20/12/2016 Outside Source

Hello, I'm Karin Giannone - this is Outside Source.

Let's look through some of the main stories here in the BBC Newsroom.

Vigils are held in Berlin 24 hours on from the deadly attack

Police have released a Pakistani asylum seeker

because of a lack of evidence, which means the attacker is likely

China tells millions of people to stay indoors

Extreme air pollution alerts have been issued for 24

We meet the brave Paralympian who has signed papers

allowing her to choose when she will die.

Scientists say they've made a "remarkable" breakthrough

in treating the early stages of prostate cancer.

The drug, activated by a laser, successfully destroys tumours

without the severe side effects surgery can cause.

Let's bring you back up to date on our top story -

the person responsible for the Berlin truck

A man detained by German police on Monday night has been released

due to lack of evidence linking him to the incident.

12 people died and 48 others were wounded in the attack.

Jenny Hill has been following events in Berlin.

The lorry itself, which belongs to a Polish firm, appears

Today, its owner identified the man who should have been at the wheel.

The young Polish driver was found shot dead in the passenger seat.

Today, every Christmas market in the city was closed.

Time to remember the dead - and for some, to reflect

It is just amazing how a peaceful, festive, happy atmosphere

just changed instantly, and

you just have this scene of utter devastation.

It will be a long time, Rees and Sara told us,

that they will be able to forget what they saw.

We weren't sure if it was red wine, or if it was blood, but we did see,

I remember, people were picking up a stall, so we decided

to put our food down and try to lift the stall up with them.

And we realised unfortunately that people underneath

Germany is a country in mourning. Its Chancellor under pressure.

Earlier this year, asylum seekers carried out what are thought to have

been the first IS-inspired terror attacks on German soil.

Angela Merkel must reassure a nervous German electorate

that her open door refugee policy hasn't put them at risk.

TRANSLATION: It would be particularly hard to bear

if it turned out that the person that did this was someone

who sought protection and asylum in Germany.

It would be particularly offensive to the many Germans engaged daily

The attack took place next to a bombed out church,

left in ruins as a reminder of the horror of war.

But once again, violence and terror has torn through

Our correspondent in Berlin, Robert Hall, has been

speaking to Karl-Heinz Kamp, the president of the Federal Academy

for Security Policy, which advises the German government

He explained the complexity of the investigation.

We had no guy shouting, "Allahu Akbar," we did not have

any self confirmation, we didn't have any videos,

so a number of things are still completely uncertain,

and that is why authorities said, yes, it is an attack, but we are not

sure whether it is an IS/Muslim attack so we have to wait

Does this feel to you, Karl-Heinz, like an attack that has been

long in the planning, or something more spontaneous?

It doesn't look long in the planning.

It looks more like being spontaneous, because the pre-emptive

measures we all take in all our societies -

in your country and my country - are pretty good in the meantime.

Which means you are trip-wiring phones, you hear things going on,

you hear about something cooking up there, but since there was nothing

it pretty much looks like a spontaneous act

in which apparently the driver of the truck has been killed,

So much more questions than answers so far.

In your experience, how difficult is the job that the police now face?

With no clear leads - well, there may well

be a lead to follow, we don't know, but no clear

Well, on the other hand we have a number of other issues -

we have a car, we have certain traces.

It is always difficult to do this but if you see the recent

terror attacks we had, for instance in the US,

usually after a day or two they were able to come up with some

evidence - YouTube video screening, YouTube witnesses -

I mean there were thousands of people there, so the likelihood

that you will find something if they are, but it just takes time,

because it was as I said not like the Nice thing

where you had just the incumbent, so to speak, lying on the street -

Let's bring you some dramatic sports news.

Two-time Wimbledon tennis champion, Petra Kvitova, has undergone surgery

to her hand after a knife attack at her home in the Czech Republic.

She's been on social media since the attack, tweeting,

"In my attempt to defend myself, I was badly injured on my left hand.

I am shaken, but fortunate to be alive."

Damian Johnson is at the BBC Sport Centre.

A really dramatic event. What happened? This was clearly a

terrifying ordeal for the world number 11. The intruder got into her

flat, as you said, close to the edge of the town, the man attacked her

and she fought him off, and I understand he held a knife to her

throat and it was in grabbing it with her left hand crucially that

did the damage. That is her racket hand, the one she holds a tennis

racket with when she is playing. Crucially, she could be out of

action for some time. She has undergone surgery today and that

lasted four hours, I understand. We are still waiting for further

details from that. I suppose. Still too early to say at this point how

able she will be to play again? At least three months is the reckoning.

I understand there repaired tendons in all five digits of hand and there

was also some nerve damage done. It is very serious. She will certainly

miss the Australian open, the first grand slam tournament of the New

Year in January 20 17. The 26-year-old is twice Wimbledon

champion, 2011 and 2014. She has had a number of messages of support from

fellow players on the women's circuit. Muguruza said stay strong

and do well. The former world number one, my thoughts and prayers are

with Petra. And Kvitova herself and said she will stay strong about

this. We await more information from the surgeons performed the operation

on Thursday. Thank you very much, from the BBC sports centre.

Mareeke Vervort is a gold medal winning wheelchair sprinter,

who has had an incurable degenerative spinal

She's paralysed, suffers chronic pain and fits regularly.

The 37-year-old is from Belgium where euthanasia is legal -

and eight years ago8 she signed the papers allowing her to choose

In this special BBC report Mareeke tells her story.

I had to stop because my mind said, yes, you still can do it, but by

body cries and says, helped! Stop training! You are breaking me, stop.

It's not... I immediately supported her. I

knew... She is stubborn, she knows what she wants, but she also knows

what she doesn't want. Living hell is not the life Marieke once.

-- Living hell is not the life Marieke wants.

When I talk about real pain, so much pain you lose consciousness from the

pain, and the tears rolling your cheeks, and nobody can do anything

about it. I have prepared everything. I wrote

to every person who was in my heart, and I want everybody to drink a

glass of cava to me. She had a really bad disease, but thanks to

that disease she was able to do things that people can only dream

about, because mentally I was so strong.

A new report on Flight MH370 - missing since 8th March 2014 -

has concluded that search teams have probably been looking

The report was issued by the Australian Transport

Safety Bureau and it says, "There is a high degree

of confidence that the previously identified underwater area searched

to date does not contain the missing aircraft."

Based on a new analysis of satellite data and address pattern of more

than 20 items of daybreak, they have identified this new search area. --

20 items of debris. It's about 25,000 square

kilometres and it's located further north along the arc

from the current search zone. But despite this new evidence,

it's not clear where any extra funding will come

from and the current search is due Still to come on Outside Source, a

look at a new laser treatment for early-stage prostate cancer, which

surgeons have called transformative. Scotland's First Minister Nicola

Sturgeon has set out how Scotland could stay in the European Single

Market without the rest of the UK. She says leaving the free-trade bloc

could be devastating to Scotland's long-term prosperity. Our Scotland

correspondent Lorna Gordon has this report...

Since the referendum there has been plenty of back and forward on what

the negotiation should involve but not much detail. Now Scotland's

First Minister has set out how she feels Scotland's interests should be

protected. We propose the UK as a whole should remain in the Single

Market by remaining party to the economic area agreement. I accept

there is a mandate in England and Wales to take the UK out of the EU,

however I do not accept there is a mandate to take any part of the UK

out of the Single Market. There were also calls for more powers to be

devolved to the Scottish Parliament. Fishing and farming, she said,

should be transferred from Brussels direct to Holyrood. She argued MSPs

should be able to legislate in key areas like employment and should

have the power to set immigration policy as well.

This Scottish company which employs seven people sees Europe

is a growing market for its products and a source of talent for its team.

It's Finnish owner says clarity is needed about what Brexit

I am born in Finland, I have lived in the UK for 15 years.

We are a growing business, we need to know where do

we find future employees, and I want to know if I can

The Conservatives insist there will be no separate deals

I've always said that we want to work very constructively

That is the way to get the best possible deal

I am interested to look and see the proposals in the paper,

and they will be given very careful and detailed consideration.

In fact, they will be discussed at the next meeting of our joint

ministerial committee, and I am sure we will

hear more detail from the Scottish Government itself.

Some light shed today by Scotland's government on what it wants

from the Brexit negotiations, but with no formal

role in those talks, they are reliant on the government

This is Outside Source live from the BBC newsroom.

German police have released a Pakistani asylum seeker detained

following the Berlin market attack, saying they have insufficient

If you're outside the UK, it's World News America next.

They've got a report on Alan Eustace - the Google executive who in 2014

broke the world record for the highest parachute jump.

Here in the UK, the News at Ten is next.

They'll have much more on Monday's attack on that

Ed Thomas has been looking into the current state

Let's go to Beijing because the Chinese capital has been

blanketed in thick smog since the weekend -

and that's led the authorities there to take drastic measures

Despite these measures things haven't improved

The BBC's Stephen McDonell has been out on the streets of Beijing

In Beijing this week people say they are living under the Dome, after

days on end of heavy pollution it feels like being trapped under a

giant toxic cloud. So how bad is Beijing's pollution at the moment? I

have brought this device outside to try to measure it. You would

normally have this little thing inside your house measuring if air

pollution is coming in from the outside. I sent it to measure the

particular. These are the small particles thought to be very

dangerous because they get deep into your respiratory system. The World

Health Organisation has a recommended annual target of ten and

here, according to our little egg, right now it is over 400. How is

Beijing compared to other world cities at the moment? Tokyo has one

of 30, Moscow has a reading of five, Montreal... 17. And London, 36. If I

were to drive a few hundred kilometres to the north of Beijing

to the neighbouring province there, I would find cities and towns which

today are registering over 600. The long-term solutions are pretty

clear. Have less car is, cars which do not pull it as much -- less cars

and to phase out heavily polluting factories and coal-fired power

stations. In the meantime in Beijing at the moment both primary and

secondary schools have been closed, as have building sites. Poor

visibility has led to many flights in and out of Beijing being

cancelled, and even the highways have been shut down because they

were thought to be too dangerous. You also see people wearing these

air filter masks which you put on your face like that. I have to say

it feels a bit like cabin fever at the moment. We are all watching the

weather reports and waiting for the winds to come along to make this

pollution somebody else's problem. Surgeons have described a new

treatment for early-stage prostate The approach which uses

lasers and a drug made from deep sea bacteria,

can eliminate tumours, Here's our health and science

reporter, Fergus Walsh. This is the technology

which represents a huge leap It involves a drug derived

from bacteria found in the darkness This laser optic fibre

is inserted into the prostate, the light activates the drug

which kills the cancer. When Gerald Capam was diagnosed

with early prostate cancer, he was worried it might develop

and he'd need surgery or radiotherapy, which can cause

incontinence or impotence. Instead, he became one of the first

successfully treated with the new light therapy and had

no long-term side effects. Well, I feel incredibly lucky that

I was accepted for the trial. I can look forward to

the remaining years of my life, One in eight men will be diagnosed

with prostate cancer, so this highly effective

new treatment, known as photodynamic therapy,

could be hugely significant. The light-sensitive drug is injected

into the bloodstream. It's derived from deep sea bacteria,

which are efficient Through a thin tube, a laser light

is inserted into the prostate, the light activates the drug

which destroys the cancer cells. The journal, Lancet Oncology,

reports that half the patients given photodynamic therapy were completely

clear of cancer two years later, compared to about one in seven

of those given standard care. Crucially, it did not

cause major side effects. The harms with traditional

treatments have always been the side effects,

oar urinary incontinence. In other words, leaking

urine and requiring pads. Sexual difficulties,

which occurs in the majority To have a new treatment

now that we can administer to men who are eligible,

that is virtually free of those side effects,

is truly transformative. The treatment is likely to cost

around ?20,000 a patient and is expected to be approved

in Europe following these Its use is also being

trialled in other cancers. So it won't be cheep,

but for prostate patients, photodynamic therapy represents

a powerful new weapon There is more and that fascinating

medical development and from Fergus Walsh as well on the BBC website.

The humble spirit gin is having a renaissance, globally and in the UK

alone. They have sold the equivalent of 1.1 billion gin and tonics here.

South Africa, a country associated with winemaking, has seen an

explosion of gins using South African plans. Our correspondent

reports... -- explosion of gins

using South African plants. South Africa's botanical kingdom is

unique to the southern Cape. A rich variety of flowers, herbs and

spices. This has become the key ingredient in making South African

gin. In the past few years alone a dozen craft gin distilleries have

emerged. Lorna Scott started her own gin label having fallen in love with

the indigenous plants surrounding her home. Under the nose, you get

that sharp note coming through. When we started I was producing perhaps

100, or 150, bottles a month, and it became a mission for us to keep up

with demand. Quickly I realised we had something that had commercial

potential. We were literally doubling our production every six

months and it keeps growing. Solely limitation we have at the moment is

with the label smaller craft distilleries are also

making inroadss in the country's flourishing gin market. I think in

the last year gin has just taken off. This is our third micro

distillery here on the Western Cape. Since then, there must be another

ten, or 1500 trick-mac distilleries which started up. This is

incredible. I did not know there were so many gins and South Africa.

That is just a drop in the ocean. -- so many gins in South Africa. They

are all trying to capture South Africa's growing middle class.

Guess, you become part of it, at one with the products, and that is what

we will go for. -- yes, you become. I think the more I have been exposed

to gin, the more I am learning there are so many South African gins and

so many around Cape Town. So that is a great surprise, yes, enjoying it.

The gin market is expected to keep growing as more distilleries

continue to search for new flavours with strong local roots, and

consumers go in search of the perfect gin and tonic. Just time to

bring you a tweet... One of our viewers sent. He has been to one of

the memorial services for the victims of the Berlin attack, and

using the hashtag BBCOS he showed us what he could see at Brandenburg

gate. A beautiful show of solidarity, posting one of these.

From Aleppo to Berlin, we know your pain, someone has pleaded that

there. And this one as well. Stay tuned to BBC news for all the latest

developments, from Berlin and all the other main news stories. From

here in London, thank you for watching.

We have been forecasting some pretty rough weather and that has already

arrived. Not to stormy just yet. Rain