welcome to news day on the bbc. i'm mariko oi in singapore. the headlines: us defence secretaryjim mattis says he'll quit hisjob — hinting that his views aren't in line with donald trump's. there's mounting criticism of the president's decision to withdraw us troops from syria. critics say it could embolden so—called islamic state. i'm kasia madera in london. also in the programme: london gatwick airport's shut down for a second day, as ongoing flights by illegal drones leave a hundred thousand passengers in limbo. we have on—site the police supported by the security services andy miller terry looking at every opportunity we have two disable this and get gatwick airport reopened. —— to disable this. and reunited with their rescuers. an emotional return for the thai boy footballers trapped in a cave last summer. the boys are paying their respects to the statue of a man who lost his life trying to save them. five

months ago this was a sea of mud, there were rescuers everywhere, and no—one had any idea whether would come out alive. life for our studios in singapore and london this is bbc world news —— live from. there's newsday. good morning. it's 8am in singapore, midnight in london, and 7pm in washington, where there's more major upheaval in the trump administration. it's been announced that us defence secretary, jim mattis, will leave his role in february. his departure had been anticipated in the us media, after president trump decided to withdraw troops from syria, despite opposition from international allies. speaking earlier, the former us defence secretary, william cohen, said that general mattis had had enough of his advice being rejected by the president.

i think it was absurd with the fact that the presidents chose to send oui’ that the presidents chose to send our troops, pending thanks giving, to the border and is keeping them there, some of them there. i think it was a straw too heavy for him to bear, namely to reject the recommendation about keeping a sufficient laws to really defeat isys as opposed to this false declaration that we won, they are defeated, and now it is well, we are tired of fighting somebody else‘s burden. i think that was just one bridge, one mile too far for him burden. i think that was just one bridge, one mile too farfor him to walk, given his courage, his battle experience, and his scholarship, he could not take it. let's speak to our correspondent in washington, dan johnson. thank you so much forjoining us. in his resignation letter, general mattis seems to imply that he and president trump had had a major disagreement over syria. it doesn't

just imply it. he is pretty bold about it. this is blistering stuff. he talks repeatedly about america's place in the world, about the cooperation through nato, through coalition building to take on islamic state. these sorts of places that america occupies at the table of world diplomacy and how he feels that the president's foreign policy putting american interests first and only really taking care of american interests is not the sort of foreign policy that he could follow. i think thatis policy that he could follow. i think that is whyjim mattis has decided it was time for him to go. he concludes his letter —based adb president you have the right to have the defence secretary whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects. the announcement yesterday that took eve ryo ne announcement yesterday that took everyone by surprise, that us troops would be leaving syria, was probably the final straw forjim mattis. we understand that is something he had argued against, but it is clear that for the last few months, maybe the

last year, the relationship between these two man has broken down as the president has trusted his defence secretary less and less, has taken on board his advice less and less, and vetoed his advice on who should ta ke and vetoed his advice on who should take over thejoint and vetoed his advice on who should take over the joint chiefs of staff. jim mattis that see his influence depleting and has decided to lead by the end of february. he mentions china and russia in his resignation letter. what kind of impact of this latest resignation have on the trump administration? this resignation letter raises some serious questions about the president's foreign policy and whether he can take people with him in this america first stance. some of the senators and congressmen have already seized on that. democrats calling as a national—security crisis, saying it is scary. nancy pelosi says it is a bit of a letter written by a patriotic american. this is not the only resignation there have been. there have been six high—level departures in the past few weeks. some of thosejobs

departures in the past few weeks. some of those jobs are still to be filled. there is a big question over whether donald trump can keep people with him, when he can find the right people to work with him. he says he hopes to have a new secretary of defence by next week. but when the chief of staffjohn kelly announced he would go donald trump said there would be a replacement within days. we still don't have a permanent replacement. the person he wanted to ta ke replacement. the person he wanted to take down. still did that make so did at least one other candidate. there is an interim chief of staff and an interim attorney general. there are big positions at the top table of this trump administration that looked difficult to fill. he has a challenge for the new year to find the right thing to support his turned it down. still did that make so turned it down. still did that make so did at least one other candidate. there is an interim chief of staff and an interim attorney general. there are big positions at the top table of this trump administration that looked difficult to fill. he has a challenge for the new year to find the right team to support his and we'll have more on the back—ground to james mattis' resignation with our correspondent in the middle east in a moment.

let's take a look at some of the day's other news. london's gatwick airport will remain closed until at least friday morning following illegal drone flights. the british army has been called in to help and the government says those responsible for the drone flights could face a long jail term. the airport, one of the busiest in europe, has been closed since wednesday evening, disrupting travel for more than 100,000 people. danjohnson, dan johnson, in washington, danjohnson, in washington, thank you. have been more drone sightings. the ru nway have been more drone sightings. the runway is closed and will be closed for the rest of this evening. all the latest situation is, within the last hour, there have been more drone sightings. the runway is closed and will be closed for the rest of this evening. all the passengers flying will need to be checking with ongoing trouble plans are. in terms of what is happening tomorrow, that situation is fluid. we have, on side, police supported by the to understand what their ongoing trouble plans are. in terms of what is happening tomorrow, that situation is fluid. we have, on side, police supported by the security services and looking at every opportunity we have two disable fluid and get gatwick airport back open. a fluid and we'll have more on the travel disruption at gatwick later later

in the programme. also making news today: a court in new york has ruled the sexual assault case against the hollywood producer, harvey weinstein, will proceed — despite opposition from his lawyers. a judge said there was ample evidence to put mr weinstein on trial. he faces five criminal charges, including rape. he's always denied having non—consensual sex. a shutdown of the us government appears more likely after president trump informed house republicans he would refuse to accept a stop—gap measure, which has already been passed by the senate. it doesn't include funds for one of his signature election pledges, a wall on the border with mexico. democrats have insisted that funding for the wall is a "non—starter". the electoral commission in the democratic republic of congo has postponed the country's presidential election. the already delayed poll will now take place on the 30th of december. the commission said delays in distributing voting materials contributed to its decision. reports say japan is set to resume commercial hunting and leave the international whaling commission. the japanese government has so far denied the move. some coastal communities in japan have hunted whales for centuries as a source of meat, but commercial whaling was banned in 1986 after some species were driven close to extinction. three men have been arrested in morocco after two scandinavian

female tourists were murdered. the danish government says the killings could be linked to terrorism. the victims, both in their 20s, died from knife wounds. well, let's go back to our top story and the resignation of the us defense secretary. james mattis said in his resignation letter the president had "the right to have a defence chief whose views were more aligned with his own". it's another sign that us military and political figures are unhappy with mr trump's decision to withdraw us troops from northern syria, and about the fact that they weren't consulted. but president trump said the us didn't want to be the "policemen of the middle east". the kurdish—led alliance in syria said the decision would allow the islamic state group to recover. our correspondent mark lowen reports from turkey.

—— disable those drones. a fluid situation. today's military flourish in ankara was all what they wanted. the us out of upbeat. the turkish and iranian president have got what they wanted. the us out of donald trump's withdrawl fleece to withdraw and theiraims in the withdrawl fleece to withdraw and their aims in the war ravaged country. president over establish theiraims in the country. president over establish their aims in the war ravaged country. president over one that he wa nts country. president over one that he wants an end and establish peace. serious fighting to an end and establish peace. but other targets as. the syrian militia have fought side by side with american troops, battling and president over again. the syrian militia have fought side by side with american troops, battling against so—called islamic says they are terrorists, linked to banned kurdish militants in turkey. the us president's is rejected banned kurdish militants in turkey. the us president‘s is rejected them— until now. they face an imminent threat of a turkish the turkish

government says they are terrorists, linked to banned kurdish militants in turkey. the us president's at rejected them— until now. they face an imminent threat of a turkish the offensive against the kurdish ypg in january. we are a few hundred metres in that direction from where they fire artillery. then a turkish troops drove the ypg out of the syrian town of afrin. now turkey will see the us withdrawal as a green light to expel them elsewhere. some of mr trump's own senators say thatis some of mr trump's own senators say that is no way to treat a partner. it is ina that is no way to treat a partner. it is in a national—security interest not to withdraw at this time, in my view, because if you do so now the kurdish fighters, the kurdish forces, would be decimated by turkey, president assad, or maybe isys. the move will also allow russia to consolidate its power in syria, boosting the assad regime. those that echoes in his annual end of the conference, vladimir putin is

syria is going away. translation: let us not forget that their presence is not legitimate. if their presence is not legitimate. if the us decided to withdraw their forces that is correct. while most of the trump administration and us allies were not for want about this plan, turkey perhaps was, the president pressuring donald trump last week. but i is it still has an estimated 20,000 fighters. the theory is a withdrawal on techie's terms might allow thejihad is to read ahead again. mark lowen, istanbul. —— turkey. the usjustice department has been giving details of, what they say, is a global hacking campaign by chinese authorities. a us indictment says that chinese hackers obtained unauthorised access to the computers of at least 45 entities, including the us navy and nasa. here's the deputy attorney general. whether through computer hackers

operating from china or chinese nationals recruited to steal trade tickets from countries in other countries that make compete in other countries that make compete in other countries the goldust the same, to dominate production in important industries by stealing ideas from other nations. it is as if they have broken into american countries and agony data out physically. they are doing it through cyber means. today's judges mark an doing it through cyber means. today'sjudges mark an important step in revealing to the world china's continued practice of stealing commercial data. let's get some live pictures now from tokyo and the detention centre where nissan's former chairman carlos ghosn is being held. a court on thursday unexpectedly rejected prosecutors' request to extend ghosn's detention, which japanese media said means he could go free on bail as early as friday. we'll keep an eye on that and bring you any developments as they happen. he has been held there since the 19th of november. he has been accused of overstating his income. the allegations that he denies. he says that it was what is known about deferred income. something he would received after retirement and

therefore it was not illegal. of course he has already told his lawyer that he to fight in court to clear his name. we will bring you all the latest development as they happen on bbc world news. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: the thai footballers trapped in a cave last summer return to the scene — to pay tribute to their rescuers. also on the programme: ‘tis the season to be anxious. whyjoy and goodwill might be in short supply for some this christmas. after eight months on the run, saddam hussein has been tracked down and captured by american forces. saddam hussein is finished because he killed our people, our women, our children. the signatures took only a few minutes, but they brought a formal end to 3.5 years of conflict, conflict that has claimed more than 200,000 lives. before an audience of world leaders,

the presidents of bosnia, serbia and croatia put their names to the peace agreement. the romanian border was sealed and silent today. romania has cut itself off from the outside world in order to prevent the details of the presumed massacre in timisoara from leaking out. from sex at the white house to a trial for his political life, the lewinsky affair tonight guaranteed bill clinton his place in history as only the second president ever to be impeached. welcome back. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm mariko oi in singapore. and i'm kasia madera in london. our top stories: the us defense secretaryjim mattis is to quit hisjob, as president trump decides to withdraw us troops from syria. one of the uk's busiest airports,

london gatwick, is shut down, as the army and police hunt the drone operators who've disrupted hundreds of commercial flights. let's now take a look at some front pages from around the world. and let's start with the japan times, which leads with, as we've been reporting, the possible release of the former nissan boss, carlos ghosn. that's after a court rejected a request to extend his detention. and onto the straits times here in singapore. they're focusing on the impact of the us rate hike, how it has been affecting asian markets. we saw a sharp fall on wall street as well. and in the new york times, they are covering the ongoing impact of the war in yemen on its citizens's everyday lives, looking particularly at the life of fishermen who have

come underfire. now, let's return now to the chaos at london's gatwick airport, where flights are still grounded because of drones flying over the airport. there's been a sharp increase in the number of incidents the involving drones and aircraft in the past few years. there were none in 2013. so far this year, 120 have been officially reported. and there are calls to strengthen legislation which governs where drones can be flown, as our technology correspondent rory cellan—jones explains. here's why there's so much concern about what might happen if a drone hit a jet aircraft. this experiment at the university of dayton shows an extreme and possibly unlikely scenario. but after a number of near—misses, airports have to take a safety—first approach. uk regulations mean drones are not allowed within a kilometre of an airport, and must not fly above 400 feet. they can fly in this west london park, a few miles from heathrow, as long as they don't enter the restricted zone. this drone, like most sold in the uk, has technology on board

which prevents it from even taking off too close to an airport, or stops it from entering the restricted zone. from it appears those used at gatwick either didn't have the technology, or it was overridden. so what can airports do to get rid of these unwanted intruders? in the united states, the federal aviation authority has tried out a system developed in the uk which cuts off the communications between a drone and its operator. british engineers are behind skywall, which captures the unmanned the aircraft in a net and brings it down with a parachute. and the dutch police have even tried using birds of prey to take down a rogue drone. so on screen here... what is readily available is equipment to track drones and the people who are flying them. this is the aeroscope protection system. as you can see here,

we've got a live view of an aircraft that's within our vicinity. it's pretty difficult to stop people flying irresponsibly. but what we can do is a betterjob to help people use a system which we have at the moment, and it gives you the real—time information of where the pilot's flying, and also where the drone's flying. the police have themselves been using drones for quite a while, but at gatwick, they've struggled to catch up with those who've caused so much disruption. this is a big wake—up call for counterterrorism policing around the world, because this potentially is the first time multiple drones have been used in a disruptive attack. they may not have had explosives or anything, or caused explosions, attacks or injuries, but it's a major disruption to the economy of the uk. for many, flying a drone is a great hobby. from late next year, all users will have to be registered and take an online safety test. but that will not make airports safe from those determined to break the rules and wreak havoc. rory cellan—jones, bbc news. now to thailand and to a town

in the north, on the burmese border, that's become famous around the world because of a story about 13 boys who got trapped in a cave. our south east asia correspondent jonathan head went back to the cave to see how the story has changed the community there. the boys are back. the new statue. this tribute to thai diver, saman kunan, the sulphur that in an otherwise miraculous rescue, is also a reunion between the boys and their saviours. there the foreign volu nteers saviours. there the foreign volunteers who helped to get them out of the caves are also here. —— three of. this is such a contrast what we so he just five months ago. the boys are here paying their respects to the statue of a man who lost his life trying to save them. five months ago, this was a sea of marred, the rescuers everywhere and

no—one had any idea when they would come out alive. but an extraordinary three—week operation has put this previously little—known sight into thailand's tourist map. from just a handful of visitors a day, it now gets thousands. you're notjust by the boys's story but also by their good fortune. it has become a lucky place, somewhere you buy a lottery ticket. all these lottery tickets, which is the lucky number? 13, she says. that is the number of the boys and their coach, he went into the caves. this man's pineapple field was flooded during the rescue but all the water pumped from the caves. _by all the water pumped from the caves. —— by all the water. these days though he is actually making more money from selling the oranges from his orchard. the pineapple scott moffatt, he explained. we could not get into harvested because of all vehicles back then, so he stopped farming and volunteered to help the rescu e rs farming and volunteered to help the rescuers instead. the mini tourist

boom is proving something of a bonanza for this community. and rescu e rs bonanza for this community. and rescuers have become local celebrities. to be perfectly honest, i prefer a quieter life. i do not think you are going to get at. i'm not one for going out and seeking people treating me as a hero and i'm not a hero. people treating me as a hero and i'm nota hero. i'm people treating me as a hero and i'm not a hero. i'm just, just in the right place at the right time, merely. the lives of the boys have now returned to their old routines, although not quite as before. so use the body as a shield, ok? can you show me that? this is the coaching session coached by manchester city. the most famous young footballers in the world are still getting plenty of international attention. just such an incredible story.

christmas is less than a week away, and for some this can be a really difficult time. high expectations of the perfect christmas can create pressure and intensify feelings of isolation and depression. for those who have recently lost a loved one, this can be a particularly hard time. professor ian hickie, co—director of the brain and mind centre at the university of sydney, says it's important to make the right choices at christmas time. not being on your own, connecting with others and with those who actually get on with. they may be family, they may be others, they may be workmates, that they may be a whole range of people, so not being alone even though you might feel more disconnected and more alone, and you may have conflict with family, with others, they expect to do well be no in advance is not going to be that easy. so you think it is as simple as just deciding not to go with family if you know that thatis to go with family if you know that that is going to create added stress

and maybe spend christmas with friends? yeah, is one of the things idomy friends? yeah, is one of the things i do my professional life is give people permission not to spend time theirfamily. if people permission not to spend time their family. if you people permission not to spend time theirfamily. if you got people permission not to spend time their family. if you got great family and great connections, excellent, but if you know it is trouble, you may have better relationships, and many of us do these days with people at work, members of the community, may be members of the community, may be members of the church, may be members of the church, may be members of the suburb in which you live, and those connections really matter. i think historically, we have underrated how important those connections are biting modern world, workmates you are close to, you live with, are important. yourfamily is still important obviously, if it is called, but if it is not good, there are others who may care more in fact and help during this difficult period. is called have permission, thank you. when it comes to the financial aspect of it, of course this is a time we do spend too much, indulged too much. how do we cope with that aspect of it given that it

is well, it is a lot of money. it is an interesting thing is a lot of people do feel under the natural pressure and they feel under pressure and they feel under pressure to give more and to show more to what they spend. interestingly, the day after, boxing day, a few days later, people say you know what, it was not the money or the gift, it was that someone cared, someone bothered, that someone reached out, both in the giving of gifts that also proceeding. it might have been a phone call, it may be an invitation to have lunch, so this kind of funny that all the emphasis on commercialisation, a couple of days later, people say it was not about the gifts, it was about why spend time with. the professor place that giving people some really important vices we really come close to christmas. it is incredible. you have been watching newsday. i'm kasia madera in london. and i'm mariko oi in singapore. don't go away because i will have more on business news, and we will have more on carlos ghosn, the former chairman of nissan. when it

is going to be released or not. before we go, a reminder of our breaking news this hour. the us defence secretaryjim mattis says he's resigning, a day after president trump announced he was withdrawing us troops from syria. lots more reaction on our website but from the whole newsday team, thanks for watching. hello there. on thursday, most of the showers across eastern areas but as we head on into this morning and certainly for the early hours, it is looking wet and windy as the next frontal system pushes up in the south—west bringing outbreaks of rain to england and wales, and as far north as northern ireland, perhaps the far south of scotland. very mild to begin friday morning, all thanks to the plumes hiding in this weather system. the weather front straddling

central areas will tend to linger on throughout the day, so it looks like northern england, southern scotland and northern ireland will hold on to cardiac breaks of rain, while for the rest of england and wales, skies will tend to clear up during the afternoon. they will be some sunshine here as well. i do divide in temperatures as well, so that front it is very mild for much of england and wales. to the north of it, temperatures nearer normalfor the time of year. that is how it is looking through the day. as we in the day, the wind ticking up further across england and wales, gusting a0 to maybe 50 miles an hourfor portable and devon and across the english channel. you can see the isobar is moving into west. as we head—on through saturday, a rigid high—pressure pressure will bring a fine day for most. this next weather system will bring some rain to some of us for sunday. this is the picture for saturday, got fairly brisk winds and then certainly lighter than what we see today. a few showers across the north—west,

again, quite mild across the south. it will stay dry through saturday nights, before this next weather system begins to push up on the south—west of england. wet and windy weather into the southern half of the country as we move on to sunday, but it is going to be a fairly mild start once again the sunday with a few chilly spots further north. the main will be quite heavy four a time as it pushes its way eastwards. i think we should start to see a little bit of dry weather, a few showers around, the best of the sunshine for the northern half of the country. nearer normal temperatures in the north, it can be marred in the south, 12 to 13. there isa marred in the south, 12 to 13. there is a big air of high pressure beginning to build late on christmas eve and christmas day, it looks like things will settle down. so many of us things will settle down. so many of us will have a dry day through christmas day, with maybe a little bit of sunshine. the only clear spells overnight christmas eve means we could see some patchy frost and

fog in places. however, for most, it is going to be mainly dry. i'm kasia madera with bbc world news. our top story: us defence secretary jim mattis is to quit hisjob in the trump administration. his departure had been anticipated in parts of the us media after president trump decided to withdraw us troops from syria — despite opposition from international allies and members of the us military. one of the uk's busiest airports, london gatwick, is shut down, as the army and police hunt the drone operators who've disrupted hundreds of commercial flights. and this video is trending on bbc.com. it's santa obama — the former us president paid a surprise visit to a children's hospital in washington with a sack full of presents. he spoke to children and their families and thanked the staff for looking after all of them over the christmas holidays. that's all. stay with bbc world news. now on bbc news, stephen sackur speaks to musician mark knopfler on hardtalk.