leonardo's genius, looking at nature for progress. jessica bald win, al jazeera, london. and you can find out much more about many of our stories over on our website, the address to click on to is aljazeera.com, aljazeera.com. ♪ ♪ record turn out and large number of late undecided voters could play the spoilers in nadim baba's new hampshire primary. president obama releasing the final budget of his presidency. the director of national intelligence going before the senate to discuss home-grown terrorism. and the city of ferguson, considers major reforms to its troubled police department and a hefty price tag. ♪

this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm del walters. voting in the first presidential primary is now underway. the polls there have been open for several hours in new hampshire. votes already tall lived in a few small towns including dicksville notch, nine voters voting there. new hampshire officials saying the vote will likely top the high mark set back in 2008. mike viqueira joins us live from manchester new hampshire, and mike how unpredictable is the primary this time around? >> reporter: well, it's very unpredictable, you look at the polling leading up to the real vote, donald trump lapping the field twice as clear as his nearest competitor, the nearest competitor being marco rubio. bern has lead for weeks over

hillary clinton. a lot of people looking at that race, thinking it is going to tighten up somewhat. but there is a large number of undecided voters, and after frantic campaigning, the candidates making their final ditches del. >> several candidates say they need a strong showing today just to stay in the race. who are they? >> reporter: well, there are a lot of questions that will be answered by today's voting no question about it. donald trump as i said leading in the polls. the question is his support sort of a mile wide and inch deep, after all he was leading in iowa in the precaucus polling, and he ended up losing to ted cruz so it will be a barometer of how deep donald trump's support it, whether his operation can get out the vote. ted cruz who of course won that defeating donald trump, won the iowa caucuses, and winning the

expectations game here, because no one expects him to do very well. marco rubio who declared victory in iowa even after coming in third, a lot of people see him falling in the polls, at least the pundits felt that way after a disastrous perform in the debate. and then look at kasick, bush, and christie from new jersey, and the smart thinking is that not all of them are going to survive, matter of fact none may survive unless they do well here to keep the funds flowing into their campaign coffers, into their super pacs and keep people doing the work that needs to be done in the primaries coming up, unless they can stage a surge here, a lot of people are looking for that so-called establishment lane to make an advance. we haven't even mentioned ben carson who has virtually faded into oblivion in terms of the

latest polling. so we'll know some answers around 7:00 when the polls close, del. >> mike viqueira thank you very much. let's go to a senior reporter for the center for public integrity. dave thanks for being with us. no one thinks the polls will be accurate in new hampshire. do you feel the same way? >> new hampshire voters pride themselves on being a countervailing force to whatever happens in iowa. this happens every four years, and a very, very important factor here in new hampshire is the fact that dependent voters can walk up and say, i feel like voting democrat, or no, maybe i feel like voting republican. you can have all of these polls and see the numbers as they are today, but the ultimately results could be at least markedly different, be not for the top tier but the two, three,

and four finishers on the republican side because of the unpredictability of the voters. >> dave, if there is going to be a surprise, who is showing signs of momentum? >> don't expect any surprises on the democratic side. bernie sanders seems to have this locked up, and locked up good. on the republican side, john kasich and jeb bush seem to bes a sending right now. so one of them could bump marco rubio who had a very poor debate performance. ted cruz is somebody who is in the mix, but is having trouble gaining the kind of traction in new hampshire that he did in iowa. chris christie effectively the last stan for him right now. if he doesn't do well, it's difficult to see him performing

well in nevada or south carolina. >> ben carson needed a rest after the iowa caucuses. do you think he will need a rest after new hampshire. >> his campaign may be put to rest after new hampshire. he had a terrible debate performance by all accounts the last time around as well, and he just doesn't seem to be doing much of anything that would indicate he is going to be able to stay in this campaign much beyond new hampshire. maybe he will persist to south carolina and beyond, but the numbers aren't there, the cash isn't there, it seems like a campaign that is on life support for ben carson right now. >> the fact that he is now being call called robo rubio, what are your thoughts on him? >> they have just kept pushing forward as if it didn't really happen. a lot of his own campaign

competitors are making sure to remind voters at every turn that it did happen and they are trying to paint him something who is robotic, he talks in sound bites and nothing else. he doesn't have the ability to talk extemporaneously. but he still has a lot to say, and a lot to say to voters. but again, there have been tens and tens of millions of dollars spent in new hampshire by super pacs and the candidates themselves attacking each other. we saw a really, really dark ad that came out from chris christie hitting marco rubio. >> david joining us from washington, d.c. as always thank you very much. >> thank you, del. president obama just unveiling his last budget. it is unlikely to pass congress. republican lawmakers coming out against the plan even before it was released.

they are already working on their own budget, and say they will skip the customary hearing on the president's proposal. john terrett what are the plans? and are there any surprises? >> reporter: first of all i have to say this is a little bit of political theater. it's a right of passage, every year we get it, and every year quite frankly it elements to a hill of beans. we have some pictures which will illustrate what is happening here on capitol hill today. because it's the government they decided not to send emails, they decided to send the books up just like this. a lot of people thought this was del walters's wages being delivered in cash form to ajam headquarter, but it is the books for 2016. that is the tax proposal just set out by the administration. and president obama they include key issues like education,

criminal justice reform, $4 trillion, a little bit more than last year's budget actually. and you asked about surprises, $10 billion for a clean fuel tax. that's dead on arrival. but it's in there. $7.7 billion for renewable energy. 19 billion for cyber security. and 7 billion, up 35% from the pentagon, their request the better to fight isil. what happens now as you know is it has gone to capitol hill. everybody gets a copy of that book. they will read it and fight over it, and come to some decision on a budget that will look much different. >> my paycheck cash comes in an envelope. but on that note, why are the republicans so against this? >> well, it's politics isn't it? that's what the republicans are doing. it has to be said, things are

potentially a little bit different now, because we have that nice young man, paul ryan as the speaker of the house, and he has made it clear he wants to be a different kind of leader. budgets are literally his thing. he helped to broker the last financial crisis, and i think we have a graphic to illustrate what he has said in the past few minutes. he says: del? >> john thank you very much. investigators on the scene of that deadly train collision in southern germany say it appears the drivers of the two trains likely didn't see each other before the collision. at least nine people died during the mourning rush. german officials saying they

have pulled out all of the survivors. officials say they were on a curve and didn't have enough time to break before they hit head on. hong kong has experienced violence overnight. officers fired warning shots as they tried to push back the angry crowds. the violence began when police started evicting illegal outdoor food vendors during the festivities. >> translator: we can never tolerate that, and the police will spare no effort to arrest the rioters. meanwhile i would like to deliver my condolences to the police officers and news reporters injured in the riot. >> in the past police have been turning a blind eye to the unlicensed food vendors, but they took a strong line this week. the developer of that apartment billing that collapseings in taiwan is under arrest today. 41 people have died so far from that quake.

most were in that one apartment building. rescuers are now working around the clock. they say they there are still people believed to be trapped inside >> ferguson can looking at major police reforms. and voters in michigan taking new steps to remove their embattled governor from office all together.

the senate armed services committee holding a hearing, to

talk about home grown threats. >> this trend will continue for the foreseeable future. violent extremists are operationally active in about 40 countries. the number of migrants arriving in europe is likely to grow that number further this year. rising demand for food and water, poor policy decisions, and inadequate infrastructure will magnify this instability. >> jamie what are the biggest threats facing the united states right now? >> well, it was quite a hearing this morning from the director of national intelligence. you heard just then along where lieutenant general vince stewart who is the director of the dia, i think if you are going to sum it up with apologies to charles dickens it was the worst of

times and the worst of times. clapper described think challenge to the united states as the most diverse array that he has seen in his career. he said both russia and china continue to be very active in cyber threats. he said isil is now the most prominent global terrorism group, eclipsing al-qaeda, and he said while al-qaeda, the core leadership has been dez mated, its affiliates continue to make gains. iran continues to be the foremost state sponsor of terrorism. north korea continues to try to develop a nuclear weapon. the humanitarian situation in syria is deteriorating. the yemeni conflict is headed for a stalemate and afghanistan is at serious risk of political breakdown. when he finished his 15-minute

summary, he referred to it as a litany of doom. as to what to do to counter these threats, he said he didn't have an answer, he sees himself as being down in the engine room, and it's up to the policy makers to steer the ship of state. >> jamie what did they have to say about any progress being made in the war against isil in iraq and syria. >> reporter: he did say that isil is the predominant threat. he did say isil is losing ground in iraq and syria, because in iraq and syria it is acting more like a state. but it is making gains in other areas. the director of the dia said he does not foresee mosul being

retaken this year. also remember saudi arabia said it volunteered possibly to have some ground forces on the ground in iraq or syria to fight isil? the dia director said he doesn't think saudi arabia really has the military capability to follow through on that. so very much a mixed picture in terms of the battle against isil in iraq and syria. >> jamie mcintyre at the pentagon. thank you very much. also in washington the justice department investigating an l edged data breech. hackers saying they have posted the details of nearly 10,000 employees at the department of homeland security. they also plan to release information from about 20,000 workers at the fbi. the data was reportedly received through an email account. the city council in ferguson, missouri expected to vote today on a police department overhaul.

but the city says it can't afford to do it. >> reporter: the city of ferguson says it is $3 million in debt over the unrest that erupted after the shooting death of 18-year-old michael brown by then officer brian wilson. the city council votes to approve a consent agreement with the department of justice. the attorney general's office announced the agreement last month. 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 deals with some attorneys sign it and it is done. we wanted to make sure the public could see the agreement. >> reporter: the most costly

particles for ferguson officers to be paid better than other officers in the st. louis area. the city would have to pay for the cost of adjust advertise department monitor for three years, while increasing diversity training for officers, and installing software to identify officers with overly violent tendencies. if ferguson rejects the agreement, the justice department plans to sue. that could cost the city millions more to defend itself. >> we would like to avoid it will makes. we would like to continue the work we have been doing with the reforms that have been going on for over a year, and really just move us forward as a community. >> john henry smith, al jazeera. closing arguments beginning this morning in the trial of a new york city police, who is

facing murder charges after shooting a young man in a stairwell. he said he fired his gun accidentally after a noise startled him, insisting he had no idea he hit anyone until he heard a woman crying. a state board has approved the first steps towards a recall in michigan. >> reporter: 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. >> my husband and i george came to support the people of flint in all of the disaster that they have had to endure for this past year. >> reporter: most of the petitions many related to the water crisis were tossed out because of spelling or grau

mattic call errors. the petition is very clear. it just only has very few words pronunciations that is wrong. >> reporter: but one of the petitions was approved. it questions snyder's decision to take control of the state office that reforms school. critics say the move bypassed local policies. attention on snyder will only increase ahead of a democratic debeat to be held in a few weeks. bernie sanders wants the governor out of office. >> people will be paying the price for this for their entire lives. and the right thing to do in my view is to resign. >> clean water is not optional, my friends. it is not a luxury. >> reporter: the petition gives organizers 180 days to gather enough signatures to add the measure to the ballel later this

year. the republican presidential candidates denouncing the effects of obamacare have been dealt a huge blow. eight states have seen a significant drop in the notary public of un'em insured residents thank to the new law. and the uninsured falling to just about 9%, down from almost 14.5% a year before obama administration was signed into law. and doctors at johns hopkins say they will soon begin transplanting origins between hiv positive people. transplants from hiv positive donors were illegal until 2013 when president obama signed the hope act allowing them to take place. doctors saying upwards of a thousand lives a year could be saved. a public health crisis amid mardi gras celebrations, the new

concerns over a deadlier form of heroin.

al jazeera america. it is fat. mardi gras and news is celebrating. but this year things might be a little bit subdued. there are concerns over a recent spike in heroin overdozes. >> reporter: as massive crowds take over new orleans for mardi

gras, city leaders are working to spread the word about what they are calling a public health crisis. they are seeing a staggering increase in the number of suspected heroin overdoses. within a two-week period, seven people have died. >> any time your city is 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. >> reporter: dr. peter is the chief medical officer at the university medical center, he says the spike is overdoses is likely due to her win being mixed with a synthetic substance. >> if you are thinking you are injecting heroin alone and it's laced or mixed, it will have a more powerful effect, and the side effects are cessation of breathing. people stop breathing.

>> reporter: heroin abuse has increasingly become an epidemic nationwide. the number of users has increased acrossing men and women. among those 18 to 25, the number has doubled. health officials are encouraging love oned of heroin users to purchase a drug that help reverse the effects of overdoze. >> people can 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. >> reporter: louisiana also has a good samaritan law that allows people to report a suspected overdose without the fear of being arrested. health officials say they are in

no way trying to condone heroin use, but taking these steps is about saving lives. peyton manning celebrating with his 4-year-old twins in disneyland. it was the second time since 1987 disney did not air a commercial right after the super bowl. manning and the rest of the team is now back in denver. hundreds of people are expected to gather for a parade. and beyonce not the only one benefiting from her new music video, so it red lobster it seems. it has boosted sales by more than a third since saturday. it already has more than 13 million views, including the former mayor of new york, who says he finds the song to be offensive. thanks for joining us. i'm del walters in new york. the news continues love from

london next. ♪ syrians in aleppo pounded by russian air strikes, but now russia says it has a plan to end the fighting. ♪ hello there, i'm felicity barr and you are watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up. two passenger trains collide head on in southern germany. nine people are confirmed dead more than a hundred are injured. demands in court for the south african president to repay public money spent on renovating his home. plus -- >> i'm