>> hello, and welcome to the news hour, live from our headquarters in delhi with your top stories around the world. ukraine said it wants to join nato as a new front opens with pro russian separate i was in done effect. the number of syrian refugees hits 3 million. the u.n. is calling it the biggest humanitarian emergency of our time. britain raises it's terrorist threats to the second

highest level, expecting that an attack is highly likely. >> it's a threat to our own security here in the uk. >> and ebola spreads to a fifth west african country, senegal. we'll have the latest from our reporter. so two big stories dominating the news. there are now 3 million syrian refugees. that's a new, grim world record. we'll get get to that story in just a moment. but first, to ukraine, and the top separatist rebel surrounding the troops in donetsk, says that he's willing to let them go. >> reporter: this was a call from the russian president to provide the encircled army with

human corridors to prevent unnecessary bloodshed. we are ready to give them these corridors. if you don't take heavy weapons and ammunition, so these weapons and ammunition in the future could not be used against us. >> meanwhile, at nato's emergency meeting, russian troops are in ukraine and violating it's sovereignty. >> russia continues to supply the separatists with tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and rocket launchers. russia has fired on ukraine from both russian territory and within ukraine itself. moreover, russia continues to maintain thousands of combat ready troops at ukraine's borders. >> and now ukraine's prime minister said that he wants his

country to join nato. [ foreign dialogue ] >> interpreter: the ukrainian government will submit on the status of ukraine and the policy of achieving nato michelle obama, also, according to the law, the principle and sole object of ukraine's foreign policy is acquiring european union membership. >> the russian president accuses kiev of behaving like that it disease in the east of the country. [ speaking russian ] >> interpreter: small towns and big cities are besieged by the ukrainian army, shelling living quarters, and infrastructure and those who fight against them. it reminds me of the events of world war ii when nazi german occupiers laid siege to our city, and were directly shelling the cities, killing the residents. >> lengths just focus on the

promise bill the rebels fighting in the east, to allow the ukrainian troops to withdraw from the battlefield. russian separatists are in control of large parts of eastern ukraine, including luhansk, and donetsk. and the fear is that they're trying to create a land bridge into crimea, and the separatists say that that's where they're getting help from russia. paul is in southeastern ukraine. >> reporter: it would be difficult to underexaggerate the soldiers on the checkpoints here on the eastern fringe of the city. and in the last hour or so, there was an unexplained alert, actually, and it was all calmed down quickly. but it gives you an indication of just how on edge the soldiers are here. 25 kilometers to the town,

which has been occupied bring separatists and russian forces for the last couple of days now. and the defensive positions around maria pole have been strengthened in the last hours. the residents have come out to dig defensive trenches on the road that we're on at the edge of the city. and the army is in southern pockets of the ukraine now. this by defensive by the separatists is making significant inroads. >> now, let's get the view from moscow, and peter sharp is there. >> president putin was speaking outside of moscow, and he said that it's time for kiev to begin talks with the separatist rebels in the southeast. and he said that the caulks should not just be about, but

rights that the people in the southeast region can expect. and he also compared the actions of is the ukrainian military with those of the german troops in the second world war. sadly, he said it reminds me of the events of world war ii when the german troops would surround our cities like lennon grad and shoot point-blank at the population and the people. meanwhile, moscow is bracing itself for more sanctions, suspecting it to be unveiled in the eu meeting in brussels on saturday. in moscow, very nervous. the ruble fell to its lowest point in russian history. 3 million, around 5,000 a day, the united nations said that it's the biggest humanitarian emergency of our time, and not enough is being done to help. when the fighting began three years ago, few predicted just how quickly the refugee total

has risen. by december of 2012, the u.n. agency said the number of syrians who had left the country had crossed the 500,000 mark and the number doubled three months later. and it only took six months for that number to swell to 2 million. and now a year later, 3 million syrians have crossed the border in search of safety. the bulk of them are in lebanon, turkey and the rest in jordan and egypt. we have our correspondents in egypt, and in a moment, we'll hear from a refugee camp in iraq. >> in makeshift refugee camps like the one you see behind me, 200 families live in these tents, and they don't have much. one example is a shortage of haur.

water. they are using it to shower and to drink. and all over lebanon, most of them are living in similar miserable conditions. >> they endured the loss of their home and settled in tents, they endured the snow and the cold. extreme heat and lack of water and electricity. lost their jobs, lived on food rations and survived on people's charity. but almost all refugee parents will tell you that their children not going to school is one of the most devastating be aspects of their refugee life. he came from aleppo a year and a half ago, his 14 children have not been to school in two years. if they don't learn now, when will they, he says bitterly? >> it's a crime that these children are not going to

school and learning, but there's not of i can do. >> . >> but it hurts, he says, his wife is at a loss for words. in syria, al they didn't want to leave syria despite the violence. she forced them to come here, and now none go to school. instead, her daughters now, like many others, are working the field to help support their families and making a shelter in this settlement. less than 14% of syrian refugee children are enrolled in school across the region. in lebanon, 70% of refugee children are not receiving any form of education, and the dropout rate is on the rise as the number of refugees increase and the funds to help them

decrease. some refugee children are lucky to be enrolled in schools in lebanon, but they have to catch up with a curriculum they're not familiar with, and the public schools are oversaturated. some offer basic schooling, bull the children won't get any credit or certificate for t some of the refugee children have not been to schools in three years, and it's unlikely they will be able to enroll this year. his seven children have not been to school in two years as well. >> my children's future is destroyed. we used to dream that our children would become doctors or engineers, and now our ambition is to find a place to sleep in, and to stay alive until the next day. >> she was due to start college this year, and she was top in her class until she came to lebanon, but she has not been able to go to school. >> i studied hard in syria, i

studied hard. it all went to waste. it's all destroyed. a whole generation of syrians is under threat. and so is the future of syria. and the presence of the syrian refugees here in lebanon has cost the country $7.5 billion according to them. >> iraq is home to 700,000 refugees, but people in iraq's refugee camp are trying to keep their lives as normal as possible. >> the syrian refugee camps, 50 kilometers from the syrian border, cooking some fairly delicious food in a restaurant that's being set up by one of the syrian refugees. he came here two years ago with just the shirt on his back, but unlike the other refugees, he's

at this restaurant. i told you about the islamic state fighters in iraq, they came within 30 kilometers of the refugee camp two weeks ago, and they have been pushed back, and i said to him, are you worried? he said many people are worried. if they come back, they will send the women and children away and join the fight with the peshmerga. this is quite an establishment here. it started just over four years ago, and the refugees have been here for some time. there's air-conditioning in some of the little houses. 40,000 of the syrian refugees are staying here. of the 200,000 that came across, and it's not just the refugees that are staying as the numbers are growing, but it's going the other way. we are hearing that 300 of the refugees are going back to syria every day because they're so worried about the islamic state threat.

but just to show you how things are going on in the refugee camp. this is a wedding dress shop. a number of weddings are still going. >> we'll have more on the syrian refugee crisis for you. she has been to a refugee camp in jordan, and she has been speaking to them following their journey through syria. you can also head to our website. where you can he so a a special feature on the refugees, how the number is increasing by the hour. that's all on aljazeera.com. the united kingdom has raised its terrorist threat level to severe. the government says that that means a terrorist attack is highly likely. but there's no intelligence to suggest that an attack is imminent. prime minister, david cameron, explains why. >> with isil, we're facing a terrorist organization not being hosted in a country, but

seeking to establish and then violently expand it's own terrorist state. it was designed to expand in jordan and lebanon, right up to the turkish border, we could be facing a terrorist state on the shores of the mediterranean and bordering nato. we can't appease this ideology, but we have to confront it. we need a tough and comprehensive approach to defeat the terrorist threat at its source. >> let's talk about this. the security and counter terrorism specialist, also the founder of corporate protection, joining us, and you heard the press conference given by david can ron, and what did you make of the reasoning behind the increasing terror threat level now? >> prime minister cameron eluded quite specifically to isis as the primary subject

matter on counter terrorism measures that the government is seeking to bring in or to introduce. it was interesting that isis did fall as the main part of that. and the great concern that we have here in the united kingdom, bearing in mind that there are 500 british nationals who have joined the ranks of isis. >> did you get any sense or idea of how david cameron and the government of the uk plan to stop more britains from going to iraq and syria? just like you said, the uk estimates that there are about 500uk nationals fighting. >> certainly, in terms of the preventive measures, and whether that be the confiscation of passports or even the denial of nationality, these are the two measures that he eluded to within his statement. but we always stand at a high, and have done for many years, a critical level against the

threat. and though the threat has not been raised for the last three years, this could coincide with the large nato summiting carried out in the next week in the united kingdom and wales and we have the top brass in attendance. this in itself presents a considerable terrorist risk, and from sources that i've spoken with, there has been chatter around this event, which evidently would lead to the security in the government. we need to raise the general public's awareness as well. >> and what sort of measure will be put in place, in your opinion? >> certainly, they would try to identify and isolate those individuals that are a, working and fighting alongside of isis, but also, the counter measures in the united kingdom. and this would ultimately involve joining up with the local communities.

and there's a debate on how that best can be done. the fighters aren't necessarily just radicalized individuals, but some of them from a socioeconomic level are seeing opportunities out there which they don't necessarily have in the united kingdom. >> thank you for joining us. coming up on the aljazeera news hour, days after a ceasefire from hamas and israel, gaza dictates the lives of palestinians. and the latest on the plot to kill a former rwandan general. and a panel for domestic violence. those stories later in sports.

>> senegal is the latest country in africa to have an ebola infection. the scientists fear that it's mutating quickly, and it could reduce the effectiveness of the vaccines being developed. looking at this graph from the world health organization. it was released in the last few hours, and what it shows, the cases of ebola in west africa reported in march, and last week saw flu cases more than any other week since it began. >> a welcome edition in the fight against ebola. in the laboratory, one of just two in the country, the case for ebola was closed this week after a member of the staff caught the virus. the facility has been open in a few days, but it's in high demand. >> in the past, if you wanted to test ebola, you would have to send the specimens overseas,

and the results would be issued only after a few days, or a week or even longer. here we can issue the results, since we see the specialists, we can issue the results within three to five hours ago. >> the agency, unicef, has donated them to the government, to help them reach remote villages. the outbreak has already changed the lives of thousands of children. >> with an average of five children orphaned with each parents who dies of ebola, there are thousands of children made orphaned by the epidemic. >> clinical trials in the u.s. are likely to start next week, and in the u. and next month. the development takes ten years. glaxosmithkline hopes to start

the clinical trials by 2014. they have tested them on chimpanzees, which have been known to catch ebola. the flu virus and the proteins from the ebola virus have been shown to be safe in humans, but a study just published shows that the ebola virus is mutating fast and this could blunt the effectiveness be of diagnostic tests and experimental vaccines. >> from long experience with developing vaccines, you have to be careful putting it into humans, that above all, it's safe, and there are no unexpected adverse reactions, and that's why you go in very slowly with very few people, and you follow them carefully. >> with a number of cases in new guinea and sierra leone, it could take months or years to bring the outbreak under

control. >> let's find out a little bit more on that first case that has now been detected in senegal, and joining us on the line, first tell us about this particular case. well, this morning, announced by the health ministry in the conference here, and we got a bit more details. this first case of ebola in senegal. it's a guinea national, so they share the 300-kilometer border with guinea, and there's a lot of traffic between the countries, and they have the largest migrant population. he's a student in guinea, and he went into a local clinic in dakar on tuesday, complaining of symptoms, vomiting and high fevers, and the doctors asked him about his medical history. had he been in guinea and been in contact with anyone who

contracted the ebola virus. he denies being in contact with anyone person that has ebola. often the doctors took blood samples, and it turns out that he was lying, and he was in fact in contact with people who had ebola, and in fact members of his family. quickly he was put into quarantine in a hospital here in dakar. and these are the bits of information that we know. obviously the health authorities are prepared, being that senegal has such a large border with guinea. it's not so much what was told, the details, but what wasn't told to us. the information that they refused to tell us. we asked, which neighborhood did this citizen come from? and is anybody else quarantined? are there any other people that have come into contact with him? all of this information, which the authorities know, are not being given to the public.

and the reason for this is the medical authorities fear that if we give details about the patient, people will come to help the authorities. >> what was seen happening in countries like guinea and liberia and sierra leone, where the disease has spread. and the w.h.o. is reporting that last week, there were many new cases in these countries, so when it comes to senegal, what is the plan to stop the transition and to contain ebola? >> that's exactly the question that we asked the health minister, and she says that it's a question of getting more health authorities on the ground, informing people about the ebola virus. you know, a lot of people are ignorant about the fact that you can only contract the disease if somebody is showing

symptoms. there's a lot of misgivings and misinformation about this whole issue, this whole virus, and bear in mind that for 17,000 people, there's one doctor. so the ratio to doctor-patient is incredible. so they're trying to disseminate the proper information to the public. >> all right, so nicholas, thank you for giving us that. nicholas reporting now, and senegal is the latest country to be infected with the ebola virus. one person there infected. well, the attempted murder for a general in south africa was politically motivated. and that's according to the magistrate who delivered the verdict on friday. he found four accused of killing a former ally from

rwandan president. >> six men accused of attempted murder were pawns of the rwandan government. they believe that two were acquitted but four were found guilty. the men that they tried to kill, the rwandan president to power. and the general fled to south african. he was shot soon after, blaming his former ally and the rwandan government. he says that it should be a message. >> the message is that they should not -- they should discuss political issues, that should be the message. that we should not [ unintelligible ] we should find a solution to the problem. >> he has always denied any involvement in the attack. but the accusations aren't unique.

both swedish and british security forces have warned dissidents of threats against their lives, believed to have come from the rwandan government. and earlier this year, south africa expelled several rwandan diplomats over the killing of a dissident in a hotel. there was far more to it than the men accused before him. >> ... it was therefore politically motivated, emanating from a certain group of people from rwanda. >> throughout this four year trial, the rwandan government has had an observer inside of the court who has consistently denied any threats or attacks on other dissidents here in south africa and around the world. sentencing will be next month. before guilty verdicts came as some relief from the general and his family, but he still

believes that his life is in danger. tawny page, aljazeera, johannesburg. >> pakistan's army intervenes after weeks of government protests, and we'll have the latest. filling up with fuel in indonesia, but it looks like petro is about to get a lot more expensive, and something has got to give. coming up in sports, serena williams storms into the third round of the u.s. open. we have reaction from flushing meadows, and that's on the way. stuart! stuart!

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the new al jazeera america mobile app, available for your apple and android mobile device. download it now russian incur jens, probes aid convoys whatever they are, they are now morphed into something else, what more and more in ukraine, and western capitals seem comfortable with calling an invasion. it is inside story.