live from washington, this is bbc news. but. 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. live pictures there as the president faces an impeachment vote in the coming hours. and a month on from the election, the shape of donald trump's top team is becoming clear. hello, i'm carl nasman. south korea's embattled president yoon suk yeol has apologised in a 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. opposition leader, lee jae—myung, called for the president's resignation, saying that 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. friday gave the first clear sign yoon�*s own party may vote with the opposition, when the ruling party's leader called for yoon�*s swift suspension. south korea has been plunged into political turmoil since yoon declared martial law on tuesday night — a decision which lawmakers swiftly overturned. our asia correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes has more now from seoul. it was very brief, only a few minutes long and what it absolutely wasn't was a resignation speech. president yoon made this apology, he bowed to the people of korea, he said he was sorry for the anxiety and trouble he

had brought by declaring martial law. he said he did it out of desperation to try and break a political impasse. he also said, and i think this is the key bit, he said he would now put to the authority or responsibility for what now happens in the hands of his party, the people's power party. i think what that shows us is president yoon is taking another gamble here. he faces a vote of impeachment this afternoon in the national assembly and the key to his survival is keeping his own party on his side, and not crossing to the opposition. he is basically saying to his party today, look, i will let you decide my fate but do not vote with the opposition in the impeachment vote this afternoon. he is trying to use the speech to survive the vote of impeachment this afternoon. how is that gamble, this speech and apology, being received in south korea? does this seem to be placating some of his critics?

it certainly has not placated the opposition, the democratic party, which holds a large majority in parliament, and is the party pushing for the impeachment this afternoon. it has said it would change nothing. it said no apology would work and they will push forward with the impeachment. it may well work as some members of his own party. there was a very long meeting, a ten to 12 hour meeting, of his party going well into the night and at the end they said they were going to, 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, just in the last few minutes, has been essentially to say, it is a matter of time now. he has to go. it is just a question of how, he goes — and obviously 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, they do not want to damage themselves and would much prefer he goes by resignation than by impeachment. . very fluid situation there in south korea, _ . very fluid situation there in south korea, the _ . very fluid situation there in south korea, the more - . very fluid situation there in south korea, the more i - . very fluid situation there in l south korea, the more i spoke to robert kelly. we finally hear now from the president, what was your reaction to the address? i what was your reaction to the address? ., , ., , address? i thought rupert was really correct, _ address? i thought rupert was really correct, it _ address? i thought rupert was really correct, it was _ address? i thought rupert was really correct, it was really - really correct, it was really underwhelming. given the scale of what president yoon has done, declaring martial law in circumstances that don't merit it at all, taking south korea back towards echoes or shadows of what was in the military dictatorship a0 years ago, and there are south koreans who remember those days, all of thatis remember those days, all of that is wildly disproportionate to president yoon�*s concerns about parliamentary gridlock. i would have expected the

president to speak for a longer period of time until three minutes to explain himself. there are rumours around that this was impulsive and this and that, he wasn't in his right mind, there is a lot of concern around the about why he did this because it seems like such an extreme step. he didn't really explain that at all, so i don't think this will really do it, the opposition said the impeachment effort will continue, i imagine they will be able to get some conservative votes, the liberals have about six hours here according to the clock to peel off eight conservative voters. but even if the impeachment doesn't work i think he will face street protests for months and months, i think his resignation will have to happen at some point. let's talk about the impeachment process in south korea. ., , , ., , korea. two-thirds threshold, is that right. _ korea. two-thirds threshold, is that right. to — korea. two-thirds threshold, is that right, to clear _ korea. two-thirds threshold, is that right, to clear the - that right, to clear the national assembly? that right, to clear the nationalassembly? not that right, to clear the national assembly? not that many of his own party need to vote for this. what other chances we might see this happen in hours time? i think the chances _ happen in hours time? i think the chances are _ happen in hours time? i think the chances are pretty - happen in hours time? i think the chances are pretty good. | the chances are pretty good. they only need to peel off eight votes, and it is pretty

clear i think, in south korea, that he is hugely unpopular. the data and the polling on this is all very prompt the information i have seen said something like 70% of south koreans think this was something like insurrection or rebellion and 76% want him to quit or be impeached. even if he survives, south korea has a pretty vigorous street protests culture so even if he survives i imagine they will be protests against him for months and months. south korea went through an impeachment about eight years ago, there were relentless in pete —— protests that force the government's hands. my sense is, it would be wise of him to resign because he might at least avoid jail time. if he gets impeached he may end up in prison. i wish the president would go forward and explain his thinking a little bit more about which this two address did not give us. there is so many questions and he is not explaining himself, which is difficult and unfortunate.— himself, which is difficult and unfortunate. why do you think he is not explaining _ unfortunate. why do you think

he is not explaining himself? l he is not explaining himself? would that benefit him politically, would it benefit him in a criminal sense? politically, would it benefit him in a criminalsense? you mentioned that he could possibly go to jail. it mentioned that he could possibly go to jail. possibly go to “ail. it might hel to possibly go to “ail. it might help to move — possibly go to jail. it might help to move the _ possibly go to jail. it might help to move the public's l possibly go to jail. it might - help to move the public's anger a little bit if they actually had some kind of sense of this. but yeah, i would imagine, had some kind of sense of this. but yeah, iwould imagine, if you are thinking of criminal liability, then admit nothing because you open yourself up. but my own sense is we don't know because he won't explain himself, but my own sense is this was probably impulsive, i think that is why he is not talking about this in public because he decided this in cahoots with a few of his friends from the defence ministry, his old boys network that has been with him for a while, and i think this was really thrown together at the last minute because there is a lot of evidence from the crew itself, or the insurrection or whatever this is, it was very inept, it was not well organised —— coup. there was little contact and co—ordination with the police who seem to be at odds with the

military, there was no plan at all to control the crowd, to take major intersections, to take major intersections, to take the airport, if this was a coup it was a really, really inept one which tells me that present yoon just through this together at the last minute. and i think that is why he is not talking about it, big because itjust happened and he didn't really know what he had walked into. we didn't really know what he had walked into.— walked into. we have about a minute left — walked into. we have about a minute left but _ walked into. we have about a minute left but you _ walked into. we have about a| minute left but you mentioned this people power there in south korea, the history of protest, we saw that in 2016 which led to another impeachment. if this impeachment. if this impeachment vote does not pass, do you think we would see similar protests?- similar protests? yes, absolutely. _ similar protests? yes, absolutely. the - similar protests? yes, - absolutely. the candlelight street protest tactic is pretty well ingrained in south korea, it has a pretty robust street protests culture including fairly militant labour unions who go out and protest in march and raise their fists, who go out and protest in march and raise theirfists, that goes back at least to the 19805, goes back at least to the 1980s, arguably to the 70s, south korean president had been impeached, jailed, investigated for a lot less than this, this

is not your typical corruption read —— corruption and bribery scandal, suspending constitutional governance because of a parliamentary fight gridlock, that is wildly disproportionate and i would be shocked the south korean public did not protest it. tens of thousands of people are fleeing the syrian city of homs, 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 thirteen—year civil war. the opposition fighters, with former links to al-qaeda, are making a resurgence after being forced into retreat five years ago. but in just ten 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 — 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—syria 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. (gunfire) they also seized this army base, a symbolic win 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, was under siege for three years. 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 a quite easier target. the syrian army has fallen, and the state capacity has been degraded a great deal. 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 are trying to rebrand themselves as a nationalist force. from their base in idlib, 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 will return to their homes, - many refugees in turkey 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 and 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. large parts of the uk are braced for storm darragh with amber weather warnings for widespread disruption covering southern scotland, cornwall and northern ireland. the most serious threat is to south wales and along the bristol channel, where a rare red warning for strong winds has been issued, meaning a danger to life. the government says about 3 million people have received a siren—like alert on their phones warning them of the expected high winds.

0ur wales correspondent tomos morgan reports from porthcawl. right from penarth to porthcawl — along the welsh coastline, businesses have been busy planning and preparing for more bad weather. at the moment, the plans are to be in because we've got deliveries for our customers and stuff like that. some are elderly, so we need to get out to make sure they get stuff. but other than that, that's all i've got on the cards at the moment. although towns on welsh coastlines are familiar with bad weather, having to close shops and cafes on a saturday so close to christmas will undoubtedly affect businesses. metres away from the seafront is piccolo's cafe, who earlier made the difficult decision to close tomorrow. sea defences keeps the water down, but there's a lot of debris comes up and it's the wind more than anything and, you know, sometimes you can feel the glass shaking. two weeks ago, when storm bert ravaged the south wales valleys and caused severe flooding, there was criticism by residents and politicians that stronger warnings didn't come

soon enough. (siren sound) tonight, the government has issued its largest ever use of its warning alert system, sent to the mobile phones of three million or so people living in the affected areas, where a rare red warning for wind, the met office's highest category for bad weather, has been issued across the entire west and south coast of wales and along the bristol channel. and they basically mean danger to life. big impacts. but not just that, it also expresses certainty. so that means that the met office is confident that these severe conditions will be affecting in quite a large area. as wales gets ready to defend itself once more, the miserable weather in the run—up to the festive period continues. it has now been a month since donald trump won the 202a us

presidential election and before his return to the white house he had been setting out the top ten for his proposed administration. he cabinet roles like defence, health, homeland security and secretary of state all need to be approved by the us senate which the republicans won majority control of in this current election. but if four republican senators and all the democrats disagree with any choices, the nomination would fail and his choices had not been without controversy. among the key pics outlined so far by donald trump. florida senator marco rubio, secretary of state, the president's main advisor on foreign affairs and america's top diplomat. pete hegseth, a military veteran and fox news presenter who may have to deal with the wars in ukraine and gaza as defence secretary. after being picked by donald trump it emerged he was investigated for alleged sexual assault in 2017 over which he was never arrested or charged. he denies the allegation. and the health and human services, robert f kennedyjunior, an environmental lawyer, vaccine

sceptic and nephew of former presidentjohn f. kennedy. he would oversee us federal health agencies despite having no medical qualifications. 0utside medical qualifications. outside of the 15 department heads there are multiple other key roles, some do need senate approval like fbi director, head of the cia and un ambassador. but others don't. for example the appointment of billionaire elon musk and former us presidential hopeful vivek ramaswamy to a new non—government body named the department of government efficiency. i spoke to dean about williams, former national press secretary for dr ben carson, and the press secretary for north dakota governor doug burgum in 202a. looking at the transition here so far, this was supposed to be a bit smoother, a bit less chaotic, donald trump had a lot more people in 2016 and we had

several controversial pics, we have seen a couple, matt gaetz already sitting down, another controversial one is pete hegseth the secretary of defence. if you having to expend too much political capital to get his own pics through his own party? i don't think so, _ through his own party? i don't think so, and _ through his own party? i don't think so, and i _ through his own party? i don't think so, and i don't _ through his own party? i don't think so, and i don't think - think so, and i don't think this is particularly rocky. president—elect trump has chosen the people who will push forward his agenda so he is comfortable. the media may be uncomfortable but even if you look at the way the american people are pulling on these issues, i think last week there was a cbs poll that showed 60% of americans are comfortable with the transition. so corporate media may not 1