Hello and welcome to Newsar from the BBC World Service.

Coming to you live from our studios in central London, I'm Julian Marshall.

And later in the programme, we'll hear from the minority-Alawite community in Syria.

It once enjoyed the patronage of former President Bashar al-Assad. So what are their

hopes and fears under the country's new rulers who have an Islamic militant past?

So far, we are OK. Hayat Tehrir al-Sham has been respectful to us. But there are groups

pretending to be HTS who are making threats.

And that report in full later in this edition of Newsar. At church services across the country,

Germans have been mourning those who died in an attack on a Christmas market in the eastern

town of Magdeburg on Friday.

Five people were killed and more than 200 were injured, 40 of them critically,

when they were struck by a car being driven at speed through the crowds.

The suspect, Talab al-Abdhdadmarsan, is a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia.

He's been placed in pre-trial detention, charged with murder, attempted murder,

and multiple counts of dangerous bodily harm.

The attack has been widely condemned by German politicians,

and it's put the issue of political violence back at the heart of the upcoming election.

Our correspondent, Bethany Bell, sent us this report.

A memorial service for the victims of the Christmas market attack.

Germany's President Frank Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Schultz joined relatives and rescue workers at Magdeburg's Gothic Cathedral.

The service was live streamed to the square outside.

Hundreds of locals came to watch.

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