A school sheltering displaced people turkey is now pressing russia to mediate the troops plus. I was. On and ill tell you how the country is trying to move away from its hydrocarbon based economy and finding investment in renewable sources. Indias cabinet has announced new guidelines and approved funds for an updated National Population read just the 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 dates and place of birth of their parents theyll also be asked to give details about identity documents such as voter cards driving licenses and passports the government has approved for the 500000000. 00 in funding for the exercise meanwhile protest against a controversial said. Yes and should bill continue across india on tuesday demonstrators in new delhi defied a ban on rallies to voice their anger at the lord they say is anti muslim 25 people have been killed in protests since it was passed my colleague elizabeth or on them joins us live now from new delhi liz good morning what are we expecting today in light of the governments approval of the funding for this population register. So were expecting more protests today especially after the government approved the funding they say that is part of the fences the National Population by this is just you know a bureaucratic process thats part of the census going to protect the public and say absolutely not that it is going to be used as a basis for a National Register of citizens and that the National Register of citizens the planned and the as well as the citizenship amendment no which is already been hostile the 2 things that have brought thousands of people out on the streets across the country in a way that the government hasnt seen in the more than 5 years its been in power soon very much expecting those protests to continue today spurred on by the by the government approving that new funding we hear johnny emily is the university that have tried new delhi its been one of the main protest sides over the last 2 weeks were expecting protests of people to come here over the next hour im going also expecting a very big protest at Delhi University and around the country because that the government clearly is not backing down any time soon so a people now is thinking or turning their attention towards the Supreme Court and what happens perhaps and thats a rino. Yeah absolutely peter so people that you know people are out protesting because they do want the government to back down but at the same time they know that this is a Prime Minister and a government that doesnt go back on its decisions and is forging ahead despite those big protests. That approved the funding for the National Population by deceit despite the Prime Minister saying just days ago that to day was no talk of a National Register of citizens so they keep trying to. Say that these things related so that the people are going to keep protesting boxing day out and there are 65 petitions only ready filed at the indian Supreme Court challenging the legal validity of the citizenship amendment at the Supreme Court to reconvene say january and they because the Indian Government to reply to these petitions. Elizabeth thanks very much but enough aso has suffered one of its worst attacks in recent he is faces launched an assault on an army base in albany and one ton nearby the government says 35 civilians were killed and 80 fighters were shot dead by islands as the military launched an offensive against armed groups in november of. 2 imposing their no 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 but so was once a pockets of calm in the sahara region but security has worsened over the past 5 years the ousting of the longtime president plays company in october of 2014 created a security vacuum which has been exploited by several groups as well as homegrown fighters groups from mali affiliated with al qaeda and i sort of crossed the border and added to the unrest the u. N. Says more than 700 people have been killed since 2015 and almost half a 1000000 have been displaced the International AffairsProfessor William lawrence says the scale of the latest attack is staggering. Well theres 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 its one or 2 victims this is the worst attack ever as far as i know and 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 a faster its a clue to try to keep them fast so even though they launch attacks from mali and 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 in 2012 and so theyre going to keep going you know whatever the french are doing and whatever. The other secure the Security Forces in the region are doing theyre 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 dont know who to trust at least 12 people including 5 children being killed by a strike at a school in Northern Syria that happened in the town of job on some province the last rebel held enclave hundreds of displaced syrians have been sheltering in the school as it was hit Syrian Government forces backed by the Russian Alliance of made steady gains since launching a ground offensive to retake it live last week a wave of Syrian Refugees are fleeing the fighting moving towards the border with turkey mohammed though is on the turkey syria border he says refugees are now on the even more pressure. Well the humanitarian crisis is huge and its keeping on growing because more and more people are being uprooted from their homes. Started with the city of martin man which was the target all for the initial strikes bottle bombs underground shelling but now were 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 to 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 theyve been forced to build this must have tents on high heel to avoid flooding of course and they are communicating up 200 people in every tent have separate the men on the women but he says there is a lot of suspicion between the people because it has been home to people who. Fled 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 im going not want to mingle with the rest of the refugees and he fears for their health because they dont have sanitation they dont 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 to provide them with warm mails. While l. Z. Says formerly an advisor to the u. S. State department on syria he says with the insult without outside intervention good lives will fall to Government Forces and civilians will pay a price the latest escalation is around moderates now i know a man is really just 15 to 20 miles south of a live 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 was worried in 2016 when l a po is 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 people civilians there are now a triscuit and will do whatever they can to escape certain death and which means 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 rest and who thought aleppo now its 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 countrys wealthiest businessman its the 1st time an order has been issued for ramiele kloof hes the cousin of the president Bashar Al Assad hes 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 the close who reportedly control 60 percent of the syrian economy still to come here on aljazeera while antigovernment protests in iraq have rejected the main Political Parties we look at the one movement that still influential. Also ahead where it all began with thousands of christian pilgrims around the world gathered to celebrate christmas. Hello again and welcome back to International Weather forecast well this hour i do want to start here in tehran not a lot of activity on our satellite thats not really the problem in terms of whether its actually the very bad air quality that they have been dealing with over the last week and a half and as you can see really bringing that visibility down schools have been closed since last week when theyre going to be closed this week as well and unfortunately were not going to be seeing much of a break until the system out here towards the west starts to move in and that system is going to cause a lot of problems in terms of flooding anywhere from turkey syria down towards parts of lebanon as well as into israel even towards egypt you could be seeing some very heavy rain over the next few days wednesday the rain and the winds will be the big problem and then were going to be seeing the snow start to accumulate in those Higher Elevations as well you can see over here towards tehran we do expect to see some rain coming in in terms of how much rain well it is going to be centered mostly up here cross parts of turkey where we could be see well over 225. 00 millimeters of rain just in the next 3 days well across the gulf things are looking quite nice here in doha were going to sing temperatures of about 22 degrees over towards of a dhabi on wednesday at 24 but by the time we do get towards wednesday and thursday things warm up to about 24. I think stories generate foundations of headlines these protests are saying down with the system and down with all of the parts with different angles from different perspectives just because we came to prison doesnt mean right stopped at the gate separate the spin from the facts the western media jumps on stories we dont take down the misinformation from the journalism its about telling the stories of those human beings on the ground with the listening post on aljazeera. Welcome back youre watching aljazeera live from doha your top stories this half hour india today announcing new guidelines on funding for an updated population register which critics fear could be used to further discriminate against muslims and follows 2 weeks of nationwide demonstrations against the citizenship law also seen as anti muslim. Akina faso or suffered one of its worst attacks in recent years fighters launched an assault on an army base in a town nearby the government says 35. 00 civilians were killed and 80 fighters were shot dead. 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 of hundreds of displaced syrians were sheltering in the school in the town of job loss when it was struck. At least 4 people have been killed in libya and the latest airstrikes by forces loyal to the warlord holy father half to several others were injured when a Vegetable Market was struck in the town of a juror east of tripoli last week after announced what he called a final offensive to take the capital. Iraqs parliament has approved a new electoral law to try and make elections fairer and grunting one of the demands of and to government protesters will give independent politicians a better chance of winning seats in parliament gossage bodies in baghdad she explains what the changes mean to the voters there are being called a very significant change to the countrys electoral system this article was passed just a short time ago in parliament it includes 50 divisions within it which states that the countrys electoral system will not be changed it will be one that it will be based on direct voting rather than parties having electoral lists of candidates that they selected this is something that was very important to the demonstrators and it took weeks of political wrangling to make it happen in parliament a number of sessions were held without any of these laws being passed but finally on tuesday the countrys parliament managed to get it through and its being seen as a very Significant Development and something that would not have happened without the protests taking place in this country which began in october its being seen as a major step towards what the demonstrators and the people of iraq has wanted and that is a system which they have some say in how they elect their members of parliament and now this is being seen as something that has been granted to them and it will be very very interesting to see how the demonstrators react to this in the coming days but was still also waiting for a nominee candidate for the position of Prime Minister that is something that is being very much debated now between the various parties in parliament and they hope its have an appropriate candidate in the coming days with the demonstrators have said that despite all their political wrangling they want to be able to elect their own Prime Minister will have to wait and see how that pans out. Well a defining feature of iraqs months long antigovernment demonstrations has been the complete rejection of all the Political Parties but one movement has managed to stay on side the satirists led by the shia cleric. Some wonderful reports from baghdad. Every afternoon half an hour that r. D. And his friends load his pickup truck full of supplies for demonstrators in baghdad square passon is from sutter city the stronghold of Influential Shiite cleric mark that assad that this is the capitals most populated and marginalized neighborhood it is also a lifeline for the protest. So says he can be considered a large storage of humans the majority of the protesters are from starter city and in addition most of the supplies are from sort of city. The sudras dominant role in the protest is controversial protestors have rejected the entire political establishment which technically includes party if you dare to speak out against the cleric in public sutter also appears wary of a backlash and has ordered his followers not to openly discuss their allegiance sutter himself has retreated to iran for religious studies and i shall we were intent to the process as iraqi people. If the leader came out with us he would be exposed to danger shia cleric commander of insurgencies populist leader of iraq street protest look that assad a has taken many roles over the years and he has become the kingmaker in iraqi politics now he faces a particularly delicate balancing act his followers form the backbone of protest against the government that he helped form and the parliament in which his party the biggest share of seats sudras party saw it all in won 54 of iraqs 329 parliamentary seats in the 2800 but following Prime Minister out of his resignation the party announced it would nominate a replacement former m. P. He was part of your own alliance but resigned when protests began there is a feeling among the. By the. On the because of the president so because its a merger or it is reported by a group. And the person will be more formal where is the bonded by the. Critics say side on this refusal to nominate a new Prime Minister is a populist move and an effort to ensure political survival supporters like call it a genuine step towards meeting protesters demands and although sudras party wont officially name a candidate that doesnt mean the sudras havent made a choice a list of candidates considered acceptable is pinned to tens across the area including his sons. To those 5 candidates based on the consensus of the people in the squeers theyre all independent and they dont belong to any side or particular party recently given for a transitional period until there are really elections in 6 to 12 months rival iranian backed parties have put forward their own candidates whether or not the sudras will get their way will be a test of sudras political influence but no matter who gets their man at the helm of government satirise command over iraqs streets appears uncontested simona faulting al jazeera. Protesters in algeria are defying calls for a day of mourning for the deceased military chief of staff they say he was part of the corrupt ruling elite was. The term and general. Died on monday in hospital after suffering a heart attack was regarded as the most powerful man in the country following the resignation of the longtime president abilities beautifully in april now the new president deal my g. D. 3 day period of mourning. The us President Donald Trump has joked about north koreas warning of a christmas surprise if washington doesnt 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. Or say what happened the world lets see maybe its a nice present maybe its a present where he says be a beautiful boss. Is opposed to a missile test. Make it a positive and make it a nice present you dont know you never know. The russian president says his country will continue strengthening its Nuclear Forces and developing hypersonic missiles until new arms control agreements are reached a sanyo meeting of Russias Defense MinistryVladimir Putin said washingtons withdrawal from a cold war era Nuclear Treaty and the expansion of nato were key concerns for moscow he says 82 percent of the countrys Nuclear Arsenal has now been modernized. Many commuters in france of how to change their Christmas Plans a strikes over Pension Reforms continue to cause large scale travel disruption transport remains heavily restricted for the holidays with up to 80 percent of Train Service is cancelled the countrys National Rail operator says its already lost more than 420000000. 00 has been a smith reports from paris there is widespread support however for the protesters. Just 2 out of 5 high speed trains are running across france on Christmas Eve one of the busiest travel periods of the year but with a nationwide transport strike now in its 3rd week many travelers are used to the disruption seemed to a found a work around paris his garden or was busy not chaotic and he was tired i think its good to be ready for it to be all very well but again its i mean im sure the other side are going to understand you know the reason for the strike and everything have been looking for a way to get away the city so far no no they still havent been able to find a donor so its my turn it was disrupted the National Rail operator s. N. C. F. Will only guarantee travel for those who bought tickets in advance and even they may not have a seat the s. N. C. F. Says the strike is costing it 22000000. 00 a day in lost revenue. In 1995 after 3 weeks of Public Sector strikes in the run up to christmas the government caved in and shelved plans to reform frances pension and welfare system theres no indication so far that the government will perform a similar a true. This time from you know the seems to be no end in sight to these transport strikes the government and the unions will meet again in the 2nd week of january but thats when theyll also be another round of nationwide demonstrations but its may how does era power. Christian pilgrims and tourists from around the world are marking the holiday of christmas in the city of bethlehem where many believe jesus was born 2019 has been one of the holy cities busiest years with an estimated one point 9000000. 00 tourists making the trip its not toxic on him. 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. 6 months of planning brought the ospina family from columbia to manger square in bethlehem. Provocations a special hour to be in the place where we believe jesus was born on i dont know the breed just so you dont need to hide any make you pharaoh they can not turn on real christmas. These tourists 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 im a little bit sad after spending all of this money like that for the cause of dollar for creating and i still i. They didnt cover half of it 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 its a very magical place especially with all the different religions coming together here i really i really have it really gives me a wrong feeling inside this kind of a message for the world like we are here like this time 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 but christian leaders hope the holy days spirit of good will and peace will always prevail its going to aim l. Just 0 bethlehem. And go door says is contained an oil spill in the Galapagos Islands the navy was cold enough for a ship carrying 600 gallons of fuel oil sank on sunday it was navy has placed barriers and absorbent cloths around the vessel to prevent too much oil leaking out into the sea the galapagos or on the unesco World Heritage sites and their home to dozens of vulnerable species fun nowhere else in the world 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 environmentally Friendly Energy projects osama bin job 8 reports on one such project from camp should guy in the southeast a cassock stop. In this where the heating is needed to survive in kazakhstans largest city smoke can be seen billowing from chimneys all around the much needed heating plants are also major contributors to a multistate pollution covered sun has one of the highest rates of lung disease in the region according to the World Health Organization that in this cause is 13 percent of all the deaths here and its one of the reasons why kazakhstans authorities are looking for healthier alternatives. Like this its one of the largest solar power plants in central asia and is expected to reduce Carbon Emissions by 250000. 00 tonnes a year in the early i was solar panel covered by snow this engineer has worked in conventional power plants for years and says this is the future profitable for her and for 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 costs 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 the extreme conditions of blanketed and snow the new will 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 countrys income and that powerful underlying neighbors such as russia and china trying to change that has political implications as well. So the government has set up a department do it right Foreign Investors we had 75. Projects which were already implemented by sr you blair and his sources 1st of all talking about solar power plant when paul planned Hydro Power Plant and bio gas as alliance which has 92000000000 of investments in kazakstan and then we have u. S. Which has around 50000000000. 00 of investment and afterwards we have u. K. And we also have russia and we have. So there is a learnt which is in the top of investors here in cassocks for this last 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 coal and oil. Top stories quick reminder for you here on aljazeera india today announcing a new guidelines and funding package from 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 elizabeth iran has more now from new delhi were expecting more protests today especially after the government approved the funding they say that is part of the fences the National Population may just is just you know a bureaucratic process thats part of the census but projects opponents say absolutely not that it is going to be used as a basis for a National Register of citizens and that the National Register of citizens the planned and the as well as the citizenship amendment nor which is already been passed are the 2 things that have brought thousands of people out on the streets across the country in a way that the government hasnt seen in the more than 5 years its been in power. But he has suffered one of its worst attacks in recent years fighters launched an assault on an army base in a bin and one turn nearby the government says 35 civilians were killed and 80 fighters were shot dead but also. Do i personally dont know 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 at least 12 people including 5 children have been killed by an airstrike at a school in Northern Syria it happened in job us in italy province the last rebel held enclave Syrian Government forces backed by their russian allies submitted steady gains since launching a ground offensive to retake it live last week at least 4 people have been killed in libya in the latest airstrikes by forces loyal to the warlord holy father after several others were injured when a Vegetable Market was struck in the town of jura east of tripoli thousands of christian pilgrims are in bethlehem in the occupied west bank to mark christmas. They gather to pray and celebrate the birth of jesus 2019 has been one of the holy cities busiest for years those are your headlines the news continues after listening post ill have a summary in 30 minutes from. Going to say mine people have been killed. We in the United States have privatized deal to make public. This was a deal with saudi arabia with the different saudis the. Brits believe to help the us moms do you feel rumsfeld this meeting saddam is it that interest. On al jazeera. Hello im Richard Gaisford and youre at the listening post on this program we track the global news media examine dominant narratives and spend more time critiquing journalism and celebrating it were not an award show but to mark the end of 2019 we wanted to examine a few cases where quality reporting the kind that speaks truth to power exposes wrongdoing and helps rectify it has made an impact taking just 4 examples was not easy we wanted to get across geographies different kinds of stories various