we're on the front lines and sometimes paid the ultimate sacrifice there is an estimated fourteen thousand transgender soldiers in the u.s. military but now their status is in doubt today a new trump administration policy goes into effect which critics say will ban transgender people from joining and force others to choose between their country and their gender identity i'm called aspen and this is the day. one of our national institutions will be turning back the clock on equality as you know it's a very complicated issue for the voters shutting its doors to people who are already proving their ability to do the job at a very confusing issue for the military is a rose military readiness and unit cohesion and i think i'm doing the military very thorough and donald trump is not just country he does not love this military he was

not going to we will continue to fight for the right to fight we are not a detriment to this nation's military. also coming up tonight breaking gender barriers one jav one hawk and one uppercut at a time we'll meet a woman who's become iran's first female boxer. now vilified the end of the day there are limitations that apply to each and every country and you can't just say that about iran there are some good things about iran and there are some not so good things too but at the end of the day you can achieve what you want. we begin the day with what could amount to a ban on transgender troops in the u.s. military presence takes effect today and while it will allow troops to call themselves transgender will also force them to use bathrooms you know. forms and

even the pronouns of their biological sex president trump first announced the policy in twenty seventeen on twitter in a series of tweets he wrote this after consultation with my generals and military experts please be advised that the united states government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the us military our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail and anyone undergoing gender reassignment surgery will not be allowed to enlist that's putting pressure on transgender recruits or serving their country for under brokerage the transgender kicked off a dramatic race against time. the army intelligence analyst had to decide whether to start gender reassignment surgery or risk losing his job in future. where i initially was planning to you know spend several months probably you know really

just taking my time in figuring out what i wanted to do and figuring out my identity suddenly turned into this crazy race where i was you know missing days on days in a row of work and then stressing and really just doing everything i could to get the diagnosis done in time to meet that deadline around fourteen thousand transgender people currently serve in the military trump announced the ban in twenty seventeen reversing obama's efforts to end long term restrictions on transgender soldiers. as you know it's been a very complicated issue for the military it's been a very confusing issue for the military. i think i'm doing the military a great favor the president says allowing transgender people into the military increases costs from those operational effectiveness the claim is being rejected by some of the pentagon's top officers i'm not aware of any issues i am not aware of any issues activists have condemned. for the first time

one of our national institutions will be turning back the clock on equality. shutting its doors to people who have already proven their ability to do the job trumps decision is being challenged in four separate appeal courts but whatever their verdict the banners are ready for an army specialist because your life into turmoil well joining me now is charlotte clymer she's a u.s. army veteran she's a transgender woman and she's also the press secretary for the human rights campaign it's an elegy civil rights organization thank you so much for joining us charlotte's first of all the department of defense in the u.s. it's been insisting that this is not a ban it says that most transgender troops currently serving they won't be affected by this and that those troops are welcome to serve openly what's your reaction to what the department of defense is saying is this

a ban. oh they're lying it is absolutely a band you know even folks who were serving openly yesterday when the ban was not on the facts they will be denied access to medically necessary health care and they will also face severe stigma for their service this is basically don't ask don't tell for transgender troops and as we as you might recall under don't ask don't tell a lesbian bisexual service members could serve but they face extraordinary stick and it certainly harmed their careers many of them were forced out over not so much conduct but just even the suspicion of being homosexual bisexual this is going to be the same issue we're going to see transgender troops who leave service early who are over the coals for nothing more than existing in uniform tell me about your time as a transgender soldier how much stigma did you face in the military when

i was not openly transgender in the military i was in the closet at the time but i haven't let a number of friends who are openly transgender right now including one of my best friends from west point the united states military academy he is commanded troops as a transgender man in iraq and afghanistan and he is still in the army and i can only imagine the obstacles that would be put in his way whereas this appears many of whom have not performed as capably as he has will not have to deal with that obstacle you know it's interesting because on the commander in chief says something like this that sets the tone for the entire organization the entire armed forces right down to the youngest privates and so the cultural challenges the transfer individuals will face are extraordinary and will certainly do great harm. and you mentioned speaking with some of your colleagues and your friends how specifically how this affects those thousands of transgender troops that are currently serving

do you think that some of them might drop out early as you're mentioning or perhaps now start to face even worse something like discrimination mother serving that's right that's exactly what will happen many of them will leave the service earlier than they had anticipated just because you know dealing with discrimination and harassment from certain quarters of the military because of the cultural tone that said by our commander in chief will become overwhelming but also they will be denied medically necessary care medical care that has been validated by the american medical association the american psychological association and retired surgeons general of the military all of whom have said that there is no medically valid reason why a transgender service members cancer but they do need access to quality health care on a full level what trump is trying to do is force folks out by denying them certain medical care procedures such as hormone surgeries anything that's even related

to being transgender or just a human being in the military so this is a tactic to push people out it's absolutely banned regardless of the pentagon would like to tell people when the president when he first announced this policy he said in part a military must be focused and cannot be burdened with the disruption that transgender in the military wouldn't tale so essentially saying they're transgender troops or distraction is that true in your experience. no and you know even in my experience you can ask the experts the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff the highest ranking military officer in the united states mark milley has already said there have been zero issues which transgender troops openly serving in the military the chief of every service branch have said exactly the same thing before the senate armed services committee and numerous retired military generals and admirals have said as much in fact the rand institute which is you know our big defense think tank here in the united states released reports in twenty sixteen that there

would be minimal or negligible effect on the military unit ready to be unit cohesion or military readiness if transgender troops were allowed to serve openly and in fact it's come to pass in three years three years of transitor been able to serve openly there have been zero problems and we have this from our top military leaders so it's not a matter of debate at this point we've already settled this issue there is no burden on the military that comes from transgender service members serving openly. now you mentioned the don't ask don't tell policy that was the policy as you mentioned preventing gays lesbians and bisexuals from serving openly in the military that policy lasted nearly two decades it was finally overturned in twenty eleven how long do you think now this particular policy will last. i think at most we're going to elect a democratic president in two thousand and twenty or at least someone who has far more sense than this coward in office and we will have someone in the oval office

who overturns the ban the supreme court is expected to rule not on the merit of the band itself but whether or not a commander in chief commander in chief can put the ban in place we don't know when that really does come it could be years from now but regardless of the next commander in chief i am confident will will see how absurd this ban is on every level and overturn it but until then we have to focus on the transitor service members and their families who are affected right now on this very day the military is a cohesive and integrated environments and so even families are going to feel stress and anxiety from the stigma that. donald trump is attempting to put on transgender service members when he didn't even serve in the military and in fact he avoided service during the vietnam war all right a new era at least for now in the u.s. military surely clymer of the human rights campaign and the transgender u.s. army veteran thank you very much for joining us. thank you.

now to the southern philippines and what could become the new front in the battle against the so-called islamic state the island of mindanao is the place that i asked chose to create its so-called caliphate in southeast asia even before i ask amy on the scene mindanao it seemed a long running power struggle between its christian majority and muslim minority in may of two thousand and seventeen i as fighters made their move a few hundred fighters seized the city of mirali and the resulting battle to flush them out devastated the region reporters sundra peterson and hans christian ost among travel to mindanao to see what life is like there today. we are on patrol with the largest muslim rabbit group in mindanao the moro islamic liberation front or m.i.l.f. for decades they fought for independence tens of thousands were killed. but since

the self-proclaimed islamic state burst onto the scene in two thousand and seventeen the muslim rebels have joined forces with the philippine army both sides feel threatened by us fight has now laying low. the muslim minority strongly supports the m.i.l.f. only five percent of filipinos are muslims and almost all live in mindanao or the areas are among the poorest in the philippines many here blame the christian majority got the men for their plight. we visit the military headquarters of the m.i.l.f. the government meets the rabbits support to secure a peace and to fight terror president rhodri go to tara to has promised them a far reaching autonomy these schools are. the chief of staff isn't in uniform a sign perhaps of the shift from insurgency to politics the m.i.l.f.

has seen defectors joining i as we ask him what might happen if the autonomy project goes badly our credibility daughter people really become diminished. by his station. all their followers. jory him or their group and him. and become bigger. he tells us that they will disarm up to thirty thousand fighters but only with full muslim autonomy. if not then. remember we will not. do commission our worthless and we will not give up our firearms which we promised to the government. this is what both sides are trying to avoid another more robby the largest muslim city of the philippines lies in ruins bombed out after a few hundred s. fighters had occupied mahratti for five months two years ago.

more than one thousand people were killed. tens of thousands remain displaced. it was president to tear to who ordered the bombing but he's also a strong supporter of muslim autonomy his film a peace adviser tells us. it is a struggle signal to the bad guys. around read this country i have been in the peace process under several presidents and we have not moved us far as we have this time the president feels that we can improve. if we try to give more authority and power to the locals but it must be under one flag the philippine flag. but if the autonomy drive fail it's more disaffected muslims could join radical outfits in addition after the last effect caliphate in syria and iraq more for an i

s five tests might also decide that mindanao is the new front. reports by underpaid us men and she joins me now in studio. just first of all i want to know how big of a threat is the so-called islamic states in the south philippines it's hard to put down in any numbers that we have seen isolated bombings we see isolated skirmishes authorities tell us there are fighters laying low in the jungle in the marsh lands but to give few concrete numbers that we can do what we do know is that there is a lot of attraction you still find syntheses among the population we spoke to a young guy let's call him up those he was part of the group that laid siege to be he's now also lane no one he says look if our life doesn't change i would pick up a weapon again so there is definitely some sort of threat there now the government has promised to mindanao as muslims more autonomy right so what does that mean for

the struggle against is islamist extremism there i think what the government is trying to do here is you know by creating more political and economic inclusion to basically. dr tara our to know by winning the hearts and minds of people they try to win over syntheses that might otherwise go to potential terrorists and there is a lot of jihadi potential in the region and we have seen decades of conflicts. we have seen. war in this region and of course that is something a local conflict which is there that i. can tap into and you know if now fight us with the side we have lost our territory in the middle east we're looking for a new front let's travel over there they could actually find ground there so you think potentially there could be fighters heading from say the middle east a rock or a syria and they're heading to this region oh it could happen to conquer with

a doubt what we did see in the middle east is that some of the foreign fighters there were actually from neighboring countries indonesia. malaysia and from there it's very easy you know to just take a boat and hop over to mindanao and also in this teach of maradi we saw that there were also foreign fighters there like this young guy up there he told us when he went to a training camp in the jungle in mindanao he trained alongside obviously local friends but also alongside foreign fighters and he said yes most of them were from indonesia from malaysia so if there were chechens and arabs let's talk about the president roderigo to terrorism he's of course known for this brutal crackdown on drugs and drug users in the country could he maybe turn out to be the one that brings peace to this region he's the first president of the philippines to actually have from mindanao it's so he does have probably a better understanding of the conflicts like other guys before him and he supports

this autonomy drive. he basically used all his bullying power to whiplash the philippine political elite to accept this drive for autonomy and also the rebels see off the mainstream brother group the biggest rebel group in the knowledge. they told us we trust his sincerity and i'm sure if you us many other people that's something they would not sign referring to a president to a territory now you were there you were filming of course remains now in and also murali like how difficult of a task was that well when we were filming in morocco obviously allowed to move freely it's still a military exclusion zone so there were always soldiers by our side and they determined where we could go and what we could phone and how long we could stay equally if we joined the rebels like you saw that they took us on for told obviously it was a program they designed for us and also then their territory they basically decided

what we could and we could stay but other than that we thought people were really frankly very easy to talk to but of course there is that threat and we were never quite sure. now the philippines it doesn't seem to be getting as much attention as the battle against the so-called islamic state in syria and iraq itself or other countries joining in this effort at all is there an attention being paid now to the philippines i think the united states very much base attention in terms of providing intelligence and surveillance also you know during the maradi seach that were very crucial to help the philippine army in telling things around also australia is another military partner of the philippine government but yes i mean if maybe more attention would have been paid from all sides involved maybe we would not have seen this more obvious seach there interesting stuff w.'s son of pages men returning there with that fascinating documentary thanks very much and you can actually watch that documentary in full i highly recommend it it's called

philippines in the sights of i ass it's available right now on our you tube channel that's d w documentary be sure to check out. to china next on a german man who is a viral hit each and every time he posts video online so how does he do it well you might call success a marriage made in heaven. when thomas docks also known as office throws through the streets of shanghai he rarely goes unnoticed. of the. thomas is a celebrity on the chinese internet seven million people follow him on social media when he posts clips about his life as a foreigner in china says it's going to your shanghai accent is great you're a real shanghainese. do it that way. thomas came to shanghai as

a student in two thousand and twelve he fell in love and stayed in his videos he talks and still in chinese about a broad range of topics. like traffic. health we have the math. but it all started with a sketch about his sign on german mariage. to me tonight in a. moment i mean i see a hike through all the photos. put stuff on the wires you pay for the car you. thomas and his wife julie write and produce the clips together and they can make a living from them it all started when they came across a video by a chinese internet celebrity yes and sketch that we recorded a sketch about coming hung for chinese new year that's when people are asked the same questions over and over again when you're getting married how much do you know

when you're going to buy a car when you're going to buy a flat well julie then said to me you should film a clip about marrying into a chinese family as a foreigner. you know what is your. job. you are going over here. you want to know how do you feel. more power in life was when i told my parents i'm dating a foreigner my father chris glass down we were having lunch and he said what did you say you wish i said a foreigner he shouted are you crazy what's wrong with you all these foreigners are playboys. that. his father in law is one of the main characters in our food thomas gets he's even written a book on him but since those easy first month their relationship has improved.

it's true i didn't like him at the start he's fat he said he was poor and a student raised don't talk about that it's embarrassing. they continued to joke about what has now turned into a wonderful friendship for his part thomas says he's lucky to have found a chinese family who share his sense of humor one sketch at a time. in sports twenty four year old son is preparing to make history as the first ever iranian woman to take part in an officially sanctioned boxing match she steps into the ring this saturday for bout in western france but she's hoping she can land a blow for equality all the way back home. women have been fighting for equality in iran on many fronts and saddam is breaking new

ground for a country that allowed women to attain a million soccer game for the first time last october. now by the end of the day there are limitations that apply to each and every country you can't just say that about iran there are some good things about iran and there are some not so good things too but at the end of the day you can achieve what he wants. this iranian women do bucks but no woman has ever had an official bout. here in france that condoms training can't she already gets a champions welcome without her family in bracing the idea of boxing condom might not have gotten to this point of her aspiring career. my parents were against that but then they accepted the idea and gave me support and what i have now is because of that. win lose or draw

cottam is dedicating her fight to other women boxers in iraq. this year's prestigious world press photo prize has been awarded to veteran photographer john moore for this photograph you see it right here it shows undocumented migrants two year old young ella sanchez and her mother sandra being taken into custody after entering the u.s. from mexico the picture fueled outrage over the trunk administration's family separations at the border it later though emerged that the mother and daughter in the photo were not separated but ended up in a detention center and were allowed to apply for asylum. that's it on the day you'll find us on twitter either at news or at column assman thanks for watching and for making us a part of your. quadriga

international talk show for journalists to discuss the topic of the week coming up on talk radio there are some one thousand battle hardened islamic state fighters and their families from germany for now heading home after i assess collapse what should germany do with them and how dangerous are they all that and more coming up . quadriga next d.w. .

take football personally with the wonderful people in stories that make the games so special i do any. truth. to cough want to bother them to do for. g.w. . when the worst damage was in sight. for survival when he set up and if anybody but when there's a flood water comes up to her waist when you close fast and everyone needs to find . a lack of water he's equally dangerous. based on keep his sleeve will move south so they can plant crops and find food since. floods and

droughts climate change become the main driver of mass migration you can write any kind of peace not if you want and probably most of them to come to. the climate exodus starts thirty years on t w. a low and welcome to the w.'s international talk show quadriga where today we're talking about the one thousand battle hardened islamic state fighters and their families from germany some of them are now on their way back home many are already here following i asked this collapse in syria and iraq to both men and women and among them are vicious killers and war criminals of those who have returned a number are all.