chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner begins our coverage. >> warner: syrian governmentces and rebel groups battled furiously through the weekend. but some of the shooting is supposed to stop this saturday. official word came after president obama spoke to russian president vladimir putin by phone. white house spokesman josh earnest. >> it will require all of the parties who signed onto this document to follow through on the commitments that they have made. the whole world can see in writing what everyone has committed to, and it's time for the signatories to step up and for the bloodshed to come to an end. >> warner: and from moscow, putin called it a "real step that can stop the bloodshed." secretary of state john kerry had initially announced a "provisional agreement" yesterday, after long-distance discussions with russian foreign minister sergei lavrov. the plan does allow for continuing u.s. and russian air strikes against the islamic state group, jabhat al-nusra and "other terrorist organizations designated by the u.n. security council." that last phrase will be ke

chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner reports. >> reporter: there was no letup in the intensityrussian air strikes across syria-- in the hours after major powers made their announcement in munich. secretary of state john kerry and russian foreign minister sergei lavrov unveiled an agreement by the "international syria support group" of 17 nations. >> this progress has the potential, fully implemented, fully followed through on, to be able to change the daily lives of the syrian people. >> reporter: specifically, the agreement calls for: implementation of a nationwide "cessation of hostilities" in a week's time; immediate acceleration and expansion of humanitarian aid deliveries into syria; and increased coordination between the u.s. and russia air campaigns against the islamic state and other terror groups. the u.s. had sought an immediate, full-scale cease-fire in syria, for the first time since fighting began in 2011. and, kerry acknowledged this agreement falls well short. >> a cease-fire, in the minds of many of the participants in this particular moment, connotes something

chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner reports. >> warner: nato is planning its biggestd-up in eastern europe since the cold war, all to deter a newly-assertive russia. >> we haven't had to worry about this for 25 years. while i wish it were otherwise, now we do. >> warner: last week, defense secretary ash carter proposed to quadruple u.s. spending on its "european reassurance initiative" to $3.4 billion. >> that will fund a lot of things: more rotational u.s. forces in europe, more training and exercising with our allies, more preposition and war- fighting gear and infrastructure improvements to support all this >> warner: this week in brussels, nato's defense ministers will discuss setting up outposts along its eastern front to do just that. but is this wise, or necessary? evelyn farkas just left her post as assistant secretary of defense for russia, ukraine and eurasia. >> this is something that i think we absolutely need to do. it is a sign of our resolve. it's a sign that the united states is there with our nato allies. that we're there also to send a signal to russ

for the pbs newshour, i'm margaret warner. >> sreenivasan: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: how the mother of columbine shooter dylan klebold came to terms with her son's actions. the tunnels that house tijuana's homeless. and a poet's take on the popular term-- "black girl magic." but first, the economic recovery may be well into its sixth year and the jobless rate is at its lowest point since 2008. even so, it's clear many americans still feel plenty of anxiety either about their job, their income, their finances or what may be happening to their quality of life. economics correspondent paul solman dives deeper into what's behind that, with the first of two conversations he has on this subject, this one features a liberal perspective. part of our weekly series, "making sense," which airs every thursday on the newshour. >> aw, we love you, we love you! >> reporter: not again, you may be thinking. >> we're gonna build a big beautiful wall. >> there is nothing we cannot accomplish! >> reporter: another story on trump and sanders as political outliers defining this year's presiden

chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner begins our coverage. >> warner: it will be the first visit to cuba by a sitting american president since calvin coolidge in 1928. president obama announced the plans on his official twitter feed today. and deputy national security advisor ben rhodes outlined the goals. >> we see it as a means of pushing forward this normalization process trying to achieve greater opening between the united states and cuba commercially but also supporting and advancing the values that we care about. >> warner: the visit, including talks with cuban leader raul castro, follows more than a year of work to thaw relations. embassies reopened in both countries and the two nations this week agreed to start daily commercial flights. but normalization hasn't produced results as quickly as hoped. commerce secretary penny pritzker, meeting cuba's trade minister in washington this week, complained that despite washington easing restrictions on u.s. companies wanting to do business there, havana hasn't done the same. rhodes echoed that today. >> what we would like to

in a 2012 interview with the newshour's margaret warner, scalia explained his unwavering view of the constitution. >> if it was up to the courts to make it evolve over time, there wouldn't have been a provision for amendment. it contains a provision of amendment precisely because the framers understood that they may find some provisions in the future are not good and additional provisions are needed. >> brangham: scalia was a devout roman catholic who leaves behind his wife, nine children, and 36 grandchildren. the only child of italian- immigrants, scalia was proud of being the first italian-american supreme court justice, as he told a 2015 pbs documentary: >> when my confirmation was final, i got cartloads of mail from italian-americans just expressing their pride in my appointment. i had no idea that it meant that much. queens, new york, scaliang up graduated first in his class at georgetown university and then with high honors from harvard law school. after working in the justice department and as a federal judge, scalia reached the pinnacle of the legal profession when president

. >> brown: earlier that year, justice scalia talked to margaret warner.ed the government's power to tax and impose penalties. >> the issue is not whether congress has the power to tax. the issue is whether in this particular law congress was exercising the power to tax. and in all of our prior cases, we said that even if you -- even if you call it a tax, if it is being imposed for the violation of a law, it's a penalty. and this one wasn't even called a tax. it was called a penalty. >> brown: justice scalia, the child of italian immigrants and first italian-american on the court also spoke of his heritage as here in a 2015 pbs documentary. >> i think for italian americans given what they most abhor which is their identification with crime and the mafia, i wouldn't be surprised if they would be more proud to have an italian american justice. than to have an italian american president. >> brown: >> brown: and now reflections from three legal scholars who head research groups. edward whelan of the conservative ethics and public policy center. he worked as a

. >> sreenivasan: on the newshour online right now: in 1995, newshour's margaret warner profiled a brashg congressman from ohio, who was charged with coming up with the plan to balance the country's budget. yesterday that same republican surprised everyone in new hampshire with a second-place win. watch that original report on john kasich, on our homepage. and don't call them ghost towns. these massive chinese cities are just too new for anyone to live there yet. see the empty skyscrapers and the birth of a new metropolis in a photo essay on "art beat." all that and more is on our web site: pbs.org/newshour >> sreenivasan: and that's the newshour for tonight. on thursday, tune in at 9 pm eastern. gwen ifill and judy woodruff moderate the pbs newshour democratic presidential debate in partnership with facebook from the university of wisconsin, milwaukee. i'm hari sreenivasan. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and by bnsf railway. >> supporting social en