the race to be president of the united states reaches a crucial stage. it's super-tuesday, which could make or break the path to the white house. i'm alan fisher in stafford in texas, the loan star state. the biggest prize on super-tuesday. super-tuesday one of the biggest dates in the american political calendar. ♪ i'm lauren taylor this is al jazeera live from london. also coming up, the victims of a war they don't understand. syrian orphans plead for annen to the bombing that shattered

their lives. spy tapes and corruption allegations. we're in preeer toia where the push to revive a case against the president is back in court. ♪ hello. they have spent tens of millions of dollars, been on the campaign trailer for months, and traded policy points and insults in televised debates. but super-tuesday is where it gets rule in the united states. the republican and democratic candidates be fight it out for the president of the united states. we have correspondent following developments in all of the key states. we'll be speaking to alan fisher in texas, and andy gallagher in alabama. but first let's see what super-tuesday is all about.

there is a huge amount at steak, and the process can be complicated. we asked felicity barr to explain what it means. >> reporter: the day when multiple u.s. states decide who they want as their party candidates for the democrats it is a straight battle between former secretary of state hillary clinton and the senator from vermont, bernie sanders after her landslide lead, clinton has a strong lead over sanders. she needs 2,383 to win the nomination. tonight there are 865 in play. it's a more crowded race in the republican camp. donald trump, ted cruz, marco rubio, ben carson, and john kasich are all battling for the party nomination. here the magic number is 1237 to win. and donald trump remains in the lead.

there are 595 at steak tonight. and these are the races we're looking at on this super-tuesday, 12 states are involved. as we have seen in recent weeks anything can happen, so join me from 23 gmt as those results start to come in, and we examine how the 2016 u.s. election race is shaping up. texas is one of the states where most of the delegates can be won, and alan fisher is there and joins us live. how is it shaping up there? >> reporter: well if you look at the 11 states voting in republican primaries and caucuses today, we expect donald trump to do incredibly well. can he win the nomination here? not on super-tuesday, but he will build up such a lead with delegates it would take a last-minute collapse for him not to secure the nomination. ted cruz and marco rubio still believe they can beat the billionaire businessman. ted cruz has to win here in

texas. he has the party establishment behind him. fail here, and his election campaign finishes here. as for marco rubio he still believes he can win florida on march 15th, that's a winner take all state. up until now and including today the states allocate delegates on proportional representation. that's important here. and marco rubio is polling under 20%. what we have seen in the last 48 hours is what we have seen in the last months, a lot of abuse and insults. really policies have been forgotten, but for the people who have fought, well, it hasn't. >> reporter: in a school hall in texas learning how to become an american. many are undocumented migrants. this woman was brought as a child there mexico, and now wants to become a citizen and

vote in november's election, worried about the language used by republicans on the issue of immigration. >> because they are separating families. parents go to work and they are scared they don't come back to home again. so i'm sorry, but my emotion is because i'm mexican, but not mexican only. >> reporter: donald trump wants to build a wall and kick out all illegal immigrants. that's 11 million people. other republican candidates are taking a similar hard line. after the last election campaign, the republicans said they needed to do more to attract republican votes, but this language has left many latinos alien nated and frightened, and now they are registering to vote to stop republicans. >> immigration is like a litmus test. we know if you are not welcoming

us as people, then you are not going to be getting our ear to listen about your proposals. >> reporter: in a border state like texas the issue of immigration is never far from the surface. construction, cleaning, serving jobs are filled by people who cross the border. and not many have the right to be here. that keeps labor costs low. but immigrant numbers are going down and the issue hasn't gone away. >> our lieutenant governor ran a campaign and ousted a lieutenant governor on a campaign that we need to stop the illegal invasion into texas. so there has been a shift in the past 20 years in the republican party on that issue. >> texas is a big prize on super-tuesday for republicans, there are a lot of delegates at stake. to appealing to the base plays well. in november it will be an issue in the presidential election, where latinos have long memories

and now louder voices. >> one of the things the establishment is having to grapple with is how to deal with donald trump. how do you expect that to play out after super-tuesday? >> reporter: they can't shun him. you can't set up a whole process which involves the base of your party and say you get to pick the person we will put forward as president, and then turn around and say actually we don't like who you have picked and we want to get someone else what may happen, and is more likely is donald trump builds up strength is that a third-party candidate will emerge. two names that have been talked about is mitt romney who stood against barack obama four years ago, and paul ryan who is the republican speaker of the house. i think ryan is a non-starter to be honest. but the idea that mitt romney

might stand up and run as a true conservative against donald trump that's not beyond the realms of possibility. what would that do to the republican vote, it would probably split it and whoever is the democratic candidate will get a clear run to the white house. but before all of that, we have to see how donald trump does on super-tuesday. many thought his comments first of all refusing to disavow the support of a former grand wizard of the ku klux klan might work against him, but around 40% of votes have already been cast, and donald trump has come out of those controversies before with a bump in the polls. so it probably wasn't a good bet to make that it be derail him.

so it will be interesting to see how the votes go over so soup -- super-tuesday and the next few contests. >> alan fisher thank you very much indeed. alabama is another key state on super-tuesday. minority voting rights have been a big issue there. let's speak to andy gallagher. explain why the mechanics of voting have been such an issue there. >> reporter: super-tuesday is all about the southern states which means there is a focus on african american votes, and what makes alabama important is a quarter of the population are black. i'm in camdon, where the population is more than half. but two years ago this state changed the voter id laws. they said if you don't have government issued photo id you

can't vote. civil rights campaigners say particularly in rural, poor areas where people don't have access to things like public transportation, information, or even the means to get to places to get photo ids, and they say that change in the law is deliberately excluding black voters. >> how are youal doing. >> reporter: this is a sparsely populated part of the state, but politics is on the minds of many. >> i ain't voting for either one of them. >> reporter: but in a town where more than half of the residents are african american, there is anger to the change in voter id laws. >> you are taking advantage of the weak when you do that, because some of them just don't have one, can't get one. all of this we have gone through

with, and we are still going through the same thing. i feel bad about it. >> reporter: many were situated in overwhelmly african american counti counties, and without them getting voter id's is a lot harder. decades of work have now been undone critics say. they say it places another obstacle between them and the ballot box, and whilst many don't question the motives behind the law, others say the consequences are all too real. >> so this is a lifelong fight then. >> reporter: for 30 years ralph has worked tirelessly for voting rights. >> we'll be fighting for the rest of our lives. there are people out there who would never let it go. they would never let it go. >> reporter: you mean never stop trying to suppress the black vote. >> never stop trying to suppress

the black vote. >> reporter: the legacy of voter suppression in alabama has a long and dark history, but it resulted in the passage of the voting rightsant. accusations that part of that legislation are now being undone are flatly denied by the state's governor. >> we will go to people's houses to have their picture made if they don't have a photo id in the state of alabama. we're not going to do anything to keep from voting. and that is politics at its worst. >> reporter: a recent challenge to the law was denied by a judge. these new voter id laws aren't just in place here, they are also in place in places like georgia and tennessee. and it's new. and civil rights activists say those being targeted are often

poor black voters who would vote for the democratic party. >> andy gallagher. thank you very much indeed. ♪ macedonia has deployed more soldiers and police to its border with greece. on monday hundreds of refugees tried to force their way through a razor wire fence into the bakken country. more than 7,000 people are camped at the border waiting for authorities to allow them to continue their journeys to northern europe. italian coast guard has rescued 51 refugees in the aegean sea. babies women and children were among those crammed on a rubber di dingy trying to reach greece. demolition teams in france have continued to tear down part of the so-called jungle refugee

camp in calais. the first day of the operation on monday saw violent clashes between refugees and riot police. the jungle is home to thousands of people hoping to reach great britain. how far have they gotten in tearing down the camp, paul? >> reporter: well, you can see over my shoulder, lauren, the extent to which the clearance operation has gone today. this morning, there were plywood, timber shacks on this ground in front of us. now it is bare. there is the debris of plastic bags, some sleeping bags as well, various bits of cloth, but you can see they have cleared somewhere in the region of 2 to 300 meters. given the full extent of this whole camp, then it's clearly going to take a long time to clear the whole camp, but at least they have made what they would regard as decent progress

today. i have to say, though, that the opinion here in the camp is very much divided. there is a school of thought amongst some of the refugees that they are giving up the idea of hoping to get to britain. most of the people here wanting asylum in britain, and the option that we have seen is to go elsewhere, to accept the french offer of jumping on buses, going to other reception centers and taking asylum here. that said, though, there has been resistance here. some people climbing on top of their shacks, had to be pulled down by police before the shocks were bulldozed. so it's a mixed bag. clearly there is a long way to go here. paul brennan thank you very much indeed. still to come on the program. yet more sanctions against north korea, why the u.n. security council is set to vote on tougher punishment and china acts to protect women from domestic violence.

but will the new laws be enough to stop the beatings?

♪ hello again, a reminder of the top stories here on al jazeera. it's super-tuesday, the day where several u.s. states decide who they want as their presidential candidate. billionaire donald trump is well ahead in the five-strong crowd jostling for the republican domination. on the democratic side, hillary clinton is widely expected to pull further ahead of her opponent, bernie sanders. and more and more refugees are adding to existing bottlenecks in europe. more have arrived across the

mediterranean in the first two months of this year, than in the first half of last year. russia's foreign minister has said that syria's border to turkey should be closed. he says it will cut off supplies to what he calls terrorists in syria. >> translator: a very important task is to cut off the terrorists on the outside. for this purpose, it is necessary to close the syrian border with turkey. and it was across this border that those gangs have received arms. journalists who report the facts are put on trial and sent to prison. the u.n. syrian envoy says he has delayed talks in geneva to march 9th. he says it is for technical reasons and for the ceasefire, to quote, settle down. this is reported to show fighting in the northern promise

of hama. and these pictures from syria's military reportedly show soldiers battling isil fighters. isil isn't included in the cessation of hoes illties, but opposition groups who are, say the army is targeting them too. the country is now one of the most dangerous places to be a child. there has been deaths of 13.5 thousand children. about a fifth of syrian's population have had to leave their homes, including 2.8 children. and thousands have been orphaned by the conflict. >> reporter: this house not far from the syrian border is the safe haven that tense of thousands of other syrian children which they had. a place to learn and play, away from the air strikes and bombs. this is the orphanage that houses 60 children who's parents

have been killed by the bashar al-assad regime and its military allies. it is run by a syrian ngo which tries to alleviate the suffering. despite the laughter, behind each face is a harrowing tail there this 11 year old is from homs. most of the city has been bombed to the ground. his father was killed by assad soldiers. he rarely manages to sleep through a night without waking up screaming, but he still hopes for a better future. >> translator: when i grow up want to be an architect to rebuild my country. >> reporter: i ask him what message he has to the world's leaders. >> translator: i tell them you don't love us like you claim. if you did, you would have liberated us. >> reporter: this girl is five. losing her parents has left her so distraught she now finds it difficult to speak. her eyes tell a story by

themselves. this is another child foirsed to grow up way too quickly. it's tough to get the sounds of explosions out of her head, she says. >> translator: life used to be so nice. after the revolution things became horrible. assad and his soldiers destroyed everything. >> reporter: listening to some of these stories is enough for anyone with a sense of humanity, want to bring the war to an end immediately. the longer and longer it goes on the more and more it kills their future. the orphanage puts a great deal of emphasis on education. they are sent to the local school and given extra tuition when they return. funding for the orphanage, however, has stopped. and these orphans may find themselves without a home. >> we are looking for funding. until now no one has responded.

>> reporter: on some days the children are taken on tripes. today they visit the border with syria. this is the closest they can get to their homes without fear of barrel bombs or russian air strikes. as they close their eyes they picture a syria free from all of the killing where a child's future is more important than political ambition. a wish they hope will one day come true. lawyers from the main opposition party in south africa are in court trying to reinstate corruption charges against president jacob zuma, who was first charged with corruption 11 years ago. tania page is at the court in the capitol. >> reporter: jubilant supporters greeted zuma when corruption charges were developed the first time in 2006. when the charged were reinstated and dropped again, the final hurdle was cleared for him to

become south africa's president. zuma had been charged with 783 counts of corruption in relation to tax evasion, fraud, and a multi-billion dollars arms deal. why the charges were dropped is controversial. it comes down to what are known as the spy tapes. and secretly taped phone calls a prosecutor and head of a special investigations unit are among the people recorded talking about the timing of the charges. the acting national director of public prosecutions at the time dropped the corruption charges because he said the spy tapes showed political interference that meant zuma couldn't receive a fair trial, but he said there had been a valid case against zuma. that's why the opposition pursued the case so rigorously

since 2009. it wants the prosecutor's decision set aside and the charges reinstated. >> he was about to become president of south africa. this was a political inconvenient prosecution, and they latched on the ones a meant that could marginally justify dropping of charges. >> reporter: this political analyst says zuma is already losing support within his party and the public. >> it could strongly damage his chances of being able to, shall we say, influence who he his likely successor is going to be, and of being able to influence what happens during the rest of his term in office. >> reporter: in a statement on the eve of the court case, the democratic alliance is abusing its power and trying to win

votes, they say. the corruption allegations that have dogged him are debated in court, a vote of no confidence of the president is being debated in parliament, although zuma is likely to win, there is no doubt he is expecting a tough week. in pakistan, tens of thousands of people have attended the funeral of a police officer who was executed for shooting dead a governor in 2011. he was hanged on monday for assassinating the governor, who had called for pakistan's strict blasphemy laws to be reformed. crowds of people chanted shame on the government as they walked for miles to reach the funeral venue. united nations security council is set to vote on expanding sanctions against north korea in response to their nuclear test in january and rocket launch last month. the tougher sanctions are an

attempt to squeeze their income and put a halt to the nuclear program. assaulting your partner has finally become a crime in china. it's hoped the new domestic violence law will encourage abused women to overcome the stigma and take their cases to court. >> reporter: shia spends a lot of time alone, but at least she is safe now, safe from a husband who thought it acceptable to regularly beat her. >> translator: he hit my face. his mother was there, and did nothing. he is from a province where people think it is normal for husband to beat up his wife. >> reporter: he was careful not to mark her face, focusing his kicks and punches on her arms leg and back. she went to hospital twice and gave up on the police. >> translator: i went to the

police and reported this incident. but the police told me, this is family issue. so they did not take any action. >> reporter: there is still a stigma attached to domestic violence in china, which makes her a brave woman. until now she has not spoken publicly about her abusive marriage, a marriage which had begun so happily, but the story gets worse. after filing for divorce, her husband and mother-in-law came and took her son away. >> translator: he and his mother took my son from me by force. they beat me up in my neighborhood, and grabbed him from me. my son was only two. i haven't seen him for two years. >> reporter: most surveys show that one in four married women in china suffer violence at the hands of their partner, but the real figure is probably much hire because reporting abuse is still rare, especially on the

countryside. from today victims will be able to go to court to seek a restraining order that could force the abuser to move out of the home. courts will have 72 hours to make a ruling. but critics say the legislation doesn't go far enough since it fails to outlaw marital rape and doesn't place enough emphasis on health and social services. this lawyer has been dealing with domestic violence cases for more than 20 years. he says the new law will help, but worries there is too much onus on the police to respond. >> translator: i think this new law will play a very important role in reducing the number of domestic violence cases, but more importantly, how will this law be enforced? we need to see results soon. >> reporter: the new law came too late for this woman, and others like her, forced by tradition to suffer in this silence. adrian brown, al jazeera,

shanghai. and just a quick reminder, you can always catch up on all of the stories we are covering. plenty more for you on super-tuesday which is the day when several u.s. states decide who they want as their party candidate ahead of the u.s. presidential election. aljazeera.com. ♪ it's super-tuesday, across roads in the path to the white house. front runners look to lock in the nomination. >> we are going to make america great again, greater than ever before. >> they have been after me for 25 years, and i'm still standing. >> a chance to breathe new life into campaigns fighting to stay alive. >> football is a spectator sport. democracy is not a spectator sport. >> elect m