the country donkey's. starts december twenty ninth on g.w. . this is news coming to you live from berlin president loses another key cabinet member they once stood shoulder to shoulder but now defense secretary jim this is stepping down the announcement comes after the president's abrupt decision to pull u.s. troops out of syria also coming up operations resume at britain's second biggest

airports but authorities still haven't tracked down the drones that forced the london. flights causing holiday travel chaos is. under threat because of their faith christians in pakistan prepare for christmas but. the target of deadly attacks we'll find out how one family has suffered but survived. well i'm terry martin good to have you with us american defense secretary jim mattis has resigned over president trump's decision to withdraw u.s. troops from syria the four star marine general has been defense secretary since trump took office in his resignation letter musses said my views on treating allies with respect and also being clear eyed about both aligned actors and strategic competitors are. wrongly held and informed by over four decades of immersion in

these issues not just said he was resigning because you have the right to have a secretary of defense whose views are better or law and with yours on these and other subjects referring of course to president on trial now reports indicate that not just resigned after a last ditch attempt to persuade the president to reverse his decision on syria white house press secretary sara sanders denied suggestions that trump had asked not just to resign secretary mabus has served the president and with the president for two years they have a good relationship i've seen 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 me when we're together for jeez you know. meanwhile president trump has also

ordered the pentagon to make plans to withdraw half of the fourteen thousand american troops in afghanistan and unnamed official said they could be home by summer u.s. troops deployed to afghanistan 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. or more now we're joined here in the studio by middle east analyst mark is calling from the german institute for international and security affairs good to see you mark good morning let's start with the resignation of u.s. defense secretary jim mattis what impact will that have on america's military operations and what's or so of that will have an impact on the military operations but it's a clear political signal i mean with two representatives representing very different schools of international folds all international past president trump representing most. national it's just strain of u.s.

foreign policy and i met this ripper the name of the internationalist strain of u.s. foreign policy and the nationalist obviously has long and therefore i expect not only a withdrawal military rule withdrawn from the rule but also political withdrawal from southern cross is faults around the world and not just was seen as a stabilizing force in an administration that was often unpredictable that is often unpredictable from a european perspective what does it mean to lose in. that as has been huge concern about the commitment of the trumpet ministration to transatlantic security relations and jim methods has been regarded as a guarantor of traditional transcendental security approach and with him leaving office the concerns are even an even more growing in the european capitals he emphasized it's a matter of resignation pretty clear any day you both appreciating the president

the positives and devalue of allies and rejecting the approach of your as president and therefore i think in european capitals this idea of resonating insistence that european allies kind of rely on the united press on the united states president losing a multilateral list in the administration as it were now this all started with trump's decision to pull troops out of syria what do you make of that decision the i.a.s. is not defeated in syria i think we have twenty dollars twenty thousand to thirty thousand fighters on the weapons with seventy to seventy five attacks on a daily basis in syria as well as in iraq so it's it's a terrorist organization and being pretty active saud's it's just simply premature to argue that the isis has been defeated and it's undermining the international effort to combat hard to to continue to come. this is therefore on the money to be

a u.s. internationalist approach and i expect other allies to follow germany need to do cave france also withdrawing its troops from iraq as well as here so what will this mean for syria for what's going on there right now because it is a very complex proxy war with many interests involved absolutely nothing it's pretty obvious that it's left some kind of strategic with it's less a commitment or withdrawal from the middle east not only syria but i would say or what i would argue from the middle east in general and this is true to me in the field policy on russia about iran but turkey these are all the policy ruling questions on. influencing the president will polls toll all before the middle east for syria and the middle east has also announced his intention to pull american troops half american troops out of afghanistan what are the implications of that that undermines nato as a forward to efforts in afghanistan i think the need to stick with the secretary

general. has been a lot has not been informed about the decision as well as the allies i mean the secretary of defense the secretary of defense proposed just in afghanistan recently announcing that germany will continue to be present in afghanistan i cannot really imagine a mission with that made to a mission in afghanistan without the united states so i think as you know he is a well as in syria as you know for withdrawal and this commitment in bed undermines the credibility and legitimacy of the afghan government as well marcus thank you very much for your analysis marcus column from the german institute for international and security affairs here in berlin thank you. fellas take a look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world today hungary's president has signed a controversial labor reform dubbed the slave law by opponents excuse me thousands have taken part in demonstrations against prime minister viktor orban is government

since m.p.'s passed a law last week it hikes the over time that employers can demand and allows payment to be delayed by up to three years. i'm methane explosion in a check coal mine has killed thirteen miners in the blast more than eight hundred meters underground is said to have destroyed large areas of the coal mine which is near the town of carter bina eleven polish nationals and two checks are among the dead. independents groups are out on the streets in barcelona to protest a planned cabinet meeting in the city chaired by prime minister pedro sanchez the weekly meeting usually takes place in madrid but as government decided to hold it in the kind of cattle on capital as part of its efforts to reduce tensions in catalonia. the rioters in sudan torched the headquarters of the ruling party in the capital khartoum on thursday soaring consumer prices have triggered the biggest

protests the country has seen in five years at least eight people have died in the by less government is rumored to have shut down the internet. in britain services have resumed at london's gatwick airport after repeated drone flyovers shut it down for thirty six hours some one hundred twenty thousand people have had their travel delayed but now many of them will be able to fly out on the seven hundred departures it scheduled for today the drone flyovers appear to have been a deliberate attempt to disrupt air traffic the british government's transport minister says what he calls military technologies have now been deployed to guard the airport. this is one of the first planes to land at gatwick since wednesday drone sightings paralyze the airport leaving thousands stranded hungry tired and frustrated the chaos is taking its toll i have yet to

have lunch breakfast dinner coffee anything else since yesterday and i say i go to the left home at three o'clock yesterday moon come hundred out to sleep and it's now. five o'clock in the morning here is twenty six hours so one theme is the rest tired and i just want to go. authorities are now confident that planes can fly safely britain has called in the military and snipers to intercept the drones. i work with our partners and with the full story see we've got some options around the ethical the place in a much better position to respond so i think it's right i don't want to host on these president bush press a position to respond to text and to try to ensure they reappear. the airport says it aims to have one hundred ten thousand passengers travel out of get wake on

friday the unprecedented incident has highlighted the threat drones pose to airports the international airline body. has called first steps to reduce rogue drone operations near airports but let's get some more on this story from gareth corfield he's a journalist for the register that's a london based tech publication and gareth is also captain of the middlesex target rifle team which is significant as we'll find out gareth you have dedicated an entire article to a question raised in our piece there and that question of course is why not simply shoot the drones down. like every simple solutions to a problem it can be very complex and the big concern. is situated in a recent be built up area there is a lot of houses and towns neighboring in the area and soupy firing rifle bullets or even shotgun shells willy nilly into the air is

a very dangerous thing to do these bullets can travel for miles and we think that possibly when it comes to shotguns the drugs that are flying may be flying to be too high to be reached. so there is a safety concern that also you have problems with what you do once you get the drug it's not immediately going to the truck once once bought the safety land slide off it's something that even you know talking to some of the back garden around the head so it's actually quite dangerous so not really a practical solution at all ok now there's been dozens of drone sightings at gatwick airport since wednesday evening why is it so difficult to track them down and find those responsible. so it appears that the people who are operating these drones may have built their own or some kind of custom version of drone i believe the local police force still have not identified the make model so they can't even figure out what the transmission bands of the radio frequencies being used. is it

also seems that there is a number of drones baselines there are several that pop up appear to just long enough to trigger. but then they disappear again and it's not inside the case me will city hundreds of thousands of people stuck at the airport now why the police haven't managed to track them down yet i think the assumption has to be that this is a very organized operation and someone or group of people has put a lot of thought into how to cause maximum chaos of christmas. ok given the proliferation. a lot of them are going to be given to people at christmas as presents i can imagine and they can be bought easily over the internet the risk of something like this happening is increasing what measures should airports be taking to deal with drone interference. i think it puts should now be taking the threat a lot more seriously people in the drug industry have been warning for years that something like this is always going to be technical possibility there are numbers of you know you can get nets and jamming guns on such things but you need the legal

missions to use them now here in the u.k. laws are going through that would enable that very soon i believe the e.u. is also about directive. but there are a number of technological solutions you can use just these that will actually enforce these things using radar jamming equipment can be. white by jamie equipment to disrupt signals can be useful it's one thing but of course in the house the problem is flying with autopilot what if it's a preprogrammed route that the operator just sets it off in the way it flies so i'm not entirely sure how he would deal with other than sort of a macho licensing system but again would licenses in criminal group if they're not using it it's a tricky question a really difficult one to solve or thank you so much for your insights that was gareth core field there he's a journalist with the register a london mais tech publication thank you very much. to pakistan

where christians are increasingly the target of deadly attacks partly motivated by a harsh interpretation of blasphemy laws the most high profile case involves a say a b. b. a roman catholic woman who recently acquitted of blasphemy with christmas approaching we decided to take a look at what life is like for pakistan's christians he wus submitted a mere met some of them in islam about. christmas is a favorite time of year for this christian family in islamabad the cougars appreciate being together especially as their lives were completely turned upside down seven years ago the 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 it's detention continues to haunt him. you always live in fear 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 baby's 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 respond to violent protests across the country some hardliners called for r.c. 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 it was 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 they are hard to disprove but the acquittal of ossie bibi also provides a ray of hope for this past. fact that an innocent woman can be sentenced to death has made us. set a bad precedent where they can arrest anyone and prosecute them so when we heard that he was finally acquitted you cannot be happy we were the two churches and offer prayers thanks to god. for. we were into fearful when we were young but we do have some fears now 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. attacks will continue to happen here no matter what will remain united under the name of

jesus. for many christians the fact that he has been freed is a christmas miracle only could not. and even though she remains in hiding in the festive period provide some seasons change and the future holds. earlier we spoke. of the international south asia how much pressure human rights organizations are able to put on pakistan's government to change laws in order to enshrine religious freedom. i think it's important to remember that these these vast me that are thinking of all that sort of focuses on offenses against religious this is against religion that these laws are an evolution it started it's something that's been systematically begun me sort of shrinking for minorities in sanford started as you know that you know the british empire has now sort of become quite

specific to the bow to being a sort of insulting the only prophet so in terms of devotion everybody forswear lobbying as hard as we possibly can do you need. to do consistently report on these been places that are trying to score the urgency with which these witnesses reform there. are more than there of amnesty international sports and we're looking at football the business leader reaches a crucial point tonight when league leaders brucey a dog and host second placed bruce you have mentioned it kicks off the last match day before the mid-season break the woman lost for the first time this term at deal's off on tuesday that means the gap between the two sides has been reduced from nine to just six points could cut the gap even further with a win in dortmund with plenty of play for fans are ready for a festive football treat. dortmund coach musume father doesn't look too bothered by

their first bond as legal loss of the season but suddenly the title race is back on and the swiss can have no time for sentiment against his form a side to glove box. was. yeah. it is a bit special i suppose nothing more than that. i left a club out three years ago i am a dortmund man now but sure it is a bit strange that on there having a very good season. and they're very dangerous and one three nil and byron munich that says everything. dortmund without three injured defenders against the side who have the second best goals tally behind the hosts fava ones his players fully concentrated on plot backs fret rather than the festive season all the new mums break before their next game.

are very well organized they're very compact sometimes they are defending and suddenly the ball goes for very very very quickly for the club buck meanwhile can move just three points behind dortmund with a victory but they also have injury concerns. and he will go there with eighteen guys but we are maybe without seven players but it doesn't matter who starts dortmund have problems too it will probably. dog mintel the christmas singsong this week the team will top the table at the mid-season break whatever happens tonight but fans want them to hit the high notes once again. holiday shoppers here in berlin may have spotted the city's annual christmas motorcycle parade yesterday bikers dressed as santa claus and in a ray of other festive characters cruised through the german capital to bring

christmas cheer to those less fortunate. swapping leather jackets for christmas outfits hundreds of motorbike years donned their santa costumes for a festive parade through berlin and all for a good cause raising awareness for those in need in their city. you just step on the gas and say take a look especially at christmas it is after all the season to open your hearts and perhaps be a bit more generous as. cause with child like to support it's wonderful to ride in such a pink group you can see the children in the cars waving taking photos everyone is cheerful that's why i want to do it again every year. at the start you ride through the city everyone laughs when they see us and waves and they're cheerful and happy it's great. on their tour bikers stop off at charities bringing gifts.

for this care facility for young people these brand a couple of tv's ahead of the parade the bikers collecting donations to be able to fulfill the charity's wish lists. mention often mention when people do something for other people without expecting anything in return that deserves a big round of applause. braving frosty weather the bikers rode for four hours through the city. berlin is bikers first came up with the idea for a parade more than twenty years ago back then they were just two of them now more than two hundred bikers take part and hundreds more come to watch. berlin's bikers have now become something of a christmas attraction. well

stock markets are not yet in that christmas mode shares on key indexes around the world remain in retreat. shares on major exchanges scheduled to end the year down by more than ten percent in frankfurt the dax index of german blue chips was down by over half a percentage just a short while ago japanese stocks led asian losses on friday with the nikkei hitting a fresh fifteen months low shedding over one percent and the dow in new york and it says day two percent lower on concerns about the trade dispute between washington and beijing and rising interest rates well and all that's also weighing on oil the price of brant crude slipped to its lowest level in fifteen months yesterday all prices of course have been steadily dragging for weeks on sliding dropping more than twenty five dollars since the beginning of october when it was hovering at around eighty dollars ninety s. there's hope that supply cuts from opec will prop up prices driving interest rates and an overall how jittery market sentiment on making an oil price recovery

difficult as from the share center in london tells us where things really turns what's going on in the rest of the markets we've seen equities in the u.s. u.k. germany and around the world with the sell off and there seems to be concerns about growth you know quite a bit of fear is that the u.s. economy is going to slowly slow down next year and ultimately that's affecting the price of oil that we could potentially see demand slowing down. what china's foreign ministry rejects what it calls slanderous accusations from the u.s. and its allies for slamming china over economic espionage this comes after the u.s. justice department indicted two chinese nationals accusing them of cyber spying u.s. officials say the two hacked a range of government agencies and corporations in at least a dozen countries the u.s. and china are currently engaged in a high stakes trade dispute but the a lot pledged hacking operation dates back over ten years and then prosecutors in

japan have issued a fresh warrant for the detention of ex nixon schiff carlos golan the accusation this time is those who go and done to millions of his own personal data on tunis and he was originally imprisoned last month for not reporting his full income. as you're still looking for a christmas present in scotland researches have tested rare and collectible scotch whiskey for their relay age and they found two that were fakes investigators use carbon dating to sample fifty five bottles of scotch water on the secondary market they discovered that twenty one of them were outright forgeries or at least not to stilts in the year declared they looked at levels of carbon absorbed during the making of whiskey to determine its age collect see red destinations as good investments in october a bottle from nineteen twenty six was auctioned off for

a record one million dollars. and here's a reminder of the top stories we're following for you. president on the trump is losing another key cabinet and member defense secretary jim matthews is stepping down after growing increasingly disillusioned with trump's policies mattie's made the moves after trump decided to withdraw u.s. troops from syria and. they're watching the news live from berlin wall coming up at the top of the hour in the meantime you can get all the latest news online at d.w. dot com or you join us and follow us on twitter we'll be back in the next hour thanks for joining.

us. come. on come. on come on. it's beginning to smell a lot like christmas in varian's gingerbread city the largest in the world. a dose youngsters joining the baking to make this winter wonderland. the delectable tradition kicks off the festive season in norway.

midweek matches in the bundesliga it'll be christmas soon and who's getting the gifts. certainly not mid-season in-store going to take picked up their first loss of the year against just come and it'll be a blue christmas for shaka after losing a home to me cause i'm going. to go to sixty minutes dublin to. drop you know this zero five minute for minute.

morse has. our beauty. having all. the features pantheon of the great tenors certainly he's one for the ages of. ten or fourteen. starts december twenty second t.w. . hello and welcome to some more european lifestyle in the countdown to christmas let's see what we have lined up for you today. there was great stuff made at the

european film festival in from the. release of the latest.