live from london. this is bbc news. thousands flee syria's third largest city as islamist—led rebels advance, nowjust skm away from homs. calls from the leader of his own party to step aside — pressure on south korea's president grows, after he declared martial law this week. a rare red alert weather warning, as storm darragh sets to batter wales and south west england on saturday with wind speeds of more than 90 miles per hour. network rail says train services are now improving — after a fault with communication system caused delays across uk rail network. in france, president macron vows to name a nearby minister within days after michel barnier was ousted in a no confidence vote. —— a new prime

minister. hello, i'm rajini vaidynathan. tens of thousands of people are fleeing syria's third largest city homs in fear that islamist—led rebels will press on with their advance, with one war monitor saying they are already just five kilometres outside. the rebels seized hama to the north yesterday — the second major blow to president bashar al assad, who lost control of the strategic city of aleppo last week. this footage shows rebels, entering the city — apparently unopposed. the un says fighting has displaced more than 280,000 people in the north—west of the country. the united nations secretary general, antonio guterres, called the reignited war a collective failure of the international community. 0ur correspondent barbara plett usher is monitoring the situation from beirut. well, rajini, what we've got is a statement by the rebel

operations centre saying that they have advanced quite significantly from hama. they have passed through two main towns and they are now about five kilometres from homs itself. and they have posted video on their channels showing them in a town very close to homs, at least appearing to show them in that town. their movements have been also confirmed by a war monitor, although we haven't independently been able to verify these reports. but if they are true, then that has been an astonishing advance after having taken hama yesterday, fighting around the city there for several days. and then we've also been hearing that the government forces have been taking steps to try to slow any advance towards homs, for example, bombing a bridge on the main road in order to try to prevent them from moving forward. but again, if what we're hearing from the rebels and from the war monitor are correct, then that hasn't deterred them and they are now at the gates, pretty much, of homs,

which is the third largest city in syria and a very strategic one. the syrian defence minister had said that, minister had said that, for example, in hama, when the forces withdrew, that this was a temporary tactical move. they were doing so in order to save civilian lives, and that they were still in position and suggesting that there would be a counter strike. but that didn't happen. and as i mentioned, the focus has been on homs, apparently without too much success. so i think one thing we can definitely say, since the past week, over the past week, as the advance has happened so quickly on major cities, the army has been exposed as just very weak, perhaps much weaker than even the rebels expected. now, that has to do with the state of the army itself. you know, it's been widely reported that the troops are demoralised, they haven't been paid that much, they haven't been maintained that much over the past years. but also, of course, it has to do with the fact that bashar al—assad's allies, russia and iran, which have

been propping him up for the past years and were very significant sources of military power — russian air strikes, for example. iranian—backed militias which were fighting on the ground, particularly lebanon's hezbollah, which is now very much preoccupied with the military campaign against it by israel. those are not in the theatre of war in the way they used to be. and so i think all of these factors seem to have indicated that the army is just pulling back or unable to stop this advance now. having said that, homs is a very strategic city. it's a sort of crossroads city where the main routes around the country converge, and it is on the road to damascus. it is the main route to the coastal area, which is bashar al—assad's political stronghold. so we'll see if the regime can get together a defence of this main, the core of its power and stop the rebel advance. but so far they have really been able to seize territory at an extraordinary speed. and, barbara, just briefly, hundreds of thousands of people displaced as a result

of this renewed conflict. that's right. some of them from homs. this is the members of bashar al—assad's alawite community who are afraid that the islamist—led rebels will take revenge on them, although the leader of the rebels has been saying that won't happen. you also have displacement in idlib, which is the northwest of the country, the long—term rebel stronghold. there, you have had counter—strikes by the russians and the syrians. so people have been displaced there as well. let's speak to fawaz gerges, professor of international relations at london school of economics. welcome to the programme. we are hearing that the rebel forces are getting closer to homs. how significant is this? it is very significant. that is the unthinkable a year ago could happen. if the rebels take homs, damascus, the

capital would be an easier target because it seems to me that not only the rebels or the opposition are making stunning gains and advances in less than two weeks. they say an army has fallen. that the state capacity has been degraded. the writing on the wall, if the assad forces do not rebel the opposition from taking over homs, i think we could see the end of the assad regime in the next few weeks or the next few months. of course, we will have to wait and see what will happen in the homs because homs is the nerve centre of the assad government because really, homs leads to everyone. to damascus, literally everyone but the reality is that it

seems to me that the opposition really has momentum, they have willpower and they are quite well—equipped. they have leadership, they are well said. while government forces have not only been demoralised, they are literally starving. there is not even enough nutrition in the last few months. i know i have spoken quite a bit so far, i think the american sanctions on syria have exacted a heavy toll. it has popularised the syrian people including the assad followers. it syrian people including the assad followers.— assad followers. if we “ust zoom out i assad followers. if we “ust zoom out a i assad followers. if we 'ust zoom out a bit, * assad followers. if we 'ust zoom out a bit, just i assad followers. if we just | zoom out a bit, just remind other viewers who this collection of rebel groups are and why they have decided to reignite the conflict at this time. , ., reignite the conflict at this time. , . ., .,

time. they have a rough coalition _ time. they have a rough coalition of _ time. they have a rough coalition of scores - time. they have a rough coalition of scores of. coalition of scores of opposition or rebels. you have the islamist led by... you have the islamist led by... you have the syria nationalist army, which is a relatively secular forces. you have tribal rebels, you have regionalist coalition but the reality is the islamist group, really is the vanguard. it has more than 10,000 fighters because he is be part of al-qaeda central but it has changed its name and its leader would like us to believe that it no longer really belongs or subscribes to the ideology of al-qaeda. so the reality is that if the opposition topples

assad, the group will basically take ownership of syria. thank ou ve take ownership of syria. thank you very much. _ take ownership of syria. thank you very much, fawaz - take ownership of syria. thank you very much, fawaz gerges. j the head of south korea's governing party has urged the swift removal from power of president yoon suk yeol, who caused outrage earlier this week by declaring martial law. these are the live pictures from seoul outside the national assembly today. these scenes show protesters, a large crowd as you can see there. south korea's main parties are holding meetings amid reports mps could bring forward a vote to impeach the president. meanwhile, south korea's defence ministry says it has suspended three senior commanders involved in the martial law operation. i spoke to our chief presenter steve lai who was outside the national assembly with our asia correspondent, rupert wingfield—hayes.

it's just gone past 6pm here in seoul. you mentioned that the leader of the ruling people power party, han dong—hoon. he has, as you mentioned, publicly withdrawn his support for president yoon. he did that this morning, and he's actually met with president as well a little earlier. now, according to media reports we've been following here, han said that he had urged yoon to personally address the public. now, the president hasn't made any public appearance or any public statements since he withdrew that declaration of martial law in the early hours of wednesday. but apparently yoon has reportedly declined to make any comments today, saying it was not time yet. well, if the president isn't going to speak, we know that the protesters are certainly going to make their voices heard as we can hear right now, and they're all set to hold a very big rally. tens of thousands of people are expected on the streets of seoul tomorrow at around 1:00. and that's all leading up to this impeachment vote

that is currently scheduled for 7pm tomorrow, though it could happen earlier as well. now, we're going to get the thoughts of our asia correspondent, rupert wingfield—hayes, now to get us up to speed with what we've seen today. rupert, there's been a lot of talk behind closed doors, but are we any closer to reaching a resolution? i think we're still heading towards a climax of all of this tomorrow night, with this scheduled impeachment vote that is supposed to take place in a little over 24 hours. there's been a lot of activity here today inside the national assembly. we saw the leader of the people's power party, president yun's own party, come out today and change his mind and say that he was going to support the opposition in their impeachment. he's been in there meeting with his own legislators all day today, and apparently has been having difficulty in persuading them to come behind him to support the impeachment motion. so this is still a very fluid situation. also, as you said just then, very odd that we're now, what, 60 hours since the lifting

of that martial law order, but nothing — we've heard nothing from president yoon. he appears to be holed up in the presidential building on the other side of the river from here. we don't know what's going on in his mind, but he certainly has told the leader of his own party that it's not time for him to speak to the public or to legislators here yet. so he seems to be, there's some sort of siege mentality going on there, and he'sjust holed up in his presidential office. here in the uk a rare red warning for wind, which warns of significant disruption and a "danger to life", has been issued by the met office for parts of wales and south west england on saturday as storm darragh hits. 0ur weather presenter chris fawkes told me more about these warnings.

the top level warnings that the met office issued. they don't issue them very often. the last one was for storm isha. that brought some damaging winds to northern areas of england and scotland. top gusts of 99 miles an hour and it did cause some fatalities, unfortunately. this storm system, darragh, what we can see this moving in at the moment. it's this area of cloud heading to the uk. it's quite a strengthening area of low pressure that's working its way in, and it's a system that will bring multiple hazards to the uk, with some flooding rain and some hill snow for scotland. but the main focus for the time being is on this top level red weather warning that's in force across parts of southern and western wales. it comes into force during the early hours of tonight, and we're talking about gusts of wind potentially in excess of 90 miles an hour. so that is a danger to life. we're likely to see structural damage — that is some roofs getting blown off buildings, tiles being thrown across streets.

that's why you don't want to be out in this kind of thing. there will be widespread disruption. trees will get blown down within this area. so it is really serious. as well as the red warning, we also have an amber weather warning that's also in force across northern ireland, southwestern parts of scotland, other parts of wales and western areas of england too. the winds for these areas actually are not that far behind. we're talking about gusts of around 70 or 80 miles an hour. again, those kinds of wind strength will blow down trees. so you're looking at the same kind of impacts in terms of transport disruption and probably some power cuts as well. chris, this might be an obvious question to ask, but in these situations, is the best advice to just stay indoors? yeah, absolutely. i wouldn't be venturing out with 90—odd mile an hour winds. you know, you don't want a tree, you know, disrupting your life, really. that's not a good thing. but it's notjust the winds that are a cause for concern with this, because actually the winds are going to be pretty widespread, even away from those kind of areas. you know, inland gusts could be a0 to 60 miles an hour, bringing tree branches down, again, bringing disruption. we've got some very, very heavy rain to come as well. that could cause some flooding problems, with particularly concerns across parts of wales.

and if that weren't enough, the rain is going to turn to snow across the hills of northern scotland. 10cm to 20cm, blizzards drifting. we're talking about higher level routes like the a9 and the a83 may get closed tonight as well, so these impacts from storm daragh are notjust going to be concentrated across the west of the uk, they're going to be pretty widespread. plenty more on those weather warnings on the bbc website. round the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

a massive police operation is still under way in new york after a gunman shot dead the chief executive of one america's biggest health insurance companies. police released new photos of "a person of interest," last seen on a bike in central park fleeing the shooting on wednesday morning. unitedhealthcare chief brian thompson was shot in midtown manhattan on his way to the company's investor meeting, and later died in hospital. earlier i spoke to cbs

correspondent, jarred hill on the latest. in new york city, you know, maybe a few blocks away, a couple of miles away from the site of this shooting. it's a place that police say that the person of interest stayed for some time before that shooting. there's also some questions here around how exactly and when exactly he got to new york city. we are learning that he was on a greyhound bus that travelled initially from atlanta, georgia up to new york city. exactly where he got on the bus is still a big question. we do know that police have gotten ahold of what they believe potentially could be a key piece of evidence here, and this is a starbucks coffee cup that might have some smudged fingerprints from this person of interest. that has been sent over to the nypd crime lab so that they can investigate that. but at this point, still a lot of questions on exactly who this person is and where he is at this moment. indeed. what's the reaction been to this? i mean, it's a pretty

shocking story, isn't it? so it's definitely a shocking story. there's a lot of interest in a number of ways because ofjust how brazen of a shooting this was. again, basically early morning on a new york city street on the sidewalk there. at the same time, this has gotten some interesting reaction from folks, in particular on social media because of some of the misgivings that people have with the health insurance industry as a whole. we are reporting here that on three of the shell casings, the bullets that were found at the scene, the words delay, deny and potentially depose were written in a sharpie. this is similar to the phrase "delay, deny, defend" which is how some lawyers describe the way that insurance companies handle payments. this has gotten a lot of reaction from social media that's less than sympathetic, because a lot of people think that the health insurance industry is a big reason

for the high cost of health care here in the united states. here in the uk, rail bosses have told the bbc they've found the cause of a fault causing delays and cancellations nationwide and it's being fixed. engineers say a new hardware card installed as an upgrade is the source of the problem and it's affecting communications between train drivers and signallers. they say the system's being rebooted. passengers are being advised to check services before they travel, with trains to several airports affected. 0ur reporter meghan 0wen has more on the cause of the delays, from waterloo station in london. the irony is that this hardware was being installed to help improve the system, but has actually made the experience of passengers across the country a lot more stressful. passengers across the country a lot more stressful this morning. now, i've been here at waterloo in central london since the early hours, and i meta number of passengers, a number of commuters who were one or two hours late for work. i even met one woman

who was going to be three hours late for a job interview. and on the arrivals board. even now, you can see that there are still a number of services that are delayed, although numerous train operators have said that their services are beginning to resume and beginning to operate more smoothly. but yeah, an incredibly stressful morning in the peak of rush hour today. and quite extensive when we look at the number of different lines impacted, including, as we were saying, train services to major airports. exactly, yeah. so this is a nationwide problem. we know that lines affected included the elizabeth line in london, southwestern of course, gatwick, as you mentioned, the line to gatwick, great northern, southern, southeastern and thames rail link and scotrail as well, although some of those train operators like scotrail have said that their services are resuming. but yes, many were delayed by hours this morning to get to work.

if you want to know more about the train delays and possible cancellations as well, we are running a live page on the bbc news website. you could sit there on the screen with lots of update and information. —— you can see it there. french president emmanuel macron says he will appoint a new prime minister in the coming days, following the resignation of michel barnier. in an address to the nation, mr macron rejected calls to stand down, saying he will remain president until the end of his term in 2027. michel barnier lost a no—confidence vote on wednesday, 90 days after becoming prime minister. president macron has asked him to stay on in a caretaker — capacity while his successor is chosen. he began by thanking barnier for his "dedication" and "unwillingness to give up", and blamed the "extreme right and extreme left" for yesterday's "unprecedented" no—confidence vote against him. translation: parliament voted

no confidence in the government despite concessions made by the prime minister to the parliamentary groups. unprecedented in 60 years, a vote of no—confidence. why? because the extreme right and the extreme leftjoined in an anti—republican front, and because the forces that were governing france yesterday chose to help them. now, i know that some people want to point the finger at me. it's a lot easier to do that. i've always accepted my responsibilities, whether they were mistakes or whether they were successes, but i've never taken on the responsibilities of others. particularly not parliamentarians who have decided to bring down the government and the budget a few days before christmas. we have to set our ambitions high for france. we cannot allow ourselves to be divided or static, and that's why i will appoint a prime minister in the coming days.

let's speak to our correspondent, mark lowen, now. a promise that a replacement to michel barnier is going to be announced in the coming days. do we know who it is likely to be? ., ., ., , ., be? there are a few names that are being _ be? there are a few names that are being floated _ be? there are a few names that are being floated around, - are being floated around, including the outgoing defence minister who is an ally of emmanuel macron. a veteran centrist politician who was in his 70s, who could also be potentially a name in the frame. i think one of the issues at the moment is trying to find a buddy who could actually have a working relationship with marine le pen of the far right. she was one of the far right. she was one of those who passed this motion of those who passed this motion of no confidence in michel barnier and brought him down on

wednesday night. she has pushed the concessions on the budget. she has in the past called for president macron himself to resign. she says it is not her intention now and president macron says he has no intention of resigning and he took a real aim at her in that speech. he did not name her but he had say she is pursuing her own ambitions, with her eyes on the next hasan joy ambitions, with her eyes on the next hasanjoy election in 2027. -- the next hasanjoy election in 2027. —— the next presidential election. the very fact that france is having to find the government that has a pretty working relationship with the far right shows the pedicle fragmentation that there is in the country and many people blame president macron for leading france to this point, the basically polarising the parliament towards far left and far right when this was a president who came into power

who said he would revive the centre ground and he has done everything but. this centre ground and he has done everything but-— everything but. this of course comes as _ everything but. this of course comes as the _ everything but. this of course comes as the president - everything but. this of course comes as the president elect | comes as the president elect donald trump is due to visit france over the weekend. yes, indeed. tomorrow, _ france over the weekend. yes, indeed. tomorrow, president. indeed. tomorrow, president macron is inaugurating notre dame cathedral five years after it was ravaged by fire and he has invited donald trump, who has invited donald trump, who has accepted. mr trump will be making his first overseas visit since winning the election was of that is a coup of some sorts to have trump here for president macron. it is certainly a show is how president macron knows how to charm trump. i think he is hoping that france would shine on the world stage when notre dame is inaugurated to for some it has been restored in a glorious way for to be talked about it in his address last night, showing how that can be a symbol search france achieving extraordinary things. rather, people will be thinking about political chaos at the

moment, perhaps more than the glory of notre dame. 5m? moment, perhaps more than the glory of notre dame.— glory of notre dame. stay with us and bbc _ glory of notre dame. stay with us and bbc news. _ hello there. well, it was wet and windy on thursday, and the weather is about to turn even worse still, as we head into the weekend with our next named storm, storm darragh barrelling in from the west. damaging gusts of wind, that's what we're most concerned about, but also the risk of flooding, especially in the northwest, and there will be some snowfall over the higher ground of scotland. but friday, a fairly quiet day of weather, the calm before the storm, particularly for the eastern half of the uk. a cold start to the morning, compared to how mild it was on thursday. the sunshine lasting longest in the east. high cloud pushing eastwards and turning very wet, very windy by the end of the afternoon across northern ireland and for these western coasts too. temperatures staying in single figures, so a lot cooler than on thursday. but here comes the storm on friday night into saturday. deep area of low pressure.

tight squeeze on the isobars. first down towards the irish sea coast and then the strength of the wind transfers to north sea facing coasts on saturday afternoon. there are plenty of weather warnings in force, but this is the most serious, an amber warning for damaging gusts of wind, gusts exceeding 70—80 miles an hour, perhaps, with some irish sea coasts within these areas. we're likely to see coastal overtopping, transport disruption and even trees down. so this is the small hours then of saturday. blizzard—like conditions over the higher ground of scotland, even perhaps some snow to lower levels and across the pennines and the cumbrian fells. the rain will be relentless in the north west, but it's mostly the strength of the winds we're concerned about. this is how we're starting off the day on saturday. now, if you've got travel plans, or indeed pre—christmas plans, perhaps, then do keep checking the forecast. it will be very windy, even inland across england and wales. we're expecting gusts of 50—60 miles an hour. the winds easing a little through the afternoon for irish sea coasts, but picking up for north sea facing coasts, coastal overtopping expected across parts of norfolk.

and these will be the day's temperatures. not that you'll notice the temperature too much. it will feel highly unpleasant outside and there'll be a lot of added wind chill, too. now the area of low pressure pulls away as we head into sunday. high pressure builds in behind, but there's a brisk northerly wind, and it certainly is going to feel cold, and there'll be a lot of added wind chill too. windiest towards the eastern half of the uk. plenty more showers piling down on that wind, and temperatures for most will stay in single figures into the start of next week. bye— bye.

global trade beef. the eu is poised to sign a massive trade deal with south america, despite fierce opposition from european farmers and defiance in paris and rome. hanging by a thread. tiktok awaits a court ruling on its north america ban as a sale deadline looms. tough going for boeing as a us judge rejects a landmark