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. syrian rebels have began inserting the capital, damascus, with reports of druze militia just ten kilometres from the city. live pictures from the south korean national assembly — where mps have voted not to impeach president yoon suk—yeol. five years after it was devastated by fire, notre dame cathedral reopens — with president—elect trump arriving on his first arriving on his first overseas visit. overseas visit. the ceremony will take place the ceremony will take place later today. later today.

hello, this is bbc news, i'm catherine byaruhanga. a rare red weather warning in areas of wales and southwest england has ended, but amber warnings are still in place, meaning a possible risk to life. tens of thousands of homes are without power and travel is being disrupted across the whole country. in parts of wales, winds reached 93 mph with heavy rains. cardiff airport has closed its runway and both rail and coach services have been disrupted. sports fixtures are also hit, including the merseyside derby. tomos morgan reports from penarth in south wales. it's

tomos morgan reports from penarth in south wale trees in uprooted a number of trees in rural and coastal areas across wales. part of the main motorway in south wales, the m4 has been close this morning. cardiff airport was closed, has been closed until around midday and are a number of trains have been cancelled due to this heavy wind that we have experienced this morning. i think in some parts, like penarth, the storm was not as bad as had been anticipated, but certainly in some of the more open, rural and coastal areas across the western and northern parts of wales, the storm has been heavy and the wind has caused some disruption, with up to about 40,000 homes out of power due to the heavy winds of storm darragh. jon kay is at the bbc media centre in cardiff and he sent us this report.

well, normally, at this time on a saturday morning a couple of weeks before christmas, the centre of cardiff would be really busy with people arriving for christmas shopping or to open their shops or their christmas market stalls, but right now, as you can see, and i'm holding my phone with both hands because it is so windy, there's hardly anybody out. lots of those businesses aren't opening, this morning at least, sports events have been cancelled. the trains, there's the station behind me, not running normal services and the bridges across the river severn, the bristol channel, they are not operating at the moment either. it's a very weird feeling for a saturday morning. simon calder is travel correspondent for the independent. he's at london waterloo station, following the disruptions on the railways. if you are hoping to travel to portsmouth harbour on the 1130 that has not yet left. it is over half an hour late.

they are dealing with problems including fallen problems including fallen trees on large parts of the south—western rail 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 fallen trees and speed restrictions, and there is nothing going west of cardiff towards swansea and carmarthen or west of plymouth towards penzance. no trains at all all day on those networks. north wales, nothing running on the line from chester to holyhead, but if you 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. just checking belfast city airport, it has not seen a plane in or out all day. bristol airport has been heavily diverted, the first plane in this morning, ryanairfrom venice, ended up in stansted, and there are an awful lot of people getting used to some strange surroundings. air canada from calgary, american airlines from dallas, delta air lines from atlanta, all diverted from heathrow because of strong winds there. they have been diverted through to brussels, and they will be getting back to heathrow, 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, munich, amsterdam klm, and various aer lingus flights from ireland also cancelled i'm afraid. earlier i spoke to nick johnson who was down at one of the biggest transport hubs in the south west of england, to give us a travel update. i am outside bristol temple meads station, one of the major rail hubs for the west and south—west of england. from here, rail services down to devon and cornwall, the midlands, the north and london as well as south wales. most of those services between bristol and cardiff have been delayed, or now cancelled the most of the rest of the day. specific lines themselves, no trains, gwr says, between plymouth and penzance until at least one o'clock today. between bristol temple meads and portsmouth, no services because of debris

on the line near westbury. those delays are likely to get worse as we hear about more blockages on the line in the next few hours, gwr, the operator which runs trains throughout this area, has been persistently saying passengers should, wherever possible, try to rearrange their travel plans or not to travel at all. we have spoken to people who are hoping to keep their plans this weekend, one a man who hasn't seen his daughter in many months and is trying to get to swindon today but doesn't hold out much hope in getting there and is worried about the journey back evening, even if he does make it there. we spoke to someone else who is trying to see their daughter at university in london, their trains have been cancelled, so a tough time if you're trying to get the train in the south—west of england today. tomos mentioned cardiff airport closed until a little later

today, bristol airport is open but lots of flights are cancelled, so a difficult day if you are trying to travel. we will have storm darragh for viewers here in the uk, in just twenty minutes. breaking news now from syria where advances by rebel groups on government forces appear to be gathering momentum from both north and south. the news agency afp quotes a war monitor and rebels as saying druze militias are just ten kilometres from the southern gates of the capital damascus after snatching the southern province of daraa from government control. 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 outside homs, now known as hts, with links to al-qaeda, were forced into retreat five years later.

now they're back, and injust ten days have taken the whole of syria's second largest city of aleppo. another major city, hama, fell, and now their sights are on homs — syria's third city. fighting is intense, with the syrian military carrying out air strikes to push the rebels back. uk will monitor said that those air strikes near the city of homs have killed 21 civilians. his lightning loss of territory, is due to his backers, including russia, iran and hezbollah, currently fighting in other conflicts. with me is our middle east correspondent sebastian usher. several lines in terms of what is happening around homs, several lines in terms of what is happening around horns, and also a move towards the capital from the south. the also a move towards the capital from the south.— from the south. the real impetus _ from the south. the real impetus of— from the south. the real impetus of this - from the south. the real impetus of this came - from the south. the real i impetus of this came from from the south. the real - impetus of this came from this

group of hts coming from idlib province where it has been building in strength in recent years, when there had been a stalemate across much of the country. and now they are at the gates of homs, we are hearing that is fighting happening there. but energised and important by this are the areas of the country which had been relatively quiescent, that first for driving at president assad has never really gone away. we are seeing that revive in daraa, which is where the 2011 uprising against president assad began, after the security forces tortured several young people and that was a rallying cry that spread across the country. so it is not surprising that that has fallen quite quickly. what i have been hearing from people in daraa is that the situation in the city is relatively normal. people are doing about their business.

the syrian government forces withdrew having been given safe passage, but rebels from there have been moving up towards damascus and we're getting some reports from different sources, we confirm everything, but they are very close to damascus, around 10—15 kilometres. these are different groups than the ones coming from the north, and at different times of the civil war they have been at loggerheads and i fought each other. so this is not a concerted effort by both sides, but what whatever it is, for president assad this is very bad news. president assad this is very bad newe— president assad this is very bad news. , ., bad news. took us through the resonse bad news. took us through the resnonse for — bad news. took us through the response for the _ bad news. took us through the response for the government l response for the government forces and from president assad, because we have not seen or heard much from him. we haven't _ or heard much from him. we haven't. there _ or heard much from him. - haven't. there have been all sorts of rumours flying around. the first few days when this happened, people said he was in moscow, iran, whatever. pictures yesterday had been put up pictures yesterday had been put up showing him on a rant, i don't think that is the case. but nothing from him directly.

—— showing him in iran. the -- showing him in iran. the government _ -- showing him in iran. the government forces - -- showing him in iran. the government forces have - —— showing him in iran. the government forces have been underpaid and underequipped and demoralised for a long time, i said that their salaries would be raised by 50%, it is too late for that to make much difference now.— difference now. the real calculations _ difference now. the real calculations will - difference now. the real calculations will be - difference now. the real| calculations will be going difference now. the real- calculations will be going on in qatarforeign calculations will be going on in qatar foreign ministers calculations will be going on in qatarforeign ministers of iran and russia to have been backers of president assad and turkey which has backed rebel groups, discussing the situation and to some extent, that may lead to a decision, between those asked what the message should be to president assad, the message which may be we are not coming to your aid, or that this is the time to cash in your cars.- or that this is the time to cash in your cars. and 'ust help us i cash in your cars. and 'ust help us to i cash in your cars. and 'ust help us to bring �* cash in your cars. and 'ust help us to bring this h cash in your cars. and just help us to bring this into l help us to bring this into context because the war began in 2011. over the past few years, president assad's

position seemed assured, especially in the region. it is incredibly surprising that his government is so weak and then just a few days. it is surprising. - just a few days. it is surprising. people l just a few days. it is . surprising. people have just a few days. it is - surprising. people have been astonished at the speed at which others happen. people who have been following it closely, some things are not surprising. 0ne, some things are not surprising. one, that the government forces have put up such a poor showing. that isn't unexpected, if it had not been for russia intervening full on in 2015, president assad might have been defeated then and forced out, and the state has been essentially hollowed out. it lives off corruption, it is almost like a narco state where the illicit trade in an amphetamine used across the region has been one of the main supports financially for the government under president assad. the area that he has

controlled, 60%, the main cities, the economy there has never recovered, and what you have seen there, which is correct, he had been pulled back into the arab forward, he was a pariah for years, but all arab countries over the past couple of years have accepted him again. he has gone to arab league meetings. 0n him again. he has gone to arab league meetings. on a diplomatic and political basis it looked as if he was back on the scene and his position was secure. that has been transformed and turned on its head. . ~ transformed and turned on its head. ., ~ i. transformed and turned on its head. ., ,, head. thank you, sebastien 0 . ier, head. thank you, sebastien ogier. or— head. thank you, sebastien ogier, or middle _ head. thank you, sebastien ogier, or middle east - head. thank you, sebastien i ogier, or middle east regional 0gier, or middle east regional editor. —— sebastian usher. in south korea an impeachment vote to remove the president, yoon suk yeol, has failed with members of mr yoon's own governing party boycotting the proceedings. this is the scene outside where tens of thousands of protesters have gathered. let's cross live now to seoul where we can speak to our correspondent

jean mackenzie. we arejust in we are just in the centre of the parliament hall, this vote has not been able to go ahead. it has been a dramatic day in the parliament. people are chanting and shouting behind us. it has been a davis and many twists and turns. to explain to you how we got to this position, —— it has been a day with. the ruling party of presidentjune, they started to walk out one by one out of the voting chamber saying that he would not take part in this vote and boycott it instead. and the reason this is important is because the opposition did not have enough votes on their own to impeach the president. they needed eight members of the ruling party to vote with them so when they started walking out and boycotting the chamber there was lots of anger, who flooded to the doors of the chamber, they were shouting, traitors, go back in and vote. surprisingly over the course of

this evening, some members of parliament have gone back into cast their vote, but the speaker has called it tonight and decided there are not enough members to be here for this vote to be able to go ahead. �* ., ., , , , ahead. and what happens next, now that this _ ahead. and what happens next, now that this motion _ ahead. and what happens next, now that this motion has - now that this motion has failed? ., , ., , , failed? the opposition party is certainly not _ failed? the opposition party is certainly not going _ failed? the opposition party is certainly not going to - failed? the opposition party is certainly not going to give - failed? the opposition party is certainly not going to give up. | certainly not going to give up. they have said that they will keep bringing impeachment motions until they are successful. you also have to consider what is happening outside this building right now. tens of thousands of people have travelled from all that was south korea, to be here today, to protest against the president, to demand that he stands down, and they have surrounded the parliament compound. they are blocking the excess. furious with his mps were walking out of the chamber. even though his party has decided to save president

yoon, it is unlikely that the people here will be so forgiving, and if these protests continue to build his position could soon become untenable.— position could soon become untenable. that is our south korea correspondent - untenable. that is our south korea correspondent jean i korea correspondent jean mckenzie at korea correspondentjean mckenzie at the national assembly. maryam moshiri is in paris, at the reopening of notre—dame cathedral. the reopening of notre-dame cathedral-— the reopening of notre-dame cathedral. ., ., cathedral. good afternoon from outside notre-dame _ cathedral. good afternoon from outside notre-dame cathedral, j outside notre—dame cathedral, which is now the very centre of attention in this great city. remember april 2152019, that evening, the fire that started on the roof of the building behind me. you can see the devastation that was brought to the roof area and to so much of the roof area and to so much of the cathedral. it took the bravery of around 600 firefighters to avoid the complete destruction of the

building. it is hard to explain to those who don't really understand the sheer importance of this cathedral. it is not just a religious centre, a catholic cathedral, it is the centre of catholicism in france. but it also is the very france. but