live from london. this is bbc news. syrian rebels are hearing down on the capital damascus from the north and south, amid little resistance from president assad's forces. south korea's opposition fails in its effort to impeach president yoon suk yeol for his short—lived declaration of martial law. a man has died after a tree fell onto his van during storm darragh, as three million people in wales and the south west of england are urged to stay at home. i'm live in paris outside notre dame, where five years after the fire ravaged the cathedral people here in the city, across the country and around the world are looking forward to the reopening ceremony later. hello, i'm martine croxall.

breaking news from syria, where the situation is developing rapidly. with reports a group of rebels are just ten kilometres from the southern gates of damascus, the syrian state news agency is denying reports president bashar al—assad has left the city, insisting he is carrying out his work from damascus. but these are pictures obtained by the news agency afp, which the bbc has verified, of a bust of the president's father hafez al—asad being toppled in president's square in the damascus neighbourhood of jaramana. meanwhile, the group of rebels are advancing on the capital after snatching the southern province of daraa from government control. these latest pictures show rebels driving in a seized military vehicle in the region of daraa. news agency reuters says other rebels from hts have advanced from the north and are inside the city of homs with the syrian army, loyal to president assad, simply falling away. the civil war began in 2011,

but the rebels outside homs were forced into retreat five years later. now, in just ten days, rebels have taken the whole of syria's second—largest city of aleppo. another major city, hama, fell to hts, and now they are on the edge of homs, syria's third city. but fighting there is reported to be intense. a uk—based war monitor says regime air strikes have killed 21 civilians. with more on this, our correspondent hugo bachega is in antakia, on the turkish—syria border. yeah, i think the speed with which this offensive by rebels has been advancing in syria has caught everybody by surprise, has stunned everybody, because now we are watching what's happening in homs, which is the third—largest city. and this is a crucial city, because if the rebels manage to seize this city, essentially the capital, damascus, is isolated from the rest of the country. so the syrian military is now redeploying from other parts of the country to try to defend

positions in homs. we are getting reports of intense fighting in some parts of the city. and also to fortify positions around the capital, damascus, because rebels from this group, hts, say that the goal of this operation is to topple the regime of president bashar al assad. but elsewhere in the country, fighters are also making gains. in the south, the city of daraa has been now seized by rebels. this is extremely symbolic because this is where anti—government protests erupted in 2011, protests that were brutally oppressed by the regime of president assad. and also in the east of the country, deir al—zour, which is the main city there, has been now captured by the rebels. the entire eastern region of the country is essentially now under the control of the opposition. so significant gains are happening across the country. but the key city to watch

here is again homs, where rebels are saying they are making progress there in the fight against government forces. they are urging forces loyal to the president to defect. and again, we're seeing that the syrian military has been unable to stop this progress, but also unwilling to stop the rebels. there have been reports of defections across the country, soldiers abandoning their positions. so again, the key city here to watch is the city of homs, which could determine the future of president assad. now, hugo, you've mentioned several different groups in there. so how coordinated are their efforts, given that they're from different factions? exactly. so we're seeing that in the east, the progress that's been happening there is being led by kurdish fighters, and in the south, local insurgencies have ta ken the opportunity. again, it seems that government forces had abandoned their positions to join those soldiers trying

to defend the city of homs. and obviously the main focus, the main insurgency here is being led by islamist rebels from hts. and i think not only the groups participating in syria, but, you know, this is a war that has involved global powers like russia and iran. and we're seeing that without the help of russia and iran, president assad has been unable to defend his positions. and we've been talking about this for days. how president assad relied heavily on these two key allies to turn the tide in the civil war, especially with the support of russian air power, to crush the opposition and try to regain territory. and this is not happening now. obviously, russia is busy in ukraine. the iranians are also reeling after months of an israeli campaign that targeted its proxies across the region. so the position of the president looks increasingly under threat, as these rebels from different factions and being supported

by different countries, continue to make progress across the country. with me is our middle east reginal editor sebastian usher. what are you hearing from damascus?— what are you hearing from damascus? ., ., , damascus? some of the syrians outside who _ damascus? some of the syrians outside who have _ damascus? some of the syrians outside who have relatives - outside who have relatives inside damascus have been saying that they have been speaking to their relatives there and what they are hearing is that there is actually panic, confusion and uncertainty. they're not really hearing anything that is telling them what is going on and they are asking people outside if they can give them information. clearly, that kind of information you would expect at a moment like this that people actually in the city thatis people actually in the city that is most at risk wouldn't quite know and that economically where things have already been bad, it is in terrible state, banks closing down, people unable to get money out. so a sense that something is impending, they don't know what but they are very, very worried about it.

clearly president assad under huge pressure. where are his allies? ~ , ., allies? well, there is a meeting _ allies? well, there is a meeting in _ allies? well, there is a meeting in qatar - allies? well, there is a meeting in qatar at - allies? well, there is a | meeting in qatar at the allies? well, there is a - meeting in qatar at the moment with the foreign ministers of russia and iran. iran has said over the past few days that they will support president assad, that they will send more military equipment. they will send more reinforcements, essentially. hezbollah, which played a key part, an iranian proxy to some extent, has said in the last few hours that it is sending 2000 fighters back into syria. and russia has also said, essentially, that it will back president assad. but on the ground that hasn't been what is happening. there have been russian air power used but nowhere near the extent that would be necessary to halt this advance coming down from the north. 0r coming from the south. the big question is we know that the syrian government

forces have huge weaknesses but we also know that there are other units within the syrian orbit that defend president assad, that are much more hardened and have much more to lose. the elite around prison assad. are theyjust going to give up? that is the big question. we talk about people in damascus, maybe in homs as well, they're worried about what could happen with these rebels coming in, what they might do. but also they are worried about what the people who are at the core of assad's power, how they will react. we don't yet know, we haven't quite reached that stage where they are so encircled that we then get sense as to whether they are going to fight for every last inch or they are essentially going to do what they can and leave. there are people around president assad who have made huge amounts of money out of what blue war and would be found a place outside. have they left? as you are

saying in your intro, prison assad may have left, his family may have left, and the only thing that's come from his side is the present office saying no he's there at his desk in at his duties.— he's there at his desk in at his duties. sebastian, thank ou his duties. sebastian, thank you very _ his duties. sebastian, thank you very much. _ 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. the move was prompted by the president's surprise attempt to impose martial law earlier this week. ten of thousands of protesters gathered outside the national assembly as the parliament met, demanding his resignation. laura bicker reports from seoul. this was not the result they were hoping for, but they are still continuing to chant for him to resign orfor him to be impeached. some people here have been here since five this morning in temperatures that are well below freezing. they say they are incredibly they say they are incredibly disappointed, but they disappointed, but they are going to continue. are going to continue. now, it turned out that now, it turned out that president yoon�*s own party was actually impossible. president yoon�*s own party decided to leave the chamber decided to leave the chamber during the vote, and that meant during the vote, and that meant that the impeachment vote that the impeachment vote

was actually impossible. it needed eight members to defect, the opposition—led bill needed eight of them tojoin, and that didn't happen, and theirfaces were full of disappointment. some people had their faces in their hands. what they say they will do is continue to demonstrate. president yoon might think that he can continue for the next two years as a lame duck president. he said this morning that he has apologised, that he is sorry, he is appearing contrite. his party may also be thinking that there are other ways to get rid of him. but south koreans have proven themselves to be very resilient and very determined protesters, and these demonstrations are only going to get larger and much louder.

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 miles per hour, 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. here's charlotte gallagher. the power of storm darragh. these people in porthcawl, south wales, risking their own safety as waves crash over the harbour wall. the high winds ripped off the roof of a nearby home. in central cardiff, a fallen tree crushed a car. while another blocked a road. volunteers took out chainsaws to clear this tree in carmarthenshire. wales and south—west england are feeling the brunt of the storm

and it is a difficult day for those wanting to travel, like these people at bristol temple meads station. trying to get to cardiff for my mate's stag do. three have been cancelled so far and the only one that's running, i think, is only a couple of carriages, so there is going to be a lot of people fighting for one train and hopefully i'll meet the boys here and we'll be on our way but it's not looking too likely at the moment. well, i haven't seen my daughter for a while and this is the first weekend i was going to get to see her, so i was planning to go to swindon to go and see her, spend the day with her. obviously, with the trains the way they are, i don't know what to do. flights have also been affected. there are delays, cancellations and some very bumpyjourneys. that's how you do it! this ferry is currently stranded off the coast of northern ireland, unable to dock in belfast because of the weather. and a bus has crashed into a building in rural county antrim.

the driver was taken to hospital but has now been discharged. met office warnings are still in place for some areas with wet and very windy weather forecast until tomorrow evening. charlotte gallagher, bbc news. now it's time for a look at today's sport with hugh ferris. the weather here in the uk has had a significant effect on saturday's sporting programme. storm darragh has led to a number of postponements, including of the merseyside derby between everton and liverpool which was called off on safety grounds. four other premier league games are going ahead. champions manchester city are looking for successive premier league wins for the first time since october, they're currently losing 1—0 at crystal palace — daniel munoz with the goal. aston villa are home to bottom—club southampton 0—0 and brentford are hosting

newcastle 1—1 isak cancels out bryan mbuemo's opener. the late game is at old trafford with manchester united going into their match against nottingham forest having lost for the first time under new boss ruben amorim last time out. we are not the best team in this league. and we have to say that and to think that clearly. but our past, our club is maybe the best one in the league. so we have here a problem, we have to focus on the little things, the little details. if you think in everything will be a problem, let's focus on the small details and then we will improve as a team. lewis hamilton was knocked out in the first round of qualifying in his final race weekend for mercedes in abu dhabi. the seven—time world champion was on his final lap to try and get through to the second stage when kevin magnussen struck a bollard, which hamilton ended up running over

and getting trapped under his car. mclaren�*s lando norris is top with team—mate 0scar piastri in second in a weekend where they could win the contructors championship. england fast bowler gus atkinson has become the first man to take a test hat trick in wellington as new zealand ended day two of the second test heading for a series defeat as england stretched their overall lead to a huge 533 runs brydon carse took two quick wickets. but then it was all about atkinson, bowling very quickly and accurately. first he got nathan smith, then next ball he dismissed matt henry caught by ben duckett. and then the hattrick was complete as he had tim southee lbw. so atkinson only the 15th england player ever to take

a hat trick in tests. and the tourists rammed home their advantage ending the day on 378 for five in their second innings..half centuries, for duckett, jacob bethell, harry brook and joe root. meanwhile, over in adelaide australia are in total control of their second test against india after day two of the day/night match. australia were finally all out for 337 in their first innings — a lead of 157, thanks largely to travis head who scored 1110. india have struggled in their second innings. they were 128 for five at stumps, trailing by 29 runs. india lead the five match series 1—0. you can follow the football if you're in the uk on bbc radio 5 live on the bbc sport website. that is it for the sport for now. let's go live now to maryam moshiri in paris.

thank you very much indeed. let me take you back, if i may, over five years to april 2019, the night where a fire which started on the roof of the notre dame cathedral over a few hours wrought havoc on that roof and destroyed all of it, including the world—famous spire, which caved in into the notre dame building itself. it took the bravery of over 600 fireman that night to save the cathedral. but the reverberations of shock and horror have lasted until now. todayis horror have lasted until now. today is a huge day for france. ijust today is a huge day for france. i just want to give you today is a huge day for france. ijust want to give you an idea of how important this cathedral is to the country. it is not just about catholicism. 0f just about catholicism. of course it is the heart of the catholic church in this country, a place of worship. but it is also a cultural icon in france. it is the beating heart of the country and it is also, there is a bronze plot

outside the cathedral which marks basically the place from which all distances in france are measured. so it really is the beating heart and soul of the beating heart and soul of the country. it has been a huge endeavour of colossal proportions to get this point and the splendour of notre dame to return to the church, to the cathedral. in fact, to return to the church, to the cathedral. infact, nearly to return to the church, to the cathedral. in fact, nearly 2000 specialist workers have had their hand in this five year project from artisans to specialist craft people, engineers and builders. before they started building they needed to clear the space, so they removed more than 10,000 pieces of wood from the nave, salvaging whatever they could. to rebuild the roof framework, including that towering 96 metre spire it took the felling of 1200 oak trees from forests around france. 2000 statues and decorative features have been restored and recreated, including the centrepiece culture. while the grand organ wasn't damaged by the fire

itself its 8000 pipes were covered in lead dust and needed dismantling, cleaning and decontaminating. it has been painstaking but also pretty expensive work with a bill of more than 840 million euros, paid off by an estimated 340,000 donors. today is the day that has been look forward to buy so much of this country and if i can take you live to the alito palace, to show you the alito palace, to show you the scene there because this is where the french president emmanuel macron is going to welcome world leaders, dignitaries and royalty. you can see there that the parade of soldiers is ready. we will see among others president elect trump of the united states, he will be arriving and welcomed by president macron, as well as president zelensky of ukraine. prince william, the duke of wales, will also be making an appearance as well as so many other dignitaries and celebrities from around france but also from around the world. it is a very important moment

for secular france, as well as for secular france, as well as for religious france. as i mentioned there, president macron will be welcoming those. we will take you there live when that starts to happen. 0ne guest on that list, maybe not a world leader, maybe not a member of royalty but a renowned author, ken follett, the author of the book pillars of the earth, and also the of the earth, and also the author of the book notre dame, which he was asked right after the fight 2019. he is here, he has got an invite and he took a little bit of time off to speak to me earlier on. have a look. but something that i'm being asked all the time is what the book answers, which is why is this church so important all around the world? and what is the answer? well, i should say read my book, shouldn't i? of course i will! i think it's, uh, it's seen as the spiritual centre of european civilisation because when it was built,

paris was the most important city in the world. and paris had the formula for future cities the university on the left bank, the business district on the right bank, and in the middle on this island that we're on this wonderful cathedral. and that was, you know, learning, commerce and religion, the three things that european cities were all about for hundreds of years. so i think that's quite important. of course, everybody knows, even if they haven't read it, victor hugo's book notre dame, which in english is called the hunchback of notre dame. and if they haven't read the book, they've seen the movies. there's even been a disney movie. there was, i remember seeing a movie that was made in 1938, which i saw when i was about ten years old. i was terrified. charles laughton as quasimodo. i felt sorry for quasimodo, actually. as a character. well, i see this is the genius of victor hugo. because you do feel sorry for him, even though he's kind of nuts

and looks horrible. but there we are. i mean, that's what somebody like victor hugo can do. and that novel, didn't it, it kind of created a resurgence of interest in the cathedral. yes. and yet again, we have another huge resurgence of interest since that fire. tell me a little bit more about what makes notre dame different from other cathedrals, because you obviously, having written about the fictional cathedral kingsbridge in your novel, you have a real sense, don't you, of what these buildings mean to people? well, ithink, yes. and it's true in england that although attendance at churches is declining, attendance at cathedrals is actually on the up. and i think that's an indication of how we see them as central to our lives, even if we're not very religious. and i'm really not religious at all. and here i am. i've spent my life studying cathedrals, and my most popular book is about building a cathedral. the pillars of the earth. an amazing book. i loved it, i enjoyed it so, so much.

and in that book, the cathedral took many, many years to build, as did this one. this took 200 years, i think, to build from beginning to end. something like that. yes. yeah, most certainly more than 100 years. yeah. what do you think is going to be the main difference between what we saw before april 15th compared to now? because i know you've had a sneak peek inside. that's true. tell me a little bit. well, i was here early this morning at 8:00, and i noticed that one of the cathedral doors was just slightly ajar, so i snuck in. so it's a really sneaky peek. yeah. nobody stopped me. nobody said, who are you? and so i went in. and of course, they've rebuilt it exactly as it was, but it looks completely different. first of all, they've cleaned it. now, these stones are really white, almost white. they say in french, they say blonde. and they've been grey for hundreds of years, you know, soot from coalfires and car pollution and so on,

and just people. and now it's this brilliant light colour. is not only the limestone that has been renovated, the woodwork was completely destroyed. it turned into such an ash after the fire and it took a team of carpenters from around the world to recreate the famous roof of the cathedral. i'm very happy to say that one of those carpenters, who worked on the restoration of the roof, joins me now. damian, it is so good to talk to you. just tell me a little bit about the special techniques you used to make the roof exactly the way it was before. , , . . , before. the special thing is basically — before. the special thing is basically some _ before. the special thing is basically some of— before. the special thing is basically some of them - before. the special thing is. basically some of them were described by ken follett and basically we went back and transformed the logs into usable beams for the carpentry only using axis. a few different types of axis. and

following the fibre of the tree itself and keep in the shape, the original shape of the tree as much as we can. tell the original shape of the tree as much as we can.— the original shape of the tree as much as we can. tell me a little bit _ as much as we can. tell me a little bit about _ as much as we can. tell me a little bit about why _ as much as we can. tell me a little bit about why it - as much as we can. tell me a little bit about why it is - little bit about why it is important to use these techniques, damien. well, basically. _ techniques, damien. well, basically, we _ techniques, damien. well, basically, we keep - techniques, damien. well, basically, we keep as - techniques, damien. well,| basically, we keep as much techniques, damien. well, i basically, we keep as much as possible the structural properties of the tree which had been standing in the forest for hundreds of years. so we formed the fibres and we keep those long lines all the way into the beam so we make it more structurally sound. find into the beam so we make it more structurally sound. and if i can ask more structurally sound. and if i can ask you — more structurally sound. and if i can ask you very, _ more structurally sound. and if i can ask you very, very - i can ask you very, very briefly, how does it feel to be part of something like this? it is a privilege, an honour and it still doesn't feel quite real, still a dream. since i read ken follett�*s buck, who i met on monday, thanks to him i

was inspired by him and i wanted to participate in this project. so i think it will take some time to realise the skill of what we achieved. so i feel very proud.— skill of what we achieved. so i feel very proud. feelvery proud. 0k, damien, it has been _ feelvery proud. 0k, damien, it has been lovely _ feelvery proud. 0k, damien, it has been lovely to _ feelvery proud. 0k, damien, it has been lovely to talk - feelvery proud. 0k, damien, it has been lovely to talk to - feelvery proud. 0k, damien, it has been lovely to talk to you. | has been lovely to talk to you. thank you very much indeed for that. i'm afraid we're out of time. i will have more from the opening ceremony here in paris live from bbc news. storm darragh has caused widespread travel disruption and power cuts too, particularly across wales and the western side of england. now the met office red warning that was in force has now expired. but we do still have this amber warning. we will still see gusts of 70 to 80mph or more in these western areas. so there remains a danger to life and certainly the threat of further significant disruption because of the strength of the wind. not only wind. there's a lot of rain out there as well.

met office amber warnings in force for some of these parts of south wales. 80 to 90mm of rain looking likely. here is the culprit. here is storm darragh. this swirl of cloud on the satellite picture. it's around this southern flank of the storm where we have been seeing the strongest of the winds. 0ur area of low pressure continuing to track eastwards this afternoon, slowly filling and weakening, but still bringing some very strong winds. wind gusts widely 50mph, 60mph, but stronger than that in some spots even by the end of the afternoon. still some pretty heavy rain falling as well, especially across eastern parts. a little bit drier out towards the west. and those are the afternoon temperatures. now, during this evening and tonight our storm system will continue to push away eastwards. we'll continue to see some heavy rain and strong winds, particularly, i think, across parts of southeast scotland. northeast england, could be some very gusty conditions here for a time. further north and west, some clear spells, some showers, could be some wintriness over high ground. i think the strength of the wind will stop it getting too cold overnight,

but it certainly will be a chilly start to sunday morning. storm darragh easing away to the east. still though, some pretty brisk winds, especially across these eastern and southern parts of the uk as we go through the day. still some very gusty conditions, there could still be a little bit of disruption and some rain easing across the southeastern parts as well. further north and west, some sunny spells, just the odd shower. these are the kinds of wind gusts we're expecting through into sunday afternoon. and temperatures, well, with this northerly wind it is going to feel pretty cold out there. single digit temperatures for just about all of us but through the week ahead, well, things do look a little bit calmer. still quite breezy. a lot of dry weather around, some showers, a lot of mist and murk and low cloud as well.

this is bbc news, the headlines... syrian rebels are bearing down on the capital damascus from the north and south, amid little resistance from president assad's forces. pictures verified by the bbc show a bust of the president's father, hafez al—assad, being toppled in the neighbourhood of jaramana. south korea's opposition fails in its effort to impeach president yoon suk yeol for his short—lived declaration of martial law. the national assembly motion fell short by a handful of votes, as politicians from mr yoon�*s party boycotted proceedings.

a man has died after a tree fell onto his van