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 is where a car ploughed through crowds, leaving at least two people dead, including a small child, and injuring more than 60. 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 is a saudi national and who has been in germany since 2006. saudi arabia's government has come out with a strong statement condemning the attack and expressing solidarty with germany. the incident took place in a market in the centre of the city of magdeburg in east germany. here is our correspondent 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 scramble 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 magdeburg and for germany in general. for this to happen at a christmas market is hard to comprehend. attacks on citizens in germany are nothing new. eight years ago, an articulated lorry ploughed 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. and investigators are not 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're in magdeburg at the christmas market, where an attack happened at roughly 7:00 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 yet unclear 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 yet unclear, and it is 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, there 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 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 for children. over here we can see a ferris wheel and a small theatre set up over there where we cannot access now. but at christmas markets in general, and especially in the former eastern states of germany, in the former east germany, are very famous. and people actually have a tradition to visit christmas markets all across the country and travel, especially on the weekends,

to visit different christmas markets. and the magdeburg christmas market is especially famous for its attractions. 0ur security correspondent frank gardner has this analysis. it's been a major incident for the first responders. they were very quickly on the scene. if you look at the footage of his actual arrest — i'm sure you will have access to that, it's been playing on local television and internationally — you'll see there's a relatively undecided response by the german police. they approach the man, they're ordering him to get on the ground, but they seem at one point to pull back because they're clearly afraid that he might have an explosive vest. there is talk of possibly explosives being in his car. they weren't detonated if they were. this is a very unusual situation, not because of what happened — it's not the first time that somebody has rammed a car at high speed into a christmas market in germany — nor, indeed, in europe. something similar happened

in nice, in france. but it's unusual that he is 50 and a doctor and a saudi. usually, when these things happen and if terrorism is involved, it's normally a north african individual, much younger, in their 20s or at the most in their 30s. but we simply do not know the motive. there could be mental health involved. he could have been fired at work. his partner could have left him. there could be all sorts of things. he could have been given some horrendous medical diagnosis. none of which excuses what he did, but we're going to have to keep an open mind on what the motive is. inevitably people will be looking, though, at terrorism as a possibility, because isis, so—called islamic state, has often called on its followers, dwindling as they are, to do something like this. there have been attacks similar

to this in several european countries, and it's always a risk. i think the thing that is strange here is, given how popular these german christmas markets are in germany, that more precautions haven't been taken. this man was able to drive his dark bmw through the crash barriers and career through hundreds of shoppers, injuring dozens and killing at least two before he was stopped and arrested. 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—elects 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. after the bill passed, the speaker of the house, republican mikejohnson, says he was grateful it could do so in a bipartisan fashion. we are excited about this outcome tonight. we're grateful that everyone stood together to do the right thing. and having gotten this done now, as the last order of 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. i want to wish everybody a merry christmas, happy hanukkah, happy holidays and a happy new year, because i hope not to see you until we get back. well, we heard there from the republican house leader.

here is what the house's top democrat, minority leader hakeem jeffries, had to say shortly after the bill passed. house democrats have successfully stopped the billionaire boys�* club, which wanted a $4 trillion blank cheque by suspending the debt ceiling in order to enable them to cut social security, cut medicare and cut nutritional assistance, while providing massive tax breaks for the wealthy, the well off and the well connected. this is a victory for the american people. stephanie lai is a white house reporterfor bloomberg. i spoke to her about the feeling on capitol hill following a chaotic 48 hours. certainly there is a lot of relief among republican lawmakers that this is behind them. they've averted a government shutdown. they've successfully pared down the spending bill in a way that

satisfies those such as elon musk and vivek ramaswamy. a lot of folks close to trump's orbit are touting this as a success — that the republican administration, the incoming congress, has already proven that they can cut government spending by doing this sort of legislation and making this push, even amongst an impending deadline. in the end, vote on the the house bill was 366 in favour, 3a against. all 3a were republicans. what does that tell you? it does definitely indicate that it won't be as easy as perhaps the trump team is hoping to corral every member. it's not the anointment that they're looking for, but it is reflective ofjust how washington works. it is very difficult to be able to get every single congress member on the same page. and given their different districts and the different

demands on each member, it is certainly expected that there will be some dissent, especially given such a close margin. it does show some sign of what congress might look like, given the small margin they might have. with a 2—3 seat majority, that sort of thing will come up again and again. there will have to be more deals made with the support of democrats to be able to push forward with certain aspects of legislation. and so this sort of chaotic negotiation style is something that we can perhaps look forward to more of in the incoming administration in the next session. yeah, the next session, of course, beginning in january. we've been hearing some democrats talking about this. they clearly helped push this across the line. they're framing this a bit as a win for them, especially over elon musk and donald trump, who were, in the end, the ones that really sank that first bipartisan bill. do you think they'll be able to sell that argument to the voting public — that they kind of triumphed

over some outside influence by a billionaire and by donald trump, who is not yet the president? that is definitely a good question. you know, one thing senatorjd vance, the incoming vp—elect, is trying to paint this as is democrats are slowing things down in washington and trying to cause a government shutdown. so the fact that this didn't quite happen or is moving towards that path gives them a way out to sort of avoid that attack line that they are the reason why this government shutdown happened. so this definitely is a win for democrats as well. and the fact that they are able to push back on some aspects of the bill — you know, there is still $100 million dedicated to disaster relief. that is also a win for a lot of these members. what about republican house speaker mikejohnson? he came under a lot of pressure, a lot of criticism, after that initial bill collapsed. what do you think comes next for him? there will be a new vote to elect a new speaker coming up next month. it is too soon to say exactly what that might look like,

but before this bill even came to the floor, it did get the support of elon musk. donald trump had been truthing out earlier today, as well, some things that were favourable about speaker johnson. and so it does seem like he still has the support of the upper brass, and perhaps that could trickle down to some of the rank—and—file members. but, of course, we can never guess what this congress is going to do. but it does seem like he still maintains the support of trump and musk. some breaking news from the middle east: a houthi missile strike against israel has wounded at least 1a people in tel aviv. that's according to israel's ambulance service. these pictures are live from tel aviv, where it is just after 5:00am. the israeli military said attempts to shoot down a projectile launched from yemen had been unsuccessful. according to the emergency services, the casualties were hit by shrapnel.

this all comes after israeli airstrikes killed nine civilians in yemen on wednesday, after attacks by the houthis on tel aviv earlier in the week. you can see some live pictures from tel aviv. as we heard, we do believe there were some people injured by that projectile. we will bring you more information on that building story as we have it. staying in the middle east, and after months of negotiations, a ceasefire and hostage release deal in gaza could be nearing the finish line. and for the families of those still held captive by hamas, it can't come soon enough. this week the brother of an israeli man held captive by hamas criticised the united nations security council for what he says is its lack of action. on wednesday michael levy became the first relative of an israeli hostage to address the council. his brother or was taken and his wife killed when hamas attacked israel on 7 october. the council has demanded the release of the hostages but has yet to pass a unanimous

resolution condemning the militant group's attack on israel. i spoke with michael levy earlier. michael, this week you were the first family member of an israeli hostage to officially address the un security council. just walk us through what you said. what was your message? my message was focused on the personal side of things. i wanted them to know there are people behind this story that they see as political, and family members — that there is a real boy who has lost his mum and has been looking for his father for over 440 days now. yeah, and the second part was me mentioning or reminding them of their duty and what they need to do. yes, what more would

you like to see the united nations security council do? i think it's very clear. to begin with, they need to address the fact that hamas is a terror organisation. they need to condemn it and demand the immediate release of all the hostages. why do you think, in your mind, there has been a lack of progress within the united nations? i'm not naive, and i know most of it is political anyway. but for me, it was important to say and to remind them what they need to do, and to show them that there are faces and families behind what they see as a simple hostage situation. i want them to be aware

of the fact that hamas is committing crimes against humanity, which they've practically ignored up until now. although that's exactly the job that this council was intended to do, they are still not doing it. michael, we can see there over your shoulder a picture of your brother 0r. he was kidnapped from the nova music festival on 7 october. his wife was killed by hamas. have you heard anything from your brother since then? do you have any sense right now of his condition? unfortunately, the only thing we know for sure was that he was kidnapped alive and that he wasn't injured. other than that, and the assumption or the idea that he is still alive, we have nothing.

you mentioned earlier the number of days it has been. 0bviously you're quite aware of that. negotiations over a ceasefire and hostage release deal have been going on for many months now. does the pace of this process and these talks worry you at all? every second that they are still there is a second that can be their last, and obviously i'm worried about it. i also mentioned in my speech to the un that i wonder every morning if my brother managed to survive another day, and that's the feeling every second, every minute, every hour and every day. so obviously the fact that they haven't reached a deal yet is worrying. we've seen these protests within israel continuing, to bring the hostages home.

there's a lot of pressure right now on the prime minister, benjamin netanyahu. do you think that the prime minister has done enough to bring the hostages like your brother home? i'm a big fan of bottom lines. the fact that they are not here means that we are all not doing enough — not me personally, not prime minister netanyahu, not the israeli government, not the international community, and not the media. we all need to do more in order to put an end to it and put an end to the suffering, for both sides. and i have to ask you, before i let you go, we know that there's a process happening right now. the us is involved in negotiations to try to broker a deal. how much confidence do you have in the president, joe biden, and his team to get a deal done? i guess i have no choice but to

put my confidence in them. that's my only option at the moment. i know that they really want to seal a deal before they leave the presidency, so i trust them and i hope they will reach a deal before president trump starts his presidency. a multi—day expedition into a remote region of south america has uncovered something remarkable — 27 new species. they were discovered by a team trekking through the jungles of peru. here are just some of the previously unknown creatures — a dwarf squirrel, mice, three amphibians and 10 types of butterfly, plus eight types of fish, including this blob—headed fish. they were found in alto mayo, an area that includes the amazon rainforest, by members of local indigenous groups and scientists from the non—profit

organisation conservation international. earlier i heard from trond larsen, a senior director at conservation international who led the expedition. it's great to talk to you about this. what was your reaction to these discoveries — 27 new species found by your team. yeah, thanks for having me. the whole team was just really shocked and amazed at the discoveries we made, and just the sheer incredible biodiversity, and unique and rare species, and new species to science that we discovered. we really didn't expect this. we were working in the alto mayo landscape in northern peru, which is an area that has a pretty high population density. it's a valley at the base of the andes where the amazon basin meets the andes, and it's a lush valley surrounded by rugged mountains. it's got a diversity of ecosystems, of different habitats and forest types, from swamps up to misty cloud forests, and a lot of people and indigenous territories, indigenous people

and local territories and cities and towns. so it's a real mosaic landscape of different types of land uses and agriculture and forests. and so people just didn't really — people haven't researched a lot in this area in the past. probably they assumed that there just wouldn't be very much biodiversity because of the significant human presence in the landscape. and that's really why we were so surprised to find as many species as we did, including 70 species new to science. and you were working, weren't you, with indigenous groups and local communities. how important was that partnership to find these new species? yeah, it's really crucial to work with the local people, especially the indigenous peoples and local communities. the ethnic group we primarily worked with have just extensive, vast traditional knowledge of nature and of the forest around them. they were our guides and our eyes and ears in many ways, and they took us to the places

and the rivers and the forests where we could find lots of new and unusual species. and these, should say, while the blonde adverse, for example, new to scientists, it is something that they know very well and regularly catch and eat as food. tell me about this blob—headed fish. we saw a picture of it. it's a funny name. what is this fish and what makes it unique? yeah, it's truly bizarre. it is unlike anything that scientists have ever seen before. you can look at closely related catfish species. it's a type of armoured catfish. but as opposed to other species, it has this crazy blob or this extension on the end of its head, almost like a giant swollen nose. scientists have never seen anything like it, and it's a complete mystery what the function of the structure might be. yeah, it's so fascinating. looking at this area of peru, you told us a bit about it. how well protected it is. if you're finding this many new species, you might presume that there could be more there too. yeah, and we assume that there probably are. it's also quite possible there are species that have already been lost that we never even knew about, because this is a landscape that has been

significantly altered in the past. there has been a long history of deforestation and expanding agriculture. but there are also still pockets where these treasures of biodiversity remain. there is fragments of forest. the indigenous peoples really have done a greatjob of stewarding the forest on their lands. there are conserved areas that are put aside for restoration and recuperation of habitats. and now that we have these incredible results, it really points us to the places that we understand are the most important to target for conserving and restoring habitats for the most important species that we found on this trip. and then we can also say where are the other places where we can plan for more sustainable agriculture, resource extraction by local people. and ultimately this will lead to a more sustainable landscape overall and really build a corridor that allows for movement of plants and animals between existing protected areas. before we go, let's take alive look inside the senate chamber.

you see lawmakers, and we believe they will be voting soon to approve, potentially, a bill that will keep the government funded. we will keep you up—to—date on that story and all the other headlines happening tonight right here at bbc news. hello there. well, it's a very windy weekend in store and it's a big one for travel, too, with the run—up to christmas. so watch out for some travel disruption caused by the strength of the wind, particularly for the western half of the uk. also maybe some icy surfaces on some of the roads on saturday night into sunday, as the air turns colder, and there will be some wintry showers pushing down from the north—west. here's our area of low pressure. it's been approaching from the north—west, this huge mass of cloud. the winds are really picking up, very brisk westerlies. 0ut towards the exposed coastal areas of north—west scotland, there could even be some gusts of wind of up to 80mph through the day on saturday, but widely gusts of 50—60mph an hour across northern ireland and into north—west

england too. now, there's an area of cloud and rain gradually pushing further southwards and eastwards across england and wales as we head through the second half of the day. sunny spells but also blustery showers digging in behind. the winds are pretty brisk towards the south as well, although lighter than further north and west, and this is how we'll end the afternoon. still that mild air hanging on towards the southern half of the uk, 12 or 13 degrees celsius. but it will soon be replaced on saturday night into sunday by these much colder—feeling conditions. low pressure pushing eastwards towards the north of the uk, so the winds come down from the north—west. and there's a tight squeeze on the isobars, so it remains very blustery out towards the north—west, with some of the strongest of the winds transferring a little further southwards as the as the night wears on. wintry showers — watch out for those icy surfaces. it could be very tricky for travelling with those strong gusty winds. and this is how we'll start off the day on sunday, on a much colder—feeling note.

now, this is the area of most concern on sunday. this is where we'll see the strongest winds, up to 50—60mph. so that now includes much of wales and down through south—west england. and there will be some more showers around again, likely to be wintry over the higher ground, particularly across the hills of scotland, although it will turn quite quickly back to rain, i think, as we head through the afternoon, with some slightly milder—feeling air. but elsewhere, it is set to be really quite chilly through the day. a lot of added wind chill, and temperatures won't make it much past 6—7 celsius. there will be some weak winter sunshine, but it won't do much for the temperatures. milderfeeling conditions, though, by the time we get to monday. into christmas eve and christmas day, it looks a lot quieter, largely dry and mild too. bye— bye.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. hello, i'm katie razzall. and i'm ros atkins. on this week's edition of the media show, we'll look at why cnn is facing questions about a viral news report from syria. and abc news has given up in a defamation lawsuit brought by donald trump and given him $15 million. we'll also talk to the tiktok star who's turned his passion for maps into a global phenomenon. that's all coming up on the media show.

an extraordinary news report came out of syria soon after the fall of the assad regime from cnn's star correspondent clarissa ward. she'd gone to the notorious saydnaya prison, and while there, a man was discovered inside a cell under a blanket. "i'm a civilian," he says. "i'm a civilian. " it's ok, it's ok. it's ok. he speaks arabic. he tells the fighter he is from the city of homs and has been in the cell for three months. 0k. 0k, you're 0k, you're 0k, you're 0k. you're 0k. he clutches my arm tightly with both hands. 0k. does anyone have any water? water. speaks arabic.