live from london, this is bbc news the man accused of the attack on a christmas market in germany is remanded in custody, charged with five counts of murder and multiple attempted murders. a memorial service is held at magdeburg cathedral, attended by victims�* families, emergency workers and german leaders. israel's military carries out a fresh wave of attacks across the gaza strip,hitting targets in gaza city, rafah and khan younis. syria's new rules spark concerns for ethnic and religious minorities. we have a special report. this is the live scene in madrid at the el gordo lottery draw, with 2.7 billion euros in the prize pot.

and is this the end for the gypsy king? tyson fury storms off after losing the title fight against the defending world champion. hello, i'm lewis vaughanjones. a man has appeared in court in germany, charged with five counts of murder and multiple counts of attempted murder after friday's attack on a christmas market in the city of magdeburg. this is the scene in the square where many people have been leaving floral tributes. posing for a moment's reflection. more than 200 others were injured when they were struck by a car driven through the crowds. police say they are trying to establish a motive. a 50—year—old doctor originally from saudi arabia, taleb al—abdulmohsen, was placed in pre—trial detention when he appeared in court last night. the suspect�*s social media

posts appear to suggest he had been critical of islam. our correspondent anna foster reports from magdeburg. hundreds of people attended a vigil at the city's cathedral, a packed and sombre affair. some of the first responders who helped at the scene joined the mourners and families of the victims. chancellor olaf scholz sat next to germany's president. on friday night, this market was packed. but the laughter and celebration was cut devastatingly short when a car sped through the crowd, 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 the rescue entrance was how the car

got into the square — a gap deliberately left for ambulances to have access. police say the deadly rampage lasted three minutes. armed police quickly made an arrest. taleb al—abdulmohsen is a doctor, originally from saudi arabia but living here for nearly 20 years. germany's interior ministry said he holds islamophobic views, as their investigation continues. 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 is an undercurrent of anger against politicians who some feel didn't make this place is safe enough. the german chancellor olaf 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 sympathies to those who are injured and i express the solidarity of the entire country. as specialist police continue their investigation just a few metres away, the collection of flowers and candles herejust keep 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 will not be reopening, the focus instead turned on remembering the victims, helping the survivors and making sure a tragedy like this cannot happen again. anna foster, bbc news. our correspondent bethany bell is in magdeburg with the latest.

we've had the suspect, the 50—year—old man who was born in saudi arabia, who has been charged with five counts of murder, five counts of attempted murder... multiple counts of attempted murder and multiple counts of dangerous bodily harm. investigators are continuing to try and establish a possible motive in this case. we know so far that this man had lived in germany for almost 20 years. he was granted refugee status in 2016, and he worked as a psychiatrist at a local clinic. the police have also told us a little bit more about the victims, those who died in the attack on friday. they include a nine—year—old boy and four women, aged between 45 and 75. and, bethany, what's the sense there in terms of a political fallout, a reaction?

because we are seeing pictures as we are speaking to you of people coming and just pausing for a moment and being still in front of that sea of flowers there, but i'm sure there will be a range of different emotions and people there in the media and the press this morning starting to think about how something like this could have been avoided, if any more could have been done. very, very mixed emotions here in magdeburg. as you say, deep, deep sadness. one woman last night that i met here said, "this is my hometown and there's pain, there's terrible pain". but also there's anger. people heckled germany's chancellor, olaf scholz, when he came here yesterday. i've spoken to people who say much more should have been done to stop this kind of thing happening. we know from the authorities that the car was able to enter the market through a route that was intended for the emergency services, so it wasn't blocked off with concrete blocks. people are asking whether that was a bad mistake. and also there is this mixture.

while again, we saw last night the vigil held at the cathedral for the victims and the tremendous outpouring of sadness and solidarity there, at the same time, there was a demonstration in the town at which far—right slogans and xenophobic slogans were heard. so a very uncertain, quite swift—moving picture here in terms of the mood. thanks to bethany. the israeli military has carried out a wave of attacks across the gaza strip, hitting targets in gaza city, rafah, khan younis and elsewhere. local reports say at least 11 people were killed when this building was hit in the central area of deir al balah. several children are feared dead. there are also reports of several deaths at a shelter for displaced families near a hospital in northern gaza. staff at the kamal adwan hospital say the facility has been repeatedly targeted by the israeli military. israel says it is carrying out precise strikes against hamas militants.

meanwhile, hamas and two other palestinian armed groups have said that an agreement to end the fighting is now "closer than ever". the statement says a deal for a truce and the release of hostages would depend on israel not asking for new conditions in negotiations. here's our correspondent emir nader with an update. there's been a series of israeli air strikes on the gaza strip — across the gaza strip overnight and into the recent hours. and that includes a school that was housing displaced families in gaza city, where we understand that eight people were killed, including children. the civil defence forces there, the first responders who've got there, say they found children amongst the dead and pulled out bodies from the rubble. we reached out to the israeli army, the israeli military, about this particular set of strikes, and they said that that school was...

they said it was a command and control centre being used by hamas. now, that isn't the only location that has been struck in the past few hours. we know about five people being killed in strikes injabalia, including four children, four killed in a vehicle that was hit in gaza city. and amongst those strikes, we understand that there are now 28 people killed overnight and into those recent hours, 28 palestinians killed in the gaza strip. and all of this comes as we've been hearing since yesterday evening, urgent, desperate pleas from the medical staff at the kamal adwan hospital in the north of gaza, which has been operating in very dire circumstances in the past weeks, and the medical staff there are saying that they are being directly targeted by the israeli military in an unprecedented manner. they've said that they've

been told to evacuate by the israeli military, but they can't do so because it would put the over 80—90 patients' lives at risk and also the lives of their staff. these events, of course, unfolding — as the background to all this, we've been covering and reporting these ceasefire talks. what is the latest on those? well, yes. the talks have been continuing in qatar and in egypt. and a senior palestinian source has been speaking to the bbc and we've been getting positive signals, talk of a ceasefire possibly happening in the next days, that we could be 90% of the way there. there are some sticking points around the names of the particular palestinian prisoners who might be released in exchange for the israeli hostages that will be released in the first stage of the ceasefire deal. there's also talk around a buffer zone being established around the gaza strip, inside of it, which the israeli

military would continue to have a presence there, and discussions, a bit of contention around whether the israeli military would remain on the border section between gaza and egypt. thank you to emirfor thank you to emir for that. let's take you live to syria — and this the scene in the capital damascus where people prepare for what happens after the end of a sad's regime. —— sad's regime. but hayat tahrir al—sham or hts�* takeover has sparked concerns for ethnic and religious minorities. hts is a sunni muslim group, and its leader ahmad al—sharra has a jihadist past. minorities say they are worried about islamic rule, and those from bashar al—assad's alawite

community are worried there might be retribution against them. the bbc�*s yogita limaye reports from damascus the dictator has fallen and fled. but what of the community he belonged to? bashar al—assad is from the islamic alawite sect. it's one of syria's biggest minorities, but it's controlled power over a majority sunni muslim country for 50 years. in a working—class alawite neighbourhood of damascus, a few agree to speak to us. dozens of others refused. i asked if they feared revenge. translation: so far, we are ok. hayat tahrir al—sham has been respectful to us, but there are groups pretending to be hts who are making threats. we are scared of them. many from the alawite sect, and indeed this neighbourhood, worked in assad's forces. where are they, i asked? translation: everyone - who worked with the military and did bad things has fled.

but people who do not have blood on their hands, they are not scared and have stayed back. the men who've taken control have said those from the deposed regime involved in crimes will be held to account, but that the freedoms of minorities will be protected. hayat tahrir al—sham has a jihadist past and an islamist present. does syria's plural society believe their promises? this country's christian community is one of the oldest in the world. this is the christian quarter of damascus. now, we have seen christmas decorations up in some parts of the city, but people who live here tell us the decorations here are more muted than they have been before. christians have told us that they do feel reassured by hts�*s promises, but that there is still uncertainty, and there are still worries about the form of government that this country will have in the future. we met youssef sabbagh, a lawyer from the christian community.

i'm so happy because assad fall. this is like a dream come true. but there is concern. i have to be realistic — htc are here now and they are islamic militia. that's what they are. ok, iwant them, i need, i wish, i pray they will be modern islamic militia. it's a moment of hope in syria, but also one of uncertainty. yogita limaye, bbc news, damascus. i asked dr rim turkmani — the syria research director at the conflict and civicness research group at lse — what she thought of the threat against minorities. i mean, the threat is possible, but mainly in the countryside and not in the cities. while everyone is veryjoyful that bashar assad is finally gone, but hts that took over doesn't have the capacity to stretch overnight from controlling one province

to the entire country, so they're focusing right now on the security of the cities. but the countryside is not entirely under their control. most of the christian communities we have are based in the countryside and in areas with very mixed sects like the town of al-qusayr, for example, on the lebanese border, there are fears — many of the christians there fled to lebanon, they're very concerned about coming back because hts cannot even protect them if they come back. so the fears are real. but let me emphasise that it's not only minorities or christians or alawites that are concerned. i mean, everyone is worried about the prospect of islamic rule in syria. this is a very, very diverse country, has always been very diverse, never been under islamic rule before, despite in its previous constitution, there have been vague mentioning of islamic identity of the state, but in reality, it didn't translate into rules and regulations, except for the personal status laws such

as inheritance, marriage, child custody, and also the religion of the president. everything else was very kind of secular regulations. butjust on that, because our international editor, jeremy bowen, spoke to the leader of hts and asked specifically that question aboutjust how the rules will be created, and the leader said, "well, that will be for others, the constitution, and that will be a separate matter" and refused to be drawn on specific issues to do with religion. the publicity drive, as it were, from the group hts was a move away from itsjihadist links in the past. how much of a conversion do you think the group has actually had? look, in terms of constitution, i think what worries me is that hts is deferring that to the constitution when we know they're going to control who is going to write this constitution — even if they bring some representatives from different communities, but they will be in control. only a legitimate constitution written by an assembly that is elected by the people

in a more stable condition can actually meet the needs of the people. and in syria's history, every constitution that has been written by an elected assembly actually agreed on a democratic civic state. and that's when both christians and muslims and alawites all sat together and agreed together on something, and that's why they believed in it. thanks to rim turkmani there. around a hundred arrivals and departures have been cancelled at heathrow airport — affecting 15 thousand people, as strong winds continue to disrupt people travelling for christmas. let's speak to simonjones who's there for us. after what travel experts were calling frantic friday following snarl up saturday, afraid for those trying to get around the uk today, it is not

proving to be much more of a smoother sunday, particularly here at heathrow airport. i have just been down to terminal five, which is very busy. there are lots of flights going, but around 100 have been cancelled. that is due to strong winds buffeting much of the country. heathrow airport says it has had to increase the amount of time it allows between planes landing and taking off for safety reasons. that is explaining the reason why they have had to axe around 100 flights. it is notjust here feeling the effects of the winds, ferries have been affected too. notably between dover and calais. and also between scotland and northern ireland. scotrail come on the railways, has imposed speed restrictions on several lines —— scotrail, on the railways. millions are taking to the roads either to visit family or friends or get away for the

christmas break or to do a bit of last—minute christmas shopping, so travel groups are saying it isn't really a perfect storm. the number of people and the wind warnings. those warnings were strong winds remain in place until 9pm this evening, covering all of scotland, northern ireland and wales, a large swathe of northern england and at the west of the country. looking ahead, tomorrow here in the uk, the weather is expected to improve, but for anyone hoping for a white christmas, the met office say it is not going to happen. office say it is not going to ha . en. ,, ., office say it is not going to hauen. ,, ., ., ~ office say it is not going to ha en. ,, ., ., ~' office say it is not going to ha en. ,, ., . ~' ., happen. simon, thank you for that. now let's show you these pictures from spain. this is where the country's christmas lottery is underway. el gordo — which translates to "the fat one" in english — has a total prize pot is 2.7 billion euros. the individual top prize is a lot smaller than that, i should

say. let's speak to our reporter yazmina garcia who is in barcelona. what is this about? the christmas _ what is this about? the christmas spanish - what is this about? tie: christmas spanish lottery is one of the oldest drawers in the world, a history going back over two centuries, and el gordo, the fat one, refers to the biggest prize of the draw, 400,000, the the biggest prize of the draw, a00,000, the interesting thing about the draw is there is not just one jackpot, there are multiple winners. some of them for as little as 800 euros up to el gordo, 400,000. one of these could be worth that. it kicks off the christmas festivities here in spain and everywhere you go here in barcelona, you will be able to hear the draw somewhere in the background, in cafes, restaurants, shops. there is the sound of the children, the children of san ildefonso singing the winning numbers. yes, it has been going on quite a while, hasn't it? not only in

the history, but even today. we have been keeping across the pictures, it has been going on for hours already.— pictures, it has been going on for hours already. yes, yes, it is uuite for hours already. yes, yes, it is quite long _ for hours already. yes, yes, it is quite long because - for hours already. yes, yes, it is quite long because there i for hours already. yes, yes, it| is quite long because there are multiple winners and the way it works as there are two rotating rounds. the big one holds all the numbers, the smaller one holds prizes. the children have to draw each one of the prizes and match it with each one of the numbers, so that is why it takes that long. but it is very exciting! takes that long. but it is very excitina! ., exciting! good luck to everyone involved. thank _ exciting! good luck to everyone involved. thank you _ exciting! good luck to everyone involved. thank you very - exciting! good luck to everyone involved. thank you very much | involved. thank you very much for that. ukraine's president, volodymyr zelensky, has hailed the victory of his compatriot, the boxer oleksandr usyk, over britain's tyson fury. usyk retained his unified heavyweight world titles on points in the bout in saudi arabia. the ukrainian won after a thrilling 12—round contest, with all threejudges giving him victory. boxing journalist, yousef anani, told me he thinks the right man won. it was a close fight, but i think the right man won.

i mean, there will be some controversy. there have obviously been protests by tyson fury�*s promotional team, but its extraordinary, really, that a much smaller man like alexander usyk — it really was...he really was in against a giant — could do so well and dictate large portions of the fight, landing a lot of body shots, which a lot of people don't really notice, but a body shot scores just as well as a head shot and he was the one landing those throughout. so i think the right man won. and what about the legacy now? i mean, both clearly great fighters of their generation. tyson fury, two defeats now. what does that do to his reputation? well, he's a great boxer and his legacy is secure. but he always proclaimed that he was the greatest of all time and that's been shown up as a bit of a nonsense, really. perhaps not even the greatest british heavyweight of all time

— that accolade probably belongs to lennox lewis. but he's an exceptionally talented boxer, but at the top level... and he was, of course, a champion for a long time. but at the top level, he didn't quite do enough to secure himself in, let's say, the top ten in history. what about usyk, then? where does he stand now after this achievement? usyk is an extraordinary athlete. i mean, he's getting on in years. he's nearly 38 and yet he just gets stronger throughout a fight. the energy that man has, because he lives like a monk, his training regimen is absolutely extraordinary. there's no—one like him. no—one works as hard in the gym. he doesn't have off days really. so i think he's, pound—for—pound, the greatest boxer in the sport at the moment. i mean, that's debateable, but i think he is. whether he's the greatest heavyweight of all time, he's not, because he doesn't have the depth in his record at heavyweight. i think he needs another couple

of fights to really put himself in the top five in history. let's head back to germany, our main story this hour, and magdeburg. we had these live pictures, people have been leaving flowers there ever since the attack. this is not far from the christmas market where the car ploughed through so many people. 200 people injured, five people killed. people in magdeburg itself have been arriving there to pause, light candles, but time flowers, and we have also had emergency services arrive, huge line of first responders there paid their respects and lining up paid their respects and lining up and pausing for a moment. as for the latest on the investigation, german authorities initially held him in custody and he is now being

held in pre—trial detention. he has been charged with five murders. you canjust see has been charged with five murders. you can just see the scale there of the flowers. these are pictures, not to live, these are from the immediate aftermath of the christmas market incident. questions now about the security arrangements, around how exactly this was able to happen. we now know the route the car to kin, it was being driven at a normal, regular speed, approaching the market, it turned down a deliberate gap in between security bollards that was there for emergency vehicles to be able to get in and out, for people to be able to get in and out, and that was at the weigh in. there will be questions now about the security approach. plenty more coverage coming up here on bbc news. do stay with us. for the

moment, i'm lewis vaughan jones, this is bbc news. hello again. it's already very windy out there across many parts of the uk. we've got gusts of 50—60mph. higher than that across the far north and the west of scotland. but very tricky conditions, i imagine, on some coastal areas today. and again, if you're travelling, there could be some disruption. this is an idea of where we'll see those strong winds, more so towards northern areas. but all of us today will notice the windy weather, even across eastern areas gusts of 40—50mph. and that wind has continued to bring in quite a few showers, especially towards wales, north—west england, the midlands. some of those wintry with some sleet, a bit of snow mixed in. snow certainly across parts of scotland, with some more significant rain spreading its way southward in the far north—east of scotland. and it's a colder afternoon compared to yesterday. you'll notice that

there is a wind chill. temperatures of 6 or 7 celsius. now, tonight we'll continue with some wintriness across the north—east of scotland. otherwise, though, a bit of a quieter night to come. the showers generally easing off with some clear skies. overnight lows down to about 2—6 or 7 celsius. on into monday, then, the area of low pressure responsible for the strong winds this weekend is clearing. then we've got high pressure building in from the southwest with this weather front moving its way in during monday. but it will be a bright start to the day. there'll be some sunshine. still a little bit breezy down the north sea coast, but otherwise the winds will be lighter. cloud thickening from the west and with that, some outbreaks of rain moving its way into northern and western areas. quite patchy really on monday afternoon, with maximum temperatures again about 6 or 7 celsius. but then into christmas eve and christmas day we've got the milder air spreading in. look at those oranges across the uk. the south—westerly wind bringing those higher temperatures. so this is christmas eve. quite a bit of cloud around.

there'll be some outbreaks of rain towards northern and western areas into the afternoon. maybe a few bright spells. maximum temperatures getting to about 11 to 14 celsius. really quite mild for the time of year. and as for christmas day, more of the same really. quite cloudy for many of us. some rain affecting the far north—west of scotland. one or two bright or sunny spells, but again temperatures will be in double figures, so it's a mild christmas rather than a white christmas. bye—bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines... a saudi man suspected of carrying out a deadly attack on a christmas market in the german city of magdeburg has been remanded in custody. he is facing multiple charges of murder and attempted murder. gaza's civil defence agency says at least 28 people have been killed in a wave of attacks by the israeli military across the gaza strip. targets were hit in gaza city, rafah and khan younis. the ukrainian boxer oleksandr usyk has won the biggest bout in boxing — the men's world heavyweight title, beating tyson fury. he won on points after a thrilling 12—round contest in riyadh. the winning number has just been drawn in spain's

annual christmas lottery. the first prize — known as "el gordo" —