year doesn't begin until after carnival. regardless when they start counting, it's a year that doesn't bode well for their economy. >> there's plenty of video nationals and comment along with the latest at our website, aljazeera.com. >> it's primary day in new hampshire, getting their say after months of campaigning. police overhaul in ferguson, major reforms considered at a heavity price tag. turkey debates what to do with thousands of refugees running from the fighting in aleppo.

issues polls are open in new hampshire where voters are getting a chance to make their choice in the first presidential primary. turnout is expected to be very heavy today. the votes have been tallied in a few small towns, including a town of nine people, giving bernie sanders and john kasich the early win. we are live in new hampshire, how unpredictable is this primary this time around? >> good morning to you, stephanie. this could be the end of the line for some candidates on the republican side and the beginning of a long fought battle between the survivors and of course bernie sanders and hillary clinton on the democratic side. if the prepolls are to be believed, bernie sanders has a substantial lead he's maintained for weeks now over hillary clinton and on the republican side, donald trump is lapping the field, he has got twice the support of his nearest

competitor, second place being marco rubio. nothing is guaranteed. these polls are notoriously unreliable here in new hampshire. these candidates spent the last few days crisscrossing the state in a last desperate search for undecided voters. >> do you think you've lost any momentum since saturday? >> marco rubio like many republican rivalles needs new hampshire and he seemed to be on the rise here, after a strong third place finish in iowa. then came saturday night and the blasterring attack at the latest republican debate. under fire, he repeatedly fell back on a standard talking point. >> this notion that barack obama doesn't know what he's doing. >> there it is! there it is! the memorized 25 second speech, there it is, everybody. >> an opposition narrative was bonder, the junior senator is too canned, a robot that can't take the pressure. it was the man who led the attack on rubio, new jersey governor chris christie who

finds himself trailing badly in preelection polls. monday, he pleaded on bended knee for support from an undecided voter in the town of hudson. >> i got dirt all over my pants and everything now. i hope i got your vote, man. all right, good! hey! >> the republican leading in the polls, donald trump was challenged at a town hall, a man asking trump if he could look a syrian refugee child in the face and tell him he couldn't go to school in the u.s. >> i'll look him in the face. >> bernie sanders is pulling out all the stops, keeping up a frantic campaign pace despite a faltering voice. >> our government belongs to all of us, not just the 1%. thank you. >> this as hillary clinton and her campaign lagged behind sanders among two key democratic groups, younger voters and perhaps surprisingly women from all age groups. clinton rallied alongside husband, bill, both hitting back at the charge from sanders that

she's too close to wall street. >> senator sanders took $200,000 from wall street firms through the democratic senate campaign committee. you know, there was nothing wrong with that. it hasn't changed his view. well it didn't change my view or my vote, either. >> back in concorde, rubio made his pitch. >> what kind of country is it going to be? >> in the crowd, husband, al, fitting the profile of the classic new hampshire independent having voted for democrats in the past. both now say they are going with rubio on tuesday. >> i decided yesterday, we went to the rubio event down in manchester last night, the superbowl party. i listened to his speech, and that's when i made up my mind. >> you reported the results from up north in the north country as they call it around here. they traditionally vote first at midnight. the polls opened in earnest at

7:00 a.m. it's been going on two and a half hours now, the secretary of state predicting a record turnout. the streets have been plowed, a lot of people heading to the pops will know results sometime after 7:00 tonight when the polls closed. >> it's such a highlight of democracy to see these primaries and this first in the nation, mike. can you talk about the atmosphere there in manchester? sure, there are people sick and tired of this as they were in iowa before this. the incessant ads on t.v., the door knocks, flyers, canvassing, the robo calls. they expect with it thirds of the he willable voters to show up today. most new hampshire people you talk to treat this as a civic responsibility, something they treasure and are very protective of, their first in the nation primary status. it really is something remarkable to see.

obviously new hampshire has its critics. certainly this is a tradition that lives on here despite the frigid temperatures and bad weather. >> new hampshire is that live free or die attitude maybe translates into all those undeclared vote theirs take part in the primary. is there any indication which side they are leaning towards today? >> that the significant portion of the electorate here has been undecided. i think the real question is, is donald trump who again is leading the polls by a substantial margin on the republican side, whether his report is a mile wide and inch deep as proved to be in iowa, will his voters, the departments that support him typically turn out in high numbers or

personals, so that's an open question here. the tickets out of new hampshire, in other words, those who would not be forced to drop out of the race are going to be few and the three governors, christie, bush and kasich are all vying for those tickets out of new hampshire to try to consolidate the mainstream republican base fight against donald trump, who's not animal, mineral or vegetable -- >> quick question, mike -- >> yes. >> who are the cattle behind you voting for? >> i knew you were going to get to that. these folks are here to talk about the plight of small farmers and ranchers. they're from new hampshire. the large one is a scottish highlander steer. his name is curious blue. behind him is his younger brother of two years, bentley. they live on a ranch. they're ultimately destined to be consumed by human beings and prom the bovine to the poor

sign, i was sifting in a restaurant a moment ago here enjig pork sausage and i heard there was a pig walking through the lobby oinking. >> more detail than i expected. mick vick live in new hampshire. thank you, mike. >> we spoke with the political director of nh1 who said the last few hours are particularly important for candidates there, because many voters make up their mind at the very last minute. >> a lot of voters want to see the candidates over and over again in my the last weekend. they still haven't made up their minds until the last day. 40% of new hampshire voters are independents. they want to go with where the action is. it seems it is more on the republican side, polls suggest that bernie sanders is up big time over hillary clinton, so maybe they want to vote on the republican side where so much is

up for grabs. tonight, we really don't know what's going to happen. we are seeing voters angry at washington, at the establishment. bernie sanders has been a politician for 40 years but doesn't look like one, sound like one, smell like one. that's why he has energized the left. just in a way donald trump and ted cruz energized the right. hillary clinton is the establishment. saying basically that she'll be another four years of barack obama. a lot of democratic voters maybe don't want that. >> clinton denies reports that she is planning to shake up her campaign staff, politico saying clinton is unhappy with her campaign messages and digital operations. clinton dismissed that as gossip and said she is committed to her current team. clinton said it would be malpractice oh not to talk about what's working and not working during the campaign. we'll have covering today and tonight starting at

7:00 eastern. investigators on the scene of a deadly train collision in germany say two commuter trains crashed head on. nine died in the accident which happened southeast of mine nick during the morning rush hour. the survivors have been pulled out. the trains were on the tame track. turkey said 600,000 syrian refugees are fleeing the fighting in aleppo. many are camped along the closed border. >> we have talked to our russian counterparts about their continued military activity in syria and the degree to which it's contributing to a lack of humanitarian assistance getting

where it needs to get to, an increase in what we have seen, our credible reports or reports from credible organizations about civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure. >> the state department says john kerry will push for an immediate ceasefire in syria, as well as aid for civilians when he meets with world leaders in munich this week. syrian government forces say fighters are pulling back because of bombardment but opposition forces still control the majority of aleppo. zeina hodor has more. >> the whole of aleppo province is a battleground. there are many front lines. the fact that the russian airstrikes have been targeting roads as well as towns, so people caught in the middle of this conflict and the government continuing with their at vans trying to achieve reaching the turkey border, to recapture the border crossing. there are surge approximately 2t border. there's going to be a big fight

really, in the town, a main opposition stronghold if the government wants to reach that border, it will have to capture this town. the town is heavily fortified, the opposition says we willified. the question is can they hold ground in the face of russian air power. we've seen them withdraw simply because of the bottom pardonment. the government is also trying to encircle the city of aleppo. we heard the syrian foreign minister make clear there will be no ceasefire until two conditions are met, one is sealing the turkish border, blocking the rebel supply lines. another condition is for the international community to agree on who is a terrorist and who is not. the war is on going, it's highly unlikely that the wars sides are going to sit down on february 25, the date of the resumption of talks. the civilians are bearing the brunt of the on going fighting.

>> government officials say it was a very real possibility of regime collapse that prompted russian intervention. president obama is submitting the final budget plan of his presidency, the proposal including $7.5 billion for fighting isil. it has tax hikes, college grants for low income students. republican lawmakers say they won't hold the customary hearing on the plan before coming up on their own counter proposal for 2017. an investigation is underway into a bus accident in connecticut. dozens were hurt when the bus overturned on i-95 during a snowstorm. the bulls was on its way from new york city to a casino. from the great lakes to the northeast, there will be snow for days to come. >> we have a pattern across the country. you can pick this out on the broad satellite, curvature of the clouds northward.

in the west, that's a ridge of high pressure, keeping it dry and warm. we have a trough in the eastern half of the country helping keep things active. one storm system went up the coastline, a little left in new england and the broad area in the great lakes. the two are beginning to merge. this is dropping temperatures, as well. when you add in the wind and there's been a lot of wind with this system, feels like minus 20 in minneapolis right now and some of that cold air, 20 for today in chicago will go down even more tomorrow, hits more of the east coast by the weekend. in the meantime this snow, most is nuisance snow and i say like one or two inches, not too much to have to shuffle with or deal on the roads. the heaviest part of the appalachians, four to six possible and near the great lakes with the wind set up over the next days.

for most of us, it's an annoyance. ferguson considers major reforms that could cost residents more than they bargained for. michiganed governor in the spotlight, voters try to kick him out of office.

the city council in ferguson, missouri will vote.

it is $3 million in debt over the unrest 18 months ago that erupted after the shooting death of 18-year-old michael brown by darren wilson. an agreement was announced as a way of reforming a democratic that it found engaged in questioning police practices. the city has been holding a series of meetings to discuss the agreement and its potential costs. >> most of the time, the mayor goes behind closed doors with attorneys, signs it and it's done. we wanted to make sure residents could see what the product was, weigh in before there was a signature. >> the cost of full 15 the consent agreement is almost $4 million in the first year,

the most costly part calls for ferguson officers to be paid better than others in the st. louis area. it would also mandate salary increases for administrative and fire department personnel. the city would have to pay for the cost of adjusts department monitor for three years while increasing diversity training for officers and installing officers to identify officers with overly violent tendencies, this is in addition to other costly measures implemented, like outfitting officers with body cameras. if ferguson rejects the agreement, the justice department plans to sue. that could cast the city millions more to defend itself. >> we would like to avoid mitigation. we'd like to continue the work that we've been doing with the reforms that have gone e. that have been going on in ferguson for over a year and move forward as a community.

>> there are other elements we have to deal with, including listening to all residents who live in ferguson. may have been listening to and hearing and seeing in twitterverse is that there's a lot of chatter about the city officials not paying attention or following the rules, such as the robert's rules of order. in those cases, that means democracy is not had by all residents and taxpayers in ferguson. furthermore, there are other situations that i have heard of where people have been locked out of public meetings, and that is discriminatory. >> either way, the city council has to vote on this deal today, they have to decide whether or not they are going to make reforms and those reforms are going to cost millions of dollars or fight the feds on this, which is going to cost millions of dollars.

could the reforms end up hurting ferguson citizens more than they help because the city canned afford it? >> it's a good start. here's the other option, there doesn't have to be a city of ferguson at all. there are 90 months pats in st. louis county and if ferguson chooses to dissolve, then those reforms still would be in place, but it would be part of the st. louis county government. >> would they have the money to enact reforms and what would happen to the ferguson p.d. then? >> one, we would probably fuse them in with st. louis county police, and also, those reforms would be necessary in st. louis county anyway. what we have seen in st. louis county and their budget is that there is a lot of movement from one place to another, and we really have to put into place our priorities. our priorities right now is to have diversity training for all

police officers regardless whether they are in ferguson or st. louis county. it is a priority that everyone should be treated equally and fairly. >> after the initial year of the agreement, ferguson officials estimate the annual cost of compliance will be upwards of $2 million. michigan governor rick snyder faces an effort to out of the him from office. it's because of anger over the water crisis and trouble in the state schools. michigan's governor is now facing a recall but not over the flint water crisis. >> it's time for governor snyder to man up and resign or take massive action to rectify this man-made disaster. >> the state board of canvassers heard angry citizens monday. >> my husband and i, george, came to support the people of flint in all the disaster that they've had to endure for this past year. >> most of the 10 petitions, many related to the water crisis, were tossed out because

of spelling or grammatical errors. >> the petition is very clear. it just only have very few word pronunciations that's wrong. >> one of the petitions was approved. it questions snyder's decision to take control of the state office that reforms schools. critics say the move bypassed local policies. attention on snyder and the water crisis will only increase ahead of a democratic debate to be held in flint in a few weeks. presidential hopeful bernie sanders wants the republican governor out of office. >> people will be paying the price for this for their entire lives, how many we don't know. the right thing in my view to do is to resign. >> hillary clinton also made flint a campaign stop this weekend. >> clean water is not optional, my friends. it is not a luxury. >> the petition gives organizers 180 days to gather enough signatures to add the measure to the ballot later this year. snyder says he has no intention of resigning.

a public health crisis in new orleans. the new concern over an even deadlier form of heroin.

in portugal, carnival is underway. it's the biggest festival of the year there and last chance to party before lent. some costumes are planned a year issue advance. fad tuesday is called mardi gras in new orleans.

this year, things may be subdued. as haven't martin reports, there are concerns over a recent spike in heroin overdoses and a deadlier form of the drug in the big easy. >> as massive crowds take over new orleans for mardi gras, city leaders are working to spread the word about what they call a public health crisis. doctors and first responders say they are seeing a staggering increase in the number of suspected heroin overdoses, getting nearly double the number of calls each day. within two weeks, seven have died. >> anytime your city's a destination for a large number of visitors, you want to make sure that those people are aware that anything on the street could be life-threatening to them. >> dr. peter w. is the chief medical officer at university medical center. he said the spike in overdoses is likely heroin mixed with fentanyl.

>> fentanyl is three to four times more powerful than heroin. if you're thinking that you are injecting heroin alone and it's mixed with fentanyl, it will have a more powerful effect. the side effects are the side effects are cessation of breathing, so people stop breathing. >> heroin abuse has increasingly become an epidemic nationwide. the c.d.c. said the number of users that increased among both men and women and across most able groups. among those 18-25, the number has doubled. in new orleans, health officials are encouraging those with loved ones who use heroin to purchase narcan for overdose treatment. it's now available in new orleans without a prescription. >> without a doctor seeing the patient themselves, people can walk in and get this life saving medication and have it available

and on hand in case they encounter a family member or someone who may be having an overdose from heroin or an opioid. >> louisiana also has a good samaritan law that allows people to report a suspected overdose without the fear of being arrested. health officials are in no way condoning heroin use but said taking these steps is about saving lives. nominated for an os core, but as as i sylvester stallones nominated but his black director isn't. no black actors or directors are nominated this year.

>> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello, welcome to another news hour. in doha. i'm adrian finighan, coming up in the next 60 minutes. no turning back and no way out. the united nations calls on turkey to open its boarder to tens of thousands of desperate syrian refugees. nine dead, more than a hundred injured in germany's worst rail crash in years. i'm in new hampshire. i have been asking first-time voters, what do