this is deja news live from berlin u.s. president donald trump has threatened to release captured fighters from a so-called islamic state if europe doesn't take them in his demand comes after he made a surprise claim in december that the militant group had been defeated and announced that u.s. troops would be withdrawn from syria. the u.s. and iran treated with verbal blows as a munich security conference draws to an end iran's foreign minister condemns american policy on iran accusing washington of ignoring his country's right to

self-determination he made the comment after u.s. vice president mike pence demanded that europe take a tougher stance against tehran. and german president and minor follows in the footsteps of one of the country's most famous explorers to raise awareness of plastic pollution in the galapagos islands. welcome to the program on exposure. u.s. president donald trump called on european states to take back their citizens if they are among captured fighters from the so-called islamic state in a tweet that mentioned britain france germany and other countries trump threatened to release imprisoned combatants if their home countries refused to allow them back in december he alarmed western partners by saying he was withdrawing american troops from syria because he considered the islamic state to have been defeated.

jihadists on the march in syria these images from the fall of rock in twenty fourteen. islamic state has since been defeated here and across nearly the entire country many fighters are dead and more have been taken prisoner recently the u.s. backed kurdish led syrian democratic forces or s.d.f. besieged the city of the last remaining iowa stronghold the kurds say hundreds of foreign fighters remain in kurdish prisons their wives and children live in camps in northern syria the s.d.f. have long complained that european states are refusing to take back their own citizens u.s. president donald trump has echoed those concerns and has even threatened to release the jihadists he tweeted the united states is asking britain france germany and other european allies to take back over eight hundred isis fighters that we captured in syria and put them on trial the caliphate is ready to fall the

alternative is not a good one and that we will be forced to release them europe hasn't yet come up with a clear response over the future of foreign fighters and their families. this i guess militant from germany is being held in a detention center in syria like others he'd like to return home but berlin hasn't said what it intends to do with him also unclear the fate of the fighters wives some of them say they don't regret joining the terror group but now wish to return i don't regret it because. it's changed me in the past. so. you know right my husband i wouldn't. have my kids. i did have a good time. to sit there. to prosecute or rehabilitate the question of how to deal with returning fighters and their families will remain

a major challenge for european countries. and with us now to shed some light on this news as many as one hina investigative reporter reporter who is was following a story what are we to make of trump's calls for europe to take back state fighters are they justified. i think minus a bad style like blasting themselves out in a tweet and minus a language which is faltering to say the least on blackmail i think whether you like it or not trump has a point basically he's just lending the weight of the us presidency to something that kurtz that p.g. and. say me autonomous northern syrian could region have demanded all along and that is that europeans take back their foreign fighters because it's a huge burden on the kurds to look after them excuse me and to have them in the camps to feed them and to make sure they don't escape the thing is that.

putting them on trial is easier said than done because in european courts you have to prove the individual guilt and. very often though this is done by just you know you're. claiming i was a prosecutor general is doing best by trying to prove at least that save been members of a foreign terrorist organization so that would put behind bars for a couple of years when she has been any reaction from european governments just tweet. well that's they have been super reluctant apart from france actually france says a couple of days ago already announced that they are willing to take back about one hundred thirty fighters and their families because they also you know wives and children involved who are now in those camps but the germans and as a damage have been i'll try and this proposal the germans are sort of dragging

their feet as they have been all along the germans tried to a ha ha it's sort of behind formalities if they well we don't have a embassy anymore and moscow's so we don't have consular us apart for those who are detained and we don't have to play magic relations with a could but in my eyes that's just sort of. if you if you excuse me so that's supposed to see hiding behind the real credit formalities if i may really quickly and then what are we going to do what are european governments going to do quite apart from france with the women who want to join the fighters in syria and they didn't fight and some of them had children while there how do you deal with those people. i think i mean there's no other option but we did to take them back even if we don't like it they are citizens of germany or france of great britain and they actually do have a right to come back and unless we are able to prove that they have participated in

atrocities themselves they have a right to return but of course sorties do have to keep an eye on them we know of you know what they call system that works some of those who return lucian but some are still sticking very much to the audio the geo these long. branch of islam and. they try to spread it you know within closed circles ok mathias found thank you for that. iran's foreign minister mohammad job ads or if has delivered a defiant speech at the munich security conference he condemned calls from washington for the european union to abandon the iran nuclear deal and he accused the u.s. of meddling in the middle east his remarks rounded out a contentious conference where german chancellor angela merkel and u.s.

vice president mike pence advanced opposing visions on iran and the direction of their nation's foreign policies but it has to do more for iran's foreign minister mohammad sorry for sharply criticized the u.s. and dismissed vice president mike pence this recent demand that the e.u. withdraw from the nuclear treaty with iran. mr pence repeated this course. when he added gently demanded that europe must join the united states in undermining its own security and breaking its obligations but german foreign minister assured his iranian counterpart in direct talks in munich that germany and the you want to stick to the agreement as long as iran does the e.u. wants to enable trade with iran but serif suggests that europe has to do more. with europe needs to be ridding to get it

if it wants to swim against a dangerous part of us unit after this i european leaders are already feeling the pressure from the us and mike pence after the n.t. during the security conference. the time has come for our european partners to stop undermining u.s. sanctions against this murderous revolutionary regime. chancellor mackler refused to withdraw from the treaty germany feels that it is the only way to money iran's nuclear program is the view had it was like my do we help our common cause our common aim of containing the damaging or difficult influences of iran by withdrawing from the one remaining agreement. or die or do we help it more by keeping the small anchor we have in order to maybe exert pressure in other areas. and welcome the european commitment but called for more action he added that the

nuclear treaty is appropriate at the best that can be achieved how much longer can you survive and out of some of the other stories making news around the world. hundreds of passengers have been stranded following the collapse of british regional carrier fly b.m.i. the airline announced that it was filing for bankruptcy claiming a higher fuel costs and uncertainty caused by britain's upcoming departure from the european union the carrier served twenty five european cities. syrian president bashar al assad has warned kurdish fighters in the country's north that the u.s. will not protect them speaking in damascus assad said the u.s. backed kurdish fighters were mere tools of washington who risked being sold out in december u.s. president donald trump announced his intention to remove american troops from syria . saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman has begun a tour of asia in the pakistani capital islamabad after his arrival he signed

investment agreements worth some twenty billion dollars pakistan hopes the deals will provide welcome relief for its troubled economy prince muhammad will continue his trip in china and india. alexander alexander on homebuilt was a nineteenth century scientific superstar and an early environmentalist the great germans explorers expert expeditions famously took him to south america and the galapagos islands in the pacific now germany's president frank valter steinmeyer is following in his footsteps as part of a tour of the region sharon marr use the occasion to draw attention to plastic pollution which is threatening the unique and fragile ecosystems on the island's. volunteers searching for plastic garbage every day they clean the beaches of the galapagos they show the german president plastic bottles that have made it all the way over from china from across the ocean. nature's

interconnectedness means garbage from the other side of the planet can threaten the paradise here. steinmeier says he wants governments to make better efforts to deal with the issue of plastic waste. like we continue this way then by twenty we'll have more plastic in the oceans than fish that's why we must change our thinking missing to. it's the first official visit to the galapagos islands by a german president steinmeier is following in the footsteps of the legendary german researcher alexander from whom boyd more than two centuries ago who studies took him to latin america where he recognized the destructive effect humans can have on their environment plastic is just one example thrown out elsewhere it's threatening the ecosystem here. as. it accumulates in fish sea lions and seals eat the plastic

garbage and that's how it returns to the food chain. in the not. understanding the world in order to preserve it that's what humble thought here in ecuador the researcher climbed a volcano to take measurements and gain insight into nature in eight hundred two he set off from this hut to explore the understandable paino. of the path of the president is retracing as he voices support for protecting the environment. be staying in ecuador now where scientists are celebrating the rediscovering of the marsupial horned frog last seen over a decade ago and considered extinct a colony of the frogs was found during a recent expedition into an endangered rain forest their habitat remains under threat from deforestation but there is now hope that the species can regenerate. the species believed extinct found hidden in the canopies here in ecuador should cool rain forest region thought to be home to thousands of undiscovered plants and

animals the latest finding has three conservationists. wants to see an animal no one else has seen for over a long period of time maybe years or decades it's it's like the most exciting thing . that you can experience as a field biologist it's. really in the works it's right it's the first time some experts have ever seen the species unlike most other frogs the horn to female keeps its embryos in a pouch on her back during gestation an evolutionary marvel for scientists deforestation is a threat to this species and many others doctors are now breeding the frogs at a conservation center where the first frog legs are due to hatch in april. a leap of faith that they will one day thrive again in the wild.

they're watching the news coming up after the show. go with us thanks for watching state of the. earth. home. of species. a home worth seeing if you can. get those are big changes and most start with small steps to. tell stories of creative people and innovative projects around the world. the clinton goodness to stop submissions and reforestation. into.