india's government approves a $500000000.00 budget for a controversial population survey the critics say discriminates against muslims. watching al-jazeera life headquarters here in doha also coming up. at least 8 people are killed a syrian government jet strike a school displaced people turkey is now pressing russia to mediate to troops.

as violence escalates in libya he considers providing military support for the u.s. backed government in tripoli. the country is primed. and finding investment in. india's cabinet has announced new guidelines and approved funds for an national population read just that critics fear could be used to further discriminate against muslims the survey was introduced in 2010 but for the 1st time people will be asked to share information about the date and place of birth of their parents this will also be asked to give details of identity documents such as voter cards driving licenses and passports the government's approved more than 5 $100000000.00 in funding for the exercise. meanwhile protests continue across the country against

the new citizenship legislation that is widely seen as anti muslim since it was passed 2 weeks ago at least 25 people have been killed in the violence elizabeth around him has more on the latest on rest. marching to the beat of their own drum thousands of people have defied a bat on public gatherings in the indian capital. oh they oppose a recently passed the law that grant citizenship to religious minorities from ghana's fun box. but excludes muslims i think this lawyer he's an existing threat to the idea of a secular india as it is defined in the constitution. on the back of the many other you know things that causes all resentment against the government it's not one thing it's an accumulated resentment against his government a government critics say is using ideological issues like religion to distract people from the problems facing the country their real issue is that economies on

the slowdown that unemployment it is regarded never in the last 40 years that. distress and in order to divert attention from both issues. brought in the people here said they won't let the government do that was a fair chanting slogans against the government. and all by police what told earlier to detain demonstrations they just watching from the sidelines. there were even bigger protests elsewhere from asked some of the northeast to sound in the south but the governing be j.p. insists these a small sporadic protests being prompted by political parties look at the protests today it is the protest you were just you just you just came from a gentleman. you know in a city of people if you have 200 people to have 300 people and you say that is for this. you think that's an element please give me

a break by the government has launched a campaign on social media to calm the anger in the muslim community i am really want to assure them that there is even real grounds for wanting what is a cone this act does not discriminate against them because india supreme court is expected to hear the case next month. for the government of the day into modi made his protest post the biggest challenge since he came to power 5 years ago elizabeth raanan al jazeera new delhi. well earlier we spoke to products gopalaswami a senior fellow at the observer research foundation he says the government's announcement on the national register of citizens is poorly timed this announcement comes at the heels of this whole citizenship amendment bill so you know at one level you're trying to reassure the public that it's not discriminate or have the other level you're trying to put your foot on the gas and saying we're going to.

embark on such and diverse. so it is and it's worth i mean poorly judged and i saw at many levels it also but i don't have it so confuse government or do not know in which direction that they want to have a bit but they're very clear about one thing it's very clear that they're not going to back off from the citizenship amendment bowl despite the protests i think that has plans of the b.g.p. the ruling party reaching out to a majority of people to reassure them in articulating give us now what it would indict the logical 1st step then allocating funding for this and making a big announcement for this so i i worry that that such steps might be too little too late and if the government wants to dowse tensions are that that's where they should proceed. but suffered one of its worst attacks in recent years fighters launched an assault on an army base in albany and attorney a by the government says 35 civilians were killed and 80 fighters were shot dead.

during president obama we have to think about solidarity and national cohesion people women for the most part were getting water and got murdered in cold blood by the terrorists while they were retreating we must show compassion with the populations that is why all flags will fly at half mast for 2 days and all christmas celebrations are cancelled well because it was once a pocket of calm and lisa held region but security has serious heat over the past 5 years the ousting of the longtime president blaise company already in october of 2014 created a security vacuum which has been exploited by several armed groups as well as homegrown fighters woops from mali affiliated with al qaeda and i sold across the border and added to the unrest the un says more than 700 people have been killed since 2015 and almost half a 1000000 have been displaced the international affairs professor william lawrence says the scale of the latest attack is staggering. well there's been hundreds of

attacks this year one group said it was a 7000 percent increase in the year before but they usually have very low lethality if you look at the list of attacks it's one or 2 victims this is the worst attack ever as far as i know in between a faster which had its 1st terrorism attacks only in 2015 and both the frequency and lethality of attacks have increasing but this is much much worse this is a group led by someone from you know fast recruiting fighters from fast so even though they launch attacks from mali and i while they are trying to sow chaos and they are under pressure from the french their main goal is to liberate this area and establish an islamic state not unlike what we saw in the north of mali in 2012 and so they're going to keep going you know whatever the french are doing and whatever. the other secure the security forces in the region are doing they're

going to keep attacking and continue to recruit people because the security forces in burkean have themselves been committing some atrocities as have defense forces and so populations are kind of on the run now and they don't know who to trust at least 8 people including 5 children have been killed by a syrian government strike targeting a school it happened in the town of job loss and it lit province the last rebel held enclave hundreds of displaced syrians have been sheltering in the school when it was hit syrian government forces backed by their russian allies supplied steady gains since launching an offensive to retake it live last week a wave of syrian refugees are fleeing the fighting moving towards the turkish border. as on the turkey syria border he says refugees are now on the even more pressure. well the humanitarian crisis is huge and it's keeping on growing because more and more people are being uprooted from their homes. started with the

city of martin which was the target all for the initial strikes bottle bombs underground shelling but now we're seeing other places also reporting people fleeing from them after being targeted by syrian forces sworn a mission to take every last bit of territory that is in the homs all through our position we are right now one of the hobs for the turkish charity which is helping the refugees on the other side of the border and speaking to a senior all fishel who told us that they have been trying us much as possible to help the people who are fleeing 100 under 25000 was the count of this tendency of rising and he says there must be up to 150000 of the moment

and he says they cannot provide each family with its own individual talent they've been forced to build this must have tents on high heel to avoid flooding of course and they are commentating up 200 people in every tent have separate the men and the women but he says there is a lot of suspicion between the people because it has been home to people who. fled to places like aleppo and other places that the regime had targeted before and he says there are so many other people who have set up tents on the sides of the road i'm going not want to mingle with the rest of the refugees that he fears for their health because they don't have sanitation they don't have clean water and they do not have food as well and of the moment they say that if you just cannot cook for themselves he says they are forced to to to to provide them with warm mails. well as a former advisor to the u.s. state department on syrian assumes he says without outside intervention it live

will fall to government forces civilians will pay the price the latest escalation is around moderate and no man is really just 15 to 20 miles south of it city and this campaign which began in april and which has displaced about half a 1000000 people already is well on its way to probably capturing the rest of the the province a foreign intervention by an outside power anyone who is worried in 2016 when i looked it was falling and was aghast at images of people seeking refuge in europe and drowning in the mediterranean should be extremely worried because you have $3000000.00 people civilians there are now at risk and will do whatever they can to escape certain death and which mean pushing toward turkey pushing toward europe pushing toward lebanon pushing toward anywhere else but. the hell that the russians have created for them this is the same scenario that has

been playing out in syria since 2011 homes rustan's. aleppo now it's at lip we know how this is going to go and really the world has only watched it syrian customs officials have seize the assets of the country's wealthiest businessmen it's the 1st time an order has been issued for rami makhlouf who's the cousin of the president bashar al assad he's been accused of importing products including oil and gas without paying charges and fees the e.u. and the u.s. have already imposed sanctions on muslims who reportedly control 60 percent of the syrian economy. still to come here on al-jazeera we'll examine the roots of the crisis in chile and across latin america after a year of unprecedented unrest. and where it all began will be invested hemis thousands of christian pilgrims from

around the world gather to celebrate christmas. hello again welcome back to your international weather forecast well here across north america we're going to be seeing some better weather but in terms of snow for christmas that's going to be kind to hard to find we're talking temperatures above average as we go towards the 25th here across the northern tier states it is going to be the clouds and to that parts of canada we are going to be seeing those temperatures sink below freezing but mostly across much of the united states high temperatures are going to be well above freezing new york at 6 washington a date down towards atlanta it is going to be 16 out here towards the west though that is where we expect to see some snow in the higher elevations and it is going to be los angeles on thursday that ceased and very heavy rain a very chilly day and possibility of flooding with

a temper there of about 11 degrees well for the caribbean things are looking quite nice we did have one front that is continuing to push a little bit more down towards the southeast this is going to be resting across parts of jamaica as well as into his parts of puerto rico you'll start to see the rain as well but anything behind this front is going to be a little bit cooler but also a little bit drier temperatures for have in about $24.00 over towards we do expect to see about $25.00 degrees there and then very quickly we are seeing those temperatures drop for tempers for you of the next few days is going to be about 25 degrees. this is a boon for point people right now and technology there is so much going to help people it's phenomenal thanks for calling i read this is there and what are you looking for today we get to assist the blind with their day to day tasks and give them more independence and freedom as far as our customers are told that sure is

the tomato exploration process with so many of the new and we have that technology available to us techno. you're watching al jazeera live from the heart these are your top stories so far india has announced new guidelines and funding for an updated population register which critics fear could be used to further discriminate against muslims it follows 2 weeks of nationwide demonstrations against the citizenship also seen as and. in a fuss over suffered one of its worst attacks in recent years the government says fighters are killed $35.00 civilians during an assault on an army base and

a town nearby. and at least 8 people have been killed in an air strike in syria as government forces continue their push to retake the rebel held province hundreds of displaced syrians were sheltering in the school in the town of job when it was struck. at least 4 people have been killed in libya in the latest airstrikes by forces loyal to the warlord after several others were injured when a vegetable market was struck in the town of jura east of tripoli last week after announced what he called a quote final offensive to take the capital libya's internationally recognized government is believed to have asked to send ground troops and ankara is reportedly preparing to respond to that request for the past few years libya has been divided between 2 rival governments the un recognized administration led by the prime minister fires are suraj is based in tripoli it's supported by turkey and most western nations including italy which is worried the fighting will force more

people to cross the mediterranean in the east there's the to brook based government the center of power 401 half the he's backed by egypt saudi arabia russia and the united arab emirates france is also accused of providing military support for his forces. head has more now from tripoli on the government's request for turkish military assistance. government sources say that the type of turkish military. individuals requested by the d.n.a. the government of national court is military commanders and the government officials say that the troops on the ground did the government forces are in need of military commanders to range this battle and to run the battle on the ground to prevent have to his forces from entering get their capital

why now the government is demanding military commanders because have to his forces have been recently advancing with the help of russian medicine and is according to the government military source of. russian mysteries are fighting for hastert and have to this force have been receiving advanced weapons from the united arab emirates and also from russia now. says that in order for the government to send troops to libya it needs to submit a mandate to the turkish parliament so that it could be endorsing it and then in this case it can send troops to libya u.s. president donald trump has joked about north korea's warning of a christmas surprise if washington doesn't make concessions in nuclear negotiations earlier this month pyongyang gave the u.s. until the end of the year to come up with

a new proposal. closely maybe it's a new road they really supposed to be beautiful bars. is supposed to. be going to bars you can begin to emerge president you don't like you never are. the russian president vladimir putin says his country will continue strengthening its nuclear forces and developing hypersonic missiles until new arms control agreements are reached an annual meeting of russia's defense ministry mr putin said washington's withdrawal from a cold war era nuclear treaty and the expansion of nato were key concerns for moscow he said 82 percent of the country's nuclear arsenal has been modernized. bigger we are ready to work on new arms control agreements but until this process is launched we will strengthen our own nuclear forces i mean equipping ourselves who through t.g. card for sonic missile forces with modern complexes and strategic missiles as well

as you can use submarines who are our navy and we will continue to work on the creation of other missile systems capable of defending russia and its allies. christian pilgrims and tourists from around the world a mocking the holiday of christmas in the city of bethlehem where many believe jesus christ was born 2019 has been one of the holy cities busiest years with an estimated $1900000.00 tourists making the trip is natasha going to. music and prayer joy and reflection from the church of the nativities built over the grotto were christians believe jesus christ was born this was the last midnight mass of the decade. over 6 months of planning brought the ospina family from columbia to manger square in bethlehem. provocations a special hour to me in the place where we believe jesus was born on i don't know how the brain just sounds oh it's really hard and make it forward they can not turn

out real christmas. these tourist join a declining population of christians in the holy land experts say in the last century the christian population has decreased more than 15 percent with 1900000 visitors bethlehem is having its best year in 2 decades according to the ministry of tourism and antiquities that may be in part due to the relative calm in the area yet small business owners such as newbuild jackman say this is not a merry money making christmas i spent a whole week to correcting preparing for this day and leave i really i'm a little bit sad dr spending all of this money like this for the piles of dollars for a great day and i still i didn't have a proper fit the biggest attraction seemed to be the 16 meter christmas tree with hand carved nativities tailor made for the selfie age many of those posing for

photos were muslim it's a very magical players especially with all the. different religions coming together here i really really love it really gives me one feeling inside this kind of a message for the world like we are here like we stand to each other like we that we have no conflict with each other the christmas of the 21st century has evolved into something no one could envision centuries ago that christian leaders hope the holy days spirit of good will and peace will always prevail it's going to aim l. just 0 bethlehem. the venezuelan president nicolas maduro is urging brazil and peru so arrest and deport those involved in an attack on a remote military outpost in the south of the country with her appeal to the brazilian president diable sonora to act saying the suspects are in brazil with stolen rifles and grenade launchers local media reports 12 men took part in the

raid in the state of bolivar all brazil colombia peru and the venezuelan opposition leaders one have been accused of assisting the attackers. unsealed venezuelan weapons have been stolen in a terrorist attack mr j. are both in our o. and these weapons are headed for and are in brazilian territory we demand that the brazilian authorities capture the assailants and that the weapons of the national bolivarian armed forces be returned well the brazilian president must have also naro has been released from hospital after receiving treatment for a fall his office said he slipped and hit his head whilst in the bathroom of his official residence on monday a c.t. scan didn't expect any damage but he was kept in hospital overnight as a precaution also naro has had several surgeries this year after he was stabbed during the 20000 election campaign. from ecuador to chile the final months of 2019 solve various latin american countries engulfed in daily street protests and

while many of them were fighting for their own causes there was one issue most of them had in common inequality in america as in the sea and human reports now from the chilean capital santiago. 78 year old widow rossetti a royal is the matriarch of her large family she lives in a low income san diego neighborhood with her daughter and her 2 grandchildren she had little formal education and worked hard all her life 1st in the fields and then as a maid to help the family get ahead. i worked in homes where people with money to love the staff used the same cutlery as the masters they did not eat the same food or use the same crockery either. over t. her 48 year old daughter solange concedes that their economic situation has improved but not chile's acute class divisions the 23 year old son is steven studied law the 1st in the family to graduate from university but there's still an

invisible barrier percentage point in my back you will know the students from the upper class have countless advantages from not having to study and work at the same time to access to internal ships and jobs their parents belong to the class with clout and they're not discriminated against because of where they come from. although chile does have the highest per capita income in latin america it also has the highest inequality index the biggest gap between rich and poor in tina for example if you're in the bottom of income you know will need up to 6 generations to get to it and to the mean income that's not all a recent study revealed an astonishing statistic women living in the wealthiest suburbs of santiago have a life expectancy 18 years longer than their counterparts in the poorest municipalities in men the difference is 9 years says dr alexander v.

this would explain the fact that there is an equality within the city has to do with the segregation social canonic segregation across the city. this persistent class divide helps explain the recent social outbursts in chile i. or than 2 months of ongoing protests that have brought hundreds of thousands on to the streets demanding structural reforms to level the playing field. from one that's your own we were born with different aspirations than our parents and we feel the segregation in the upper class areas where our parents go to work but are treated like inferiors in our neighborhoods that aren't any parks any restaurants cinemas or hospitals. we have to leave our communities to access a better life that generates resentment and discontent. the inequalities and class privileges in this highly stratified society have been

passed on from generation to generation putting an end to that system as with millions of chile and now fighting for. the sea in human al-jazeera santiago. faced with rising pollution and falling oil prices kazakstan is looking to diversify its economy a major focus is now being placed on investing in iran mentally friendly energy projects reports now from one such project from camps a guy in the southeast of kazakhstan in this where the heating is needed to survive in cause it is the largest city smoke can be seen billowing from chimneys all around the much needed heating plants are also major contributors to air pollution because exxon has one of the highest rates of lung disease in the region according to the world health organization that in this cause a 13 percent of all the deaths here and it's one of the reasons why kazakhstan's authorities are looking for healthier alternatives. like this it's one of the

largest solar power plants in central asia and is expected to reduce carbon emissions by a $150000.00 tons a year in the early hours solar panel a covered by snow this engineer has worked in conventional power plants for years and says this is the future. which there are no rotating elements here all panels are static they do not require constant attention we generate electricity with the sun even without the sun we produce but not as good in comparison with traditional energy the cost of creating green energy are great for now but technology is developing and the efficiency of solar panels is growing. the plan became operational a few weeks ago as the day progresses the sun melts the blanket of snow on the panels within hours electricity production jumps. even in extreme conditions and blanketed and this snow they knew was sources of energy sure that they can be relied upon but economies which are dependent on fossil fuels find it cheaper and

more convenient to continue to rely on hydrocarbon oil and hydrocarbon exports make up nearly 3 quarters of this country's income and it powerful reliant neighbors such as russia and china trying to change that has political implications as well. so the government has set up a department to attract foreign investors we had 75. projects which were already implemented by saying you will and his source is 1st of all talking about solar power plant when paul planned hydro power plant and bio gas now is alliance which has 92000000000 of investments in kazakstan and then we have u.s. which has their own 50000000000 of investment and afterwards we have u.k. and we also have fresh and we have. so there's

a land which is in the top of investors here in kazakstan for this vast central asian state with a small population renewable energy is seen as the future the challenge is finding the fastest way to free itself from its centuries old reliance on call an oil some of injury down the theory. this is al jazeera these are the top stories india's government has announced new guidelines and funding for an updated population register which critics fear could be used to further discriminate against muslims it follows 2 weeks of nationwide demonstrations against the citizenship law also seen as anti muslim 25 people have been killed across the country india's interior minister is defending the use of force by the police if. the police get to the point of firing when someone's life

is in danger if in such a case the police don't use force they're not fulfilling their duty there may have been one or 2 incidents of police going inside hospitals when they were following the rioters however i do believe that such incidents must be avoided and there is no argument with that but it's a different issue to comment while sitting from safety compared to when there are thousands of stones flying at you. so has suffered one of his worst attacks in recent years faces launched an assault on an army base and been attorney a by the government says 35 civilians were killed and 85 it says was shot dead. we have to think about solidarity and national cohesion people women for the most part were getting water and got murdered in cold blood by the terrorists while they were retreating you must show compassion with the populations that is why all flags will fly at half mast for 2 days and all christmas celebrations are cancelled russia's forces being blamed for killing 8 civilians at a school in northern syria hundreds of displaced people were sheltering in the

building in italy and government forces are intensifying their assault in the last rebel held province tens of thousands have been forced to flee in recent weeks syrian customs officials have seize the assets of the country's wealthiest businessman it's the 1st time an order has been issued for ramiele kloof he's the cousin of the president bashar al assad he's been accused of importing products including oil and gas without paying charges and fees. at least 4 people have been killed in libya in the latest strikes by forces loyal to the warlord holly for hafter several others were injured when a vegetable market was struck in the town of georgia east of tripoli last week after what he called a quote final offensive to take the capital those are your headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera after tecno i'm back with more news in 30 minutes i'll see you then egypt strongman is ruling within a 5 iron fist and the silence from his allies is deafening the u.s.

was perfectly happy to trade off the march for sea for security why are western leaders turning a blind eye when even their own citizens have fallen victim to his repression executions torture censorship is not acceptable and you want to hear such strong words from let's say berlin or paris or london and in cairo on al-jazeera. the big breaking news story can be chaotic and frantic behind the scenes. people shouting instructions in your ear you're trying to provide the best most curious up to date information as quickly as you can. it's when you come off air being seen here to realize this is history in the making. living life in partial or total darkness according to the world health organization approximately 253000000 people globally a vision impaired or

a tight line. today on techno some of the latest innovations making it easier to help people the sight problems navigate a complex well if you want to get there just slightly different. and even enjoy art again through a gentle touch i think there are so many people that i met there were. ruwi crucial to this and later as populations age and impairments become the prevalent a new study to determine what technology is needed in the future to ensure that people can live independently at home thanks and happy we really need to figure out ways to better help people as they age as they develop various chronic conditions and do it in a way that optimizes their quality of life the scientific into the crystal ball of aging this is the text i assure.