live from washington, this is bbc news. in a national address, south korean president yoon suk yeol apologises for declaring martial law and says he won't do it again, but does not offer to resign. thousands flee as syrian rebels reach the city limits of the country's third largest city, homs. new video of the man who killed a top us health executive is released as officials say the man—hunt is a multi—state operation. hello. i'm carl nasman. welcome to the programme. south korea's embattled president yoon suk yeol has apologised in a dramatic but brief address to the nation — his first public appearance since rescinding martial law.

president yoon did not offer to resign or mention the impending impeachment vote he faces in parliament later on saturday. the opposition�*s leader, lee jae—myung, called for the president's resignation, saying the biggest risk to the nation is "the existence of the president himself". lee's coalition needs just eight members of yoon�*s party to impeach him. to impeach him. along with the rest of the along with the rest of the opposition. friday gave opposition. friday gave the first clear sign the first clear sign yoon�*s own party may vote with the opposition when the ruling party's leader called for yoon�*s called for yoon�*s swift suspension. south korea has been plunged swift suspension. south korea has been plunged into political turmoil since yoon declared martial into political turmoil law on tuesday night — a decision which lawmakers a decision which lawmakers swiftly overturned. swiftly overturned. joining me live from seoul joining me live from seoul is our asia correspondent is our asia correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes. rupert wingfield—hayes. thank you for being there. what thank you for being there. what can you tell us about what can you tell us about what ended up peeling a fairly short ended up peeling a fairly short

speech notable for what speech notable for what the president said but also what he did not say. president said but also what he did not say-— did not say. that's right. it was very — did not say. that's right. it was very brief, _ did not say. that's right. it was very brief, only - did not say. that's right. it was very brief, only a - did not say. that's right. it was very brief, only a fewl was very brief, only a few minutes long and what it was not was a resignation speech. president yoon made this apology, bowed to party

basically saying to his party today, i will let you decide my fate but do not float with the opposition in the impeachment focus afternoon. he is trying to use the speech to survive the photo of impeachment this afternoon. the photo of impeachment this afternoon-— the photo of impeachment this afternoon. ., , ., ., , afternoon. how is that gamble, this speech _ afternoon. how is that gamble, this speech and _ afternoon. how is that gamble, this speech and apology, - afternoon. how is that gamble, this speech and apology, being | this speech and apology, being received in south korea? does this seem to be placating some of his critics? it this seem to be placating some of his critics?— of his critics? it certainly has not _ of his critics? it certainly has not placated - of his critics? it certainly has not placated the - has not placated the has not placated the opposition, the democratic opposition, the democratic party, the party pushing for party, the party pushing for the impeachment this afternoon. the impeachment this afternoon. it has said it would change it has said it would change nothing. no apology will work nothing. no apology will work and they will push forward with and they will push forward with the impeachment. it may well the impeachment. it may well work as some members of his own work as some members of his own impeachment, the party. there was a very long party. there was a very long meeting, at ten to 12 hour meeting, at ten to 12 hour meeting, at ten to 12 hour meeting, at ten to 12 hour meeting, of his party going well into the night and at the meeting, of his party going well into the night and at the end they said they were going end they said they were going to come as a party, not support to come as a party, not support

impeachment, although there are a handful of members who we think may cross the floor to join the opposition, but the reaction from his party in the immediate aftermath of this speech in the last few minutes has been essentially to say, it is a matter of time now. he has to go. it isjust a question of how, and his party would prefer he stays for a bit and then resigns rather than being impeached because they fear that will damage their own chances. politicians being politicians want to save, do not want to damage themselves and would much prefer he goes by resignation than by impeachment.- by resignation than by impeachment. our asia correspondent - impeachment. our asia correspondent for - impeachment. our asia correspondent for us i impeachment. our asia correspondent for us in | impeachment. our asia . correspondent for us in the city of seoul. thank you. we can speak now to robert kelly, who's a professor of international relations at pusan national university. three days of silence. we finally hear from the prison. what was your reaction to the address? i

what was your reaction to the address? ., , ., , address? i thought rupert was correct. address? i thought rupert was correct it _ address? i thought rupert was correct. it was _ address? i thought rupert was| correct. it was underwhelming. i think given the scale of what president yoon has done by declaring michael bushell law in circumstances that do not warrant it at all. —— martial law. echoes or shadows of what was when south korea's military dictatorship and the alliance remembers those days. it is widely does schmidt —— disproportionate to the military gridlock and i would expect the president to say more. there is a lot of concern about why he did this because it seems such an extreme step and he did not really explain that it all so i do not think this will derail the impeachment effort. the opposition said it will continue. i imagine they will be able to get a few conservative votes. the liberals have about six hours

to peel off conservative voters but even if the impeachment does not work i think you will face street protest. i think it's resignation will have to happen at one point. == it's resignation will have to happen at one point. -- some oint. happen at one point. -- some point- let's — happen at one point. -- some point. let's talk— happen at one point. -- some point. let's talk about - happen at one point. -- some point. let's talk about the - point. let's talk about the impeachment. a two—thirds threshold to claim the national assembly. we were talking about some maths. not many of his own party need to devote for this. what are the chances we might see this happen in six hours? i think the chances are pretty good. the only need to peel off eight votes and it is pretty clear i think in south korea he is hugely unpopular. the data, they are polling, this is from, but the information i've seen say something like 70% of south koreans think this was insurrection or rebellion and 76 want him to quit or be impeached. —— 76%. south korea has a pretty vigorous street protest culture. i imagine there will be demonstrations for months. this is what

happened in south korea when there was an impeachment eight years ago. there were approaches that force the government's can. i don't know that president yoon can survive. it would be riserfor him to resign than to avoid jail time. him to resign than to avoid jailtime. —— him to resign than to avoid jail time. —— wiser. him to resign than to avoid jailtime. —— wiser. i him to resign than to avoid jail time. —— wiser. i wish the president would explain his thinking a little more which this two address did not give us. there are similar questions and he is not explaining himself which is difficult and unfortunate.— unfortunate. why is he not expiaining _ unfortunate. why is he not explaining himself. - unfortunate. why is he not explaining himself. with . unfortunate. why is he not i explaining himself. with that benefit him politically, benefit him politically, benefit him politically, benefit him in a criminal sense? you mentioned he could possibly go to jail.— possibly go to “ail. what would be behind possibly go to jail. what would be behind that? _ possibly go to jail. what would be behind that? it— possibly go to jail. what would be behind that? it might - possibly go to jail. what would be behind that? it might helpl be behind that? it might help to move the public�*s anger a little bit if they had some kind of sense of this. but i would imagine that. if they are thinking of criminal liability, admit nothing because you open yourself up, but my own sense is... we do not know because he

will not explain but my own sense was this was probably impulsive, why he is not talking about this in public because he decided this in cahoots with a few friends from the defence ministry, his old boys network with him for a while, and i think this was thrown together at the last minute because there is a lot of evidence from the coup itself or the soft coup or insurrection or whatever it is, it was in, not well organised, the plans look like they inaudible opposition figures in the media but none of that happened, little contact and co—ordination with police who seem to be at out of the military somewhat, no plan to control the crowds, take major intersections, take the airport. if this was a coup, it was a really inept one which tells me that president yoon through this together at the last minute and i think that might be why he is not talking about it because this kind of happened and he did not quite know what he let himself... walked into.— know what he let himself... walked into. ., , ,., ., walked into. professor, we have about a minute _ walked into. professor, we have about a minute but _ walked into. professor, we have about a minute but you - about a minute but you mentioned people power in south

korea, the history of protest. we saw that in 2016 leading to another impeachment. if this impeachment voter does not pass will we see similar process? yes. the candlelight street protest tactic is pretty well ingrained in south korea. south korea has a robust street protest culture including militant labour unions who protest, march and raise their fists. it goes back to the 80s, arguably to the 70s. south korean presidents have been impeached, jailed investigated for a lot less than this. this is not your typical corruption, bribery scandal. suspending constitutional governance because of a parliamentary fight or gridlock, that is wildly disproportionate and i would be shocked if the south korean public did not protest.

as islamist rebels close in. it is the third major city to see the advance of opposition fighters since they began a surprise operation against government forces last week — the latest chapter in syria's 13—year civil war. the rebels, with former links to al-qaeda, are making a resurgence after being forced into retreat five years ago. but in just 10 days, they have taken control of syria's second largest city, aleppo. another major city, hama, fell yesterday and now they have reached homs. they also have in their sights the capital, damascus, a stronghold of syrian president bashar al—assad and government forces. the government's loss of territory comes as backers russia, iran, and hezbollah find themselves stretched in other conflicts. with all the latest from the turkey—syrian border, here's hugo bachega. syrian rebels on their way to homs, their offensive has been swift and astonishing. here, they celebrate as they capture another town without facing any resistance.

they also had no opposition in hama. chanting, god is greatest, crowds gathered to welcome the fighters. they also seized this army base, symbolic as the military struggles to counter their progress. the civil war in syria started in 2011 when president bashar al—assad crushed protests against his regime. homs, a rebel stronghold, 0pposition fighters only left under a deal brokered by

the un in 2015 when government forces reclaimed it. if the rebels take homs, damascus the capital would be an easier target. the syrian army has fallen, and the state capacity has been degraded. the writing is on the wall. frozen for years, the front lines in syria are changing fast, this is an insurgency led by islamist rebels from a group known as hts. they have their roots in al-qaeda but have tried to rebrand themselves as a nationalist force. from their base, they launched a surprise campaign last week. they took aleppo, the country's second largest city, and continued to push south. this is their leader. in an interview to cnn, he said the goal was to topple the regime and bring back syrian refugees.

translation: people return to their homes, _ many refugees in turkiye will likely return, as will a significant number of refugees in lebanon and jordan, even refugees in europe may return to rebuild their country. they are vowing to reach damascus and bashar al—assad is struggling to stop them. in the past, he relied heavily on russia in iran to fight the opposition. but both allies are preoccupied with their own affairs. the rebels have the momentum and the regime is increasingly under threat. police searching for the man who killed the ceo of one of america's largest health insurance companies have widened their man—hunt to include four us states — new york, newjersey, connecticut, and georgia. brian thompson was killed in the early hours of wednesday morning in manhattan. here's what we know at this hour — officers say the suspect was first seen in the upper west side area two hours before the shooting. five minutes before the murder,

he walks to the hilton hotel in midtown, and waits. thompson walks to the hilton, where he was due to give a speech. and is shot at least twice before the suspect escapes towards central park on a bike. police have yet to suggest a motive, and would not confirm a report that "delay" and "deny" were written on the bullets, words often used by insurance companies to reject claims. nada tawfik reports from new york. new video shows the assailant walking along 55th st and putting something on a pile of trash bags, minutes after he purchased items at a starbucks with cash. hi,| hi, iam hi, i am brian thompson. and less than half an hour before he shot united health care ceo brian thompson. 0ur our mission and values are focused on helping people live healthier lives. this image caught on surveillance camera shows the suspect standing at the check—in desk at a hostel where he reportedly shared a room with two other men.

in a flirtatious moment, he pulls down his mask to show the receptionist his smile and reveals his full face. this breakthrough in the case here at the american youth hostel on manhattan's upper west side has given police new leads. these brothers who live in italy say they were staying on the same floor as the suspect. it was a weird coincidence that it was exactly that night, it feels a bit crazy still, but the next day, the whole night we had a police officer staying on our floor for our safety, we don't know, maybe he was waiting for him to come back. we now know the person of interest in this case checked into this hostel using a fake id, after arriving here on a bus from a state south of the city ten days before the shooting. this has now turned into a multistate man—hunt. the fatal shooting of brian thompson in midtown manhattan just as he was about to give an investor talk felt like a scene out of a hollywood movie, it has led other major corporations to re—evaluate their safety. no one is thinking immediately this is an attack against ceos, but it is making

everyone re—evaluate. according to our us partners cbs police believe the crime weapon was a bnt station six. this video demonstrates why a hand—gun like this might have been chosen to carry out murder in a built—up part of manhattan where a gunshot would echo. very, very quiet. new york officials insist the investigation is on the right track. for now, though, the suspect is still at large and his identity unknown. romania's top court annulled the country's presidential election that was due to

conclude this weekend, ruling on friday that the entire process will have to be rerun. the announcement comes just days after the security services reveal details of what appears to be a major attempt to interfere with the elections, using tiktok and a series of cyber attacks. the government has yet to set a date for the votes. 0ur eastern europe correspondent sarah rainsford sent this report from bucharest. pretty dramatic days in romanian politics. this was a shock move by the constitutional court, the judges started meeting this morning after they had lots of petitions and requests from society here in romania to annul the election, to cancel the entire thing and that is what they have gone ahead and done, notjust cancelling the first round but saying in fact that campaigning will have to begin again too. so what we are expecting is for some date to be announced for the beginning of campaigning for a new election, possibly some people are saying here as far away as next spring now, but it is all because of this revelation from the intelligence agency suggesting that there has been massive interference in this election. now, there were documents that were declassified on the orders of the outgoing president

which appeared to document interference, meddling, using tiktok and also cyber attacks on the electoral process here. there is an investigation under way into that, but in the meantime those constitutional court judges have said, look, this can't be a valid election, we're going to cancel it, we're going to start the whole thing all over again. it is controversial. georgescu has called it a coup but he has not caught people out on the streets in protest and it is life as usual on a friday night. there is no mass outpouring of anger but what there is our deep questions about how this happened and just how involved russia is getting in terms of hybrid attacks on countries, european countries, like this one here, romania and tonight in fact the outgoing president felt it important enough to come and make a national address to people and also to reassure romania's allies in nato and the eu this is still a stable

and secure country, a pro—european country, he said and not a pro—russian one. the social media platform tiktok is set to be banned in the us after an appeals court upheld legislation ordering it to separate from its chinese owner bytedance. the law mandates the parent company sells or bans tiktok, over alleged links to the chinese state. bytedance and tiktok deny those ties. the ban is due to take effect the day before donald trump's inauguration next month. but the platform says it will take its fight to the us supreme court, arguing that the law violates free speech. joining me live is our north america technology correspondent lily jamali. what's the reaction we're seeing from this ruling? it has been a mixed bag but one person celebrating this evening is the attorney general, whose attorney at the us department

ofjustice argue this case on behalf the government at the us appeals court in september. he called this a national security or wind, called this a national security orwind, called called this a national security or wind, called it a step towards blocking china what he called on rising tiktok and that gets at the central allegation here which is that china may be manipulating what american uses of the platform see and do not see on the platform. tiktok is consistently denying that allegation. they will appeal this to the supreme court and they seem pretty confident they will get a decision they prefer in that venue. they also have the support of a lot of first amendment advocates in the us who agree with their central argument that this ruling violates the free speech of americans, hundred and 70 million of us on the platform. 0bviously donald trump will have a role to play coming into the white house. he has said

before he would favour the ban on tiktok. before he would favour the ban on tiktok-— on tiktok. what role could he -la ? it on tiktok. what role could he play? it is — on tiktok. what role could he play? it is unclear— on tiktok. what role could he play? it is unclear but - play? it is unclear but he could try to pressure his department ofjustice not to prosecute tiktok, he could also try to offer assurances to google and apple they will not be prosecuted and they are very important players in this story. they operate the app stores where people go to download to cop to their devices. as long as this law remains on the books, those companies face a legal risk if they continue to offer tiktok on the app stores. 0ne legal scholar i spoke to today told me no matter how much donald trump likes tiktok or does not like it, he is facing an uphill battle by trying to intervene here. what to racial equity at work — how can we belong? really needs is for the supreme court to take this case and rule in their favour, overturning this law. don't go

anywhere- — overturning this law. don't go anywhere we _ overturning this law. don't go anywhere. we will— overturning this law. don't go anywhere. we will talk - overturning this law. don't go anywhere. we will talk more | anywhere. we will talk more about donald trump. we will talk to you in a second. 0n the subject of the president—elect, this week donald trump made personnel announcements that give some insight to how his administration might interact with the tech industry, specificially artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency. he's named former paypal executive david sacks to be the first white house ai and crypto czar. and he named paul atkins to head the securities and exchange commission, a body that, in part, regulates the crypto industry. both men are seen as pro—crypto. sacks was an early investor in bitcoin, and atkins has made the case against overly regulating the market. the crypto industry cheered the announcements, with bitcoin surging past the 100 thousand dollar milestone for the first time this week after atkins was announced, buoyed by hopes that softer crypto policies were on the horizon. what do these two picks tell us about how trump will handle emerging tech? i think the main indication here is there is a new sheriff in town when it comes to

technology in donald trump. paul atkins, who you mentioned, is his pick for the us securities and exchange commission, the top securities regulator in the us, currently at the scene by gary gensler, known for aggressive enforcement against the cryptocurrency industry, even vilified by the industry. in atkins as you mentioned i think the cryptocurrency industry sees an ally come into the scc. david sacks, who you noted, is a former paypal executive, now a former paypal executive, now a venture capitalist, also hosts a popular podcast in technology and a lot of people and silicon valley listen to it and silicon valley listen to it and he was one of the first and one of the loudest supporters in the tech industry as donald trump was mounting his presidential campaign this go around, taking over as ai and cryptocurrency sao, is a new

position and i think what the signals with david sacks coming is we can expect this administration to work with congress to pass legislation that the ai industry and the cryptocurrency industry, executives and both were like. —— tsar. executives and both were like. -- tsar. , ., , -- tsar. interesting to see those deeper _ -- tsar. interesting to see those deeper ties - -- tsar. interesting to see| those deeper ties between donald trump and those members of silicon valley. always great to have you on the programme. let's turn to some other important news around the world. burkina faso's ruling military leader has dismissed the country's prime minister, pictured here on the left, and dissolved the government — that's according to a decree issued by the office of military leader ibrahim traore. the decree did not give a reason for the dismissal of apollinaire joachim kyelem de tambela, who was appointed interim premier soon after traore seized power in september 2022. west africa's unstable sahel region has seen a string of military coups in in recent years. georgia's prime minister vowed friday to completely neutralise

what he describes as the radical opposition. his comments come amid mass protests continue across the country for more than a week. the prime minister added that the opposition was undermining the country's consitutional order by demanding new elections and the release of detained protesters. protests began following the government's decision to halt accession talks with the eu until 2028. french president emmanuel macron is preparing to host world leaders for the official reopening of notre—dame cathedral. the historic building was devastated by a fire five years ago. since then, thousands of people have been working tirelessly on its renovation. today it looks like this. there will be ceremonies througout the weekend to celebrate the restoration of paris's landmark building. among those expected tojoin president macron for the reopening are the prince of wales, ukrainian president vlodymyr zelensky, us first ladyjill biden and us president—elect donald trump.

stay with us here on bbc news. hello. the weather conditions continue to deteriorate across many parts of the uk, but especially out towards the west as storm darragh begins to batter the uk and ireland. the red warning of wind from the met office has been issued for parts of wales and also parts of southwestern england, and is valid from 3am on saturday to 11am on saturday. that's when the peak of the winds will occur — danger to life, travel disruption, power cuts, and ferocious conditions out to sea — winds could be gusting to around 90 miles an hour. now, rest of the day, a much wider amber warning will also be in force across many western parts of the uk, with winds up to about 80 miles an hour, also bringing damage and disruption and nasty conditions around coastal areas as well. on top of that, heavy rain is expected

across southern parts of wales. throughout this period here, the amber warning is in force and we could see as much as 90mm of rain. so let's have a look at the weather map, then. here's that circular storm with the pressure lines, storm darragh, as it barrels across the uk. in the centre of the storm, it's calm, so there will be a period of calm, for example, across northern england and eastern england before the winds start picking up as we head towards lunchtime. now, the peak of the winds will start to ease out towards the west, but they will be picking up across central and eastern parts of the country, so 50, 60 mile an hour gusts are certainly possible, bringing disruption and also the potential for damage — again, some trees down, perhaps damage to buildings as well. and then we have to wait

until early sunday before the winds really start to die down. so storm daragh will move into the near continent, still a big pressure gradient here, you can see these isobars are tightly packed, so gale force winds will be certainly around coasts with some rain showers. but out towards the west, the sun should come out, the winds will ease and it'll actually be, relatively speaking, a pleasant end to sunday — temperatures will be around single figures on sunday. and then eventually sunday into monday, a high pressure topples over the uk, nasty conditions in the mediterranean, but we've got that high pressure, and that means some sunshine and much calmer weather. do take care wherever you are.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. female artists who are put on these huge, huge pedestals scares the living daylights out of me, honestly. singer—songwriter raye has had the kind of year other artists can only dream of. after leaving her label and going independent, she's won six brit awards... i can only describe it as a miracle. ..and is the first woman to have won songwriter of the year. her debut studio album, my 21st century blues, was a critical and commercial hit, and it cemented her as one of the top artists in the game right now. bbc 100 women spoke to her about the pressures of social media, being a woman in the industry and going independent. # sleazing and teasing, i'm sitting on him #

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