This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service.

I'm Bernadette Keough and in the early hours of Sunday the 22nd of December, these are our main stories.

The German city of Magdeburg is in mourning after a car was driven into a crowd at a Christmas market, killing five.

We hear about the possible motives the suspected attacker may have had.

Albania is to shut down TikTok for at least a year.

Also in this podcast, the US avoids a government shutdown after days of political turmoil.

And the musicians of Syria, pondering what the new Islamic leadership

will mean for creative freedom.

We are willing to talk to them with logic.

We are willing to talk to them with a real proposal.

It doesn't seem like in the first week of freeing Syria

they are willing to look for the cultural side.

We start in Germany and Friday evening's attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg.

The number of people killed has risen to five, a nine-year-old child was among them.

200 people were injured, around 40 of them seriously. The suspect

who was arrested at the scene has been identified as a 50-year-old doctor, Talib al-Aldmousin,

from Saudi Arabia. Residents of the city have been laying flowers for the victims of the attack,

and there's still a sense of profound shock.

Unbelievably sad. It's unbelievable. I feel shocked. There are no words, no suitable words.

I live right behind them all, the alley center. It's simply unbelievable.

On Saturday evening, a memorial service took place at Magdeburg Cathedral.

Hundreds of people were in attendance, including families of the victims and emergency service workers.

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