live from london, this is bbc news. the syrian army says it's boosting the deployment of forces around damascus, as rebel fighters advance on the capital. state media deny reports that president assad has fled the city, where protesters appear to have toppled a statue of the president's late father. the notre—dame cathedral in paris reopens in the presence of leaders from around the world, five years after it was badly damaged by fire. translation: this is gratitude to everyone _ translation: this is gratitude to everyone who _ translation: this is gratitude to everyone who helped - translation: this is gratitude to everyone who helped rebuildi to everyone who helped rebuild notre—dame. one of the leaders in attendance was us president—elect donald trump who met prince william following the ceremony. two men have been killed by trees falling on their vehicles during

storm darragh in the uk. hello, i'm tanya beckett. our top story — fast moving developments in syria, where the focus of fighting is now on the capital damascus, with one group of rebels claiming to have suburbs in what they describe as the "final stage" of their offensive, 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. syria's embattled government says its setting up a ring of steel around damascus — and has also denied claims the army has withdrawn from surrounding areas. but a rebel commander said its forces have begun the final phase of encircling the capital. but in social media pictures, which the bbc has verified, protestors can be seen toppling a bust of the president's father hafez al—asad in president's square in the damascus neighbourhood

ofjaramana, about ten kilometres from the centre. the rebel group advanced rapidly 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 third city of homs with the syrian army, loyal to president assad, simply falling away. there are also reports that some 2000 syrian soldiers have fled the front lines and crossed into iraq these pictures were filmed on the syrian side of the border with iraq. iraqi officials say some of the soldiers who were allowed to enter the country were wounded, and have been hospitalised. with more on this, our correspondent hugo bachega is in antakia, on the turkish—syria border. it seems that the capital of damascus is increasingly under threat as these rebels continue to advance from the south. they made significant gains in the past 2a hours. they had a symbolic victory when they captured daraa, which is the birthplace of the government protests in 2011 that were brutally repressed by the regime and that led

to the war in syria. fighters are also making progress from the east of the country, and obviously we are paying attention to what's happening in homs, which is the third largest city. rebels led by hts, this islamist group, say they've reached the city. government forces have reinforced their positions in homs. there have been reports of fighting in some parts of homs. but again, this is a key target because if this city is captured by the rebels, the capital is isolated and the president is in deep trouble. so obviously the government, the military are trying to reinforce their positions to stop this rebel advance. but again, the rebels are saying that the goal here is to get to damascus and to topple the regime of president assad. several arab foreign ministers have flown into the qatari capital doha tojoin the foreign ministers of iran, turkey, and russia for emergency talks

on the fast—moving situation in syria. i spoke to our chief international correspondent lyse doucet, whojoined me on the line from doha. well, i'vejust spoken to the un special envoy for syria, who was at those talks involving several arab foreign ministers as well as the foreign ministers of iran, turkey and russia. and there seems to be a consensus, that they want... they know that things are moving fast on the ground and potentially out of control, but they seem to be agreeing that every effort must be made to prevent the kind of collapse, the precipitous collapse that could set syria on a spiral of violence and chaos at a time when, of course, several — at least two — different armed groups, different rebel groups

are pushing towards damascus. so they've been underlining the escalating crisis and that the collapse seems almost certain, but they still think there is a chance that they can convince the rebels to hold fire and to try to agree on some kind of an orderly transition. now, of course, the reality on the ground is such that the rebels now seem bent...this victory is within touching distance, and whether or not they would agree to that is a very, very big question at this hour. well, indeed, but it's interesting that you say the foreign ministers seem to expect events to unfold in a way that there's an underlying assumption that the assad regime will fall, and imminently. well, one of the senior officials in that meeting told me it's over. it's over. that russia and iran now understand there is nothing

that they can do now militarily to save their ally that they have done so much to keep in power. the big question at this hour, is president assad going to stay and fight or is he going to flee? there have been offers made to him. he could go to moscow. he could go to the united arab emirates, where his family has already gone. but tonight — it's now midnight in doha — the meetings are still going on, that is the big question this hour, what is president assad going to do? is he going to go down fighting, or is he going to get out as fast as he can? a short while ago, i spoke to our middle east regional editor sebastian usher. he described how a lot of attention is currently on damascus and on president assad's whereabouts. there are some reports from unnamed officials suggesting that he's nowhere to be found in all the places that you would expect him in damascus,

he's not there. other reports saying, no, no, we're pretty sure he's in damascus. we've had from the presidential office saying that the rumours that he has left are wrong and that he is there, he's at his desk, he's continuing his work. we've had the syrian army saying that they are creating kind of a ring of steel around damascus to protect it, as you have the rebels looking like they're going to come from the north if they get through homs. you've had different rebel factions coming up from the south and also from the east. and we've seen some of the suburbs of damascus. people have toppled statues of hafez al—assad, bashar al—assad's father, the man who began the dynasty. so, you know, a sense of end days, really for the assad regime. but we don't know how soon that's going to be. we don't know 100% that that will happen. i mean, there's still, ithink, i mean, there's still, ithink, an unknowable about the real an unknowable about the real president assad, whether they

praetorian guard that surround praetorian guard that surround president assad, whether they want to hold the line or they feel that they can, either that they can win out somehow and that the rebels will sort of start fighting amongst each other, they'll evaporate whatever, or buy time for some kind of political deal. we've been hearing there are meetings that have been going on in qatar with iran, russia and turkey, who all played an absolute key part in the way things have developed in syria in the past few years, but also arab countries. and, you know, there's talk of a deal where president assad would essentially renounce power, there would be a transition period, and the prime minister would come in who would have the power, and there'd be a kind of soft landing both for mr assad himself and for syria politically. one would think that's probably too late as things are, but honestly, we don't know.

our ideology on you, we're not taking revenge. we're not coming for you. but there is a lot of pent up anger and frustration and hatred, as you can imagine in syria, prisons now are being liberated. of those prisonsers. i mean, the prospect of people there wanting revenge is very strong, i would say. so we could see the collapse of the assad regime within hours. it could be days. it might not happen. 0ur correspondent rowan bridge is washington with more on where the us stand on this conflict. yeah, i mean, the us administration here has been briefing out that they expect damascus to fall. in the words of one source, the regime appears to be ending before our eyes. in briefings this week,

the state department here has been saying that they want a sort of negotiated settlement between the parties and have raised concerns for the safety of civilians on the ground in syria. they have called for other countries to apply pressure to try and deescalate the situation in syria. but clearly it's quite a dynamic situation, so the moving parts, the tectonic plates are moving at pace, and how much influence the us is going to be able to have on that, i think is open to question. certainly what there has not been talk of is, is kind of any direct military intervention at the moment. right. which of course separates it from 2011. yeah. i mean, it's worth noting that there are some us forces in syria. they're mainly in the northeast of the country. there's about 900 of them there. they are largely there to stop the resurgence of so—called islamic state. but as things stand at the moment, from the briefings that we've been given, they have not been involved in any of the fighting that's taken place so far, but obviously it's a very dynamic situation. but as things stand, they haven't been involved in it and they're not intending to get involved in the fighting. a lot of talk about shifts

in us foreign policy when donald trump assumes power in january. that may well be affecting the picture in some way, too, might it? particularly in the context of iran? yeah. i mean, i think, as you allude to, comejanuary 20th, it will no longer be the biden administration, it will be the trump administration. and you are already seeing attention starting to ebb away from joe biden and towards donald trump and how he will approach issues both domestically and on the international stage such as this. and in fact, he put out a posting on his social media site truth social earlier on saying, "this is not our fight," and basically saying that the us should not be getting involved in what happens in syria, and that shouldn't really come as a surprise. i mean, that's very much in tune with the sort of "america first", sort of rhetoric that donald trump was putting out

there during the campaign. but, you know, the closer it gets to his inauguration, the more attention i think people are paying to what donald trump is saying on these sorts of issues. world leaders have been gathering in paris for a ceremony to re—open the restored notre dame cathedral, which was badly damaged by fire five years ago. firefighters who helped put out the blaze were given a standing ovation, while president macron expressed his gratitude to them and to those who helped restore the cathedral. the colossal project, costing more than £700 million, has been completed broadly in the timeframe promised by the french president. mr macron said people had rediscovered what great nations could do, "achieving the impossible". translation: this is gratitude to everyone who saved, helped | and rebuilt notre—dame de paris.

gratitude to everyone present at this moment where we are going to restore it to the catholics of paris, the catholics of france, and the catholics of the whole world. yes, tonight the bells of notre—dame are ringing again, and this ringing again, and this is an amazing moment. is an amazing moment. and soon we will hear and soon we will hear music of hope known music of hope known to france, the people to france, the people of the world — of the world — the bells of notre dame the bells of notre dame are ringing again, which have are ringing again, which have accompanied us through history. accompanied us through history. among those at this among those at this evening's event are the us evening's event are the us president—elect donald trump and the ukrainian president president—elect donald trump and the ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky. volodymyr zelensky. the two leaders held a meeting the two leaders held a meeting

at the elysee palace at the elysee palace along with french president emmanuel macron along with french president emmanuel macron ahead of the ceremony. president—elect donald trump also met with prince william later on in the evening. earlier, us first lady jill biden was greeted by mr macron as she arrived at notre dame cathedral

in combination with these wonderful young carpenters who are using tools that were the original tools that were used in mediaeval times. so there was a lot of detail paid to the journey, and you feel that that's very important? that's been incredibly important. and i think it tells notjust in the carpentry, but also in the art and the work of the artisans, because i think part of it has been to introduce notjust the historical work, but also new work into the cathedral and the lightness and the brightness. it's not a new building, but it gives you a new view of an ancient building, a historic building, and that's very important. it is extraordinary. 0ne can't help but feel that macron was trying to make a political point there. but what he said is when people come together with a common purpose — and let's face it, this was an expensive project too, and involved a lot of people — then they can

achieve a great deal. and you would agree with that, presumably? i would agree with that. i mean, there have been over 2000 people of all different backgrounds involved. and nationalities. and the important thing, i think has been the leadership, because, i mean, it's almost as if you have an orchestra of 2000 people coming together, but without a conductor, without the leadership, without the vision, and without the donations from all across the world, i think the project wouldn't have been a success. how difficult is it to put a building back together after a fire? and why is notre—dame so important? well, a building like that — notjust any building, a building like that, a building of such importance, a building of such centrality notjust to france, but all over the world... i mean, the hunchback of notre dame, victor hugo, and even recently,

more recently, disney. so, you know, from our generation, from the generations of... from the middle ages, right down to children, at school now, it's just been a very important mythology, myth, and faith in history in the future. thank you forjoining us. just a couple more words on the subject of this. do you think that it would be difficult to recreate the acoustics within the cathedral? is that something architects think about? well, i think we heard the organ, didn't we? yeah, we did hear the organ. and it was just amazing. the organs in notre—dame, all five were actually being used in the music this evening. in the uk, two men have been killed by falling trees due to severe weather brought by storm darragh. 200,000 homes are without power, mainly in wales

and northern ireland. a wind gust of 93mph was recorded this morning in wales and there's been travel disruption across rail networks and at airports. 0ur wales correspondent hywel griffith reports. damage and disruption in the wake of storm darragh. after standing strong for almost 150 years, llandudno's pier couldn't cope with hurricane—force gusts of wind. we got up this morning to, like everybody else, a nightmare, really. and to see the damage and how rough the weather has been has really shocked us. it's heart—wrenching. 0vernight, roofs were ripped off. the hope is that something can be salvaged from this chapel near newtown. fallen trees, closed railway lines and roads. here in lancashire, one claimed the life of a driver in his 405. a second motorist was killed in birmingham this afternoon.

in swansea, the occupants of this car were fortunate to get out unscathed. flights were cancelled. those already in the air were in for a bumpy landing. the winds may have eased but the risks from storm darragh remain persistent. rain has triggered flood warnings right across wales. falling on already saturated ground, the fear is that river levels will rise quickly. cars were close to being submerged as the river wye burst its banks. tonight, flood warnings remain in place. thousands of people are still without power. it looks like the worst part is over but there is still very, very high winds.

more rain to come, and people should be very, very careful. as the fourth named storm of the season keeps sweeping through, people around the country are left to count the cost. hywel griffith, bbc news, cardiff. five people have died and three others injured, when large explosions rocked a residential building in the dutch city of the hague early this morning. its thought others may be trapped in the wreckage. anna holligan reports. at the end of an exhausting day, a sign of hope. but the mayor warned chances like this are slim. most people were asleep when the powerful blast ripped through their homes. the sound was caught on security cameras on a nearby building. there is a deep sense of shock within this community but also confusion because police are still trying to establish the cause of the blast. it's unclear how many people may still be trapped.

it's feared children may be among the missing. translation: i ran outside and a few seconds later, - the front collapsed. it was a sea of fire, literally. it's so sad. many of the survivors are spending the night in temporary shelters. both the investigation and recovery operation surrounding their homes are expected to go on for days. anna holligan, bbc news, in the hague. the president of south korea has survived an attempt to impeach him after his attempt to declare martial law earlier this week. hundreds of thousands of people took part in a demonstration outside the parliament calling on yoon suk yeol to resign. laura bicker reports from seoul. pop music plays mass protests can feel like pop concerts in korea, even when they're calling for the impeachment of a president. young and young—at—heart

sunk together. ——sung together. united in the hope that yoon suk yeol will be removed. the president suddenly declared martial law late on tuesday night and the country's elected politicians were forced to battle their own military to overturn it. today, he said sorry to try to save his career. translation: i sincerely apologise to the citizens i who were likely alarmed and disturbed by these events. the crowds still cried for his removal. but soon they realised the president's own party would not vote to impeach him, and the singing stopped. translation: what i believed and thought as democracy - and freedom, it all collapsed in a single moment. i'm very angry. now is the time for each person to rise and come out here with us. the lawmakers, they should represent the people,

not the president. and we are very angry. we are very upset. we are not going to back down until he is impeached. in contrast to the crowded streets, the seats of the ruling party sat empty as they boycotted the vote. all efforts to get them to return were in vain. this was not the result that they were hoping for. president yoon might think that he can stay on for another two years as a lame duck president, or his party might think of other ways to get rid of him, but south koreans have proved themselves to be resilient and determined protesters and these demonstrations are only going to get louder and larger. with one last plea, the crowd pushed forward towards the parliament gates. calling on mps to get back inside and vote.

the people of south korea are now challenging the politicians. and disconsolate but defiant, they have vowed to return. laura bicker, bbc news, seoul. the social media platform tiktok is set to be banned in the us after an appeals court upheld legislation ordering it to separate from its chinese owner bytedance. the law mandates the parent company sells or bans tiktok over alleged links to the chinese state. bytedance and tiktok deny those ties. the ban is due to take effect the day before donald trump's inauguration next month. but the platform says it will take its fight to the us supreme court, arguing that the law violates free speech. let's ta ke let's take you back to our top story.

the latest reports from syria say islamist rebels are closing in on the centre of the city of homs as they continue their advance to damascus. we have seen reports suggesting they are taking suburbs of damascus. in social media pictures, which the bbc has verified, protestors can be seen toppling a bust of the president's father hafez al—assad in president's square in the damascus neighbourhood ofjaramana, about ten kilometres from the centre. the syrian army says it's bolstering defences around the capital, contradicting reports its forces had withdrawn from some areas. urgent talks about the fighting have been taking place in qatar, with representatives of arab countries joined by those from russia, turkey and iran. we welcome of course, keep you updated on the news. do stay with us here on bbc news. i'm tanya beckett.

hello there. storm darragh has continued to pull out, now weaken as it moves into the near continent, but it has brought a swathe of destruction across parts of the country. part two of their weekend looks better, although it will stay very windy, we should see some sunshine across northern and western areas and it will not be quite as windy as we have had to friday night and saturday. the winds could still cause some travel disruption, particularly for the channel ferry crossings, so stay abreast of the weather forecast and keep up—to—date with your latest radio stations. the system pushing across the near continent, sitting across the low countries, lots of isobars on the chart, sandy will be very windy, especially so across more eastern and south—eastern areas in towards the channel islands, gales here, cloud and for sharing. more than the way brightness for western parts of the country, northern ireland, wales and western england. when

you factor in the cold northerly wind, it will feel cold whenever you are. temperature through the day ranging from around five to nine celsius. blustery to a sunday evening and night, across large parts of england under the males. especially strong towards the south—east and into the channel islands, where we will have further showers here. further north, high pressure begins to toppling, suffer monday morning, could be a cold start for scotland, northern ireland, clear skies here, light winds, some frost and ice. less cloud for the southend west. because we will have more cloud in the breeze. remnants of storm darragh fizzling out at this point. we will have more of a breeze across at the south—east corner, though nowhere near as windy as it has been. the further north and west that you had, closer to the high pressure, the winds will be much lighter and widespread sunshine after the cold and frosty start. temperatures struggling to get much above three celsius through the central belt of scotland, but

further south looking at 7—9 celsius. deeper into the week, the theory of high pressure dominates the scene, sitting across the uk, bringing very light winds and settled weather. a difference what we have had at the weekend. it does mean it will turn quite chilly and with that benign air mass with very little wind, we could see a bit of cloud at times to —— quite a bit of cloud. when skies clear at night, it could return to frost and fog.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the syrian army says it's boosting the deployment of forces around damascus as rebel fighters continue their advance on the capital from the north and the south. state media deny reports that president assad has fled the city, where protesters appear to have toppled a statue of the president's late father. the notre dame cathedral in paris re—opens in the presence of leaders from around the world, five years after it was badly damaged by fire. one of the leaders in attendance was us president—elect donald trump, who met prince william following the ceremony. president zelensky of ukraine also attended. two men have been killed by trees falling on their vehicles

during storm darragh.