidents. >> brown: i'm parsing sort of a negative here.

. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. on the newshour tonight, we have the latest on the bloody revolt gripping the north african country. >> ifill: then we look at the death of four americans, hijacked by somali pirates. >> brown: judy woodruff talks to marcia coyle about a supreme court case that began with a jilted wife, and now raises important tenth amendment

i'm jeffrey brown. libyan security forces fired on demonstrators, leaving hundreds dead or wounded as antigovernment protests engulfed the capital, tripoli, for the first time. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, we get the latest on this bloody challenge to moammar gadhafi's 42-year regime. >> brown: then, two budget stories: an update on the "week of rage" over union bargaining rights and benefits in wisconsin. >> woodruff: and we look at the political face-off here in sh

. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. on the "newshour" tonight: we have the latest on the violent crackdown and examine the civil unrest spreading in the arab world. >> lehrer: then, two takes on state budget problems. ray suarez reports on the wisconsin firestorm over taking away collective bargaining rights for public employees. >> brown: and betty ann bowser looks at the move in arizona and elsewhere to cut medicaid funding. >> this state is no different than most of the others. it has a major budget crisis and some of the remedies under consideration by officials here would be painful. >> lehrer: senators saxby chabliss and mark warner discuss their bipartisan approach to addressing the debt crisis. >> brown: plus, from mexico, bill neely of "independent television news" continues his series on the war against violent drug cartels. tonight: the story of one city's new 21-year old chief of police. >> lehrer: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour."

. >> lehrer: plus, jeffrey brown explores how egypt's government blocked the internet during the uprising. >> woodruff: then, we have two budget stories. we get a liberal's view of the president's blueprint from vermont senator bernie sanders. >> lehrer: and we look at the political battles over cutting defense spending. retrenchment brought about by cu >> woodruff: and from juarez, mexico, bill neely of independent television news reports on the bloody war against the drug cartels. >> three more killings here and already. this year is on course to be even deadlier than last year, when more than 3,000 people were murdered in this small city. >> lehrer: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and by the bill and melinda gates foundation. dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chance to live a healthy productive life. the national science foundation. 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

. >> ifill: and jeffrey brown has the real-life story of an american diplomat arrested for murder in pakistan. >> lehrer: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> 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 by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> lehrer: the protests in egypt showed no sign of abating today, after 16 days. but the country's foreign minister charged the u.s. is trying to impose its own solution. ahmed aboul rate made the accusation in an interview with the newshour's margaret warner in cairo. >> warner: prime minister abbuell gheit, thank you for having us. >> thank you, thank you for coming. i'd like you to define the spelling i got. is this an uprising? a movement? a revolution. >> it is an uppooefl, upheaval that is transforming

. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. on the newshour tonight, we have the latest on the bloody revolt gripping the north african country. >> ifill: then we look at the death of four americans, hijacked by somali pirates. >> brown: judy woodruff talks to marcia coyle about a supreme court case that began with a jilted wife, and now raises important tenth amendment issues, plus a ruling today that shields vaccine makers from lawsuits. >> ifill: charles sennott of "global post" examines the role of the muslim brotherhood in post-mubarak egypt. >> they call themselves the brothers, and they have decades of experience providing social services to egypt's poor. they became key to holding the revolution's infrastructure together. >> brown: and we go beyond wisconsin to explore the showdown over labor rights and tight budgets, now spreading to other states. >> ifill: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> oil companies have changed my country. >> oil companies can make

. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. on the newshour tonight, margaret warner reports from cairo with reaction from people inside and outside the city's central square. >> ifill: and we assess the state of negotiations aimed at ending the uprising. >> brown: then we look at president obama's outreach to corporate america in a speech to the u.s. chamber of commerce. >> but i want to be clear. even as we make america the best place on earth to do business, businesses also have a responsibility to america. >> ifill: judy woodruff talks to actress and playwright anna deveare smith about her one- woman play on facing the end of life. >> i say that it is about the vulnerability of the human body, the resilience of the spirit, the price of care. >> brown: and we examine aol's big buy of the web site the huffington post, with arianna huffington and aol chief tim armstrong. >> 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 h