margaret warner has that story. least a thousand troops and police and dozens of military vehicles across a cause way into bahrain today. the incursion followed a month of demonstrations and clashes i kingdom as bahrain's majority shiites protest the two-century rule of minority sunnis. seven have been killed. on saturday defense secretary robert gates visited bahrain, home to the u.s. navy's fifth fleet, to tell its rulers they have to take more than what he called baby steps toward reform. the crown prince said he was trying to get all sides to engage in a dialogue. >> we know that a significant portion of the electoral base feels that their voice is unheard. and they want the respect due to them to be given to them by the opposition. they want to sit with them and talk to them. so, you know, at the end of the day we're all going to have to live in the same country together. we're all going to have to talk to each other s. >> warner: a coalition of bahrain's shiite-led opposition groups denounced the arrival of fo

. >> warner: and i'm margaret warner. on the "newshour" tonight, we have the latest on the counter- offensives as qaddafi warns the international community thousands of libyans will die if america and nato enter libya. >> woodruff: plus we look at military options for the u.s. and others, including establishing a no-fly zone over the north african nation. >> warner: marcia coyle gives us the latest from the supreme court, including today's 8-1 ruling upholding the free speech rights of protesters at military funerals. >> woodruff: spencer michels reports on the controversy surrounding dozens of no fishing zones off the coast of california. >> california is establishing dozens of protected areas in the ocean, but the problem is there aren't enough game wardens to enforce the rules. >> warner: and jeffrey brown talks to libyan-born u.s. poet khaled mattawa about life in libya under qaddafi and today's uprising. >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪

margaret warner has the story. >> warner: the stalemate in wisconsin between its republican governor state employee unions is now in its third week with no clear end in sight. senate democrats fled the state to prevent a vote on governor scott walker's move to sharply restrict collective bargaining for most public unions. as the dispute mushroomed into a national controversy, the republican governors' association aired a television ad supporting walker. last week, we heard from afl-cio president richard trumka on the controversy. tonight, we talk to virginia governor bob mcdonnell, vice-chair of the republican governors association. governor, welcome, thanks for joining us. >> thank you, margaret, i appreciate being on, thanks. >> warner: you 29 republican governors run very different states, you have different situations vis-a-vis your public employee unions. why have you collectively come out to support governor walker in wisconsin? >> governor walker is a new governor. he's making tough choices. he's got a $3.7 billion budget deficit and he's being honest with the citizens to say,

margaret warner has our story. >> warner: the line outside the homeland security committee room stretched down the halls of the cannon house office building-- a sign of the intense interest today's hearing generated from the moment it was announced. right at the start, committee chairman, new york republican peter king, rejected criticism that he was singling out one religious group. >> let me make it clear today, that i remain convinced that these hearings must go forward, and they will. to back down would be a craven surrender to political correctness, and an abdication of what i believe to be the main responsibility of this committee, to protect america from a terrorist attack. >> warner: king pointed to a spate of homegrown terror cases in recent years, in which american muslims have been accused: last year's attempted bombing in times square; the failed plot to attack the new york city subway system in 2009 and the fort hood, texas shootings that killed 13 and wounded 30. indeed, this past weekend, deputy national security advisor denis mcdonough echoed what others in the obama admin

margaret warner has our report. >> warner: fighters trying to install the democratically- elected ouattara began besieging the main city of abidjan today, the last major stronghold of his rival. in a televised speech today from his hideout, alessane outtara said his forces were fighting to restore democracy and ensure the people's vote is respected. the struggle between ouattara and incumbent president laurent gbagbo has been raging for four months, ever since voters in the former french colony known as cote d'ivoire decisively voted for outtara in the november 28 election. his election was recognized by the u.n., the united states and the european and african unions, but gbagbo refused to leave. outtara's been staying in a u.n. protected hotel in abidjan, while incumbent gbagbo held his own inauguration ceremony in december and remains in the presidential palace. as negotiations flagged, the struggle turned violent with pro-gbagbo forces attacking pro- outtara civilian neighborhoods and even attacking u.n. peacekeepers. nearly 500 people have died so far and the united nations says as man

margaret warner has that story. >> there's just an incredible bond between our two countries, and that's one we want to reaffirm today. >> warner: there were shamrocks, but not many smiles, when president obama welcomed new irish prime minister enda kenny today for a traditional st. patrick's day visit. mr. obama did promise to visit ireland, birthplace of his great-great-great grandfather, in may. >> we've make sure your visit is warmly received and generously treated, and if you want to play a round of golf, i'd be happy to. >> i hear the taieseach is pretty good, so i've got to be careful. i may have to be good to play with him. >> warner: but just eight days into the job, the irish prime minister has a deadly serious purpose on this trip-- to bolster his debt-battered country's international standing, especially with american business investors in ireland. ireland's once booming economy-- the "celtic tiger" of the mid-'90s, attracted some 600 american multinationals. but in 2008, its speculative real estate market went bust, and its free-lending banks nearly did, too, until the dubli

margaret warner has that. >> warner: president obama has said from the outset the u.s. wants to hand over lead of the military operation within "days, not weeks." but figuring out who would assume control has proved contentious among the europeans. despite several heated nato meetings, an agreement has been elusive. to explain and explore all this, we're joined by charles kupchan, director of european studies at the council on foreign relations. he was on the national security council staff in the clinton administration. and daniel dombey, a diplomatic correspondent for the "financial times." welcome to you both. let's jump right into this. daniel, i'll begin with you. there were some conflicting signals today. paris, london, the obama team traveling all talking to this about whether there's any agreement on who will assume control or command. will do things stand? >> where things stand is we've had a theo logical debate over the last two or three days. they finally agreed or they almost agreed that nato can help command and control the operation so nato can help run th

and margaret warner examines what the international community's next steps should be.

far, egyptian and tunisian authorities have provided them with shelter and food. >> woodruff: margaret warner has more on washington's and the world's response to the libya revolt. >> warner: and for that, we turn to robert malley, former director for near east affairs at the national security council in the clinton administration. he now heads the mid east-north africa program at the international crisis group. and michael singh, who held the same n.s.c. post in the george w. bush administration. he's now a visiting fellow at the washington institute for near east policy. welcome to you both. beginning with you, arms embargo. asset freezes. travel bans. what do you make of the international response so far? >> two things. first if you compare the international responses to others in the past it has been extraordinarily quick. that may not feel very good if you're sitting in tripoli and you have to enjoy the continued rule of qaddafi. from a comparative perspective it's been extraordinarily rapid. in part that's because ka qaddafi himself has very few friends. he is now paying the price for a

a short time ago, margaret warner spoke with a resident in zawiyah, whose name we will not reveal for security reasons. >> warner: thanks for joining us, sir. tell us, what is the situation right now? >> the situation in zawiya, the boys are in control of all the city since nine days ago. they took over the city and everything under control. >> warner: by the boys, do you mean the rebels? >> we are not rebels. we are not rebels. we don't want to be called rebels. we are revolutionary forces. >> warner: how hard is the government trying to retake your city? >> the last thursday there were a big invasion and 17 people were killed. more than 50 injured. that's a major assault from the forces of... and these forces of the boys of qaddafi. >> what happened last night? we heard they made another major assault. >> since that big assault the government forces seized the city from three sides. from the east, the west, and the south. and they're making our ambushes and assaults. there is killing, but we are under siege now. we are under siege. last night we were certain that if we don't give up

. >> lehrer: and margaret warner explores the looming food crisis in north korea. >> they're typically in a chronic situation where they can barely feed their own population, so a big shock like losing half their winter wheat or their barley crops is going to affect their population. >> lehrer: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> okay, listen. somebody has got to get serious. >> i think... >> we need renewable energy. >> ...renewable energy is vital to our planet. >> you hear about alternatives, right? wind, solar, algae. >> i think it's got to work on a big scale. and i think it's got to be affordable. >> so, where are they? >> it has to work in the real world. at chevron, we're investing millions in solar and biofuel technologies to make it work. >> we've got to get on this now. >> right now. ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. pacific life-- the power to help you succeed. and by toyota. the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to solve social and environmental problems at ho

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