this is bbc news, the headlines... the rebel advance in syria continues at pace. they've taken control of hama. now they're closing in on the crucial city of homs. warnings a severe storm could put lives at risk. the uk met office is forecasting extreme winds of up to 90 miles an hour. paul mccartney is honoured in a specially minted coin collection. we will speak live on the programme to the royal mint. hello from the bbc sport centre. it's the merseyside derby

between liverpool and everton on saturday lunchtime. it's arne slot�*s first since taking over at anfield from jurgen klopp in the summer. his side are seven points clear at the top of the premier league, but he says this derby has even more importance than ususal, with it being the last at goodison park. it is going to be special for everyone, for all the fans and the players and everyone, for all the fans and the players and mana-ers everyone, for all the fans and the players and managers to everyone, for all the fans and the players and mana-ers to be everyone, for all the fans and the players and managers to be part of this game is already special and to be part of the last one at goodison park makes it probably even more special. but it is only a nice experience is the result goes your way. that is where we are, focusing on most. for this game. ruben amorim suffered his first defeat as manchester united manager against arsenal on wednesday. they're currently 13th in the premier league table, but could move into the top half with a win against nottingham forest on saturday. despite this amorim says he is seeing improvement.

sometimes when you are doing progress. — sometimes when you are doing progress, you do so much and then_ progress, you do so much and then you — progress, you do so much and then you see itjust progress, you do so much and then you see it just this progress, you do so much and then you see itjust this kind of result_ then you see itjust this kind of result and we have to pass this_ of result and we have to pass this phase so i can feel the same — this phase so i can feel the same way. because before this arsenal— same way. because before this arsenal game, you guys were asking — arsenal game, you guys were asking about the top four and now_ asking about the top four and now we — asking about the top four and now we return to this position. so nowadays it is like that, you — so nowadays it is like that, you have _ so nowadays it is like that, you have to manage expectations and at _ you have to manage expectations and at the — you have to manage expectations and at the same time when you have _ and at the same time when you have a — and at the same time when you have a bad _ and at the same time when you have a bad result, you have to be calm — have a bad result, you have to be calm and continue to do the 'ob be calm and continue to do the job that — be calm and continue to do the job that we are doing. in cricket, another harry brook century gave england the upper hand on day one of the second test against new zealand. the tourists lost early wickets, but brook then took control, continuing his excellent form, on overseas pitches, hitting 123 from just 115 deliveries. ollie pope also made 66 as england were bowled out for 280. new zealand struggled in reply — brydon carse taking two wickets as the black caps finished the day 86 for five trailing by 194 runs.

obviously 26—3 or- whatever i came in at, was doing a bit, and i'mjust glad i put myl attacking mode on and put them under pressure. luckily they had to try- and bowl at the stumps early on and had time to run down was then and cash in - without being, it's harder when you bowl a bouncer| and i think henry bowled one when i ran down and it felt. like it was about 1 million miles an hour. _ ijust try to take them off the line and stop them i pulling the stumps really. there has been plenty of drama ahead of the final formula one race of the season already, the latest, charles leclerc has been given a io—place grid penalty at the abu dhabi grand prix the ferrari driver was quickest in first practice, but he had to have a new battery pack fitted, taking them beyond their permitted allowance for the season. it is a major blow to ferrari, who trail mclaren by 21 points

in the constructors' championship with a maximum of 44 points available. lando norris was quickest in second practice two days after leaving ineos grenadiers, great britain's tom pidcock has joined the 036.5 pro cycling team. he's signed a three—year contract and willjoin his new team for a preseason training camp in spain injanuary. the double olympic champion, who retained his mountain bike title in paris this summer left ineos despite signing a five—year contract in 2022. after five defeats in a row, the golden state warriors are back to winning ways in the nba. they beat the houston rockets 99—93 in san francisco — jonathan kuminga getting a career—high points points haul of 33. warriors were missing starters steph curry and draymond green because of injuries, but both are likely to return against the minnesota timberwolves on friday.

and that's all the sport for now. reports from syria say islamist—led rebels may bejust five kilometres away from the country's third biggest city, homs, as they continue their advance after taking hama on thursday. tens of thousands of people have been fleeing the city. the foreign ministers of three of the main outside powers involved in syria — turkey, iran and russia — are to meet on saturday to discuss the rapidly escalating situation in the country. the talks will take place in qatar. a senior iranian official has said tehran aims to send missiles and drones, as well as more military advisers, to support president assad. but the turkish president recep tayyip erdogan has said he hopes the syrian rebels will continue their advance. our security correspondent frank gardner is with me now. let us start with the speed of the rebel advance on the nature of the assad regime.— of the assad regime. seria is a patchwork _ of the assad regime. seria is a patchwork of —

of the assad regime. seria is a patchwork of different - patchwork of different controlled areas. it has had a bitter civil war since 2011, the government is the absolute antithesis of a democratic government, they have locked up, imprisoned and tortured tens of thousands of their own citizens. it is one of the most brutal regimes in modern history which is why there is such strong opposition to it but this conflict has been largely frozen but in the last few years. there was a sort of peace deal. the rebels, be they islamist or not have been bottled largely in the four north—east of the country. that changed at the end of november, only ten days ago when they came barrelling out to take aleppo in a surprise move and then advance south to take another city. they seem well armed, well motivated, i think they have obvious internal divisions once things settle down but they are united in trying to topple the regime of

pasar al—shati. trying to topple the regime of pasar al-shati._ trying to topple the regime of pasar al-shati. and they have made such — pasar al-shati. and they have made such quick _ pasar al-shati. and they have made such quick advances. i l made such quick advances. i want to put up onto the screen to give viewers idea of the region. there are so many players involved with the syrian crisis that have implications. let's go through in terms of some of those allies first of all. i ran and russia. in the meeting that will happen over the weekend. i imagined will happen over the weekend. i imauined ,, . ., will happen over the weekend. i imauined ,, . . . imagined russia and iran will sa to imagined russia and iran will say to turkey. _ imagined russia and iran will say to turkey, what - imagined russia and iran will say to turkey, what are - imagined russia and iran will say to turkey, what are you i say to turkey, what are you doing? you have upset the whole chest board, turkey has supported islamist rebels in the country. i'm sure they will not say they are behind the move currently but clearly someone has given them some training. they are well disciplined. the syrian army

has crumbled. syria, the regime has crumbled. syria, the regime has survived, the arab spring process and the civil war that ensued largely thanks to intervention by russia and iran. russia with its air force, don't forget they have the use of the port of practice on the mediterranean which is a strategic asset for the russian navy. and it has got a very active air force there. russia's intention is to win the war in ukraine. this is a very one unwelcome distraction for president putin. iran has also supported its ally, by giving them a lot of trips. revolution regards advisers and weapons and so on. from 2015.

they are weakened by the whole. hezbollah has also sent troops to support the president. they are decapitated, lost their leadership. are decapitated, lost their leadership-— are decapitated, lost their leadershi. ., . ~ leadership. you started talking about turkey. _ leadership. you started talking about turkey. their _ leadership. you started talking about turkey. their president i about turkey. their president has for many years been obsessed with kurdish rebels and hugely the focus for him. he still is. very much so. turkey's priority has been to contain and repress the pkk, the kurdistan workers party which is allied to other syrian units. it is a really complicated thing. the us and the west are not really involved in this except the us has a small contingent of special forces. has a small contingent of specialforces. in the

has a small contingent of special forces. in the east of the country, they are there to keep an eye on isis. they had a five year reign of terror, at one point they owned and controlled at area the size of belgium. 8 million people, they were defeated. but there is always a fear they could be resurgent and they will be looking to take advantage of this current situation. the us has a big ally in the region and that is the syrian kurds. the syrian democratic forces. turkey does not like them. it sees them as an analogy oh ally of it. stay with me, it is complicated. turkey, a nato country bombs the kurds on occasion. yet those same curves that come under attack from turkey are allies of the united states. the us will not be particularly comfortable with anything that weakens the kurds because the big risk here is that the syrian kurds who guard

prison camps holding thousands of isis prisoners are left over if they are sufficiently weakened, isis could break out of the camps and cause all sorts of mayhem in the middle east and europe. i sorts of mayhem in the middle east and europe.— east and europe. i will come back to the _ east and europe. i will come back to the us _ east and europe. i will come back to the us in _ east and europe. i will come back to the us in a - east and europe. i will come back to the us in a moment| east and europe. i will come i back to the us in a moment but quick thought around lebanon and hezbollah which you mentioned because if assad falls and it's still a massive if. that would block a key arms route to hezbollah. it certainly would. i route to hezbollah. it certainly would. i think already. _ certainly would. i think already. i— certainly would. i think already, i have - certainly would. i think already, i have just - certainly would. i think i already, i have just done certainly would. i think - already, i have just done two weeks injerusalem and israel is in a very different place now from when it was one year ago. pretty much on the warpath in terms of trying to shatter iran's so—called axis of resistance, the proxy

resistance. the houthis, hezbollah, hamas, and israelis pummelling the organisation with very powerful us supplied weapons whenever it can. because in a lot of civilian deaths in the process. taking down iran's home network in the middle east and that is one of the things that has enabled this lightning advance by seria's rebels. ah, this lightning advance by seria's rebels.— this lightning advance by seria's rebels. . . ., seria's rebels. a final thought for the calculations _ seria's rebels. a final thought for the calculations in - seria's rebels. a final thought for the calculations in the - for the calculations in the west. what are they aren't in what sense they have watched this assad regime for years and decades. in what sense is the devil you know better than the potential of what could happen in the coming months?- potential of what could happen in the coming months? there is an element— in the coming months? there is an element of— in the coming months? there is an element of that, _ in the coming months? there is an element of that, if _ in the coming months? there is an element of that, if you - in the coming months? there is an element of that, if you lookl an element of that, if you look at libya, back in 2011 everyone said we have got rid of this picture gaddafi and his vile regime only for libya to

disintegrate into absolute chaos. nato and western intervention did not produce a happy outcome at all. the west is staying out of this one. the only situation, the current situation in syria, they have the ability to shape it to some extent but i think the coalition of rebels advancing south, they are on such a role that i think regardless of what is discussed on saturday in doha, they will be probably pressing on south. they have damascus in their sites, they want to go all the way but the big question is are they going to be as good as their word? if they are successful, and even if they don't take damascus, they are in control of much of they are in control of much of the most important parts of the country. including aleppo, the second city. are they going to be as good as their word and say we are going to allow christians to worship, we will tolerate the kurds, the

otherwise live in peace or are they going to be like the taliban who promised, and delivered a completely oppressive rule. this delivered a completely oppressive rule. as you describe _ oppressive rule. as you describe it, _ oppressive rule. as you describe it, thank - oppressive rule. as you describe it, thank you | oppressive rule. as you i describe it, thank you for taking your through it. next on the programme we will look at the programme we will look at the storm is heading here into the storm is heading here into the uk. our weather correspond inissue the uk. our weather correspond in issue with us.

the met office has issued a rare red warning for wind for parts of wales and south west england as storm darragh hits the uk. it warns of threats of significant disruption

and a "danger to life". i'm joined by weather presenter chris fawkes. simple question first of all. how bad is this going to be? this is a major storm system, bringing widespread impact and multiple hazards to the uk. let's look at the system. read weather warning is a rare top—level warning, we have not had one since january, not issued very often. we're looking at a gust of wind up to or in excess of 90 bringing a threat to life, this is the latest satellite picture which shows the developing, storm darragh, it means it will be affecting pretty much all parts of the uk. it is wind that comes first. we talk about that read weather warning for parts of wales, southern and western wales. in excess of 90, that is strong enough to bring structural damage, talking about some rooms being structural damage, talking about som