this morning on "world news now," a deadly blast taking place as hundreds of people were shopping for an essential part of their holiday celebrations. the death hotoll rising this morning. we'll talk to a reporter on the scene. a desperate man hunt in the aftermath of the berlin truck attack. authorities are searching any clues they can find in attempt to locate the person behind the deadly incident. isis is now claiming responsibility. authorities have released a suspect who was in custody. then a winner in the drone delivery wars. it is a competition, sort of, who received precious cargo out of the sky? we'll tell you who, and we think you'll be surprised by what company flew past all its competitors. and then our own kendis gibson goes in search of food you

without disturbing your neighbor. silence, please, we'll actually see him take a bite of something. kendis is going to eat on camera, ladies and gentlemen. you'll see that one ahead on this wednesday, 21st. from abc news, this is "world news now." we start this morning with the deadly chain reaction explosion at a mexican fireworks market. >> at least 29 people are dead and dozens of others injured. the market packed with people shopping for fireworks in mexico city preparing for christmas and new year's celebrations. >> reporter: it looks like a cross between a massive celebration and a huge mistake. cell phone cameras rolling as commuters drove home just outside mexico city. the country's best known

huge plume of smoke and flames. people in nearby neighborhoods could hear explosions as the fire spread, and the fireworks just kept detonating. back at the scene, people visiting the market scrambling, running to safety. in the aftermath, confusion and chaos. people walking through rubble along with fire crews and police searching for victims. you can still hear an occasional pop from an exploding firework. so far, no word on what sparked the explosion. abc news, new york. now let's check in with fusion reporter rafael fernandez in mexico city for us. thank you for joining us. what are eyewitnesss telling you about what they saw? >> caller: well, they are saying that the firework explosions went off for more than an hour. there were many secondary explosions, and there was a big stampede of people and visitors that were at the market at e

off, so a lot of people were falling to the ground, and they literally told me that the ground was shaking as the fireworks were going off. there's dozens of people that are dead now. dozens that are at the hospital. the state of mexico said a lot of the bodies cannot be ident y identified because of the degree to which the bodies were burn. >> such a dramatic situation there. you've been to the actual scene. describe to me what did it smell like, what did it look like from your perspective as you got there? >> caller: well, it smells like gun powder. there was a big cloud of smoke that started to disperse at night, but, you know, there was a lot of people crying, a lot of state police, firemen, mexican red cross arrived on the scene. it really looks like a war zone. it reminded me of some of the images i've seen in syria or iraq. it

it had over 23 market stands selling fireworks. they were completely wiped off, and, you know, you can still smell the gun powder in the air. >> yeah. we're looking at some of the videos now. it's unbelievable the size of the scene and how far this explosion really went over how much ground it covered. is there any thought yet on what may have caused this? >> caller: well, you know, leek i said, mexican attorney general's office is still investigating, but what probably happened here is, you know, one of the fireworks went off triggering a chain reaction throughout the entire market. we don't know yet if it was someone who, you know, was lighting a fire cracker by mistake, a burned cigarette, or even the heat in the area that could have, you know, triggered one of the fire crackers, and then the entire place went off. authorities are still investigating. they are being careful not to rush to

know, they are already prepping for this. this happened in 2005 in the same market. 57 people were injured in that incident, and this, you know, another firework went off in 2006 and 2007, and a lot of markets were burned. this is something that has been happening throughout the years, and, you know, it's been very difficult for mexican shorts to crack down on the sale of the legal fireworks. >> it is truly a scene of utter and complete carnage there near mexico city. fusion correspondent rafa fernandez, thank you. >> caller: thank you so much for having me. and now we're going to move on to this morning's other top story. a man hunt is underway in berlin. >> a live look at daybreak there in berlin. police say they have the wrong

the attack, we have more details how this unfolded from abc's matt gutman. >> reporter: isis claims credit for the scenes of horror. holiday shoppers huddled on the ground, some injured, others helping the wounded. here in germany, an all-out man hunt for those responsible. police releasing a pakistani man unable to tie him to the crime. now intense focus on the murder weapon, that semitruck. the front window shattered, christmas garland tangled in the glass. workers are hauling away the truck, they hope what's inside could yield key clues in this investigati investigation. the truck driver discovered dead inside, german officials say he was shot, but no gun found on the scene. he was delivering steel beams from italy to germany. investigators are now scouring the area on the outskirts of berlin where he may have parked. the afternoon of the attack he called his wife saying he was

grabbing food and would call back, but he never did. this video shows him in a diner. authorities believe he was hijacked. they have the truck's gps and retracing the route that led him to the market. the plaza, 8:02, packed with people, truck plowing through stalls, going 90 yards before coming to a stop. an american was there. >> all the sudden i heard crashing and screaming, looked up, and i saw this truck barrelling sideways, sort of just pushing into the market and coming right at me. >> reporter: trapped in a chaos, she heard pops and thought it was a gun. >> there was no place to go. it's run straight through the market or get shot if there was a gun. >> reporter: were you immediately aware people were hurt? >> yeah. i heard people screaming. people were being hit. >> reporter: 12 people killed in the attack, at least 45 injured. the market stalls in splinters. trees strewn in the road.

one terrorist still on the loose. this is frederick, the heart of berlin, and normally at this hour, you expect to see rush hour traffic, but right now, it is eerily quiet. angela merkel visiting the horror, like so many germans, laying flowers, but amid the grief, resilience. i will not be intimidated, this woman says, and so many linking hands in solidarity and heavily armed police looking on. there's few surveillance cameras in germany. they are appealing to the witnesses. they received 500 tips, 80 kredlkre credib credible. it seems they don't know whether the terrorist acted alone or as a cell or if other attacks are planned. matt gutman, abc news, berlin. >>

today under tighter security and heavy police presence in cities and popular tourist attractions across europe including the vatican. officers in the u.k. are on high alert and france boosted security. here in the u.s., the antiterrorist squad is patrolling the busiest areas of new york city and ramped up security in los angeles and washington, d.c. the man accused of setting off bombs in new jersey and new york appeared in court for the first time. he moved slowly, apparently still recovering from injuries after a shootout with police in jersey. he pled not guilty to five counts of attempted murder. he's accused of detonating a pipe bomb in new jersey and a pressure cooker bomb in new york city. environmentalists applaud a move by president obama to permanently ban oil rigs in the arctic and at lan tick ocean. trump vowed to open up offshore drilling. the white house relied on

obscure 1953 law that provides no authority for subsequent presidents to undo permanent withdrawals. >> this is cool. a human flying drone. youtube star casey dashing through a winter wonder land. there. no sleigh, but there's a snow board and custom built glowing drone strong enough to carry him and the board. >> cool. he put on the santa suit for the occasion. >> nice of him. >> flying around the village, basically like water skiing, only on snow. there's nothing like this currently available on the market, but he said it took him and his friends a year to build the drone. >> man, that is really, raleigh cool. coming up, speaking of cool, my adventure in the kitchen and theater. it's all about snacking at the cinema in virtual silence. >> did you actually eat the food? >> of course i did. yes. finally. >> you didn't just fake it? >> no. >> are you lying? >> not this time. find us on facebook,

and twitter @abcwnn you're watching "world news now."

that cough doesn't sound so good. well i think you sound great. move over. easy booger man. take mucinex dm. it'll take care of your cough. fine! i'll text you in 4 hours when your cough returns. one pill lasts 12 hours, so... looks like i'm good all night! ah! david, please, listen. still not coughing. not fair you guys! waffles are my favorite! ah! some cough medicines only last 4 hours. but just one mucinex lasts 12 hours. start the relief. ditch the misery. let's end this. but...my doctor recommended prilosec otc 7 years ago, 5 years ago, last week. just 1 pill each morning. 24 hours and zero heartburn, it's been the number 1 doctor recommended brand for 10

use as directed i'm gonna take mucinex sinus-max. enough pressure in here for ya? too late, we're about to take off. these dissolve fast. they're liquid gels. and you're coming with me... you realize i have gold status? mucinex sinus-max liquid gels. dissolves fast to unleash max strength medicine. let's end this. you won't see these folks they have businesses to run. they have passions to pursue. how do they avoid trips to the post office? stamps.com mail letters, ship packages, all the services of the post office right on your computer. get a 4 week trial, plus $100 in extras including postage and a digital scale. go to stamps.com/tv

freezing rain and snow made driving very dangerous in spokane, washington. this semitruck crashed shutting down interstate 90 in both directions. black ice will be a threat for this morning's commute. a candle light vil

3-year-old boy shot in the backseat of his grandmother's car. >> it's the second time in less than a month that a toddler was killed in the little rock area while riding in a family vehicle. >> reporter: the fbi and little rock police in an all-out man hunt, searching for the suspect accused of opening fire, killing this 3-year-old boy, ason king, in a case of road rage. bystanders calling 911. you hear his grandmother trying to describe the horror. >> my grandson's been shot. oh, my god! >> reporter: it was not until she pulled into a parking lot she realized her grandson in the back seat was hit. >> i was at the ston and the guy blew the horn at me, and i blew it back, and he shot, but i thought that he shot in the air, but he shot the car. >> reporter: authorities saying they received dozens of tips and doubled the reward to $40,000. >> we believe he artery is

in the area mement we are hopef someone in the area where the shooting occurred could lead us in the right direction. >> reporter: hunting for the toddler's killer and black 2003 chevy impala he was said to be driving. in the next half hour, he sings, writes songs, and keeps the peace on airlines. a side of richard marx you've never known about. first, keeping the peace and quiet in movie theaters without going hungry. kendis has more on that. you're watching "world news now." "world news now"

so "sing" is among three films not waiting for the holiday weekend to debut, and instead, open today. >> i thought it was "world news now" for a sec. >> yes.

tragic. it follows a singing competition, but you are seeing here, this is "passengers," a thriller with chris pratt and jennifer lawrence. they're pretty. the third new film opening today, "assassin's creed" based off the video game. >> if you're doing dinner and a movu view, you're not doing the at the same time. >> there's a growing movie chain changing that. i checked out their menu, yes, and as such, loyal viewers know it never happens, but i ate food on camera. here you go. merry christmas. happy hanukkah. >> reporter: we've been there, sitting in a theater, the seats comfortable, the movie's great, trying to enjoy the dialogue, yet some tool sitting right next to you is crunching every few seconds. bro, would it kill you? luckily, this theater found a solution to that. i mean, seriously, it's every two seconds. >> i can't help myself.

imagine the challenge for world renowned chef to create a fine dining mean ewe to be eaten in a dark theater without disturbing a single audience member? ipic offers a high dining experience as you watch movies on the big screen. >> you want texture in the food, but you don't want loud. you never want it too smelly. you never want it too noisy, but you want it flavorful. that's the most important thing. >> okay. >> when you're in the dark, do you know all your senses are heigh heightened? you don't see, but you smell and hear. we design the menu that way. >> reporter: making foods that are not too noticy, ditching forks and knives along the way. a lobster platter becomes a lobster roll. the caesar salad is now a salad boat

>> no. it won't. just eat it like a taco. pick it up, simple and easy. >> reporter: food network star and protege taste tested everything on the menu all keeping in the theme. >> reporter: i didn't hear anything. >> nothing. >> reporter: the theater's fancy seats are helping out with the acoustics, specially padded to help the private dining atmosphere in a public theater. enough talk. time for me to personally dig in. ♪ at last ♪ my love has come along ♪ my lonely days are

♪ and life is like a song >> reporter: wow. that is just so, so good. happily stuffed. time to lay back and enjoy some newly released oscar contending musical comedy. >> what are you doing? >> you brought him in just to eat your food for you? >> the gma producer. we all look alike. what do you mean? >> how did you sell that, by the way? i need you to come with me on this shoot and just eat food? >> yes. >> i noticed, though, you didn't give up the cocktail, though. >> no, no, that stayed there. they are trying to do what they did for

i ate it. i did. i'm full. >> we need to talk about this. we do. i think you sound great. move over. easy booger man. take mucinex dm. it'll take care of your cough. fine! i'll text you in 4 hours when your cough returns. one pill lasts 12 hours, so... looks like i'm good all night! ah! david, please, listen. still not coughing. not fair you guys! waffles are my favorite! ah! some cough medicines only last 4 hours. but just one mucinex lasts 12 hours. start the relief. ditch the misery. let's end this. approaching medicare eligibility? you may think you can put off checking out your medicare options until you're sixty-five, but now is a good time to get the ball rolling. keep in mind, medicare only covers about eighty percent of part b medical costs. the rest is up to you.

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ene. time now for the mix, and earlier, we saw that human flying drone. >> oh, yeah. >> we talked about a lot of companies participating in drone activity, but this one might surprise you. 711 is apparently taking the top spot for that. >> for deliveries? >> delivering 77 deliveries via drone to customers in reno, nevada. >> hopefully successfully and not drop a slurpie on you? that would be messy. >> it would be. i think that's the criteria. we talked about amazon doing this, but they are ahead of the pack. >> who knew 7/11 delivered, good to know. >> they plan to expand drone deliveries in 2017. >> so, you know, the pokemon craze

july, but in that time, it's so popular, get this, the raw numbers here, users collectively walked 5.4 billion miles trying to collect all of the lords or all of the -- >> i could walk 500.4 billion miles -- >> maybe it should be kilometers. that's more than 200,000 trips, by the way, around the earth. all of that. we say they are not really getting exercise from this. >> feels like we could be doing more meaningful with that time and effort, but end joy. enjoy. >> not hating on it. >> sometimes we see animals and feel like it's almost like they are speaking to us. >> yes, they do. >> check out this koala. he's got some prickles in the fur. >> oh. >> he walks up to a human, and as though he was asking for help. >> oh. >> so the person took the

>> calm, hanging out. >> helped the koala brushing him, and the bear stuck around the house for the rest of the day. >> he wanted to say thank you to the person. >> asking where's the blow cry. >> so calm. >> he put a bowl of water out at first, but he slammed it away. he needed to be brush. >> speaking of cool animals. there's a dog that knows how to do a trust fall. he's watson, a golden retriever, performs a trust fall on command, but he also makes us realize that he's got the best squad goals around. take a look at him there. >> oh, how cute. >> this is his friend, keiko and harry. >> a spoons party. >> exactly. one's a cat. kind of looks like me at the end of the a saturday night. >> oh. >> just out of it. >> how good at you are trust falls? >> very good.

>> i got

this morning on "world news now," a chain reaction at a fireworks market in mexico. dozens are dead, and investigators are working to see what caused the massive tragedy just before the holidays. new video just in, a cargo plane crashing in colombia. authorities rushing to the scene. latest on the investigation to what caused this incident there. new this half hour, a family's call for help. a mother and father kidnapped in afghanistan four years ago now for the first time, we're seeing their children born in captivity and never have nope a day of freedom. coming to the rescue, jumping into action subduing an unruly passenger. but who was taking the pictures? we'll tell you the