same amount as iraq. tens of thousands of indians say it discriminates but the prime minister narendra modi is defending a new citizenship law that excludes muslims. hello and welcome i'm peter w. watching al-jazeera live from doha also coming up russia backed syrian forces push deeper into italy after a week long assault that's brought a new exodus. polled burnt off the map australia battles

catastrophic bushfires there's been gulf scores of us. and how donald trump's border wall with mexico could be putting centuries old native american sites at risk. top story india's main opposition congress party is holding a rally in a few hours against the controversial new citizenship law the prime minister narendra modi has defended the legislation and is blaming his political rivals for stoking tensions huge demonstrations were held again in the capital new delhi and several other states on sunday the protests against the law which many say discriminates against muslims and now into their 2nd point rights groups are accusing the police of using disproportionate force to silence the anger sabina stressed was at the capitol rally a little earlier. 7 it's

the greatest challenge india's prime minister narendra modi has faced since he came to power 5 years ago dozens of people have been killed during protests against a citizenship law which many say discriminates against muslims addressing thousands of his supporters at an election rally in new delhi blamed the opposition for stoking the protests little by little is would be. brothers since this law has been passed some political parties have been spreading rumors these people are misleading the public they are inciting the public. you know corporate america i want to ask stein's and steve getting paypal to and to police trying to do this what are you hoping to achieve the police is no one's enemy. the citizenship amendment act makes it easier for migrants from afghanistan bangladesh and pakistan who aren't muslim to become indian citizens critics say the law could lead to many

muslims losing their citizenship. or i'm not a hug right staging protests is all right they should not be violent so i oppose that whatever the police are doing i request them not to do it they should also listen we are also indians like you we are also humans. i guess. as protests continued on sunday in the capital and other parts of the country the government insisted that law will not be repealed i protest has been ongoing since parliament passed the law earlier in december i was but a student protests and. university in the capital a week ago turned into a movement of hundreds of thousands of students and anti-government protesters nationwide people were angered after government forces fought with students and stormed the campus by tear gas into the library and classrooms. i.

the worst violence has been the british for more than 5000 people have been detained at least 1500 have been arrested in other parts of india. some muslims can get so than shipped under the citizenship amendment act but it is feared millions who are unable to provide proof could be rendered stateless even if their families have lived in india but generations to be out of the raw new delhi. well my colleague elizabeth taylor on them joins us live now from the capital new delhi liz good morning tell us more about this congress rally. so peter for the last week we have had mass protests across the country again this year or they have been mostly led by students by civil society now the main opposition party and the of the congress party is holding what's expected to be

a very large rally right here in the capital new delhi and they're doing it at the resting place of mahatma gandhi they are doing this to emphasize that the country's founders mahatma gandhi. and nehru wanted a secular india which is enshrined in the constitution and the congress is what is the other groups who've been protesting against this rule of course they want to keep up the pressure so that the supreme court will strike down the law they're also looking for guarantees from the government that they will not hold the government will not do what they did in the northeastern state of what was called a national register of citizens which left nearly 2000000 people off the list and there are fears that if you were a non muslim if are you a hindu you will be granted citizenship what the new door that muslims will be rendered stateless so again all these parties including the main opposition congress keeping up the pressure on the government to back down on laws or

practices that they say inherently discriminatory. and what else is happening around the country. so peter one area that we're keeping a very close eye on today is the state of the for the for the now that's where most of the deaths 18 of i believe the 25 people that have been killed in protests have been in with their predation we're hearing of a severe crackdown on protests internet remain suspended in most parts of the state there is still a bad no more than 4 people can gather and most worryingly the chief minister the hindu nationalist chief minister was very closely aligned to india's prime minister has said chief minister that should not have said that they're going to take revenge on protest is we have seen police seize and seal 70 shops and the place. most of these shops belong to muslims they have been sealed on

suspicion that protesters were throwing rocks from the shops and of course we're watching all of these very close all of this very closely because predation muzaffarnagar specifically has a terrible history of communal tensions they were deadly riots and will suffer no go so we're keeping an eye on that it would also be interesting to see pictures we did see some smaller rallies yesterday by people coming out in support of the go and support of the government in places like bengal loued and also in the state of mind will be interesting to see if that something that that develops liz thank you very much elizabeth cohen reporting live from new delhi. well an $80000.00 syrians are on the move towards turkey according to the turkish president richard type now this exodus follows a heavy bombardment by russia and syrian forces in the rebel held province of it lip is charlotte dallas. and so the nude lip is pounded from above its people

rushed towards the turkish border scrambling to escape the aerial onslaught from russian and syrian for instance. a lot of. fire we flipped from the bombardment russian work planes are striking helicopters missiles and rockets we cannot remain there. syrian president bashar al assad boasted his mission to retake the province from former al qaeda affiliates hiatt to here a week ago sunni provinces out of his control the russian backed syrian army celebrated retaking more than 20 villages on it lives fringe group that in fact was the price dozens of civilians killed tens of thousands displaced of them actually i'm a mother on the job you have fled from and to moderate a lot more than 20 times for what reason tell us where is our next destination we don't know. but this is what they're running from. filmed on

sunday on the damascus lipper highway and it's lewd volunteers from a syrian in geo rushed to the aftermath of the suspected russian. it's tragic there is heavy bombardment the warplanes are always flying there come along as i counted on him yesterday more than $400.00 rockets hit us that are read a new man our children couldn't sleep through the night they were crying every hour and now we are heading towards the i don't know. turkish president read your time over one is bracing for the exodus from it live turkey currently holds 3700000 syrian refugees he says they cannot support more bomba the man looked at. and 6 more than $80000.00 of our brothers from running from the bombs there have started migrating towards our borders if the violence towards the people of aid it does not stop this number will increase even more turkey will not carry such a migrant burden on its own the negative impact of that pressure will be something

that all european nations especially greece will also feel. syrian rebels in the russian backed syrian forces had agreed to a cease fire in august. we are putting up every effort with russia for the attacks to stop and we will continue to do so in fact we are sending a delegation to moscow on monday until the bombardment stops the exodus will continue resistance homes abandoned empty targets in the way of president assad's mission to retake the last rebel besting in shalah ballasts al-jazeera now a former military chief in egypt who intended to run against president abdel fattah el-sisi has been released from detention and was imprisoned for announcing his candidacy 2 years ago the military said he didn't have permission to run and breached military law it isn't known why he was released but he was moved to a hospital in july after reportedly suffering

a stroke at least 16 prisoners have been killed in fighting between rival gangs in honduras the violence comes less than 2 days after 18 inmates in a separate facility were killed in a riot the army has been ordered to take control of the country's 27 prisons. australia's prime minister has rejected calls for more action on climate change as firefighters battle catastrophic places across the east and south of the country is facing one of its worst ever bushfire seasons with almost $200.00 homes damaged in the past few days alone in new south wales and south australia scott morrison says he won't engage in quote reckless and job destroying cuts to the country's coal industry jessica washington is in new south wales. i'm here in bell moral in sydney's south standing in front of just one of the around 100 houses which were destroyed this weekend as bushfires tore through parts of new south wales which is a strangely is most populous state take

a look at this house it's absolutely been decimated by a fire storm which tore through this area because the bushfire has reached such a huge size and such intense hate that it actually created its own weather system and that is the result of what happened this weekend this community has been absolutely torn apart by these bushfires it's a small community of just 400 people so you can imagine that this is having a huge impact on residents here take a look around and you see these blackened trees some residents have been allowed to return to their houses to assess the damage but others haven't one of the reasons for that is as you can see the trees have been absolutely blackened some of them have been hollowed out by what happened over the weekend there's a real risk that they could fall and cause injury to residents and that's why we're wearing this protective gear we are authorized to be here but of course an incredibly challenging time for residents some of them will be without their houses

this christmas still to come here on al-jazeera sudan's government announces steps to end years of impunity for the atrocities committed and. also ahead croatia's presidential election throws up a surprise. that could affect the rest of the european. hello again welcome back to international weather forecasts we're here across the central mediterranean we are watching a very potent weather system pushing in from the west towards the east and it's going to bring a lot of rain as well as winds from greece all the way to turkey here on monday you can see the very heavy rain on our forecast map on monday extending anywhere from central to western parts of turkey and with that we're going to be seeing some very gusty winds along the coast and pushing inland all the way up towards our corrupt

as we go towards tuesday it is going to continue to make its way towards the east will be singing even gusty winds even snow in the higher elevations and syria parts of lebanon you'll be getting in on the action with those very gusty winds and those coastal showers by the time we get to tuesday and into wednesday that system moves even more towards the east there well here across much of the gulf we're looking quite nice of the next few days temperatures about average for this time of year plenty of sun winds are down as well we are picking up a few clouds across cross the coast of oman for muscat though it is going to get a little bit better by the time we get to tuesday with the tempter there of about 23 degrees and then very quickly across southern africa we have a lot of rain to talk about anywhere from johannesburg down towards durban tempter at $27.00 degrees for johannesburg but the rain starts to dissipate as we go towards tuesday and attempted though very warm at 30 degrees feel. leopold is renowned the creation of the world. one

o one east goes back to to find out that they were going to this. one how did they are. capturing a moment in time. snapshots of our lives. provide an eclipse into someone else's was. witness on al-jazeera. welcome back you're watching out of here a reminder of our top stories this hour india's main opposition congress party is holding a rally in a few hours time against a controversial citizenship law tens of thousands protested on sunday they say

discriminates against muslims. syrian and russian air strikes have killed 17 people in turkey says tens of thousands of civilians have fled in recent days. australia's prime minister scott morrison has rejected calls for action on climate change as bushfires intensified almost 200 homes have been damaged in the past few days alone in new south wales and south australia. turkey's president wretch up type one says if necessary he will increase military support to the internationally recognized government in libya it's battling the warlord holy father after for control of the capital tripoli but after his forces are threatened retaliation there it is. while i take this opportunity to give a warning to aerospace companies working to transport a military equipment using civilian air place abusing its civilian uses and thinking that it is under the protection of rules of international law who have

confirmed monitored the movement of her sister to bring flights from istanbul to libya the libyan national army forces gives a clear and honest warning to all the companies our air forces will not hesitate to down or strike any civilian airplanes transporting military equipment to leave us airports. sudan has opened an investigation into crimes committed in the region of darfur by former government members who served under the ousted president omar al bashir the conflict between pro-government forces and ethnic minority rebels began in 2003 the un so. at least 300000 people were killed by the fighting as well as famine and disease but she is already wanted by the international criminal court for crimes against humanity and genocide. as a policy advisor on sudan for the enough project the genocide prevention organization he says reforms to sudan security forces this challenge by the disarming of certain groups. the army says that our forces are running out today

when i was telling everyone in a public event that the lit up assad forces are part of this alone as army and by law you know the nominee and those are those arguments clearly that apparel army i don't expect they would be aware of why the civilian government do this on the younger we need however there are provisions in the constitution a chart of that governs a transition to form the security sector in that case when that there are a lot of clamor cares it's expected that there will be only one sudanese national army rather than to put our hands of the situation is kind of i would really attention it to this detriment of the year particularly in the realm of the international criminal court and for the security guards the last big issues to interest to acknowledge that there have been generally changes to that and that there prosecutor office of the i.c.c. is willing to give sudan some time but we'll be watching very carefully when the

house with. the. crimes against humanity what crimes and genocide thought was i.c.c. has done bashir don't fall if she is wanted by the i.c.c. i believe that the ice is you lose seeing if this persecution that's less than launching it will be serious and indicative of an independent investigation of michigan and goes other officials of his are you responsible for the most likely that if. there be more protests in the lebanese capital beirut but the numbers are smaller than in previous weeks and it's being seen as a sign that many people seem prepared to give the new prime minister designate a chance to form a government from beirut here's tony butler. for the 67th day lebanese gathered in vagrants martyrs square to make a stand against the economic and political price. this on sunday was more like a carnival than

a protest. the lebanese capital have witnessed some of the worst violence seen for years the security forces clash with supporters on either side of the political divide numbers well down and in marked contrast the anger and violence of previous gatherings is perhaps an indication that some at least are prepared to give the designated prime minister sandia a chance. if you. know it's going to be a big problem and not going to go out from the streets we're going to make him fail in this. one for the shuttle might be untenable for that why are we being pessimistic we should be optimistic the new prime minister is decent in is not corrupt and he seems to be the man for the job and if it doesn't work we'll find another solution. was nominated by a weak majority parliament comprising of iran backed hezbollah and its allies the shia movement and president michel allen's christian free pass movement has

promised to appoint a new government filled with technocrats and experts within 6 weeks tension may have reduced but for some within the sunni community there is still anger that their leader side hariri has not been chosen as prime minister and there are fears that some are seeking to cause a rift between the sunni and shia communities. as they feel. it seems like some are seek really trying to incite secretary in strength and in reality we are far away from that we took to the streets because of the economy and not religion. that is the priority the need for a government to solve the economic crisis lebanon is running out of short term choices the country has one of the world's biggest debt burdens and a march is due to repay a one and a half $1000000000.00 euro bonds loan which is likely to default and that can only worsen the guy economic situation here. david hale the u.s. undersecretary of state for political affairs is in beirut meeting with various political leaders he is key to delivering $11000000000.00 in international aid

which is being locked until economic and political reforms are implemented. lebanon is an area in deep trouble financially and i think at a certain stage within the next week or so all that there will be. constraints on the backing sector. people will take to the streets. some are still singing about revolution but many are praying for a solution for now the people of lebanon can only wait and hope. tony girty al jazeera beirut. to hong kong where the government is investing $500000000.00 to try and save its economy sliding further into recession 6 months of pro-democracy protests are being blamed for low tourist numbers and a drop in high street sales online however it is a different story with retailers capitalizing on global support for the movement sarah clarke reports now from hong kong. streets once teeming with shoppers are

deserted restaurants have closed tourist numbers have hard after 6 months of anti-government demonstrations some luxury brands have reported a 45 percent drop in recent sales but not everyone is struggling this store is expanding its stock in miniature figurines it's introduced a new line of protest related toys complete with gas masks and helmets come to wonder since this protest movement began to be has been increasingly more interested in the action figure how people love to assemble the toys but they also buy them to remember the difficulties and struggles in this movement. the protests have attracted local and global support sparking interest in a new retail sector protective gear like masks and hard hats are in high demand after mainland china locked all sales to hong kong this store also stocks clothing slogans like stand with hong kong but there's no shop front all merchandise is sold

online since the launch in july it's been getting more and more. popular for example on one day we can have 100 to 300 orders appearing in what's happening on the streets one the market for protest related merchandise is predominately online the retailers we've spoken to say it is to avoid being targeted by those opposed to the pro-democracy movement some of those are chosen to hide their identities are being threatened it's an indication of how fragile the political situation is in home the artists are also painting a picture of protests using asked to mortal eyes the summer of unrest and spread the word to an international market this exhibition showcases some of the key messages of the protestors if you're about what's happening in hong kong and also worry about the city's future everyone where everyone is worried about it because we love this place we love our homeland and we won't give it up we won't give up our 5 demands cartoon characters like pepe the frog have been embraced in the

demonstrations once representative of the hour right in the symbol of hate in the united states has become the protest mascot and sold widely across hong kong the big retailers may be struggling but with any government protests expected to continue in 2020 these stores hope to capitalize growing global support for their movement sarah craft al-jazeera hong kong. christmas presidential election is headed for a runoff 1st the country prepares to get its 1st turn at leading the european union the former left wing prime minister zoran milanovich got just under 30 percent of the vote on sunday ahead of the current president kalinda grew up like a top of it should be on the job for nearly 5 years the 2nd round will be held in 2 weeks. pretty ginia as in zagreb she says a sort of it will struggle against a united right wing vote in next month's runoff. this is our enemy. is

a frontrunner only in this for us from and so on him a lot of which is not only former left leaning prime minister he's also former president of the main opposition party in this country social democratic party he is open and some would say he is also former leftist a former hope because he flirted with nationalism trying to appeal to ride with voters and losing the more realistic one on the left he was prime minister from 2000 the 11 to 2015 he realised heavily on his rhetorical skills and yes this today's vote was he is a chance for a great comeback after he made a few years pause in his political career but the difference between him and incumbent calling the gravity tara which is very slim less than 3 percent

that's me is that he's chances in a presidential runoff are also very slim simply because he cannot count of on a right wing water and here we have miroslav are sitting to day on the turd plays with 24 percent of the vaults he is a right wing populist and sort of milan of which cannot come out on these roads in a presidential run of. construction in the u.s. president's border war with mexico is moving ahead in parts of the barrier will cut through sites considered sacred to some native american tribes but as rob reynolds reports from the us mexico border tribal elders say they won't give up without white. walking on holy ground a group of young native american activists visit could go bucky to springs but always in the vast desert of the organ pipe cactus national monument. it's a place where according to archaeologists people have gathered for more than 16000

years we came from this land we wouldn't be here if it weren't for the spring giving us life the organ pipe cactus national monument spans 1340 square kilometers of pristine desert beamed for a species of desert plants that grow here and no place else on earth it's the traditional territory of the odum and to hold the autumn sacred for the people that live here in the ceremonies that we conducted here ancestors did and pretty much all of our cultural practices. but just 50 kilometers away president donald trump's massive border wall is going up. to 9 meter tall metal structure will cut through traditional rain. and will require new roads bulldozed through the monuments and the adjacent to hold the autumn reservation native americans say the wall will damage ceremonial sites pilgrimage routes and ancient graveyards here in the organ

pipe cactus national monument a government survey has identified at least $22.00 significant archaeological sites that would be partially or completely destroyed by border wall construction. tribal elder ofili a reverse is organizing a grassroots effort to direct public attention to what she says is an act of cultural desecration when the borders to go up this metal borders are this fence this go up very very destructive to our spiritual being and our way of life and any part of it that is destroyed it is taking us apart piece by piece. activists say they will do everything in their power to stop the wall i think there's many of us that are willing and ready to put our bodies on the line despite the vast resources of the federal government marshall behind trump

signature political project the native people here say they will not give up we have been fisted here since the beginning of time and there will continue to exist even after this wall it's built a place of their true beauty ecological diversity and cultural significance that may soon be changed forever robert oulds al-jazeera kito back ito springs arizona. this is al jazeera these are the top stories india's main opposition congress party is holding a rally in a few hours time against the controversial new citizenship law tens of thousands rallied on sunday they say the law discriminates against muslims the prime minister narendra modi has blamed the opposition for fueling on rest begin by your brother's since this law has been passed some political parties have been spreading rumors these people are misleading the public and citing the public syrian and russian air

strikes have killed at least 17 people in it labor government forces are advancing across the last rebel held province turkey says tens of thousands of civilians have fled in recent days when both of them are not judge and 6 i'm going to do down $80000.00 about probably from running from the bombs they have started migrate into which is if the violence towards the people of italy does not stop this number will increase even more in no case turkey will not carry such a marker on its own pressure we will be subjected to would be something that all european nations especially greece also feel. sudan's opened an investigation into atrocities committed in the region of darfur the case will focus on figures who served under the ousted president omar al bashir the conflict between pro-government forces and ethnic minority rebels began in 2003. at least 16 prisoners have been killed in fighting between rival gangs in honduras the violence

comes less than 2 days after a riot in another facility in which 18 inmates were killed the army has been ordered to take control of all prisons across the country australia's prime minister scott morrison has rejected calls for action on climate change as bushfires intensify almost 200 homes have been damaged in the past few days alone in new south wales and australia croatia's presidential election is heading for a runoff as the country has to get its 1st turn at leading the european union the former left wing prime minister zoran milan of it got just under 30 percent of the vote on sunday ahead of the current president hollande out of it she's been in the job for nearly 5 years up next is one of one east i'll have a quick summary in about half an hour i'll see you then but i. from the al-jazeera london brule car center to special guests in conversation this is the chance to start the revolution unprompted uninterrupted we.

should. meet can be this is the beginning of friendship this is the beginning of love. getting somewhere we can really break through the barrier studio unscripted on al-jazeera. how many do you need. to finish. each but is there a human cost. of oppression and. struggle with a lot to do english. how long will that take you are on the hour if you had a wish you could do one thing more. what

i want to. find out why.