back next year, indeed, will it be necessary? you can get more on the oscars as well as the other stories we've been following here if you head over to our website. you can see our front page there, aljazeera.com i also the address. countdown to super tuesday, hillary clinton hopes to turn her south carolina success into more big wins. >> i don't know what group you're talking about. >> donald trump goes on damage control over support from a former leader of the k.k.k. this is a sad day for everybody in this room, a sad day for law enforcement. >> a soldier due in court, accused of killing a rookie police officer on her first day on the job. if they nominated hosts, i

wouldn't even get this job. you'd all be watching kneel patrick harris right now. >> chris rock takes aim at the lack of diversity in hollywood as tinsel town celebrates its biggest night. this is aljazeera america live from new york city. i'm stephanie sy. the candidates who want to be president are making their final pitches today before millions of people in 12 states before they head to the polls. voters will make choices in primaries and caucuses on super tuesday. for democrats, 865 delegates are up for grabs, nearly a third of those needed to win the party's nomination. for republicans, 595 delegates are at stake, just under halfway to the gop convention. we begin with heidi zhou castro live in dallas. good morning.

155 delegates at stake, the accident is extremely important for the republicans, none more so i imagine than south korea senator ted cruz. where does he stand right now. >> that's right, stephanie. i'm here at his rally scheduled to begin in dallas. you can see the lines already lining up with thousands of people who expect to see the senator. in the accident, ted cruz is leading in the polls. the latest poll showing him over donald trump leading by children points, but in every other super tuesday state, trump does have the lead and he is an immense threat to ted cruz here, even on his home turf. coming to the the accident accept tore's aid today will be the former governor and current green bay both campaigning at his side. cruz has said this is the most important day in the election. most analysts say if he does not win here, his home state, essentially his campaign is

over. >> texas has a large latino population. immigration is an issue off both sides of the aisle. is that expected to be a factor in the gop race? >> it depends on how many latino gop primary voters turn out. that group historically has been very low in texas, though this year with early voting counts coming in, votes are approaching the record setting numbers of 2008. if you look at nevada, you can see that donald trump actually won the latino primary gop voters there with 44% of their support and trump is looking today the same here in texas. >> with two competitors that are both cuban americans, bill clinton on the democratic side will be in texas, campaigning for his wife, hillary. the former president hasn't actually been popular in the accident, despite it being a red state. what's his message to voters today? >> hillary clinton's campaign released a statement saying that

bill will be out there laying out what is at stake in this election and to discuss why hillary clinton is the best candidate to fight for american families. the message there, the clintons have a long history among minorities here in the south in the accident, especially with hillary clinton registering latino voters many decades ago and this is about him's effort in part to shore up support from the black and latino communities in texas for his wife. >> heidi zhou castro, live for us in dallas, thank you. >> polls show that donald trump has a strong lead for the gop in most of those states, but this morning is facing criticism forever one of his backers. the gop front runner initially reversed to condemn an endorsement from former k.k.k. grand wizard david duke. he said he needed more information about the man. >> even if you don't know about their endorsement, there are groups and individuals endorsing you, would you say unequivocally

you condemn them? >> i don't know what group you're talking. >> i'm talk about david duke. >> i don't believe i've ever met him. i'm pretty sure i've never met him and i don't know anything about him. >> trump tweeted that he disavow that had endorsement and this morning blamed a bad ear piece saying he could hardly hear the questions he was being asked. trump has picked up a big endorsement ahead of super tuesday. alabama senator jeff sessions endorsed trump. he stands behind trumps immigration plan. jonathan martin is live in birmingham, alabama this morning. jonathan, is senator sessions' endorsement a big win for trump? >> it certainly is a boost, stephanie, because jeff sessions is a popular figure and his

enforcement means donald trump has his first endorsement from a u.s. senator. a big rally here in birmingham or in alabama over the weekend, donald trump really gathering some 20,000 plus people here. in fact, some of the biggest rally's we've seen throughout his campaign have been in the state of alabama, a previous one in birmingham is where he saw one of his record crowds come out. he said held a large number of people, a large number of his evangelical and conservative voters on his side. in fact, if you just look back a few months ago, it seems ted cruz would have dominated alabama but certainly things have changed now. donald trump has not spent money advertising here like the other candidates have but has come several times to alabama. there are 50 delegates at stake on the republican side. most of the polls on the state and national level show donald trump with 18-20 percentage point lead here in the state of alabama, so an important state,

while, you know, is not one of the states the most delegates, it's certainly one where the candidates have spent time, we're realizing that it's still an important number. >> hillary clinton won by double digits in south carolina. can she expect the same in alabama? >> she's certainly polling high, hoping to continue that southern support. there are a number of states, southern states voting tom. they call it the sec primary. she held a rally and speech at miles college, a small historically black college i birmingham alabama.

she hopes to continue that support here. >> what are some of the other big issues driving voters to the polls in this contest tomorrow there? >> one thing to think about it that a lot of voters here in alabama specifically are evangelical voters, conservative voters, about 70% of those gop are considered evangelical, so they're concerned about issues like abortion. they are talking about religious freedom. again as you mentioned earlier, the big issue everyone is talking about, including here in the south is immigration, illegal immigration and when donald trump held that big rally yesterday, that is what he talked about. that is what jeff sessions talked about. this is really continuing to be the big theme throughout the campaign. >> live from birmingham, alabama, jonathan thank you. >> another pivotal state voting tomorrow is virginia. it will award 100 democratic and 49 republican delegates. we are live in richmond this morning. usher, several leading

candidates will be trying to move voters there in virginia. explain why that state particularly is so important as we look ahead to super tuesday. >> verge has largely become a battleground state, a swing state, if you will. we are talking about delegate numbers as you just mentioned, 149 for the republicans, 110 for the democrats. 95 delegates are up for grabs -- this is a really important state when it comes to winning for these candidates. the leaders here, trump who is expected to have a slight edge, as well as hillary clinton are looking to come in strong here after south carolina and also this is one of those states where people are going to be looking at this as they move toward the november elections. three candidates here are supported by ads in the state, marco rubio, hillary clinton, and donald trump. all these candidates are visiting virginia ahead of super tuesday and donald trump, hillary clinton both expected to be here campaigning throughout

the day. marco rubio was here on sunday. he took an opportunity talking to supporters to reiterate how he felt and his strong feelings for the donald trump. >> this has been a very different election year, and things have worked out in ways no one anticipated and as a result today, the republican party, the conservative movement, the party of lincoln and reagan is on the verge potentially of nominating a con artist to be the president -- to be our nominee for president. >> again, one of the other things to think about here in virginia, 40 years leading up to 2008 when president obama took visual, this is largely a red state. it has become very purple because of shifting deem graphs and reflective of what is going on nationwide. a lot of candidates looking for a big win here coming up to super tuesday. >> virginia also does things a little differently than other

states as far as its primary. explain what happens there tomorrow. >> it's one of 14 states that are open primaries, which means that the voters do not have to declare party affiliation. that's one thing that the gop here had taken issue with for years, trying to get more of a commitment and back in september, the gop died that it was going to require a statement of in tent from people voting in the primary, that was something that they rescinded just late last month, but again, it is one of those open primaries where anybody can vote for any candidate that they wish. >> live for us in virginia, thank you. bernie sanders picked up the endorsement of a rising star in the democratic heart, a hawaii congressman, gabbard resigned her role to announce her support for sanders. she was one of the first female combat veterans to serve in congress. she said she wants the united states to avoid interventions and wars of regime change.

the weather could be an issue for voters in some parts have the country tomorrow. we have more on that. >> two systems we are watching now, one pointing to the northeast pretty quickly, but the other behind this through the rockies is going to develop and cause us some problems as we get into super tuesday. the one clears out, but behind that, already starting to develop today and especially once it picks up moisture into tomorrow becoming more widespread before hitting the east coast into wednesday. what that means ins terms of our forecast, already today we could have enough instability for a slight risk of severe weather. hail would be the biggest threat. by tomorrow, this becomes much more widespread, so that could keep some people iffy on going to the polls and you can see all the moisture associated with that, even a little snow on the northern tier. in the meantime, temperatures will go down a little bit for the east coast tomorrow after the current front, but still in the 50's and 60's today. the real heat is portions of the

central plains will stay in the 70's, those temperatures cool 10o.20 degrees tomorrow behind that next system. back to you. >> nicole mitchell, thank you. >> up next on aljazeera america, an arrest in the murder of a rookie police officer killed on her first day on the job. the latest from syria, where friday's truce is showing signs of cracking.

emails show michigans governor arranged for water filter donations while he was

publicly insisting the water was safe to drink. governor rick snyder released those emails over the weekend. his office said the filters were for odor and taste and not anything related to health. the emails also revealed the anonymous donors of $20,000 worth of filters is meyer and clorox. a virginia town is remembering a rookie officer killed on her first day on the job. today, the suspect, an army staff sergeant is due in court. we have more. >> 28-year-old ashley was welcomed to the police department with this twitter picture and message be safe, but was killed a day after sworn in. >> it's a sad day for everybody in this room. it's a sad day for law enforcement. >> gwyndon was on patrol saturday responding to a domestic abuse call at this home when police say she and two other officers were shot. >> i just want to be clear, do we have officers involved in a shooting? >> we have three officers that have been shot.

>> the suspect is 32-year-old army staff sergeant ronald hamilton, assigned to the pentagon. his wife was found dead inside the home. his 11-year-old son also home was not hurt. she was rushed to the hospital where she died. >> we weren't expecting it at all. >> her history with the department goes back to 2011 when she started out as an intern. she spent about six years as a marine corps reservist and earned a bachelor's degree in aeronautics and masters in forensic science. >> she clearly had a passion to serve others in a way that went beyond herself. >> her patrol car draped in black and covered in flowers. the two other officers are expected to recover. police in salt lake city will not release body camera foot acknowledge after fatally shooting a 17-year-old late saturday night. the teenager was reportedly

attacking someone, was homeless and had been drinking. the officers say he had a metal stick and was using a weapon. his identity has not been released. an american college student see detained in south korea has confessed to breaking the law. >> on the early morning of january 1, 2016, i committed my crime of taking out the important political slogan from the staff only area of the international hotel aimed at harming the work ethic and motivation of the korean people. >> that is otto frederik warmbier. he made that confession in pyongyang. he said he took down a banner with a slogan. north korea said he requested to speak. the state department has declined to comment on his case. a victory in iran against hard lined clerics. president rouhani and his allies

won 15 out of 16 seats in the assembly of experts, the body that will choose the next stream leader. they swept all 30 of the capital seats in the parliamentary elections. more than 30 million iranians voted. a truce in syria is in its third day, but the opposition says russia violated it. the city of homs and idlib province are being targeted by helicopters and military airplanes. airstrikes hit rebel held areas in aleppo and many syrians still suffering despite the truce. >> he feels like the world has abandoned him. he's had his home destroyed twice in the past five years. the second time was just a few weeks ago. >> they bombed my home as we tried to escape. they destroyed my car which had all my belongings in it. >> russia says it's only bombing isil fighters in what the

kremlin describes as terrorists in syria. i asked why he believes his town was targeted. >> there were no terrorists in our town. the russians are targeting civilians. they want to expel arabs and pave the way for kurds and shiites to move in. >> one of tens of thousands of people who fled toward the turkish border, they are now in the camp. it's not equipped to accommodate all these people. there are only a handful of toilets for 10 of thousands, medicine is in short supply and nothing to combat the cold. 100,000 loaves of bread and 25,000 hot meals are delivered every day. they have blankets and 3,000 tents, but say much, much more is needed. >> unfortunately, the international community, they are not doing enough, which we

expected from them. hopefully after the ceasefire, which is recently signed by both sides, it will encourage the international communities to provide the services. >> both turkish and qatar aid agencies set up tents to shelter the thousands of internally displaced. the conditions here are dire, to say the least. this is essentially the drainage system, essentially just a couple of inches dug into the ground. if there's any sort of significant rainfall, all of that water will flood into the camp, not only adding to the bitter cold, but increasing the risk of the spread of disease across this camp. >> she has come by foot walking together with her four children. two of them desperately need medical care and she fears for their lives. >> where shall i go? tell me where. put us in a place so we can die peacefully and we will. we don't even want to live

anymore, we just want to die peacefully. >> her cry is that of a mother whose children's lives are slipping away as she watches helplessly. >> both of this woman's children are disabled with mental illnesses. they cower in their tents trying to stay warm. the medical care will nost likely never reach them. they are lucky to have found food and shelter. the cessation of hostilities agreement is meant for aid to reach all those in need across syria. the sheer destruction and devastation to people's lives and property makes that an almost impossible task. what is more daunting to think about is how or if all that is destroyed will ever be built. >> voters rejected a plan to deport migrants who break the law. the proposal was put forward by the right wing swiss people's party. the opponents stay it unfairly

targeted non-swiss citizens. about half of the population holds foreign passports. president obama will award the highest military honor to seal team six today at the white house. he anticipated the honor for helping rescue an american hostage in afghanistan. a fellow sealed died in the mission. still ahead, the diversity debate. >> if they nominated hosts, i wouldn't even get this job. you all would be watching kneel patrick harris right now. >> chris rock tackled racism in hollywood at the oscars. more trouble for royal caribbean cruise ship damaged earlier this month.

royal care bean's anthem of the satisfactories is coming home early again. the ship was forced to turn back earlier this month after sailing into hurricane forced winds. this week it was nearly caught in another storm. several people onboard are sick with the norovirus. the captain decided to cut short the 13 day cruise. the ship is expected to drop anchor back in new jersey on wednesday. the biggest story line at the academy awards last night wasn't necessarily who took home oscars. as hermela aregawi reports, the issue was taken on head on.

>> oscar goes to. spotlight. >> a movie about the catholic church coverup of sexual abuse by priests took home the biggest prize of the oscars, best picture. >> and the oscar goes to leonardo dicaprio. >> leonardo dicaprio won his first oscar after six nominations, for his role in "the revenant." it was chris rock who turned the conversation back to the issue hanging over the awards, diversity in hollywood. >> i'm here in the academy awards, otherwise known as the white people choice awards. >> rock dove right in from the opening monologue to the final moment. he suggested the answer was because african-americans had bigger things to protest for the last 88 years. >> when your grandmother is swinging from a tree, it's really hard to care about best documentary foreign short. >> he also took a jab at jada pinkett-smith who stayed home

over the lack of african american nominnees and her husband, will smith who wasn't nominated for his role in concussion. >> it's also not fair that will was paid $20 million for wild wild west, ok? >> between the laughs, there were also some hard truths about hollywood. >> hollywood is sorority racist, it's like we like you, rhonda, but you're not a kappa. >> he told the story of a white house event attended by many fellow celebrities and recalled telling president obama this. >> mr. president, you see all these writers and producers and actors? they don't hire black people, and they're the nicest white people on earth. they're liberals. cheese! even the famous list of celebrities who passed away wasn't spared. >> this year's in memorial package is just blacks shot by

cops trying to get to the movies. skits showed what it would be like for black actors to play the famous white roles. >> look at me, starring in this first dramatic role. >> you should get me. >> don't worry, black astronaut, we will. >> can we just leave him up there? >> mad max, fury road. >> as far as this year's awards, mad max fury road took home the most oscars with six. >> alejandro. >> the revenant director grabbed his second straight oscar in the directing category and brie larson won best actress for "room." thanks for watching. i'm stephanie sy. the news continues next live from doha. have a great day.

>> this is al jazeera. ♪ >> welcome to it the news hour. i'm live from al jazeera's headquarters in doha. coming up in the next 60 minutes. scenes of chaos at a the greek-macedonia border. police tear gas refugee a who is try to break down a steps. u.n. prepares to deliberate civi civilians on the third day an of a