and murk and low cloud as well. 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 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. a man has died after

a tree fell onto his van during storm darragh, as three million people in wales and england are urged to stay at home. donald trump is holding talks with french president emmanuel macron, ahead of the reopening of the notre dame in paris. the cathedral has been fully restored five years after a devastating fire. the visit is mr trump's first trip abroad since his election victory last month. a major incident has been declared in parts of wales because of disruption from the storm. 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 driving on the a59 dual carriageway at longton in lancashire. he was pronounced dead at the scene. 0ur correspondent, hywel griffith, is in penarth in south wales. he's been giving us more details about the affect of storm darragh in wales. the wind may have dropped here in south wales but the impact of storm darragh is still clear to see. 0vernight, there were gusts of over 90 miles an hour in parts of north wales. we have seen fallen trees around the country, a few roofs even damaged overnight. the impact on transport has meant road closures on the a470, the main road linking north and south wales, and the two bridges over the river severn that connect england and wales as well. cardiff airport had to close its runway. 80,000 homes have been left without power. the electricity companies

say they're working, trying their best to reconnect people during the day. but now really attention is turning to the rainfall that is expected over the next 12 or so hours. there are 21 flood warnings in different corners of the country as i speak and there is concern because the ground is already saturated following heavy rain over the last two weeks. natural resources wales warning that floods could follow and that debris in the rivers could bring risks as well. so the impact of storm darragh is likely to be with us for hours, potentially days ahead. a short time ago, we spoke to nickjohnson. he's in the english seaside town of weston—super—mare. it's still very, very windy, martine. i'm sort of struggling to keep myself upright at the moment. that red warning meaning a danger to life, that has now expired for this part

of the world as well for weston—super—mare and the rest of the somerset coast and south west england. but that amber warning still for strong winds in place until around 9:00 this evening. now, there are still some people, mostly dog walkers, up and down the seafront here, but businesses largely have closed. seaside bars, restaurants and even the pier. they were all due to be open today. they were saying they were planning on opening, but a little later. we can see at the moment that those businesses remain closed. there's also a seaside ice rink which has closed for the day as well. the tarpaulin roof cover has been partially ripped off. we've also seen some footage from bridgwater, another town in somerset a little further down the coast. a block of flats and some roofing has been ripped off the top of those flats by the wind. so while that red warning has expired, these gusts are still continuing and it feels like they are going to continue for the rest of the day and into tomorrow as well.

and with that high wind comes the inevitable travel disruption, the inevitable headaches that people are facing trying to get around southwest england, be that on the train or also on the road as well. train services from here, from weston—super—mare, are largely delayed or cancelled. from other parts of the southwest, a lot of those services are also not running. gwr, the rail operator, has urged people only to travel if absolutely necessary. cardiff airport, as you heard, has had to close its runway for most of the morning and bristol airport, severe disruption there as well. many flights cancelled today. it's just too windy at the moment for those planes to attempt take—offs and landings and it does feel like, as i say, those gusts continuing certainly for the rest of the day and probably into tomorrow as well.

jon kay is at the bbc�*s media centre in cardiff and 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. let's take a look at some pictures of the destruction storm darragh has brought. there's been a number of number of fallen trees across the country —

this was in cardiff. huge waves have also hit the seafront in porthcawl in wales. this tree has come down in oxford street, burnham—on—sea. the storm has also brought destruction to areas all along the coasts of south and north—west wales. simon harnaman, from redland in bristol, was woken in the middle of the night by his 16—year—old son who had heard a "loud screech and an enormous crack." and this is what simon they saw when they looked outside — the family car, which had just come back from a two—week spell at the garage, covered by a large tree. the seaside town of porthcawl, in bridgend county, often gets battered with strong winds. usually, they bring huge waves crashing over the front. but on friday night, storm darragh also saw a section of roof from this property at rest bay torn off. and there's been plenty of travel disruption on the roads as well as rail services being affeted.

earlier i spoke to transport reporterfor the independent, simon calder, who was outside london bridge station. he told us of the severe distruption happening across the west of the country. almost anywhere in the country that you would want to point me to, i could find you, i'm sorry to say, some disruption. from here at london bridge, there was a fallen tree near eltham. that's now been removed, but there are fallen trees right across the country. and in particular there are problems with the thameslink line, which runs from here towards bedford via luton airport. the line is closed at harpenden and similarly in the opposite direction between horsham and arundel. looking further north, between cambridge and king's lynn, there's a speed restriction in place which is really slowing things down. they've cancelled all the direct trains from london and there's now just a shuttle service from cambridge. and pretty much across the country that is being replicated. we've got no trains whatsoever

on the north coast of wales, from chester right across to holyhead in anglesey, or in south wales, from cardiff across to swansea and to carmarthen. transport for wales also warning that there's problems on the cardiff to manchester line, severe disruption there. and great western railway, who possibly have had more problems than anyone else, or at least their passengers have, nothing running on the local lines in devon and cornwall and nothing going west of plymouth to penzance. furthermore, if you are travelling on that line, and great western railways urges you not to, then you should expect to be delayed because of speed restrictions. and that's the story pretty much across the country, putting in restrictions in case they encounter debris that's been blown onto the track or indeed trees. and by the way, there's loads of those about a mile away

from here at london waterloo. lots of problems getting to portsmouth. that was simon calder at waterloo station. let's get the latest on how the roads have been affected from rac spokesperson simon williams. the impact of the storm on drivers isn't too bad in many ways, because lots of drivers are heeding the warnings and not venturing out. and of course, that's the thing to do in this kind of situation. 0nly drive if it's absolutely essential. and obviously, from an rac point of view, we normally do around kind of 7000 plus breakdowns a day in the week, but the weekends tend to be quieter anyway because of a lack of commuter traffic and business traffic. and of course, many sporting events and other events have been cancelled and people are rightly staying at home. so we will probably have a slower day today in many ways in terms of breakdowns. but of course our teams are out there in all conditions ready to help should anyone have a problem. this will take some clearing up. it's obviously a major storm and lots of trees down. i'm just outside bristol. it's been extremely windy here. there are reports locally of trees down.

we know the asa has been affected down near winchester, according to national highways, that being closed. and i think if anyone�*s on the road they need to really be very careful, keep two hands on the wheel, slow down, leave plenty of space and watch out for debris. we'll be busy today, probably recovering after accidents and people being affected by the debris. and then, of course, you've got the danger of water on the roads. we're hearing reports now of certainly in wales of lots of heavy rain. so we have the issue of flooding. also, aquaplaning could be an issue where, you know, a sheet of water on the road affects the wheels when you're driving a little bit too quickly perhaps. and then you lose grip on the roads, and that could be very, very dangerous. so if you can, stay at home — that is the message — or postpone your journey until the worst of the weather has passed. earlier on, we spoke to the water safety manager at the rnli, ross macleod. he explained what he is witnessing at the moment. so the conditions, as has been

well reported, are pretty treacherous all around the coast at the moment with the red, orange and yellow wind and rain warnings. so it's definitely a weekend for putting up the christmas decorations, spending time with family and certainly not taking any unnecessary risks around the coast. there's big seas out there, so people are at risk of getting swept into the water. and at this time of year, the water can be quite treacherous. so we're really encouraging people to avoid the coastline for the next 48 hours or so. but also, if you do find yourself down there and you do find yourself in difficulty, there's a couple of key things to remember. the first of which is if you find yourself in difficulty in the water, remember to float to live. so this is where you tilt your head back in the water, put your ears in the water, and just rest and relax as best you can. to try and relax your breathing and either float until help arrives or you feel you can self rescue. and the other thing is around to call 999 and ask the coastguard if you see somebody else in trouble. and whilst of course we don't want to put our volunteer lifeboat crew in danger to rescue others, they will be there all weekend

in case of emergency. 0ur weather presenter chris fawkes has been telling me about the conditions we've been seeing. well, they've been horrendous, haven't they? i mean, we had the red weather warning, which is rare for this country to get red warnings. that lapsed at 11:00 this morning. the amber warning, though, remains in force and that's for wind gusts still potentially in excess of 80mph in the very, very windiest places. and these winds are still strong enough to bring down some trees. now, as far as the strongest winds from darragh go, well, we recorded them earlier today. and top gusts 93 miles an hour. that's not changed. that's capel curig in the north west of wales. not far behind that, actually, devon — liscombe 88mph gusts. so it's these areas that have seen the very, very strongest winds. the peak of the storm is behind us now but it has caused some real problems. i reckon we've got nearly 200,000 properties now without power. totting up the stats, got 88,000 in wales that have been without power, 48,000

in northern ireland, south west england now 511,500 properties out. and there have been, what, about 17,000 across the midlands as well. so that's 200,000 or so. into the republic of ireland, they've had it even worse. there's over 350,000 properties, so half a million properties in our neck of the woods. out of power. due to this incredibly powerful storm. and the amber warning remains in force. you know, here is the storm as it continues to gradually push eastwards. the amber warning remains in force across northern ireland, southwest scotland, wales and western areas of england. the winds for these areas through the rest of today still strong enough to bring down trees. so we're not out of the woods with this storm system. the peak winds might be behind us, but the potential for doing damage and destruction is far from over with this. what about the rest of the countryt then? yeah, well, even away from these amber warned areas, actually, the winds are strong enough to bring down some tree branches

pretty much anywhere. we've had even simon calder saying there have been some trees down on lines around southeast england. so it's notjust limited to those amber warning areas, it's just that away from that the impacts are a little bit more localised a little bit, but still could be quite nasty. as well as all of that going on with the winds, we've got the rain. the largest accumulations are going into wales and we've got a met office amber warning that's in force through today till 6:00. around about 80 or 90mm over the hills. and, significantly, it's this area that had severe flooding from storm bertjust two weeks ago. and so these areas are looking at the real threat of seeing some furtherflooding problems building in as a result of this rainfall. and when is it likely to start easing? very gradually, very, very gradually tonight the winds will start to ease, but they'll still be strong enough to cause a few issues across eastern areas. even tomorrow could bring some localised disruption with some branches down. so there'll still be a few issues there. but in wales, of course, the focus then starts to shift to the flooding issue and with the rain working down the river catchments,

the natural resource wales, which issues the flood warnings for wales, they are expecting flooding today and tomorrow. so, you know, for some communities, the flooding situation will worsen as the rain continues to work into those river catchments. a bit earlier on, we spoke to our environment correspondent, matt mcgrath, who is in cardiff. he explained the relationship between storms like storm darragh and climate change for us. lots of people will talk about the jet stream as climate change is having an impact on thejet stream. is it because there's so much heat in the oceans making these storms worse? there's no discernible trends, according to scientists that have looked at this. there's no discernible trends in whether we're getting more of these storms or whether they're getting the worse, whether the gusts of wind speeds and the gusts are much worse. what we do know, and what we can say is what's chris touched on there, which is the rainfall and the impacts of that precipitation. we know from what happened last year when we had the most named storms since we started naming storms,

last october to last march, we had rainfall from these storms that essentially was made four times worse by climate change. and on any stormy day, we saw increased rainfall by about 20%. so very significant impacts. we see sea level rise as well, likely to cause storm surges in areas around the coast. so those are the real kind of aspects of climate change. not so much about the storms, more about the rainfall. so can we expect more rain? i think we can expect more rain. and i think we're, you know, likely to see it possibly in the next couple of days. the atmosphere is warmer. it holds more moisture. that moisture, when it gets to a certain point, tumbles down and we get very, very heavy downpours. so we've seen this all across the world this year. we've seen it in valencia and we've seen it here in wales as well in the last couple of weeks. and now the rainfall that's going to come down again, even if it isn't as much as happened last time, will be falling on very sodden soils and may actually accumulate and cause flooding in those circumstances. is this linked to climate change? some aspects of it are, undoubtedly — the rainfall, the scale of the rainfall, they have been made worse by the activities of humans burning fossilfuels. we have 1.2 degrees of warming

in the world right now. and because of that, this rainfall on a stormy day like today is 20% worse, a fifth worst. if we continue to warm the world, that will get worse in the years ahead. now, imagine spending all your days surrounded by these beautiful creatures. looks magical, doesn't it? well, if that sounds like your dream job, you're in luck! the sealife centre in scarborough is searching for a newjellyfish supervisor. the ideal candidate will be someone with experience in aquarium displays and caring for marine—life. 0ur reporter hannah gray can tell us more. can you imagine telling people you're a jellyfish supervisor when they ask whatjob you do? currently on display, we have four different species ofjellyfish, but there are literally thousands in the world. so how old are these ones? these ones are probably nine months old, butjellies only have a life span usually of about a year.

amy must have one of the most weird and wonderful jobs in yorkshire. i definitely get a lot of raised eyebrows. it's not your usual off—the—shelf kind ofjob, and people are usually really interested actually to find out more about it. jellyfish might look like illuminating creatures, but they need feeding five times a day, they need crystal clear water, plus they only live for about a year, so a lot of the role involves making sure they breed and nurturing their babies to keep them in existence. how did you get into this job? i did marine biology at university and after i finished university i got a job at scarborough sea life. i, at that point, had no idea about the wonders ofjellyfish. they weren't even on my radar, but it didn't take me long for them to get me hooked. they strike me as dangerous. have you been stung? i hate to say it, but probably most days. but the jellyfish that we have here at scarborough are... they have a very mild sting.

well, if that hasn't put you off, this aquarium is now recruiting. well, we've had ten applications so far, which we're thrilled about. it's a very specialist role. and first and foremost, we're looking for somebody with a passion for animal welfare. hannah gray, bbc news. in other news, the princess of wales has hosted her annual christmas carol service at westminster abbey — the biggest event in her return to royal duties since finishing chemotherapy treatment. the candle—lit event included a mix of traditional carols, music and readings. 0ur royal correspondent daniela relph has more. it was a family affair for a princess who has spent much of the year out of the public eye. with her husband and three children, she hosted her annual carol service at westminster abbey. as the princess met some of those performing at the service, she acknowledged it had been a difficult few months. i didn't know this year was going to be

the year i've just had. yeah — the unplanned. the unplanned, exactly. before the service started, the princess spent time with the guests. 1,600 were invited to the abbey, including sir chris hoy, who recently announced his cancer was terminal. the theme of the service was love, empathy, and kindness. every person here was invited because they had supported their community in some way or faced their own challenges. 18—year—old 0livia bowditch helps a charity that sends letters of support to cancer patients. earlier this year, she wrote to the princess of wales. in a world where we see the royal family from a distance, it's really important to remember that these are just people and so i said, "i really hope you're ok, "i understand this is a really difficult time for you, "and i hope you can take the quiet that you need to spend "time with your family, your children and your husband". for the princess of wales, this carol service was both a public duty and something more personal. she was here notjust

as a member of the royal family, but as somebody who has overcome her own struggles this year, like so many of the guests. for lindsey burrow, this will be her first christmas without her husband, rob. the rugby league player died injune from motor neurone disease. her invitation to the carol service — a recognition of her courage. it's those tough times that kind of bring people together and i think particularly at this time of year, for many families it's a difficult time, so to be here surrounded by so much kindness, which is what the service was about, was truly special. the royalfamily has much to reflect on this christmas after a turbulent 202a. this carol service was a celebration of those people around us who help us through the darkest of times. daniela relph, bbc news, westminster abbey. let's return to our main story, storm darragh. with me is our reporter emily brown.

the reporter emily brown. conditions and the disruption the conditions and the disruption has been horrendous. reminders of the latest going on. , ., ., , reminders of the latest going on. ., ., , on. tens of thousands of homes are about _ on. tens of thousands of homes are about power _ on. tens of thousands of homes are about power according - on. tens of thousands of homes are about power according to i are about power according to the national grid and early at the national grid and early at the met office issued a red warning, a possible threat to life, that was in part of wales and south—west england. that has now been lifted but an amber warning is in its place. travel has been seriously disrupted, businesses closed, sports events have been cancelled and the message to the public has been to only make essentialjourneys. there make essential journeys. there has make essentialjourneys. there has been particular concern about flooding in wales, particularly because they had the storm couple of weeks ago and there was extensive damage following that. many worry this will add to the already existing damage in wales. we can look at — existing damage in wales. we can look at some of the things that have happened as a result. yes, some strong pictures we have seen so far. llandudno p, which we can show you now, its boss said it would not weather

the storm and if it would survive, it would be a miracle. we now know this kiosk has been damaged. we also had some pictures in our a car which has been crushed in cardiff, this art on the side of the road. and also —— this was on the side of the road. waves crashing at porthcawl in wales. and in the past few hours, these images have been coming in of what is a nerve—racking landing at heathrow. this is one of the planes coming in fairly wobbly, as you can see, as it lands at the airport. some really challenging conditions for pilots. we also have this image of a dog that has been rescued after being stranded in the humber estuary to six hours. this is buddy, who was found near witton island and volunteers were able to narrow down the search for him thanks to a tracking device fitted to his collar. many people and dogs affected. he

looks quite phlegmatic about it really. it troubled the humans far more. conditions are still bad, it won't be overjust yet. yes, a yellow warning is in place from 6pm until 6pm tomorrow, the impact will continue to be felt throughout the rest of the weekend. thank ou. the rest of the weekend. thank you- let's _ the rest of the weekend. thank you. let's take _ the rest of the weekend. thank you. let's take a _ the rest of the weekend. thank you. let's take a look- the rest of the weekend. thank you. let's take a look at - the rest of the weekend. thank you. let's take a look at the . you. let's take a look at the weather forecast. storm darragh brought wind gusts of more than 90 mph in some part of wales, we have seen widespread travel disruption and some damage as well, this met office amber warning covering part of wales and the south—west of england. we have seen some of the worst of the weather today here and it could be more disruption on the way. it will stay windy elsewhere through the evening and into the night or in association with storm darragh,

it looks beautiful on the satellite but it has been packing a punch. the centre of below pushing away eastwards but still you can see a lot of white lines, lots of isobars squeezing together and the wind is coming down. it is cold and some of the strongest of the winds may be across south—east scotland and north—east england, more rain here as well. further north and west, clear skies and wintry in northern scotland. the wind. the temperatures dropping too far but some icy stretches into tomorrow morning. storm darragh clearing tomorrow but close enough to bring cloud and showers across the south—east corner. and across many central and eastern parts of england, a lot of cloud and showery rain. a much better looking gay north and west, brighter spells of sunshine, the odd shower. a much better looking gay. —— a

much better looking gay. —— a much better looking day. it will feel cold out there on monday. it looks quite breezy, fairly cloudy with showers towards the south—east corner but further southend west, more pressure building, more sunshine, lingering fog patches that will feel cold even if the sun comes out. it will be a chilly day. high pressure establishes itself in the middle part of the week. there will be lots of cloud, areas of mist and murk, some bits and pieces of rain and drizzle and largely dry, and much calmer thanit largely dry, and much calmer than it has been.

live from london, this is bbc news. syrian rebels are bearing down on the capital damascus from the north and south, amid little resistance from president assad's forces. state media denied reports that president assad had fled the city where protesters appear to have toppled a statue of the president's late father. south korea's opposition fails in its effort to impeach president yoon suk yeol for his short—lived declaration of martial law. iam i am live outside the notre dame cathedral in paris where after five years after the fire that ravaged much of the cathedral, the opening ceremony is about to begin. world leaders have gathered in paris ahead of the ceremony including president—elect trump of the united states and president zelensky over ukraine, who both

met president macron earlier.