live from washington, this is bbc news. a memorial service is held at magdeburg cathedral attended by german leaders for victims of a christmas attack. a nine—year—old is among five people killed in the attack. 200 others have been injured. a senior palestinian official tells the bbc that a ceasefire deal between israel and hamas in gaza is 90% complete. and after days of negotiations, joe biden signs the us government spending bill into law, officially averting shutdown. hello, i'm carl nasman. welcome to the programme.

respects are being paid in the german city of magdeburg to the victims of friday's deadly attack on a christmas market. five people were killed, at least 200 injured, when a man drove into a crowd at high speed. a memorial service has been held in magdeburg's cathedral. hundreds of people gathered in the square outside, some carried candles and flowers. as the mourning continues, prosecutors are investigating a potential motive. germany has been hit by a number of deadly islamist attacks but investigators say the evidence in this case suggests a different picture. the suspect is a 50—year—old saudi doctor, taleb al—abdulmohsen, who came to germany almost 20 years ago. officials say he appears to have been motivated by resentment at the treatment of refugees in germany, rather than by religion. there are also questions about security after it emerged that the suspect drove through an entrance reserved for ambulances and official vehicles. anna foster has more from magdeburg. there were just a handful of people out here tonight, reading the notes that have been left on the flowers or tending these candles that

are throwing golden pools of light out into the deserted streets. and just look at this place this evening — the saturday before christmas. this market in the centre of town should be thriving, should be an absolute hub of light and noise and energy. and instead, you see the closed christmas stalls, you still see the detritus on the ground, the blankets that were used to warm the injured, some of the medical equipment that was used to treat those more than 200 people who were wounded here last night. this is an attack which has shocked notjust the city but germany throughout, and which will change this place forever. as night fell, hundreds of people attended a vigil at the city's cathedral — a packed and sombre affair. some of the first responders were among the mourners. sings. chancellor 0laf scholz sat next to germany's president. 2a hours ago, this market was packed with people

but the laughter and celebration was cut devastatingly short when a car sped through the crowds, killing five people and injuring 200 more. translation: the car sped past us and the police ran after it. - other emergency services arrived, evacuated people and diverted traffic. people were still panicking and screaming. we now know it used the rescue entrance to get into the square — a gap deliberately left for ambulances to have access. police say the deadly rampage lasted three minutes. armed police quickly arrested a man, a doctor originally from saudi arabia but living here for nearly 20 years. his motive is still under question. translation: as things stand at the moment, i it looks as if the background to the crime could have been disgruntlement with the way saudi—arabian refugees are treated in germany.

but what exactly is behind it is still under investigation. emotions are running high here. alongside the sadness, there's an undercurrent of anger against politicians, who some feel didn't make this place safe enough. earlier today, chancellor 0laf scholz came to lay a white rose and promise an investigation. translation: it is a dreadful tragedy that so many people i were killed and injured. it is a dreadful catastrophe. we send our sympathy to those who are injured and i express the solidarity of the entire country. as specialist police continue their investigations just a few metres away, the collection of flowers and candles here just keeps on growing. this bitter december wind is not keeping people away. they want to be here, they want to be together and to remember the friends that they've lost. christmas feels very different here now. the stalls won't be reopening.

the focus turned instead on remembering the victims, helping the survivors and making sure a tragedy like this can't happen again. in just the last few hours, around 100 far—right protesters gathered in the streets of magdeburg. the march called for the �*remigration�* of immigrants living in germany. the christmas market attack will likely add to the debate over security and immigration before national elections in february. 0pinion polls show the far—right alternative for germany party is likely to perform strongly. while a motive for the attack is still unclear, our security correspondent, frank gardner has been looking into the suspect — taleb al—abdulmohsen — and alleged warnings from the saudi government about him. they say that they passed four so—called "notes verbales". these are official diplomatic notifications that they sent from saudi arabia to germany. i don't have the dates of them, unfortunately, but they sent three of them to german

intelligence agencies and one of them to the german foreign ministry, warning, they say, about taleb al—abdulmohsen�*s extreme views that he held. now, there are two sides to this. there is a view taken by at least one respected counterterrorism expert that i know of, who's saying that this is something of a bit of a disinformation campaign. he's even saying that this is the saudis trying to blacken his name. well, it's pretty black right now, obviously, but trying to say that here was somebody that was dangerous back then. why? he was allegedly trying to help a number of people who had left saudi arabia, were dissident, political dissidents, or people trying to turn their back on their islamic faith. saudi arabia being very much a monolithic one faith country, islam. and this man taleb

al—abdulmohsen had left his religion of his birthplace. so, in islam, you are not supposed to leave your religion and he has turned into somebody that the german federal interior minister ms faeser as referred to as an islamophobe. and certainly, some of the text — some of the tweets that he posted and are being reported in german media are exactly that, islamophobic. so, there are two sides to this, but it does seem that the saudi authorities were concerned about this man's extreme views. a reminder that you can follow all of the developments from magdeburg on the bbc�*s website, as well as on our news app. here in washington, a partial shutdown of the us government has been averted after presidentjoe biden signed a spending bill into law early saturday. the deal cleared the senate more than half an hour after a midnight deadline, having passed the house of representatives on its third attempt.

it will fund federal agencies for three months, lifting the threat of public services closing over christmas. in a statement, mr biden said the deal represented a compromise in which neither side got everything each wanted. he welcomed funding in the bill for hurricane and other disaster relief. the bill makes no reference to lifting the limit on how much the government can borrow — a measure which donald trump wanted in place before he returns to the white house on january 20th. peter bowes has more. the bill is passed and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. a sigh of relief for more than three million us government workers. many americans feared that christmas would be overshadowed by a damaging federal shutdown with no pay for some and reduced services. this was the third attempt to agree a spending plan after donald trump and his government efficiency tsar, the billionaire elon musk, intervened to scupper the bill in its originalform. but with hours to go before

the government ran out of money, a deal. after days of wrangling, republicans and democrats agreed on a plan that will fund the government for the next three months. there's money for essential services, as well as disaster relief and aid for farmers. the bill passed in congress but the president—elect appeared to be calling the shots. i was in constant contact with president trump throughout this process. he knew exactly what we were doing and why and this is a good outcome for the country. i think he certainly is happy about this outcome as well. but there's no reference in the bill to lifting the debt ceiling. that's the limit on how much the government can borrow — a measure which trump wanted in place before his inauguration. house democrats have successfully stopped extreme maga republicans from shutting down the government, crashing the economy and hurting working class americans all across the land. the bill's passing marks

the end of a turbulent few days in washington, which have also exposed divisions amongst republicans a month before donald trump takes office. peter bowes, bbc news. syria's new leaders have begun appointing key ministers two weeks now after the fall of the previous administration. the european union, britain and france and the us have sent delegations to the syrian capital with the us now scrapping a reward for the arrest of syria's de facto leader. elsewhere in the region, —— a $10 million award. elsewhere in the region, hamas and two other palestinian armed groups say that a ceasefire agreement with israel is closer than ever if israel does not impose new conditions. a hamas official has said talks in cairo on friday had made significant progress with most terms related to a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreed upon. the announcement comes amid continued israeli assaults on gaza. air strikes on two houses in the nuseirat refugee camp and deir al—balah city in central gaza killed at least ten people, including

two children. in the past few hours, the director of kamal adwan hospital — one of the three barely functioning hospitals on the northern edge of gaza — says the israeli military has ordered people to leave the facility. a missile fired from yemen invaded israel's air defences and hit departed in the city of tel aviv, injuring more than a dozen people. more on this now. great to have you on this now. great to have you on the programme. hamas and to other palestinian groups with some positive signals here, saying they think the ceasefire with israel is closer than ever. what do you think? are you optimistic we could see a deal soon?—

you optimistic we could see a deal soon? definitely. look, i think israel— deal soon? definitely. look, i think israel willing _ deal soon? definitely. look, i think israel willing to - deal soon? definitely. look, i think israel willing to do - deal soon? definitely. look, i think israel willing to do a - think israel willing to do a pause, they need to get some hostages out at this point and i think there are a lot of people in israel, including in the israeli military, were saying we've done what we can militarily and there is really not much point in continuing a major wall. we should retreat to the periphery of gaza. there is no point in kind of chasing little pockets of hamas all around gaza. thatjust plays into their hands and gives them the insurgency they want. we can never win it, it gets worse and worse for us over the years. that's stupid. i think netanyahu would like to keep things as they are but israel is ready for a pause and hamas is ready for a pause and hamas is definitely ready for a pause because the whole context in which they were going to pursue this open—ended insurgency against israel that they wanted has changed. iran can't support them anymore, the asaad regime has fallen so the syria route for weapons and money is closed, hezbollah cannot help them in any way and they are

really on their own in a very dramatic way. their main lifeline now comes from turkey and atar and unlike iran, turkey and qatar don't benefit from a protectable war with israel, they would want hamas to settle up and rebuild what they had in gaza and forget his permanent warfare with israel. and so did around but it will not suit turkey, for sure not. in terms of the deal now — and we're still waiting to get these details confirmed — as all the detail in lebanon with hezbollah, pretty favourable terms with say. do you expect something similar in this deal with hamas?— something similar in this deal with hamas? completely, yes. this is already _ with hamas? completely, yes. this is already - _ with hamas? completely, yes. this is already - firstly, - with hamas? completely, yes. this is already - firstly, it - this is already — firstly, it is not a kind of a permanent ceasefire, a de facto permanent ceasefire. it would only be for 60 days of the israelis may go back to fighting again but i don't think that. i think of the ceasefire works, it would probably be the beginning of the end as the lebanese agreement has been. but you

know look, already hamas has dropped its insistence on two things. 0n dropped its insistence on two things. on a full withdrawal of israeli troops from gaza. they've agreed they can stay in parts of the philadelphi corridor and these strategical areas. that, you know, are crucialfor areas. that, you know, are crucial for hamas and for israel. and they have agreed to that and they have also accepted that this will not be the end of the war. but that will depend on further negotiations. again, those are two things they swore they would never do. and so, just like hezbollah said they would never stop firing rockets against israel until the gaza war ended, untilthey against israel until the gaza war ended, until they were forced to back down and hamas has backed down here in a big way. on the other hand, look, the balance of power in hamas is likely shifted back to the external political leaders who used to be in qatar but have relocated to turkey and they are very close to turkey and most of them are not close to

iran and the ones who are close to iran, some of them are dead, like elroy he was killed in beirut and most of the leaders in gaza, the government in gaza like yahya sinwar who were very close to iran also are dead and the new leadership on the ground in gaza like sinwar�*s brother mohammed are young and are not really, you know, they don't have a strong grip on the organisation and the people have the ear of turkey and qatar have what hamas needs, so they i think are in a position to draw the water down. i 'ust want to get in i to draw the water down. i 'ust want to get in a i to draw the water down. i 'ust want to get in a question h to draw the water down. i just want to get in a question here about yemen, we have about one minute left. we saw a couple of missiles fired by youth —— houthis landing in tel aviv so house survived that you —— surprised are you that kept up their attacks despite the weakening of iran, hezbollah and hamas?— weakening of iran, hezbollah and hamas? weakening of iran, hezbollah andhamas? ., , , , ., all and hamas? i'm not surprised at all because _ and hamas? i'm not surprised at all because the _ and hamas? i'm not surprised at all because the houthis - and hamas? i'm not surprised at all because the houthis are - and hamas? i'm not surprised at all because the houthis are the l all because the houthis are the last piece of what the iranians used to call the axis of resistance. their network of allies, mostly militia groups,

around the middle east. it still poses a serious threat to anybody strategically and in a big military way. iraqi militia can harass the americans but this is another demonstration that the houthis remain potent and they remain strategically important, located in important places along the red sea, the arabian sea, and they remain a potent force on the iranians side, the last one, and they are not going to simply stop and they see a lot of political benefits in fighting israel and fighting the united states and they are prepared to continue to do it, which is completely crazy but they are sort of the arab khmer rouge at this point and i really think they've dropped their own —— they have drunk their own kool—aid. hussein ibish, great to get your respective as always. film; your respective as always. any time. your respective as always. any time- -- _ your respective as always. any time. -- perspective. - let's check now on some of the other headlines. a bus crash in southeastern

brazil has killed 38 people. officials say the driver lost control of the vehicle. the bus departed from sao paolo, carrying 45 passengers. pictures from the scene show tangled and charred wreckage littered across the road. charities in nigeria have been asked to involve the police as they distribute aid over the christmas period after nearly a0 people died in a crash. police say the organisers could be prosecuted for criminal negligence. albania's prime minister says the government will shut down tiktok for at least a year, beginning injanuary. the social media platforms described by him as neighbourhood thug. a 14—year—old student was knifed to death by another student at school last month in a dispute that allegedly began on social media. tiktok says it is seeking urgent clarification. and in a blockbuster match—up in the world of boxing,

0leksandr usyk defeated tyson fury to retain his title as the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. the ukrainian won on points. it was a thrilling 12— round contest in saudi arabia. alljudges gave him the victory. usyk set the pace for most of the fight, landing more punches than his british opponent. it is the second time now he has defeated tyson. like lively has alleged sexual harassment in a campaign to quote destroy her reputation. according to the legal filing, she accused mr balboni and his team of attacking her public image after a meeting to address what she described as repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behaviour by mr balboni and the producer on the movie. his legal team told the movie. his legal team told the bbc the allegations are categorically false and said they hired a crisis manager because ms lively had threatened to derail the film unless her demands were met.

life in los angeles, kg matthews. this legal filing is in los angeles, kg matthews. this legalfiling is really interesting, some kind of details in there and all kinds of allegations of misconduct. what stands out to you here? there is so much! there is a lot. , �* there is so much! there is a lot. , ~ , ., lot. there is! ali it is a leual lot. there is! ali it is a legal complaint, - lot. there is! ali it is a legal complaint, we i lot. there is! ali it is a i legal complaint, we want to lot. there is! ali it is a - legal complaint, we want to say it is not an actual lawsuit because it's kind of like a precursor to her filing an actual lawsuit but there are a number of things she alleges, is a clear to real things that i would say, there was sexual harassment on the set by the director, her co—starjustin balboni, who was also in it ends with us, he was a director and the co—star and also a producer and another part of the film, the production company, basically saying that they walked in her make up trailer at times at one time when she was breast—feeding her child and another time that somebody was assisting her with

taking off the make up off of her body and she had to tell one of them to turn around so that they did not see her nude. she said there was gratuitous kind of i want to say kissing or movement that was unnecessary that they were doing. so much so these things bothered her that they had to have a meeting where she had her husband, as you know, ryan reynolds, attend the meeting. he has nothing to do with the film but he attended it and they talked about. she is saying she is in filing the lawsuit because after that they retaliated against her by orchestrating a smear campaign against her reputation and hiring a crisis pr team to make sure the reputation was bad and the media and online. can sure the reputation was bad and the media and online.— the media and online. can you walk us through _ the media and online. can you walk us through that? - the media and online. can you walk us through that? what i the media and online. can you| walk us through that? what did she mean by the smear campaign, i think she called multitiered plan to wreck a reputation? yes, what interested if she was able to release her team was able to release her team was able to release a lot of text messages that added some validity to what she's saying.

0k. , , ., , ., ok. there seems to be a publicist _ ok. there seems to be a publicist from _ ok. there seems to be a publicist from the - ok. there seems to be a i publicist from the production company and then there was a crisis publicist hired and then someone else hired and they all seem to be working together in these text messages to say what they were seeing online, what they were seeing online, what they needed to do, how her reputation was taking a hit and they were bringing as to how they were bringing as to how they were bringing as to how they were going to attack her online and what they needed to do, so these text messages between several of the people involved really does ask some —— and some validity to what she was saying in that they were going after her and trying to ruin her reputation around the same time that it it ends with us was premiering and they were doing a promotional tour to promote the film. {131 were doing a promotional tour to promote the film. of course we should _ to promote the film. of course we should say _ to promote the film. of course we should say mr _ to promote the film. of course we should say mr balboni's i we should say mr balboni's lawyers have called these allegations categorically false. can you put this into context for us? have you ever seen this kind of beef, if you want to call it, between the two co—stars want to call it, between the two co—sta rs of want to call it, between the two co—stars of a major film? i think one thing that we've

learned is how things work behind the scenes with a crisis pr team. think all seen people have a bad reputation and be cancelled in hollywood a lot in the last couple years but there's a team out there that is working really hard to change the narrative. and to really salvage people's reputations and what this complaint does is kind of open the door and give you a peak is to how all that happens. it doesn't happen in a vacuum. you don't see a person on tiktok or twitter say something bad about a star. it probably wasn't, if the star and people someone wasn't paid to say those things, it's interesting. really interesting. kg matthews, thank you so much. thank you. maria callas is the subject of a new film called simply maria and it focuses on her final years in the 1970s when she was living in paris. angelina jolie plays the title role and had

more than six months of singing to prepare for it. noor nanji went to meet her. one of the world's greatest opera singers, maria callas. now the subject of a new film, as she lived out her final days in paris. it stars angelina jolie, who learned to sing opera for the role. one of the greatest privileges to being an actor is you often are supported by a crew to try something and explore something you've never done and you can learn. so — but this one certainly was the most challenging. one of maria's most famous performances was as tosca in covent garden in 1964. but she also courted controversy. after an affair with the greek shipping magnate

aristotle 0nassis, the paparazzi hounded her. have you talked to mr 0nassis? i talk to all my friends. i am answering no more questions. she was characteristically defiant. i don't read the criticisms because, you see, i know exactly what i do before anybody tells me. but the best critic is the public. angelina jolie's two eldest sons, pax and maddox, worked as production assistants on the film. it was good to to have your children watch your mum not do something easily but they've seen me go through many things but they — but they hadn't experienced me expressing a lot of the pain that usually a parent hides from a child. your voice will not return. vocal decline, possibly caused by dramatic weight loss, led to the premature end of maria's career. maria callas spent her last years living largely in isolation. she died of a heart attack at the age of 53 on september 16th, 1977.

crowds lined the streets to pay their respects. we've all been through joy, love, pain. we've all been through the most quite deep human experiences, and often, there isn't a sound that we've been able to let come out that matches what we feel. 0pera does. noor nanji, bbc news. book me a table at a cafe where the waiters know who i am. i'm in the mood for adulation. six months of singing training. more like six for me to turn me into an opera star. impressive stuff! i'm carl nasman in washington. stay tuned. 20 more coming up at the top of the hour right here on bbc news. —— plenty here.

hello. saturday was a very showery and very windy winter solstice. let's take a look at some of the gusts of wind that we saw during the day on saturday — between around 60 to 80 mph, particularly around exposed coasts and hills in the north and the west, too. south uist at 82 miles an hour was the windiest spot in the hebrides. now, for sunday, we've got more of the same — gusty winds and wintry showers for some of us, and there could be some travel disruption on the cards. low pressure sits to the northeast of the uk. we've got these winds funnelling in from the northwest, bringing us plenty of showers. gusts of wind of 60 to 70 mph across parts of scotland, especially in the northwest, but elsewhere, we could see 50 to 60 mph gusts for western

parts of england and wales, a0 to 50 mph towards the east. so, plenty of showers, as you can see, blowing in on that breeze. they will be a little bit wintry for the likes of the pennines, the peak district, the hills of wales and the north of scotland in particular. most of the showers turning back to rain later in the day blown in with those very strong winds. further the south and east, a lot of dry weather on the cards but it is not going to feel warm — around 6—8 degrees but feeling colder when you add on that northwesterly wind and those showers with a bit of a wintry flavour to them. now, later on sunday into monday, the next front approaches from the west but we've also got higher pressure trying to ridge in. still windy at first on monday towards the east but the winds will ease through the day. some sunshine holding on for central, southern and eastern parts but clouding over from the west with some patchy rain later on. eight or nine degrees, the warmest spots down towards the southwest but for most of us, another fairly chilly feeling day — around 4—7 degrees. but as we head towards christmas eve on tuesday and christmas day on wednesday, that much milder air spills its way in from the southwest, so temperatures are going to be on the up. christmas eve, we're looking at now — tuesday.

quite a lot of cloud — low cloud, perhaps some hill fog, a little bit of drizzle, especially towards the west. but temperatures back up at around 12 or 13 degrees for most of us. we could see 1a anywhere to the east of higher ground. and a similar picture for christmas day as well. it's not going to be a white christmas, if you were crossing your fingers for one of those. rather grey, actually. quite a lot of cloud. some holes in the cloud. i think, not a bad day. most of us dry, perhaps a little rain in the far northwest. temperatures 11 or 12, so probably not quite as warm on christmas day as it will be on christmas eve. looks dry into boxing day, too, and then perhaps just a little cooler towards the new year.

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. iceland, a country of wild beauty and dramatic contrasts. less known is its increasingly equal society. i think it's in her blood. yeah. she laughs it's the only country in the world to have closed more than 90% of its gender gap — from education, to child care, to equal pay. women and girls enjoy

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