hello. you're watching bbc news. i'm adnan nawaz. our top story this hour: death on the streets of berlin. police question a man after a truck ploughed into people visiting a christmas market in the german capital. 12 people are dead. many more are injured. welcome to the programme. our other main stories this hour: vladimir putin says the murder of russia's ambassador to turkey was aimed at derailing peace efforts in syria. and — it's official, the electoral college confirms the vote. donald trump will be the next president of the united states. i'm sally bundock. in business: an experimental year comes to an end for the bank of japan. it gives an upbeat outlook for the world's third—biggest economy and keeps monetary policy steady. going, going, gone — cyrus mistry finally steps down from the boards of tata companies — but says he will bring legal action. we're live to mumbai for the latest.

the german authorities are questioning a man who they suspect deliberately drove a truck into a crowded christmas market in berlin, killing at least 12 people. 48 others were injured — several of them seriously. germany's interior minister says there are many signs suggesting a deliberate attack. it happened around 8.30 in the evening, local time, in a busy area in the heart of the german capital. this is the live shot of what is usually a very busy area. if you know burling, it is very close to the main shopping street of berlin. it is early in the morning there now. eyewitnesses describe the vehicle ploughing through a square near the kaiser wilhelm memorial church, with no apparent attempt to slow down. greg dawson reports.

and the lights of one of berlin's biggest christmas markets, investigators examined the lorry that has caused so much death and destruction. it was loaded with steel beams when it ran off the road and smashed into crowds. this shows the immediate aftermath. moments earlier, people had been enjoying food and drink. rhys meredith was visiting the market with his girlfriend. we heard it knocking down the stalls at an amazing rate of knots. there was no skidding wheels, clearly no attempt to slow down, despite him veering out of the market. the driver of the lorry fled on foot, but a man was arrested nearby shortly afterwards. reports claim he is an asylum seeker

from either afghanistan or pakistan. he arrived in germany in february. the vehicle had come from poland, and police say a polish citizen was found dead in the passenger seat. the lorry‘s owner says his driver could not have been responsible. translation: the person who was driving and jumped out of the truck was not my driver. i can vouch for my driver. they did something to him, and hijacked his truck. 48 people were injured, some of them are ina 48 people were injured, some of them are in a critical condition. translation: it is terrible to witness this. i had hoped we would never experience something like this here in berlin. police on the ground are doing everything they can. they are working with fire crews and hospitals, and are making sure the injured are 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. the scenes are a reminder of the

lorry attack on bastille day crowds in the french city of nice injuly, when 86 people were killed. the so—called islamic state group claimed responsibility. in the city. but the german government has said the evidence so far points to this being a deliberate attack. greg dawson, bbc news. the german police have not yet said who was behind the incident, but the us president—elect donald trump has issued a statement, saying: germany's foreign minister frank—walter steinmeier said: he went on to say: and in france, security has been increased at christmas markets

across the country. president francois hollande described the incident as a "tragedy that has hit all of europe". our other major story is the assassination of russia's ambassador to turkey. andrei karlov was addressing a gathering in ankara, when an off—duty turkish police officer shot him several times in the back and head, shouting "don't forget aleppo" and " there have recently been days of protests in turkey against russia's role in syria. our turkey correspondent mark lowen has the latest. his report does contain 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 40 years of diplomatic experience, ambassador in ankara since 2013. 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. whojoins me now from boston. thank you for your time. how much of what happened across europe, there we re what happened across europe, there were a number of violent incidents. how much could they be attributed to the fallout from the war in syria? well, i think they are different. the situation in berlin with the

presumably pakistani driver, we don't really know much about the motive. we are not even that confident about the perpetrator. so we really just need confident about the perpetrator. so we reallyjust need to wait. with respect to the one in turkey, though, that attack clearly seems related to syria, because the attacker said that after killing the ambassador, don't forget aleppo, don't forget syria. furthermore, when you think about it, that makes a lot of sense. turkey is very much interested in the rebels in syria in a way that pakistanis really are not. so i would really only make one of them directly to syria at this point. it hasjust come up on a french news agency that the german police are now saying that the truck that killed these people at the berlin christmas market was driven into the crowd intentionally. that word has now officially been used by the german police. the country's

interior minister had hinted there was enough to suggest it was a deliberate act. how often does a terror event like this, a terrorist attack, you are the result is a terrorist once? —— yield the result isa terrorist once? —— yield the result is a terrorist once? we can't really speculate because we do not have direct access into the minds of terrorists. if the goal of the terrorists. if the goal of the terrorist is simply to kill a lot of people without that sophisticated technology to attract attention from all over the world, then sure, terrorism and perhaps by definition has a 100% success rate. terrorism terror rises. however, the political effects of that violence often backfire on the perpetrators. so for example, the attack in turkey is actually only going to spare president putin to ramp up russian

intervention in syria and to further crush the rebels which he deems terrorists in the first place —— spur. in germany, it will put extra pressure on angela merkel to maybe apologise for letting so many asylum seekers and refugees into the country, ensure, islamophobia in germany will rise. the political effects of the violence often go against the presumed goals of the perpetrators. victims of terror are all over the world. it doesn't matter whether it is a muslim country, a christian country. people are dying all over the world. politicians all over the world do not seem to have the answer about how to keep their people say. what has history taught us about when this kind of asymmetric warfare is involved, when there is an ideological battle going on? is there anything in history they can

teach us how to find some kind of way forward? sure. ithink teach us how to find some kind of way forward? sure. i think people often talk about terrorist groups in binary terms. either the group is going to thrive, or essentially it will be killed. but i think it is more useful to recognise the terrorist groups are very often quite fluid, and this explains their longevity. so for example, the mujahideen, after they repelled the soviets from afghanistan, they do not disappear. they thought of a way to reinvent themselves, and basically, they would become or at least elements of them would become al-qaeda. so terrorist groups are whatjessica stern al-qaeda. so terrorist groups are what jessica stern has al-qaeda. so terrorist groups are whatjessica stern has called protein in the sense that they continuously reinvent their political rationale. i think islamic state will undergo the same process. it will abandon it streams of the

caliphate in iraq and syria, but it will find some kind of popular reason in order to try to rally people from all over the world —— dreams. the real question is will islamic state continue to thrive in its current form but rather what would the abolition of today's terrorism threat look like next year and in the coming decade? professor, we really appreciate your time. thank you. my pleasure. in other news: the executive board of the imf has reaffirmed its confidence in its director, christine lagarde. a french court found her guilty of negligence over a huge compensation payment made when she was the french finance minister, but the court did not punish her. the case relates to a payment of more than $400 million to the disgraced tycoon bernard tapie. president 0bama has pardoned 78 people and shortened the sentence of 153 others convicted of federal crimes, the greatest number of individual clemencies in a single day by any us president. he's focused primarily on shortening the sentences of those convicted of drug offences rather

than giving pardons. the australian transport safety authority says experts believe the missing malaysian aircraft, flight mh370 is almost certainly not in the current search zone in the remote indian ocean, but could be further north. investigators now want to extend the search area. the plane disappeared in march 2014 with 239 people on board. the immolation transport minister has responded by saying malaysia has not abandoned hope of finding the aircraft —— malaysia and transport minister. ah van on x. —— abenomics. sally is here with the business news. that is all you have to say. in the last few hours, the bank ofjapan has concluded its latest policy meeting. it kept monetary policy steady and offered a brighter view of the economy — that's because it believes a weaker yen and a rebound in overseas demand will boost growth in the new year.

that's good news forjapanese policymakers, who are attempting to revive the country's flagging economy using a series of landmark reforms. last month, japan was given a boost by the fact its currency fell by over 9% against the us dollar as investors speculated the us central bank would raise interest rates this month — which it did. a weaker yen boosts the profits of japanese exporters as their goods are cheaper overseas, but there are still many question marks over the so—called abenomics programme implemented by the japanese government. we will talk about that in detail in world business report. we will also talk about this, cyrus mistry. the boardroom battle is over for now. former tata sons chairman cyrus mistry has resigned from the boards of all tata group—listed firms. but he is vowing to continue to push for better corporate governance at the indian conglomerate. mr mistry‘s resignation comes ahead of several shareholder meetings at tata steel and tata motors to remove him from their boards. we will be talking about that mystery and have the other business

stories. i will see you soon. thank you. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: truly transformative — that's how surgeons describe a new treatment for prostate cancer involving lasers and deep—sea bacteria. we saw an enormous tidal wave approaching the beach. suddenly it was complete chaos. us troops have been trying to overthrow the dictatorship of noriega. the pentagon said the operation had been 90% successful but it had failed in its principal objective, to capture noriega and ten taking to the united states. the russian flag was hoisted over what is now no longer the soviet union.

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. the latest headlines: german authorities are questioning a man who they suspect deliberately drove a truck into a crowded christmas market in berlin, killing at least 12 people. russia's president vladimir putin has described monday's assassination of his country's ambassador to turkey as an act of provocation aimed at derailing peace efforts in syria. three men have been injured in a gun attack at a muslim prayer centre in the swiss city of zurich. police said an unknown person entered the islamic centre and began shooting. 0fficers searching for the gunman say a body has been found a few hundred metres away —

but it's not clear if that person is connected with the attack. police seal off the area surrounding the islamic centre not far from zurich‘s main train station. 0fficers continue their investigation into this senseless attack on people at prayer. it was around 5:30pm local time when the gunmen entered the building, used as a mosque, and opened fire. eyewitnesses described him as being around 30 years old, wearing dark clothing and a dark cap. three people were injured, two of them seriously. translation: the three men who have been shot are in hospital. we couldn't question them yet. we are looking for eyewitnesses. i can tell you there's no more danger for the public. not far away a body was found, but police won't say if it was the suspect or if it's connected to the shooting at all. the victims are believed to be from somalia. locals say the mosque attracted muslims from all around the world. translation: this mosque has been here since 2012 and we've never

had any problems. we never had to deal with the police, we never had arguments. this was a quiet, joyful place. no problems here but there have been tensions in switzerland. the country's islamic population rising to around 5%, part of that increase due to immigration from the former yugoslavia. police on patrol, the investigation goes on, officers say they will reveal more details on tuesday. tim allman, bbc news. there have been clashes in the democratic republic of the com go after demands that the president step down. monday should have been his last day in office. his term ended at midnight but there have been no elections to choose a successor. 0pposition says they will

reject any move by the president to extend his rule. the red card is one of the symbols that his detractors say should be brandished to remind him that it is time for him to go. donald trump has been formally elected as the next president of the united states. as expected, members of the electoral college, themselves chosen by the election in november, have voted in favour of mrtrump. most ignored last—minute calls urging them to defy tradition and choose mrs clinton, who received nearly three million more votes than the president—elect. bill hayton reports. this is where the president of the united states is actually elected. after months of primaries, campaigning and voting day itself, this is how the us constitution says it must be done. at small meetings across the country, one in each of the 50 states, plus another in washington, dc, trusted citizens cast their votes for the next occupant of the white house. you're here to represent a constitution and you're here to represent the voice

of the people of this state, even if it may not agree with your own views. 0n election day, citizens don't vote directly for the president. they vote for electors, one for each congressperson the state sends to washington. those 538 electors then elect the president. in almost all states it's a winner takes all system, so in pennsylvania where donald trump's victory margin was less than 1% he still gets all 20 electoral college votes. attempts to persuade electors to become faithless and not vote for him came to nothing. the people voted and they placed their vote as they should and had a right to on november the eighth, and that's the basis of the vote we placed today in my mind, i placed that vote for the people of pennsylvania who voted in a certain way. hillary clinton actually won 2.5 million more votes than donald trump but lost in the electoral college.

that infuriated some of her supporters, especially those who believe the outcome was influenced by russian government hacking. the trump campaign wants to turn the page, mike pence tweeted his congratulations. barring unforeseen events, at midday onjanuary the 20, he'll become vice president and donald trump the 45th president of the united states. bill hayton, bbc news. in the english premier league, the merseyside derby finished with late drama on monday. four minutes into stoppage time at goodison park, liverpool's sadio mane scored the only goal of the game against. everton. liverpool are second, six points behind the leaders chelsea. everton are in ninth place. we could have scored earlier. we had a lot of chances but we gave a lot

of them away, i think. it was quite difficult when your game is disturbed and, yeah... not the ha rd est disturbed and, yeah... not the hardest shot but hard enough. enough to finish the situation. a wonderful feeling, actually. surgeons have described a new treatment for early—stage prostate cancer as "truly transformative". the approach which uses lasers and a drug made from deep sea bacteria, can eliminate tumours without causing severe side effects that commonly occur with surgery. more than 400 men took part in the trial. here's our health and science reporter, james gallagher. gerald is now free from prostate cancer and feeling good. but when he was diagnosed with a stick and under— treat the tumour but develop long—term side—effects like impotence or ink on to incontinence or let him go. gerald's surgeon

offered him something pioneering. i was looking onwards with my life and wa nted was looking onwards with my life and wanted to have the same quality of living, as it were, as i had enjoyed in the past. ifeel that living, as it were, as i had enjoyed in the past. i feel that the treatment i got confirmed that. the drug is made from bacteria that grow in the dark depths of the ocean. it is only toxic when exposed to light. it is injected into the prostate. then up to ten of these lasers are inserted into the tumour to activate the drug and killjust the cancerous tissue. 0ver the drug and killjust the cancerous tissue. over 400 men took part in the trial. nearly half have no signs of cancer after treatment. and no patient had serious long—term side—effects. patient had serious long—term side-effects. the harm with traditional treatment has always been the side—effects. leaking urine, incontinence, sexual difficulties which occurs in the majority of men who have treatment. to have a new treatment now that we can administer to make it more

manageable, that is virtually free of those side—effects, is truly trans commedia. gerald says he is lucky to have been on the trail. but doctors want to see more long—term study before it is offered widely. michelle 0bama has spoken to 0prah winfrey for her final one—on—one interview inside the white house. she discussed her eight years as the first lady, the legacy she will leave behind and her plans for the future. she also had a advice for milani a trump. we spoke about the kids but my offer to milani was... you really don't know what you know until you are here. the door is open, as i have told her and does laura bush told me, you know, these are the third ladies told me. i am not new in this going—. my modelling what was done for me by the bushes. and laura bush was nothing but

gracious and helpful and her team was right there for my team. all throughout this entire process. and your team is doing the same? we will do whatever they need to help them succeed. that is one of the things that i said to milani r. when you get to a place where you can do just obvious and you have questions because, you know, you don't have questions the day after the election. you looking around the house and, like, well, what you want to know? i knew that. my door is open and that was the nature of the meeting. 25 past six in the morning in berlin. this is the scene of the attack that killed 12 people at 830 on monday evening. police have issued a few messages saying that the driver deliberately headed for the driver deliberately headed for the crowds at this market. we will keep you up—to—date. hello there.

the exact details of the forecast may change over the coming days but the general trend is one in which we see wet and wild conditions at times to ta ke see wet and wild conditions at times to take us right into christmas weekend. if you have any travel plans keep tuned to the forecast. a livelyjetstream plans keep tuned to the forecast. a lively jetstream shooting across plans keep tuned to the forecast. a livelyjetstream shooting across the atla ntic livelyjetstream shooting across the atlantic this week which is going to shake the weather up bringing us a deep areas of low pressure one after the other, particularly later this weekend. it we have had this charge before towards us and we can see strong and potentially disruptive wind. that is a few days away. 0ut there this morning it is a fairly quiet start to the day. there will bea quiet start to the day. there will be a lot of cloud across england and wales. clear skies and this is where we start with the frost. what's bred frost across scotland a sunny start for many. a hint of change into the hebrides as the breeze picks up quickly through the morning. light winds to begin with in northern ireland with dense patches of freezing fog before the moaning

commute. much of england will be dry, even brighter skies dim heads recent days. not as if you'll forgive. for the across south—west england with occasional rain or drizzle. to be used that we will see some sunny skies across eastern wales and much of england and such i continues east of scotland hall in northern ireland and western scotla nd northern ireland and western scotland the cloud thickens in the afternoon and the first sign that change. wet weather and strong to gale force is not severe gale force winds to finish the day in scotland. that weather then spreads across england and wales to take us into wednesday morning. colder conditions pushing to scotland and northern ireland and still windy and notices will weather frontier. that works its way eastwards, a band of intense showers and some very squally winds touching gale force is not severe gale force. snow was well even on modest hills. away from that we will see morning showers. northern england, wales and the midlands turning dry and sunny here in the

afternoon. clad across the south. the temperatures in figures but colder further north. the temperatures in figures but colderfurther north. but the temperatures in figures but colder further north. but she the temperatures in figures but colderfurther north. but she rain drizzle of those acres of south—east early on. further northward, sunshine and wintry showers and still feeling cold. that is all ahead of the first spell a particular wet and windy weather to ta ke particular wet and windy weather to take us on the approach to christmas weekend. stay tuned to the forecast, however with all the details. this is bbc news. the headlines: police in berlin have said the truck crashed into a popular christmas market, killing at least 12 people, was deliberately steered into the crowd. german authorities are questioning a man thought to be the driver. russia's president has described monday's assassination of his country's ambassador to turkey as an act of provocation aimed at derailing peace efforts in syria. andrei karlov was killed by an off—duty police officer. three worshippers have been injured in a gun attack at a muslim prayer centre in the swiss city of zurich. police said an unknown person entered the islamic centre where the worshippers

were gathered and began shooting. the us electoral college has cleared the way for donald trump to become the next american president. delegates confirmed the election of mr trump, who secured more electoral college votes than his rival hillary clinton.