the dreams coming through making money. having a son with non falls injunction stops. december 13th on d, w. the visitor dw news live from berlin, those dom cathedral reopens. and this spectacular ceremony in paris. 5 years after the iconic building was ravaged by fire, 4 and dignitaries, joined french leaders to celebrate the success of the restoration. while the latest from harris, also coming up, syrian revel forces are widening their liking. assault in the syria with reports that fighters are just 20 kilometers from the capital of damascus and closing in on key cities. revel commander, son of dell gotten you said this is misled alliance was advancing on the southern gates of the capital. for most of our dispatch, the entire southern province of dog and bellas counting gets

underway and gone to as pulls close, entirely contested presidential and private entry. elections are correspondence in the capital upfront brings us the latest, the i'm aaron tilton, berlin. thank you for joining us. francis north saddam cathedral is reopening 5 years after a devastating fire. what you're seeing right now is live pictures from paris, where a ceremony is currently underway. it's being attended by dozens of world leaders and dignitaries, including us, president elect, donald trump, and ukraine president below the minister lensky, the iconic cathedral in the heart of paris. as undergoing, painstaking renovation to restore it back to its former glory. back in april of 2019 the world watched in shock as a fire swept through the cathedral,

gutting its famous fire and causing its roof and would work to cavan, the main structure, only narrowly avoided destruction. and let's cross over now to our correspondence. lisa lewis was at that ceremony in paris. so you're right in front of the dr. down cathedral, the reopening 0 and he is underway. what, what have you seen so far? of the well, as you said, the ceremony is in full swing. it's been quite impressive. and moving on most sites, stuff with the ringing of the bells. and that was the 1st time and find signs in 5 years that they were ringing and they were, they were, there was applause from these thousands of people who have come here today inside the cathedral. but also all sorts of people who are lined up on the roots and river banks to watch the ceremony on giants screens. then there was a religious part where the archbishop was using a saw so made of timber that survived, that was rescued from the fire. and he knocked on the door to the quiet and side

respond that, that was, you know, an entry pot in knox. and then they responded again and then eventually the door would open and that was a symbol of the tasks click judge, retouching procession of the cathedral is not for them to tell you. we also heard the a, my, my called, the french president, hold a very solid in speech where you said, you know, we heard express our corrected you by the french speak with all those who have restored the cathedral over the past 5 years in a record time these people who are present here at the cathedral and people again inside the country, you drove it also outside north to the rook, laughing as they walked down the aisle in the cathedral behind me. now there's still a religious cause that is taking place right now, and i will also continue tomorrow morning. now as we just saw the video there, the,

let's see you as president donald trump and also the ukranian president of them, is a lensky. go on hand for today's reopening, and we know that the french present mccaul held talks with them before the ceremony . what exactly do we know about those tasks? what absolutely was actually what some common, a just called a diplomatic coat when president and one of my call extended an invite to the president elect, the us president elect donald trump. and donald trump, except it's committed before the ceremony. and though we've heard that mrs. lensky, the training and president would also be here. they were supposed to talk to him on my call separately. but then mr. mccall wrote them together in a in try locked your old folks. that is obviously a way of, you know, him showing the world that he is a great state's mind taking center stage on the diplomatic level on into, on an international level. and also in an attempt to deflect attention from what's

happening actually in french quantities, which are in dire straits right now was we're just saying there is no really turbulent, weak for domestic policies and politics rather in france. so is french present mccall hoping from a booth for the reopening ceremony of saddam today? well, he's definitely hosting for that. that's also what he said in a televised speech on thursday night when he was saying this would be a jolt of happiness and joy. the ceremony this weekend from right now doesn't have a functioning government, it only has a catch face of government after the french parliament, the national assembly. i'll search the current current government on the phone. now to him, a government led by me says, on the innovator over a budget over the next year. now, president, my cause holdings, heart talks, has been holding towards over the past few days to find a new prime minister, which is a really difficult task as the french call them. and the national family is divided

into 3 blocks. no block has a clear majority. and the french are just not good at coalition governments that it would certainly be a very difficult task for him to find a prime minister. and then for about 5 minutes to hold the country, the parliament and the country together. but for now, as we are seeing, this is a moment of respite this weekend. be a reopening enough that to feed was enough for them to tell you is a moment of joy and happiness that will give some respite to the nation and to the world. really because everybody's the world is watching. the sermon here is, are we here in berlin? perfect. where to leave it there though that was lisa lucas harris. thank you very much for your reporting. we turned to syria. now we're long time. we're a little bizarre. all of us side is facing uprisings on multiple fronts. as the main rebel offensive in the north, west continues to move towards damascus. opposition factions are in the south, are closing in on the capital. these images on social media shows syrian protesters toppling the statute of the late president bush official assets. father

enjoy romando in the southern suburbs which alaska rebels have already stashed. the entire southern properties that are out in the north steering rebels are petroleum, the country side, around the key city of homes as government forces to begin to defend the city and present a shaw subs $24.00. your what's bringing dw reporter gusio . honda is for more on the situation so. gotcha. what exactly is the situation on damascus right now? a karen presidents by shot of us a is facing the biggest challenge to his rule he's ever faced. their closing and right now on 3 different runs the rebels from the north. they're coming with reinforcements through homes, from the south. you mentioned that uh uh, there's also some way that that they've captured and all these groups are coming together and heading north towards damascus. they've already captured certain parts

in the outskirts and from the east, from the us coalition area down south bordering of rock. that's where there's also another offensive. so there's 3 different fronts, there's closing and in damascus. and it looks like it's only a matter of time. now you show those pictures of these are mano in the outskirts of their masters, that is the blues minority as well. so it's not just the hey, associated a sham rebels that we're seeing now. but also other groups like the crews minority, has been protesting for over a year in other parts of syria. now it seems that they see an eminent fall of acids rule that they're also challenging his work in damascus itself. was he mentioned there, it sounds like president aside is around, isn't all sides. where exactly does that leave his allies? that is indeed the case. and uh, before i get to his external allies, i want to talk about his closest allies internally. so

a lot of syrian generals have already fled, sir, there's many reports of them to lean to different areas. there were generals, which led to 11 on iraq as well. there's news that 2000 uh, syrian troops have now sort refuge and a rock. and so everybody's kind of realizing that the fall of a side is evidence. so they kind of want to redeem themselves at the moment by turning against him. perhaps we are seeing this on the front lines. there's many front lines suddenly collapsing. and the reason for this is they're trying to redeem themselves, or when the rebels come, they don't get executed for their actions in the past. so we're seeing his internal allies turn on him. and externally iran seems to have also changed it's narrative on the meeting. rebel group the hey, at the national h. d, as that is a dramatic about face in a war which has lasted almost 13 years. where does this leave this of the civilian

population or it's a lot of mixed feelings. on one hand, you have civilians fling right now from damascus towards the syrian toast. before that we stop civilians fleeing from a level as well. a lot of kurdish, the kurdish population, tens of thousands, even a 120000. some estimates are saying, on the other hand, you have political prisoners released from prisons after being there for decades, for petty crimes in the eyes of the regime like toppling the statute. acids, father. so there's many celebrations, many reunions of families who haven't seen each other for decades. and on the other hand, a lot of displacement and fear of what's next and fear of the unknown, right? i'm afraid let's leave it there. and it was due to the reporter garcia on this. thank you very much for your reporting. let's take a brief look out some other stories making headlines around the world. a motion to

impeach, self dream, president, june. so fuel has failed for members of his party boy capital vote. a couple of mission of opposition. lawmakers filed impeachment order in response to the president's bush along the declaration this week. present you as, as apologize for the public anxiety caused by his announcement. authorities are investigating the cause of the deadly building collapse and the hague. at least 4 people died when a city apartment complex caved in the following. an explosion that the fire rescue workers are searching the rumble for bodies are in the united states. new york police now believe the gunman who killed the ceo of a major us health ensure as left the city, the f. b. i is offering a $50000.00 reward for information leading to his arrest, public reaction to the killing as exposed deep frustration of america's health care system. polls have closed and book counting is underway and done as presidential

and parliamentary elections. the vote is largely i contests between the current vice president, but how much do i will, the of the ruling, new patriarch party, and john to the money, the hama of the main opposition? national democratic congress party. many guardians field. the leading candidates offer little hope for change as a country struggles with this for some economic crisis in a generation. what's good morning this from our correspondent to money in our from . so he does pulling stations have closed and counting has started. when exactly are the results expected? well aaron, i can tell you for sure that it's not going to be tonight, and that's just because the voting, the vote counting process here is very low and tedious and that's what's happening behind me. so the polling office says we'll take out the pallets one at the time and show them to the members of the public. were working diligently in the on the other side. and to get the, the count,

the votes. i don't if you can hear them from the background, that's what's happening. and once they've done, that's what the presidential results they move on to the fundamental the results. now it's votes incentive, the 3 pulling stations, and this has to happen in $14000.00 voting, pulling stations across the gun. so it's a process that we don't expect to end tonight. but secondly, between sunday and monday morning, we should be seeing some clear results of who's going to take the election. and what exactly were the main issues driving people as the cast their votes? there were 2 fundamental issues, the key one being the states of the economy. now the current government went on a kind of borrowing spring, which left the economy here in free full and the love of the people who have spoken to dave who did not turn out to vote specified that it's because they don't want to waste another day. giving somebody a job will not to kill them when they eventually gets into power. so the economy is definitely the top of mind. the 2nd is gun. i'm see, that's the local term here that refers to the legal gold mining,

which has led to catastrophic solution of god knows what the ways and those are the 2 key concerns from everybody that i've spoken to. and what exactly where the candidates promising during their campaigns? well, the current vice president money with the bo, mia says that he was a digital economy. he's repressed, expressed more on what exactly he means by that. but he's been hard for us to do so . but we are assuming that he means getting gunner to the 4th industrial revolution where they can compete with the globe as the voltage attorney on his part to join mahatma, who is also a former president says that he wants a 24 hour economy, but the viability of that has also been questioned. you can see that the light infrastructure here in the country is not exactly the best, but he says that he has a blueprint for this and he will see it come through. all right, that was even kamani and ok, right. thank you very much for that update. and with that you're up to date, but up next, why one, astro,

if is believes the 1st person to set foot on mars has already been born. that's on doc film after a short break. until then, i'm aaron to berlin. thanks for joining us. the why do humming does not get drunk. why do gravitational waves squeeze all bodies? how much do we need per day? i just i saw on screen for help. find beyond says get smaller on dw science, outtake talk channel the the ararat region of armenia.