You're listening to the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service.

Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. This edition is published in the early hours of Sunday the 8th of December.

Islamist rebels in Syria say they've captured Homs, the third biggest city. Rebels are also closing in on the capital, Damascus.

Nearly 14 years after the Arab Spring, is this the end for President Assad?

South Korea's opposition fails to impeach the president over his short-lived declaration of martial law,

and Notre Dame Cathedral has reopened more than five years after it was gutted by fire.

Also in the podcast, why the killing of a health insurance boss has exposed anger at the US healthcare system.

And it was too good to be believed.

The story hit the headlines all across India.

But now after two weeks, it's turned out to be a hawks.

The conman who claimed to be a long-lost son.

He may have survived nearly 14 years of civil war,

but suddenly the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is looking very vulnerable.

Just over a week after Islamist rebels began their offensive,

they say they have, quote, fully liberated Syria's third biggest city, Homs.

Residents said security personnel were fleeing by motorbike, while commanders were reported to have left for the coast by helicopter.

Footage from the scene showed people running in the streets against a backdrop of continuous gunfire.

Later, residents said thousands of people had come out to celebrate the departure of government troops and calling for the end of decades of Assad family rule. Rebels have also been closing in on the capital Damascus,

where protesters defied years of repression and tore down the Syrian flag and portraits of the president.

Lena Shaikuni is a Syrian journalist who works for the BBC World Service. She's been speaking to people in the capital.

One source tells me that there hadn't been any presence of regular patrols as usual as they're

used to in Damascus at night.

...