♪ brent: this is dw news live from berlin. tonight, a security scare at an airport in southern germany. police say they have massively boosted security at stuttgart airport. that is afafter rereports of suspicious individuals caught tn camera scoping out the premises. also coming up -- >> we feel as like the whole society is collapsing on us, it is suffocating us at all levels.

brent: inside the anti-orban demonstrations on the streets of budapest. we meet the protesters demanding an end to new labour regulations and a return to the rule of law. and grounded by the drones. london's gatwick airport suspends flights that leaves thousands of travelers stranded after two drones were spotted nearby. ♪ brent: i am brent goff. it is good to have you with us. police here in germany say they have massively boosted security at the airport in stuttgart. that is in the south of the country. they have refused to confirm reports that a group of people were seen acting suspiciously at the airport. a police spokesman said other airports across the country have been informed about the heightened security situation. all right, let's bring in dw's hans brandt, who is following

the story for us tonight. good evening, hans. what else do you know about the situation in stuttgart? hans: what we know is that police are looking for four people, two of which are known to police, a father-son couple one of whom is on a watchlist, , somebody who is known as an islamist sympathizer. these two people are also said to have been observed at a paris airport, the charles de gaulle airport in france, in paris, where they were also apparently taking photographs of the terminal and the security arrangements there. this information was passed on to the german authorities. they then discovered there was a similar sort of behavior had been observed by these two people in stuttgart, and that is how this raised -- this alarm was raised. in addition, there was information coming from morocco from the secret service of

morocco, which appears to have followed internet conversations between n people in germany and elsewhere who have been talking about the possibility of some sort of islamist attack around christmas time in the region between germany and france, so it is a serious alert at the moment, but we do not know really how far this is going to go. brent: hans, we are reporting that there was suspicious activity. maybe they were trying to scout the premises. do we know exactly what it was that they were doing that got the attention of the police? hans: well, they were caught on video at student art airport -- stuttgart airport taking photographs of the buildings from the outside, and they were also said to have been hanging around the security checkpoints inside the building without making any attempt actually to board an airplane or something like that. police tried to apprehend them at the time, but they did not

manage to get their in -- there in time. while they are known to german police, we must assume -- but no -- assume that they are near to his home, but so far, no arrests have been announced, the security situation without any further development. brent: all right, correspondent hans brandt on the story for us in germany tonight on airport security. hans, thank you. here are some other stories making headlines around the world. officials in the democratic republic of congo say sunday's election has been postponed. the electoral commission citing an ebola outbreak. violence and a shortage of ballot papers as reasons for the delay. voters are set to elect a successor for joseph kabila in the country pose the first democratic transition of power.

morocco's s general prosecututor says the suspepect in the killig of twowo scandinavian toururists pledged allegiance to islamic ststate. urur men havave been arrested in connection with the killing. the bodies of the danish and norwegian women were discovered near the tent in an isolated region of the atlas mountains. a new york judge has ruled that the sexual assault case of disgraced movie mogul harvey weinstein can go ahead. his lawyers had called for charges to be run out, saying police had acted improperly in the investigation that led to his arrest. u.s. president donald trump's decision to withdraw american troops from syria has been met with criticism from within washington and its major allies. germany, france, and the u.k. have joined both democrat and republican politicians in washington, disputing trump's claim that so-called islamic state has been defeated. they say the battle to clear out the terrorist group should continue.

hang-shuen: these u.s. soldiers may leave syria very soon. the u.s. president says the so-called islamic state has been defeated, so it is time for them to come home. the move has sparked surprised and outrage from lawmakers, who called his action rash and dangerous. sen. graham: none of us believe that isis has been defeated. now two democrats and republicans saying the same thing, the war has not yet been won. the 2200 in syria are performing vital national security functions for us. hang-shuen: washington's major european allies also dispute donald trump's claim a victctory over the terroristic group. they a are worried that washington's withdrawal will allow militants to regroup. minister loiseau: [speaking french] translator: the fight against terrorism is not finished. there has been a lot of progress in syria with the coalition, but this fight continues. hang-shuen: facing criticism

from many sides, trump defended his decision on twitter. "does the usa want to be the policeman of the middle east," he wrote, "getting nothing but spending precious lives and trillions of dollars protecting others who, in almost all cases, do not appreciate what we are doing? do we want to be there forever? time for others to finally fight." trump suggested that by "others," he was r referring to the mililitary alliaiance formed bebetweerussia, , iran, and d e syrian government. dadamascus assuming to takake bk control of the country by fighting against the opposition and i.s. the u.s. pullout is likely to strengthen moscow's role in syria's future. president vladimir putin was quick to welcome trump's announcement. pres. putin: [spspeaking russia] translator: is the presence of u.s. troops necessary there? no, it is not. lelet us not forget that the presence of u.s. troops in syria is not legitimate, that it has no u.n. security council resolution to rely on. hang-shuen: the timeline for the

withdrawal is not yet. -- not yet clear. some officials say it could be completed within 6100 days, -- 60 to 100 days, which means scenes like these could be a thing of the past in syria. brent: russia's vladimir putin has used an end-fof-the-year press conference to rail at western sanctions. he also said allegations about moscow's covert operations, such as the poisoning of a father and daughter in the u.k., were made up. now, it was a typically strident performance at an event designed to showcase the russian leader's strongman image. matthew: it is billed like a blockbuster, a president holding court before a nation, rounding out the year and casting to the future with a live podcast west -- press conference in front of some 2000 journalists. but as vladimir putin announced, -- emerged from the wings, the

ripple applause belied in a notion this would be bruising. the session began with something of a freudian slip. "let's begin, andnd we will give priority to the kremlin journalists. we should always begin with those who are close to us," quips the president. with close to four hours of questions, this is more a test of endurance than mental agility. despite nuclear threats and wars at home and abroad, question after question dealt with the country's struggling economy. even state broadcasters pile in. the russian economy is in stagnation, it is going round in circles. pres. putin: [speaking russian] translator: we cannot provide strong economic growth unless we change the structure of the economy. that is what we are doing with national projects. we want to put it ahead of everything else. we want to innovate our economy

and see greater rates of economic growth and more opportunities for development. matthew: it is an annual showpiece meant to project strength and prosperity, but with rising poverty in russia, the ostentatious touches were fewer this year, and the economic strife is hard to put in two. his popularity among the people has plummeted, whatever the signs here may suggest. brent: hungary's president has signed into law on popular -- into law unpopular new rules that allows employers to increase workers' overtime. that is despite protests in budapest, targeting prime minister viktor orban and what protesters call his "slave law." our correspondent fanny facsar traveled to budapest to find out exactly why demonstrators have been braving freezing temperatures to take their message to the streets. fanny: protesters in budapest

usually start here at the hungarian parliamentary. this afternoon, i met a couple of students prepare for an anti-demonstration. hungary has experienced a wave of protesters in the last few days, and normally it is young people like these, who come to , the square to say "eleg volt," which means "it is enough." what exactly is enough? >> well, there are a certain amount of things that we have experienced, the destruction of health care, the destruction of education, or this slave law, which is going to make people work overtime for 400 hours. it feels like the whole society is collapsing on us, it is suffocating us at all levels. fanny: unlike past antigovernment protests, recent ones have not ended in budapest. they has shifted to the countryside. we are in the northeast, one of the poorest regions s of hungry. i wanted to ask people by the new labor law that was triggering the protests.

it allows companies to ask employees to work up to 400 hours of overtime a year. but no one wants to talk on camera, afraid they will lose their jobs. i mean attila varga, who may not be afraid, but h he is angry. his job is to drive 500 kilometers through hungary every night for a shipping company. attila: [speaking foreign language] translator: i start work every nighght at 8:00. i have to sign that i finish at 4:30 a.m. they are making us commit fraud. fanny: in fact, he says, he works 14 hours every night for 400 euros a month. attila: [speaking foreign language] translator: the government says there are other options. that is not true. there are not many jobs. that is why i am forced to work overtime. fanny: attila is concerned that employees will be exploited even more, and he is taking his anger onto the streets. hundreds of others have come to the city center to protest what they call the "slave labor law."

>> it will be here where we kick out the first brick of the wall that represents the system of viktor orban. fanny: but the organizers, differing opposition parties, call for peaceful protest. they do not want clashes with the police. they are chanting "orban out. we do not want your slave law." this crowd here are very energized. all of a sudden, the opposition parties are united against orban , and they want to keep this momentum alive. it is freezing, way below 0. the protesters here are determined to fight in the streets beyond christmas. the big question is -- how many people will support this new wave of resistance? brent: fanny facsar reporting there from budapest. you are watching dw news. still to come, another chinese artist ends up behind bars. we look at the uncomfortable truths on show in lu guang's

work that made him a target for beijing. but first, drones flying near london's gatwick airport have grounded flights and caused travel chaos. a pair of the remote-controlled devices appeared thursday night, prompting the airport to cancel all flights. police say they have ruled out terrorism, but the british army has been called into deal with the situation. thousands are stuck as they had tried to reach loved ones for christmas. reporter: the mystery drone attack could hardly have come at a worse time, with hundreds of planes groundeded or being rerouted, tetens of thouousandsf passengers are now facing major disruption at one of the u.k.'s busiest airports. >> we are meeting family, and it is my daughter's birthday today, so it t is going wrong, and we have planned it for so long, so, yeah, not the best start to christmas anyhow.

>> i cannot really leave this queue. this seems to be the only place we can find out any information, and the queue looks like it is several meters long. reporter: helplessness for people on the ground, and increasing frustration for officials trying to catch those operating the drones in the air. chris: 9:00 last night, a drone was seen by two members of staff, and since then, they at drone has appeared and reappeared all through the night. on the airfield as we speak, and the police, 20 police units are looking to bring the perpetrators of f justice. reporter: under british law, it is illegal to fly a drone within one columnar of an airfield or airfield boundary or above altitude of 120 meters, which increases the chance of a collision with a manned aircraft. sussex police say there is no indication of terroristic involvement, but they call this a deliberate act to cause disruption at gatwick airport. liz: the drone operators are acting illegally, and there is punishment of up to five years in prison for any destruction of

-- for endangering aircraft. reporter: with many more still arriving, evenen ones that drons are stopped, it is expected to take days before things can return to normal. brent: i am joined now by dr. luis barbero, president of the british guild of air traffic control officers. it is good to have you on the program. i want to ask you about the army being called in to help deal with the situation. i mean, it sounds very serious. how serious is it? dr. barbero: well, is you can imagine, industry safety, the safety of aircraft, cruisese, te -- crews, the public, for those involvedesespecially w when we look outside, , and they are flying. and the operation of this instance, this warrant, is to transpire in the u.k. brent: you know, people looking

at this story are asking -- how is it possible for two drones to shut down an airport? we have heard some viewers just today who are sayiying, are askg -- areren't drones just like birds? how much of a threat can a drone be? dr. barbero: a lot of research has been done, and a drone threat can be precisely similar to a bird threat, it takes an area, so it has the potential to be much more serious than a bird strike, which explains why the operator and air traffic control would look at this very seriously and carefully. brent: what do you do with the possibility that what we're seeing at gatwick maybe could be a trial ballooned by people who would want to cause even more travel chaos?

in theory, if you can put one airport, bring it to a standstill with just two drones, you would just need a small fleet of drones to bring an entire country's airspace to a standstill, wouldn't you? dr. barbero: well, the measures are in place. on the one side, we have the opoperations, drone laws, but on the other side is enforcement, by the way. the u.k. can fly a drone within 400 feet, and we would like to see that be extended, five kilometers, and on the other side, because you will always find unlawful uses, we need to have s se method o of enforcing those regulations. the geo-fencing, drone registration, drone detection, and so forth. the potential is there, the risk

is there, and it is perhaps for us to act swiftly. brent: yeah, it certainly seems that there is room for action or maybe perhaps improvement. dr. luis barbebero, president of the british guild of air traffic control operators, we appreciate your time tonight. dr. barbero: thank you. good night. brent: now to china, where campaigners are hoping to secure the release of a photographer, famed for his work covering issues that china's government-controlling press prefers to avoid. lu guang had been missing for more than a month, but chinese authorities have now confirmed that he was arrested in the in the xinjiang region, where there has been a massive crackdown of the region's muslim population. stefanie: these photos show the tragic face of china, images that tell the recent history of the most populated country on

earth and the high price it has paid for its rapid industrialization. decades-long environmental damage and the careless poisoning of its own people. ♪ lu guang is the man who captured these picturures. lu: : [speaking foreign languag] translator: if they make a mistake, i have to report on it. they tried to prevent me from filming. i have often been caught taking photos. i would use various tactics to get t away. stefanie: but in november, lu guang's luck ran out. he was traveling in the xinjiang province, where a vast number of muslims and other minorities are being held in reeducation camps, an area where press are not allowed. here, he was arrested. wu: [speaking foreign language] translator: for ththe state, tht rule is flexible and arbitrary,

like in xinjiang today, where people are being detained. lu guang is now one of them. that is very troubling. stefanie: the photographer has won numerous prizes. he has documented poor chinese infected with hiv through blood transfusions, drug addicts out -- condemned by the state, villages suffering from cancer and pollution. since the early 1990's, lu guang has been highlighting their misery. wu: [speaking foreign language] translator: the space for criticism in china is getting ever smaller. most of the people who i know who have dared to criticize it are in prison. the rest have fled and are living in exile like me, or they do not dare to speak out anymore. stefanie: lu guang''s photogogrs are uncomfortable viewing for the chinese state. too close to reality, too clear in their depiction of failure and injustice in his homeland. his wife and humanan rights organizations are campaigning for his release. so far, without success.

brent: all right, over to christoph now, bad news for the tech giant apple. christoph: that is right, brent, and bad news for apple's most important product line. a german court ruled that apple has infringed a hardware patent of chipmaker qualcomm. the munich regional l court said apple could no longer r sales se iphone models in germany, including the iphone x. the ban will not take effect immediatately, and apple canan appeal the ruling. last week, a chinese court also ruled in favor of qualcomm. in the patent dispute. ride hailing company uber has to pay a 400,000 euro fine in france for a wide-ranging leak of user data. france data protection authorities said the company did not do enough to protect customer details. hackers stole information on 57 million uber users and drivers back in 2016, and france alone,

around 1.4 million people were affected. the company already had to pay a record penalty of $130 million in the united states for the same thing. a court in japan has thrown out a bid by prosecutors to extend reynol-- renault's former ceo , carlos ghosn's, detention. ghosn has been held at a japanese detention center since november. he is accused of having under declared his income by some e $4 million. his arrest has raised d conceres ababout a relationship between nissan and renault. nissan has fired ghosn. renault has retained him as chief executive officer. the city of mysuru in india has a city of just 100,000 people, but it has the distinction of

being one of the cleanest cities in the country, which is no small feat in india, struggling with 200 million tons of waste every year. volunteers and city employees pull together to keep sewers and trash properly managed. aditi: the city produces about 400 totons of waste every day. an army going out to reclaim their statusus as the cleanest n the city. >> m muru was g given the cleant city award by the g government o years in a row, and then we came in third in 2017, and this year we are eighth. the whole administration, all of these workers, w we are trying very hard to go back to number one. aditi: mysuru produces about 400 tons of wawaste every day.y. 50% of this is t treated at composost plants, while 1/4 of t

is processed by recycle units. the figures are not quite as impressive. india produces about 62 million tons of waste every year, one of the largest generators in the world. while 82% of it is collected, only 1/4 of it is treated. most of it ends up in local dump sites. two decades ago, the local government here decided to set up a zero waste management fund. the waste management plant is going to set the stage for the rest of the city. mythri: it is like no waste to go to the plant, so we are completely managing the waste. as youou can see here, we have 6 garbage collection segregation units, and we have also, we gave units. we g gave units to t the pubc.c. aditi:i: there arere about 40 cy workers employed at the power plant. they have also created an opportunity for employment

workers, most of the world part of a large netwowork of pickere. the city c corporation is trying to bring more and more of themem to their fold. the city of mysuru may or may not be awarded the cleanest city again next year, but it is well on its way to achieving a so much more in its endeavor toward building a sustainable future. christoph: from india to scotland, and researchers there have tested rare and collectible scotch whiskeys for their real age and found that 1/3 were fakes. investigators used carbon dating to samample some 55,5,000 bottlf scotch bought on the secondary market and discovered that 21 event were outright forgeries, or at least not distilled in the year declared. limit levels of carbon absorbed during the making of whiskey to determine its age. collectors see these as good investments. in october, a bottle of 1926 was

auctioned for a record $1 million. and a reminder of the top story we're following for you at this hour, german police have used it -- have boosted security at checkpoints at stuttgart airport after a possible security breach. german media said investigators were spotted at the site, scoping out the building. thousands of christmas travelers are stranded at london's gatwick airport, grounded since wednesday evening, because of two drones seen flying over the airport. you are watching dw news coming to you live from berlin. after a short break, brent will be back to take you through the day. stay with us. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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