you can see live pictures there from the floor of the us senate — where senators are preparing to take their own vote on the bill. the bill will need to pass in the senate and be signed by presidentjoe biden before midnight tonight to avoid a shutdown. we'll have more on that later. but first, our other top story. in germany, authorities are investigating a deadly incident at a christmas market. that's where a car ploughed through crowds at a christmas market, leaving at least two people dead — including a small child — and injuring more than 60. this is the scene live there now. emergency services and police are still in the area and hospitals are preparing for a mass casualty event. the suspect is said to be a 50—year—old doctor who's a saudi national and who has been in germany since 2006. saudi arabia's government has just come out with a strong statement condemning the attack and expressing solidarity with germany. the incident took place in a market in the centre of the city of magdeburg in east germany. with more here's frances read.

confusion, chaos. there are passers by tending to those injured on the ground. what sounds like children crying. and adults too. people are looking round, bewildered at what has just happened. eyewitnesses say a car drove at speed straight into dozens upon dozens of people. just a few hours ago, this market was bustling with people shopping and socialising in the days before christmas. ambulances and emergency services scrambled to help those they can, taking

people to hospital and treating at the scene. hospitals in the area told to deal with a mass casualty event. translation: this is a terrible tragedy, it's a catastrophe - for the city of magda bird and germany in general. for this to happen christmas market is hard to comprehend. attacks on citizens in germany are nothing new. eight years ago an articulated lorry bowed into a busy christmas market in the heart of berlin, killing 12 people and injuring many more. tonight, german police have arrested a doctor from saudi arabia who has been in germany since 2006. they believe an explosive device was in the car and investigators are now on site. but now they work to save lives in what has become another scene of horror. frances read, bbc news. anna noryskiewicz from our partners cbs news is on the scene and sent this report. we are in magdeburg at the

christmas market, worried an attack happened at roughly seven o'clock local time. a car was able to run through a huge crowd of people going for around 400 metres, injuring 60 people, 15 of them severely, killing two and one of them a toddler. it is not yet clear how the car was able to drive for so long until it stopped. the man, the suspect is a saudi man, a saudi doctor who has resided in germany since 2006. his motives are as yet unclear and it is as yet unclear how he was able to drive through the crowds, especially after security measures were in place after the berlin christmas market attack which happened exactly eight years ago. yesterday was the anniversary. and after that christmas attack in berlin that left 12 people dead they were all sorts of security measures, especially these barriers that you can see over there in green and red

that are supposed to stop cars from ploughing into the crowds and running into the crowds. how the driver managed to do that and to drive for so long is yet unclear. christmas markets in germany have a very long tradition. this is something that especially families and young children look forward to in the christmas season. they usually start in the last weekend of november and go through even after christmas. and today is a friday, where people on a busy friday, where people on a busy friday afternoon were out to do their last—minute christmas shopping and gather at the christmas markets. there were lots of families. the christmas market is known as famous for his attractions were children. 0ver his attractions were children. over here we can see a ferris wheel and a small theatre set “p wheel and a small theatre set up over there where we cannot access now. at christmas

markets in general, especially in the former eastern states of germany kameni any form east of germany, a very famous and people actually have the tradition to visit christmas markets all across the country and travel, especially on to visit different christmas markets and the magdeburg christmas market is especially famous for its attractions. joining me live is dr peter neumann, professor of security studies at king's college london. thank you for being with us at this hour. german authorities are treating as incident as an attack. just looking at the details we know so far, what's your assessment of what took place? i have been doing this for 25 years, i've never seen a case like this. we are dealing here with a 50—year—old man, a middle—aged man, who came from saudi into thousand and six to germany who is practising as a psychiatrist who everyone

initially believed must have been some kind of islamist because the attack looks very like the kind of isis attacks that we have been seeing for a while, but now that we know his identity and we can analyse some of his writings and things that he said it turns out he was not an islamist at all. he was not an islamist at all. he was actually an ex— muslim, an atheist, if anything quite hostile towards islam, and it seems he wanted to punish german society for being too welcoming to muslims. so, it doesn't make much sense at this point. it is very confusing. at this point they would see the motivation still seems to be unclear. ~ , ., motivation still seems to be unclear. , ., ., , unclear. we should say at this oint unclear. we should say at this point the _ unclear. we should say at this point the bbc _ unclear. we should say at this point the bbc is _ unclear. we should say at this point the bbc is working - unclear. we should say at this point the bbc is working to i point the bbc is working to verify some of those details about the alleged suspect in this case. we did hear germany's interior minister just last month was talking about the need for greater vigilance at these christmas markets across the country.

what sorts of security measures are in place right now? was there any kind of increased security after that warning? yes, absolutely. so, christmas markets have been targets in germany for terrorists for a number of years, exactly eight years and one day ago there was the infamous attack in berlin on the christmas market in 2016. the biggest islamist terrorist attack in germany's history. and again and again islamist�*s focus on these christmas markets. 0n the one hand, because you can find a lot of people there, there are big rows there, and they deeply want to kill a lot of people stop on the other hand, there is some sort of connection do christianity because it is about christmas. and so islamist have always promoted a tax on these kind of targets. that doesn't necessarily mean that was the case this time, in this case it is more complicated, but generally speaking there is a lot of

security there, there are bowlers around these christmas markets, there are a lot of police, cctv. people are very nervous, especially security agencies about these events. what is the conversation, what has the reaction been like in germany so far to this incident, among people there, but also among politicians? well, it's very interesting. we have an election coming up in february, so that's only eight or nine weeks away. and it's very likely this will play an important role in the election. a lot of far right politicians have immediately come out, condemned islamist, have condemned islamist, have condemned the political establishment for allowing refugees into the country from muslim countries. however, it quickly turned out this was not actually a recent refugee. this man had been in the country for 18 years and it may well turn out he was not an islamist after all. out he was not an islamist afterall. i out he was not an islamist after all. i think the general mood is that the far right will

try to exploit this anyway. they will say regardless of his motivation is person should have been in the first place. so, it is going to be very interesting to see how this plays out. it may well end up strengthening the far right even further.— strengthening the far right even further. there could be olitical even further. there could be political fall-out, _ even further. there could be political fall-out, as - even further. there could be political fall-out, as you - political fall—out, as you mentioned, could there, given the political uncertainty 0laf scholz, the current chancellor, not in a strong position as it is. could this kind of further weakening germany's chancellor? so his is has decided very quickly to immediately come to magdeburg to the town where the press must market was taking place to show he is taking this very seriously. nevertheless the far right will try to play this, try to spinners in their favour. they will say this person should have been any country, and even if he came to the country 18 years ago, long before the current chancellor

took over and, you know, the chancellor doesn't have responsibility for security arrangements at a local christmas market, they will still try to play this and to spin this in a way that harms the centrist parties. £31 the centrist parties. of course. _ the centrist parties. of course, we're - the centrist parties. of course, we're still waiting for some crucial details here. we don't know the motivation behind this incident, whether or not it was confirmed to be an attack or not. nevertheless, we are hearing new york police department announcing they will be visiting security at holiday festivals in the city. do you expect major cities, may be in the us, also across europe, might be a bit on edge after this? , , ., ., this? this is not without reason- _ this? this is not without reason. we _ this? this is not without reason. we know - this? this is not without reason. we know from i this? this is not without - reason. we know from numerous studies that there is a copycat effect. so, terrorists like to imitate what they consider to be successful attacks. so in 2016, for example, we had the first vehicle attack. terrorists are driving into a crime in —— crowd in eastern

france and suddenly we had these vehicle attacks everywhere because terrorists thought this is working. —— nice in france. when they saw this kind of attack on tv now other terrorists may be thinking let's do that. so there is a reason for this nervousness for being on the edge. and they are right to take additional security measures.— take additional security measures. �* , measures. all right, dr peter neumann, — measures. all right, dr peter neumann, professor - measures. all right, dr peter neumann, professor of - measures. all right, dr peter. neumann, professor of security studies at king's college in london. thank you for bringing us up today. we london. thank you for bringing us up today-— us up today. we appreciate that. thank _ us up today. we appreciate that. thank you _ us up today. we appreciate that. thank you very - us up today. we appreciatej that. thank you very much. we should mention we're still waiting for confirmation on some those details. we are workin: some those details. we are working to _ some those details. we are working to confirm - some those details. we are working to confirm a - some those details. we are working to confirm a lot - some those details. we are working to confirm a lot ofl working to confirm a lot of what took place tonight in germany independently here at the bbc. we will bring you what we learn as soon as we have it. and we have more developing news to bring you from here in washington. in the last couple of hours, members of the house of representatives approved a spending bill which would avert a threatened government shutdown. the vote was passed with the support of democrats. more than 30 republicans voted against it. the measure would fund government operations

until march and it was passed only a few hours before the deadline of midnight on friday. the bill still needs the approval of the senate. there had been a bipartisan agreement earlier this week, but it was derailed by criticism from president—elect trump and elon musk, who suggested a new deal. but dozens of republicans joined democrats to reject the trump—backed idea as it included a plan to increase the debt limit. speaker of the house, republican mikejohnson, says he was grateful the bill could pass in a bipartisan fashion. we are excited about this outcome tonight. we are grateful that everyone stood together to do the right thing and having gotten this done now as the last order business for the year we are set up a big and important new start in january. we can't wait to get

to that point. we encourage swift passage in the senate now. they need to do theirjob as the house just did and we will all go home. as the house just did and we willall go home. i as the house just did and we will all go home. i want to wish everybody a merry christmas, happy hanukkah, happy holidays, and a happy new year, because they hope not to see you until we get back. it's hard not to discount the desire by lawmakers to make atonement over the holidays. just after the us house passed the bill, we spoke to congressman glenn ivey for his reaction. he's a democrat from maryland. yeah, we were pretty pleased with yeah, we were pretty