live from london. this is bbc news. three million people in wales and the south west of england are urged to stay at home as storm darragh hits. rebel forces reach the outskirts of syria's third largest city, horns, as rebels say government forces in the south leave the birthplace of the revolt against president assad. live pictures from the south korean national assembly — where ruling party mps have walked out on a vote to impeach president yoon suk—yeol. thousands gather calling for the president to go, after his declaration of martial law last week. five years after it was devastated by fire, notre dame cathedral reopens — with president—elect trump arriving on his first overseas visit since winning the election.

it has been a long five years and i am here outside the cathedral in paris as paris and indeed the world prepares for the reopening of notre—dame. hello, you're watching bbc news, i am catherine byaruhanga. three million people in coastal areas of wales and southwest england have been urged to stay indoors because of the danger posed by storm darragh. an emergency alert was sent to people's mobile phones in the affected area last night and a red warning issued by the met office has come into force. in parts of wales, winds have reach 93 miles per hour, and heavy rain is also lashing south wales. both rail and coach services have been disrupted, sports fixtures have been hit, including the merseyside derby. oli constable is in bangor in

north wales, which is bearing the brunt of storm darragh and sent this update. well, this is bangor in north wales where we've seen some of those incredible wind speeds of more than 90 mph. to give you an idea, that's anglesey just over there, and this is one of those areas within that red weather warning for wind which was issued by the met office. it came into force at about three o'clock this morning and will last until 11 o'clock. we've seen those really high winds that have been affecting places like this across that west coast of wales and down into south—west england as well. at times, it's felt like the rain has been horizontal against your face, it's incredibly painful to be here because of how strong that wind has been. we had it yesterday, where the government alert system told us that people should stay inside, it's not safe to drive, because of that red weather warning that came into place. more than 3 million received

those messages on their mobile phones in those affected areas. we can see the pier behind us, it's all beautifully lit up and as the sun comes up, we can see some of the damage as well, lots of debris that's made its way onto what is the front here. the noise that we've heard as well, that wind as it whistles through and picks up bits of trees and branches, that sort of thing, that's created issues and that's one of the reasons why this red weather warning is in place, because it is a potential danger to life. things like trees falling over, things like debris in the air that can cause issues, that's why that red weather warning is in place. we have heard of more than 22,000 homes in wales being without power today, northern powergrid, lots of different power agencies, working hard to try and restore power across the north of england as well as down here in wales and into the south—west of england as well. you can feeljust how strong that wind is. when it picks up, it can be very difficult to stay stable because of how strong

it has been. places like here are closed and they will be throughout today because of that weather warning in place, people being told do not travel unless it is absolutely necessary. 0li constable in bangor. this is somerset in the south—west of england, watchet, you can see the heavy winds battering that part of the country. also, pictures coming in from prestatyn in the north wales and as we have been hearing, wales is one of the worst affected areas of the country. we understand at the moment that we have around 60,000 premises, homes and businesses, that are without power, and that is according to the national grid. northern ireland in particular, there

are reports that 16,000 premises there are without power, as of about three hours ago, so, of course, a worrying situation in many parts of the country at the moment. another aspect of this story is that, now there are flood warnings in place across england and wales, this morning, there are now 62 flood alerts in wales, and 125 in england because of course the focus of the weather warnings has been on the wind, the gusts of wind, that have been blowing in some parts of wales and south—west england, but as we have been hearing from our weather team, there has also been heavy rain. and there could be an impact of flooding following from that heavy rain. same encoder is the travel correspondent for the independent. he is at london waterloo station. —— same in colder. you are following the

disrupt —— simon colder. it is disrupt -- simon colder. it is lookin: disrupt -- simon colder. it is looking bad _ disrupt -- simon colder. it is looking bad at _ disrupt -- simon colder. it is looking bad at london - disrupt —— simon colder. it 3 looking bad at london waterloo. if you are hoping to travel to portsmouth harbour on the 1130 from waterloo that has not yet left. it is half an hour late. they are dealing with problems including falling trees and large parts of the south—western radio network. major disruption, and warnings that i am seeing for all of the main lines from here, and if you go to the great western line, the network going to the west of england, to south wales and so on, that is also having extreme problems because of falling trees and speed restrictions, and there is nothing going west of cardiff towards swansea and carmarthen war west of plymouth towards penzance. no trains at all all day and those networks. north

wales, nothing running on the line from chester to holyhead, but if he did manage to get to holyhead, it wouldn't do you much good, if you were aiming for ireland because there are no ferries sailing today as far as i can see anywhere on the irish sea. further problems at the airports. my goodness. it has been a horrible day for lots of people. checking belfast city airport, it has not seen a plane in or out all day. bristolairport not seen a plane in or out all day. bristol airport has been heavily diverted, the first plane in this morning, ryanair, ended up in stansted, and there are an awful lot of people getting used to some strange surroundings. american airlines from dallas, delta air lines from dallas, delta air lines from atalanta, all diverted from atalanta, all diverted from heathrow because of strong winds there. they have been diverted through to brussels,

and they will be getting back every day through, but anybody waiting to fly to those locations is going to find that they are having a very difficult and delayed, lots of delays, and british airways, over 70 cancellations to and from london heathrow, and many other airlines, lufthansa, frankfurt, amsterdam klm, and various aer lingus flights from ireland also cancelled i'm afraid. . ~' , ., ireland also cancelled i'm afraid. ., ~ ., ireland also cancelled i'm afraid. ., ., , afraid. thank you for bringing us u- to afraid. thank you for bringing us up to date. _ afraid. thank you for bringing us up to date, that _ afraid. thank you for bringing us up to date, that is - afraid. thank you for bringing us up to date, that is the - us up to date, that is the travel correspondent, simon colder. we will have extensive coverage of storm darragh for viewers in the uk in 20 minutes' time, so stay with us, if you can. we have some breaking news from syria. rebel advances on government forces appear to be gathering momentum from both the north

and the south. a war monitor says rebels are just 20 kilometres from the capital. the speed at which the armed opposition is advancing across the country has astonished everyone, with the syrian army loyal to president assad, simply falling away. the civil war began in 2011 but the rebels linked to al-qaeda were forced into retreat five years ago and now they are back and thenjust ten days ago and now they are back and then just ten days have taken then just ten days have taken the whole of the second largest city of aleppo. another major city, hama, also fell to the rebels. and now their sights are on homs. success there could see the main road from the capital damascus to the syrian coast, cut, dividing the stronghold of president assad. his lightning loss of territory is due to his backers, including russia, iran and hezbollah, currently

fighting in other conflicts. our correspondent barbara plett usher is on the lebanon—syria border and explained how significant it would be if the rebels took homs. well, judging from what's happened so far, catherine, it seems that it is likely they have taken two big cities in the north, aleppo and hama. but there with very little resistance. and so we have to wait and see if the syrian forces, the syrian armed forces, together with their russian and iranian allies, are going to put up more of a fight over homs, because it is quite a strategic gain if the rebels could take it. we are on the road to homs, on the lebanon side of the border, and just spoke a little while ago to a young man who came by this morning and asked him what it was like there. he said it was quiet. there were soldiers in the streets, no sign of rebels yet, although he could, he heard the sound of air strikes earlier, which we understand was the syrian and russian forces targeting rebels in the suburbs and a number of civilians killed

in that strike. but he said everyone was really afraid. a lot of people had left. families would send their most of the families away, and then somebody would stay to protect property. so you can imagine that everyone there also is wondering whether the rebels will be able to take hama. it's going to be a fairly decisive battle, i think. um, either way, whether we see the rebels having a fairly easy time of it as they've had till now, or if this is going to be where the regime takes its stand. and, barbara, just remind us how strategic homs is. and this could seriously weaken the assad government even more. well, catherine, it's on the road to damascus. and in actualfact, if you go down this road past the border crossing, you hit the main north—south motorway in syria, you turn left, you go to homs, you turn right, you go to damascus. so you can see that if homs is overtaken by the rebels, then the road to damascus is cut, out of damascus,

i should say, is cut for the regime and will have a hard time getting to other key parts of the country, especially the stronghold, the political stronghold along the coast, because the main route to that goes through homs. so if the if homs is taken by the rebels, then it would be a big move towards isolating bashar al—assad. and, you know, even while that is going on, actually, there's been a lot of movement in other places as well, especially in the south, where rebels have have taken territory. so he is under threat from a number of different let me bring yoou the live pictures from the hague, where an explosion has struck a three—storey block of flats. firefighters responded quickly to extinguish the fire, which caused several homes to collapse around 06:15 local time. rescuers are searching for up to 20 people believed to have been inside at the time of the blast. so far, four have been rescued from the rubble.

the cause of the explosion remains unclear, but dutch police reported a car speeding away shortly after the incident and are appealing for witnesses. in south korea, an impeachment vote to remove the president, yoon suk—yeol, appears to be in jeopardy, with members of mr yoon�*s own governing party boycotting the proceedings. this is the scene at the national assembly. just three members of the ruling people power party are inside but the opposition needs eight ppp members to vote for president yoon�*s impeachment in orderfor the motion to pass. technically, mps have just over three more hours to vote on the bill. that's exactly 72 hours after the motion was put in. this is the scene outside the parliament

where tens of thousands of protesters have gathered. earlier this week, the president launched a suprise attempt to impose martial law. let's speak to our asia correspondent, rupert wingfield—hayes. what is the latest? no this vote hangs in the balance. whilst they have until midnight tonight, another three hours here, that is the deadline for the book to be completed, we have see _ the book to be completed, we have see it —— heard an announcement from the speaker of the national assembly that the vote may be closed within the vote may be closed within the next 15 minutes, and it looks like they are still some votes short of the 200 needed in order to pass the impeachment motion against the president. they have 195 votes so they are five votes short. if they go ahead and the end of

the voting in the next 15—20 minutes, that means, it looks like, at the moment, that they have failed to pass the impeachment motion today, and that will be a huge disappointment to the opposition parties and to those huge crowds outside. i've just come back from there myself, where i saw really massive crowds outside the national assembly, perhaps 150,000, at least, very vocally calling for president yoon to step down. what happens next, should he survive this impeachment motion? it survive this impeachment motion?— survive this impeachment motion? , ., ., , motion? it is not over. it is certainly — motion? it is not over. it is certainly not. _ motion? it is not over. it is certainly not. it _ motion? it is not over. it is certainly not. it is - motion? it is not over. it is certainly not. it is a - motion? it is not over. it is certainly not. it is a stay i motion? it is not over. it is certainly not. it is a stay of| certainly not. it is a stay of execution for the presidency of president yoon because the opposition party have made it clear that this is their first attempt, but they will carry on, and they could call a second impeachment vote as early as later this week. they have also said that they will

continue the pressure on the streets and the protest we have seen today will continue, either tomorrow or through the week, or next weekend, the next opportunity they have to get large crowds out onto the street. we have seen this process happened before in south korea when a previous president, there was a move to remove her in 2016, their whole weeks and weeks of massive protests while impeachment proceedings take place against her, untilshe proceedings take place against her, until she was eventually forced from power. and we seem to be seeing something of a repeat with the opposition democratic party using a sparse network of supporters of trade unions, of civil society organisations, to come out onto the streets and really show their anger at what president yoon did last tuesday night by declaring martial law, which has really shocked the whole nation. ., , ., ~ , .,

nation. that is our asia correspondent, - nation. that is our asia correspondent, rupert| correspondent, rupert wingfield—hayes, in seoul, following that vote in south korea, and we will bring you that as soon as it happens. maryam moshiri is in paris for us with more on the opening of the cathedral of notre—dame. hello from outside notre—dame cathedral in paris, 5th of april 2019, fire ravaged the building behind me. it took the bravery of hundreds of firefighters within the city to quell the flames, and to manage to save much of the cathedral although, as you can see from these pictures, the famous spire, that was completely destroyed by the fire, and the woodwork, the lead, caved in onto notre—dame and because so

much catastrophic damage. now it is hard to underline how important this cathedral is to parisians and to the french people generally. the heart of catholicism in france, it is after all cathedral but it transcends religion. it is about the heart and soul of this country, the past and the present. that is why so much heart and soul and love has gonein heart and soul and love has gone in to the resurrection and reconstruction of the building behind me. let me take you through some numbers. it has been clear this has been an endeavour of colossal proportions to restore the splendour of notre—dame. let's have a look at how many people were involved. it took almost 2000 specialist workers to get into this five year project, to have their hand in it from artisans to specialist class people, from engineers to builders. before they started building 1532