refugees. according to the u.n., more than a million registered refugees are in both lebanon and neighboring turkey. jordan is host to more than 600,000. iraq, nearly a quarter million. joining me to help put all this in perspective is chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner. margaret, how big? what is the scope of the problem we're talking about in lebanon? >> it's absolutely huge. lebanon is being swamped in proportion to its population. so right now more than a quarter of the people living in syria -- living in lebanon are syrian refugees. in other words there's 1.2 million probably another half million that don't register with the u.n. on many accounts lebanon has the highest number of total refugees because they have all the palestinians from 40 to 60 years ago in the world. so it's been a huge strain on resources. there are some towns where i'm told there are more babies born to syrian mothers than lebanese mothers. there are some schools where there are more syrian children trying to get into the schools than lebanese children. apparently the new restrictions w

. >> ifill: well, let me ask anthony banbury after 90 days as the head of the u.n. effort, where does the global response stand? >> the global response is actually in very good shape. i think, just as senator coons described the progress that's being made in liberia, we're starting to see similar progress in sierra leon. we're a few weeks behind where we were in liberia, but the response capabilities are being put in place in sierra leon particularly the main hot spots around freetown an and area called port loco. we're also seeing the response grow in guinea. so i think we're going to see the numbers go down, the total numbers go down in all three countries in the weeks ahead. but what's going to happen, what's already happening, is the disease is spreading geographically. it's becoming more dispersed and that means we need a lot of capabilities spread across the three countries and that's going to be a big challenge going forward. >> ifill: senator coons, does the u.s. military effort you described have to remain open ended for now? >> well, i've called on the pentagon to change str

that could be arrange with the u.n. or some other means. >> i should like to see the u.n. attempt to exercise good decisions because whenever there's any kind of fighting and open violence in the world there is always -- it's always sort of a powder keg. >> it's my understanding that's what the committees of congress is for and that's is what the people who appear before the committees are for and i can't be expected to take the details of a volume like that which i forget the number of pages, and explain it in detail to individuals anywhere. >> tomorrow the second anniversary of your inauguration, i wonder if you would care to give us an appraisal of your first two years and tell us something of the hopes for the next two or maybe even the next six. (laughter) >> looks like a loaded question. >> woodruff: so the press was just as respectful then as it is today. >> woodruff: again, the major developments of the day. americans marked this martin luther king holiday with marches, rallies and church services, and with new emphasis on addressing racial divisions. and heavy new fighting h

united nations. but a spokeman for u.n. secretary general ban ki-moon condemned the violence. >> the secretary-general is gravely concerned about the deteriorating situation in yemen. the secretary-general calls on all sides to immediately cease all hostilities, exercise maximum restraint, and take the necessary steps to restore full authority to the legitimate government institutions. >> ifill: the u.n. security council held an emergency meeting this afternoon, and issued a statement saying president hadi is "the legitimate authority" in yemen. >> woodruff: investigators in indonesia have concluded an air- asia plane was climbing much too fast before it crashed last month. the transport minister said today the jet was rising at 6,000 feet a minute. that's more than triple the normal rate, and it could have caused the plane to stall. the pilots had asked to climb to avoid a storm, but ground controllers denied permission. >> ifill: in economic news, the international monetary fund lowered its forecast of global growth for the next two years. and, china reported its growth in 2014 was

killing themselves. a u.n. relief agency has suspended aid to palestinians who lost their homes in the gaza war last summer. officials say the u.n. program ran out of money because donor nations gave only $135 million dollars. they had pledged $720 million. in poland today, a somber remembrance marked the liberation of "auschwitz", the nazi death camp where jews and others were systematically murdered. it was overrun, 70 years ago today by the soviet army. paul davies of independent television news has our report. >> reporter: enclosed in a giant tent, the gates to the world's most notorious death factory as 300 of those who survived its evil gathered to remember more than a million who did not. >> how can one erase the sight of human skeletons? just skin and bones but still alive. >> reporter: these stories of loss and suffering make the most painful of hearing, but there is a determination that these stories and the lessons they carry will not be lost. director steven spielberg has been collecting the stories and today he released a factual film to constantly remind the world. >> rep

. abdullah explained his views on such groups before the u.n. general assembly in 2008. >> ( translated ): the problems of the world are caused by people rejecting the principles of justice. terrorism and crime are the enemies of god and every religion and civilization. >> woodruff: in online postings today, supporters of both al- qaeda and the "islamic state" cheered abdullah's death and painted him as a u.s. puppet. but secretary of state john kerry spoke in glowing terms, in davos, switzerland. >> and i was privileged to spend many hours with the king, as a senator and particularly over the last two years. i saw him a few months ago. he was obviously not well, but he was courageous, great sense of humor, even in the midst of all the crises. >> woodruff: the crises fall now to king salman, who's 79. he's already moving to ensure the line of succession, naming his 69-year-old half- brother muqrin as crown prince, and his nephew, mohammed nayef, age 55, as second-in-line. salman faces the immediate challenge of yemen, on his southern border, where the government has fallen to shiite reb

two israeli soldiers and a u.n. peacekeeper yesterday. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu blamed the violence on hezbollah's main supporter. >> ( translated ): it is iran that is responsible for yesterday's attack against us from lebanon. this is the same iran that is now trying to achieve an agreement that would leave with it the ability the develop nuclear weapons. we will continue to defend ourselves against all threats near and far away. >> ifill: the flare-up followed an apparent israeli air strike that killed six hezbollah fighters and an iranian general inside syria earlier this month. >> woodruff: russian-backed rebels in eastern ukraine expanded their push today to seize more territory. the separatists announced they'd nearly encircled a government- held town north of donetsk that hosts a key railway hub. at the same time, more artillery fire smashed into donetsk itself. reports varied on civilian casualties, but ukraine's military said five soldiers were killed in the last 24 hours. >> ifill: the number of new ebola cases in west africa fell below 100 this week,

killed two israeli soldiers, and the israelis fired back. a u.n. peacekeeper from spain was also killed. it was the deadliest incident on the 50-mile-long frontier since hezbollah and israel fought a war in 2006. the israeli military answered today's attack with air strikes and artillery fire. and, prime minister benjamin netanyahu warned hezbollah to back off. >> ( translated ): whoever is behind today's attack will pay the full price. in all of these events, our mission is to defend the state of israel. our only consideration is the security of the state of israel and its citizens. thus we have acted and thus we will continue to act. >> woodruff: hezbollah said its attack was retaliation for an air strike that killed six of its fighters, just inside syria, earlier this month. israel has never confirmed or denied a role in that strike. >> ifill: new england began digging out today from a blizzard that dumped as much as three feet of snow from connecticut to maine, as temperatures plunged. martha's vineyard was hard hit and the entire island of nantucket lost power. with mountains of sn

settlements. abbas acted a day after the u.n. security council refused to demand an end to israeli control in the west bank and east jerusalem. >> ( translated ): we got rejected. this is not the first and not the last time. we are steadfast until we get back our rights. they don't want to give us our rights. but the security council is not the end of the world, and the last session is not the end. >> ifill: israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu condemned the palestinian move, as did the u.s. state department. kurdish forces in northern iraq launched a large-scale offensive against islamic state fighters today. the target was an extensive area east of mosul. the city has been held by the militant group since june. u.s. and coalition planes conducted a series of air strikes in advance of the kurdish assault. new year's celebrations turned deadly this evening in china. state news reports said 35 people were killed in a stampede in downtown shanghai, shortly before midnight. elsewhere, sydney, australia was one of the first major cities to welcome 2015. more than a million spectat

today, the u.n.'s refugee agency said the growing trend of migrants undertaking dangerous sea journeys to europe "can no longer be ignored." for more on this, i'm joined by daryl grisgraber of refugees international, she has interviewed migrants who have made this dangerous journey. why is it that they're abandoning these migrants in the ships on the middle of these dangerous routes? >> it's an easy way to make money frankly. people can be charged the smuggling rates, get them on the ship, take them out into the water and instead of risking getting them all the way to shore being caught by the coast guard or being prosecuted, you can just leave the ship there. they have the idea these people are civilians and maybe things won't be so bad for them. >> sreenivasan: what were people paying? >> $2,000 to $5,000 u.s. dollars. >> sreenivasan: quite a lot money in that world. >> yes. >> sreenivasan: what are the key drivers forcing these people to find a better life? >> yeah, originally, in the country that they're coming from, take syria for example there's a conflict right? people

subject of a best-selling book and testified in front of the u.n. commission of inquiry about north korean human rights violations. there, he spoke about how he was tortured in prison and described his harrowing escape. shin is sticking to the broad outline of his earlier accounts but he now admits that the time and location of certain events were incorrect. today he posted a message on facebook to apologize and wrote, "every one of us have stories or things we'd like to hide." back in this country, the federal aviation administration has suspended a program which had allowed safety inspectors to skip security checkpoints while on the job. the decision follows tuesday's arrest of an faa agent at new york city's laguardia airport. he had carried a firearm in his carry-on bag after bypassing security checkpoints at hartsfield-atlanta international airport. investment by venture capitalists into start-ups is surging. measured by dollars, it was up 61% last year over 2013. this, according to a survey by the national venture capital association and pricewaterhouse. the single biggest ben

the least-effective cease fires in recent history. the u.n. estimates more than 1,000 people have been killed after it was signed and are these rebel forces emboldened by the fact they have this military support coming in from russia? >> i think that's the case. without the russian backing the separatist movement would have crumbled or struck a deal long ago. now they say they want to expand their boundaries and ultimately achieve a more sustainable mini state here in eastern ukraine glarp so what about the leverage that the west has? i mean, the sanctions have been in effect. it's squeezed russia's economy. the price of oil has tumbled. we don't really have any more levers to pull. >> there could be additional sanctions. that seems unlikely given the sanction fatigue in europe. other than that, there's only hand wringing. most western governments have said they will not join this fight militarily, given russia's strategic importance and nuclear weapons. and at this point, there are not a lot of breaks on the rebel movement here in eastern ukraine. we have attacks on the donesk airport