india's leader gathers ministers to discuss protests against the citizenship law that has spiraled into one of the biggest crisis yet for his government. you're watching live from a headquarters. also ahead a former university lecturer is sentenced to death on charges of blasphemy in pakistan over facebook posts. even more homes lost to bush fires in eastern and southern australia intensified by searing heat and strong winds. russia says it will go ahead with a pipeline to germany boosting gas supplies to europe despite u.s.

sanctions. hello india's prime minister is grappling with his biggest domestic challenge since coming to power in 2014 the interim modi has been chairing a council of ministers to discuss the growing protests over a new citizenship law that excludes muslims thousands of people continue to protest right across the country despite restrictions on bans imposed by officials at least 19 people have been killed and more than 4000 detained since last week when much of the violence on friday was in the northern state of our pradesh where protesters set fires and threw rocks police have been accused the fusing excessive force demonstrations have been largely peaceful in states controlled by the opposition that's where regional leaders say they won't implement the new law on friday thousands took part in a rally in west bengal these. a chief minister is

a fierce opponents of prime minister modi alltop a. government once one religion to be separated we one led to happen we are united . serenus trust the husband were protesters in the capital new delhi have been standing in front of the. city where some of the 1st protests began and today to mood has been off defiance there have been thousands of students along with the people that live as civilians who joined in lawyers who joined in and everybody has been talking not only valid constitutional law sorry this is the ship law but also and mainly about the constitution of this country which has been built on the basic the basics of this constitution is equality and that this is off this constitution is also secularism that that is what people over here have been reminding the country that the fabric of this nation is being challenged by this

government by introducing this new law. so just a reminder now of what's in the law and why it's caused widespread opposition it creates a pathway to citizenship to minorities who face religious persecution and pakistan bangladesh and afghanistan but it excludes muslims opposition parties and protesters say it violates india's secular constitution but that's not the only dynamic playing out in states bordering bangladesh west bengal is controlled by an opposition party the ruling b j p is being accused of seeking electoral gains for the regional vote due in 2021 by opening the door to more hindu refugees and migrants while in nearby northeastern states especially as some indigenous people fear an influx of hindu bengalis they say that could put their language and culture under threats. let's take to charlie a he's a professor at john dahl school of international affairs joining us via skype from sunny pat that's near new delhi thanks very much for speaking to us on al-jazeera

so they ended constitution sort of guarantees everyone equality under the law but as we've been hearing and from the reports that we've been getting this new law it appears that the modi government is making a religion a criteria when it comes to citizenship eligibility it's a direct violation of the constitution is it not why is modi pushing for this not that he knew not 1st of all it's not a violation of the constitution because it has been unanimously passed by all the houses for india to look to parliament with a huge majorities in both the lower and upper houses to be elected representatives have created a law which is a constitutional as far as you know the commission alleges commission goes you see at the end of the indian government has made to correct the inequality and unfairness and the discrimination that religious minorities are facing in these

neighboring countries which is fine somebody should not going to start i did in the hands of regimes are the answer for hardline you have these groups that are be persecuting non muslim groups so the reason muslims are excluded these because they want to feel religiously based persecution in these muslim majority countries and the protesters i think i don't think we should exaggerated you know that there is the accusation is that then the the then muslims are actually facing persecution in your own country. well you know that is not going to do in fact that's untrue 200000000 indian muslims are safe and secure 9 percent of them voted for mr merrington with the party that we do and. some among them have been. misguided by opposition parties as you just mentioned it's part of domestic politics not our armies and of course mr moore the media be are trying to misguided young people to come onto the streets by the way it's not a huge number in

a big country like india other than 1300000000 people a few 100 people here a beer does not and won't will massive crisis are some kind of a revolution i mean it's 5 and i heard a loud noise or it's not they opposition parties i mean we're hearing from human rights organizations as well international human rights organizations that say this law is discriminatory against muslims specifically well as assertive use to correct the discrimination that non muslims are facing in the neighboring countries and he does not advocate indian muslims and not the citizenship amendment has to do with people of other countries citizens of other countries who are facing threats to their life or liberty so immediately next door and providing a humanitarian if you for these people who have not been to google and i think it's unfair to call it this community because that's part of the politics in india because there are some left liberal elements and so-called progressives who are now

using this moment to create this hysteria and fear mongering that indian muslims 200000000 of them are in threat actually citizens of india be they of any religion including muslims have nothing to do with the citizenship amendment that this is not new it's not about citizenship of those who already have them here it's what is going to visit an asylum or what is the link in the connection between the law the c.a.b.g. to the national register for citizens that was recently introduced. you know this is a kind of you know what the connection between these 2 is actually. untrue you know this being promulgated by the opposition groups to whip up a history of the reagan was the better for it because the national registry for citizens is not a law the citizenship amendment out of reach for teens try not to reason by are they just going to starbucks and has already become a law and not the law but it is policy it. allow me allow me just for the sake of

time at a strictly be j.p. policy i mean the the union home minister ahmed shah said this in april and i'm quoting 1st we will bring citizenship amendment bill and we will get citizenship to the hindu buddhist a sikh and christian refugees the religious minorities from the neighboring nations then we will implement the n.r.c. to flush out the infiltrators from our country who is he talking about here. you know he's talking of all the very large number more than 20000000 illegal immigrants who have who are not facing any of their life but who are mostly come across the border borrowed from bangladesh in eastern india if you know the india bangladesh border is more than 4100 kilometers long and the kind of carry there is it can't all be policed so there are lots of people have come in for economic opportunities and you know it would be solved in steam to reserve the right to limit immigration i mean india is a poor country under the mill of the country and so we can have $20000000.00 or more undocumented people who are pouring in changing the demographic balance you

just mentioned in your report you know in the northeastern states of india which part of bangladesh the locals are becoming minorities because of the gigantic influx of bangladeshis so i think it is this is the national registry applies to primarily to the eastern part of the country we just built the demographic balance has been completely are good for political reasons by hundreds of mr moore the movie some of these teams like the one with the banner gene west being not even though let me correct you because the union minister also said that the national register in fact he said this in december is going to apply to all parts of india but just for the sake of time one final question to you do you think that the modi government has. been caught off guard with the size of the protests and the amounts of people that have been coming out really from all walks of life across the country to protest this law and what will the modi government do. well just to get back to you on what mr mitchell said it was to ensure that some of these illegal immigrants are some of the other parts of india so that the whole idea and the ones

who are i think probably can we all get that are coming back to the question of misreading or miscalculated you not the size and the proportion of the brutus are not really big for india i mean if you look at a country like lebanon are you know obviously less than 10000000 people maybe a few 1000 here on the it might make it look like you know something extraordinary but we need you in context we've often had to you know it's a ruckus democracy people brought us i don't think we should make mountain out of a molehill i think the broadest actually longer of the meaning and i don't think it can be sustained because it's a little one is around a crowd the kind of speech will be mobilized by parties but people being people money many of the progressive don't even know what they're protesting against it's like a higher crowd out there you know there are somewhat ideological who want to reject they will continue to prove it and the police are allowing them to hide that i'd have to ask you i have to ask you though what you're basing these allegations on because we speak to reporters on the ground and we speak to people in india and

certainly they don't seem to be hired and we also speak to human rights organizations amnesty international joined us just just an hour ago i don't as era we have an agenda that only you know those who might human rights organizations criticize more countries than most governments they are ideologically biased and start of the group just go there's plenty of evidence radiographic evidence by any news media shoring up where do borders are asking for is just what is a citizenship amendment act and it's a blank they don't even her what it contains and why are you protesting or we've been asked to come here because i asked them to come there this is a political game that's being played you know it's not a a mass movement or by any means. charlie and we thank you very much for speaking to us from india. a court of pakistan has sentenced a university lecturer to death for blasphemy junaid hafiz was arrested in 2013 accused of insulting the prophet muhammad on facebook he spent nearly 6 years in

solitary confinement waiting for his trial pakistan's controversial blasphemy law carries an automatic death penalty and the country has yet to carry out a death sentence for the charge but the law has drawn widespread condemnation from rights groups and about 40 people convicted of blasphemy are on death row in pakistan a christian woman spent more than 8 years on death row before her conviction was overturned a year ago she has since sought asylum in canada her case attracted global attention and led to the killing of punjab governor. he was shot dead by one of his bodyguards in 2011 syrup pose the laws and had called for a b.b. to be part and now 3 months later pakistan's minorities minister was killed by gunmen in islamic shahbaz bhatti a christian had received death threats after suggesting blasphemy laws the reforms to the hides or is in islam about that he says join a toughies came to pakistan from the united states and was hired as an english

literature professor. he's a fulbright scholar enough god had also. prayed for good academic work however a group of students then objected to a facebook page a q. demo of blasphemy and printed 13 able to read david and charged with blasphemy under buckets tang's law $295.00 of the penal code that did the pakistan penal court anyone who defies the name of the prophet. provided for the sentence of death in this particular case he had been in jail granted. a number of the judges have already been and today they were day gourds read out under maximum security inside the prison because back in britain the 14 his lawyer was gunned down and. he according to reports was kept in solitary confinement

because of fear voted live but that particular judgment coming out inside the jail and moreton out of control those fires are burning in australia destroying homes and coming dangerously close to major cities this video captured from a passenger plane shows several fires near adelaide the capital of the state of south australia 2 people have died there. and at least 100 brush fires are burning around sydney in the state of new south wales record temperatures and howling winds combined there it's create what forecasters say were catastrophic conditions just washington reports from sydney's western outskirts this is usually one of sydney's most popular tourist attractions the normally picturesque blue mountains bordering the outskirts of the city. much of it now decimated by bushfires. they've been burning across large parts of australia for months now with flames as

high as 70 metres the fire in this region alone has destroyed an area 7 times the size of singapore. but this isn't just bush land it's home for thousands of australians fire crews are working tirelessly to protect residents robert beecroft is a former volunteer firefighter he's seen many bushfires in his time but this one is different for being here for 67 years i've seen a lot of for sure the mountains actually might have to brace for quite a few falls but. i haven't seen so many out of control back to the b. crops like so many families here face a difficult choice leave everything behind or stay and potentially put themselves in danger it's a little bit stressful but you just got to remain positive us suppose it's hard to think of what you want to keep and everything but just get what seems important at the time to go and i'm sure there'll be other things that you think about later but

just be prepared i guess it's just bad timing obviously around the holidays but what can you do really. it's because it's pretty confronting. volunteers for such a strain from the shells some of these fires have been burning since july but authorities are warning that these are catastrophic conditions it's the combination of extreme. strong winds and low humidity that makes the situation on the ground incredibly dangerous firefighters are battling the blaze on the ground and from the air the intense heat has even generated its own thunderstorm nearly all the men and women fighting the fires are volunteers some haven't seen their families in days the locals who risk losing almost everything some are just trying to do whatever they can. get much sleep and it's. anxious.

problems as ward this is just the beginning of summer and many of fearful of what lies ahead for the rest of the bush. just to washington al-jazeera blackheath. there been more closed door meetings in lebanon as the man picked to be its new prime minister tries to gather support from rival political blogs has held talks with the outgoing leader. is promising to form a government within 6 weeks but heidi the supporters aren't happy with his replacement on friday troops fired tear gas at protesters blocked roads and hurled rocks how did he has called for calm. exactly by this. i wish all could express themselves in a peaceful way because the it is for all believe in these and i wish if anyone is angry that he can protest peacefully in god's will the prime minister is conducting his consultations we hope for good for all. syrian government forces on the russian

allies have bombed rebel held areas and in their province killing 11 people here strikes hit a busy market and then the city's main road as people tried to flee the attack the city of moderate and oman was also targeted it's home to more than 100000 people who've escaped fighting elsewhere syrian troops are advancing capturing 2 more villages on the southern edge of it live. and attacks on government controlled oiling gas terminals in central syria as suspects have been carried out by an identified drones no group is claiming responsibility for a triggering explosions and fires in hong fuel shortages are widespread because imports are blocked by western sanctions. still ahead on al-jazeera in just a moment on your bike in paris to get round the strikes but not everyone is finding it easy right back in a moment. how

we got some bits and pieces of fright coming to central parts of china sea the thick a cloud here pushing over towards shanghai but to the south of that it's still going to be fine and dry over the next couple days temperatures in hong kong very respectable 24 degrees celsius it's set up with cold in that in shanghai with a high of 12 there bright skies do come back in as we go on into monday but thick enough to produce some outbreaks of right into the central parts of china at that stage elsewhere across the region you can see it's going to be lousy dry some bits and pieces of cloud into southwest charge of indo-china generally dry fine and sunny that sunshine stretches across to wards the eastern side of in the air we have got the possibility of want to showers just along the eastern coastal friendship but more so down towards the fos out the east into southern parts of tamil nadu the showers continue into sri lanka no quite as widespread or extensive

as they have been recently but they are lot it's 2 were in figure 8 and once again as we go on into monday for the northeast as dry temper just picking up a little in new delhi to around 90 degrees celsius with just a terrible with that across arabian peninsula the winds falling logic 1st region high saving 23. you can see. and experience the world like never before. places to get.

how we got to be top stories on al-jazeera this hour thousands of people continue to rally across india as the answer flies over a new law on citizenship at least 19 people have been killed and more than 1500 arrested since last week. a court of pakistan has sentenced a university lecturer to death for blas for me toughies was arrested in 2013 accused of insulting islam it's how much on facebook. bushfires in south australia have killed at least one person and destroyed homes the state of new south wales is also facing what are described as catastrophic conditions are

soaring temperatures and high winds fueled the flames. 3 people have been killed in libya and the latest round of drone strikes by warlords 24 have studied his forces attacked the town of the northwest of libya the internationally recognized government says the drones are being piloted by the united arab emirates which supports the warlords last week have to announce what he called a final offensive to take the capital of tripoli. meanwhile turkey's parliament has ratified a deal increasing cooperation with libya's tripoli government the agreements could see turkish troops deployed to defend tripoli from the warlords 24 have to edit the u.s. is calling that deal unhelpful and provocative let's bring in mohammed ali joining us more from istanbul now that this has been ratified by the parliament what happens next well daryn there is a whole process involved before we can see turkish troops on libyan soil

in all of these were to fit question is just a lot of question of the agreements between libya and turkey but what's happening it was going to happen from now on will depend on a formal request that the d.n.a. in tripoli that's the government that's recognized by the united nations. you know has to send a request to uncurse so that the the the unless they get this that will quest to go back to parliament for another agreement a nod from parliament and also for the formulation of the monday what exactly those troops would mandated to do in libya once they get there before they can be deployed we're hearing from sources that the government here is not expecting a formal request from tripoli until probably february but that could change given the also more. general hotter is comprised now coming out against the government

installations and positions ok mohamed adele thank you for that update. russia says construction must continue on its gas pipeline to europe despite threats of u.s. sanctions work is being threatened after president donald trump announced the new legislation on friday that includes sanctions against companies involved in building the nord stream to pipeline trump says bypassing ukraine to deliver natural gas to germany gives russia too much influence in europe berlin has also rejected the u.s. sanctions the political analyst at stanford university berlin brooke nurse says the sanctions point to string ties between germany and the us and he explains why the project has become contentious well it is not something that pops up in the last year or so it is a project that has been ongoing for a long time and there's

a reason why it's called north korean tool that is a north korean one already and they just double the capacity of what is used as a pipeline to bring gas directly from russia to germany which makes a number of actors in the political scene upset 1st and foremost the transit countries don't get revenues from acting as transit countries secondly it's against the european union's interest of an integrated and it's the policy and 1st and foremost and that's the main reason for the united states to impose sanctions on this was company that builds the pipeline is that the u.s. wants to sell gas from fracking from the united states it can be shipped as liquefied gas to ports in europe and so russia is just a competitor and the united states want to sell their gas to germany. russia and ukraine have announced a new deal allowing moscow to supply gas to europe for the next 5 years so russia ships nearly 40 percent of its european gas deliveries through pipelines across

ukraine the current contract between both countries are expiring at the end of the year and officials say a new one will be signed shortly but there's concern over whether a delay will restrict gas from reaching the continent. talks aimed at resolving disputes over the largest hydroelectric dam in africa are taking place in sudan's capital khartoum the $4000000000.00 grant european renaissance dam on the river nile is nearing completion if you say it will provide power to 70000000 people and revitalize the economy neighbors to don and egypt fear reduce supplies of water and drinking and for drinking and irrigation protestors have been back out on the streets of chile's capital angry about delays in negotiating a new constitution police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse people in santiago it's 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 main

demands. to cruise ships have collided 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 and 6 people did suffer minor injuries as the steward of the carnival legend was damaged. parisians 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 the talk about lower explains. 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 old 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 cycle them probably lots of people bring in dusty bags that have been in their center which proves they don't normally cycle persistency council says the number of cyclists on the road has doubled since the strike began the mayor 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 yes i'm quite regularly that would strike them but they're often because there's not really enough there is good enough to stop it would 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 small to journeys it's 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. or poorly equipped. to bike you need a basic level of fitness if people are fit they may not have balance of they can fall down and risk for anxious to the head shoulders and body also too much biking if you're fit 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 returned 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 butler al-jazeera powers. the headlines on al-jazeera the sour thousands of people continue to rally across india as the backlash intensifies over a new law on citizenship at least 19 people have been killed and more than 1500 arrested since last we saw the husband of the protestors in the capital new delhi there have been thousands of students along with people from the loss of life civilians who joined in lawyers who joined the men everybody has been talking a lot only about the constitutional law that story this is the ship law but also and mainly about the constitution of this country which has been built on the basic

the basics of this constitution is equality and the basis of this constitution is also secularism that that is what people over here have been reminding the country . a court of pakistan has sentenced a university lecturer to death for blossom me join a toughie as was arrested in 2013 accused of insulting the prophet mohammad on facebook. bushfires in south australia have killed at least one person and destroyed homes the state of new south wales is also facing what are described as catastrophic conditions are soaring temperatures and high winds fuel the flames. syrian government forces and their russian allies have reportedly bombed rebel held areas an adlib province killing 11 people their strikes hit a busy market on the city's main roads people were trying to leave the area the city of modern was also targeted so it's home to more than 100000 people who've been escaping fighting elsewhere. there been more closed door meetings in lebanon

as the man picked to be its new prime minister tries to gather support from rival political blocs has signed a deal talks to the outgoing leader. job is promising to form a government within 6 weeks. russia says construction must continue on its gas pipeline to europe despite threats of u.s. sanctions work is being threatened officer president donald trump announced the new legislation on friday that includes sanctions against companies involved in building the nord stream to pipeline trump says the pipeline gives russia too much influence in europe those are the headlines up fronts is up next on al-jazeera thanks for watching. with one of the highest moderates in the world as the main challenger one of central america splits countries is gang related violence you are a country that's not take you but you have levels of fogs that look like countries that the president of the old salvador. talks to al-jazeera and

historic week in washington d.c. president donald trump impeached so what happens now and up from special. this week donald trump became the 3rd president in u.s. history to be impeached by the house of representatives democrats in congress voted through 2 articles of impeachment one of which charges that the president abused his power and pressured the government of ukraine to assist with his reelection campaign by investigating a political rival and the 2nd which accuses him of obstruction of congress next stop is a trial in the senate in the new year where the president is sure to be acquitted by a republican majority so how bad is this for trump.