what is your feeling about where chuck hagel will fit into that trajectory? >> there's a joke among defense reporters -- >> my favorite genre of joke. >> naturally. outside of papacy jokes. a joke that in order to be defense secretary, you have to give this speech that hagel gave, that you come in, you're going to make sure acquisitions are going to get cleaned up, personnel policies are going to be aligned with what's actually in the national interest, costs are going to come under control. you also can't get out of the pentagon before you renege on all of that and the building has ground you down into a fine powder. in terms of everything hagel said today, there's a lot for reformers to get excited about. implementation is what this is all about. >> since you tee this up, i want to play this incredible bit of sound that one of our second producers found, which is a speech that has been lost to history, but was given by donald rumsfeld on september 10, 2001, vowing in much sharper terms, vowing to take on the pentagon establishment. take a listen. >> let's m

christiane, you and i know chuck hagel, fareed, you know chuck hagel. he is not a guy who speaks provocatively without specific warning, without specific reason. when i heard what he was saying, i sensed he's pretty concerned. >> he is concerned, but rather than ominous, it sounded kind of reassuring. he basically said we have what it takes to defend our homeland, our allies. and i think that yesterday the admiral in charge of the pacific command, admiral locklear, told congress that of course they would take defensive action if they saw any missile headed in a hostile manner toward allies or u.s. bases in gu all. but he would not suggest shooting down any missiles in inhabited areas, in other words, not targeted in anger. >> what happens, fareed, if they do launch not just one or two, but multiple missiles, and they all go into the pacific ocean, they fly over japan, land if the water. then what? >> that's precisely why i think the american plan seems to be at least not precipitously to intercept them and shoot them down. because if these are sort of h

christiane, you and i know chuck hagel, fareed, you know chuck hagel. he is not a guy who speaks provocatively without specific warning, without specific reason. when i heard what he was saying, i sensed he's pretty concerned. >> he is concerned, but rather than ominous, it sounded kind of reassuring. he basically said we have what it takes to defend our homeland, our allies. and i think that yesterday the admiral in charge of the pacific command, admiral locklear, told congress that of course they would take defensive action if they saw any missile headed in a hostile manner toward allies or u.s. bases in guam. but he would not suggest shooting down any missiles in inhabited areas, in other words, not targeted in anger. >> what happens, fareed, if they do launch not just one or two, but multiple missiles, and they all go into the pacific ocean, they fly over japan, land if the water. then what? >> that's precisely why i think the american plan seems to be at least not precipitously to intercept them and shoot them down. because if these are sort of har

defense secretary chuck hagel said the white house has informed members of congress that intelligence officials believe quote with with some degree of varying confidence unquote that syrian president bashar al assad's government has used chemical weapons against the members of the opposition specifically sarin gas. did not provide any specific facts no specifications of when or where the a legend weapons were used. and it's also not clear what his phrase means the phrasing used is with some degree of varying confidence does that mean that one member of the intelligence communities is confident that this is happening and another member is not confident secretary hagel also said that assad's use of chemical weapons violates every convention of warfare and now the u.s. is reportedly asking the u.n. to investigate these allegations by reportedly testing bodies in syria whether or not they have any chemical or biological weapons in their system now we do know that in the past u.s. president barack obama has said that the use of chemical weapons by the syrian government would be a game chan

i heard secretary chuck hagel was there and i said i would like to visit with him. this is schedules are all plans. he came the next day and we had a good discussion. i do not know how we change the scheduled to make it work out. he did. we were in total agreement on that. he is going to be with karzai the next day. i think general done for it is that still have that right now. i think they are a good team. all of the chips are in place to make it happen. how are we proceeding on this agreement? the president had talked to karzai the day before and told him we need to get this done now. i am saying get it done this spring. did not wait. i saw what happened and how it fell apart in iraq. the downside, what we would lose, it would be tragic. real positive things. we have made really good gains there. we hear of the tragedies of a suicide bomber. the blue one up as we arrived at headquarters. positives as a agreement. they can provide enough security. the tal bang cannot beat -- taliban cannot be the afghans. they do not have the numbers or ability. we still need to be

chuck hagel says u.s. officials believe the syrian government has used chemicals in the battle to sustain power. he did not say exactly who was targeted but did detail the type of chemical agent, sarin gas, take a listen. >> this morning the white house delivered a letter to several members of congress on the topic of chemical weapons use in syri syria. ed -- the letter will be to you shortly. assesses with some degree of varying confidence that the syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in syria. specifically the chemical agent sarin. >> we're joined on the phone by senator lindsey graham -- actually by remote. senator graham, first of all your comments on chuck hagel. >> yeah, i was one of the senators on the letter. well, it's a red line that's been crossed. it's clearly an indication and admission by the administration that sarin gas was used by the assad regime and the president said that would be a red line. so the question is what's next? >> what do you think should happen next? >>

brach from our defense secretary chuck hagel now just announced that the united states and our intelligence services can confirm that there is some evidence of chemical weapons use in syria. there are still some questions about the chemical weapons, what type exactly, how much used, who exactly used it. there's been claims on either side in this conflict in syria about either side using chemical weapons. we also just received a briefing from senator mccain that said senator mccain received a letter from the white house with the president also describing some use of chemical weapons in syria. this important. as we get more information about this news, is this the red line that has been crossed by the bashar al-assad regime that would elicit more response from us, the united states. that is the big question that overhangs these remarks. as we get more information we'll bring that to you. jon: fox news alert we'll take you now to the campus of southern methodist university in

at 4:30, the president and vice president meet with secretary of defense chuck hagel. a briefing today at the white house will be at 1:15 with press secretary jay carney. back for another hour with congressman tony cardenas and congressman chris van hollen. see you then. stay around. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

>> this is an example of what chuck hagel was talking about in his speech today, if you just tally up one year's worth of cost overruns for the 96 most important defense programs, in one year, that's $74 billion. which, if that was its own country, would be the third largest defense budget in the world, more than russia spends. >> sue terry, spencer ackerman, mattie duppler, that is "all in" for this evening. rachel, sorry i'm throwing it to you late, but i know how much you love defense overruns. >> if you're going to be five seconds late because we have to learn that our cost overruns alone are the third largest defense budget in the world and we learn it from spencer, i'm with you. >> awesome. >> thank you, awesome. thanks to you at home, as well, for staying with us this hour. the president of the united states, flying about the country and making public appearances, that is always kind of the fulcrum around which the rest of the day's political news tilts. that was largely true today with the president in colorado and then heading to california. but there was also big substantiat

the same way it was sort of new and different that chuck hagel was questioned so hard. i mean there was not kind of the level of you know, i guess respect is the word afforded to a presidential pick, a nominee. so this, this the game has chang changed. >> to be fair, this kind of judicial appointments increased substantially during the last administration, by democrats in the senate against republican nominees. >> and those nominees were -- really out of the balance. >> and what would republicans say of the cat lin halligan? about the same? >> chuck hagel is a republican. >> lest we forget. >> actually being very effective in making sure that the president, who is a moderate president is putting up republican after republican. and people who i would say that the most of the liberal base would say i don't know where that guy is going to be on corporate rights and corporate power, but that's okay. >> it's a slippery slope it didn't start yesterday. >> and there could be a taste of their own medicine here. i think it's elevated. >> it's beyond that. >> the filibuster, josh

captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> ifill: defense secretary chuck hagel called on north korea to cool its rhetoric, after it barred hundreds of south korean workers from a factory complex on the border. good evening, i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, we examine the strategic and economic significance of the shutdown and the heightened tensions. >> ifill: then, we get two views about the safety of oil pipelines, after a rupture in arkansas last week forced the evacuation of more than 20 homes. >> woodruff: jeffrey brown examines the impact of across- the-board federal spending cuts on scientific research. >> ifill: john merrow reports on a kentucky school district that's spending less time testing students and more time on projects like building rockets. >> are they learning? yes. i feel like they're probably learning more than they ever would just sitting there hearing me tell them about a certain section of textbook. >> woodruff: we get the latest on an arizona man freed from prison after 42 years, when new evidence sur

chuck hagel says u.s. officials believe the syrian government has used chemicals in the battle to sustain power. he did not say exactly who was

chuck hagel said neither are capable of attacking the united states with a nuclear missile. . >> this country is capable of dealing with any threat, any action by any country, including iran or north korea. >> chuck hagel did not rule out either country could eventually acquire a long range missile that could reach the united states. >>> the man accused of threatening to kill leyland lee was arrested in february and held without bail. ktvu channel 2 news the district attorney -- the district attorney told us a continuation of the hearing will be rescheduled. he threatened him because he was angry about his gun control legislation. . >>> teenager will stand trial for the killing of a one-year- old. then 16-year-old frederick coleman was part of a shoot out and fired the bullet that killed hiram lawrence, jr. yesterday a judge ruled there was enough evidence to go to trial. it happened while he was filming a music video that disrepresented a gang and they were try -- disrespected a gang and they were trying to get revenge. >>> child molester is back in jail. mark gurries acknowledged in

we've put a link to chuck hagel's speech at maddow blog today. it's pretty good. ahead of the speech today, secretary hagel and his deputy announced they'll each give up a portion of their salary this year. they'll return a portion of their salary to the federal treasury because of all the pentagon workers having to take unpaid furlough days thanks to the sequester. that announcement came first, but after president obama said today he's going to do the same thing. quote, the president has decided that to share in the sacrifice being made by public servants across the federal government affected by the sequester, he'll contribute a portion of his salary back to the treasury. president obama is giving up 5% of his presidential salary for the whole year back to the treasury. that will not make a difference to the workers forced into pay cuts and furloughs, because congress has not yet undone the sequester, but it will put a spotlight on it. it will remind us all that that sequester is happening and it's causing real pain. >>> one other thing that reminds us the seque

chuck hagel was talking to defense reporters traveling with him over night to israel. he briefed them. he said there's know differences between the u.s. and opposition. both countries are in their lock step. he did except -- there was some difference in the timing of when the iranians crossed back. and clearly that will be the certain of their discussions with the prime minister to the key figures he's meeting. some convergence. some of the rhetoric that you think from hagel all night long sucting that the -- and it's if equipment and for the toughening of the rhetoric. she has the trying defend herself, to take its own ecision according to its own table. >> demonstrations began over the aleced kedge nap, rap and torture of a five-year-old girl. >> many demonstrators are angry. the case was touched raw nerves in indian society. angry protestors gary it side the home of sewn yeah gandy. -- sonia gandy. >> many are sbging to useful. opening about these pictures at all. the latest incident involves the kidnap, torture of a 5-year-old girl is particularly vicious. a man in

. >>> chuck hagel says that syria has used chemical weapons. will that force the president to take action? senate foreign relations bob corker joins us next. [ male announcer ] this is betsy. her long day of pick ups and drop offs begins with arthritis pain... and a choice. take up to 6 tylenol in a day or just 2 aleve for all day relief. all aboard. ♪ arrival. with hertz gold plus rewards, you skip the counters, the lines, and the paperwork. zap. it's our fastest and easiest way to get you into your car. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. >>> major news today on the subject of chemical weapons used in syria. responding to letter today, from a bipartisan group of senators requesting answers on this murky question of whether the assad regime has used chemicals, according to the new assessment by the white house, on two incidents they did or someone did. there is a concern about the chain of custody of these weapons, but principally, it was sarin gas, according to the defense secretary, chuck hagel. has the syrian

chuck hagel said the intelligence indicates the chemical was serin. he refused to say if that crossed the red line layed down by the obama administration. >> what i have just given you is what our intelligence community has said they know. as i have also said they are tylosessing and looking at -- still assessing and looking at what happened. >> chuck hagel did not say if there was indication of casualties. >> president obama today joined thousands of mourners to honor those who died in last week's fertilizer plant explosion in west, texas. >> we need people who are willing to lay down their lives for them, american needs towns like west. [ cheers and applause ] >> most were first responders who died. the president obama and michelle obama met with families after the service. >>> i don't know that that question has been asked. >> we asked the tough question, why are bay area taxpayers footing the bill for pricy bicycles and will that investment pay off? >> back in here in 10 minutes, the fog has cleared for san francisco but it is coming back and it w

some analysts call the threats empty, but speaking at an national defense university today, chuck hagel said he wasn't willing to take that chance. >> it only takes being wrong once, and i don't want to be the secretary of defense who was wrong once. >> north korea has threatened to launch attacks against the united states. the u.s. has sent fighter jets and warships to the korean peninsula. >>> children from around the nation will dine with first lady michelle obama at the white house this summer. they'll be sampling original issues at the second annual kids state dinner. it has a prize and contest to promote healthy eating. the first lady's healthy lunchtime challenge is asking kids from eight to twelve, and their parents, to create nutrition lunch recipes that represent each food group. if they have a winning recipe, they get lunch with the first lady. >>> there is news that google is set to launch a new model of its tablet. the new gadget is set to be thinner and have a higher screen resolution. mountain view's google helps to sell eight million units before the end of the year. >>>

i am glad dempsey said because he shored up chuck hagel. the north koreans have not helped diffuse thuation. that is an understatement. talk tough. they have not only helped defuse it. they are doing all of this. and i hope the administration has a stronger stance behind the scenes than what chuck hagel articulated today. >> in new york. they have u.s. communicated in march with north korea before the bluster started. what and interesting, they chose to do that at that time. >> i am not sure it is in response to anything we have done. i think this is response to the rise of the little guy who is either in charge or a pupple. we don't understand . i think there are two worst scenario. the good one where there is a off-ramp. he builds up all of the tension and shoots off a missile that doesn't have a nuck and - nuke and landed in the ocean it is over. the second is, he doesn't have an off-ramp and doesn't know what to do . the belly -- bellicostity increases and perhaps he believes america wants to invade. they are parrinoid and crazy at the

that's the word from chuck hagel, who says the u.s. believes with varying degrees of confidence that syria has used chemical weapons. that's not confirmation. not in the same leaving still, lawmakers in congress release statements saying it's time for the united states to take action. it's not that simple. there are still lots of questions about the syrian rebels. the very people would would be supporting. in fact a branch in al i'd in iran announced it has joined force with one of syria's largest opposition groups. jennifer griffin is live at the pentagon. have we crossed the readline? they want to say no. >> the letter from the white house to congress suggests a small out of sarin gas was likely used. this is blazed on fit rolling cal evidence or blood or tissue samples from the victims. the white house wants more evidence. the letter from the white house says the intelligence community assesses, quote, with dearth degrees of confidence the syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale. chuck hagel appeared to be surprised

. >>> yesterday, though, secretary of defense chuck hagel spoke about the government's findings. >> we need all the facts. we need all the information. as to a red line, my role as secretary of defense is to give the president options on a policy issue. that's a policy issue. and we'll be prepared to do that at such time that the president requires options. >>> meanwhile, senator john mccain who has been a leading voice for u.s. military involvement in syria expressed his disappointment at the obama administration's handling of the crisis. >> we should have intervened long ago, whether bashar al assad was using them or not. he slaughtered 80,000 people while we've sat by and watched. it's been one of the most shameful chapters in american history. >> joining us from cairo, nbc news correspondent atia. how is this being digested in the middle east? >> hi there, brian. well, many people are paying attention to what president obama and washington will do, but it seems pretty clear from secretary of defense chuck hagel that they just have some -- some possibility that the syrian government

christiane, you and i know chuck hagel, fareed, you know chuck hagel. he is not a guy who speaks provocatively without specific warning, without specific reason. when i heard what he was saying, i sensed he's pretty concerned. >> he is concerned, but rather than ominous, it sounded kind of reassuring. he basically said we have what it takes to defend our homeland, our allies. and i think that yesterday the admiral in charge of the pacific command, admiral locklear, told congress that of course they would take defensive action if they saw any missile headed in a hostile manner toward allies or u.s. bases in gu all. but he would not suggest shooting down any missiles in inhabited areas, in other words, not targeted in anger. >> what happens, fareed, if they do launch not just one or two, but multiple missiles, and they all go into the pacific ocean, they fly over japan, land if the water. then what is this. >> that's precisely why i think the american plan seems to be at least not precipitously to intercept them and shoot them down. because if these are s

by the way, the first person to say this was chuck hagel. i've had a lot of things to say about chuck hagel and was against his nomination and confirm nation. but i had to give him credit for taking a hit along with those in his department. secretary of state john kerry did the same thing. give credit where credit is due. it's not going to fix it but it's symbolic. it's symbolic that joe biden said no. he's going to keep all of his because none of his employees are affected by the sequestration. keep in mind, this is the same joe biden whose over all charitable giving was .0, .06%. but he wants to pay more taxes so that we, through government, can be more generous. thank you, joe. >>> jana winter was sent to aurora, colorado, to cover the deadly theater shooting. she found a source that told her about a package that the shooter sent to his psychiatrist before the shooting. the source said, and i quote, "inside the package was a notebook full of details about how he was going to kill people. there were drawings of what he was going to do in i

chuck hagel has already made a statement about it today, defense secretary. but i think that the problem with north korea is this has been unstable for years now. this is not just in the past years of the obama administration. and the bush administration had to deal with this before. the clinton administration had to deal with them. we don't really have an answer because this is an unstable government with an untested, untried dictator who's 29 years old. >> and here's my problem, kellyann, is that we need china in this, as we talked about with wesley clarke earlier. and we need people who have relationships with china, high-level state-level relationships. aside from a few people in the administration who have been there from the president's first term, i'm not sure who's going to have -- does john kerry have it to deal with china if he has to? >> i would hope so. he's our secretary of state now. but there's no evidence that this was a burning issue to him when he was in the united states senate. when he ran for president i didn't hear him talk about it as m

and chuck hagel decided to put it off hoping it might diffuse tensions, but the north seems unwilling to relax the posture. and this video showing attack dogs attacking pictures of the defense minister. and i'm harris falkner, foxnews.com. >> mike: a few weeks ago we showed you a story about a couple who fled germany and they want to freely home school children in accordance with the strong christian beliefs. home schooling is against the law in germany and they must send the children to a government-approved school and if they don't, they face jail time and even risk losing the children. and they settled in tennessee where a judge granted them asylum. their case is disputed by the justice department and attorney general eric holder, who says germany's ban on home schooling fails to violate the family's fundamental rights and the family had a petition to the obama administration to grant them permanent legal status which has received nearly 60,000 out of the 100,000 signatures needed by april 18th in order to get a response. joining us now from their home in tennessee, is uba and hann

bill: why did chuck hagel say what he said last week? why did that happen? >> well, i think you're going to hear from the president today that while there may be evidence that materials were used, who ordered them, under what circumstances, and why were they used? i think that has as much bearing as to the facts of of the use of this material. and that is an important consideration, because as we know all too often much of the intelligence used to make huge decisions, that has cost this country blood, pressure and lives, it really needs to make sure that the facts are correct here before the president makes any decision that commits us to any kind of actions in syria or elsewhere. bill: what do you think about that mary kathrine? >> i think that is the problem he's facing, is that a there was a red line to begin with, and b that hagel did speak about it last week. if either one of those elements was missing he wouldn't have to address the issue so forthrightly. i think he is comfortable with filibustering a little bit on this issue and weighing both sides an

defense secretary chuck hagel said his intelligence services have quote some confidence that syria's government used chemical weapons on a small scale he said it's believed the nerve agent sarin was deployed against civilians and rebel fighters are merino porton has more. the u.s. defense secretary chuck hagel said at the white house and has informed members of congress that intelligence officials believe with some degree of varying confidence that syrian president bashar al assad's government has used chemical weapons against members of the opposition specifically sarin gas didn't provide any specific facts on when or where the alleged weapons were used and it was not even clear what the freeze with some degree of varying confidence even means does that mean that one intelligence official is confident that this is taking place and one is not confident clearly that that language is either convoluted or are bit confusing now secretary hagel said that assad's use of chemical weapons violates every convention of warfare is that tuesday israel's intelligence officials claim that syria th

his decision comes after similar move by defense secretary chuck hagel. >>> a cruise ship broke lose from moorings at a shipyard. carnival the says the ship is resting against a tugboat. engine fire aboard the triumph left thousands of people trapped in the gulf of mexico for days two months ago. that's the latest from the fox business network, giving you the power to prosper liz: guess what? publicly-traded companies can now tweet away the sec. the sec embraced social media. companies and ceos don't just have to use pr wire or business wire. they can use social media as a legitimate outlet for communicating big news, posting valuable investor information among other things. so what the brought the sec to this decision? they were kind of attacking some ceos that were doing it or at least investigating them? how does this change the playing field for you the investor? joining us the former sec commissioner joseph grundfest. your position was let's go for it, right? >> i think it is time the sec joined the 21st century. people all over the world are using twitter and facebook as legiti

still awaiting remarks from defense secretary chuck hagel. expected to talk about some of the fiscal challenges facing the defense department. he is expected in a couple of minutes. we will have live coverage here on c-span. >> the president of the national defense university, major greg martin. >> good to see everybody. good afternoon. we are honored to host the secretary of defense for his first formal policy address. i cannot think of a place more fitting than the national defense university for him to deliver it. ndu is, after all, a place where we study the nexus between strategy and policy so that our rising military and civilian leaders can better advise those who govern on how best to preserve the peace, or if necessary, to prevail in war when all other avenues have been exhausted. our speaker is certainly more than qualified to talk about the art of both peace and war. secretary hagel is a combat veteran who enlisted in the united states army and volunteered for service in vietnam, where he was awarded two purple hearts while writing

. >> chris: defense secretary chuck hagel responding to north korea's threat of war against the u.s. and south korea. and it is time for our sunday group, bill kristol of the weekly standard. mara liasson of national public radio. republican strategist ed gillespie and charles lane of the washington post. kim jong un was quoted friday as ordering missile units to be ready to strike the u.s. and south core remarks. >> the photo was released. kim meeting with top north korean generals with a chart showing the trajectory of the missiles hitting major american cities. bill, what is kim's game? >> who onos but it is not good. they murdered, starved mels of their own people that regime and how to proliferated nuke weapons. the israeli strike on the syrian nuclear plant in 2007 that was given to them by north korea. even if you discount north korea, they are containable, they with proliferate weapons of mass destruction and guess what, iran and north korea have h historic relationships and north korea is short of cash and could sell the weapons to terrorist groups. the threat of north korea

defense secretary chuck hagel now says the u.s. has some evidence that some chemical weapons have been used there. senator john mccain on what the u.s. response should be to this development. his first interview coming up next. jenna: a fox news alert, returning to one of our top stories today, both secretary of state john kerry and defense secretary chuck hagel now saying the united states has some evidence that the syrian government has used some chemical weapons in its civil war. yes, there are some caveats there, that's why we want to speak with arizona senator john mccain who joins us now live from the capitol. >> she's talking to me -- [laughter] jenna: are you getting your letters, senator mccain? >> just cut her out. jenna: we'll get back to him as soon as we can. a little bit of gremlins here. you know, while i have the time, i want to read you part of the letter that senator mccain received, because the caveats are very important. and this is directly from the administration. this is what the letter reads: our intelligenc

chuck hagel. >> they have nuclear capacity now. they have missile-delivery capacity now, and so as they have ratcheted up their bellicose dangerous rhetoric and some of the actions they have taken over the last few weeks present a real and clear danger and threat to the interests certainly of our allies starting with south korea, and japan, and also the threats that the north koreans have leveled directly at the united states regarding our base in guam threatened hawaii, threatened the west coast of the united states. [ scooby-doo's "huh?" ] >> stephanie: what? >> and austin, texas. i don't think he knows where austin is. >> kim junk un or chuck hagel. >> i think he's thinking of aboutton. >> stephanie: let me get the lawyer for hollywood on the line. there's only one. hello? hollywood's lawyer, can i help you. john kerry on north korea. >> caller: the last thing the world needs is more nuclear nations. >> stephanie: cha. >> uh-huh. >> stephanie: let's go to jon in syracuse. good morning. >> caller: good morning, first time caller.

defense secretary chuck hagel had some bleak nears in a press conference or dobby a call stated that the u.s. intelligence has some confidence that syria has used chemical weapons specifically seren gas on a small scale against both civilians and opposition forces the statement from the white house yesterday indicates that despite the information there are some still looking for more proof in order to assess their options and move forward r.t.s. marina portman has more. well white house press secretary jay carney says that military force against the syrian government is one of many options that u.s. president barack obama is currently considering this revelation of course is coming one day after u.s. defense secretary chuck hagel claimed that the syrian president bashar al assad has used chemical weapons against rebels and now while fielding questions from the media during and after news press conference carney said that he could not speculate on what action if any president obama would pursue against assad but he said that as a general principle the united states retains the ability

deploying missile defense systems to the area as defense secretary chuck hagel admits the rogue nation presents, quote, a real and clear danger to america. we'll have the very latest and the fallout to your investments. >> in the meantime, reaction to all this and more from former treasury secretary, paul o'neil, will be joining us, exclusively. you do not want to miss his unique insight into all of these events, coming up a little bit later here on the "closing bell." looking forward to see him. >> let's check where we stand right now as we approach this final stretch. off of the lows, still in double digit decline. down about two-thirds of 1%. pulling back from that record high reached yesterday, on the dow and the s&p. technology, one of the leadership groups on the downside, 3223, last trade there. and the s&p 500 sits at 1526 with a decline of 14 points or so. >> one key sector that's been leading the rally this year so far, the transportation sector. that gave the bulls great comfort. but the index is down for the third straight day and it's now with today's decline below its 50-

captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> ifill: defense secretary chuck hagel called on north korea to cool its rhetoric, after it barred hundreds of south korean workers from a factory complex on the border. good evening, i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, we examine the strategic and economic significance of the shutdown and the heightened tensions. >> ifill: then, we get two views about the safety of oil pipelines, after a rupture in arkansas last week forced the evacuation of more than 20 homes. >> woodruff: jeffrey brown examines the impact of across- the-board federal spending cuts on scientific research. >> ifill: john merrow reports on a kentucky school district that's spending less time testing students and more time on projects like building rockets. >> are they learning? yes. i feel like they're probably learning more than they ever would just sitting there hearing me tell them about a certain section of textbook. >> woodruff: we get the latest on an arizona man freed from prison after 42 years, when new evidence sur

defense secretary chuck hagel has said his intelligence service is of quote some confidence the syrian government has used chemical weapons on a small scale and said it's believed that the nerve agent sarin was used against civilians and rebel fighters let's get more details from marty's marine important live for us in new york so his comments are the first confirmation of any kind of chemical weapons being used in this conflict tell us more about that and what effect it could have. while addressing reporters in abu dhabi u.s. defense secretary chuck hagel said at the white house and has informed members of congress that intelligence officials believe with some degree of varying confidence that syrian president bashar al assad's government has used chemical weapons against members of the opposition specifically sarin gas didn't provide any specific facts on when or where the alleged weapons were used it was not even clear what the phrase with some degree of bring home to even means does that mean that one intelligence official is confident that this has taken place and one is not confi

chuck hagel said neither are capable of attacking the united states with a nuclear missile. . >> this country is capable of dealing with any threat, any action by any country, including iran or north korea. >> chuck hagel did not rule out either country could eventually acquire a long range missile that could reach the united states. >>> the man accused of threatening to kill leyland lee was arrested in february and held without bail. ktvu channel 2 news the district attorney -- the district attorney told us a continuation of the hearing will be rescheduled. he threatened him because he was angry about his gun control legislation. . >>> teenager will stand trial for the killing of a one-year- old. then 16-year-old frederick coleman was part of a shoot out and fired the bullet that killed hiram lawrence, jr. yesterday a judge ruled there was enough evidence to go to trial. it happened while he was filming a music video that disrepresented a gang and they were try -- disrespected a gang and they were trying to get revenge. >>> child molester is back in jail. mark gurries acknowledged in

from u-s defense secretary chuck hagel. south korean officials now say, the north has finished preparations for a test launch. the missile in question is an untested weapon. it is believed it could reach as far as guam - which is home to u-s naval and air bases. secretary hagel said today, north korea is quote - 'skating very close' to a dangerous line. and remember you can watch the weather forecast whenever it is convenient for you on our 24/7 bay area news channel. you can also get headlines and live traffic. it's on comcast 193 and you can also watch it live on kron4.com. >> toy maker mattel is rolling out a new line of culturally- diverse barbie dolls. but the first doll is already causing controversy. mattel's mexico barbie is dressed in a festive "fiesta" dress, with a pet chihuahua and a passport. the doll makers say, all of the dolls have a passport and have a pet friend. the company website says, the doll is meant to teach girls about the culture, traditions, and ancestral dress of mexico. but critics say, the ent

why do you think chuck hagel made his announcement today? >> well, for two reasons. one, the letter has become public. what he said exactly, he quoted exactly from the letter to senator levin, and then the other is that while he was in israel the israelis joined the british and french saying it had been used, and everyone was asking him well did they tell you ahead of time? did you know about it? what your position. he basically had to say something. >> michael: now, i want to go back to something that you said at the top or just a moment ago in what the options are here. we're clearly, i would guess not sending 100,000 troops on the ground into syria. what is on the table for president obama here in the national security staff? >> i think one thing he could do is the border with jordan and with turkey establish some sort of safe zones, and basically then use either the patriot missiles or airplanes to make it a no-fly zone. if we know where we think the chemical sites are he could authorize airstrikes or missile strikes to take them out. that would be another case,

defense secretary chuck hagel said the u.s. has evidence. >> the u.s. intelligence community assesses varying confidence that the syrian regime used chemical weapons in syrialy chemical agent saron. >> lawmakers who are pushing president obama to be more active in the syrian war said we should take steps. >> provide a safe area for the opposition to operate and establish a no fly zone and provide weapons to the people in the resistance that we trust. >> obama fortunatelies say syrian air defense would make a difficult no fly zone and concerned that the u.s. weapons would find in the hands of the extremist. >> a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around and utilized. i have made clear that use of chemical weapons is a game changer. >> given the experience in iraq, it is essential we establish that bashar assad used them. senator mccain is suspicious. i wor that the president is using it as an expense. >> and assad refuse tod allow access to experts. lawmakers suggest that syria used chemical weapons in two locatio

some analysts call the threats empty, but speaking at an national defense university today, chuck hagel said he wasn't willing to take that chance. >> it only takes being wrong once, and i don't want to be the secretary of defense who was wrong once. >> north korea has threatened to launch attacks against the united states. the u.s. has sent fighter jets and warships to the korean peninsula. >>> children from around the nation will dine with first lady michelle obama at the white house this summer. they'll be sampling original issues at the second annual kids state dinner. it has a prize and contest to promote healthy eating. the first lady's healthy lunchtime challenge is asking kids from eight to twelve, and their parents, to create nutrition lunch recipes that represent each food group. if they have a winning recipe, they get lunch with the first lady. >>> there is news that google is set to launch a new model of its tablet. the new gadget is set to be thinner and have a higher screen resolution. mountain view's google helps to sell eight million units before the end of the year. >>>