welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm mike embley. our top stories: new images of the main suspect in the berlin attack. shock as donald trump tweets that the united states needs to greatly expand its nuclear capability. australian police foil what they believe was a terror plot targeting melbourne on christmas day. five people are arrested, explosives found. describing life under siege in aleppo, the seven—year—old syrian girl whose social media messages moved so many, around the world. we start with breaking news from germany, where police have

arrested two people suspected of planning an attack on a shopping centre. local media reports that the two men, aged 28 and 31, were arrested in duisburg just before 1:00am local time. earlier in the evening, police in nearby oberhausen deployed heavily armed officers at the centro shopping mall and a nearby christmas market. there is a brief statement from essen police saying the two man were suspected of planning an attack on the mall. all this as the search goes on for the main suspect in monday's attack on a christmas market. german police now say there is clear evidence to link their main suspect, a tunisian man, anis amri, to monday's attack on a christmas market in berlin.

his fingerprints have been found in the truck driven into shoppers, killing 12. at the family home in tunisia, amri's brother called on him to give himself up. chancellor merkel has praised the calm way germans have responded to the attack, as our europe correspondent damian grammaticas reports. it is new footage that hasjust emerged. the scene immediately after monday's attack, filmed from a dashboard—mounted camera. a few seconds earlier, this is what happened. we have slowed the footage. from the left comes the lorry at speed, heading straight for the christmas market. and this is anis amri, the man police say was driving it, filming himself humming nonchala ntly in berlin, the video posted to his facebook page in september. now, the 24—year—old tunisian is europe's most—wanted man. police first found his id documents in the cab of the lorry. now, tests have shown his fingerprints on the door and the bodywork. the conclusion — he was at the wheel. angela merkel this afternoon thanked germans for their measured reaction to the attack. translation: our thoughts

are constantly with the victims' relatives, and with the injured. we owe it to them to give this our very best. i can say that we have done a lot in recent years to meet the challenge of terrorism. the police raids in germany earlier today targeted anis amri's known contacts, turning up nothing. his family, back in tunisia, last saw him five years ago. they say he wasn't religious, drank alcohol, and dreamed of owning a car, starting a business. translation: if my brother is listening to me, i want to tell him to surrender, for the sake of our family. we'll be relieved. if he did what he's suspected of having done, he'll be sanctioned, and it will be a dishonour for us. but i'm sure that my brother is innocent. anis amri left his family, travelling illegally to italy, in 2011. he spent four years in jail for violence and theft, but without a passport he couldn't be deported to tunisia. so, last year, he moved to kleve in germany. denied asylum, once again he wasn't deported.

security services feared he was trying to get automatic weapons for an attack. but, with no new evidence, surveillance of him was halted in september. so there are serious questions. should the authorities have taken the threat posed by anis amri more seriously? but, for most germans, as the markets reopen here, with new security barriers, criticisms of the police are less important than how they respond. so getting breitscheidplatz up and running today was symbolic for berlin. we have to respond to the terrorism, that we don't care, we're going to open, we are not scared. because it's exactly what they want. the crowds were thinner than usual, but wanted to show they wouldn't be cowed. "i've come to show we must not hide", says rosemary. "i'm very sad. i was here on monday. luckily i left before it happened." "i feel anger and sadness, more anger", says annika. "i didn't know any of the victims,

but it makes me really angry." not so much fear as defiance, then, berliners determined to show they won't give up the things they value and enjoy. donald trump, just a month from being sworn in as american president, has said the us must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability. he made the call, which would be a break with decades of american strategy, in a post on social media. hours before, vladimir putin said russia should fortify its military nuclear potential. mr trump's advisers insist he is warning of the dangers of terrorist groups and unstable regimes getting nuclear weapons. here is our defence correspondent jonathan beale. america and russia still hold more than 90% of the world's nuclear stockpiles, both able to deliver destruction on a massive scale, by ground, sea or air. for a quarter of a century,

they have been reducing their nuclear arsenal. but the question now, is the arms race about to resume? tonight, president—elect donald trump tweeted: it caught many by surprise, including the obama administration. i can't speak for what the president—elect‘s nuclear views, or his policy going forward. that's for him and his team to speak to. what i can speak to is the approach that this administration has taken, to try to get us on a path to a world without nuclear weapons. president putin, too, has been ramping up the nuclear rhetoric. today, addressing his military commanders, he talked of the need to strengthen russia's strategic nuclear forces. translation: we can say with certainty that we are stronger

now than any potential aggressor. anyone. both the united states and russia have made large cuts to their nuclear arsenals since the height of the cold war. but they still have many weapons. the us have stock piles of 7,000 warheads, of which 1,900 are deployed, or ready to use. russia has just over 7,000, with just under 1,800 deployable. while the uk has 250 warheads, of which 120 are available to use, and could be fired from its vanguard submarines. both america and russia are already modernising their nuclear weapons systems at significant cost. what is not clear now is whether donald trump now wants to go much further. tensions have been rising with russia, these us troops on exercise in the baltics a response to its intervention in ukraine. russia's military campaign in syria has deepened the rift.

but donald trump has signalled he wants to improve relations with moscow, so his comments might be more directed at north korea, whose unpredictable leader boasts of now being a nuclear power, or even iran. donald trump has threatened to rip up a deal over its nuclear programme, still suspicious of iran's intentions. what donald trump did with that tweet was restart the nuclear arms race. it's notjust strengthen our nuclear arsenal, it's expand our nuclear arsenal. we have arms control agreements that limit, that reduce, that cap the weapons we deploy. he pays no heed to that, seems to want to bust through the caps. with nuclear weapons, words matter. once again, a donald trump tweet has surprised, and raised plenty of questions. jonathan beale, bbc news. daryl kimball is a specialist on nuclear arms control

and non—proliferation. i asked him if a new arms race was about to begin. well, there has been a slow—moving technological arms race, involving all the world's nuclear countries, for the last several years. the us and russia are replacing their cold war systems. they have not been talking about further reductions for some time, mainly due to the tensions over ukraine. the us and russia still have, as your report said, many more strategic deployed nuclear weapons than are necessary to deter nuclear attack. so these kinds of comments, these offhand comments from mr trump, about expanding and strengthening the us nuclear capacity, i think, sends the wrong signal to vladimir putin about us intentions and directions. the united states and russia cannot afford to get back on the nuclear treadmill, trying to outpace one another. they can and should get back

to the table, address the many difficult issues in the relationship, and seek ways to reduce the nuclear excess, and along the way save money. daryl, there is a reading, isn't there, that this is more about the us and russia being willing to use nukes against a third party? they might use small, tactical nukes against is targets, but then vladimir putin might feel justified in threatening the baltic states, or using them against the baltic states. well, ithink, you know, if that is the intention of the tweet, and i think that would be reading too much into it, at this point. you know, that is a radically different concept than either the united states or russia have had regarding the role of nuclear weapons.

i mean, these weapons are only there to deter nuclear use. these are not usable weapons. they're vitally different from conventional arms. if donald trump intends to hold back proliferation, the spread of nuclear weapons, building up the us nuclear capacity is not going to do any good. it will make the situation worse. in order to deal with north korea, he has got to engage kimjong—un in a dialogue to try to freeze north korea's nuclear and missile testing, which is helping them improve their own nuclear capacity, which is still relatively small, but getting more dangerous. he needs to avoid ripping up the nuclear deal with iran, that is successfully blocking their path to nuclear weapons. so that's the way to hold back proliferation, not to brandish nuclear weapons, and to talk about expanding capacity, at a time when we have far too many than we need,

and we can't afford to spend more. your report mentioned how much these cost, $1 trillion over the next 30 years to sustain and modernise the us force. that's putting great pressure on the us defence budget. donald trump has asked a leading plane manufacturer to provide an estimate for a new fighter jet, after complaining about spiralling costs. the president—elect said, in another social—media post, "based on the tremendous cost, and cost overruns, of the lockheed martin f—35, i have asked boeing to price out a comparable f—18 super hornet. he met chief executives of lockheed martin and boeing this week. some defence industry analysts have been critical, insisting the two planes are not comparable. police in australia believe they have foiled a terror attack in melbourne, planned, allegedly, for christmas day. several people have been arrested in overnight raids in the northern suburbs. explosives were found. we found the makings of an improvised explosive device.

we believe that there was an intention to conduct a — what we call a multi—mode attack, possibly on christmas day. the possible locations that we've been working on have been federation square, flinders street station and st paul's cathedral. earlier i got the latest from the bbc‘s hywel griffith, in sydney. we're learning more about those people who've been detained. five men, four of them australian—born, the fifth an egyptian—australian citizen, all in their 20s, all living in different suburbs around melbourne. now, we understand, during the raid, that the police officers recovered some forms or elements of an improvised explosive device, and weapons, knives, possibly a firearm too. so when they appear in court later they will be charged with serious terrorism offences, planning what the police allege was a multi—mode attack, a major attack, right

in the heart of melbourne. and we understand that they were intercepted after a surveillance operation lasting two or three weeks. some of the men, we're told, were known to the police, some not. but they say that they're now confident that they've picked up a large part of this cell, which they believe were about to be active. and the phrase being used about them is self—radicalised. yes, suggesting really that this is a homegrown terror threat, not people who've come into the country. as i said, all five living here for the last few years, but inspired, we're told, by the so—called islamic state propaganda and events oversea. some of that radicalisation may be happening online. of course, we're yet to know exactly how that threat would have played out, the police saying here that this is the 12th operation they've managed to thwart in some two years or so. and this is a period when melbourne, and other cities, like sydney, see thousands, hundreds of thousands, of people passing

through. christmas day, then boxing day, and the major cricket test in melbourne, here on new year's eve, the fireworks drawing in lots of people. so they see these as key, marquee events which would be potentially susceptible to a terror threat. but they will be fully policed, and they can carry on enjoying the australian way of life. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: solidarity in santa fe. we head to the so—called sanctuary city to find out how people feel about donald trump's campaign pledge to deport undocumented immigrants. 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 noriega. the pentagon said the operation had been 90% successful, but it's failed in its principal objective, to capture general noriega 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 bbc news. the latest headline: the police in germany have made further arrests, as they continue their search for the chief suspect, anis amri, whose fingerprints were found in the lorry driven into a christmas market in berlin. there's new pressure

on the philippines' outspoken president rodrigo duterte. the country's independent human rights watchdog is to investigate, after he claimed to have killed several drug suspects personally. mr duterte has responded, calling the un "stupid idiots". tom donkin reports. philippines president rodrigo duterte was swept to power injune on a promise to rid his country of illegal drugs and those who traffic them. his critics argue he has authorised police, vigila ntes, and so—called death squads to shoot suspected users and dealers on site. by his own admission, the president himself says he has personally killed. earlier this week, the un cited that confession, calling for an independent human rights group in the philippines to act and investigate mr duterte for murder. they've agreed and will reopen an earlier investigation into the actions of the president. we are hoping with these new revelations and admissions we can further the investigation and ultimately have charges. mr duterte has been unforgiving when discussing his methods.

recently he admitted to the bbc that he himself had killed drug suspects while he was mayor of the southern city of davao. i killed about three of them because there were three of them. i don't really know how many bullets from my gun went inside their bodies, but it happened. as i said, i cannot lie about it. in his typically defiant style, he has responded to the investigation against him: while the many, and in some cases mysterious, recent killings in the philippines have alarmed leaders around the world, rodrigo duterte has vowed to continue his campaign as long as he is in power, knowing full well that for the moment, while he is president, his country's constitution guards him from prosecution or punishment. tom donkin, bbc news. the italian government has approved a decree that will allow it

to use up to 20 billion euros of public money to bail out the country's struggling banks. following the announcement, italy's third largest bank, monte dei paschi di siena, immediately said it would ask for a capital injection. on wednesday, the bank had failed to raise the 5 billion euros of fresh capital it needed from the private sector. the syrian army says it's in complete control of aleppo, state television showed crowds waving flags and shouting slogans in support of president assad. amongst the thousands of civilians brought out of the ruined city in recent days was 7 year—old bana alabed, whose messages on social media have moved people around the world. our correspondent, orla guerin, has been to meet bana and her mother. hello, i am bana. i am seven years old, i am from aleppo. from the rubble of aleppo to the red carpet in ankara, bana alabed and herfamily are now being hosted by the turkish government, which opposes

the syrian regime. when we met, this child of war told me how her own home was flattened by a bomb. translation: we were playing happily and planning to go out, and suddenly it landed. so we got scared and ran to the basement. when our house was bombed, we got out of the rubble safely. but we were about to die, because the house was collapsing. her updates from inside aleppo echoed around the world, with help from her mother, who manages her twitter account. but some have questioned whose views were being shared. when your mum was tweeting, was she tweeting your words or tweeting her words? me and mum. together? yes.

her mother, fatima, insists the twitter account was bana's idea, but admits it is a way to combat the regime. i think there now was a big fight out there. and i think our twitter was a weapon. your twitter was a weapon? yes. but the tweets attracted threats, and made it harderfor the family to join the mass evacuation of eastern aleppo. fatima got bana on to one of the buses disguised as a boy. today, the last opposition fighters retreated from their former stronghold, and by the evening the syrian army was in control of the entire city, for the first time in more than 11.5 years. just days after escaping all this, bana dreams of returning. translation: i was happy to leave, but sad at the same time.

i wish i could go back to aleppo, go back home. i want to live in my house, because i love it, even if it had been bombed. i love my house. in english: we shall overcome some day. before saying goodbye, bana sang us a song about childhood and stolen freedoms. # i am a child with something to say...# one voice, raised for countless others, who often go unheard. orla guerin, bbc news, ankara. among the many things presidential candidate trump promised on the campaign trail was to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. he also threatened to cut federal funding for the so—called ‘sanctuary cities' which protect them from prosecution. santa fe is one such city — and its officials are defiant. franz strasser reports. we will end the sanctuary cities.

cities that refused to co—operate with federal authorities will not receive taxpayer dollars. we are not going to be bullied by federal policy that has us compromise values that we know are very defining for our community. what is a sanctuary city? well, all it means that when a resident comes in contact with local law inforcemnet he will not be asked about his legal status and the localjail will not hold undocumented immigrants for deportation procedings unless they regard them as violent criminals. despite threats of funding cuts by donald trump, major us cities have already come out in favour of remaining sanctuaries. they represent a quarter of all undocumented residents in the us.

and if they don't cooperate, it is going to be hard for the president—elect to enforce his deportation plan. i want you to know your city will stand by you and protect you every step of the way. with14% of our population being made up of immigrants, we can't afford to lose them back into the shadows or to see them leave our community because we rely on them showing up day in and day out to provide critical services to our community. my children are american citizens and i am not and that worries me a lot because we can be separated. fabiola entered the country illigally with her parents when she was a child. an executive order by president obama in 2012 gave her temporary legal status, a place at nursing school, and a job at the hospital. yeah, i have betterjob. my kids have a better quality of life. we have a better quality of life, um, and we are thinking about buying our house. yeah, ‘cause i feel safe,

i don't feel afraid. that executive order, along with her city sanctuary status is now under threat. my fear is that i'm not going to feel free any more, i'm not going to feel confident to buy a house. critics of sanctuary cities say they shield criminals from being detected by federal authorities and put residents in danger. santa fe's mayor says while the city has always pursued violent criminals it will not use its local police to enforce sweeping deportation plans. we need law enforcement to focus on combating crime in our city that can be hurtful to our citizens, not being stanchions of a federal policy that seeks to destroy families and hurt people. franz strasser thank you for watching. yesterday was the calm before the

storm. this system continues to develop and deepen and it will come racing off the atlantic across the north—west of the uk as we into friday. they work into the north—west of scotland where the strongest winds will be, up to 90 miles per hour. it will windy start to the day across all parts of the country. gales developing for northern ireland and scotland. the rain will come as well. they will not last too long as the band swings across the irish sea, gusts of maybe 70 mph. after a across the irish sea, gusts of maybe 70 mph. aftera bright across the irish sea, gusts of maybe 70 mph. after a bright start across eastern england, rain swinging

through as we had through friday will evening. for the northern isles, as we go through friday night gusts could reach 90 miles per hour hence the weather warning in force for these strong winds. those blistering conditions will continue overnight as barbara gradually push is northwards. it was a blustery through the night with some wintry showers lawn in across the hills of scotla nd showers lawn in across the hills of scotland so you could have some difficult driving conditions first thing christmas eve. england and wales will be quieter. some decent weather for travelling around full risk is if the england and wales. sunny spells coming through. a little cloud across the west. band of rain through northern ireland and western scotland. temperatures will be lifting. the highest temperatures 11 degrees towards the south of the

uk. what about the big day itself? for christmas day, south—westerly winds, the weather front approaching but between these two weather fronts a wedge of milder crossing the uk so rather than being a white christmas for many of us it will be a warm christmas. highs of around 15 degrees. it will stay it windy and overnight we could systems are returning to the hills of scotland. the headlines on bbc news: german police have arrested two men they suspect of planning an attack on a shopping centre near the dutch border. and across europe, police are still hunting the tunisian anis amri. his fingerprints have been found in the cab of the truck that ploughed through a crowded christmas market on monday, killing 12 people. donald trump has said the united states must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability. his transition team later said he was referring to the threat of nuclear proliferation among terrorist organisations and rogue regimes. police in australia have arrested

five men suspected of planning a terrorist attack in melbourne on christmas day. they say the plot may have involved explosives and other weapons. high—profile locations, including a train station and a cathedral, are thought to have been the targets. now it's time for panorama. loud explosion this is war as i've known it all my career. it's rarely been armies fighting armies. for the most part, it's been guerrilla warfare. explosion suicide bomber and the sniper on the one side, tanks and planes on the other. gunfire my producer and i are

on the road in northern iraq. there's not an awful lot of room. this is the kind of thing i've been doing for virtually all my 50 years, heading off to some front—line in an armoured vehicle with my flak