>> you are watching live from paris on france 24. these are the top stories. with just four square kilometers and land -- of land in syria under their control the islamic state playing areas they once occupied. we take you to meet one such jihadist that hails from france. british mps are set to vote on a series of amendments. prime minister theresa may's

plan the brexit deal. one amendment could mean a nine-month delay to brexit. the new venezuelan economy is on track for another battering. this as the united states imposes fresh sanctions on the country'oil exports. >> good afternoon we begin in syria were islamic state militants have been increasingly boxed into their last pockets of land in the country. with u.s. led support and the kurdish led syrian democratic forces, there are in the final stages of a four-month long assault. the dwindling number of jihadists is now defending only a handful of hamlets in the euphrates valley. about four kilometers squared is still under their control. the the jihadist fleeing areas they once occupied the

militant team met one who traveled to syria from france. this is their exclusive report. >> civilians continue to pour out of the islamic state's collapsing caliphate. they have seen the fighting, the bombings and the hunger. angst these women number of jihadi brides who traveled all over the world to live under sharia law. language]foreign >> this woman is french. she says she has no children and that she lived in a french city than travel to syria four years ago.

what do you hope will happen now? are you sad that it is over? she says there are still a number of french nationals inside what is left of the so-called caliphate. death or a prison, her husband

made that choice, egyptian national she married and syria. why did he decide to stay inside if he is not a fighter? she says she was disappointed with her life in the caliphate but never explicitly condemns isis crimes or ideology.

when you came there were already videos, the executions, .errorist attacks do you regret coming here, how do you feel about this? explains her first husband persuaded her to go to syria but stayed in france. who is your husband? what were you sentenced to in france, do you know? what were you sentenced for? the french government is in no

hurry to repatriate jihadist. she knows it. she says she wants to serve her time in france. cap 30 seconds or you're staying -- the kurdish authority is overwhelmed by this continue influx of foreign jihadists. they repatriate their citizens and judge them. we don't have the resources. ofre is an alternative, the united nations they could create a special tribunal here. these people would be judged collects inlly

france jihadi brides are considered a security threat and politicians face a big backlash over their return. women andds these their children are both a problem and a major bargaining chip on the international front. >> exclusive france 24 report. for more analysi i am joined by our international affairs desk correspondent. we saw the interview in that .eport with a frenchwoman this is not a uniquely french story. other countries are in the same predicament. what do they do about people like that woman returng to their countries? >> there was one interesting point made in that report about the head of the sdf media unit. don't have the resources to put jihadists on trial here, there needs to be an international mechanism through the u.n., perhaps a special u.n.

tribunal. that is what he was saying in that report of hours. this is an idea that has been floated by politicians in europe. dutch mps or members of the house of rules and britain have said there needs to be an international mechanism and there should also be original mechanism in europe. many european countries are affected by this. should be something set up through the council of europe which is the pan-european human rights body. theproblem with international mechanism and international tribunal specifically for this is it would have to get through the same kind of deadlock that has stopped other initiatives in relation to syria. all the moves in the un security council that have come to nothing because of the divide between russia and china on the one hand and the western members of the ovarian -- western

members of the council. would run aground on those same kinds of problems and there would be instant suspicions the west was trying to use this as a trojan horse to try to put on trial not just jihadists but ultimately members of the syrian regime. that is why the international mechanism is such a difficult thing to set up our although people have talked about in that court.t -- ad hoc they gotten stuck within the same dynamics. >> it is not just france's problem. coming back to the issue of france and cases like the woman in that report, a massive issue and challenge for french authorities. what sort of numbers of returning french jihadists might we be talking about in the case of france? >> the last time figures were announced, comprehensive figures, was early last year. the prime minister spoke of 323 returning adult men.

20% were women and 20% were children. the interior minister has said he expects more than 100 others french jihists to come back to france and that is partly because the american troops are being pulled out of syria. let's take a risen to the interior minister. >> the americans are pulling out of syria. at the moment there are people in prisons and cap there because the americans are there so they are going to be free. they are going to want to return to france. i want all those who come back to be shown justice immediately. we know who these women and men are. they will be put on trial straight away. to be judged and punished. the french government clearly expecting another influx.

a few years ago the french government had been hoping somehow this problem would be resolved through prosecutions side syria and iraq. that has not significantly relieved this problem for friends. here was the other attempt would remember a few years ago by the previous french administration to take away french citizenship for french people who had gone to fight for isis in the middle east. those efforts did not come to anything ithe end. thosettom line is jihadists who want to come back in the next few weeks or months, if they have not destroyed their fren documents, and they still have a french passport they can still enter the country. there is no law -- there is nothing that going to stop them crossing the border. >> you alluded to it just now. a particularly sensitive aspect to all of this is we are not just talking about militants. in some cases we are talking about their wives and children as well.

that is particularly sensitive. >> it is a delicate issue and ron has saidc that women and children's returns would be judged on a case-by-case basis. some were up and arms and said it should be the same principles and norms applied to everybody regardless of gender, if they fought with isis in whatever capacity they have been supporting their husbands they should be judged by the same standards. as for children you have two things you have to distinguish, one is really young children who were born in iraq and syria after isis launched its main offensive in 2014, they are all easily too young to be prosecuted in france anyway. some of them have been put into foster homes, a number of them have. do come backy could in theory be criminally liable from the age of 13. that doesn't mean they would go to prison but they could be put

in a juvenile detention center. >> thank you very much indeed. with exactly 60 days to go until the u.k. is due to leave the eu the british parliament is set to vote today on a series of amendments to prime minister theresa may's brexit deal. they will vote on what is being mayed plan b which theresa unveiled last ek after her initial deal was rejected. despite being debated by 230 votes on january the 15th she is hoping to win over mps in today's ballot. one amendment could result in legislating being introduced which prevents the u.k. from leaving without an official deal. that would put brexit on hold for nine months. to help us make sense of all of that i'm joined by our european affairs editor catherine nicholson. talk us through what is happening in london >>. >>-- in london. >> there is a lot happening.

this is not a vote on whether mps asked the deal or not, they will have a serious about on amendments and different kinds of visions of how to proceed with this limited timeframe as you laid out. members, being put forward by a member of parliament and a member of the leading opposition labor party. could effectively give parliament the opportunity to delay brexit, there has been discussion of up to nine months delay, perhaps just three months delay. in any case delays the u.k. leaving the eu hoping that a deal will be found within that time and the sort of initial deadline for that being if the government does not have a deal by the end of february than this would come into effect. it gives the u.k. more breathing space. we have seen members of parliament in westminster, there is no consensus on how to

proceed at all. we were thinking the most support at the moment. another amendment getting support from theresa may and the government is being put forward by the so-called backbench graham bradymp that once the irish backstop to be replaced with something else. it is not clear in the wording. the irish backstop, the idea of having some kind of special different status for northern trade dealno full were found by the end of the transition period. saying we would replace the backstop with alternative arrangements to avoid a hard order. it says all text the members of parliament who voted for this implicitly support having a deal when the u.k. leaves. avoiding the no deal scenario.

that does not seem to have quite as much support as this other idea of delaying brexit. out laterng to find on which of these amendments are going to be voted upon. we are to find out which ones are being voted. there is talk of a secret plan being put together. by pro-brexit and pro-remain members of parliament. it is talking about some way around the irish backstop and it is really not clear at this point how those ways around are going to be found essentially. >> it is a complex situation. c.b , and what are the next steps for the eu? >> on the european union side the commission spokesman has said this is a london day not a brussels day. brussels is always very eager to not be putting a brusselvoice

forward and not be seen as interfering with what is going on in westminster. thing he did say was, there is nothing new on the table from the brussels side regarding brexit. is kind of over to you it is your move. there is some impatience coming from the european commissioners, deputy chief negotiator speaking yesterday in brussels. really saying, look, we are totally committed to the irish backstop. any of these efforts and amendments to get rid of the irish backstop will not fly. that would compromise the republic of ireland which is going to remain a member of the european union. as far as the other 27 members of the eu are concerned they have all been sandwiched together as one. extending thes of

leaving date, that plan might not be completely popular in brussels. been eatingdy has up political energy on other issues. that is something we have heard from other european voices getting's typically -- touchy on the european side. >> it has dragged on for a long time. thank you very much indeed for that. we turn to other world news. the top court in pakistan has announced its final verdict on the case of a christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy. she was acquitted in october of last year but a group of reticle islamists petitioned that. the top court upheld her acquittal meeting she is free to leave the country. spent eight years on death row and is expected to flee the country and go to canada and join her daughters. she has been living under guard at a secret location ever since

that first acquittal. the inflation rate already hovering around the 10,000,000% mark and with prices doubling every few weeks the venezuelan economy is on track for more bruises. the united states imposes fresh sanctions which sharply curb the country's oil exports. placegton will pressure on the venezuelan president nicolas maduro and pave the way for the opposition leader to call elections. we have more. >> hitting the venezuelan leadership where it hurts. the u.s. has announced sanctions against e oil-rich country's exports, targeting state owned petrol company and its u.s. subsidiaries citgo. >> has long been a vehicle for embezzlement, corruption, for venezuelan officials and businessmen. will help toon

prevent further diversion of venezuen accent by mother of -- maduro. >> the self-declared interim president says he is taking control of the country's assets abroad to prevent a departing majority to try to enter the -- empty the coffers. nicolas maduro about legal action against washington. >> they are trying to steal citgo from us. us the venezuelan people, be on alert venezuela. i hold donald trump responsible for any violence that may happen in venezuela. >> washington is using economic and diplomatic pressure without ruling out the possibility of a military intervention. a scenario the u.s. backed g uaido hopes to avoid. it is a difficult scenario for venezuela. do they want to be hungry, their

children's dying in the street uneducated or do they want to use force. >> he is openly supported by washington, but for his critics his rise -- lot onave been talking a this channel of the u.s. president donald trump's plans to build a wall on the border with mexico. did you know about plans to build a fence along with denmark border with germany? in this instance the worry is not about people crossing the .order but wild boars this is to prevent the spread of swine flu in the danish pork industry, worth about 4 billion euroannually. a 70 kilometers long fence will stop wild boars from entering denmark and spreading the disease. a reminder of our top story. british mps are set to vote on a series of amendments to theresa may's plan for a brexit deal. one amendment could mean brexit

is delayed by up to nine months. >> it is time for business. i am joined by yuka royer. let's begin with news about the chinese telecoms company huawei. beijing is hitting back after the u.s. leveled all kinds of charges and accused them of all kinds of misconduct. >> china has called washington to stop the unreasonable crackdown on huawei but there is no indication beijing might retaliate. the strong reaction comes after the u.s. indicted the tech giant on conspiring to violate sanctions against iran and stealing technology from t-mobile. huawei denies the charges. u.s. listen to the active attorney general matthew whitaker. >> in an effort to build their engineersheuawei's

violated a nondisclosure agreement with t-mobile by taking photoof the robot, measuring it, and stealing a piece of it. charges.s. car -- come as western nations hav moveto block while way -- huawei from accessing five g networks. an australian telecom announced it has canceled the construction of a new mobile network as a result of a government pasta decision last year to ban huaw ei. the beijing government called for countries around the world to provide a fair access in the mobile market. -- thee is no evidence united states is using its state power to discredit and attacked companies. this behavior is unfair and immoral. we are continuing to move forward with our 5g service. canhink that our 5g service

create a push for a 5g smartphone for people around the world. >> unofficl voice from beijing. --an official voice from beijing. the u.s. and china are resuming trade talk. >> a high-level chinese delegation has just arrived in washington. president donald trump is expected to meet with them later this week. the commerce secretary said the charges against huawei or separaterom the laer trade dispute. i asked one of our correspondence about the potential impact of the indictment on the talks. sides continued to say on the record they are optimistic about the outcome of these talks. they think they can work it out. the commerce secretary wilbur ross explained that these separate issues or separate but wilbur ross the

commerce secretary as well as the homeland securit secretary were bothresent at e announcement of those indictments on monday. possiblyshow this is wider than just the u.s. justice department. there was oncomment by the president trump in 2018 where he explained and ggested journalists that he would be willing to use the arrest and eitradition oer of the huaw chief financial officer that is under house arrest in canada to use her arrest and exhibition order as a bargaining chip in area this will make negotiations quite hard. a time when both countries are really seeking to find some sort of deal because china is facing an economic slowdown.

the united states is n doing great either. especily after such a lo government shutdown. >> frobeijing reportinthere. almost onese 100 up and a half percent. that is due to the brish pound weakening. pg&e hasr provider filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. debts struggling under a collection. the san francisco-based company expect the courts to act in the next coming days. the major japanese airline company says it will order 38 airbus jets from boeing jets. the order includes one for the latest version of boeing's 737.

trade -- to the united states. walking a tightrope there and buying airbus an

samantha hawley: it's one of the most ambitious building drives in history as india fast-tracks its way to prosperity. but the boom has spawned a vicious illegal trade. we've seen someone there. we're just a bit reluctant. it's a really kind of hairy situation, and we're not sure it's really safe for us to go any further. crime gangs specializing in environmental destruction... the assailants came down from here, yeah? akaash chauhan: this is the room, and they came from this side and shot my father. [gunshots] man: this is not allowed. hawlan