at least four people dead, more than 100 injured as two german trains crash head-on. you're watching al jazeera. also on this show, no going back and no way out. thousands of refugees are desperate to leave as the syrian army wages war in aleppo. police fire warning shots during a night of violence in hong

kong. a construction company in turmoil as tin cans used in apartment collapsing in taiwan. two obtains have clashed head-on south east of munich. helicopters have flown in to help. we under that tens of those injured are in serious condition. 100 in total injured. emergency crews trying to get help to people there. we will have a live update later

on. thousand of syrian refugees are trapped at the border with turkey. as many as 30,000 people are trying to reach safety. turkey has only allowed a small number to cross the border. they're fleeing air strikes pounding their homes. our correspondent is on the turkey-syria border. >> reporter: the whole of aleppo province is a battleground. there are many front lines. the air strikes have been targeting roads as well as towns. the government is continuing with their advance trying to achieve a main objective and that is to reach the turkey border. there are currently approximately 25 kilometers south of that border and there's going to be a big fight, really, in the town. this is a main opposition strong hold. if the government wants to reach that border, it will have to

capture that town. it is heavily fortified. they say they will fight back but can they hold ground in the face of russian air power. as the government tries to reach the border, it is trying to encircle the city of aleppo. we heard the foreign minister make clear that there won't be a ceasefire in syria until the turkish border is sealed because that will block the supply lines and another one is for the international community to agree on who is a terrorist and who is not. it is highly unlikely that the warring sides will talk on 25 february for the peace talks. the civilians are bearing this brunt of the ongoing fighting nongovernmental organizations are compelled to publish the donations of

overseas donations-- details of the overseas donations. the government describes the objections as paranoia. the developer of an apartment block that collapsed in the taiwan earthquake has been arrested. tin cans and foam used as fillers were found inside the structure. the developer has been arrested on suspicion of negligent homicide. 41 people have been killed during the incident. >> translation: towards the end i had given up to save my girlfriend i had to proper myself up against the wall but in the end i had no strength left. i fell on top of her. she would soon not be able to breathe. i had to lay on top of her and

she said it's okay our correspondent is at the scene. >> reporter: rescuers have started using heavier equipment, but they do so only after extensive negotiations with relatives of people trapped inside. their concern, of course, is that any further collapse could endanger the lives of the people they're trying to save. the rescuers insist that they're not bulldozing the site but using the equipment to move the heavy material. they have to bear in mind the relatives of people that know that their loved ones are in the lower parts of this structure, people who haven't been reached by the rescue teams. as the work continues there has been a grim prediction from the mayor that ultimately the death toll from this tragedy will probably be above 100 police in hong kong fired

warning shots during violent clashes which began when they tried to shut down illegal food stalls. the stalls were set up for lunar new year sell operations. -- celebrations. >> reporter: many things thrown at the police. smoke bombs and fires on the street. this are calling these the fish bowl riots. it started when a government department cleared the streets of illegal food stalls. an online announcement asked the public to support the street vendors. what began as a standoff turned violent with more than 300 people on the streets facing off with riot police. the government on tuesday

morning condemned what it called mob activities and violent acts. >> translation: we can never tolerate that. the police will spare no effort to arrest the rioters. meanwhile i would like to live my condolences to the people injured in the riot. >> reporter: police fired two gunshots in the air saying that an officer's life was under serious threat. they say they're investigating whether the riots were organized rather than spontaneous and expect to make more arrests in the coming days. the street celebrations have been a long tradition of the chinese new year. people say the protest was more about food. people are expressing the control of the government in beijing south africa's president is

facing a demand to repay state funds he used to upgrade his home. a court case in johannesberg has been brought about by opposition parties. they're ought raged taxpayers were asked to foot the bill to pay for his swimming pool and theater. we can see people behind you, how is the protest shaping up? they look about ready to start marching in a few minutes. these people are from the economic freedom fighters. they plan to march to the courts. the police are there on stand by. it is about an hour from here on foot. the proceedings have started. it will take quite a while because there are 18 lawyers who are representing all the people who have a stake in this particular hearing. that could go on for a couple of hours. these people are planning to march. it is not just the political party but other opposition

parties also plan to assemble at the constitutional court letter marring to keep up-- marching to keep up the pressure at court. what is expected to happen in court today? >> reporter: the key thing for people, the ordinary south african, they want to know about the power of the public protector. they say in this case of the president, as president can he get away with ignoring the recommendations of the public protector, can he simply not pay or pay a certain amount based on what he determined is the correct amount. people are saying if the president can do what he wants in this country, then i as an ordinary citizen, why should i have to obey the law. are they going to be respected, the powers of the public protector we have seen a few issues

with his presidency. how much is this a threat to his position? >> reporter: he is known as a survivor. he survived rape allegations and other corruption allegations and he has come up quite strong. he has a few more years to end of his term. this is an election year and in urban areas, some areas, they don't seem to be doing very well. so allegations like corruption and other scandals could dent their position at the poll. will the anc lose key areas which could show whether the party is in trouble with the president being brought into court at this matter, how of a precedent is being set here? >> reporter: it is huge. i think most people are saying

they've had allegations and scandals before, but having a sitting president being brought to court, the fact that he is being dragged to court is a big deal. they're saying it means democracy is working in this country. it means that the court process is working in this country. they've seen the politicians, they've seen the rich get away with corruption before. they want to know if the president is held accountable. if he is people will be impressed by the judicial process. if not people will be very disappointed an update now on that breaking news story we told you about at the top of the show. that's where two trains collided in germ. dominic kane is covering the story. casualties, where do they stand at now? >> reporter: so far we know that four people are now confirmed to have died and, perhaps, more

than 100 have been injured. we under that, perhaps, 15 people are described as extremely badly injured, and then another 40 have been described as badly injured. to recap, we know that the incident occurred on a single track stretch of rail line between two towns. these two obtains are very close to the austrian border, on the southern tip of bavaria. it happened at around 6.50 in the morning. the two trains were operated by the bavarian network. authorities are beginning investigations, but so far their task, as things stand, to deal with the injured, but obviously crash investigators are looking

into this. it is clear that this is not an incident involving the high express fast-speed trains such as the ice, the inter city expression trains. those were not involved in this incident. this happened on a single track stretch of the rail line linking bavaria with austria germany has over 63,000 kilometers of track, so train safety is a very vital issue in the country, isn't it. >> reporter: that's right. the fact of the matter is that the rail network here is fundamental to the transport of customers, but also of commons. there are many trips a day, and

they will be at pains to find out what has happened because any suggestion of any problems with the rail network as such could have serious consequences going forward, but, obviously, their main interest right now is to establish what has happened and to provide as much assistance as possible to the people who have been involved in this incident and to convoy information to the families of those involved as well. it is very clear that right now the german nail network will be very keen to find out what has happened to see if there are ways of preventing this happening in future. these trains should not have been on a collision course but yet that is what appeared to have happened thanks for that. still ahead on the show, the first votes are cast in the first primary in the u.s. presidential race.

why rio's famous carnival has become a stage for protests. those stories coming up.

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welcome back. a recap of the headlines. two trains have collided in germany killing at least four people and injuring 150 others. it happened an hour drive's south of munich. investigators are working to

establish why the passenger trains collided head-on, on a single track. thousands of syrian refugees fleeing heavy fighting in aleppo are trapped at the border of turkey. turkey has only allowed in a small number. police have fired warning shots during a night of violence with protesters in hong kong. riots broke out after a government crackdown on illegal street vendors during new year's celebrations. the north korean satellite launched this week is tumbling in orbit, rendering it useless. that hasn't stopped the celebrations in north korea for condemnation of north korea north korean neighbors. >> reporter: south korea's

defense ministry is talk about what it has learnt so far. it says the first, second and third stages automatic appeared to separate successfully as planned. the first stage exploded over the scene may well have been deliberately exploded by the north korean side in order to prevent the south koreans from learning too much from the debris. nonetheless, the defense ministry say that it will be searching for that debris to recover it and find out as much as it can about the current status of north korea's rocket technology. there have been some improvements to that technology since december 2012, that the rocket engines may well be somewhat stronger, the satellite carried by the rocket appears to have been doubled the weight of the one carried last time around and the maximum range of this rocket may be 12,000 kilometers as opposed to 10,000 kilometers last time around.

as for the performance of the satellite itself, the south koreans are not saying. there were reports from the u.s. saying that they think that it's tumbling in orbit and saying it is not useful as a satellite. there are efforts in terms of getting sanctions through the u.n. security council. there were three separate tell conversationss on wednesday between obama, park geun-hye and abe as they try to make sure that north korea is punisheded for this latest action japan's apartment has voted for punishing new measures against north korea. >> translation: we have decided to move towards imposing unilateral sanctions against north korea aiming to resolve the issues of abductions, nuclear weapons and missiles. we will enhance coordination with u.s., south korea and china and russia for a security resolution to be imposed as quickly as possible

it is the first official day of campaigning in the philippines presidential election. candidates have their leaflets printed, their adverts prepared and their itinerarys prepared. a really interesting we could say mix of candidates this time. tell us about them. >> reporter: indeed. you join me in the district of manila. it houses a large proportion of low-income families and this is where one of the candidates is launching his campaign. there are five remaining candidates vying for the presidency. there are two senators, the mayor a city in the south, you have an independent, you have the sitting vice president and

basically this combination of very different personalities, but all offering the same thing. it's interesting that one of the senators, who is actually leading in the polls at the moment, like another, is promising to alleviate the poverty that many people experience on a day-to-day basis. 25 million, a quarter of this population here are living under the poverty line. they survive on $2 a day. they're promising to try and sort that out. even though what you can see behind me is a very exuberant gathering, there is a great deal of voter apathy. they make these promises but

voters feel they don't follow through after elected billions of dollars have been wiped off japanese stock markets that plunged more than 5% on tuesday. nikkei index fell more than 5%. investors were discouraged by markets elsewhere. the macedonia government has begun reinfursing a barrier with the greek border. a second layer has begun. they hope to limit the number of refugees. macedonia began building the fence in november and tightened requirements for refugees travelling from greece. greece is far right political supporters held a demonstration on monday protesting against the country's refugee policies.

the international organization for migration says nearly a million refugees passed through greece last year. police are looking for a mexican crime reporter who was kidnapped from her home. she worked for a newspaper in the state of b acres lacuuze. she was dragged from her house on monday. at least 15 journalists have been killed there since 2010. the first votes are being cast in the first primary of the u.s. presidential race. people in the small new hampshire town began to cast their votes just after midnight local time. voters in the rest of the state will have to wait a few more hours to have their say. our correspondent takes a look at why it is so important. >> reporter: a law passed almost 100 years ago at this place dictates this should always be the place for america's first

primary. that's why it is so important. the politicians come here through the winter to woo the voters. a poor performance here and your signs have to be packed away as well as your dreams with the running for the white house. this man side stepped the caucuses in iowa starting his campaign here >> iowa as wonderful as the people are, it's a place where you can be destroyed. i'm here in new hampshire to start my campaign because this is a direct vote of the direct people in this state. >> reporter: it doesn't matter about the weather or the long hours, if you're a presidential candidate in new hampshire, you have to put in the effort. if the people here don't like it, then this is where your campaign will end. the candidates will spend more

than a quarter of a billion dollars in new hampshire to get their messages across. there is a concern that this place is not representative of the u.s. as a whole. it is overwhelmingly white, fewer new immigrants, higher home ownership rates than the rest of the country, it looks much different to most of america >> the general concern over the economy and job, all that stuff is shared broadly almost wherever you go, the but the two primariess don't have issues with urbanism, race or some of the things that you would find more concerning if you were in michigan. >> reporter: the state has a good record of the winners here going on to secure the nomination from their party. it doesn't always ham. years ago, for instance, when hillary clinton topped the

polls. there are breakfasts, the meetings and the engaging with voters in new hampshire carnival in brazil is often a chance for the nation to forget its troubles and party. this year brazilians are struggling to put these problems behind them >> reporter: a time for samba and good humor as the country struggles through a political and economic crisis. note everyone is forgetting their problems, like this woman who came dressed as a box of basic goods and foods. >> translation: buying the basics has become so expensive. inflation is high and so is corruption on so the poor are

suffering. >> reporter: indeed, this street party is loosely titled, what a mess, the good times on over. an opportunity for people to make fun of their ruling class >> translation: the wife of the president of congress is accused of hiring a tennis champion for $59,000 for private lessons with our money. so we're dressed up with her. >> reporter: at eye parade we run into the current before and former president, both being mocked. >> translation: i'm a billionaire but i have no idea where i got the money. >> translation: men and women of brazil, your light bill is going up 60%. >> reporter: brazil is facing a steeper recession and the president is fighting an impeachment process. these people see their standard of living drop

>> they are back to where they were 10 years ago, because of the rising of unemployment and inflation. that's what is happening in brazil. it is going to be where it was 10 years ago. >> reporter: even carnival is being down sized. here you can see no expense is being spared for carnival, but in other parts of the city and the country many traditional street parades are having to be cancelled for the first time they can't afford it. people say the year doesn't begin until after carnival, but regardless of when they start counting, it is a year that doesn't bode well for their economy a giant cruise ship has been forced to return to port in the u.s. after sailing into severe weather. passengers on board the ship called the anthem of the sees posted pictures on line showing

toppled furniture and glass. they were told to stay in their cabins while the ship was battered by winds and 9 metre waves. it was on a route to florida. that and more on our website aljazeera.com >> this week on talk to al jazeera, director and producer spike lee. >> oh snap! >> we gonna make sure these fools put down these guns. >> lee's new film "chi-raq" tacklesgang warfare in chicago - and the idea that a "sex strike" could help quell it. while it's a satire based in one inner city, gun violence is an epidemic. >> how long will be... will we... will we bow down before the