i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: death on the streets of berlin. nine people are killed after a truck is driven into a christmas market. german police say the apparent driver of the vehicle is under arrest while a passenger is killed. i'm kasia madera in london. russia's ambassador to turkey is shot dead by an off—duty policeman. moscow calls it an act of terrorism. the un votes to allow monitors into aleppo, as more civilians and fighters are able to leave the beseiged part of the city. live from our studios in singapore and london, you're watching bbc world news. it's newsday. welcome to newsday, where the news today has been dominated by two

separate major incidents. in a few minutes, we will give you details on the shooting dead of the russian ambassador to turkey. but first, to germany, where a truck has driven into a christmas market, killing at least nine people and injuring many more. ourfirst report comes from greg dawson. beneath the lights of the christmas market, investigators examined the articulated lorry that has caused so much death and destruction. it was loaded with steel beams as it ploughed into the crowds. this is the immediate aftermath of what the police expect is a deliberate attack on one of berlin's biggest christmas markets. just moments earlier, berlin had been eating, drinking, and shopping. as we were eating a

large truck came through and went past me and my girlfriend and missed me by three metres and her by five. it came by the entrance and hit the sides of the barriers. the driver of the lorry with polish numberplates fled on foot and a man was arrested nearby afterwards. police say a second person who was also inside the vehicle died at the scene. at least 50 people are injured, some of them critically. it is thought the death toll may rise. translation: it is terrible to witness this. i had hoped we would never experienced something like this in berlin. police on the ground are doing everything they can. they are working with fire crews and hospitals and are making sure eve ryo ne hospitals and are making sure everyone is being taken care of. the situation is under control. now the experts have to do their work and hopefully on the basis of that we can determine what happened here tonight. authorities say there is no indication of any other dangerous

situation in the city. the german government has said the evidence so far points to this having been a deliberate attack. it brings back memories of the lorry attack on bastille day in nice injuly. 86 people were killed. the so—called islamic state group claimed responsibility. investigations are still at a very early stage, but if it is proven this was deliberate, europe will be dealing yet again with an act of terrorism in one of its capital cities. greg dawson, bbc news. earlier, our correspondent, jenny hill, in berlin gave us the latest from the scene of the crash. earlier this evening, hundreds, thousands of people came down to this — one of berlin's biggest christmas markets — expecting to enjoy the festivities, with no idea, of course, that at some point during the evening, this truck, which i think you can make out behind me — it's a huge, heavy goods vehicle — came ploughing in amongst the stalls, in amongst the people,

sending them flying. bodies lay scattered under the christmas lights where moments before people had been eating, drinking and enjoying the atmosphere. there are still a great deal of questions to be answered. in the meantime, a lot of people are in hospital tonight. at least 50 injured. we saw some of them taken away by ambulance. some of them clearly in a very bad state indeed. we know at the moment nine people were killed tonight. it may yet be that the death toll will rise further. the interior minister of germany, thomas de maiziere, told german television that the investigation is on—going. translation: on behalf of the german government, i want to say that we are all devastated about the news. we pray with the relatives of those who've died,

and we hope that the injured will get better. i want to thank all the rescue teams and the police, who were on the spot right away. we have activated our reaction team. all the police will be staying there. we are currently interrogating a suspect. we don't know anything final yet about the background of this, but we will not rest before this has been totally clarified. i don't want to talk about an attack, although a lot speaks for it. let's get some more reaction to events in berlin. although german police have not yet said who was behind the incident, in the us, president—elect donald trump has issued a statement saying "innocent civilians were murdered in the streets as they prepared to celebrate the christmas holiday. isis and other islamist terrorists continually slaughter christians in their communities and places of worship as part of their globaljihad. germany's foreign minister frank—walter steinmeier said "i'm deeply shaken about the horrible news." he went on to say "many people who visited the christmas market today have died and even more are injured."

and in france, security has been beefed up at christmas markets across the country. president hollande described the incident as a "tragedy that has hit all of europe." zeke turner is germany correspondent for the wall streetjournal, and he's been at the scene of the incident as well as the hospital. i know that you have been at the scene of the incident as well as at the hospital. talk to us about the scene of this accident first of all. approaching the christmas market there is this eerie scene of a wall of christmas trees which would normally be the perimeter of the market shrouded in darkness instead of christmas lights. and in front of them, police are lined up with machine—gun rifles. close to the entrance where the semitrailer drove through parts of the market there was a sort of a crowd of people behind a police barricade. there was

a little bit of scuffling going on between onlookers. some of them filming and getting into words with each other and calling each other names. inside, behind the perimeter, where the press was allowed to go, you could see this truck with its back wheels sort of lodged against one of the wooden huts that make up these markets. and there was tinsel and pine and debris stuck behind the mudflats. we are looking at live images from berlin of the truck we are talking about, zeke. of course, this is an ongoing investigation. and as we heard earlierfrom our correspondent in berlin, jenny hill, the death toll has risen. breaking news, 12 people have been confirmed killed in this attack. 48 are now injured in hospital. some of them badly injured. zeke, you are at the

hospital as well. tell us what you found out there. not much to be totally honest. i was in the waiting room of a hospital, a ten minute drive from the scene. the biggest hospital in berlin. —— drive. there we re hospital in berlin. —— drive. there were no obvious victims of the incident there. there were some families looking for their loved ones. but there was, you know, no big to—do. i think there was probably a pretty agile triage operation going on to get these people to hospitals that are further from the centre of the city where they can be treated. yes. and in terms of details about who was involved, are you any clear up, because there is an awful lot of speculation. —— clearer. because there is an awful lot of

speculation. -- clearer. there is speculation. -- clearer. there is speculation in the german newspapers. all we know is a man is being questioned in the west of berlin. we cannot confirm any of these details flying around. in the morning i expect we will be able to know more about the man. what we are also learning is in the truck with him wasa also learning is in the truck with him was a passenger who seems like the original driver of the truck, a polish citizen who was possibly transporting steel to berlin. and the boss of this trucking company has spoken on polish television and said even though the truck was connected to the company he does not think that his driver was responsible for the attack or complicit in it. i am sure we will get more details as this develops.

thank you. and just to bring viewers up—to—date on the breaking news that the death toll has indeed increased. now 12 people are confirmed killed in this berlin market attack. 48 people have been injured. they are now in hospital. some of them are badly injured. that is the latest breaking news from berlin. since this story broke, the bbc has been hearing from some of those caught up in the events at the market. we had been at the christmas market about a good 20 minutes, having a good walk around, soaking up the scene, soaking up the atmosphere. and we had bought food and decided to sit down and eat our food before carrying on. had we carried on, we would have walked down the pathway that the truck would have been down, and we more than likely would not be having this conversation right now if we had not made the simple decision to sort of sit down and eat a meal. but complete and utter devastation, what we saw, when we realised

what had happened. we were very, very lucky, to be honest. we only arrived in berlin earlier today. it is the first time i've ever been. we were just looking forward to the festivities, going down and enjoying what the christmas market had on offer. we were sat waiting, looking around at the lights and waiting to go back to the hotel when we heard an almighty bang. we looked around and saw lights being torn down from above us. the hut in front of us that we bought wine from completely crushed by the lorry. it was about eight feet in front of us. we were incredibly, incredibly lucky. we heard it knocking down the stalls at an amazing rate of knots. there was no skidding wheels, clearly no attempt to try to slow down, despite him veering out of the market.

but, you know, as we came around the corner, we saw stalls that were clearly present before, obliterated into nothing. there were bodies lying on the floor. i tried to push in a collapsed stall off the top of people who had sadly already passed. my girlfriend was attending to an older gentleman with a pretty severe head injury. it was just absolutely horrific, and it's amazing how an incident like this can make an impact on you when it happens, when you are right there at the scene, and we're clearly both sat here now safe and sound in our hotel room, but still in a huge state of shock how something like this can happen. those were the eyewitnesses in the

christmas market attack in berlin. the latest update, at least 12 people have been killed and many more injured. you are watching newsday on the bbc live in singapore and london. still to come. we'll have the latest on the assassination of the russian ambassador to turkey, killed by an off—duty policeman. we saw this enormous tidal wave approaching the beach, and people started to run, and suddenly it was complete chaos. united states troops have been trying to overthrow the dictatorship of general manuel noreiga. the pentagon said the operation had been 90% successful, but it's failed in its principal objective, to capture general noreiga and take him to the united states to face drugs charges. the hammer and sickle was hastily taken away. the russian flag was hoisted over what is now no longer

the soviet union, but the commonwealth of independent states. day broke slowly over lockerbie, over the cockpit of the pan—am's maid of the seas, nose—down in the soft earth. you could see what happens when a plane eight storeys high, a football pitch wide, falls from 30,000 feet. christmas has returned to albania after a communist ban lasting more than 20 years. thousands went to midnight mass in the town where there were anti—communist riots ten days ago. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. and i'm kasia madera in london. our top stories: a truck has killed nine people after it was driven a truck has killed 12 people after it was driven into crowds at a christmas

market in berlin. german police say the apparent driver of the vehicle's under arrest, while a passenger was killed. our other major story is that the russian ambassador to turkey has been shot and killed. andrei karlov was addressing a meeting in ankara when a man shot him several times in the back, shouting "don't forget aleppo" and "revenge". the gunman was an off—duty turkish police officer. the attack follows days of protests in turkey against russia's role in syria. our correspondent mark lowen has the latest, his report contains flashing images. russia's ambassador to turkey opening an exhibition in ankara. waiting behind him, his assassin. as andrei karlov speaks, the gunman opens fire, killing the ambassador. gunfire he screams, "allahu akbar," god is greatest, before in turkish, "don't forget about aleppo, don't forget about syria.

so long as they aren't safe, you won't taste safety either." as the attacker was shot dead by police, the ambassador was rushed to hospital. his wife was led out, clearly shaken. soon after, andrei karlov succumbed to his injuries. the gunman was named by the authorities as a turkish police officer, mert altintas, born in 1994. he had been working for the riot police for two and a half years. his sister and mother have been detained. 62—year—old andrei karlov had a0 years of diplomatic experience, ambassador in ankara since 2015. he handled difficult relations. russia and turkey have been on opposite sides of the syrian war, but a recent rapprochement between the two halted the fighting in aleppo. president erdogan said it wouldn't be thrown off course. translation: i describe this attack on russia's ambassador as an attack on turkey, an attack

on turkey's state and nation. after the incident i talked to mr putin. we agreed this is a provocation and there isn't any dispute. president putin called the attack a ploy to wreck the syrian peace process. syria's war has killed hundreds of thousands. it's just had another deadly impact. three people were injured after a man opened fire on people praying at a mosque in zurich. witnesses say a man aged around 30 fled the building. swiss police said a body was found nearby but it is not yet clear whether there is any link to the shootings. the diplomatic channel between russia and turkey is one of the most important in the syrian conflict. diplomats agreed a deal last week to evacuate parts of eastern aleppo where thousands of civilians and rebel fighters have been trapped. the evacuation has resumed with thousands more people brought out.

here's our middle east editorjeremy bowen. noisy demonstrations in turkey at the weekend condemned russia's support of the assad regime. throughout the war, turkey has been on the other side, backing the rebels. the protests were organised, but it could be that the man who killed the russian ambassador acted alone. he seems, though, to have been part of a sense of national and religious humiliation among some turks after russia's decisive action. turkey shot down a russian warplane it said had violated its airspace not long after russia's intervention just over a year ago. but since then turkey and russia have tried to avoid clashes. too much is at stake. both say the assassination won't change their warmer relationship. these are russian special forces troops in syria. the turkish equivalents are in the country, too, mainly preoccupied with the kurds. but there is an obvious rivalry

between two major powers who've intervened on opposite sides in the syrian war. andrei karlov, the late russian ambassador, accompanied his president on trips in the region. he died in the fallout from mr putin's decision to make russia a power in the middle east again. also paying a heavy price are syrians, being bussed out of eastern aleppo into an uncertain future. more than half syria's prewar percolation has been displaced by the war. the evacuation from eastern aleppo has been so difficult to arrange because of all the factors that make the war in syria so hard to solve. it isn'tjust about doing a deal between those who support the regime and those who don't. foreign powers have intervened in syria and they have their own rivalries that go above and beyond the war. and they have the biggest say.

in new york, the un security council passed a new resolution calling for monitors to watch over what's happening and proper access for humanitarian aid in aleppo. it might be too little, too late, and it's not clear how soon it can be implemented, if at all. right now, it's an important step that i think a couple of days ago people would not have thought the russian federation would have allowed to go through the council, but until it's implemented, it's just a piece of paper. the syrians, closely allied with russia, are deeply suspicious of western motives. we oppose the attempts of some member states to draft and submit, under humanitarian cover, a crafty and vague terms and loose phrases that tolerate more than one interpretation. the fall of aleppo does not end this complex and unpredictable war. the fight for syria creates and exports crises. the assassination in turkey is the latest and there is still no

coherent international desire to bring peace any closer. well, from syria to brexit to the us presidential election, 2016 has been a year like no other. just a short time ago, donald trump surpassed the 270 votes needed in the electoral college to clinch the presidency. our special correspondent allan little has the first report in a new series looking at how the world changed in 2016. how does america get its news? how does it know who or what to trust? traditionally, the news has come from places like this. the tribune democrat of western pennsylvania still rolls off the machinery of a predigital age. you find conflicting opinions in its pages, a diversity of views. it offers its readers a shared public reality, within which they can disagree,

dispute and challenge each other. but does that guiding journalistic purpose also now belong to a fading, predigital age? i think of the mission here as both to chronicle the life of a community, and also to help it move through its challenges. when i grew up and went to college there, we were always challenging ourselves to look at where the message came from. i don't know if people want to know that any more. i think theyjust want to be, "i'm here and this is what i think." and that's interesting to me, but it's also terrifying. traditional journalism is losing its power to the internet and the echo chamber of social media. there are two americas now. each listening to its own preferred news sources. two parallel public realities. what do we have here? this is something that appeared frequently on social media, and it's a quote attributed to donald trump and it says,

"people magazine, 1998". and the quote is, "if i were to run, i would run as a republican. they're the dumbest group of voters in the country. they believe anything on fox news." it sounds very authentic, doesn't it? it sounds like the real donald trump! but he never said this. it's a total made up quote. fake news has now infiltrated us politics. the internet is full of it. online, made—up stories look like real ones. and they will confirm what you already believe. this is a fake news website. "pope francis shocks world, endorses donald trump for president. releases statement." and this was shared like a million times on social media. the debunking of that fake piece was shared 30,000 times. are there also now two britains, each with their own parallel truths? remember this claim made by the campaign to leave the eu?

this is what that bus looks like now. new livery, new colours, the "£350 million a week for the nhs" is gone. just as it's gone from the national discourse. is this britain's version of post—truth politics? we knew exactly who made the claim made on the side of this bus. they were challenged every day on television. there is still a shared public reality in british politics, a common square where news is generated and consumed. but it's gone in america and it could go here, too. the dangers to democracy are obvious. i think if you want to have a vision of the future, look to russia, where one of the things under vladimir putin has been about creating a regime where no—one can really know anything, and keeping people in this fog of uncertainty. someone trying to create an atmosphere in which there are no experts, nobody can know anything, so you probably better let a strongman kind of take charge and govern. and that's not great for democracy, is it? terrible.

terrible for democracy. and actually, terrible for journalism. but democracies also value freedom of speech, the right to say things others find offensive. who in the new media landscape is to police what's valid and what's fake, what's true and what's post—truth? 2016 has given the question new urgency. alan little, bbc news. you've been watching newsday. stay with us. we will be talking to uber‘s boss in asia about his plans for the region after taiwan passed laws to ban ride—sharing apps. and before we go, let's take a look at these pictures. 12 people now confirmed dead in that attack in berlin. much more online. thanks for watching. hello there. our weather is set to undergo

a marked change in conditions over the next 36 hours to take us through the rest of the week, with wetter and windier spells set to work their way in. pushing this change is a jetstream that is now roaring into life out of north america, charging across the atlantic towards us. and with some pretty high speeds in amongst thatjetstream it will whip up some deep areas of low pressure very close to the uk late this week and to take us into the christmas weekend, one system after another. we will keep you updated, of course, on all those details as we get closer. out there today, though, it is still a fairly quiet, benign picture. to the south and east of the front, it is largely frost free, with patchy rain and drizzle on the front. we start the day in scotland and northern ireland with the chilly conditions, widespread frost, and some patches of mist and fog. much of scotland will be fog free but lots of frost around first thing. lots of sunshine too. first hints of a change as the breeze picking up

in the hebrides to begin the morning. winds in northern ireland to begin with. they will shift later as the breeze picks up. not too much problem with the wind across england and wales. fairly light winds here. but compared with recent days, not as misty, a few breaks in the cloud for central and eastern england. to the west, around here, cloudy outbreaks of rain. that will be around that same areas all day long. away from that, central and eastern england, more sunshine than recent days but heavy showers on the south coast. still some brightness for eastern scotland through the day. turning wetter and windier for northern ireland and western scotland. gales or severe gales developing here to finish the day. wet and windy weather into england and wales into wednesday morning. that will open the door to cold air and clear skies with showers for wednesday in scotland. and along the little front on wednesday the wind will pick up. that could cause a few travel issues. if you are heading out, gales, severe gales at times as wind accompanies the showers, dropping snow notjust on the hills but at lower levels at times in the far north. on wednesday, northern england, the midlands, wales, dry and bright.

fairly cloudy in the south with occasional rain. that will clear into thursday. better weather on thursday, less breezy. chilly, especially further north, with a noticeable breeze. and some further showers at times. then stormy weather into the end of the week. and as christmas approaches, a deep area of low pressure pushes north—west. if your travel plans are weather dependent, keep tuned to the forecast. i'm kasia madera with bbc news. our top story: a truck has been driven into a christmas market in berlin. 12 people were killed and many more injured. police have arrested the apparent driver of the truck who'd earlier fled the scene and whose nationality is not known. russia's ambassador to turkey, andrey karlov, has been shot dead by an off—duty police officer. russian officials have described it as an act of terror. and this story is popular on bbc.com. the us electoral college has cleared the way for donald trump to become the next american president. they ignored a five—million—signature petition urging them to defy tradition and choose mrs clinton, who received more than two million more votes than mr trump. that's all from me for now. stay with bbc news.

and the top story here in the uk: an inmate has admitted breaking out of pentonville prison in north london last month.