welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: 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 and the military, looking at every opportunity we have to disable this drone and get gatwick airport reopened. us defence secretaryjim mattis says he'll quit hisjob — hinting that his views aren't in line with president trump's. china rejects claims by the us and britain that it's involved in cyber hacking in at least a dozen countries. reunited with their rescuers. an emotional return for the thai boy footballers trapped in a cave last summer. and we meet the "fortnite crackers". teenagers making a fortune by exploiting the world's most popular video game. hello.

british police are now considering shooting down the drones that have been causing chaos at london gatwick airport since wednesday evening. while thousands of would—be passengers wait in frustration, there've been at least 50 drone sightings in the past 2a hours. gatwick is staying closed overnight, but restrictions at other airports have been lifted, allowing more planes in and out of the uk. kim gittleston has the latest. it's been over 2a hour was sent a plane last landed here in gatwick airport. inside, scenes of chaos as flight after flight was cancelled. now thousands of stranded passengers are trying to make sense and adjust to a remarkable situation. you know these things... well, it is not weather,

it is some idiot with a drone. things... well, it is not weather, it is some idiot with a dronem has come over your head! of your head! the small device causing massive mayhem has yet to be found. was this it in the sky? 20 british police unit spent a day on a fruitless search, eventually even the army was called in. but while officials have ruled out terrorism asa officials have ruled out terrorism as a motive, they say this chaos are certainly isn't an accident. now they are asking the public for their photos. someone may have an image of the drone. we don't yet know what type b drone is. in terms of our tactics and what we do operationally, that is really significant for us —— type the drone is. they don't know when flights will resume. already 760 flights have been cancelled, stranding 110,000 passengers. many of the flights have been diverted elsewhere, like paris.|j

flights have been diverted elsewhere, like paris. iwas flights have been diverted elsewhere, like paris. i was asleep andi elsewhere, like paris. i was asleep and i woke up and i found elsewhere, like paris. i was asleep and i woke up and ifound out we we re and i woke up and ifound out we were in paris. very upset that anyone would want to do this to disrupt people going away for christmas. i just try to get disrupt people going away for christmas. ijust try to get home for christmas. the continued closure has exposed potential vulnerabilities at airports around the world, in addition to threatening further disruption on what would be the busiest travel day of the year. that was matt white tonight, here at gatwick, all eyes are trained on the sky, with thousands of holiday plans up in the air. kim gittleson, bbc news. —— that is why tonight. let's get some of the day's other news. a shutdown of the us government appears more likely after the house of representatives passed a spending bill that included funding for president trump's wall on the border with mexico. democrats have insisted that it's a "non—starter". it's unlikely the new bill will be approved by the senate. president putin has accused the british political establishment of "disrespecting" the public — by not wanting to implement the result of the brexit vote.

at his end of year news conference, the russian president suggested democracy would be undermined if theresa may did not see brexit through. he also praised donald trump's move to withdraw us troops from syria. according to media reports in france, a fugitive french extremist linked to the men who attacked the charlie hebdo magazine offices in 2015 is now in the custody of french police. it's reported that peter cherif — also known as abu hamza — was arrested in djibouti earlier this week and is now awaiting extradition. another member of president trump's cabinet is resigning. the defence secretary jim mattis is quitting, citing differences of opinion with the white house. his abrupt decision came the day after mr trump announced he was withdrawing us troops from syria — a decision which general mattis is understood to have opposed. in his resignation letter, general mattis said the president had the right to have a defence chief whose views were more aligned with his own. mr trump said the general would leave hisjob in february. this was how a former us defence secretary reacted. i think he was upset with the fact that the president chose

to send our troops, pending thanksgiving, to the border, and is keeping them there, some of them there. and i think this was just a straw too heavy for him to bear, namely to reject the recommendation about keeping a sufficient force to really defeat isis, as opposed to this false declaration that we won, they're defeated, and now it is, well, we're tired of fighting somebody else's burden. i think that was just one bridge, one mile too far for him to walk. given his courage, his battle experience, and his scholarship, he could not take it. let's get more on this now. jonathan scha nzer is senior vice president of the foundation for defense of democracies and hejoins me now from washington. you hope there was a former defence secretary thinks. what is your thinking on this? -- you hope. my

thinking on this? -- you hope. my thinking is exactly the same as what eve ryo ne thinking is exactly the same as what everyone is thinking right now in washington. this is a man who has endured by today. there have been decisions that have been made by this president that he likely disagreed with. but the decision to remove 2000 troops from syria where they were playing a significant role not only in combating asus but holding off the iranians as they tried to establish a land bridge across the lavarch, a decision that would effectively spurn our kurdish allies, jordanian allies, this was something that general mattis could not stand —— isis. something that general mattis could not stand -- isis. there are trump loyalists, many people who voted for him, who voted for america first and will be glad to see american troops out of harm's way. i think that is right. the fact that we were able to draw down so many troops in the middle east and to have such a small contingent based there in syria, i think affectively vindicated the present‘s perspective on the use of

military power. this was not a significant deployment. it was a small one proving that we did not need to have large wars in order to have a major american presence. what does it mean now, do you think, for the president's foreign policy, he has had six high—level departures in just the past few weeks?” has had six high—level departures in just the past few weeks? i think the present‘s foreign policy right now is beginning to trouble a lot of people who were perhaps willing to give him be benefit of the dow —— president. the chief among those are the hawks. we looked at 12 different points raised by mike pompeo, but the mancie was making, the secretary of state, was making of a run, and it had a lot to do with the regional interference with iran and the like. those points have been eviscerated. there is very little that the us can effectively demand from the iranians right now. it calls into question the entire strategy on sanctions, the entire strategy on sanctions, the decision to withdraw from the iran nuclear deal of 2015. none of

this seems to be holding up. there is concern right now in washington, even among those who give him the benefit of the doubt, that obviously includes some of his senior advisers, those that he refused to listen to when they were giving him their advice. just briefly, if you don't mind, what does it mean for the kurds, who have been so strong american allies, powerful fighters against the so—called islamic state. turkey is talking about an onslaught and burying them in the trenches. that's right. as well, all the work they have done with the united states, on behalf of the united states, on behalf of the united states, it has been a thankless job for them. they are trying to defend their own territory. that will become a lot harder with a very aggressive turkey looking down the barrel at them and certainly we weeks —— we expect some conflict to come in northern syria. jonathan schanzer. come in northern syria. jonathan scha nzer. thank you. come in northern syria. jonathan schanzer. thank you. thank you. president trump has defended his decision to withdraw us troops from syria and has called on other countries to take up the fight. the move has been met with criticism from america's allies and republican

lawmakers but so far it hasn't made an impact. turkey is one of america's key allies in the fight against the islamic state group. mark lowen reports from the turkish capital. today's military flourish in ankara was all the more upbeat. the turkish and iranian presidents have got what they wanted — the us out of syria. donald trump's withdrawal frees them up to extend their influence and pursue their own aims in the war—ravaged country. president erdogan insisted he wants to bring syria's fighting to an end, and establish peace, but he has got other targets too. the syrian kurdish militia, or ypg, have fought side—by—side with american troops, battling and dying against so—called islamic state. the turkish government says they're terrorists, linked to banned kurdish

militants in turkey. the us presence protected them, until now. they face an imminent threat of a turkish offensive against them. we followed turkey's last offensive against the kurdish ypg back in january. well, we're patrolling the front line now with turkish troops, the closest position of the ypg kurdish militia just a few hundred metres in that direction, from where they fire artillery. then, 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 that is no way to treat a partner. it is in our national security interest not to withdraw at this time, in my view, because if you do so now, the kurdish fighters, the kurdish forces, will be decimated by turkey, assad, or maybe isis. the move will also allow russia to consolidate its control in syria,

bolstering the assad regime. hosting his annual end—of—year press conference, vladimir putin knows syria is going his way. translation: is the presence of american forces necessary? i think not. let us not forget that their presence is not legitimate, so if the us decided to withdraw their forces, that is correct. while most of the trump administration and us allies weren't forewarned about this plan, turkey perhaps was — president erdogan pressuring donald trump last week. but is still has an estimated 20,000-30,000 fighters, and the fear is a premature american withdrawal on turkey's terms might allow the jihadists to rear their head again. mark lowen, bbc news, istanbul. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: the texas police officers hailed as heroes

after rescuing a man from a burning car. 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. had a this is bbc news. the latest headlines: one of the uk's busiest airports — london gatwick — is still shut down, as the army and police hunt the drone operators who've disrupted hundreds of commercial flights. the us defense secretaryjim mattis is to quit hisjob, it seems to be a response to president trump's decision to withdraw us troops from syria. the usjustice department has been giving details of what officials describe as a "global hacking campaign" by chinese authorities. the indictment says hackers obtained unauthorised access to the computers of at least 45 government agencies and companies, including the us navy and nasa.

china has rejected the accusations. here's the deputy attorney general. whether through computer hackers operating from china, or chinese nationals recruited to steal trade secrets from companies in other countries, the goal is the same — to dominate production in important industries by stealing ideas from other nations. it's just as if they have broken into american companies and taken and the data information out physically. they're doing it through cyber means. today's charges mark an important step in revealing to the world china's continued practice of stealing commercial data. hungary's president has now signed a new labour law which nearly doubles how much overtime employees can work, and has stirred widespread protests. he's rejected appeals to return it to parliament. demonstrations against the law began a week ago in budapest, and they are spreading to provincial cities. nick thorpe sent this from budapest. in the wintry industrial landscape

of hungary, this city is now inseparable from this company, mercedes. some of their employees, under the banner of the metal workers union, took place in this protest. participants marched to the city centre. the government dubbed 2018 the year of the family. the protesters say the new law will harm theirfamilies by protesters say the new law will harm their families by forcing them to work six days a week. their families by forcing them to work six days a weeklj their families by forcing them to work six days a week. i find it very pleasa nt work six days a week. i find it very pleasant that even right—wing parties, centrist parties and left—wing parties, are fighting together now against the government. ifind this very together now against the government. i find this very pleasant, and i think that this united front might be the key to break down the government's powys. as an employer, i say this is rubbish. this nor is rubbish. this nor is against anything, life, family, the kids,

the family, so it is not good, not good for me. -- power. throughout this week, the protests have been spreading throughout hungary to more than a dozen provincial cities, including here in the centre of the country. the faces of the protests up country. the faces of the protests up pretty similar, mostly workers, young people, but also employers who are protesting against this over time law. we havejust are protesting against this over time law. we have just heard are protesting against this over time law. we havejust heard in are protesting against this over time law. we have just heard in the last few minutes of the president of hungary has gone ahead and signed the law, rather than returning it to parliament. —— that the president of hungary. the government insists this bill has a sweet centre. the deal is fully in line with all european regulations in all respects, and we believe it is going to be beneficial for employees but also employees as a matter of fact and for the hungarian economy. nothing is compulsory, everything is on a volu nta ry compulsory, everything is on a voluntary basis. back in mercedes

ville, the people under the christmas trees do not believe him. this is turning into unpatriotic protest against a government which claims it represents the national interest. a town in the north of thailand became the focus of attention around the world this summer, when 13 boys and their football coach got trapped in a cave, with what seemed like precious little chance of rescue. what followed, for the wild boar footballers and the people trying to save them, still seems pretty amazing. 0ur south east asia correspondent jonathan head has been back to the cave and the community around it. the boys are back. along with a new statue. this tribute to thai diver saman kunan, the sole fatality in an otherwise miraculous rescue, is also a reunion between the boys and their saviours. three of the foreign volunteers who helped to get them out of the caves are also here. well, this is such a contrast with what we saw here just five months ago. 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 they would come out alive. that extraordinary three—week operation has put this previously little—known site onto thailand's tourist map. from just a handful of visitors a day, it now gets thousands. drawn notjust by the boys' story, but also by their good fortune. it's become a lucky place, somewhere you buy a lottery ticket. so, all these lottery tickets, which one's the lucky number? "13", she says. "that's the number of the boys and their coach who went into the caves." this man's pineapple field was flooded during the rescue by all the water pumped from the caves. these days, though, he is actually making more money from selling the oranges from his orchard. "our pineapple crop

rotted", he explained. "we couldn't get in to harvest it because of all the vehicles back then", so he stopped farming and volunteered to help the rescuers instead. the mini—tourist boom is proving something of a bonanza for this community. and rescuers, like vern unsworth, have become local celebrities. to be perfectly honest, i prefer a quieter life. i don't think you're going to get it though. i'm not the one for going out and seeking, you know, people treating me as a hero, and i'm nota hero. jjust — just in the right place at the right time, really. the lives of the boys have now returned to their old routines, though not quite as before. so use the body as a shield, 0k? can you show me that? this is a coaching session offered by manchester city. the most famous young footballers

in the world are still getting plenty of international attention. jonathan head, bbc news, mae sai, in northern thailand. hackers as young as 1a are making thousands of dollars a week as part of a global fraud, built around the wildly popular game fortnite. it recently launched its seventh season and now boasts more than 200 million players, but a bbc investigation has found hackers exploiting that popularity by selling details of players' private accounts in a thriving online marketplace. from this from our cyber security reporter, joe tidy. since fortnite exploded onto the gaming scene, it's estimated to have made more than £1 billion. most of that has come from in—app purchases, as players scramble to update their free accounts with the latest accessories. and that's what makes these accounts both valuable and a target for hackers. they're stealing them in huge numbers and selling them online to an ever—growing and hungry

marketplace, and all over social media victims are venting their frustration. this british hacker was 1a when he got into it. he started off after being hacked himself. he says he's mainly a middleman now, selling on cracked accounts. he knows he's breaking the law, and says he wants to stop soon. this is how it works. crackers buy huge lists of usernames and passwords that have been stolen from previous data breaches. they use a tool to imput them into the fortnite login in bulk. when they get inside an account, they take it over. at this cyber security competition, young hackers are encouraged to put their skills to the test. whom organisers say getting talented youngsters on a positive path is proving difficult. it's the ones that, you know,

are carrying on that haven't been identified, who are perhaps not given this opportunity, who are lured and tempted by a quick buck and get taken down this path. how good are you at fortnite? this prolific cracker agreed to talk. ah, that good. but only if we met in—game. he told me he knows what he's doing is illegal and even admits to using his skills to carry out more serious cyber crime. there's a whole thing around no skins, they call it. the national crime agency says authorities around the world are watching though, and this is a serious offence. for instance, just the compromise of a fortnite account could come under section one of the computer misuse act,

which is up to two years in prison. the nca wants games makers to do more to inform their communities that their activity is illegal. epic, the company behind fortnite, hasn't commented on our investigation, but the game maker says it's working to improve security. it also encourages and rewards players who take steps to increase account protection. with a new season of the game freshly launched, even more players will be signing up, and the hackers will continue to make a killing. joe tidy, bbc news. a man in texas is very lucky to be alive — although he was badly burned — after a crash east of houston. he was dragged out of his flaming vehicle by two officers, who are now winning widespread praise for what they did. chambers county sheriff's office has released bodycam footage showing how the rescue unfolded. the bbc‘s freya cole has the story. without a second hesitation, the

police officer spins towards a burning vehicle in order to save a life. sprints. flames billow from the wreckage, causing thick smoke and intense heat but despite precarious conditions, deputy braedon boznago finds the driver unconscious and trapped inside. his partner, deputy carlton carrington arrives just in partner, deputy carlton carrington arrivesjust in time. partner, deputy carlton carrington arrives just in time. they battled growing flames and managed to drag the man threw the car window that the man threw the car window that the danger is not over. the lower half of the driver's wadi is well liked and spreading fast. the quick thinking officers managed to pull the man to a nearby ditch filled with water to extinguish the flames. police checked with witnesses if there was anyone else inside the vehicle. is there anybody else? 0k.

let's try to get over, away from the car, in case of those. v has suffered more than 60% burns and is ina suffered more than 60% burns and is in a critical but stable condition. —— the victim. while he said is downplayed their actions, saying they were just downplayed their actions, saying they werejust doing downplayed their actions, saying they were just doing theirjob. —— while he's —— his saviours. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. i'm @bbcmikeembley. thank you watching. —— for. hello there.

on thursday, most of the showers were across western areas, many eastern areas did manage to dodge them and actually had a fine end to the day. but as we head on into this morning, certainly for the early hours, it's looking wetter and windier as the next frontal system pushes up from 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 in the south as well to begin friday morning, all thanks to this mild plume tied in with this weather system. now, 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 cloud and outbreaks of rain, whereas for the rest of england and wales, skies will tend to brighten up into the afternoon, with some sunshine developing. apart from a few showers for scotland, there'll be some sunshine here as well. quite a divide in temperatures. south of that weather front, it's very mild across much of england and wales, 11 to maybe 1a degrees in london. to the north of it, temperatures nearer normal for the time of year. so that's how it's

looking through today. now, as we end the day, it looks like the winds picking up further across england and wales, gusting a0 to maybe 50 miles an hour for cornwall and devon, and across the english channel. you can see the isobars blowing in from the west. as we head on into saturday, we'll see this brief ridge of high—pressure, which will bring a fine day for most. this next weather system, though, will bring some rain to some of us for sunday. so this is the picture for saturday then. we've got fairly brisk westerly winds, a little bit lighter certainly than what we'll see through today. plenty of sunshine. a few showers across the north—west, pretty normal temperatures for the time of year, but again, quite mild across the south. now, it'll stay dry through saturday night, before this next weather system begins to push up from the south—west of england, the next spell of wet and windy weather again to the southern half of the country as we move on into sunday, but it's going to be a fairly mild start once again to sunday, a few chilly spots further north. the rain will be quite

heavy for a time as it pushes its way eastwards. so, into sunday afternoon, i think we should start to see a little bit of dry weather, although it'll stay quite cloudy with a few showers around. the best of the sunshine for the northern half of the country. nearer normal temperatures in the north, again pretty mild in the south, 12s and 13s. this weather front may return northwards again as we head on in towards christmas eve, but as a big area of high pressure begins to build late on christmas eve and into christmas day, it looks like things will settle down. so many of us will have a dry day through christmas day, with maybe a little bit of sunshine. but only clear spells overnight christmas eve means we could see some patchy frost and fog in places. however, for most, it's going to be mainly dry. this is bbc news. the headlines: police in britain say they are considering trying to shoot down a drone that has shut down one of the country's largest airports for more than 2a hours. the closure of gatwick has disrupted travel for more than 100,000 people. the airport's single runway remains closed. us defence secretaryjim 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. china has rejected accusations by the united states and britain that it's involved in cyber hacking in at least a dozen countries. it comes after the us charged two chinese hackers with stealing data world—wide over more than a decade. beijing has urged washington to withdraw the accusation. now on bbc news — thursday in parliament.