back in business — gatwick airport reopens after more than 30 hours of chaos. most flights are now running as normal, after the army was deployed to protect the runway from drones. but many passengers still face the misery of knock on delays and cancellations. and british families stranded abroad have spent thousands to make sure they get home for christmas. it's cost us about £7,000 to rebook the flights so we're hoping the insurance will pay up. but who knows? we'll be live with our reporter at gatwick airport reporter at gatwick airport. also this lunchtime. donald trump's defence secretary resigns — after the president announces he's pulling us troops out of syria. the new boss at old trafford — 0le gunnar solskjaer has this message for his players at manchester united. be the kids that love to play football and go out in front of the best fans in the world. good players are easier to coach than bad players. bagpipes play

and remembering the victims of the lockerbie bombing, 30 years on. and coming up on bbc news: the chief executive of the england and wales cricket board says ben stokes can still be a role model, after being cleared of affray. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. after almost 36 hours of chaos, gatwick airport has finally re—opened and is hoping to operate the majority of its flights today — but it's warning passengers to expect more delays and dozens of cancellations. the airport was closed on wednesday night after drones were seen flying inside its perimeter. the army has now been deployed with specialist equipment

to safeguard the airport, but police have so far failed to find the drone operator responsible, who remains at large. 0ur correspondent navtej johal is at gatwick. there have been plenty of passengers arriving here today feeling much more optimistic than they were yesterday. that's because of the 765 flights scheduled to either arrive or depart from gatwick airport today. most of them will be going ahead. and that is a significant improvement compared with yesterday's frustrations. the sight that thousands of travellers have been waiting to see. after a day and a half, aircraft finally landing and taking off early this morning at gatwick airport. good news for many but plenty remain stranded here and face a long journey ahead. so tomorrow we will have to take a train to edinburgh to

get our flight to copenhagen. and we have to cancel all our tour from sweden to copenhagen because we have a connecting flight from copenhagen to rome. so this holiday really went wrong for us. and there are ten of us here. ron has been waiting since wednesday night for a flight to antigua to join his family. he'll now have fly on christmas day. very frustrating. i won't be spending christmas with the family which is, you know, sad, but again, it's all out of my control so there is very little i can do about it. unfortunately, there's no flights to antigua every day so it's not like i canjust say, "i will go tomorrow." today is one of the busiest days of the year for people to be travelling, the final weekend before christmas. and the airport has said that the disruption caused by this incident will continue throughout the weekend. it's coming over your head! could this be the cause of the disruption? this device was spotted near the airfield yesterday.

police are yet to find the device or the operator behind it. what has changed is there are a number of mitigating measures place provided by a number of government agencies and the military to ensure that i have the confidence to be able to reopen my airport. although the incident is not believed to be terror—related, it has caused a debate around how to protect airports in future. it's clearly a kind of disruptive activity that we have not seen before. this kind of incident is unprecedented anywhere in the world, the disruption of an airport in this way. we are going to have to learn very quickly from what's happened. i plan to convene discussions with other airports around the uk very quickly indeed. it is unclear what methods have been deployed to mitigate the risk to the airport. there are a number of options such as the drone detection technology developed by this american company. we can track them with radar, we can detect the signal between the drone and the controller using rf detection technology. 0n the countermeasure side, we can disrupt

that control link between the drone and the controller, and we can also disrupt the drone‘s ability to navigate using gps. for those passengers affected by the problems of the last two days, an unwelcome holiday headache awaits to find out what they are entitled to. my advice to passengers who are turning up in the hope of getting away is, put your problem in the hands of the airline. it really is their legal responsibility to make sure that you are on your way as swiftly as possible. most scheduled flights be going ahead today. after a turbulent few days the airport is now expecting things to slowly return to normal. in the last couple of hours the airport has confirmed that 155 flights have been cancelled so far

today. but it is expecting things to return to normal by tomorrow night. but this wider debate around drones and airport security has really only just begun. thank you very much indeed. gatwick‘s runway may have reopened but thousands of passengers are still stranded with a huge backlog of flights. 155 flights have been cancelled today, on top of the hundreds scrapped yesterday. many people are stranded abroad and some of those here are now resorting to alternative travel plans, as john mcmanus reports. st pancras station, just days to christmas, the getaway is on. but many of these people moving through these queues shouldn't be here. the grounding of planes at gatwick airport has meant some last—minute changes to many people's travel plans. many of britain's mainline railway stations are busy in the run—up to christmas, but the queues behind me are extremely long. a number of eurostar staff told me

many of those travelling today had booked in advance but there were also plenty of others who had been forced to swap the plane for the train. it is a similar story at victoria coach station, where travellers who were hoping to fly into gatwick have been forced onto the road instead. some are making the journey to gatwick today in hope rather than expectation of flying, as the christmas getaway continues. where are you trying to get to? italy, rome. family christmas. it's quite annoying. i saw that it has reopened. so hopefully, yeah. has your airline said anything? not really. they keep saying we will probably fly normally, but they don't give us a lot of information. i was talking with my company and they said at the moment it is all right, but we don't know. so they, just go there and see what happens. i wish but i don't know. and the travel disruption

has forced britons abroad to also cancel and rearrange travel plans. alex and joanne were visiting their two faughters in new york city and were supposed to return home yesterday after a five—day trip. we had never heard of that before, causing so much disruption. had we? no, we just panicked, actually, because when we got the text telling is the flight had been cancelled at about 7am this morning, we just wanted to get home. we booked the first flight we could get. as long as this flight back to london is ok in terms of time, it's nothing. but it has been hugely expensive. it cost is around £7,000 to rebook the flights. we are hoping the insurance will pay up. who knows? this woman was due home in east sussex after a holiday in the dominican republic. she suffers from a number of health conditions and says her medications might run out. she and her sister—in—law are stranded onto the next available flight on the 27th.

i brought my main medication but u nfortu nately i brought my main medication but unfortunately some of my medication has run out so we unfortunately some of my medication has run out so we are unfortunately some of my medication has run out so we are hoping to get hold of that today otherwise i'm in big trouble. her son acts as her carer and she is worried she will not be home for christmas. we are going to miss christmas with my family and my son which is really upsetting. he is 17 but he didn't wa nt to upsetting. he is 17 but he didn't want to come this year because he is obviously nearly a grown up as far as he is concerned. so it would have been my last christmas with him as a child as well. gatwick is slowly starting to return to normal but it's too late for many looking to get home for christmas. john mcmanus, bbc news. well not only have tens of thousands of passengers had their christmas travel plans disrupted, but many will be worrying about how much money they've lost. gompertz is here. what financial help can passengers expect?

if you have been caught up in this mess, your first recourse should be to the carrier, the airline, that has a responsibility to get you to your destination as they have promised, even if it is after a period of time, or to give you a refund. the waters have been slightly muddied today because the transport secretary chris grayling has said this is something that should be covered under travel insurance policies, and that they should take an enlightened view about paying people out. there has been a bit of pushback from insurers basically saying that where people have an appropriate policy that does cover them then they will pay out, but that doesn't apply to everybody. i think what's behind this is the worry that insurers might have resorted to the protection of defining this as a terrorist incident where they do not tend to pay out. chris grayling has got reassurance on the phone today from the association of british insurers today that they will bend over backwards to help. but the problem

is some people have no policies, some people have budget policies that don't tend to cover in this sort of instance. it tends to be you have to tick a box called travel disruption or claim under abandonment, and not everyone has that. it fills in the gaps when your carrier has got you there, perhaps you have missed some hotel stays, or a car hire, or you have paid you have missed some hotel stays, or a car hire, oryou have paid in advance for an excursion and then that form of travel insurance should help you out. all right, simon, thank you very much. the us defence secretary jim mattis has become the latest senior figure to resign from donald trump's administration. it follows mr trump's decision to pull all american troops out of syria. in his resignation letter, general mattis warned about the need to show respect to allies and to be clear—eyed about america's enemies. 0ur correspondent dan johnson is in washington. why's he gone? the latest in a line of resignations

from the white house. it was clear jim mattis's background as a military man who devoted his career to projecting america's power and influence abroad, to building global coalitions and alliances working through partnerships like the un and nato, these were things he was deeply committed to and he felt that donald trump didn't share the commitment that the president's foreign policy of putting america first meant increasingly that america appeared isolated, alone, withdrawing from some of these international agreements and partnerships, leaving allies high and dry, not respecting international organisations like the un and nato. no one should be surprised about that, donald trump campaigned on this and he has carried out his presidency in the same fashion. he promised to withdraw from syria and afghanistan but clearly, jim mattis, and many other people, think that these moves to pull back american power and influence overseas just are no longer acceptable. there are real concerns about who takes over the

job. it is still early days but the president has been urged, even by some of his own supporters, to find someone who shares the global outlook and principles ofjim mattis. the president has not addressed this issue this morning at all. he is already busily tweeting about the boardwalk. there were suspicions he announced their withdrawal from syria to distract from the problems he is having from getting funding over the wall and now it is right back and there is not much goodwill in washington this christmas. dan reporting from washington. manchester united's new caretaker manager has promised to get his players to enjoy their football. 0le gunnar solskaer, the club's former striker, is back at old trafford after the sacking of jose mourinho earlier this week. tomorrow his team face cardiff city, as our sports editor dan roan reports. asa as a manchester united player 0le gunnar solskjaer won everything there was to win but having returned

as caretaker manager the former striker knows he only has a few months to stake his claim for the job on a permanent basis. my job is to do as well as i can and move the clu b forward to do as well as i can and move the club forward as well as i can. i understand that there are so many are so many managers that would love to be the manager of man united. so, of course, i'm one of them but it's not something we have spoken about. they are going to do a process now for the next six months. jose mourinho was sacked this week with united 19 points behind the league leaders and having fallen out with some of his star players. 0le gunnar solskjaer has been managing molde in his native norway for the last few yea rs. his native norway for the last few years. they are all looking at somebody who has been there, he is a

hero, a legend, with the players they have got, the young lads, i would think that he can't believe his luck, it is an amazing opportunity for him. solskjaeronly other premier league managerial experience was at cardiff city and he only lasted a few months and was sacked after relegation. have you learned after that, you better as a coach now? that period in cardiff was a huge step for me and i have learned a lot. i have evaluated and reflected on it. i made a few mistakes but if you don't make mistakes but if you don't make mistakes you are not going to learn. for more than a decade at old trafford solskjaer was a winner, a fan's favourite but now he must prove himself again. dan roan, bbc news. the time is 1:15pm. 0ur prove himself again. dan roan, bbc news. the time is 1:15pm. our top story this lunchtime. back in business. gatwick reopens after more than 30 hours of chaos, with most flights now running as normal, after the army was deployed to protect the airport from drones. and coming up:

six months after these boys were trapped in a cave in thailand, they return to thank those involved in their dramatic rescue. coming up on bbc news: england captain joe root fails to impress on his big bash debut for the sydney thunder, but it doesn't stop his side tasting victory against the melbourne stars. it's 30 years ago today that pan—am flight 103 was blown up in mid—air over the market town of lockerbie. this lunchtime there've been memorial services to commemorate the anniversary, and remember the 270 people who lost their lives. 0ur scotland correspondent lorna gordon reports. 0n the shortest day, lockerbie remembers its longest night, remembers its longest night, remembers the lives cut short in the deadliest terror attack the uk has ever suffered. 30 years ago, pan am

flight 103 ever suffered. 30 years ago, pan am flight 103 blew up in the skies over the scottish town. 11 people in lockerbie died, their homes are obliterated by the debris which rained down. all 259 on—board to the new york bound fly also lost their lives. with kindness and compassion, the people of lockerbie looked after the people of lockerbie looked after the relatives, and the memories of those who died. among them — nicole boulanger — an american student returning home for christmas. her body was never recovered, but her personal possessions and clothes were amongst those collected and carefully washed by volunteers to return to those bereaved. sometimes we get guardian angels in life and that certainly is an example of the love, the dedication come and the caring of a group of people in another country who did not know our children, but who knew how much this would mean to their families. for some, like forsome, likejim, for some, likejim, who forsome, likejim, who lost

for some, likejim, who lost his daughter flora in the attack, there are still unanswered questions. 0verwhelmingly, the tragedy of lockerbie was the needless death of 270 people who could have been protected. having said that, the refusal of our government to come out of what they know about the truth has been a terrible added burden to many. and for all, the focus today, the families, the suns, the daughters that died. helen was 19 and a passenger on the plane that december night. we miss our daughter and we wonder how she would have done, what her musical career would have been like. would we have been grandparents to her children? we don't know. we still remember her as she was, lively. we are thankful we had her so long. 19 years isn't long, but they were happy years. 30

yea rs long, but they were happy years. 30 years on, they love and memories ever strong and in lockerbie, another moment for remembrance and respect. lorna gordon, bbc news, lockerbie. it's six months since twelve boys from the wild boars football team and their coach got trapped in a flooded cave in thailand. after ten days, they were found by british divers, and there then followed a race against time to get them out, with more monsoon rains forecast. 0ur south east asia correspondentjonathan 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. these scenes are 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 nobody had any idea whether they would come back 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 has become a lucky place, somewhere you buy a lottery ticket. all these lottery tickets, which one is the lucky one? 13, she says. that is 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 by selling the oranges from his orchard. "0ur 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'd prefer a quieter life. i don't think you are going to get it, though. i'm not the one for going out and seeking, you know, people treating me as a hero. i'm not a hero. 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. use the body as a shield.

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, northern thailand. thousands of pro—independence demonstrators in catalonia have taken to the streets of barcelona to protest at a spanish cabinet meeting taking place there. riot police were engaged in a tense stand—off with protesters as the meeting started. today's date is significant, as it's a year to the day since the elections imposed on the region by the spanish government. moscow has said checks will be carried out on the bbc world news channel and its websites in russia, to see whether they comply with the country's laws. the russian government says it's responding to yesterday's annoucement by the broadcasting watchdog 0fcom that the moscow—backed tv channel, rt, which broadcasts here,

was in breach of impartiality rules. now, as we near the end of 2018 — another year dominated by brexit, let's look ahead to what we can expect to happen in the run up to the day we are due to leave the european union, on march 29th. these are the thoughts of some of our best brexit brains it's almost the impossible question. what is going to happen here in 2019 with brexit? can it be any madder than last year? er, well, yes, it probably can. the one thing we do know is we are set for the big meaningful vote in the middle of january. at least, we think we are. and that should be a moment of some clarity. we will know whether the prime minister's deal is going to go down, or whether mrs may surprises everyone and delivers on her brexit deal.

but if it does go down, well then a whole range of options just explode all over the place. 0ption one is we could drift towards no deal. we could simply slip out on the 29th of march without any agreement. the other possibility is momentum really builds up behind a second referendum. although, there are all sorts of questions... how do you set up a second referendum? what would be the questions on the ballot paper? would it really resolve anything? and that leaves option three, which i think might be what possibly happens, and that is we ask for time. we can't make up our minds, so, yes, we better take a bit longer. in other words, someone decides we're going to have to ask for a extension of article 50, or even revoke article 50. the real danger in predicting any of this is because brexit has changed all the rules in this place

when it comes to politics. all the traditional party loyalties no longer apply. friends are foes, party discipline has broken down, right and left no longer really matters, you just can't predict what's going to happen. what's on the horizon for the eu in 2019? well, brexit, of course. that's due to happen with relatively little fanfare on the 29th of march, and then the negotiations over the future relationship with the uk will begin in earnest, and they are going to be massive. well, that's the theory, anyway. i suspect theresa may will be back in brussels, trying seek more reassurances to help herself her her sell her brexit deal back home. if that doesn't go through, the eu has some back—up plans. they'd be prepared to extend the article 50 negotiating process, if the uk asks for it. and they have contingencies in place in case there is a no—deal brexit. but what all these countries are really

focused on is the european parliament elections, due at the end of may. will the old centre—right, centre—left and liberal parties really be challenged by the eurosceptics, and the populists, who seem to be on the rise, virtually everywhere? there will be some big changes to the eu's top jobs, because jean—claude juncker, the president of the european commission, is retiring. he will have to be replaced. they will also have to find a new foreign policy chief, a new president of the european parliament and a new president of the european central bank. all the eu leaders will meet for a massive summit in the romanian city of sibiu on the 9th of may, where they will sit down and plot a future for the eu that doesn't have the uk in it anymore. business is going to start 2019 where it left off in 2018, under dark brexit clouds

of uncertainty, and you'll see in the first three months, those businesses that haven't got ready for it beginning to think what they thought was unthinkable, that we might leave with no deal. so, a crash course in customs, vat, cash flow, inventory, all that kind of stuff, is going to keep business is very busy in the first three months of the year. we may have to ask the eu for a bit more time, which will give some breathing space but extend the period of uncertainty, where businesses invest less. businesses also care about what their customers are doing, and we're finishing 2018 with consumer confidence at a five—year low. now, that, in a way, is a bit of a surprise because the good news is that unemployment is very low and wages are going up faster than inflation. so, on paper, we're all getting a bit better off every day and that is good news for business. 2019 is shaping up, perhaps, to be the most challenging and unpredictable year to run a business in living memory and there will be some very tense moments in the weeks and months ahead. but if we focus on a bit of good news, the most

important economic fact, perhaps, in anyone's life is whether they have a job or not. record numbers of us do. wages are going up faster than inflation. so, we start from a position of reasonable strength for what promises to be a very interesting year. simonjack, our simon jack, our business simonjack, our business editor. more now on our lead story and the chaos created by drones being flown over gatwick airport. the transport secretary chris grayling has insisted passengers are safe despite the operator not being caught. our home affairs correspondent tom symonds is at gatwick. you have been hearing from the police. what do they have to say? just in the last few minutes, assista nt just in the last few minutes, assistant chief constable steve barry from sussex police as they are continuing a pretty big investigation into what has happened here over the last few days. they have leads, they have persons of

interest, is what he said, and they are attempting to build a picture as to who was responsible for it. one of the things they want to do is they want people living in this area who may have seen drones landing and taking off to get in touch. anyone who might have pictures of the object as it flew over the airport, which might help them identify what it is and where it came from. also, the police officer who had spoken he had accepted there were lessons the police and the airport have to learn from the response to the drone appearing over the runway here and causing so much disruption. it took some time, he said, to get the equipment they needed to provide certainty that they could keep aircraft safe, to get it on site, to get it so people could use it and they were all ready to go. there was a sighting of a drone at ten o'clock last night. that was the last sighting, but since then, nothing, and that has really given the airport the confidence, in the words of the police, to open and to get

people on their way for christmas. thank you very much indeed. weather in a moment, but first, take a look at these pictures from sydney, which is experiencing an early white christmas of sorts. these are hailstones the size of golf balls crashing into the water in sydney harbour. the cost of the damage caused by the giant stones is expected to run into the tens of millions. here's sarah keith lucas. nothing like that here in the uk? no sign of any large hail here, actually no