Newspaper headlines: ‘Carnage at Christmas market’ and ‘Return of the family doctor’

“Carnage at Christmas market” is the Daily Mail’s front page headline. The paper says the car used in a suspected terror attack ploughed into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, and travelled 400 yards.

According to the Financial Times, Donald Trump’s team has told European officials he will demand that Nato countries increase their defence spending to 5% of their national income. The current target is 2%. One source told the FT that the next US president would settle for 3.5%, and link it to more favourable trading terms with the US. Trump’s aides are also reported to have said that he will maintain military assistance to Ukraine.

The Chancellor Rachel Reeves tells the Guardian that she will focus on growth in the New Year, and take on the vested interests that she blames for blocking infrastructure development. Reeves insists she will make no apologies for her decisions, arguing that they were necessary to restore economic stability. She says she understands that people were really struggling but warns it will take time for them to start feeling better off.

In an editorial, the Times says the evidence is now clear that the chancellor’s budget in October has made a difficult economic situation much worse. The paper says the best that can be hoped for is that 2025 will bring an uptick in growth, but the greater likelihood is continued stagnation.

The Daily Mirror features criticism of Sir Keir Starmer’s choice for the UK’s next ambassador to Washington. Lord Mandelson was a friend of the convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, and a woman who says she was raped by the late financier has told the paper the appointment is an insult to all of his victims.

A report in i Weekend says thousands of refugees and asylum seekers are sleeping rough because of mistakes by the Home Office, such as documents being sent late or to wrong addresses. The paper says people are receiving eviction notices before being told the result of their asylum claim, and are being kicked out of their accommodation without having the documents to prove their right to live and work in the UK. The Home Office says it inherited enormous pressures in the asylum system, and has restarted processing to clear the backlog.

The Times says half a million people in the UK are now taking weight-loss injections bought online. The paper says thousands of severely obese patients have resorted to ordering the drugs privately after being denied access on the NHS, which has limited its distribution to 35,000 people. The national adviser for obesity at NHS England, Dr Kath McCullough, is warning against buying the drugs online after they were linked to a wave of hospital admissions.

The Daily Telegraph says it has obtained a leaked email from 2008 in which Prince Andrew boasted about opening an account in a state-owned Chinese Bank. The paper claims the Prince writes that the Bank of China normally requires people to be present in person in order to open an account, but an exception will be made for him. It says the account was based in China and would have enabled the duke to receive payments for business deals without the scrutiny of UK authorities. There is no suggestion that he has done anything illegal.

According to the Sun, Prince Andrew is extremely demoralised by the scandal over his links to a Chinese man accused of being a spy. A friend told the paper that the Prince could no longer bring himself to walk the late Queen’s corgis – he now asks staff to take the dogs out into the grounds at Windsor.

And the Daily Express says the King is feeling positive as he gears up for a return to full duties next year, after his cancer treatment. The paper says he is still receiving treatment, but Palace officials are optimistic that his prognosis is heading in a “very positive direction.”