Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Lincoln financial committed to helping you take charge of your financial future. Supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the worlds most pressing problems skollfoundation. Org. The ford foundation. Working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. The lemelson foundation. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. 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 fur kept flying today, in the raucous republican president ial race. Donald trump and his rivals were back on the road hours after their debate in detroit. So how many of yall watched the debate last night . We had some fireworks on stage. Im not here to attack anyone. We did plenty of that last night, i suppose. When im on a debate stage and i have all these people throwing things at me, youve got to fight back. Woodruff fallout from the g. O. P. sfullon civil war in detroit was still in the air at Todays Campaign events. Last nights rhetoric last night ranged from personal slights i have a policy question for you, sir. Lets see if he answers it. I will. Dont worry about it, marco. Dont worry about it. Dont worry about it little marco, i will. All right, well, lets hear it, big donald. Dont worry about it, little marco. Woodruff . To downright vulgarity look at those hands. Are they small hands . laughter and he referred to my hands, if they are small, Something Else must be small. I guarantee you there is no problem. I guarantee. laughter woodruff donald trump was the overwhelming focus. With rivals ted cruz and marco rubio on a Furious Mission to slow his march to the nomination. At times, they tagteamed, as on the Trump University real estate seminars now the subject of lawsuits claiming fraud. Hes trying to con people into giving him their vote just as he conned those people. If we nominate donald, were going to spend the fall and the summer with the republican nominee facing a fraud trial. Its a minor civil case. Woodruff fox news moderators Chris Wallace and megyn kelly also pushed trump on his frequent changes of position, and on the math behind his proposals. You say that medicare could save 300 billion a year, negotiating lower drug prices. But medicare total only spends 78 billion a year on drugs. Sir, thats the facts. You are talking about saving more money on medicare prescription drugs. Im saying saving through negotiation throughout the economy, you will save 300 billion a year. But that doesnt really cut the federal deficit. Woodruff and through it all, Ohio Governor john kasich strove again to stay above the fray. I have never tried to go and get into these scrums that were seeing here on the stage. And, people say everywhere i go, you seem to be the adult on the stage. Woodruff in the end, though, all four candidates pledged to support the g. O. P. Nominee whomever that turns out to be. Meanwhile, kasich and cruz addressed cpac, the annual meeting of conservative activists, outside washington today. Rubio is scheduled to speak there tomorrow. But trump announced hes skipping his appearance, to campaign in kansas, instead. Republicans have contests there on saturday, and in kentucky, louisiana and maine. As for the democrats, senator Bernie Sanders again slammed Hillary Clinton on trade policy, in edwardsville, illinois. Secretary clinton supported nafta and permanent normal trade relations. That has cost us millions of jobs as a nation. Woodruff . But in detroit today, clinton fired back when it comes to trade i wont support any agreement unless it helps create good jobs, higher wages for American Workers and protects national security. Woodruff the two democrats have their contests tomorrow in kansas, louisiana and nebraska. And, late today, republican president ial candidate dr. Ben carson made it official he suspended his campaign. Well return to the president ial race, with shields and brooks, later in the program. In the days other news, the u. S. Economy has turned in another strong month despite a Global Economic slowdown. The Labor Department reported that u. S. Employers added 242,000 jobs in february, led by the retail, restaurant and health care sectors. The Unemployment Rate held steady at 4. 9 , as more people started looking for work. At the white house, president obama met with his economic advisors and said the numbers prove his detractors wrong. There seems to be an alternative reality out there from some of the political folks, that america is down in the dumps. Its not. America is pretty darn great right now and making strides right now and Small Businesses and Large Businesses alike are hiring right now. Woodruff continued low unemployment may also open the door to the Federal Reserve raising Interest Rates again in june. Slowing growth in china is taking a bite out of military spending. Beijing announced today its Defense Budget will increase this year by 78 the slowest pace in six years. Since 2000, china has mostly hiked military spending by doubledigits. In syria, rebel groups charged today that Government Forces are still attacking just a day after the u. N. Voiced optimism about a weekold ceasefire. Activists reported warplanes hit a rebelheld town near the capital, damascus, for the First Time Since fighting was supposed to stop. Syrian peace talks are due to resume in geneva next wednesday. A court in turkey has sentenced two syrian smugglers to four years in prison, in the death of a threeyearold boy. The childs body washed up on a beach last september, and the images sparked international outrage. Today, the court in ankara convicted the two men on smuggling charges, but it found them not guilty of causing the boys death. The defense blamed his father, who has since returned to syria. Back in this country, a flurry in the o. J. Simpson murder case more than 20 years after he was acquitted. Los Angeles Police confirmed today theyre investigating a knife purportedly found at the site of simpsons former home. They say someone spotted the knife apparently when the home was torn down in the late 90s and gave it to a nowretired police officer. But he failed to turn it in until recently. I dont know what the circumstances are and why that didnt happen. Or if thats entirely accurate. Or if this whole story is possibly bogus from the get go, including a variety of people. So were looking into that. But i was quite shocked. Woodruff nbc news reported later that the knife is inconsistent with other evidence, and, it is likely that double jeopardy would bar another murder trial for simpson, regardless. He was acquitted in 1995 of stabbing to death his exwife nicole and her friend ron goldman. He is now serving prison time in nevada for Armed Robbery and kidnapping in a separate case. And, wall street finished out its week with modest gains. The Dow Jones Industrial average was up nearly 63 points to close back above 17,000. The nasdaq rose nine points, and the s p 500 added six. For the week, the dow was up 2 . The nasdaq and the s p increased well over 2. 5 . Still to come on the newshour brazil in dire straights the zika virus, corruption, and olympic woes; european leaders tough message for economic migrants; the cost of closing hospitals in rural america, and much more. Woodruff brazil was already reeling from economic woes and the onset of the zika virus. When this morning, a popular former president was detained in a wideranging corruption probe. We go to Hari Sreenivasan for more. Sreenivasan Luis Inacio Lula da silva was the wildly popular president of brazil from 2003 to 2010. But this morning, lula, as hes known, was brought to a Police Station in sao paulo for questioning by officials; a large crowd of his supporters formed outside. Lula was questioned as part of a major politicalcorruption scandal involving the countrys gigantic state oil company, petrobras. All this comes as the country faces the threat from the zika virus, a damaging recession and hosting duties for the summer olympics. Im joined from rio by simon romero of the New York Times. Just to get our audience up to speed, whats this investigation all about . Well, its a sprawling inquiry into the bribery and kickbacks that took place around petrobras which is company of incredible importance to the brazilian economy. It made huge offshore Oil Discoveries about a decade ago and really contributed to brazils rise as a developing world powerhouse but turns out politicians and huge Construction Companies and contractors were looting the company for years, creating this vast scheme of hundreds of millions of dollars of bribes and now its engulfing one of the countrys most towering political figures who is lula. Sreenivasan is it the quantity of money being pushed off the books . Because unfortunately, corruption is a reality p in lots of parts of the world. Brazil is not immune to it before. So why is this one such a big deal . In some cases, yes, it does have to do with the quantity of money. One executive at petrobras, a relatively obscure, midlevel manager managed to take almost 100 million in bribes himself and had to give back almost all of that money as part of a plea deal. So the amounts involved are just astonishing. So even in a country like brazil which had been hardened in a sense to stories of corruption throughout carious levels of government, the Petrobras Scandal has just been astonishing for many people. Sreenivasan put this in economic context for us. Whats happening to the economy now and why are people paying more attention to this scandal . Well, the memories of brazils incredible boom of the previous decade when, you know, the country really immerged on the global stage and won its bids to host the Olympic Games and world cup are really a thing of the past. The figures released just this week show that economy sh rank 3. 8 in 2015, the worst economic plunge in 25 years, and some economists are claiming that its going to be the worst and most severe recession in the country in nearly a century. So its a huge dilemma that the countrys leaders are now facing, and in part its one of their own making. You know, they put into motion these policies which are creating the crisis theyre experiencing today. Sreenivasan this is also happening at a time when everyone around the world is concerned for brazil because of the zika virus. Thats right, the epidemic around the virus is yet another blow to brazil at a very delicate time for the country. Its been spreading very quickly throughout northeast brazil at a povertystricken region and now youre finding in more and more cases birth defects linked to zika in the big cities, in the more industrialized part of the country in rio and saaao paulo. Sreenivasan thats having a Ripple Effect on the Olympic Games to start in a few months. There are olympic teams around the world wondering whether or not they should bring their athletes to brazil and ticket sales are down a lot more than projected. Its been yet another disappointment in brazils preparations for the games. Theyre already dealing with a polluted bay here in rio where the sailing competition will take place, and zika is presenting a dilemma to the athletes competing in rio and to the fans considering coming, the centers for Disease Control and the United States just issued a warning advising pregnant women about coming to rio at this time, so the risks are very clear to a lot of people. Sreenivasan simon romero from the New York Times joining us via skype, thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Woodruff we turn now to the refugee crisis overwhelming europe. New border restrictions have left more than 10,000 migrants stranded at the crossing between greece and macedonia. Food and supplies are running low, and conditions worsened with an overnight downpour. The backup also stretches south, to athens, where hundreds spent another night in an open square. European union and turkish leaders will discuss the crisis at a summit on monday. Im joined now by david osullivan, the e. U. s ambassador to the United States. Mr. Ambassador, welcome back to the newshour. Thank you very much. Woodruff from where we sit in the United States, this migrant crisis looks like its gone from a disaster to catastrophe. How do you see it . Well, this is the greatest refugee crisis weve faced since the Second World War and, of course, its a global crisis, not just a crisis facing europe, the neighboring countries of syria have suffered hugely, large numbers of migrants in lebanon, jordan and, of course, turkey and the European Union has seen an unprecedented increase in the number of refugees and asylum seekers, 1. 25 million last year, doubled from the previous year, and put our systems and structures under strain. There has been a huge outpouring of compassion by european systems but our systems are straining over the outflows and we have been struggling to find a comprehensive solution. The president of the European Council has been touring in the balkans and meeting with the turkish leaders and issued a letter ahead of the very important meeting taking place monday which is not only turkey uh but a further meeting of the European Council indicating he thinks there is a growing consensus as to finding a comprehensive solution to the humanitarian tragedy. Woodruff and how would that work . Well, its a solution which necessarily has many parts. First of all, we have to try to solve the problem in syria which is at the origin of this. Weve had the cessation of hostilities, were very grateful in what the United States is doing in trying to broker a political settlement in syria. We need to assist the neighboring countries, jordan, lebanon and turkey. Were the largest donor of humanitarian assistance to those countries and just reached agreement to give turkey an additional 3 billion euro to facilitate their management of refugees within turkey. In addition, were hoping that turkey will limit the countries countries from which they came in due course. Woodruff what proportion of these migrants were watching stranded at the border are people genuinely fleeing a war zone and how many or what percentage or as you describe them are looking for better Economic Opportunity and they come from difficult to have very precise numbers but i would say the majority are indeed people fleeing from conflict, whether in syria or other parts of the world, but there is also a substantial minority who clearly are trying to make their way to europe for understandable reasons of trying to make a better life but not necessarily fleeing from a conflict and they would probably not qualify under International Law for Refugee Status or asylum. Woodruff we heard president Francois Hollande of france say a couple of weeks that this crisis threatens to break up the European Union. Do you think its that close to dissolving this organization . I dont think the European Union is going to dissolve anytime soon. Its a very robust commitment of european people to the integration weve achieved, the single currency to economic interests and political values which bind us together, but it is true, this crisis is creating strains and stresses between our Member States and we have to absolutely find a way better to manage the crisis in order avoid that these strains become too severe. Thats what we hope will happen at the meeting monday. Its a tedious process. We have 28 sovereign Member States, we have he western balkans with turkey, trying to get a coordinated response through these different interests does take time and sometimes decisionmaking in europe can be slow but i believe we are slowly moving towards a new phase in the crisis where we will be able to much better able to manage it. Woodruff david osullivan, ambassador to the United States. Thank you. Thank you. Woodruff stay with us. Coming up on the newshour mark shields and david brooks on the fierce fight for the republican nomination; a New York Times film critic explains why criticism boosts creativity; and the man visiting all 59 National Parks in 59 weeks. But first, Rural Communities around the country have experienced a wave of hospital closures in the last five years, with hundreds more on shaky financial footing. For many small towns, it all adds up to hard times that may soon get harder. Sarah varney has our report from georgia. This story was produced in collaboration with our partner Kaiser Health news. Its just sad. And the hospital, oh my goodness. Reporter sybil ammons is a fixture in the town of lumpkin, georgia, population 1,500. For years, she was