emily carver, i'm charlie peters. >> well, tributes pour in for the nine year old victim of the christmas market attack in germany. three days on. what do we know about the suspect's motives? mark white will bring us more. us more. >> us more. >> and business leaders have warned that our economy is heading for the worst of all worlds. as the economy flatlines. the chief secretary to the treasury, darren jones, has said that better days are ahead. >> we start from a disappointing set of economic statistics as we end 2024, but that's why we're going to fight every day, to make sure that we improve the lives of working people across this country. >> on the way to a rachel reeves recession. in other news, home secretary yvette cooper is confronted by an angry pensioner whilst handing out mince pies in her west yorkshire constituency. >> that that is so two faced in a mince pie. are you a nice tradition? no no no, give me a blanket for freezing to death. the freezing, freezing.

>> well, it's lovely to be back in the studio with you, charlie. >> absolutely festively themed. you know, i think we've got the highest number of. yeah. you've done your bit. >> i've done my bit. you look very smart, though. and smart is good. yeah, smart is good. i'll take a huge amount to talk about today. yes. we've got we've got recession on the cards. yes. it does appear that there's a lot of confusion with regard to the suspect in the german christmas market attack. what exactly his motivations were. seems like he was prolific on on social media. >> yeah, lots to draw out from that. lots of question marks for the german security establishment as well. their links with saudi arabia or lack of links, we should say, with the kingdom potentially causing concerns there. we're also going to be talking about a big victory for reform uk, with rupert lowe, their mp, getting the dwp, the department of work and pensions to release some really important data on foreign

nationals claiming benefits. this is data that the government collects that they just don't release to the public. so lots of information to come out there. and we'll also be asking what more data are they holding back that we need to know? >> yes, i mean, rupert lowe has been a sort of one man band on this. he's been pressing for data on all sorts of different issues, mostly to do with non—uk residents and benefits and crime data and all of that stuff. but surely the british people have a right to know this stuff. >> it's important stuff. and on that topic of information coming out into the public, we're also going to be going through a question about barber shops up and down the country. now, a new investigation has found that 6000 new barbershops and beauty salons have sprung up since 2019. what's behind that? because there's some concern from the police that some of these places are being used for laundering money, which is a bit, i don't know, maybe, maybe the demand has suddenly exploded exponentially. >> you know, men aren't cutting their own hair anymore. they're all going for these fancy, i

don't know, whatever you call them. >> the hot, hot shave, the towel. >> shave. i'm not sure it's that. i'm not sure it's that. we'll get to the bottom of it, though. the show? >> yes, we'll work it out. >> yes, we'll work it out. >> let us know if it's like that on your high street. it certainly is near where i am. >> yeah, you're keen to know that. and you can send all your views and post your comments by visiting gbnews.com/yoursay. we'll be looking forward to reading them out throughout the programme. but first, let's have your news headlines with sam francis. >> very good afternoon to you. it's just after midday. the top story this hour. well, the uk economy flatlined in the third quarter of the year, with gdp showing no growth between july and september, according to revised figures out earlier today. the office for national statistics partly blamed weaker trading in bars and restaurants, while businesses warned the country is headed for the worst of all worlds. they say amid fears of reduced output and hiring, chancellor rachel reeves says the economic challenges are

huge, but vows her budget will deliver growth in the long term. but the conservatives claim labour's policies have tanked growth, while the shadow culture secretary, stuart andrew, spoke to us earlier this morning on gb news and he's been pointing the finger at the labour government and warned that a recession is increasingly likely if their policies continue. >> this is a really worrying time. they talk down the economy, so it's no wonder that confidence is falling. but then they made some disastrous decisions in the budget, not least the national insurance contributions hike, which is having a real impact on confidence for businesses in what they were thinking about for their future and any investments that they were thinking for growth. and then, you know, i obviously work very closely with charities, for example, and they are facing a significant hike in their national insurance contributions bill totalling about £1.4 billion. >> a suspected arson attack has

caused a large fire in birmingham today. police say a car was deliberately set alight and rammed into a shop building in spark hall early this morning. sparkhill rather, with residents describing the explosion as sounding like a bomb going off. the blaze later spread to flats above the shop, prompting evacuations. thankfully, though, no injuries have been reported so far. fire crews battled the flames with ten fire engines, bringing the situation now under control. west midlands police are urging anyone with information to come forward as their investigations continue. shop staff are facing a christmas crime wave with nearly 700 shoplifting offences each day going unsolved over the past year. new figures show a 38% rise in unsolved cases since 2019, with more than half closed without identifying a suspect. the liberal democrats are warning the trend leaves shop workers vulnerable during the festive season. morrisons has

apologised after a system glitch caused chaos for shoppers earlier, with loyalty discounts failing and christmas deliveries cancelled. customers reported that more card savings didn't apply at tills, and some deliveries or click and collect orders were running late on one of the busiest shopping days of the year. the supermarket's website also experienced outages, morrisons has said, though it is offering a 10% discount in store for affected shoppers and is manually processing loyalty vouchers. the nhs is urging families to watch for signs of dementia as they gather this christmas, with diagnoses in england hitting a record 500,000 people. symptoms for forgetfulness like forgetfulness, confusion about time and place and struggling with conversations could be some early warning signs. the care minister, stephen kinnock, says an early diagnosis is vital for accessing treatment and support. the alzheimer's society also says a million people are living with dementia in the uk, but a third remain undiagnosed. that's

as dementia was the uk's leading cause of death last year, with over 75,000 people dying from the disease and the uk's most expensive street of 2024 has been named. but if you're dreaming of living there, well, you'll need some very deep pockets. homes in knightsbridge averaged £21.4 million. the central london hotspot is closely followed by ilchester place in kensington, coming in at £19.4 place in kensington, coming in at £194 million and grosvenor square at 19 million. lloyds bank says london still dominates the priciest streets list. but outside the capital, east road in weybridge is the costliest at just over £8 million. what a bargain. those are the latest headunes bargain. those are the latest headlines for now. i'll be back with you in half an hour. >> okay. welcome back. it is now 1207. you're watching merry

christmas britain now. tributes are flooding in for the nine year old boy andre gleisner, who's been named as the youngest victim in the german christmas market attack. >> taking to social media, his mother called him my little teddy bear and said that he would always live on in our hearts. >> yes, the attack has left five dead and over 200 injured, with some remaining in a critical condition. >> and that's come as the alternative for germany. protesters have prepared to march near the scene of the attack, with german authorities coming under fire after warnings about the suspects were reportedly received last year but deemed unspecific. well, joining us in the studio now is our home affairs and security edhon our home affairs and security editor, mark white. talk us through these links. the german security agencies are suggested to have had at that stage. >> well, each day, actually, we're getting more in the way of information on the background of this man, taleb abdul mohsen, who came to germany in 2006 from

saudi arabia, claimed asylum. he was eventually granted asylum under angela merkel. angela merkel in 2016. but during that time he came, i