hello, i'm karin giannone, this is outside source. massive disruption at one of europe's busiest airports after drones are deliberately flown over gatwick. tens of thousands of passengers are stranded — all flights are suspended. you would think what the airport at this size would have some sort of contingency plan to cope with a drone. contingency plan to cope with a drone. president trump defends his decision to withdraw us troops from syria saying america has lost precious lives and spent trillions of dollars. critics say it's a victory for russia and iran. and long—awaited elections in the democratic republic of congo scheduled for this weekend have been delayed. it's now 2a hours since london gatwick airport was first closed,

and it will stay like that for at least another 9 hours. we're waiting for a press conference later with more details. i want to show you this. it is very clear what is going on. this is the website flight radar. it shows the skies above london right now. that cluster of yellow planes is over heathrow — normal activity for an airport. now look at london gatwick. no active planes at all. it's all because a drone was flown over the airfield three times. police described the drone as ‘industrial‘. and let me show you why this is so serious. this is a drone smashing into a plane wing in a lab — and you can see how easily it causes so much damage. this is why all those flights have been grounded or diverted. neither the drones —

nor those operating them have been found but they've been causing absolute havoc for tens of thousands of travellers. now the the military has been brought in to help find them with specialist equipment. police say this isn't terror related — but it is a deliberate act — it's also unprecedented. here's the head of airport police. each time we believe we get closer to the operator, the drone disappears. when we look to reopen the airfield, the drone reappears. so i am absolutely convinced this is a deliberate act to disrupt the airport. ryanair have said all their flights tomorrow will leave from stansted. the estimated time for the airport to reopen has changed throughout the day, now it's at 6am local time, friday. authorities don't want to let planes back up until the drone has been found. the ceo of gatwick airport described it as "a highly targeted activity which has been designed to close the airport and bring maximum disruption in the run up to christmas." look at what it has been at gatwick

airport, look at what it has been at gatwick so for the meantime, this is gatwick today, a miserable experience for anyone hoping to travel. long queues of people trying to work out their next move. there are dozens of police spotters on roofs trying to spot the drone. officers boarded a plane that was stranded on the tarmac to calm passengers who were getting distressed. this is having a huge impact on passengers. on thursday alone, 110,000 passengers were expected to travel on 760 flights. those flying into gatwick, which is south of london, have been diverted to airports all over the country, and outside of it too. earlier i spoke to simon moores, a security and technology futurist, who specialises in information security risks. in 2016, he wrote this article, warning how drones could easily be used to bring an airport

to its knees. well now that's happened. he is not surprised. i think what we are going to see is more copied cats, more imitation as a consequence of what we have seen happen. we have seen in the past that some of these things particularly like this causedminor disruption but this is clearly the first of a serious event andi think as a consequence, we may see more on a global scale in the future. it's a very depressing thought to hear that you think this could be so easily easily copied with such an enormous effect. well when you think about it, this is a single failure for the transport system, which is a global network so something that

happens at gatwick airport and interrupts the traffic, three hours later, it is going to happen an effect on places like abu dhabi. 12 hours later, it will have an effect on hong kong, so if you can see we are globally connected now. so one small interruption simply a drone stopping 110,000 people from the gatwick and all across the world, demonstrates the that global nature of the transport system. simon, i know you are not surprised that this has happened, but are you surprised at the amount of time that it has taken to get the situation under control? i am really quite surprised on how slow it has been in terms of bringing this under control as you said, because i would have thought that security measures or precautions would have been in place. i wrote about this three years ago, i talked about the threat at air transport or in error traffic cop conference

about three years ago about the possibility of this happening. now, airports can very much focus on hard security measures and increasingly now cyber security measures. it seems that they have been somewhat remissed on focusing on the new technology such as drones, they should have been arriving at a have been arriving at a phenomenal pace. so for example, make available the kind of drone guns which themselves are not particularly expensive, the armed forces now use them. as you see, the president of the united states if they see while playing golf, his secret service is actually carrying drone rifles with them in case a drone comes into view. we will bring you back as soon as we get more information. we will bring you back as soon as we get more information. donald trump's decision to withdraw troops from syria will allow the islamic state group to recover.

that's according to the syria democratic forces. they are an alliance that's credited with playing a major role in the virtual elimination of is. this is statement which says the decision will have "negative effect on the operation to end terrorism." but president trump defended his decision. we have been fighting for a long time in syria. i have been president ramos time in syria. i have been president ra m os two time in syria. i have been president ramos two years and we have really stepped it up. we have one against isis. we have one against isis. many don't agree. france — a key part of the us—led coalition against is — says it will remain in northern syria for now. the uk says the threat is still "very much alive". these are recent pictures from the the royal air force which shows it bombing a key target there. the coalition liberated the last urban is stronghold in the past few days. so is has lost territory. but this analysis by new york times journalist rukmini callimachi says @rcallimachi "the big winner?

isis, they say, which can now breathe a sigh of relief and begin rebuilding as it did in 2010." many senators in washington think pulling out now is too soon. isis is not defeated in syria and iraq. iwas isis is not defeated in syria and iraq. i was there a few months ago, they are incredibly hurt and our troops aren't insurance policy for syria and iraq. troops aren't insurance policy for syria and iraq. and take a look at this tweet by donald trump: "russia, iran, syria & many others are not happy about the us leaving, despite what the fake news says." that's not true. here's the russian president. regarding bed defeat of isis, i am largely in agreement with the president of the united states. is the president of american forces in syria necessary? ithink the president of american forces in

syria necessary? i think not. let's not forget their president is not legitimate, it is not acknowledged by the resolution. legitimate, it is not acknowledged by the resolution. here's the context. russia and iran both back the syrian regime of bashar al—assad. iran sees it as a crucial ally in the region. it will hope this american withdrawal move makes it easier to establish supply routes through iraq and syria to the militant group in lebanon. for its part, russia will find it far easier to exert influence over the situation in syria with america gone. and then there are the kurds. us troops have largely been stationed in kurdish—controlled territory — in green — in northern syria. indeed a kurdish—american alliance played a major role in driving is out of the area. but turkey was always uncomfortable with this — it sees the kurds in syria as an extension of kurds who are fighting for autonomy in turkey. this is today in ankara. iranian president rouhani met with turkish president recep tayyip erdogan. turkey has said it is poised to launch a military operation against the kurdish ypg militia which it regards as a terrorist group.

here's mark lowen. turkey very much wanted the us to pull out its troops from syria because it was an impediment really to any turkish military across the border against a wide pg kurdish ——ypg fighters that turkey says are terrorist. now of course the american troops on the ground there were a buffer in a sense to the ypg and turkey. so now that the fact that donald trump has said he will withdraw those troops, that means the ypg extremely exposed and extremely vulnerable and the likelihood of an attack on the cross military incursion all the more likely. let's speak to babara plett usher in washington. donald trump made this decision all alone. but he think is driving him to do that? well as he sat on his twitter account today, nobody should be surprised about getting out of syria because that is something i

had said all along. which is true to a certain point, he need a campaign promise and repeated earlier and the year that he wanted to bring the troops home, defeat them, and get the hail out of there. but the same time, his security talked about signing onto a long—term commitment of allowing troops to stay not only to defeat islamic states territorially, but to stabilise the areas and the group cannot make a comeback and provide a solution to the civil war so there could be more stability there. and clearly they we re stability there. and clearly they were brought. why he would do it now? there are scratching of heads here. one view is that the only sorts of new thing in the past week, despite the turkish president to go after the american kurdish allies, and mr after the american kurdish allies, and mer

after the american kurdish allies, and mr mr president trump was trying to deflect attention for it the legaljudgements that were happening against this —— against them. whether this say about the role that he is making in the decision—making thatis he is making in the decision—making that is going on? certainly this decision was taken against the advice of the secretary of defence. we know that he did not want a rapid 01’ we know that he did not want a rapid or sudden withdrawal, he said the withdrawal should have been after they had more time to train the locals and also for the political process to take root, it looks as if president trump was a rebuked them. they broke this report in the washington post that said the

relations are strained, his influence was decreasing, what we can save for sure is that president donald trump as more and more taking his own national security decisions and disregarding the only the secretary of defence but other members of the national security team. thank you very much. thank you very much. stay with us on outside source — still to come... we will have the latest developments. more money should be spent on changing the layout of our town centres, an independent report into the state of the high street has recommended. an expert panel, chaired by the owner of timpson‘s, says local authorities across england don't have enough money — and central government needs to contribute more. sirjohn timpson says town centres should be turned this is not just

this is notjust about shopping, it isa this is notjust about shopping, it is a community hub, much more than medical and social services or entertainment or all these other things, and housing. i mean, it is pretty obvious by going around that there are twice as many shots than what we need at this country and there is pretty little housing. the other thing, i think at this digital age, we do need social contact, that is part of being human, being together. if we want our children to have a place where they are going to meet, then every community needs to create a hub by putting things together in a way that is attractive. this is outside source live from the bbc newsroom. our lead story is? massive disruption at one of europe's busiest airports after drones are deliberately flown over gatwick. tens of thousands of passenders are left stranded — all flights are suspended. let's ta ke

let's take a look at all the stories around the bbc let's take a look at all the stories around 110w. shares in airbus have fallen sharply after reports that the us had launched an investigation into allegations of corruption at the european aircraft manufacturer — that story is on world service. and brazil's chiefjustice has overturned an earlier court order that would have led to the immediate release from jail of the former president — luiz inacio lula da silva. that story is on bbc mundo. and this is one of the most read stories on the website — santa orformer us president barack obama has paid a christmas visit to staff, patients and their parents at the children's national medical center in washington dc — he donned a santa hat and gave out presents to the kids. danish officials say the killing of two scandinavian women in morocco appears to have been a terrorist act. the bodies of a danish and a norwegian woman were found on monday in the high atlas mountains, where they'd been

on a camping holiday. the video showing the beheading of one of the women has been linked to islamic state group. three suspects have been arrested in morocco. here's the danish prime minister. translation: there are still dark powers that with violence will kill our values, threaten our society and the way we live our life. that makes me angry. but it also makes me determined that we must never give in and must never yield. so let me make one thing completely clear, we danes will not compromise with our open society and our life. these are values which are rooted in us, they are values. values which we must protect. hadya al—alawi is from bbc arabic. so these two women have been murdered on monday in their tent while they were camping and it was told by the local media that they these men were camping nearby waiting for an opportunity.

they found them with wounds in neck, there has been a video actually circulating today around on social media which shows apparently, apparently shows, one of the women being killed, murdered, and one of the men carrying out the murder that this is for revenge for our brothers in which is a small city, it was the last stronghold on iis and applied a syria ——is that it was recently taken by the us troops, so they are investigating the video and they are trying to find out whether, if it is legitimate or not. it's been a very long time since there was a attack on morocco. yes, it has been since 2003 when there was a bombing in casablanca which killed 30 people. that was the last time we saw something from a islamic group that attacked morocco which is relatively a safe country, compared to neighbouring countries. so it does not have a strong base for is but we

have seen this ideology travel quite far around, it is not necessarily mean it needs a base for it in the country. it is sometimes just individuals who carried the ideology in waiting for the right opportunity to act upon it. why is it do you think that morocco has suffered from the scourge of is like some other countries in the neighbourhood? i think it has to do with the way its government has actually dealt with that. early on, a kind of implemented very strict rules specifically about the moroccans who went to syria and iraq and try to come back. it was estimated that around 2015, around 1600 moroccans had joined thejihad group is, so it very strict rules about coming back and i think it is the way they dealt with on all the turbulence is in morocco early on when there was the out spring in neighbouring countries that dealt with it was quite different to other countries

and it was really good at calming it down. us house speaker paul ryan says president donald trump won't sign the spending bill that was passed by senate on wednesday. if no agreement is reached before friday's midnight deadline, various parts of federal government may face a shutdown. our business correspondent michelle fleuryjoins us from new york. how have we got to this stage? look, if he it was a done deal, the senate had passed the spending bill that would have kept the government funded until federate —— that would have kept the government funded untilfederate —— february, eve ryo ne funded untilfederate —— february, everyone could have gone for the holidays, there was some degree of calm. then the president met with house republicans behind closed door and said he will not sign a bill on his desk unless it included funding for a wall. you can see the scrambling to cancel plans, it certainly became clear as the day went on that the process of a

shutdown is very real. a little more than 2a hours to try to come up with a spending bill that includes funding for the wall. his what's happened, he said democrats in the house there'll no boat for them for —— a bolt from them for a wall. you have someone there to vote. there's going to be a challenge to get this through the house. then you have to get this through the senate where republicans be 60 votes. you might see a shutdown before the holidays. we have seen something in the markets, is it really going to have an economic impact? i mean, the markets all are ready in a ready terrible mood. this certainly did not do much to improve the negative sentiment that was out there. if you look at the dow, it interesting...

we have from an adviser kevin has it and he appeared on the american networks here, he said look it could have an impact, you might see this impact show up in the jobs reports, in other words, a number of people out of work. other than that, he got it might not have a long—term effect. the real damage is the perception that the administration while the republican controlled most of the house and sent it ——, controlled the government. let's go to asia now — and news that renault boss carlos ghosn may soon be out ofjail after a tokyo court decided not to extend his detention. ghosn has been indicted for alleged financial misconduct. our asia business correspondent karishma vaswani says the development is a big surprise. this typically does not happen in japan when japanese this typically does not happen in japan whenjapanese prosecutors in the legal system build up a case there and when they request for the extension of detention, pretty much

every single time they granted that extension. so the fact that a tokyo court made this decision is quite surprising to say the least. it will also give us the very first time hopefully that we here for the man himself, because up until now, he has consistently denied these allegations, but only through his legal team. they talk about the fact that the underreporting of income under the japanese legal system that there was some sort of misinterpretation over that. that is their defence of how he has deferred their defence of how he has deferred their income with regards to retirement in the future. all of these things hopefully should become clearer if and when we do hear from here. we are hearing that he could possibly be released on bail as early as friday. having said that, there's still a chance that the japanese prosecutors could appeal this decision, so still very murky at this state. let's return to our

main story. let's return to our main story. with more than 100,000 passengers affected by disruption at gatwick airport, many now face extra costs from re—arranged flights, car parking and hotels, in the lead up to christmas. despite the desruptions, some airlines may have a get out clause. are more worrying factors for the passengers today that there is this caveat of extraordinary circumstances. that is actually there and right thing to covet airlines and therefore if the airlines and therefore if the airline sites that, they are not under the same obligation to provide the compensation. let's hear more on this. within the last hour that have been more drone sightings, there had been more drone

sightings, there had been more drone sightings and close for the rest of the evening. be glad to check and see what they're all going travel plans are. as of tomorrow, that situation is fluid. we have on—site the police are supported by security and the military to look at every opportunity we had to disable this drone. right. i think wejust i think we just got fed that the situation is fluid. this has been absolute travel nightmares for hundreds of thousands of people who had to fly. let's show you what it looks like in the air right now above the southeast. you can see that little cluster of yellow plays there, that is that airport running com pletely there, that is that airport running completely normal. the little white port —— that little white dots right to bear, that is gatwick airport. as

you can see, complete shutdown of the air space at gatwick airport. there is nothing going in or out. there is nothing going in or out. there is nothing going in or out. there is something we heard from the airport earlier, there'll be no flights in or out of gatwick airport until at least 6am local time friday morning, it is a grim situation. however, flights are being diverted to other airports around the uk and also into paris and another airport in amsterdam and they are trying to locate the drone that was fine three times over the airspace over gatwick airport. that led to the real nightmare for travellers book just before the christmas break. we will give you those updates later on. stay with us. hello, good evening. i will finish

with a quick tease of the christmas weather for the uk. the with a quick tease of the christmas weatherfor the uk. the school around the world. here in north america, bands of clouds for the pacific northwest, that cloud has been giving heavy rain and tornadoes but the next few hours in florida. the heavy winds drive up the seaboard east to canada with the cold air, there could be some snow there were two. this is going to the prairies of canada, this is where the air is the coldest. in the southwest and into mexico, it should be dry and sunny. there are two cyclones out in the atlantic, these are the seasonal rains over here. it has been wet and moles on beat and likely to stay that way. the weather is changing though in south asia,

especially around sure lock up. this god is bringing with it some heavy rain. it is going to run south of here. less fog and a bit more brain actually coming into china, it is going to move its way to the east china sea and tojapan, it is going to move its way to the east china sea and to japan, it is going to get colder. it will fill colour and shanghai in the wintertime as well. normally it is dry at this time of year, quite unusual. more brain for the philippines and widely across indonesia. this was he held —— hailed taken on thursday. often people think of hail as a winter phenomenon, but it is actually a summer phenomenon phenomenon, but it is actually a summer phenomenon because the cloud to get higher into the cold air and there's more instability. it is really quite stormy for much of december in sydney. it should be improving for the next two days but be aware. what's weather here.

especially when this began on the north island of new zealand. moving to europe... the weather is changing through the mediterranean, some disturbed weather for a few weeks now. high pressure is building and, that means the main weather systems are driving further north to the heart of europe. some snow for the out as well. it is great if you're going there for christmas. that's the outs. let's take a look at some city forecast, he said in europe, very cold in moscow. there is a snapshot of london as well. all i will say about christmas is the weather pattern looked different than what it is now. more details to come. hello, i'm karin giannone. this is outside source. one of the uk's busiest

airports is shut down, as the army and police hunt two drone operators who've disrupted hundreds of commercial flights. and another drone has been spotted in the last hour. you'd think that an airport of this size would have some sort of contingency plan to cope with a drone. they should be jailed. that's ridiculous. it must have cost tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of pounds in delays. president trump defends his decision to withdraw us troops from syria, saying america has lost precious lives and spent trillions of dollars. critics say it's a victory for russia and iran. and long—awaited elections in the democratic republic of congo scheduled for this weekend have been delayed. to borrow a metaphor from the chaos at gatwick airport,

look at this cartoon tweeted by the evening standard's cartoonist christian adams depicting where things are at with brexit — tax reform, social care, and the nhs all at a standstill there while the brexit drone looms. and now two of theresa may's ministers are setting out their own rival plans if she can't get her brexit deal through parliament. here's amber rudd on a plausible argument for a referendum. i don't want a people's vote, or a referendum in general. but if parliament absolutely fail to reach a consensus, i could see there would be a plausible argument for it. but i think it is incumbent on mps to find the centre ground in parliament, and to try and find where the majority is there. that was amber rudd. here's andrea leadsom on what she's calling a "managed no—deal". this is all speculation, but what i'm looking at is trying to find an alternative that,

in the event that we cannot agree to this deal, that there could be a further deal which looks at a more minimalist approach but enables us to leave with some kind of deal and some kind of implementation period that avoids a cliff edge, that avoids uncertainty for businesses and travellers and so on. let's go to nick eardley at westminster. hearing what amber rudd had to say, nick, i mean, whatare hearing what amber rudd had to say, nick, i mean, what are the prospects of the second vote? they are higher than they were a few months ago but still far than certain that anything could get a majority in the house of commons at the moment you stop the really interesting thing going on with cabinet members just now is they're starting to talk about things that they probably should not really be speaking about. under cabinet collective responsibility, all ministers are supposed to have these conversations behind closed doors but then when they're in

public, everybody to the government line. i suppose you could say in one sense they are doing that. both injury led some and amber rudd are saying we support the prime minister plan, we think that is the best compromise, we wanted it to parliament —— both andrea leadsom and. the prospects are pretty bleak, so and. the prospects are pretty bleak, soa and. the prospects are pretty bleak, so a lot of people are on your talking about what happens if it fails. hearing government ministers actively discussed plan b, another referendum or what andrea leadsom was talking about, the so—called managed no deal, is not only the government should normally operates. the government insists it doesn't wa nt the government insists it doesn't want another referendum. theresa may has repeatedly said that she won't hold one. it is interesting we have cabinet ministers now openly talking about another referendum becoming possible if theresa may's plan

doesn't get through. they're all the party for the christmas break. it's going to be farfrom relaxing, one imagines. just remind us, nic, of the sequence of events once everyone regrouped in january. there's a hope, not just from regrouped in january. there's a hope, notjust from politicians but also politicaljournalists, that at least a week or so might be quiet towards the christmas period. i think towards the new year, we'll see the pressure start to go again. parliament comes back. that is the week of the 7th of january. there will be three days of debate on theresa may's brexit plan. i assume she will want to come back with something new. something on the irish backstop that insurance policy designed to avoid a hard border in ireland. she thinks she's stupid something concrete on that to bring back to parliament if she's going to get this over the line, if she's going to get the numbers to get it to the house of commons. three days of debate on that beginning the

seventh, back the next week on the monday, and we are expecting tuesday, that that delayed vote on her brexit deal will happen. if that passes, then plain sailing... plain sailing is probably not the right phrase to use everett westminster but we have some idea of where it goes from there. ratification in brussels from the european parliament and then it will be signed off, we assume, by all member states. but if it voted down on the 15th, as still looks the most likely of the outcomes, all bets are off. and that's why the uk ever met is now saying, we need to get ready for the prospect we leave the european union with no deal. nic, thank you very much. i think we would all like a nice quiet break. after one and westminster. i don't think we're going to get a nice break —— nick ea rdley going to get a nice break —— nick eardley at westminster. staying with brexit, and some british families with one spouse from outside of the uk are worried about how they might go about getting a visa after the country leaves

the european union. olivia crellin reports. did you go to school today? yes. imiss you. i miss you, i miss you. tom shelton has been living apart from his wife annie and adopted son dandan for almost a year now. the couple missed their fourth wedding anniversary, and dandan turned six with his dad almost 7,000 miles away. all my marriage certificates and the applications i've made through the... it's because he's one of thousands of british people who married someone outside of the european economic area, and are unable to satisfy home office minimum income requirements for a visa. it's taken a toll on his mental health. after three months of separation, i was often breaking down in tears when i saw families together or hear music with, you know, references to families or children. for me, that shouldn't be happening to me, you know? families like tom's keep in touch online, earning the nickname "skype families". it means dinners over facetime, constant whatsapp messaging. one father even taught his baby daughter to learn how to

crawl over video messenger, and we could be about to see thousands more after brexit. at the moment, non—european economic area citizens wanting to join their british partner orfamily in the uk can do so via the surinder singh immigration route. its name after a historic court case. this involves a british partner moving to the eu for at least six months, where, thanks to europe's rights of free movement, non—eea family can join them. they can move to the uk together then without earning the £18,600 minimum. but with brexit, a vote that promised to take back borders and level the playing for for people inside and outside europe, this could change. the home office told the bbc that surinder singh rights are not protected under the draft withdrawal agreement with the eu, but that anyone who comes via this route before december, 2020 will be able to apply under the eu settlement scheme to remain in the uk. people are still coming

to terms and learning, really, what the brexit negotiations mean and what impact they will have on their lives. this particular issue is very niche, very complex, but the ramifications could be significant. brexit may even mean that brits living in the eu and married to a european citizen will also need to qualify financially if they want to return to the uk together. that uncertainty is worrying many. suzy‘s been living in brussels for 18 years with her french partner and children and does not meet the minimum income requirement. she anticipates a time when she'll need to return to look after her elderly mother. i came over here in 2000 as an eu worker, you know, travelling around as we could at that time. if somebody asked me at that time, "if you go, it's a one—way ticket," possibly, i'd have thought differently about it. dandan, did you see your girlfriend today?

just as the clock is ticking for british politicians to make a deal for the future of the uk, some british families feel like time is running out for them too to make a decision on their futures. olivia crellin, bbc news. the usjustice department has indicted two chinese men accused of hacking into the computer networks of companies and government agencies in western countries. these are justice department documents. they allege the two men were part of a hacking group affiliated with china's main intelligence service called advanced persistent threat 10. another name it went by was stone panda. they're alleged to have targeted 12 countries, including the us, the uk, france, australia and japan. here's the us' deputy attorney general. the activity alleged in this indictment violates the commitment that china made. that was a commitment they made to members of the international community, to the united states, to the g20 and to apec. now, we want china to cease

in illegal cyber activities and honour its commitment to the international community. but the evidence suggests that china may not intend to abide by its promises. and here's fbi director christopher wray. as evidenced by this investigation, the threats we face have never been more severe, or more pervasive or more potentially damaging for our national security. and no country poses a broader, more severe long—term threat to our nation's economy and cyber infrastructure than china. bethany allen—ebrahimian is a journalist who specialises in china. she told me more about what the men are accused of. the two men, they are associated with the ministry of state security, hacking units, called stone pendant.

they have been engaged in a multiyear effort to access and acquire sensitive, joe classified and sometimes proprietary information. from the us government agencies and the military in have been doing this in 12 different countries around the world. and how, do we think this sort of thing is, bethany? it's extremely common. for every indictment, charge that we are publicly aware of, there will be many thousands more that are not known publicly. this is a worldwide phenomenon. and i'm wondering why the us is making this move, this very public move, right now. what is it trade you? —— what is he trying

to do. it is trying to get it. in the past six months, we have seen various security officials and us vice president mike pence talking about the security to the us is facing from china. what they say is that china is trying to supplant the united states as the leading world superpower, in many cases using ceiling information, by hook or by crook, trying to achieve this big power switch in the world. it does go hand in hand with president trump's attempts to kind of even out the economic relationship between the economic relationship between the us and china. he's more focused on the trade deficit. as part of a larger trend in the us government. pay attention to many china analysts who have been warning for years about this threat that a chinese

hacking and economic espionage poses. bethany, we only have 30 seconds left... how does chinese hacking differ russian hacking? russian hacking as a political goal. they wa nt to hacking as a political goal. they want to target the democratic national convention. they want to put out information... bethany allen—ebrahimian. stay with us on outside source. still to come, how hackers are stealing personal data and money from some of the millions of people playing the video game fortnite. here in the uk, the fire services regulator says the number of safety checks carried out across england has fallen by 42% in the past decade. it says cuts in public spending

are behind the decline, and warns that people's safety is being compromised as a consequence. tom symonds has more. firefighters — fewjobs attract as much public support as they enjoy, and the number of emergencies they deal with has been falling steadily. but this, the worst residential fire in living memory, showed that disasters can still happen. it has put firefighting firmly in the spotlight. meanwhile, the system for inspecting fire services has been revamped. cheshire fire and rescue is one of 1a services to be scrutinised as part of the new system. it got a good rating for its emergency service, and for the fire safety checks it carries out. but today's report says when it comes to protecting the public by inspecting buildings, eight out of 1a fire services required improvement. in fact, the number of safety audits carried out by fire services across england has fallen by 42% in eight years. if fire services don't know where their high—risk premises are, and if they haven't been and done

safety audits of those high—risk premises, then there is clearly a danger that there are risks that aren't being addressed, and therefore, the public are at risk. the reason it's not happening, she says, is funding. fire services have prioritised the emergency response over the fire safety checks. but there are other issues — a general shortage of on—call firefighters able to interrupt their daily lives to respond to fires, and what was described as an outdated working culture, where fewer than 6% of firefighters are women and fewer than 5% from an ethnic minority group. more inspections, including big city fire brigades, are planned. tom symonds, bbc news. you're watching outside source live from the bbc newsroom. our top story:

one of the uk's busiest airports is shut down, as the army and police hunt two drone operators who've disrupted hundreds of commercial flights. at london gatwick airport. and another drone has been spotted in the last hour. the long—awaited elections in the democratic republic of congo have been delayed, again. they were supposed to happen this weekend. and they've been supposed to happen since 2016. the bbc‘s louise dewast was at the presser where the announcement was made and sent us this report. for weeks now, candidates on both sides have said that they would not accept another delay. the electoral commission says it's offered a serious blow after fire destroyed a lot of its electoral materials and so they had to order 5 million more ballot papers, many of which have not yet arrived in the country. this

announcement is likely to trigger violence. polls have shown a large number of congolese people do not wa nt number of congolese people do not want further delays. officially, eli schroll commission is asking for seven more days to organise these elections, for this vote to happen on december 30, but a number of people in the country will see this decision as a number excuse not to have these elections —— another excuse not to have these elections. louise dewast. japan is set to leave the international whaling commission to resume commercial hunting. national media, like the kyodo news agency, are reporting that a formal annoucement from the government could come next week. for many years, japan has hunted whales for what it calls "scientific research", like you can see them doing here. it's a programme that's been widely criticised by conservationists. here's patrick ramage from the international fund for animal welfare. depend's threats to leave the international whaling commission, a global body with smuts ability for

conservation of our planet's great wales, are very familiar. —— with our planet's ability. if what we're seeing in immediate reports out of tokyo over the past 2a hours are true, this would be unprecedented. japan pulling out of an international organisation. we are still assessing it but it's not necessarily bad news either for wales or the commission set up to protect and. what exactly is this what you mean in practise ifjapan is not within this framework. that is not within this framework. that is the essence of the question, what the implications are of this. what are the statements and gestures japan is making versus the reality in the waterfor japan is making versus the reality in the water for wales? in this, it is clear. this would essentially meanjapan is is clear. this would essentially mean japan is abandoning

is clear. this would essentially meanjapan is abandoning its high seas whaling, whether in the southern waters of antarctica, controversial, or the waters of the pacific. leaving the iwc means japan could not continue, it would have no basis for continuing, it's high seas whaling activities. in that sense, this could be very good news. it's also not necessarily negative for the commission. the iwc has been that like —— has been deadlocked for many years... arguably the commission will be much more orderly and conservation focused without japan and its lack of supporting countries inside the iwc. what are we seeing as a picture of the demand for whale needs injapan and what is the long term prognosis for that demand and japan continue to operate

as it does? i think that may be a real driver behind this decision. japan is reconciling itself to the reality of a plummeting market for whale meat in its own country. there are literally having a difficult time even with reduced catches in recent yea rs. time even with reduced catches in recent years. they're having a difficult time unloading this meet and encouraging... they've tried all manner of steam, from putting it in pet food in school lunches and what have you. the japanese government has been spending taxpayer money propping this industry. with a look the international legal and political and pr pressure on their whaling activities on the high seas or to their domestic market, a move away from this practise really makes sense, and that's what we might be seeing here in a gesture of walking away from the iwc. they may have

found a safe way out of high seas whaling. that is patrick ramage. if you're an avid gamer — or the parent of one — you'll absolutely be familiar with the online game fortnite. this is what it looks like. it's huge, more than 200 million players worldwide. now a bbc investigation has found that children as young as 1a are making thousands of pounds a week by hacking into other players accounts, and reselling them online. some of the accounts are just a few cents, but others can sell for hundreds of dollars. apparently, the rapper drake is one of the more high—profile people to have their account hacked — but not sold. joe tidy is the bbc‘s cyber—security reporter. he explained to me how this all works. what they are doing is they are accessing large data bases what they are doing is they are accessing large databases of previously hacked materials. for example, the usernames and passwords from tens of thousands of people from tens of thousands of people from around the world. they're

taking his credentials and putting them in bulk the login pages for the fortnite login page. every now and then, they will get a hit. that is where someone then, they will get a hit. that is where someone uses then, they will get a hit. that is where someone uses the same then, they will get a hit. that is where someone uses the same username and password as they do for their fortnite account. and what is to be gained from buying somebody else's fortnite account? you get another street print. that's right here on your friends. to play street print. that's right here on yourfriends. to play fortnite is free, but people spend a lot of money buying skins, characters... they don't get you any extra abilities but they... they make you look good. the dances. my children like the dances. sometimes, there we re like the dances. sometimes, there were hundreds and hundreds of pounds depending on how rare and in demand this excess reads are. how easy is

it for the authorities to look into this, for police to investigate a? it's not that hard to find this activity taking place, because these hackers, these crackers, they are advertising on social media, on instagram. they are not saying it is cracked for they're saying i got an account. they are not that silly. they're searching look into these conversations and finding out who the potential culprits are, but it's a sort of thing where it's very serious but is perhaps not serious enough to spend too much police time on it. and these could be schoolkids looking at the ages. as young as 1a. that is right. they are teaching each other how to do it. and you can go online and watch video tutorials, a step—by—step guide as to how to crack people's accounts. i spoke to one guy who was 1a we started. and he was a victim himself. he went online and bought an account from

some of the else and asked how it was cheap and they said, "oh, it is cracked." our was cheap and they said, "oh, it is cracked. " our technology was cheap and they said, "oh, it is cracked." our technology reporter, joe tidy. let's go back to our top story, the shadow cast at gatwick. apologies if you're going to read. which has now been closed for more than 2a hours after drones were flown over the airfield. tens of thousands of people stranded at the airport, hundreds of flights cancelled. there has been morejoint activity spotted at the airport. that is not improving the situation and the authorities are trying to find where those drones are and who is operating them. stay with us. hello there. for cold weather fans who like their christmases cold and snowing, well, you're probably going to be quite disappointed with what i've got

to tell you for the christmas forecast coming up injust a moment. for the time being, though, a lot of cloud on the satellite picture. an area of low pressure has been racing its way eastwards. this is going to be bringing a wet start to the day friday across england and wales. although the rain will ease across many southern areas, we'll be left with a zone of thicker cloud which will stretch across northern england, northern ireland, perhaps southern scotland, where we'll have a number of showers both through the morning and the afternoon. with brighter skies working to the south, it's going to be a breezy afternoon but also very mild for the time of year, with temperatures peaking at 1a celsius. should be about nine in london at this time of the year. further north, those temperatures are a little bit close to normal for the time of year, at around seven or 8 degrees or so. now through friday evening and night—time, we'll see that rain band clearing away. but showers will tend to follow. then, for the weekend, we're looking at a ridge of high pressure building in off the atlantic for saturday. sunday's weather is courtesy of this area of low pressure that's going to be earning a return to

wet weather, particularly across england and wales. so, saturday's forecast, first of all. well, for many parts of the uk, it's going to be a decent kind of day. bright with some sunny spells. low pressure, though, just to the north of scotland will maintain the flow of showers into northern and western areas. some of this could be quite slow moving as well, and it will feel a little bit fresher, with temperatures just coming down a few degrees. seven in the north to 11 degrees or so in london. we're looking at a wet day on sunday for england and wales, although there is some uncertainty about how far north this band of rain will push. that could still be a few showers in scotland, by and large, it's across the north that will see the best of the sunshine. a bit cooler, 7 degrees in aberdeen. temperatures still on the mild side, notice, across the south. now i mentioned that there are some uncertainty about the north—south position of that rain. we may well see the rain band push its way back for a time into southern counties of england to take us into monday, which of course is christmas eve. so, perhaps a bit of rain across the southwest of the country.

fairly cloudy skies further north and west, but there will be some drier weather and sunshine as well. probably the best of this across eastern areas of scotland. central eastern parts of england, eastern wales as well. the trend, though, is those temperatures coming down a little bit. we're looking at highs of ten in london. turning a bit milder in the southwest as that cloud and rain returns. now, for the big day itself, pretty certain this area of high pressure is going to build quite quickly for christmas day. and what that means for many of us, well, you'll be looking forward to a dry day. there will be some patchy frost and fog around, perhaps, in the east. some spells of sunshine, but it's always going to be cloudier in the west. indeed, there's a weather front out in the atlantic. now, the recent trend in models is to have this front move in a bit more quickly. so it's not out of the question we could see some rain returning to the northwest of the country through christmas afternoon, but at the moment, the forecast is a lot of dry weather. there will perhaps a bit of drizzle around western coastal hills. beyond that, between christmas and the new year, the jet stream takes this kind of pattern. that pushes area of low pressure and steers them up towards iceland.

there could be a bit of rain at times across northern portions of the uk, but our area of high pressure for christmas day will tend to slip its way of the bit further into the continent. and so with moist air coming around that high—pressure, we'll probably see a quite a lot of cloud with some patches of drizzle around western areas but still quite a bit of dry weather, especially the further east and southeast you go. that's the latest weather. bye for now. tonight at ten — no end in sight to the chaos at gatwick airport, with hundreds of flights cancelled because of security concerns. tens of thousands of passengers have been caught up in the turmoil, which started when drones were spotted flying over the airport. well, i was actually going to start crying. you were in tears, yeah, cos i think you're trying... you know these things happen, well, not really, it's not weather, it's not — it's some idiot, isn't it, with a drone? devices like this one have been repeatedly flown over the airfield — against the law —

and gatwick‘s runway has been closed since last night. police say the drone activity is a deliberate act of disruption, and more sightings have been reported within the past hour. we are looking at scenarios from we open in the early hours of the morning with a partial operation and get going again, through to we are closed for the entire day. there have been dozens of sightings today.