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the region. >> good morning, vietnam! thousands laugh, but depression drove him to suicide. robin williams is remembered around the world is one of hollywood's greatest comedians. welcome to our viewers on public television in america and also around the globe. we are getting more desperate accounts tonight of the plight of the tens of thousands of people who are still stranded on a mountain in northern iraq. the men, women, and children are minorityom the yazidi and have been driven by their homes from the islamic state, formerly known as isis. >> at last, the men and women

through the mountain reach sanctuary of a sort. families have been streaming over the border in the hundreds into kurdistan, carrying their children and little else, their ordeal etched in every face. the memory of the day that fighters from the islamic state attacked their villages is hard to bear. >> i have tried for 15 years to make a home for us. in a minute, isis comes and destroys everything. we let them because we could not help them, my sister's children. there's news they made it away from isis and are in the mountain now.

>> for the youngest, finally a chance to sleep without fear. though their mothers remain watchful. but for the eldest, simple relief at this chance to sit after their long walk to safety. somehow, these families have with the next enemies waiting on their journey -- hunger and heat. but in everyone's thoughts are those they left behind, unable to escape. helicopters have been delivering least some,uing at but this afternoon on a later flight, this afternoon crashed on a mountain, killing its pilot and injuring many others. they came down the mountain and walked for days to get here through syria to the relative safety of kurdistan, and at last, they are able to get food, water, after days without, but

the aid agency says that while they are doing their best, the needs here are in men's -- immense. for now, they are hunting up the basics while well-wishers from local towns brought clean clothes and food. ali and his family of nine walked for two days through the mountain. there were vehicles ahead to take them to derelict buildings in the nearest town. the refugee camp just on the road is already full with 35,000 yazidi now here taking refuge in kurdistan. they are building more but not fast enough. some people are heading for schools now given over to the refugees. they have no idea where they are going next. all they know is that they with villages now dominated by the islamic state no longer under iraq's control. their fate at the mercy of the shifting reality of the new middle east.

>> the desperate faces of some of those refugees, and the american military says u.s. drones fired on a mortar position manned by jihadist fires this morning, over the weekend, kurdish forces managed to retake two towns near the capital of iraqi kurdistan. our world affairs correspondent has spent the day in one of those towns and looks now at the ongoing military strategy to push back against the islamic fighters. >> the kurds have won back the town, but it is deserted. people are afraid the islamic state will return. if their ownre security forces can protect them. the assault to regain the town. seems a ramshackle affair.

the kurds are able to advance have beene jihadis softened up by american air strikes, but how did such a solidly kurdish town fall in the first place? kurdish troops taught local men with accusations of cowardice. there's a furious reaction. >> we did not bend our need to saddam, and we will not surrender to the islamic state. >> people are still very angry and a little ashamed about what happened here. this town was overrun by isis, and the kurdish forces simply fled. most people recognize it was only american intervention which turned the situation around. this man begs the u.s. to carry out more bombings. he says it's the only way to ensure security. betteramic state has weapons than us, he says.

they need outside help. but airstrikes are difficult, when as the local mayor tells me, the islamic state includes sunni arabs from surrounding villages. some of your arab neighbors sided with the islamic state. can you go back to living with them after this? >> of course not. most arabs are innocent and have no participation in these terrorist activities. distinguishg to between them. made up enemy, then, is of neighbors as much as foreign fighters. the ethnic and religious packwood -- patchwork of iraq is being torn apart. that may be the jihad he legacy, even if the islamic state is eventually defeated. >> as the humanitarian and military efforts continue, iraq is also dealing with a lyrical turmoil. yesterday, the president asked parliament to form a new

government, but today, al-maliki ordered security forces not to intervene in the political crisis. for more, i spoke a short time ago with zalmay khalilzad, america's ambassador to iraq until 2007. what are america's options? >> for the time being, the attacks against isis near kurdistan on the borders of the have helpedon increase the morale of the kurds , and, of course, some of the areas that have fallen to isis, they are retaking it, but the bigger problem, given the threat that isis poses, still has to be addressed. this has been good for kurdistan so far, preventing the possible

, and a comprehensive strategy for how to contain and ultimately defeat isis still needs to be developed and explained and implemented. >> without some kind of political stability in baghdad, that is just not going to be possible, is it? >> one element is certainly that, which is to have a .overnment that is inclusive to start a new has been offered. one should not exaggerate how much he can do. he comes ideologically from the same side as mr. malik e, but he is a different person, more open, more worldly, and, he is lucky in the choice of his predecessor because everyone was looking for a change, but that sufficient toone

address the problem that isis presents. it's a large problem that would have to be a military strategy is well with forces on the grounds similar to what we did in afghanistan in 2001 against taliban. we may need a similar strategy -- >> there is no desire interim united states or in europe to get involved on that kind of scale militarily in iraq again, is there? thehere is not, but i think president probably reluctantly decided to do what he has decided to do. i think that he will need to to do more once the government is in place with iraq . i believe there is a legitimacy to the request that the same sort of thing should be done right now in anbar, on the

.order between syria and iraq counting on the government of baghdad to do everything that is needed to deal with this threat would be unwarranted. it would put too much burden on that government. >> you were serving as american ambassador to iraq at the time that nouri al-maliki first became prime minister. will gohink that now he -- we have had the iranians, a senior official and iran saying that they welcome the new president designate. >> that has been positive today, and also a couple of militias that were supporting mr. malik e -- they also announced their support today, so his position has weakened. i believe that he will go through the legal process. i do not think the courts are

going to get involved, but i think ultimately, he will step aside asking for some sort of a deal. one cannot rule out the possibility he may do something for full, but i think a political deal is the most likely outcome. >> thanks very much for coming in. >> good to be with you. >> a very busy and confusing time in iraq. let's get a look at other news from around the world. ukraine says a russian convoy being dispatched to the east of the country will not be admitted. a convoy of russian trucks is headed to ukraine after agreement was reached on an international humanitarian relief mission, but the red cross, which is due to coordinate the region, says it has no information on what the were carrying over they were going. human rights watch has called for national inquiry into the deaths of hundreds of protesters in egypt last year. it said the killings probably amounted to a crime against humanity, but it broke out when egyptian security forces tried to clear the massive

demonstration of supporters of the ousted islamist president, mohamed morsi. negotiators from israel and hamas held more talks today in an effort to extend the cease-fire in gaza. the discussions are taking place in cairo and have been mediated by egypt. the goal is to get a deal before the temporary truce expires, but it's unclear if any progress has been made to end the conflict. for more on the talks in the situation in gaza, i'm joined now by martin who until recently served as the special envoy for israeli-palestinian negotiations. thank you so much for joining me. do you think that these negotiations between hamas and israel have any chance of , given that hamas perhaps is not so interested, as you said, in peace with israel? >> these are not peace negotiations. these are cease-fire negotiations, and the objectives are immediate and fairly limited , and longer-term and much more

difficult to reach agreement on. i think there is probably a consensus that there needs to be a major humanitarian effort to with the displaced palestinians who number in the hundreds of thousands, and to reconstruct the buildings that have been destroyed. able tohat they are reach agreement on that process and to have the palestinian authority and the international in charge of that. then there is the question of opening the passages, opening gaza, lifting the siege, and the disarmament of all of the terrorist organizations -- hamas, but there are others as well. that is a longer-term challenge that i think they will have a hard time resolving in the

timeframe that they have here, the next 48 hours. >> >> the cease-fire runs out i think tomorrow night. on that longer-term issue, what did you think the chances are of coming to some sort of resolution? you have been involved for a year. you just stepped down in july. do you think there can be any kind of these negotiation here? >> it is hard to see at the moment. i think the basic maxim here is that what was not resolved on the battlefield is not likely to be resolved in the negotiation. there is a grand bargain to be done in gaza, which is that a full reopening of gaza for a full disarmament of the militias and the establishment of one authority, one law, one gun, which is palestinian authority, but i do not see that hamas is likely to go quietly into the night.

as to whether you could move from the situation of war into a resumption of the final status that i was involved in the conduct of, i think that it's going to take a while for the dust to settle, for the anger on both sides, and, indeed, the hatred has been deepened, for that to dissipate, and then we will have to see whether it becomes possible to move from the issues of stabilizing the cease-fire to actually resuming an effort to resolve the conflict. >> he stepped down in july, and the situation was clearly difficult, which was part of the reason you stepped down then. it much harder now. is there a constructive role washington should be playing still in this? >> we certainly are playing a role in terms of encouraging negotiations that are going on in egypt. my replacement, who was my

deputy, now in charge there, and he is working with all sides there. there will be a major effort. president obama has already committed $47 million from the , so we would be actively involved in the humanitarian and reconstruction effort. beyond that, it's too early to say. the egyptians have taken the lead. they are working with both sides now, and we are supporting -- i think if there's a chance to move from that into a formal resumption of the final status negotiations, to be sure the secretary kerry would be all too willing to lead that effort. >> thanks for joining us. you are watching "bbc world news america." still to come on tonight's program, he played everything from an alien to a genie. we look at the world of robin williams as the world mourns his loss.

the world health organization has ruled that experimental drugs can be used to try to stop the spread of ebola in north africa as a spanish priest, infected by a strain of ebola in liberia, died in a hospital in madrid today. more than 1000 people have died in the current outbreak so far, and the world health organization has declared it an international health emergency. miguel contracted the virus when he was working as a missionary in the liberian capital. he was airlifted back to spain last week, and reports said he was treated with an experimental drug. he has died in hospital in madrid. there have been calls for patience in west africa to be given the same drug, which has so far not been tested on humans . now at a meeting in switzerland, the world health organization has agreed that given the scale of the outbreak, the untested drug can be used as long as

certain conditions are met -- one being that all patients give .heir consent >> there was unanimous agreement among the experts that due to the special circumstances of this outbreak, it is ethical to aser unregistered treatment potential prevention or treatment. >> the liberian government says it is getting a limited supply of the drug, which will be used to treat two infected doctors. >> this new drug is highly unlikely to end the outbreak. what is needed is a concerted effort to assist the weak health systems in the affected countries so patients can be isolated. and >> the world health organization says so far the virus has killed 1000 13 people and infected another 1848. what is not known is how many undetected cases are out there.

>> robin williams was known for comedy, but the end of his life was tragic. police say the 63-year-old actor committed suicide by hanging himself in his california home. he was found dead yesterday. williams' career spanned television, film, broadway, and standup routines, and no one could match him in comic improvisation. >> good morning vietnam! >> robin williams brought his own incredible energy and comic twinkle to every role he played. he was funny. he was versatile. and as a president. >> theodore roosevelt, president of united states of america. >> i have no idea what that means. >> flowers were laid outside his

home near san francisco where he was found dead his assistant. presenting his preliminary findings, the coroner said he had been suffering severe depression. >> mr. williams' life ended from a six-year due to hanging. toxicology test it -- testing will be determined to determine if mr. williams had any chemical substances in his system at the time of his death. >> robin williams publicly joked about his addiction to alcohol and experience with drugs. >> three days later, i was kind of like, "ow! boy! why am i in bombay?" the weird thing is you are up and up and up and then you crash, and even the devil is going, "this is not going to go well. cover >> his daughter quoted "the little prince." at a hollywood premiere, some of the biggest names of his

generation echoed that sentiment. >> he is a legend. soon.s gone too he should've stuck around, but that's the way it is. you don't get a second shot. god help him. >> flowers are still being laid on hollywood's walk of fame or a rare man whose character and his characters touch people of all ages around the world. >> robin williams had enormous range as a performer. as well as comedy, he excelled in darker, more dramatic roles, winning an oscar for "good will hunting." we look after his career and his troubled life. >> california, ok. >> robin williams started his career as a quick inking, fast talking, high octane stand up comic. he had a talent for

improvisation and impersonation, which led to his big television break in 1978 as the alien mork. >> come in, mork. a year, 60hin million people were turning onto watch newsweekly clowning and wordplay. but he was much more than a manic, prone to flights of fantasy. the trickyully made transition from being a goofy guy into a nuanced character actor. performance is an inspirational feature in "dead poets society." and he won an oscar for playing a therapist in" good will >> my father, who said -- when i told him i wanted to be an actor, said wonderful

omelette just have a backup like welding. >> he suffered from depression and was played by alcoholics and, and he made it part of his public act. >> when the gods gift you would make kind of talent that robin had, there's a price to pay. there always is. it does not come from nothing. it comes from probably the problems inside. concerned, all sorts of fears. in the end, he would channel the stings and turn them into something gold. "night at the museum" is one of several as yet unreleased projects williams had recently completed. he will be remembered as an extraordinarily versatile comic actor. his work was intimated by his integrity, intelligence, humor,

and impeccable timing. >> thank you, boys. thank you. >> remembering robin williams, great actor, fantastic comedian, troubled man who has died at the age of 63. aboutn find out much more robin williams on our website as well. from all of us here at "world news america," thank you so much for joining us. i will see you back here tomorrow. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newman's own foundation, giving all profits to charity and pursuing the common good for over 30 years, kovler foundation, sony pictures classics, now presenting "magic in the moonlight," and union bank. >> at union bank, our

relationship managers use their expertise in global finance to guide you through the strategies and opportunities of international commerce. we put our extended global network to work for a wide range of companies from small businesses to major corporations . what can we do for you? >>

captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> woodruff: the world health organization sanctioned the use of experimental drugs to treat ebola, but manufacturers say their supplies of the medicine have already been exhausted, as the death toll in west africa surpasses 1,000. good evening, i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill, also ahead this tuesday. despite calls for calm, outrage in ferguson, missouri over the shooting of an unarmed teen by police brings another day of tension and unrest. >> woodruff: plus, remembering robin williams. the oscar winning comedian and improvisational genius, as we learn details of how he died. those are just se