this is deja vu news live from berlin with president dollar losing another g. cabinet member they once stood shoulder to shoulder but now defense secretary jim matheson is standing down. the downswing comes after the president's decision to pull american troops out of syria also on the show. operations resume at britain's second biggest airport but authorities still have not tracked down the drones the force by the airport to ground its flights and cause christmas travel chaos. and under stress because of their fake christians in

pakistan preparing for christmas but they're interesting like the target of deadly attacks we found found out how one family has suffered but survived. i'm brian thomas thanks so much for being with us american defense secretary jim natus has resigned over president trump's decision to withdraw american troops from syria the four star marine general has been defense secretary since the president took office in his resignation letter said my views on treating allies with respect and also being clear eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors are strongly held and informed by over four decades of immersion in these issues let us also said he was resigning because you have the right to have

a secretary of defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects. i reports indicate that not has resigned after a last ditch attempt to persuade the president to reverse course on syria white house press secretary sarah sanders tonight suggestions that trump had asked maddest to resign secretary mabus has served the president and with the president for two years they have a good relationship i've seen it up close and personal on a number of occasions and again they agree to disagree at times but that doesn't mean you can't have a good relationship with somebody he was laying out the reasons that he was stepping down from his post and. beyond that i think it's absurd to try to question the answer is i mean they were together for two days after all the president has also ordered the pentagon to make plans to withdraw half of the fourteen thousand american soldiers in afghanistan and unnamed officials said that they could be home

by the summer american troops deployed to afghanistan of course after the september eleventh attacks in two thousand and one since then twenty four hundred u.s. soldiers have died fighting the taliban in america's longest war. for the very latest let's bring in d.-w. stuff on siemens in washington good morning stefan amount of resignation is the latest in a string of administration departures but is this one different. it's different because it's the most significant we had the other we could enter secretary right and sinking resigning but he was facing an avalanche of scandals and investigations so that was not a real surprise but matt is resigning and in this form without in this letter you would notice not one word of praise for the president that's a little bit unusual normally when you write those resignation letters to the white house or to the president you always say a lot of it are nice things about your former boss this one. turned out to be

a little bit of an ugly divorce and this is difficult because james read it was always seen as the adult at the cabinets table and as a so called ball work against the most rational decisions of donald trump in terms of foreign policy so yes and that is leaving is significant ok now democrats have been among those expressing disappointment at the resignation here's house minority leader nancy pelosi. and. what it means to our country for a message it sends to own troops. and pretty indication what. you will. get this all started stuff on with syria how united are democrats and republicans in opposing the president on the pullout from american troops from syria.

very very united and usually sold so there is a bipartisan. bipartisan front against this decision the president made to pull troops out of syria democrats as well as the g.o.p. the republicans are when he saw an old saying this was the worst idea this is a bad move the u.s. will lose strategic and tactical advantage in the middle east and frankly a lot of republicans even republicans and democrats anyway say like there is really now without james madison james mattis quitting his job as secretary of defense there is not really a comprehensive middle east foreign policy by this administration so republicans and democrats united in their outrage distain for that decision to pull troops out of syria ok this isn't just about syria though the president has also announced that he's pulling out half of the fourteen thousand troops in afghanistan as well as their reaction to that washington. and the reaction is pretty much the same as

a i just explained towards syria as you reported earlier longest war for the united states quite a significant death toll in terms of or loss of american lives soldiers in this longest war however nobody in a republican as well as democratic or any military planning circles or foreign policy circles understands why the president now is pulling also out of afghanistan even if you just said he's pulling have off the troops out of there yes that was all a promise from during the campaign to bring the troops home but on the other hand does it really make sense to leave then the fear is that in a few years time the united states has to spend more money and more effort to bring it back to clean up after the mess which will be left after the troops are leaving so same as regarding the syria decision no good vibes towards the president and

that decision from republicans and democrats stephens humans in washington thanks very much for that stuff now for a look at some of the other stories making the news today hungary's president has signed into law a controversy a labor reform of the slave law by its opponents thousands take part in demonstrations against prime minister or bans government since m.p.'s passed the law last week and hikes the over time that employers can demand and allows payment to be delayed by up to three years. i'm methane explosion in the czech coal miners killed thirteen miners that blast more than eight hundred meters underground said to have devastated large areas of the mine which is near the town of carvey eleven polish nationals and two czechs among the dead. cataloged pro independence groups are out on the streets in barcelona to protest a planned cabinet meeting in the city chaired by prime minister pedro sanchez

weekly meeting usually takes place in madrid ascensions government decided to hold it in the cattle on top of all capital is part of its efforts to reduce tensions and out alone. protesters of torch the headquarters of sudan's ruling party at least eight people died in these protests the biggest the country's seen in five years crowds to the streets of the capital khartoum after the price of bread doubled overnight. it's too great now where services have resumed at london's gatwick airport after repeated drone flyovers shut it down for thirty six hours some one hundred twenty thousand travelers have been affected the now many of them will be able to fly out on the seven hundred departures scheduled for today the drone flyovers appear to have been a deliberate attempt to disrupt air traffic the british government's transportation minister says military technologies have been deployed to guard that airport. a

second night of chaos at one of the u.k.'s busiest airports. all planes remained granted to write thursday as authorities scrambled to find out who's behind the mystery train sightings their frustration shed by thousands of stranded passengers . to save neatness and selfish. this is one thing love the city this is spirit. and why did this stuff is why hasn't been shot down not by strange police say they are considering shooting a train staying a tactic earlier dismissed as too dangerous they've also brought in the army and turning to the public for help. one of the appeals from me is that someone may have an image of the drone we don't yet know what the drone is and of course in terms of

outside and what we do operationally but it's really security for us just one of the big questions police are yet to answer they say there's no indication of terrorist involvement whoever is responsible is breaking british law which prohibits flying drones within one kilometer of an airfield or above an altitude of one hundred twenty meters the activity we've seen is illegal and those who are caught in danger of craft can face up to five years in prison and that's legislation that we've already introduced that actually we're consulting on further aspects of this including for the police powers but until these planes are allowed to take off that's likely scant comfort for passengers facing disruption at the height of the holiday season. in pakistan christians are increasingly the target of deadly attacks are due to severe blasphemy laws that often fuel intolerance and hatred the most high profile case involves. a catholic woman recently quit or lost

. always christmas approaching what is life for pakistan's christians did have years as some of them. christmas is a favorite time of year for these christian family in islamabad the cougars appreciate being together especially as their lives were completely turned upside down seven years ago shot of cool kid was falsely accused of blasphemy jailed and acquitted five months later in that time he lost his job and home but is grateful he didn't lose his life to live a free man now shot its detention continues to haunt him. you always live in fear and because of this we feel insecure. so when we talk about your future i think what kind of future can we have it all explained the law and policies here need to be implemented properly. blasphemy is an extremely dangerous and emotive subject in pakistan and his name will forever be associated with it the

catholic laborer spent eight years on death row after being accused of insulting islam she was recently acquitted of all charges which sponsored violent protests across the country some hardliners called for austria and the judges involved in the ruling to be hanged. no one convicted of blasphemy has ever be legally its accusers about to start but there are plenty of examples of people who have been killed by lynch mobs just after being accused of it and its religious minorities hit disproportionately affected by the controversial laws. pakistan's christians make up around two percent of the population and have been the target of escalating attacks in recent he is human rights groups claim accusations of blasphemy seen as an easy way to settle disputes as a hard to disprove but the acquittal of ossie bibi also provides

a ray of hope for this pastor. the fact that an innocent woman can be sentenced to death has made a scandal it will set a bad precedent where they can arrest anyone and prosecute them so when we heard that he was finally acquitted you cannot be of how happy we were we were the two churches and offered prayers thanks to god. for. we were into fearful when we were young but we do have some fears now by for example if there are gatherings we don't go outdoors when children go to church and they see armed guards they do ask why is there so much security security. attacks will continue to happen here no matter what will remain united under the name of jesus. for many christians the facts that he has been freed is a christmas miracle only could not have dreamed and even though she remains in

hiding in the festive period. some seasonal change and obscene isn't for what the future holds. might be out of jail but she must remain in hiding out of fear of being murdered so how dangerous is it for all the christians. dean from amnesty international earlier today i mean everybody else said that's me or here going to look at some me as something that can set off a series of events that can very violent and you know we've seen it since in one thousand nine hundred orders of christians have been accused or convicted at all or you know killing or something assume you know something like being accused of insulting the holding off it or designating the koran or even sort of misusing religious epithets whatever that may be and so i don't think we need to look for more evidence of just how dangerous this and that this is something that's so

sensitive that the mere accusation which can result to quite literally in a death sentence if not in the course and perhaps in the streets as we've seen in the case where a student was lynched to death by thousands of students in the road don so i think that evidence is right and. that's all we have time for thanks so much. why do we want. when do we want it now eighty percent of americans in some point in our lives will experience action that i. might.