this is bbc news, the headlines... syrian rebels are hearing 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 during storm darragh, as three million people in wales and the south west of england are urged to stay at home. travel has been severely disrupted and several sports events have been cancelled. donald trump is visiting france on his first trip abroad since his us election victory last month. he's among dignitaries attending the re—opening of notre dame cathedral, destroyed by a fire in 2019. let's return to paris and ta ke take a look at my bridges. —— live pictures. five years after the devastating fire. president

emmanuel macron is intending to use the reopening of the cathedral for a much—needed political boost. as we have said, a number of international figures and dignitaries due to attend the ceremony later today, including prince william, the us president—elect donald trump and also the ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky. of course this is very much an opening of a cathedral, so the speech emmanuel macron wanted to make their turned down because there was a secular state here, there must be a separation between what he says and what goes on in the cathedral. he is likely to urge the world to see beyond france's current political crisis in the speech he makes and admire the determination, organisation and incredible hard work that has had to go

into rescuing one of the most famous buildings in france in just five years a feat that many people thought would be impossible, but as we can see from pictures, the previous of what happened to the cathedral, it is quite a remarkable achievement. the long—awaited event comes as france enters a very dp political uncertainty, so this will be a welcome distraction for president macron. —— enters a very deep political uncertainty. let's go live now to maryam moshiri in paris. absolutely, it will be very eye—catching indeed. as we say on these pictures of the paris eight palace, as we await the arrival of world leaders that mr macron invited to tist

today. let's remind viewers of what we are watching. today is not only a huge day for paris but also france as the notre dame cathedral, over 850 years old, reopens after that devastating fire in 2019. i have been walking around the city this morning and a lot of the area around notre dame is completely shut off, as is the streets adjacent to the palace. it is heavy security, something the city has been preparing for for quite a while and if you remember back in 2019, the fire had barely been put out and president macron gave a speech, did he not, promising the french nation that notre dame would be rebuilt, reconstructed and resurrected within five years. well, he has pretty much kept to that timetable, which is unusual these days in terms of building work. here we are.

the date when we see the cathedral reopening. and it is going to be a ceremonial, as you said yourself, that brings in the secular, the religious and cultural. the secular will be a speech given by emmanuel macron before the official opening of those huge cathedral doors. he was originally due to give that speech outside under an awning in front of the cathedral. he is no longer able to do that because of the rain, the heavy rain and wind that is predicted to hit paris in the next hour or so, and predicted to hit paris in the next hour orso, and i predicted to hit paris in the next hour or so, and i have to say it is already raining here and it is freezing cold. after mr macron gives the speech, it will be the turn of the religious part of the ceremony, where we will see the archbishop of paris calling for the doors of the cathedral to be opened and for him and the

1500 people with him to enter. there will be a ceremony where the organ will be played for the organ will be played for the first time. after the ceremony, where hymns will be sung and a joyful node will be hit, there will be the cultural element. the cultural element was due to be a concert outside the cathedral tonight, but unfortunately because of the weather that concert was recorded yesterday and the replay will be shown to the nation later this evening. let's take you back now to be a lycee paris, because we are still awaiting the arrival of some notable guests, including president—elect donald trump, who landed on saturday. this is his first international trip since winning about election and not only has to date been a day of him coming to this ceremony, of him attending or coming back to the world stage,

it has also been a day of intense diplomacy. before the ceremony at notre dame, resident trump has been meeting with president macron. we do not know what the agenda was, we are not sure there was an agenda, but we do know that president macron and many other european leaders are worried about the future of the war in ukraine, particularly given some of the comments made by president trump in the past. that is potentially something that they really want to talk about. we are also expecting the ukrainian president to be greeted by president macron and his wife, as well as prince william, the duke of wales. joe biden, the us president was invited, but he will not be attending. joe biden will be attending. joe biden will be attending in his stead. ——jill biden will be attending in his stead. i will hand back to you

until we catch sight of president—elect trump and the other dignitaries and we will return to paris as soon as we do. . ~ ., . return to paris as soon as we do. . ~' ., . ~ do. thank you very much. we will be back— do. thank you very much. we will be back there _ do. thank you very much. we will be back there when - do. thank you very much. we will be back there when we i do. thank you very much. we l will be back there when we see the president arriving. some breaking news now. we are hearing that a us official has confirmed that the syrian capital of damascus appears to be falling to rebels, suburb by suburb. according to cbs the american broadcaster, that confirmation has come from a us official. we have been keeping an eye on the progress of the rebels from various factions as they head towards the capital of syria from the north and the south. rebels also reported to have been very much taking control of the third city of base map. there are reports

that the army that are loyal to resident assad had been falling away. we should treat those reports caution. the syrian presidency has denied any of the reports that came out earlier but bashar al—assad has left damascus, they say he is still inside the capital working. but we know that the goal of these rebels, it has long been to overthrow the assad regime and the leader of the group hts, an islamist militant group, has reiterated that as their aim. we also know that as their aim. we also know that protesters have taken down the statue of the president's father in a suburb around ten for limiters from damascus, that has come to us via the reuters news agency, who were talking to a witness to that. we have some pictures of that

as well, we have a live page as you would expect up and running on bbc news website, which is looking at every twist and turn of the story. you will see that video they're embedded in the reporting, with rebel fighters progressing towards damascus and protesters appearing to take to the streets in defiance of president assad's control. let's take a look at what is being said. little earlier, donald trump who we are expecting to see at the events in paris shortly for the reopening of the notre dame cathedral, he has said syria is a mess but it is not our friend. he was posting on his social media platform, saying the united states should have nothing to do with it, this is nothing to do with it, this is not our fight. nothing to do with it, this is not ourfight. let nothing to do with it, this is not our fight. let it play out, do not get involved. again putting a marker down on his position on this particular conflict in the middle east. if

damascus is being taken, suburb by suburb, as we have been hearing from our correspondences, this will mean president bashar al—assad's control of the country will pretty much have come to an end. we will keep an eye on the situation in syria and bring you more details about those lines breaking. a major incident has been declared in parts of wales because of disruption from storm darragh. 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. the national grid says 120,000 homes are now without power across the uk. 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

and races in aintree. a man has died after a tree fell onto his van during storm darragh. police say he was in his 40s and was driving on the a59 dual carriageway at longton in lancashire. he was pronounced dead at the scene. let's return to paris because we have been keeping an eye on the palace there, where president emmanuel macron is hosting a number of international dignitaries and figures from the world of politics. we know he is expecting to receive the us president—elect donald trump and also the ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky. a very difficult time politically being had by emmanuel macron,

who is weakened. this event has occurred as france is in a moment of great uncertainty, the fall of michel barnier�*s government on wednesday. a replacement has yet to be named. five years after the devastating fire, notre dame will officially reopen tonight ready for mass to be held tomorrow. here we see an embrace from the president of france with the president—elect of the united states. emmanuel macron had planned to make the cathedral�*s reopening and optimistic climax to the year, also marked by the paris 0lympics. also marked by the paris olympics. this is the moment we waited for, the photograph opportunity with the president and president—elect. walking up the steps into the palace. yes.

the steps into the palace. yes, these optics — the steps into the palace. yes, these optics are _ the steps into the palace. yes, these optics are always - these optics are always important. did you these optics are al