♪ two trains collide head on in germany, at least eight people are killed, dozens are injured. ♪ hello there i'm peter at al jazeera's healdquarters in doha and thousands of refugees are stranded as the syrian army wages war in aleppo. police fire warning shots during a night of rioting in hong kong. plus. i'm in finland where knock here once ruled supreme and now

the eu's economic trouble zone. ♪ eight people are confirmed dead after two passenger trains collided in southern germany and the crash happened an hour south of munich and emma hayward now reports. >> reporter: firefighters use heavy lifting equipment to gain access to part of one of the trains to try to free any passengers still trapped inside. a full scale emergency response is underway involving hundreds of police, firefighters and medics. the accident happened in a wooded area, difficult to access, close to the river bank. one way in was by air and on water. helicopters have been used to try to move the injured and any equipment which might be needed in the coming hours. both trains partially derailed during the crash with some

carriages also overturning. >> translator: two trains crashed on the rail way track which is a single track rail way. the trains crashed head on. >> reporter: at least 100 people are known to have been injured, some seriously. many people on board were on their way to work. investigators are at the scene trying to find out what caused the collision. emma hayward, al jazeera. opposition leaders in syria are calling on the international community to help push back an on going offensive by government forces and thousands of syrian refugees are trapped at the border with turkey and a small number allowed to cross and increased fighting in aleppo providence forced them from their homes and backed by the air power is pounding aleppo and surrounding areas cutting off opposition supply lines and up to 300,000 people are believed

to be trapped in the eastern side of aleppo and now running short on fuel and food and turkish officials say they are offering aid for 30,000 civilians at the border crossing and zaina is on the turkey-syria border with this update. >> reporter: the humanitarian crisis is only worsening. tens of thousands of people are already on the move and those who have found shelter in the border town of azez are packing their belongings and heading to the western side of aleppo and according to doctors without borders the camps no longer have capacity, people are sleeping in the streets so humanitarian offensive continues and trying to reach the border with turkey and wants to reach the crossing and right now there are approximately 25 kilometers south of that crossing and the opposition is vowing to fight back but they are facing

difficulties simply because of the intense russian air strikes, what we understand from activists on the ground those air strikes are continuing, targeting neighborhoods inseed aleppo city as well as the countryside and the providence of aleppo is not a battleground and there is one front line and people in the city are bracing for the possibility, the possibility that the government will be able to encircle the eastern portion of the city. it's their job to watch the skies, civil defense volunteers in the opposition controlled east of aleppo city are on alert whenever they hear the sound of jets. as first responders to the scenes of attacks the volunteers have been busier than usual and russian air strikes continued since the offensive began in aleppo over a week ago and the forces are close to be sieging the rebel held neighborhoods in the city and volunteers say they are the only hope for those trapped. >> translator: there are some

people who are leaving the city because they are afraid of the siege, god willing it won't happen but volunteers and families decided to stay because we need to help the people and fighters who chose to stay. >> reporter: civilians are increasingly helpless and doctors and nurses are overwhelmed and they workout of makeshift clinics because hospitals have been reduced to rubble after years of war, medical workers are now preparing for the worst, the government has besieged other areas of syria where people continue to die from lack of food and medicine and the fear is eastern aleppo will be next. >> translator: we will stay here and remain stead fast but the medical supplies are only enough for a month and a half. >> reporter: the armed opposition is just as defiant and use what weapons they have but the op opponents.

>> we have military plans to confront this and promise the brothers in syria we will fight. >> reporter: there are many front lines in the providence of aleppo and lost territory in the countryside but they are still fighting back. with the help of russian and iran the syrian government is close to encircling the city of aleppo and its troops are approaching the border with turkey and it wants to cut the rebel's lifeline and it already managed to discorrupt their supply lines. there are towns where opposition fighters are still holding ground and it's strategic to prevent the government from cutting off the highway that links this city to opposition territories to the west and this battle is not over but the opposition is under a lot of pressure, the threat of losing its heart land is real, southern turkey. iraqi security forces say they entered the last remaining stronghold in ramadi and iraqi army says they are now flying the iraqi flag and forces moving

forward to clear the rest of the village of fighters and explosive devices and aiming to cut the supply route to the other base in fallujah. compelling nongovernmental to publish overseas funding and the transparency bill passed the first stage and target groups helping palestinians and critical of government policies and the government describes those objections as paranoia, they fired warning shots in clashes when they tried to shut down illegal food stores and they were set up for lunar new year celebrations and we report. >> reporter: bricks and stones from sidewalks thrown at police. bombs and fires lit on a street which just hours before was the scene of new year celebrations. a busy commercial area of hong

kong turned into the setting for what many are now calling hong kong's fish bowl riots. it all started when a government department cleared the streets of illegal food with many selling the local delicacy fish balls and campaigning for more autonomy for hong kong sent an announcement asking the public to support the street vendors and what began as a standoff soon turned violent with more than 300 people the street facing off with riot police. the government on tuesday morning condemned what it called mob activities and violent acts. >> translator: we can never tolerate that and police will spare no efforts to arrest the rioters and meanwhile i would like to deliver my condolences to the reporters and injured in the riot. >> reporter: police fire two gunshots in the air saying that an officer's life was under

serious threat. they say they are investigating whether the riots were organized rather than spontaneous and expect to make more arrests in the coming days and this is a tradition of chinese new year and say the protests are more than just about food and comes at a time when many people in hong kong are expressing concerns about their freedoms and tightening control of the central government in beijing, al jazeera. just to get you right up to speed on a story we are tracking for you, a press conference we are expecting to happen any money now and we will bring it live when we have it and the latest on the aftermath of the crash in hand overand almost on the border two trains colliding head on and at least eight people lost their lives when it happened at 8:00 this morning two trains reportedly allegedly on the same track and they slammed into each other, of

course there is a supposition here it was 7:00 a.m. local time and the trains were full of commuters at that point. we have seen the rescue opposition on going because the rail way track was running parallel to the river at that particular point and there you can see it in our other live shot, one of the trains was derailed as a result of the impact, as soon as that news conference we will bring you the very latest information. the south african president zuma facing a demand to pay funds to up grade his home and the case in johannesburg brought by oppositions and public asked to pay for his swimming pool and ampi theatre and we have more. >> reporter: for many south africans this is huge, a sitting president, never happened before, a sitting president being dragged to court told to repay taxpayers money, money saved to up grade his home in

the province. people say it's about setting a precedence and dealing with corruption and they have one message for president zuma. >> we want to tell zuma to fight corruption because you can't fight corruption while you are corruption and when he is free of corruption he can fight with corruption. >> reporter: he says he wants to repay back some of the money but has not determined an amount, that is up to the auditor general and the finance minister but people are saying that is not good enough and should be held accountable and for the office of the public to take that, that is an independent body where will hold people to account and there they are people charging pay back the money, pay back the money, as far as they are concerned this is much bigger than just pay back a few million dollars or $15 million, in fact, and holding the president accountable and holding officials accountable and for

some they they it's dealing with corruption and the office of the public protector. finland once one of the eu's prosperous countries with nokia and before the global economic crisis and now it has one of the worst performing economies second to greece and in our series disunity dana reports on a potential challenge facing the eu. >> reporter: finland could have less involved with sunny southern europe and in the fourth year of recession and the most northern member of the eu joins greece at the bottom of the economic league table. >> ours are falling behind the euro zone and we have failed to have necessary reforms and things are with getting worse

when things are getting better in other european sort of crisis. >> reporter: harry is a craft beer brewer, part of a generation entrepreneurs who used to work for nokia. >> too much nokia at least the business environment back in that time. now we are several small companies here. we have several, quite a bit of companies that established their offices here. >> reporter: harry brews his beer in the northern city of olu. nokia's former heart land and the boom years brought big salaries and now finland's high wage workforce is too expensive to compete globally and the story of the decline is pretty simple really, once the world's most from dominant and worth

billions of dollars and a chunk of the company and then came apple's iphone and nokia failed to stay in the game and the whole business was swept away leaving only remnants involved in networks behind. dark days too for finland's other main stay, the paper industry in decline because of cheaper pulp and cheaper workers elsewhere and the soup kitchens are filling up. it's no better in the capitol helsinke, ten years ago this food bank served 200 people a day, now the cold and hungry arrive twice a week in their thousands. >> here it's not much people but there are other lines and people getting food and it's very long line and it's getting more and more, we were two years ago first time and now like this year it's getting like double

the size. >> reporter: the government's preferred solution is as austerity and not a bailout but a new euro crisis maybe, al jazeera, finland. development of an apartment block that collapsed in the earthquake has now been arrested, the disaster so far claimed 41 lives and rob mcbride reports from the scene of the rescue operation in the city. >> reporter: it is still the center of a major rescue operation and also become the focus for an investigation into building practices that could have far reaching consequences, there is increasing evidence that the alterations to the design and construction of the complex contributed to saturday's collapse which was

triggered by an earthquake. >> i was very sorry that we couldn't prevent it from happening. >> reporter: she is an architect saying lessons were learned after a much bigger earthquake in 1999 and since then buildings in taiwan had to withstand earthquake but the regulations don't apply to buildings built earlier. >> i think most of the buildings built before 1999 have no guarantees to be seismic. >> reporter: what happened on saturday raised concerns about the regulation of buildings like this one and how the developer was allowed to build it the way he did and now has been detained by the authorities while attention focuses on other blocks built by the same contractor. this apartment block built around the same time and bearing the resemblance to the one that collapsed also suffered cracks as local residents showed up. of course it's scary this man told us, other cracks on walls and pillars raise concerns about

what structural damage there might be underneath. >> translator: i worry about the safety for all of our 300 residents. >> reporter: back at the site of the collapse civil engineers work alongside rescue teams. >> translator: we will be providing a full report. of course we need to learn lessons from this tragedy. >> reporter: long after the rescuers are left the engineers will still be working here, rob mcbride al jazeera, taiwan. still to come here on al jazeera, coming to you from doha and votes cast in the opening primary in the u.s. presidential rates and these are the candidates in new hampshire. plus why rio's famous carnival has become a stage for protest. ♪

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into the stories that are making our world what it is. ♪ welcome back, reminder of the main news so far eight people are now confirmed dead after two trains collided head on in germany, the passenger trains were traveling on the same track when they hit an hour south of munich, over 100 people injured and 50 of them seriously, survivors having to be rescued by air and boat and the crash happened near an inexcessive area near a river. the police fired warning shots during violence with protesters in hong kong and broke out with street vendors during an lunar new year celebration and thousands of syrian refugees fleeing heavy fighting in aleppo

province are trapped in the border with turkey and appealed to help them push back government advances. the north korean satellite released sunday is tumbling in europe rendering it useless according to the united states and has not stopped the people celebrating their launch and all condemnation from north korea's neighbors and parliament is debating the launch as a serious military provocation. the south korean government has been closely monitoring the satellite and it believes the north is trying out new missile technology. al jazeera's harry faucet now from south. >> reporter: well south korea's defense ministry talking about what it has learned so far from the launch on sunday of its long range rocket and says the first and second stages all appeared to separate successfully as planned but the first stage which exploded over the sea to the west of the korean sea may have been deliverly exploded by

the north korean side to prevent the south koreans learning to much from from the debris and defense ministry says they will be searching for the debris and recover it and find out as much as it can and they say there are indications there have been some improvements to that technology since december 2012 and the rocket engines may be somewhat stronger and the satellite with the rocket appeared to be double the weight from the last time around and the maximum range of this rocket may be 12000 kilometers as opposed to 10,000 kilometers last time around and as for the performance itself the south koreans are not saying and u.s. officials say it's tumbling in orbit and is not useful as a satellite. there remains a big effort in terms of the international community to get sanctions through the u.n. security council and there were three

separate talks from president obama and park of south korea and prime minister abi of japan as they try to make sure north korea is punished for the latest action. japan and parliament voted for a resolution condemning the satellite launch and will impose stronger sanctions on xi jinp g jinping. >> translator: we decided to move towards imposing sanctions against north korea aiming to resolve the issues of abductions aren't nuclear weapons and missiles and enhance coordination with the united states, korea and china and russia for a stronger security council resolution to be imposed as quickly as possible. el b's of dollars being wiped off japanese stock markets and niki fell 11,000 led by brokerage firms and spooked by market turmoil in u.s. and the

yen which will hurt exports. the first votes have been cast in the opening primary of the u.s. presidential race, people in the small new hampshire town began to cast their votes after midnight local time and visitors in the state will have to wait a few hours to have their say and follows the caucus votes in the state of iowa and how does the system work? well a caucus is a series of local gathers where supporters or family members vote for preferred candidates observe by raising them and the primaries have it where a voter can cast a ballot with the candidate and caucuses and primaries determine which delegates attend delegations later in the year when the final democratic and republic candidates will be confirmeded and allen fisher is in new hampshire looking at why this northeast state is so

important. >> reporter: a law passed almost 100 years ago at the splendid house in new hampshire saying this should be the first primary and why it's so important and politicians come here to woo the voters and the decision here spreads through the country after the performance and the launch signs have to be packed away for dreams at a run at the white house. >> organize people across the country. >> reporter: jim gilmore is a republican and wants to be president and side passes iowa and starting his campaign here. >> iowa and the people have a very difficult process to participate in and that is a place that can destroy candidacy and did destroy four. instead 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 hours and long hours and if you are here you have to

put in the effort and if people don't like it then this is where your campaign will end. the candidates will spend a quarter of a billion dollars in new hampshire to get their message across. it's a bonanza for local businesses every four years but there is a concern this place is not representative of the u.s. as a whole. it's overwhelmingly white with fewer new immigrants and higher home ownership rates than the rest of the country and bets the candidates for an america that looks much different. >> terrorism and i.s.i.s. and you know the general concern over the economy and jobs and so forth, all that stuff i think is shared pretty broadly no matter where you go but the first two primaries don't have a lot of concerns with things like urban issues or race or some of the things that would -- that you find being more concerning if you were in michigan or south carolina. >> reporter: the state has a good record of winners here going on to secure the

nomination from their pattern and doesn't always happen because years ago hillary clinton topped the polls and when they think of the white house they think of the situation room and the global tours but before that comes the breakfast, the meeting and engaging with voters in new hampshire. allen fisher, new chester, new hampshire. looking for a mek -- mexican newspaper and she worked for a newspaper in vera-cruz and dragged by her house with armed assailants on monday and 15 have been killed here since 2015. carnival time in brazil often a chance for the nation to forget its troubles and have a really good party but brazilians are finding it hard to escape the realities of a health emergency, political crisis and failing economy, and we are from rio. >> reporter: carnival in bra l

brazil, a time for samba and good humor as the nation struggles through an economic and political crisis but not everyone is for getting their problems like this woman who is dressed as a basic goods used to measure the cost of women. >> finding the basics is so expensive and inflation is high and the corruption so the poor are suffering. >> reporter: indeed this street party is loosely titled what a mess, the good times are over. an opportunity for revelers to make fun of their ruling class. >> translator: 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 are dressed up as her. >> reporter: at another street parade we run into president maruseff and silva both being

mocked. >> i'm a billionaire and no idea where i got the money. >> reporter: men and women of brazil to let you know your light bill is going up 60%. brazil is facing a steep recession and the president is fighting to avoid an impeachment process, this as brazilians see their standard of living drop. >> they are now going back to where they were ten years ago because of the rising of unemployment, because of the rise of inflation and so that is what is happening in brazil and they are going to be where it was ten years ago. >> reporter: even carnival is being down sized. here as 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 being cancelled because for the first time they can't afford i. brazilians say the year doesn't

begin until after carnival but regardless of when they start counting it's a year that doesn't bode well for their economy, al jazeera, rio. quick reminder for you and you can keep right up to date with all the stories on the website, al jazeera. "on target" tonight. adding insult to injury. why so many employees who are seriously hurt on the job end up getting their workers comp claims denied. plus going undercover. how investigators try to stop insurance fraud and cheating the system. hundreds of thousands of american workers seriously injured on the job each year depend on the money they get fromke