making news in america this morning, breaking overnight, the deadly christmas market crash in berlin. now being called a suspected terror attack. what we know about the people inside the truck as we're hearing from witnesses for the first time. >> a lot of people running away and a lot of people crying, shouting, talking on the phone. >> this morning, investigators on the scene as security is stepped up here in the u.s. and an assassination in turkey. the russian ambassador there gunned down while delivering a speech. we have new details about the shooter. what he said about syria and how did he get so close to the ambassador. michelle obama's exit interview with oprah. will she run for office and tells oprah which member of the first family is saying, bye, felicia to the white house. a car screens off the road

we'll show you what happened next. good morning, everyone. on a tuesday it is a busy one for us. we'll start with the breaking news from germany. officials now saying terrorists may be to blame for that horrific scene in berlin. >> a truck plowed into a popular christmas market in the capital city last night killing at least 12 people and injuring nearly 50 more. >> it is daybreak right now in berlin and we're taking a live picture right now. you see the black cab of that or the back of that truck amid the debris. authorities assume it was a deliberate act and say the truck apparently accelerated before slamming into the crowd leaving a deadly trail of destruction. >> we were just having fun with my friends and the market started to close. first we heard glass breaking. we didn't know it was happening but a lot of people running

shouting, talking on the phone. we knew something was wrong but started seeing people with blood on their faces and fainting and sitting on the floor and, yeah, we knew something was wrong. we tried to ask people but nobody knew so -- >> there were a lot of witnesses there. the truck narrowly missing them as it smashed through tables and knocked over christmas trees. they jumped in to help. the injured until the paramedics arrived. >> a suspect believed to be the driver is now being questioned by police. >> a passenger in the truck who died we are learning was a polish national but authorities are not saying if he had anything to do with the attack. abc's angelica spanos has the latest on the rampage. >> reporter: thousands were enjoying the opening air christmas market in berlin when the festivities turned to a horror scene. >> it went just past me, past my girlfriend. >> reporter: monday night a truck barreled into shoppers just a few days before christmas. >> it missed me by three

missed her by five. it came into the entrance, hit the sides of the barriers and then carried on past us. >> reporter: police say the driver of this delivery truck filled with steel supports jumped the curb at a high speed and ripped through kiosks, crowds and pop-up shops. a path of destruction left behind for first responders captured by eyewitness video. officials say there were two people in the truck, one died in the crash and another fled the scene but was later captured. berlin police say he was driving the truck, no word yet on their identities. >> anywhere large numbers of people gather, you certainly have the potential for one of these types of attacks. that's what concerns law enforcement officials. the ease with something like this can be done. >> reporter: this is the second time this year a truck has become a weapon of destruction. in july an isis follower rammed through a crowd at a bass still day celebration in nice, france.

officials issuing a warning that holiday celebrations lasting through the inauguration could be targeted. and in new york the nypd on alert at holiday markets with armed guards. angelica spanos, abc news, new york. >> of course, we'll continue to follow that story all morning long and matt gutman is there in berlin for us on "good morning america." but the other big story that we're following, the assassination of russia's ambassador to turkey. take a look at new photo of the shooter, 22-year-old off-duty cop seen here in his police graduation album. he gunned down andrei karlov at a photography exhibit. >> after shooting him he shouted don't forget aleppo. don't forget syria before he was then killed by other police officers. turkish president says it was aimed at disrupting cooperation with russia on syria. abc's terry moran agrees. >> reporter: think the major implication is that it will hopefully put the fear of god

including the united states, including turkey, including russia, including saudi arabia and qatar, so many countries that got involved in the syrian civil war that this kind of terrorism and the kind, frankly, that we see in europe, as well, the spillover from syria has become a global problem. >> the assassin was shot and later died at the hospital. his sister, mother and father were all detained and are now being questioned. >> authorities aren't sure if it's connected but overnight a man fired a shotgun outside the u.s. embassy in ankara and was quickly arrested. no injuries. one report indicated he was attempting to enter the embassy. the u.s. embassy in ankara and two u.s. consulates in turkey are closed today. in switzerland a man dressed in black stormed a mosque in zurich and opened fire wounding three adult men. he then fled and had not been caught yet. though a body was found at a nearby bridge. two of the victims were se

zurich police are not yet calling this shooting terrorism. but apparently the president-elect thinks it is. he tweeted yesterday, today there were terror attacks in turkey, switzerland and germany and it is only getting worse. the civilized world must change thinking. mr. trump also took to twitter to celebrate the electoral college's certification of his victory. he is now officially the president-elect. >> finally. he says he did it despite the quote distorted and inaccurate media. abc's janai norman with more. >> reporter: from unlikely candidate to unstoppable president-elect, donald trump is set to officially become the 45th president of the united states. protesters shouting shame on you as electoral college members cast their votes in pennsylvania where trump beat hillary clinton by less than 1%. state by state elect tors casting their ballots including bill clinton in new york. in minnesota one elector going rogue replaced after refusing to

cast his vote for hillary clinton. similarly in maine, one elector trying to vote for bernie sanders going against state law. that ballot was ruled out of order and in the end he voted for clinton. in the end it's the elect tors with the final say. in austin putting trump over the 270 votes he needed. >> we have for president donald trump, 36 votes. by the way, texas now puts president trump over the top. [ applause ] >> reporter: members of the house and senate will meet in the house chamber to count all the votes on january 6th. then vice president joe biden will announce the winner on that day marking two weeks until the inauguration. janai norman, abc news, washington. >> the fbi will unseal the search warrant used in the clinton e-mail probe. a federal judge ordered the release of documents related to the fbi's re-opening of that investigation in october.

e-mails found were discovered during an unrelated investigation of former congressman anthony weiner. clinton said the fbi's action were a turning point in the campaign. and new overnight china has returned the u.s. underwater drone it seized last week. the pentagon says the drone was returned close to where it was taken in the south china sea. the seizure ramped up tensions between the u.s. and china. well, still ahead right here, the new interview with michelle obama on her time in the white house and whether she plans to run for office. the mix-up that nearly caused a collision at one of the nation's busiest airports. a car in flame after veering off the road. the driver trapped inside. the dramatic rescue caught on camera.

well, this morning prosecutors are calling it the biggest ponzi scheme since bernie madoff. hedge fund founder mark norlik and six others are accused of cheating investors out of more than a billion. he pleaded not guilty. the fund was famous for double digit returns but prosecutors say those returns were too good to be true. >> the judge in that high-profile stanford sexual assault case was cleared of wrongdoing. aaron persky faced outrage after sentencing brock turner to six months in prison and served just three months but a judicial panel found him well within the law and showed no bias. in arkansas the reward has grown to $40,000 for information in a road rage case that left a 3-year-old boy dead. police in little rock say they're following up on every tip in an effort to find the killer of little aason king. he was in the backseat of his grandmother's car when the driver of another car fired one shot k

a high-profile journalist :r "newsweek" magazine is claiming someone sent him a tweet that touched off an epileptic seize you are. kirk eischenwald said after his post critical of trump and his supporters says he has epilepsy and had flashing colors and said he deserved a seizure and since suspended the person's he and his lawyers are trying to the find the suspect. north carolina's bathroom law may soon be a thing of the past holding a special session to reconsider the controversial measure. the law requires transgendered people to use restrooms that correspond with the sex on their birth certificate. it also reversed lawed expanding protections for lgbt people. a police officer's cruiser hit by a car. see the new video and why police say this was deliberate. and the stunt on the nfl field.

triggering a huge spike in salvation army donations. brows? why do people put milk on cereal? oh, are you reading why people put milk on cereal? why does your tummy go "grumbily, grumbily, grumbily"? why is it all (mimics a stomach grumble) no more questions for you! ooph, that milk in your cereal was messing with you, wasn't it? yeah, happens to more people than you think... try lactaid, it's real milk, without that annoying lactose. good, right? mmm, yeah. i got your back. lactaid. it's the milk that doesn't mess with you. because my teeth are yellow. these photos? why don't you use a whitening toothpaste? i'm afraid it's bad for my teeth. try crest 3d white. crest 3d white diamond strong toothpaste and rinse... ...gently whiten... .and fortify weak spots. use together for 2 times stronger enamel. crest 3d white. as after a dvt blood clot,ital i sure had a lot to think about. what about the people i care about? ...including this little girl. and what if this happened again? i was given warfarin in the hospital,

for me? so i asked my doctor. and he recommended eliquis. eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots and reduces the risk of them happening again. yes, eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots. eliquis also had significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. both made me turn around my thinking. don't stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. if you had a spinal injection while on eliquis call your doctor right away if you have tingling, numbness, or muscle weakness. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily ...and it may take longer than usual for bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots. plus had less major bleeding. both made eliquis the right treatment for me. ask your doctor if switching to eliquis is right for you.

this was the scene in casper, wyoming. talk about a whiteout. this was snow blowing in near hurricane force winds. the area received nearly three feet of snow and wind gusts of up to 70 miles per hour. it's going to be tough driving around there. for your other morning road conditions heavy rain in the northwest. heavy snow in the mountains from the cascades t the northern rockies. the faa investigating after an air traffic controller sent a jet the path of another aircraft in the skies right above los angeles. >> the mistake happened when a boeing 777 left for tie pay, taiwan last friday. the air traffic controller based in san diego told the pilot to turn left instead of right. that put the jet in the path of an air canada plane which had just taken off. the controller quickly realizing her mistake and tried to correct it.

>> eva 0155, heavy, what are you doing. turn southbound now. stop your climb. >> residents on the ground below said they were startled to hear planes flying so low especially with the san gabriel mountains nearby. an ohio woman deliberately slammed her suv into a police cruiser. officer ryan conal was writing a ticket and police say she was suicidal going at least 0 piles per hour. remarkably conal suffered only minor injuries. he says he's grateful to still be alive to protect and serve. good samaritans rush in to pull a man from his burning car. a car veering off the road near houston injuring the driver. that's when several people risked their own lives to pull him free. police say the outcome could have been much worse as you can tell. if not for those strangers who were willing to help. >> very lucky they were there. turning to sports now dallas running back

emerging as an impact player in a whole new area. after scoring a touchdown he jumped into a giant salvation army red kettle that was sitting in the end zone. >> he didn't spike the ball. he spiked the donations. they went up 61% and number 21 says he's also donating $21,000 to the charity, he was worried he would get penalized by the league. they didn't penalize him. he said i'll still give to charity. >> to fine so paying it forward. for the first time in his career, carolina quarterback cam newton had no rushing yards in the game last night. instead during monday night football he completed 21 of 37 passes for 300 yards, two touchdowns leading the panthers to a 26-15 victory over the washington football team. washington's signal caller kirk cousins had an off night with an interception and fumble and no touchdowns for the redskins. >> can that a lazy day for hi

i'll throw. the obamas move out of the white house exactly one month from today. >> and they're now in hawaii as you know but before leaving michelle obama sat down with oprah winfrey to talk about life as first lady and what she absolutely will not be doing in the future. more now from abc's stephanie ramos. >> well, welcome to my home. >> thanks for having me here. >> as michelle obama prepares to leave the white house, she shares her reflections from the last eight years of being on the world stage in her final interview as first lady. >> let me just tell america, this is hard. it's a hard job. >> reporter: for those wanting michelle obama to run for office after the white house, sorry, folks. she says it's not happening. >> no. people don't really understand how hard this is. and it's not something that you cavalierly just sort of ask a family to do again. >> reporter: mrs. obama in an emotional turn opening up about how race and class still impact the country. >> we're so

other, you know, color, wealth, these things that don't matter still play too much of a role in how we see one another. >> reporter: during the interview president obama walks in. >> we were talking about hope and whether or not your administration achieved that. >> absolutely. >> absolutely. >> i feel hopeful. >> what are you most hopeful about now? >> the next generation. >> okay, the next generation. >> you know, we've talked about this. history moves in cycles. >> reporter: as for michelle's mother who had a room at the white house for the last eight years. >> okay, where will your mother go? >> she is going back to chicago. she's like, bye, felicia. >> reporter: stephanie ramos, abc news, honolulu, hawaii. >> that really -- >> bye, felicia. >> that was my favorite moment right there. she was like, boy, bye. up next in the "pulse." merriam-webster's word of the year.

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that tells him more than just the time and it's waiting for you.. ...at jared ♪ tuesday "pulse" starting with the word surreal. merriam-webster dictionary has dubbed it the word of the year for 2016. >> this is marked by the intense irrational reality of a dream. there's your definition and the selection came down to two thing, the word had a high volume of look-ups and significant year over your increase of look-ups on miriamwebster.com. >> the largest spike occurred after the presidential election but you could say that after the cubs won the world series. >> quite a few surreal things happened in 2016

doctors do a better job of keeping their patients alive and keeping their patients from making a return trip to the hospital. >> harvard researchers couldn't say exactly why female doctors perform better than their male counterparts. >> i have a few suggestions. >> i bet you do. research has shown they're more likely to practice evidence-based medicine, stick to clinical guidelines and offer prevent tiff care. later on "gma" dr. besser and dr. ashton will weigh in on this debate. i'm not sure if those researchers were all female or male. >> it doesn't matter. this is clearly a concrete study and findings will live on forever. ever have an accident with your iphone just as a new model debuts. >> columbia business school researchers call it the upgrade effect and found users get more careless when there is a new model available. after all if the phone is broken then you have to buy a new one, right? no longer have to feel guilty about spending that extra money. >> makes sense. for some golfing is

year-round sport even when the fairway and greens are covered in ice. but this guy may want to wait until the weather warms up next time. his friends caught this on camera. talk about epic fail. swing and a miss and an icy bath. >> oh, man, so not only laughing at him. they're going to post this on instagram so that we can all laugh at him. however, if you're keeping score at home, since he never hit the ball, that swing doesn't count as a shot. >> he's totally good. can he just pick up where he leftwashington. get ready to bundle up. temperatures are below freezing in many areas across the region. meteorologist veronica johnson will tell us when we can expect it to warm up, in just a few moments. but first here are some of the stories we are following right now. we could hear people, we could hear crashing. it happens so quickly and there was no sign of the truck slowing down at all, it

a deadly attack at a christmas market in berlin. more than a dozen people are dead after police say a driver intentionally crashed a semi truck into shoppers. we have an update on the investigation happening right now in germany. a deflating night for the redskins and their fans. hosting the carolina panthers on monday night football-- the team cam up short and lost 26-15. that also delivers a serious blow to the team's playoff hopes. next up for the skins-- a trip to chicago to take on the bears. good morning washington. toss to veronica johnson - quiet weather for the remainder of the week - - not as cold through friday - - rain chance saturday and again next tuesday - - no major winter storms

still chilly high: 40 winds: calm to north 5 mph tonight: clear & cold, light wind lows: 24-30 winds: north 5-10 wednesday: mostly sunny & nice, seasonable highs: 44-49 winds: north 5-10 mph

we are following some breaking international news.

say china has returned military drone seized by the chinese navy. this ends a standoff between china and the pentagon that began last week. the pentagon says an unarmed military research ship was conducting research near the filipino coast-- with a drone known as an ocean glider. thats when a chinese military boat swooped in and snatched it-- violating international laws. chinese officials later released a statement saying its sailors didn't know what the drone was and returned it once they saw that it was just a drone. a record breaking move for president obama as he enters his last month in the oval office. this week-- president obama granted 78 pardons and 153 commutations. that's the most acts of clemency granted by mister obama in a single day.

cases involved drug related crimes prosecuted during an era of strict mandatory minimums for non-violent offenses. over the course of his presidency, obama has granted clemency to 13-hundred-and-24 people, including 148 pardons. developing now: police identified the suspect in a stabbing right outside the dunn loring metro station. the attack took place around 7-30 monday morning. the victim was taken to a nearby hospital -- his injuries are non life threatening. ali mohamound was arrested and is now being held without bond. no word on what triggered the violence. some good news this morning for metro rail riders. today is the last day of safetrack's surge 11. over the past three weeks-- riders have dealt with continuous single tracking between west falls church and east falls church. safetrack surges will be suspended from december 21st through the end of january, to allow for inauguration preparation.

it's xx and we're just getting started. coming up. a suspected terror attack-- targeting christmas shoppers in berlin. witnesses now describing what they saw-- as police learn more about man who slammed a semi-truck into dozens of innocent people. plus, tensions rising for the redskins following a bitter loss on monday night football. we have reaction from coach gruden.. as the team tries to keep it's playoff dreams alive. good morning washington. - quiet weather for the remainder of the week -