device exploded as he tried to defuse it always aware of the danger. while working on mines. we have to this country. india's prime minister summons his cabinet after another nights of violence and more protests against the contentious citizenship. headquarters here and also coming up while the bombardment of syria's rebel held province intensifies the un security council fails to approve aid delivery. a searing heat wave intensifies bush fires raging in australia that have destroyed hundreds of homes. parliament approves an economic

emergency package that raises taxes and social programs. india's prime minister is grappling with his biggest domestic challenge since he came to power in 2014 and the render modi has summoned his cabinet to discuss the growing violence during protests over a controversial citizenship law the police fired tear gas and water cannon and demonstrates the new delhi and other cities overnight more protests are expected nationwide on saturday at least 16 people have died since the law was introduced last week that makes it easier for migrants from 3 neighboring countries to obtain citizenship but it excludes muslims. well much of the violence on friday was in the northern state of utah pradesh where protesters set fires and while many have

accused the police of using excessive force human rights activists there say the police have raided their homes and offices to prevent them from planning more demonstrations subpoena joins us live from the capital new delhi sabina just get us right up to speed with what was going on overnight. you know who i am here in germany mr wu diversity where some of the 1st protests started and just now a whole bunch of people have just come just by our side demanding for justice and this is just one of the smaller groups behind me there are more people protesting up cross the city there have been protests like this this one so yesterday as well there was it started with a small protest and it just rode up as the arch know who does and it was the extremely peaceful the language of the protests has been about justice about saving

the constitution and it's mean about. freedom freedom from this controversial citizenship no no in this stage of bihar in northern india there has been a curfew that sorry there's no shutdown off the entire state and there are protests planned across the country and it is still unsure how many people will come out but it is expected that a huge crowd will come out in show of support against the government crackdown and the deaths that happened yesterday we've got this cabinet meeting a little later today what can we expect to come out of that. it's not quite sure whether or not the cabinet is going to do. was this problem but what we do know is that some of the members of the coalition government are saying

that this law is ill timed it is not necessary while some are trying to incite some with the coalition are trying to incite people and make it sick terry and what i can safely say is that the people that we have seen there are lots of people who are from all the religious backgrounds and they're all talking. religion but about the constitution about a crisis in the constitution and the very fact of secularism on which. the indian constitution is based on sabina thanks very much. well the unrest in india has been discussed in malaysia with the prime minister's hosting a conference of muslim leaders martin mohammad says the new citizenship law is unfair it is very unfortunate because india is a secularist see from the very beginning that the elite tunes of the people did not

prevent them from becoming citizens the b.b.c. is all these. but the group will slims from becoming citizen even by duplessis i think is unfair thousands of people are leaving the serious province of idlib heading for the border with turkey trying to get away from airstrikes and bombings by the government and russia 1000 kilometers away in new york a split at the un security council has put a delivery's at risk more on that shortly 1st mohamad 0 reports on what's happening in syria's last rebel held province. russian bucked the government forces of intensified the bombing campaign which includes al strikes dropping bottled bombs and shelling the town of the new man in south london and syrians living there say the tox at the school with hospitals market some homes targeted here rescue

workers are struggling to save a young girl stuck under the rubble of all in moderate than. the tal in northwest syria is seeing some of the heaviest of talks in the almost 9 . public and go against the offensive spilled onto the streets on friday hundreds in italy protested what they called the neglect of their plight by the international community they also called for a swift hole to the bomb but. we are the people of south of the countryside where i was in a protest and it lib city condemning the bombardment and the targeting of the evacuees as they try to clean the house. and the protesters won't the march of the friday prayers in the small town of soma just a few kilometers from the border with turkey the town is a hub for aid going into city fighters from the opposition hired to his shop said the body has to stop the protesters from walking towards the border but they failed

turkish security forces say they were forced to send reinforcements to ensure the protesters didn't cross the border with intensified bombing campaign forcing thousands to flee their homes in the many face a cold and hungry winter. official comes on the syria turkey border of food forcing many of the displaced to live in flooded makeshift camps where a delivery is a few and far between an animal or woman abusing these pieces of cloth this family consists of 16 people nobody helped us we use all kinds of materials including shoes in the stove to warm up our children fuel prices have more than doubled in the past 2 months and charities and hospitals say they are struggling to respond to the crisis mohamed atta well just stumble. well the u.n. security council meanwhile has rejected rival resolutions that would have continued the delivery of aid to syria the 1st one supported by the un humanitarian office

was vetoed by russia and china mike hanna explained the establishment of the 4 crossing points has been renewed each year the 1st time that russia backed by china has cast a veto the drafters of the resolution had initially wanted 5 crossing points to be established but then they reduce this to 3 in the bill to avoid the russian and chinese veto but even this watered down resolution failed to pass raising once again the question of the credibility of the security council just as i was sitting . in the seat in a state of shock i am continuing to stand here in a state of shock and as many of you know when i started the presidency in the month of december i talked about credibility in the council and today we took a huge step backwards in credibility where it really matters russia in turn introduced its own resolutions suggesting to crossing points be open for

a period of 6 months both on the turkish border this was rejected by 6 members of the council who labeled it as a cynical political move the united kingdom voted against the russian text because we will not negotiate with a gun held to our heads over a cynical offer that would say fewer lives than we know is needed and that the un very clearly set out was necessary. the one year term for the 4 crossing points expires on the 10th of january and unless the security council can come up with a compromise resolution by that date it will be millions of syrians with no humanitarian aid. catastrophic conditions have intensified the bushfires blazing across eastern australia soaring temperatures and strong winds fueled more than 100 bush fires burning in new south wales thousands of emergency personnel are working across the state in the biggest deployment australia has ever seen hundreds of

homes and more than a 1000000 hectares of bushland have been destroyed in recent weeks jessica washington has more from one neighborhood in sydney's blue mountains near the front line of the fire here in the blue mountains of sydney authorities are facing off against a number of challenging factors there's the extreme heat and the strong winds but also the low humidity and that is putting lives and property at risk here in the blue mountains it's worth bearing in mind that this is not just bushland this is a residential area and i'm speaking to you from a residence back yard here in black he would joined now by richard smith who has been a local in this area for a number of years richard tell us what does it feel like to see your community go through something like this it's really horrible it's really frightening it's getting really bad now and it's been we haven't no one's being a slave and it's been because it can just flare up at any time during the not and

richard what is your plan residents here have been told i will. saying because it's just getting too bad now it's too windy it's going to close richard thank you and what we have just heard from authorities here in the community of blackheath they're advising that the safest thing for residents to do at this moment is to leave and go to a nearby suburb but of course the advice is changing basically every moment this is an incredibly volatile. situation and an incredibly challenging day. still ahead here on al-jazeera. to get round everyone is finding it an easy ride. also ahead. of the 1st time.

how the weather is looking very my about across the europe at the moment we say it's a violent storms recently and that was the weather the windy weather will make its way further east was all latest weather system that's been pushing into western parts made its way across spain and portugal and the united kingdom we have had of course you may well have seen that on the news the flooding down across southeastern parts of england in particular see go on through the next couple of days it will quieten down the cloud in the rank clearing away from here ruffling of showers as we go on through the weekend so warnings do remain in force across parts of southern england the central year where we have some wet weather you as well some wet weather coming right the way down into central parts of the mediterranean notice a little bit of cloud to just over towards that western side of russia where it has been incorrectly miles recently this says the same in moscow the temperature has got about freezing every day since the 4th of december unusually warm weather

coming through here and it could be another mound one should be about minus 4 remember giving us a plus 2 in moscow as we go through saturday his i want to weather for those central parts that without heavy rain just pushing across safely and the balkans another rattling of showers coming into western parts of europe but mild hit so london with a high fee $11.00. good weather sponsored by countdown anyways. i think stories generate thousands of headlines these protests are saying down with the system and down with all of the parties with different angles from different perspectives just because we came to prison doesn't mean the right stopped at the gate separate the spin from the fact the western media jumps on stories we don't taking down the misinformation from the journalism it's about telling this story is there are those human beings on the ground with the listening post on al-jazeera.

welcome back you're watching al-jazeera my name's peter dhabi let's recap your top stories india's prime minister narendra modi is meeting his cabinet where he's expected to discuss the violence during protests over that controversial citizenship law that the 16 people have died since the law was introduced last week . thousands of people are leaving syria's province of idlib heading for the border with turkey trying to get away from airstrikes and bomb attacks by the government and russia u.n. observers say 18000 people have been displaced in just 24 hours. and the heat wave has worsened already catastrophic conditions in australia as firefighters battle more than 100 bush fires burning across new south wales the authorities are warning

that high winds are making the flames more unpredictable. it's a familiar story in argentina the government's again deep in debt as inflation and poverty levels rise the lower house of parliament has voted to declare an economic emergency and announce new measures aimed at alleviating the crisis but opinion is split on whether the tax rises and other reforms will work this time or not here's mine while. a sweeping new economic law has been approved by argentina's congress it's enjoying officials declared a public emergency to prioritise the worsening debt crisis gripping the nation's economy. it does necessary to solve the debt problem in order to bear you need the ability to pay and in order to be able to pay the economy has to cover. argentina's debt crisis has put the government on high alert the new economic measures seek to combat worsening poverty and to curb back inflation estimated to reach as high as

55 percent by the end of 2019. the plan will. also implement higher taxes related to foreign products tourism and exports. on wednesday thousands protested outside argentina's congress calling for a rejection of the economic plan to go if you're going to go because you know the president of the nations had last week that if we don't like something about him we can go out in the street well here we are mr president and we're asking for serious news. for those in favor of the law the measures are a crucial step toward restoring economic stability in our country was left of concrete steps are not taken to curb hunger and poverty things will only get worse . the government says 70 percent of revenues recovered from the new taxes will be directed toward housing infrastructure and social projects but some analysts believe the measures go too far it's more of an imposition than consensus building strategy so you know for the for the government it's really important to show that

it has all the tools to negotiate with the i.m.f. to bring in more funds through taxation the challenge is that the powers are so broad that it effectively reduce the quality and effectiveness of democracy and for any investor looking at the country from outside the be wondering how long will this last for women only be in 2020 or will this administration seek to extend such powers beyond that day. the public debate over argentina's economic policies takes place as the nation's central bank is engaged in talks with private creditors and the international monetary fund over the nation's debt estimated at $50000000000.00 . madrid up below 0. supporters of lebanon's outgoing prime minister how do you protested against his potential replacement. theory tweeted

a call for calm as troops fired tear gas at rock throwing protesters who blocked. roads in beirut the prime minister designate has and is promising to put together a technocrat government within 6 weeks tony berkeley reports now from the capital. less than 24 hours after lebanon's do prime minister designate was announced this was the reaction from people in one beirut suburbs. they launched angry street protests a confronted lebanese soldiers and riot police rocks were thrown with casualties on both sides. this is a sunny area of beirut and these people are supporters of saud hariri the outgoing prime minister he's calling for people to remain calm he wants them through reduce the tension and he wants them to work with a new prime minister to help solve the problem but obviously that message is not being heard by these people. i was even though the prime minister designate has

sunday as a sunni muslim he was nominated by the predominately shia alliance of hizbollah and the mouth and it's christian allies many in the sunny community expected hariri to be nominated and said i thought ben there is anger on the street because sunnis feel like we are being excluded no one will accept this people are hungry they don't have jobs and now they want to silence us. as your measurement of them as not good we need a person like her i can save the country from sectarian strife and a man who knows about the country and who can save the economy and the days that how do you get the latest protests following weeks of anger demanding political reforms were confined to largely sunny populated areas in beirut and tripoli lebanon's 2nd largest city. d.m. says he understands the problems but has asked the people to give him a chance he says he will begin talking to all political groups on saturday and says he hopes to form a government within 6 weeks. as an independent technocrat i'm looking for

a technocrat government beckons. this of independent ministers in order to serve our country in sort out our problems that we all know about diablo's a university professor and former education minister but many especially within the civil protest groups associate him with the corruption and nepotism there's played lebanese politics for decades i can didn't see all sides of the sectarian divide that he can solve the country's deepening crisis is not going to be easy it is the you would charge of the mountain of time of the year with and but it troubled about all of this that you have to grow again the interest of the established party. warning creasing number of lebanese the time for protests is over shops and businesses are closing the economy is on the verge of collapse youth unemployment is at an all time high inflation is soaring and many people are desperate for

a solution. to the molder we are tired of this situation even the politicians are tired and we need a solution of wise we will have to emigrate and leave the country to the politicians. has a limited time to overcome political divisions and form a government to solve the crisis and quell the anger if he fails further chaos and instability seems certain tony berkeley al jazeera beirut. japan's prime minister has consulted iran's president on plans to send naval forces to protect japanese shipping in the middle east shinzo are being welcomed me in tokyo on friday japan's plan involves sending a naval destroyer and patrol aircraft tension in the gulf rose after a number of attacks and the iranian seizure of a british tanker. twitter has removed nearly $6000.00 accounts which is says were part of coordinated efforts by saudi arabia to promote its interests the social media giant says the accounts were aggressively liking and read tweeting messages

favorable to the kingdom discussions about sanctions in iran and appearances by saudis and western media were often targeted. the construction of a russian gas pipeline to europe could be delayed by new legislation in the us president trump has signed the defense bill at the joint base andrews not far from washington it includes pay rises for troops and a new space force and sanctions against companies involved in building the nord stream to pipeline mr trump says bypassing ukraine to deliver natural gas to germany gives russia too much influence in europe prosecutors in britain of charge the wife of a u.s. diplomat with causing death by dangerous driving and they're seeking her extradition and us are cool us claimed diplomatic immunity and fled home back to the u.s. after being involved in a car crash which killed a young man who was riding a motorbike the family of teenager harry dunn appealed to president trying to directly to help get them justice. 2 days of talks are due to start in sudan's

capital khartoum aimed at resolving disputes over the biggest hydroelectric dam in africa the $4000000000.00 grand ethiopian renaissance dam on the river nile is now nearing completion the ethiopians say it will provide power to 70000000 people and revitalize the economy neighbors sudan and egypt fear reduced supplies of water for drinking and irrigation staying in sudan aid has reached a remote rebel held area for the 1st time in nearly 9 years morgan reports now from blue nile state the welcome arrival of food and other essentials coincides with talks to end years of fighting. when she heard that aid would be arriving in the outpost in blue nile state but adams says she walked for more than 8 hours to queue for it after more than 80 years the area controlled by sudanese rebels known as the sudan's people liberation movement north is finally receiving humanitarian aid and got out but did not want to miss out as. there is no food most of the time and

because of the constant bombardment in the 1st years of the war a lot of terrible things happened they didn't care where their bombs are being dropped on people farms or life stuck some of us fled to ethiopia but i could go because i didn't want to leave my home and become a refugee. the war between sudan's government and the s.p.l. and north erupted after the government refused to allow the states of south kordofan and blue nile a referendum on whether to be part of sudan or the newly created south sudan as part of a 2005 peace deal the s.p.l. and north also accuse the government of impeding democracy. the united nations says more than 2000000 people have been affected by the conflict with more than have a 1000000 displaced several rounds of peace talks between the s.p.l. and north and the previous government of ahmed rashid collapsed when they failed to agree on many issues including humanitarian access. says the was also more than

a series ago yeah has been cut off from the military and so for all those of people but they bring also but many remain behind what missing the horrors of the civil war now with is coming in for the 1st time they're waiting to speak after all of these years things are really starting to change. the most trouble held areas in the country are nearly impossible to access from the capital hot some so dan's new transitional government which is in talks with armed groups including the s.p.l. and north changed that in december allowing aid workers to head in for the 1st time a major day a great breakthrough in an area that has not received the help that is needed none at all from the united nations in over 9 years and when you compound the war the tun fully with the flooding that just takes place these people are in need of been extremely impressed with the openness and the willingness of the leadership of can others to do what we need to do without getting in the way and they have given us

just unimpeded access talks between sudan's people liberation movement north leader abdul aziz and hello and the sudanese government are going on but many issues need to be resolved before a peace deal can be signed calling for an answer down oh for. justice. democracy equality of the busy problem is a show of the sharia sharia islamic law for. the macnow we warn a secular democratic. state and this is where the government is there like as the issues continue to be talked through hundreds of thousands wait and hope that whatever the outcome be age will continue to arrive he will morgan al-jazeera yeah denial. people in paris are getting on their bikes to beat the 3rd week of strikes by french transport workers cycling to work. becoming ever more popular as metro

and rail services remain at a standstill because of a dispute over pension reforms. weaving through traffic in paris on a bike can be daunting at the best of times for more than 2 weeks of public transport strikes against the government's planned pension reforms has made cycling around the city particularly challenging with most metro train and bus services cut many people opting to cycle vinyl tied to all runs a shop in the city center that sells and repairs recycled bikes he says his staff is inundated with work we've seen far more people coming in lots who want an old bike fixed some who want to buy a cheap secondhand bike because the only plan to say cause them probably lots of people bring in dusty bags that have been in their center which proves they don't normally cycle paris's city council says the number of cyclists on the road has doubled since the strike began and there has long been encouraging people to bike

rather than drive to help fight air pollution there's a vast network of cycle lanes and a widely used bike share scheme i would say you someplace that would strike them but they're often because there's not really enough very close enough to say drivers are definitely more stressed and because i have to cycle further on busy road it's not easy there are lots of benefits to cycling it's often much faster on salty journeys is more environmentally friendly than driving and also it's good exercise for since the beginning of the strides the roads have been so busy the city officials say that the number of accidents involving cyclists has surged emergency workers say the number of accidents involving bikes has increased by 40 percent this expert says that inexperienced riders are often ill prepared or poorly equipped. to bite you need a basic level of fitness if people are fit they may not have. balance of they can

fall down and risk fractures to their head shoulders and body also too much biking if you want it can cause a multitude of health problems and pain in the knees head and back it's clear that many people will be relieved when the city's transport services return to normal but with trade unions threatening to continue their industrial action throughout the holiday season that's unlikely to happen any time soon until then and despite the risks cycling remains one of the best ways to get around the trash about the how does the paris. protesters have returned to the streets of the chilean capital angry about delays in the go seizing a new constitution and the police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators in santiago is the latest in the months long demonstrations over social inequality on thursday chile's congress approved a referendum on changing the constitution which is one of the protesters keyed amounts. to cruise ships of got into a scrape with each other in mexico. the

carnival glory was docking in the caribbean resort of cozumel but its 88000 ton sister ship was in the way 6 people suffered minor injuries as the stern of the carnival legend was damaged local experts are assessing how big the dent and the bill will be. recapping your top world news stories this half hour india's prime minister narendra modi is meeting his cabinet where he's expected to discuss the violence during protests over the controversial citizenship law at least 16 people have died since the law was introduced last week. much of the violence on friday was in the northern state of water pradesh where protesters set fires and hurled rocks many have accused the police of using excessive force rights activists there so the police have raided their homes and offices to prevent them from planning more

demonstrations will be on arrest in india has been discussed in malaysia where the prime minister's hosting a conference of muslim leaders marty mohamad says the new citizenship law is unfair it is. because india is a secularist see from the very beginning their elite. did not prevent them from becoming citizens is it says all these. but the a screw loose limbs from becoming citizen even bait you resists i think is unfair thousands of people are leaving syria as it lit proppants heading for the turkish border trying to get away from airstrikes and bombings by the government and russia u.n. observers say 18000 people have been displaced in just 24 hours a heat wave has worsened already catastrophic conditions in australia as firefighters battle more than 100 bush fires burning across new south wales your

thought is a warning that high winds are making the flames more unpredictable. supporters of lebanon's outgoing prime minister saad hariri protested against his potential replacement. hariri tweeted a call for calm as troops fired tear gas at rock throwing protesters who blocked roads in beirut the prime minister designate. is promising to put together a technocrat government within 6 weeks. the construction of a russian gas pipeline to europe could be delayed by new legislation in the united states the bill includes sanctions against companies involved in building the nord stream to pipeline donald trump says bypassing ukraine to deliver natural gas to germany gives russia too much influence in europe up next is the listening post 30 minutes. with one of the highest moderates in the middle of one of central america smallest countries is gang related violence you are

a country that's not technically a war but you have levels of files that look like countries that the president salvador. talks to does iraq. hello i'm richard gaisford and you're listening post on this program we track the global news media examine dominant narratives and spend more time critiquing journalism and celebrating it were not an award show but to mark the end of 2019 we wanted to examine a few cases where quality reporting the kind of it speaks truth to power exposes wrongdoing and helps rectify it has made an impact taking just 4 examples was not easy we wanted to get across geographies different kinds of stories various forms of media we settled on west africa and a documentary exposing sexual harassment on university campuses hong kong 1st person videos cat.