we return to see how the students. change the face of india. on al-jazeera. police fights with protesters for a 2nd straight day in india's will to protest as nationwide protests continue against a contentious citizenship. hello again i'm a star and this is out is there a live from doha also coming up 3 people killed in an air attack by worldly for have to us forces in libya while turkey's parliament approved the security deal with the tripoli based government. even more homes lost huge bushfires in eastern and southern australia intensified by searing heat and strong wind. and russia says

it will go ahead with a pipeline to germany boosting gas supplies to europe despite u.s. sanctions. now nationwide protests over a new citizenship law are emerging as the biggest domestic challenge to indian prime minister narendra modi yet opponents say the law discriminates by excluding muslims while letting minorities from 3 neighboring countries become citizens at least 22 people have now been killed and more than 1500 arrested since the unrest began last week now some of the most violent scenes have been in the northern state of order pradesh where 15 people have died just over the past 2 days protesters set fires and threw rocks at police have been accused of using excessive force in another northern state bihar demonstrators blocked roads by lighting fires wearing signs opposing the new law but demonstrations have been largely peaceful in states

controlled by the opposition where regional leaders have said they won't implement the new law thousands have taken part in rallies in west bengal. has been with protesters in the capital new delhi i've been standing in front of the really a lot of university where some of the 1st protests began and today the route has been off defiance there have been thousands of students along with the people that live as civilians who joined in lawyers who joined the lead everybody has been talking a lot only valid constitution look a story this is a 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 reminded. that the fabric obviously she is being challenged by this government

by introducing this new law well let's remind you of what's in the law and why it's caused such widespread opposition it creates a pathway to citizenship for minorities who face religious persecution in 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 the 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 you 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 threat karen khaitan is a professor of law and legal theory at the university of oxford and also general editor of the indian law review he spoke to my colleague guides and explained why

the laws caused so much anger. look this government has been chipping away at india's constitutional fundamentals for the last 6 years but this act does it so blatantly and so. expressly that there's no plausible deniability in any solutions a constitutional solution so fail to stop the government from doing what it has done to the constitution and ultimately it seems that the people have decided that it's upon them to save india's pluralistic secular democratic constitution why is the citizenship law that's caused all these posts last seen by many people as a threat to indian democracy as a whole so the been a lot of threats to a new democracy of late but this is the most blatant because for the 1st time in india as a democratic independent history we are going to write religion as a qualification into us citizenship law is the law in giving fastrack citizenship to basically non muslims but also some other it's

a jews atheists muslims some of these communities are not covered but in those seats and you are covered that is that is just so blatantly against the very core of the indian constitution identity which is to seek to build a nation that is not based on religious identity that is secular that is polluted listing that it's diverse and it's celebrated that day diversity for the last 70 odd years so that it's it's the explicitness you know a lot of these government's policies have been sort of dog whistle politics of it everybody knows the board is anti muslim but now the government felt emboldened to do not feel the need for force for dog whistles it's just it's blatant misses as was egregious. now 3 people have been killed in libya and the latest round of drone strikes by warlord khalifa haftar 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 who supports the warlord last week have to announce what he called a final offensive to take the capital of tripoli are not what our global head has more on that attack from tripoli the would kill the 9 others wanted according to military sources with the government of the national accord and the city of about 88 kilometers so the east of tripoli is now witnessing a war as a random rockets are landing in the area and the civilians have been fled have been leaving their homes because of the of the fighting we spoke to eyewitnesses civilians in the city of the they say that the city is almost now empty so many civilians have left their homes because of the random rockets launched by have those forces and have been landing in inside the city of as you know that it's

a letter is among the cities that have recently declared mass mobilization to defend tripoli against have the forces so it seems that half the forces are trying to punish the city of them for its affiliation to the government forces and turkey's parliament has backed a military deal increasing cooperation with libya's tripoli government and trying to defend the capital from war or cliff after that our correspondent mohammed al-douri says it'll be some time before taki considers actually deploying troops. this. question is just a lot of question of the agreement 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 when once they get these request to go back to

parliament for another agreement a nod from parliament and also for the formulation of the monday it would exactly the troops will be mandated to do in libya once they get there before they can be deployed really hearing from sources that the government here is not expecting a formal request from tripoli until probably february but that could change given the. really good general hotter is comprised now coming out against the government installations and positions. syrian government forces and their russian allies have bombed rebel held areas and province killing 11 people the airstrikes have a busy market and sarah keep and then the city's main road as people try to flee that attack the city of marjah a new man was also targeted it's home to more than 100000 people his escape fighting elsewhere syrian troops are advancing capturing 2 villages on the southern

edge of it led. attacks on a government controlled oil and gas tunnels in central syria are suspected to have been carried out by unidentified drones no group is claiming responsibility for triggering explosions and fires and homes feel shortages are widespread because imports are blocked by western sanctions. out of control brush fires are burning in australia destroying homes and coming dangerously close to major cities this video captured from a passenger plane shows several fires in the adelaide the capital of the state of south australia 2 people have died there and at least 100 bush fires are still burning around sydney in the state of new south wales record temperatures and howling winds of combines there to create what forecasters say were catastrophic conditions jessica 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

bush fires. 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 more have to close for quite a few for. i haven't seen so many out of control. 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 or suppose it's hard to think of what you want to keep in everything but just get what seems important at the time to go in the 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 . score it's critical for. volunteers for such a strain from the some of these fires have been burning since july but authorities are warning that these are catastrophic conditions it's the combination of extreme hate 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

for locals who risk losing almost everything some are just trying to do whatever they can. having their older get much sleep and it's. anxious sobeys problems as ward this is just the beginning of summer and many of fearful of what lies ahead for the rest of the bushfire season just washington al-jazeera blackheath. still ahead on al-jazeera a former university lecturer is sentenced to death on charges of bass for me in pakistan i've a facebook posts. and on your bike in paris to get around the strikes but not everyone is finding in iraq and. how we got some bits and pieces of right to come into central parts of china sea the thick of cloud here pushing over toward shanghai up to the south of that it's

going to be 5 dry over the next couple days temperatures in hong kong very respectable 24 degrees celsius 12 was killed in that in shanghai with a high of 12 brought the skies to 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 towards the eastern side of in the air we have got the possibility of one or 2 showers just along the eastern coast of friendship but more so down towards the far south east into southern parts of tamil nadu showers continuing to. watch this 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 north it stays dry to 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 highs here in doha 23. over a year protesters across france have demanded economic justice police have responded with mass arrests a military grade weapons to constrain the movement do you think you could have been mistaken between aiming at your head or you access all those people in power has been employed to investigate the escalation of violence in darfur what this means for free speech and the democratic rights of its citizens police on trial on al-jazeera.

and again i'm. reminded of our top stories this hour thousands of people continue to protest across india as the backlash intensify is over a new law and citizenship at least $22.00 people have now been killed and more than 1500 arrested since last week. 3 people have been killed in libya and the latest round of drone strikes by world khalifa haftar meanwhile turkey's parliament has backed a military deal increasing cooperation with libya's tripoli government. and bushfires in south australia have killed at least 2 people and destroyed homes the state of new south wales is also facing water described as catastrophic conditions as soaring temperatures and high winds continue to fuel the flames. now more than

$50000.00 guns have been handed in 0 in new zealand since a ban was imposed on assault weapons the government started buying back the weapons 6 months ago it's part of reforms since the mass shooting at 2 mosques back in march when 51 people were killed gun owners were also given the option of modifying their firearms to make them compliant with tougher laws you have heard countless free bit from mini of the local boy big events it was all going good really $32000.00 clearly separate to suppose the most so little shoes there are about 15 percent of the year of the gun only community with a license can read or should say if he did in the weapons and i think that feels about right a court in pakistan has sentenced a university lecturer to death for blasphemy janetta fees was arrested and 2013 accused of insulting the prophet mohammed on facebook he spent nearly 6 years in solitary confinement waiting for his trial pakistan's controversial blasphemy law

carries an automatic death penalty the country has it to carry out a death sentence for the charge but the law has drawn widespread condemnation from rights groups what about 40 people convicted of blasphemy are on death row in pakistan asia bibi a christian woman spent more than 80 years on death row before her conviction was overturned a year ago she has since sought asylum in canada had a case attracted global attention and led to the killing of punjab governor salman to see if he was shot dead by one of his bodyguards and 2011 to see oppose the best meal laws and had called for bibi to be pardoned 3 months later pakistan's minorities minister was killed by gunmen in islamabad shahbaz bhatti a christian had received death threats after suggesting that the blast me laws be reformed but our correspondent come out hide it is in islamabad and he says should have fears came to pakistan from the united states and was hired as an industry trichet professor. it's

a fulbright scholar enough god has also. prayed for did i get to make however a group of students then objected to his facebook page a q demo of blasphemy and printed 13 able to read david and charged with blasphemy under buck get stung all to 95 of the penal code that did the pockets on penal codes anyone who defies the name of the prophet. provides for the sentence of death in this particular case has been in jail. 6 long. 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 2014 his lawyer was gunned down and still he god according to reports was kept in solitary confinement because of fear had voted to live by that particular judgment

coming out inside the jail and moreton. 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 it includes sanctions against companies involved in building the nord stream to pipeline trump says bypassing ukraine to deliver natural gas to germany it gives russia too much influence in europe beilin has also rejected the u.s. sanctions what the russians planning the new 12100 kilometer pipeline will run from the russian port of underneath the baltic sea to germany along with the existing nord streamline russia will be able to export 110000000000 cubic meters of gas to europe each year that's double the current amount of political analyst at stanford university ballon alric bruckner says the sanctions point to strained ties between germany and the us he explains why this project has become so 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 stream 2 there's 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 2 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 in present of an integrated energy 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. well russia

has been looking to build pipelines bypassing ukraine because of this. relations but in the meantime the 2 countries have settled a long running dispute allowing moscow to supply gas to europe for the next 5 years they have been fears that a delay could limit supplies to the continent which relies on russian gas the heating an industry russia ships nearly 40 percent of its european gas deliveries through pipelines that cross ukraine now french forces have killed $33.00 fighters in the mop the region of mali president among american made the announcement in a speech in ivory coast french army command confirmed the death toll in that operation which it said took place overnight near the mauritanian border. or talks aimed at resolving disputes over the largest hydroelectric dam in africa are taking place in sudan's capital khartoum the $4000000000.00 grand ethiopian or nascent dam on the river nile is nearing completion the ethiopians say it will provide power to

17000000 people and revitalize the economy but neighbors sudan and egypt fear it will reduce water supply for drinking and irrigation while staying in sudan aid has reached a remote rebel held area for the 1st time in nearly 9 years as have been morgan reports 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 rubble adam 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 did not want to miss out as well. there's 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 were being dropped on people farms or livestock some of us food 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. since the west also more than its years ago yeah boss has been cut off from when it's errant tens of thousands of people but the brits 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 see 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 hurts whom 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 not at all from the united nations in over 9 years and when you compound the war the conflict with the flooding that just taking place these people are in need i've been extremely impressed with the openness and the willingness of the leadership of humbucking 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 abdel-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 and equality of the busy problem is a show of the sharia sharia islamic law for. the macnow we were on a secular democratic. state and this is where the government is there looking 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. denial. twitter has removed nearly $6000.00 accounts which it says were part of a coordinated efforts by saudi arabia to promote its interests the social media company says the accounts were aggressively liking and retrieving messages favorable to the kingdom discussions about sanctions in iran and appearances by saudis and western media often targeted. now a new piece by the mysterious street artist banksy has been unveiled and bethlehem

and the occupied west bank just a few days before christmas the work highlights palestinians lives under occupation especially during the season and abraham has more from bethlehem. the score of. a play on words on the star of bethlehem the store that is believed to have led. to the growth over 2000 years ago banksy says it's a modified take on the traditional nativity set and it's been unveiled to here today in what is known here as the largest collection of banks his work in the world banks is trying to be a voice for those who cannot speak simply like this. he's trying to help. our situation through art to make policy and voice reach the world through art we're a few days away from christmas here in bethlehem which is the traditional location many tourists come to to celebrate the occasion this hotel has been here since 2007

and it seems to bring more tourists here and to show them the life of palestinians specifically near the separation wall it's called the walled off hotel and definitely more work by banksy is hoped here by palestinians that it can drive more tourists to come to palestine. now people in paris are getting on their bikes to beat the 3rd week of strikes by french transport workers cycling to work is becoming ever more popular as metro and rail services continue to remain at a standstill because of a dispute over pension reforms that has more. weaving through traffic in paris on a bike can be sure to have 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 valentine 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 cycle temporarily lots of people bring in dusty bags that have been in the 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 and with your use of right that would strike you from what you're after because there's not really enough there isn't 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 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 ill prepared or poorly equipped. to point you need a basic level of fitness if people are they may not have balance of they can fall down and risk fractures to the head shoulders and body also too much biking if you want it can cause a multitude of health problems and pain in the knees 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 butler

al-jazeera powers. to cruise ships have collided with each other in mexico. in the carnival glory was docking in the caribbean resort of cozumel but it's 88000 ton sister ship was on the way 6 people suffered minor injuries as the stern of the carnival legend was damaged. hello this is al jazeera and these are the headlines thousands of people continue to protest across india as the backlash intensifies over a new law on citizenship at least 22 people have now been killed and more than 1500 arrested since last week. has been with protesters in the capital new delhi. there are thousands of students along with people that live as civilians who joined in

lawyers who joined the learned everybody has been talking a lot only valid constitutional law a story this is the ship law but also i mean really about the constitution of this country which actually built on the reason the basics of this constitution is equality and that these this or this constitution is also secularism that that is what people over here have been reminded that. 3 people have been killed in libya and the latest round of drone strikes by warlord khalifa haftar last week after announced what he called a final offensive to take the capital tripoli meanwhile turkey's parliament has backed a military deal increasing cooperation with libya's tripoli based government a court in pakistan has sentenced a university lecturer to death for blasphemy junaid have fees was arrested in 2013 accused of insulting islam as prophets prophet mohammed on facebook bushfires in south australia have killed at least 2 people and destroyed homes the state of new

south wales is also facing water described as catastrophic conditions as soaring temperatures and high winds continue to fuel the flames syrian government forces and their russian allies have bombed a rebel held areas an adlib province killing 11 people the airstrikes has a busy market and sara keep and then the city's main road as people try to flee that attack the city of mars a new man was also targeted that's home to more than 100000 people who've escaped fighting elsewhere. 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 well those are the headlines join me for more news here after people in power.

for well over a year now from says yellow vests activists have been making full use of their constitution in trying right to protest against the economic policies president emanuel from but the often uncompromising response of the authorities has raised disturbing questions about the appropriate use of force to police those demonstrations giuliana rufous has been to investigate claims that france's democratic principles of being on tonight.