this is bbc news. the headlines: police in berlin have said the truck crashed into a popular christmas market, killing at least 12 people, was deliberately steered into the crowd. german authorities are questioning a man thought to be the driver. russia's president has described monday's assassination of his country's ambassador to turkey as an act of provocation aimed at derailing peace efforts in syria. andrei karlov was killed by an off—duty police officer. three worshippers have been injured in a gun attack at a muslim prayer centre in the swiss city of zurich. police said an unknown person entered the islamic centre where the worshippers were gathered and began shooting. the us electoral college has cleared the way for donald trump to become the next american president. delegates confirmed the election of mr trump, who secured more electoral college votes than his rival hillary clinton. now for the latest financial news with sally bundock and world business report. an experimental year comes to an end

for the bank ofjapan — it gives an upbeat outlook for the worlds third biggest economy and keeps monetary policy steady. going, going, gone — cyrus mistry finally steps down from the boards of tata companies — but says he will bring legal action. we're live to mumbai for the latest. welcome to world business report. i'm sally bundock. also in the programme: how the falling chinese yuan may rock the luxury housing market in the united states. we will explain shortly. the bank ofjapan has concluded its latest policy meeting. it kept monetary policy steady and offered a brighter view of the economy — that's because it believes a weaker yen and a rebound

in overseas demand will boost growth in the new year. that's good news forjapanese policymakers, who are attempting to revive the country's flagging economy using a series of landmark reforms. seijiro takeshita is a professor at the school of management and information at the university of shizuoka in japan. nice to see you. they delivered what we expected, which is nothing new. first meeting after the election of donald trump. give us your take on the year ahead forjapan now, then. as you pointed out earlier, a lot of positivity coming from overseas, and for that reason, there has been a virtual upward revision in the bank of japan's comment, but they virtual upward revision in the bank ofjapan‘s comment, but they are only looking at short—term. they are not really looking at the structural

transformation issues, which have a much more serious impact. they will regress them back again. also uncertainty to come from europe and in the united states is still there. although they are at a high level of expenditure, it is not growing that much. the ambiguity factors are very large, and considering they have extremely high uncertainty avoidance, there could be a bit of turmoil ahead of us going into 2017. what are your thoughts in terms of what the central bank and government may do in the new year given what you have just said? may do in the new year given what you havejust said? they may do in the new year given what you have just said? they cannot ride the wave of a weakjapanese yen forever. absolutely. of course they will try to sustain their target, but with what is going on in the united states, one cannot prevent the longer term rates from shooting. can the japanese central government cope with the situation forever? the a nswer cope with the situation forever? the answer no. that may evoke a

strengthening of the yen, which people are talking about right now. what they really have to do is, again, it is a longshot, but they still to almost go with the second set of targets for abenomics, which isa set of targets for abenomics, which is a much more acute problem for japan in the long run. thank you for your time. i'm sure we will talk to your time. i'm sure we will talk to you in the new year about the japanese economy. until then, all the best. in other news: the executive board of the imf has reaffirmed its confidence in its head, christine lagarde. a french court found her guilty of negligence over a huge compensation payment made when she was the french finance minister, but the court did not punish her. the case relates to the payment of more than $400 million to the tycoon bernard tapie. the italian government will seek parliamentary approval to borrow up to $21 billion to support its fragile banking sector and potentially rescue monte dei paschi di siena. the country's third—largest bank

needs to raise more than $5 billion in fresh capital by the end of the month. if monte dei paschi cannot arrange a private sector bailout, a state rescue may come as early as this week. chinese government researchers say the yuan is expected to weaken another 3—5% in 2017. that's on top of the 6.5% drop in the value of the yuan against the us dollar this year. combined with the restriction on sending money overseas, it's bad news for the high—end real estate market in the us. the bbc‘s helier cheung spoke to luxury realtor aaron kirman, who says chinese wealth makes up 30% of his business. national buyers always love that you. the dollar is extremely strong right now, and that is really

affecting international buyers in general but especially a lot of chinese as well. we had many calls from people looking to buy in the us ata from people looking to buy in the us at a certain price point, and since the dollar has risen, have changed their price point to a bow at dollar amount. chinese buyers did dip this year. the main reason for that was multifaceted —— to a lower dollar amount. it has been difficult for them to get their money out of china. that has been difficult. a lot of deals have not been made because they could not get their money out. also the chinese economy took a hit last year as well and this year as well. was there any nervousness in the market ahead of the us election? people were very nervous about where we were going before the election and he was going to win. that made it a little bit questionable for people —— who was going to win. markets were slow prior to the election. it was interesting, because after the election, a lot of people moved

forward from all over the globe. are there any signs of what it donald trump presidency will mean real estate ? trump presidency will mean real estate? i think donald trump has certain things that will help him that the real estate market. he intends to lower taxation for the wealthy. that really does help in making wealthy people continue to invest in by luxury properties. then you have a trickle—down effect. donald trump is a real estate guru, and so that is something that is very special to him in his heart, andi very special to him in his heart, and i think it will make sure that real estate is very secure moving forward. you have dealt with their lot of wealthy buyers. what are some of the more unusual requests you have had? people usually want that very fine multi— million theatre. it is interesting. we even had a buyer who wanted a medical hospital in case you got sikh. we had to create

a 5000 square feet hospital below the home basement to make sure if something happened to him, he and his family. the boardroom battle is over for now. former tata sons chairman cyrus mistry has resigned from the boards of all tata group—listed firms. but he is vowing to continue to push for better corporate governance at the indian conglomerate. sameer hashmi is in mumbai. it has become quite a bitter battle, hasn't it? tell us the latest. that's right, sally. it has been a really bitter public battle over the last eight weeks since cyrus mistry was sacked at —— as the chairman of the tata steel grid. they had extraordinary meetings where shareholders were supposed to vote whether cyrus mistry should continue

on the board of these companies, but before they could get started, cyrus mistry decided to resign last evening, saying his battle continues and he does not want to use the extraordinary meeting platform to continue his battle against the tata group, but he will move to the courts now and take ever go to. the battle is not over but will now shift to the court. -- take a legal term. how damaging is this? it has been really damaging. tata is the biggest conglomerate in india and the oldest conglomerate in india. it makes everything from tea, salt, software. they have a very good public reputation because they have a lwa ys public reputation because they have always prided themselves in following good governance. but after this whole public saga, if i can use that term, between the two warring sides, it has really damaged their reputation in public, especially when it comes to corporate

governance, ethical values being followed, and i think the tata family has been known to making sure that they are really philanthropic in their work and keep a very good image publicly, which has taken a hit because of this public battle. thank you. we will rely on you to keep us up—to—date with every twist and turn. let's have a book at the markets. the markets globally and sentiment has been hit a little by the geopolitical concerns because of events in berlin and in turkey. that is something that is on the minds of investors as we come towards the end ofa investors as we come towards the end of a trading year. a very mixed picture in asia at the moment. and in the united states. we saw a slight uptick in the main markets. i will see you soon. the nhs in england was left with an unpaid bill of £30 million last year by overseas patients

who are not entitled to free healthcare. the figure comes from more than 100 nhs trusts. 0ur correspondent robert piggott reports. nine big london hospitals account for the bulk of the bad debts left by overseas patients, but tops the list. it is still owed almost £39, although it has improved the way it identifies patients who need to pay, induces card leaders at the bedside to obtain money from them. it was more than one of 100 english hospital trusts that responded to freedom of information requests from the press association. excluding european patients, whose country is the uk can charge for the cost of treatment, overseas visitors left debts of almost £30 million last year. trusts did obtainjust debts of almost £30 million last year. trusts did obtain just over £20 million. the figures are small,

set against the overall annual cost of providing healthcare in england. earlier this year, st george ‘s hospital in tooting said foreign patients not entitled to free healthcare represented a huge drain on its resources. many of st george's visitors arrive at the last stages of pregnancy, but overseas patients also commonly use general medical departments. it is not clear where most of the patients come from. although one london trust reported its biggest debts were from indians, pakistanis, nigerians and americans. the department of health said it was determined to stamp out abuse of the system. and was considering charging migrants more for healthcare. glastonbury festival could move to a new site in three years' time to protect the land at its current location in somerset. founder michael eavis says the new location "towards the midlands" would be used every five years — but said he would be reluctant to see the festival move permanently. the top stories this hour...

police in berlin say the truck that crashed into a popular christmas market — killing at least 12 people — was deliberately steered into the crowd. the german authorities are questioning a man thought to be the driver. russia's president has described monday's assassination of his country's ambassador to turkey as an act of provocation aimed at derailing peace efforts in syria. andrei karlov was killed by an off—duty police officer. three worshippers have been injured in a gun attack at a muslim prayer centre in the swiss city of zurich. police said an unknown person entered the islamic centre where the worshippers were gathered and began shooting. the us electoral college has cleared the way for donald trump to become the next american president. delegates confirmed the election of mr trump — who secured more electoral college votes than his rival hillary clinton. we start our news review with german

website spiegel 0nline 45 minutes ago the german police tweeted that the driver of the truck in berlin deliberately steered it into the crowd. the german website der spiegel 0nline has extensive coverage of the truck attack in berlin that has killed at least 12 people. the site looks at who the truck driver is, how the police inquiry is playing out, and it has reaction from leaders around the world. the financial times shows a gunman in turkey who shot dead the russian ambassador there. the man shouted that he was on the path of syria. le figaro reports christine lagarde, head of the imf, has been found guilty of negligence in public office during her time

as the french finance minister. an imf tribunal has decided not to hand down a sentence to ms lagarde. the china daily reports on the country's gdp growth is projected to expand by 6.5% year on year in 2017. this is compared with 6.7% growth for earlier this year. singapore's business times writes about how the owners of small sports shops fear for their livelihoods, because big brand nike threatens to stop supplying them next year. it'll apparently help nike cut its own costs. these small business owners, they will go bust. if a feisty festive board game scrap is all too common in your house, monopoly has set up a telephone hotline to solve family disputes. and really, what's more important — to win mayfair or to play fair? that's in the metro.