Russian ambassador shot dead in Ankara, truck driven into Christmas market in Berlin

The Russian ambassador to Turkey was shot dead earlier this evening in an Ankara art gallery by a gunman shouting Allahu Akbar.

Warning: video shows Andrey Karlov being shot.

Rusya Büyükelçisini vuran kişi: "Beldelerimiz güvende olmadıkça sizler güvenliği tadamayacaksınız, Halep'i Suriye'yi unutmayın." pic.twitter.com/tysdMO8LKG

— 140journos (@140journos) December 19, 2016

A short while ago, Belgian police put the Schaerbeek district of Brussels into lockdown while they carried out a security operation.

At around the same time, a lorry was driven into a Christmas market in Breitscheidplatz in Berlin killing at least 9 people and injuring at least 50 more according to social media reports.

Un camion a foncé dans la foule #MarcheDeNoel à #Breitscheidplatz à #Berlin Plusieurs morts et blessés #Allemagne
Chauffeur en fuite pic.twitter.com/AkhvO1vVYC

— ~Virginie (@virgini_c) December 19, 2016

On Friday 200 SAS troops carried out undercover public protection operations in key cities in the UK in response to intelligence from MI5 suggesting an attack was imminent.

BREAKING: Explosions at Brussels Airport

Brussels Airport has been evacuated due to as-yet unexplained explosions.

The explosions reportedly took place at the American Airlines check-in desk.

Abit of New Years Fun

THE NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE - IN BRUSSELS

People used to think that Health was one of the few remaining areas where the EU didn't have much control.Think again. The NHS Confederation now has an office in Brussels and six people working full time lobbying the EU.

The NHS’s European office was revealed by UKIP MEP Roger Knapman in a letter to the Western Morning News. According to the Confederation's website the office was set up to inform NHS organisations of key EU developments and to promote the priorities and interests of the NHS to the European institutions. A more sceptical view is that it is all part of a plan for the EU to take control of health services in the 27 member countries.

The Commission has adopted a so-called White Paper COM(2007)630 final – Together for Health: a Strategic Approach for the EU for the period 2008-2013. As yet there are no directives but a number of policy decisions have been made. For example, Decision 2000/96/EC refers to a list of communicable diseases and Decision 2002/263/EC lays down definitions for reporting communicable diseases.