. >> 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: ♪

that's pretty unprecedented. >> warner: how do you see the europeans' reaction here? >> rob is right. one additional angle might be that there was a lot of... many calls for action before this in the preceding two weeks. of course both the europeans and the united states were hesitant because of the citizens that we had in libya needing to get them out. >> warner: and the fear they could be taken hostage. >> there could be retaliation against them. given that criticism you see european officials and american officials falling over themselvess to show that they're tough with someone like moammar qaddafi in light of everything that's transpired there. >> warner: given the sorts of things he's saying including this interview today and what his sons are saying, who has time on their side? fairly briefly but from each of you on this. in other words, can the u.s.... is qaddafi losing ground every day or, in fact, is the momentum with him? >> this one he does seem to be losing ground every day. that could shift but the problem is he may still be able to wage a protracted fig

studies. >> laurent gbagbo still >> warner: will gbagbo fight to the death, no matter how bloody it gets? >> i think laurent gbagbo probably would at this point fight to the death. he has no other good options. >> warner: today, assistant secretary of state johnnie carson suggested gbagbo did still have the chance to leave. >> there still is an opportunity for gbagbo to step aside in a fashion that will prevent widespread bloodshed and a difficult fight in abidjan for power.

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

. >> woodruff: margaret warner talks to irish prime minister enda kenny about the celtic tiger's struggle to kick-start it's economy. >> brown: and tom bearden reports on a project to use private satellites to help stop genocide. >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> you can't manufacture pride, but pride builds great cars. and you'll find it in the people at toyota, all across america. >> auto 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 world. >> the economy is tough right now, everywhere. >> we pumped $21 million into local economies, into small businesses, communities, equipment, materials. >> that money could make a big difference to a lot of people. >> and by bnsf railway. pacific life. >> 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 pr

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

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 they will bombard us by air force. so the reaction of th

margaret warner has that story. >> warner: saudi arabia and other gulf states sent at 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 ithe persnulf isla 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

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

:. >> warner: now mr.mpka said last week if the aim is to reduce the wisconsin deficit, that public authority employees have already agreed to the budget concession it is governor asked for. something you mentioned which is contributing more to the health and their pension system. so why is that not enough? >> well, that's a decision for the people of wisconsin and governor walker on that. each state makes their decision on union management relations. i happen to have the benefit, margaret, of being in a right of the work state. we ban collective bargaining for public sector employees 20 years ago and it's given me virginia a great opportunity to trumpet our state as a great place to do business and i think that's what governor walker is trying to do and that's the call of the people of wisconsin. our... what we're trying to support in that score is to say these 14 senators that have fled the state aren't on the battlefield of democracy and aren't willing to show up and debate the issue and vote, that that

what warner brothers claims. >> warner resigned sheen after he has had problems before. he has been arrested and charged with a felony and now sheen's lawyers contend that, at the time, they were willing to sign him as long as it didn't mess with production schedule. so is there a problem here? does warner brothers now have a problem with their position should this go to court? >> well, this letter that was just released really reframes the debate. chris, over the last couple of weeks we have all been talking about the issue whether his off-duty partying can justify his being fired from the show. warner brothers now says no. . his behavior directly affected his ability to do the show. he showed up late. he missed rehearsals. he alienated on the set and poisoned the environment on the set and literally off balance and had to lean on props to do the show. they are squarely hitting charlie sheen with the idea he is fired for cause because he wasn't able to perform. >> some attorneys are calling charlie the gift that keeps on giving. we saw the web cast rant last night. he l

and they're listening. >> warner: and nothing else. >> nothing else right now.promises. >> warner: all right, david austin of mercy core, thank you so much. >> thank you >> lehrer: again, the major developments of the day: mass protests spread across syria, and government forces opened fire on crowds in several cities. rebels in libya pressed to regain lost ground in the east after british and french planes blasted government troops and tanks. >> the they will address the nation on libya monday night. >> and to hari via de la valle. and to hari sreenivasan for what's on the newshour online. hari. >> sreenivasan: spencer filed a blog post with more on the use of technology and social media to document human rights abuses. "art beat" looks at the taliban's use of poetry as a propaganda tool in afghanistan and pakistan. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. on monday, miles o'brien visits chernobyl, 25 years after the accident there. i'm judy woodruff. >> lehrer: and i'm jim lehrer. "washington wee

warner bros.r and said, hey, charlie, get out. peace out. we're done. it's crazy. >> some people are saying, it's about time. what took them so long? >> two weeks of all this madness. wrote him a letter and wrote, after careful consideration warner bros. television has terminated charlie sheen's services on "two and a half men" effective immediately. so, he is gone. it's done. it's over. one interesting part of the letter also read, your client has been engaged in dangerously self-destructive conduct and appears to be very ill. warner bros. would not, could not and should not attempt to continue business as usual as mr. sheen destroys himself as the world watches. very strong language there. charlie sheen didn't waste any time firing back. he's planning to sue warner bros. according to the letter his lawyer wrote, he said he felt basically charlie had been fired because he insulted the show's creator, chuck lorre. so, they're little -- that's the reason they're saying behind it and pointing out lo