Times up campaign, saying they have had enough of harassment and abuse. In sport, good news for british sportsman down under. Englands cricketers win the one day series. The british tennis number to it through to the quarterfinals of the australian open. Kyle edmund beat italian Andreas Seppi to reach his first grand slam quarterfinal. And how Predictive Analytics can help in emergencies. Thats all in click in half an hour, here on bbc news. Good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. Afghan Security Forces have seized control of a luxury hotel in kabul, 12 hours after it was stormed by militants. Fierce battles raged through the night as special forces fought the gunmen as they moved around the six storey Intercontinental Hotel. Six civilians were killed, as were all the militants. 160 guests and staff were rescued, including 41 foreigners. The taliban has now claimed responsibility for the attack. Andrew plant reports. The Intercontinental Hotel in kabul at dawn on sunday morning, blackened and smoking after an ii hour siege that has seen at least five People Killed and several more wounded. The shooting started after nightfall on saturday, several gunmen armed with grenades and automatic weapons. Translation at first, i heard some gunfire and then, after 15 minutes, a worker from the hotel approached and said that suicide attackers entered the hotel. Security forces were fighting the gunmen floor by floor, with reports of hostages being taken. Its thought the security guards at the entrance to the five storey building are among those who came under fire. The Intercontinental Hotel in kabul is popular with foreign guests. Situated on a hilltop a few miles outside the city, it has been the target of an attack before, in 2011, when 21 people died, including nine attackers. Initial reports said two gunmen had been shot dead, with more hiding on the upper floors. Now Officials Say there were three attackers. All were killed when Security Forces stormed the hotel. The attack comes days after the us embassy in kabul issued a warning about hotels in the city, saying extremist groups could be planning an attack, saying hotels, as well as public gatherings, could be potential targets. Andrew plant, bbc news. Earlier i spoke with the bbcs Auliya Atrafi and he gave us the latest from kabul. After 12 hours of clashes, six people have been killed, one of whom is a Foreign National. The identity of that Foreign National is not confirmed yet and the taliban have claimed responsibility. Yes, one of the biggest achievements here, it is claimed by the government, is that 160 people have been rescued. But there is a lot of criticism on social media about the fact that although the Security Forces knew that an attack was imminent, and that it was to supposed be a hotel or a place of gathering, that why still the insurgents still managed to penetrate into, you know, the most popular landmark, that should have been the most secure place in the capital kabul. It is a very prestigious hotel. Ive stayed there myself, actually. Is the fact it was attacked just a sign of the continuing instability, the danger and the violence in kabul and afghanistan in general . That is right. It is also the taliban changing tactics. It is a time when the pressure on the taliban is increasing. The Afghan Government and Security Forces are receiving more assistance during this us presidency in terms of aerial support. So it is understood that the taliban are now switching back to these high profile targets, that create more headlines. It is a show of force to say that they can still cause harm and damage. An eight Year Old Girl has been stabbed to death in the West Midlands, in what police are calling a domestic incident. One man has been arrested. Our correspondent ben james joins me now. Whatmore are the police saying about this . This is in the small town of brownhills in the borough of halsall, close to lichfield and panic as well, they say they were called at 9pm last night to a bungalow in valley view, a residential street in brownhills and they found seriously injured little girl. She was taken to hospital and sadly died laterfrom her injuries. Officers have also arrested a 54 year old man who also has a stab wound to the stomach. Hes in a sta ble wound to the stomach. Hes in a stable condition. Officers say they will question in due course. Detective inspectorjim colclough from the homicide unit says they are treating what happened as a domestic incident. We dont have any further details for example on whether or not the man and girl are related to each other. People living nearby have been telling colleagues on the scene that they believe the man only lived there for a short while, Something Like six months. They had also never seen a little girl at the property before. They say the bungalows, they believe, People Living in the area, are meant for older people but we dont know anything more at this stage about the details of who was living there. For the moment, thank you. People with hidden disabilities in england could soon be entitled to blue badge permits for free parking. The department for transport said the change would make it easier for those with conditions such as autism and dementia to Access Services they needed. Helena lee has this report. The blue badge scheme was first introduced in england in the 1970s. Today, around 2. 4 Million People with disabilities have one. It allows them to park free of charge on roads, and normally without a time limit. The government is now proposing to extend the scheme. It wants people with hidden disabilities and conditions like autism and dementia to be able to qualify for a blue badge, so they too can enjoy the freedom to get out where and when they want. Its just being able to be a more active member of society. Public transport can be really difficult for disabled people, whether that is lack of accessibility or the cost. So driving is often only way people can get around and so being able to park close to whereever they need to go is very important. Scope have said its a real victory for common sense and i really do believe that. The department for transport says only some councils recognise hidden disabilities under the current scheme, because they interpret the existing rules differently. The proposals would be the biggest change to the scheme since it was first introduced. The plans will now go through an eight week public consultation. Helena lee, bbc news. Theresa may has said shes to set out plans in coming weeks to crack down on Company Executives who enrich themselves while jeopardising their workers pensions. Writing in the observer newspaper, she describes the practice as an unacceptable abuse that will be ended. Joining me now from bristol is the former lib dem mp and pensions minister, steve we b b. Thank you forjoining us. Do you agree that in the wake of what has happened to temperance to carillion, bhs and the sir philip green row over pensions there that more needs to be done to protect workers pensions . I do think more needs to be done but it could well be years before anything actually happens. What were hearing about is a white paper expected next month and that would have to be followed bya and that would have to be followed by a law and we already know what parliaments laws will be the next year so were talking 2019, 2020 and then another year to consult and implement so nothing will happen very quickly and in the wall. Explain in laymans terms, we have the pensions regulator. So why are pensions still at risk in this way . Its a very good question. Basically, huge pension promises have built up over decades and money is invested to pay for them but the money invested goes up or down, so if the stock market falls, there could be assured full or if we all start living longer, the costs go up so start living longer, the costs go up so in every git any given year there could be a shortfall and the regulator has to make sure there is a plan to deal with the shortfall but what sometimes happens that countries but money into things like dividends or executive pay and they could help the shortfall quicker and the government would intervene, they are not putting nothing into the pensions but it is not enough of a priority. In your view, is that what carillion has highlighted in particular, the idea of dividend is being paid, executives getting big bonuses and a Pension Scheme looking pretty vulnerable . What struck me about carillion is i looked at their annual report of the 2016 and they boasted that every year for the last 16 years, theyd increased their dividend which is great if you are a shareholder but obviously if you are in the pension fund and now wondering why you might not get your full pension, clearly that is a concern. I think one of the problems is, executives often get paid more if they boost the dividends so they have an incentive to prioritise other things than the pension. If they are in an old final salary type schemes, the ones were talking about, if they are in these new pot of money pensions which new workers will be in, the things like legal and general, royal london and prudential and those kind of companies provide, there is no risk because those pensions are quite separate so it is important not to alarm people who have the newer pensions but we are talking about the older ones. Some people would say you have to have a balance, companies that are profitable and pay dividends in order to get new investment so it is a balance between profitability and the health of the company and the pensions, looking after the pensioners. That is absolutely right. The best guarantee of the pensions being paid is the Company Still being therein 50 yea rs is the Company Still being therein 50 years so if you are going really ha rd 50 years so if you are going really hard on the company and saying every spare pound has to go in the pension fund and they said that means they cant pay dividends and raise capital or invest in the business, that wouldnt work, either. In theory, talking tough about bosses sounds like a good idea, trying to write a law that says you didnt put enough in the Pension Scheme, because defining enough is very difficult. Although one understands what the government is trying to achieve, codifying it in law will be extremely difficult. Thank you for joining us. Steve webb, the former pensions minister, there. Ukips Ruling National Executive Committee will meet today for a specially convened meeting to discuss the controversy surrounding the pa rtys leader, henry bolton. Mr bolton has faced calls to step down after it was reported his girlfriend sent a series of offensive texts, including racist comments about prince harrys fiancee, meghan markle. Our Political Correspondent emma vardy is here. He has been fighting, mr bolton, a bit of a rearguard action today, doing lots of interviews, defending his position, trying to shore up his position as leader. Yes, hes appeared on three sunday morning political discussion shows, fighting to keep hisjob. He says the relationship is over and that he is 110w relationship is over and that he is now completely focused on taking ukip forward. The problem is, though, he has lost a lot of confidence within the party. There have been many ukip meps and other Party Figures coming out and calling for him to go saying it has become an embarrassment and too much of destruction, the many headlines that we re destruction, the many headlines that were created during his short relationship with jo were created during his short relationship withjo marney were created during his short relationship with jo marney and were created during his short relationship withjo marney and the lea k of relationship withjo marney and the leak of those racist and offensive Text Messages to the press. He is battling to hisjob. He will Text Messages to the press. He is battling to his job. He will need to see whether he can convince the National Executive committee this afternoon that he can play but lets ta ke afternoon that he can play but lets take a look at what he has been saying. He has really been underlined the point that the romance with jo underlined the point that the romance withjo marney is over. Im not going to go into the details of that relationship. In terms of the party, that relationship is over. Jo marney has resigned. She was suspended . She resigned yesterday, made an apology to the members yesterday for the embarrassing and she has caused and any disruption and problems she has called for the party. I think that draws a line under that. Henry bolton speaking earlier. So the mechanics of this are, theres a meeting this afternoon and they cant force him out today, can they . Thats right, they could have a vote of no confidence in him if he continues to say he wants to stay and that could then go to a vote of wider party members. Whether he would take it that far, who knows . Perhaps he battling this morning has done enough to convince the National Executive committee to leave this behind and let him take the party forward. It looks very unlikely. At what point will he decide the game is up and decide to step down . Who knows . We will have to see what the outcome is this afternoon. The question is, what does this mean for the future of ukip . If he goes, it would leave the party looking for its fifth leader in just over a year, the party has had a series of scandals, problems with infighting. It has really lost a lot of support from its high moment in 2015, when it came third in the general election in terms of the share of the votes that it won, its lost a huge amount of support since then and the question is, will this latest scandal be the one to finish the party of . Loyal supporters say no, ukip still has a future, it needs to broaden its appeal and be the party of hard brexit. Thank you for joining the party of hard brexit. Thank you forjoining us. The headlines on bbc news. Afghan Security Forces regain control of a hotel in kabul after it was seized by gunmen. Six civilians have died and 160 others were rescued. An eight Year Old Girl has been stabbed to death in the West Midlands in what police are calling a domestic incident. Ukip leader henry bolton tells the bbc it is not right for the partys Ruling Committee tojudge him on his personal life. Time to get a sports round up now with jj chalmers. Some good news from down under. Lots of good news from down under england have won the one day series against australia 3 0 with two matches to play after a 16 run win in sydney. England got off to a slow start butjos buttler and chris woakes gave the innings impetus. Buttler made an unbeaten century and woakes finished on 53 as england made 302 6. Australia lost captain steve smith toa australia lost captain steve smith to a Controversial Court behind decision. Caught behind. Despite having wickets in hand, they fell short of their target. Kyle edmond has powered into his first grand slam quarterfinal, beating Andreas Seppi of italy in the australian open. The british no 2 recovered from a slow start to win in four sets in melbourne. Edmond trailed by a set and a break at one stage but cut down his errors to secure his place in the last eight. He will face Australias Nick Kyrgios or Grigor Dimitrov of bulgaria on tuesday. Its great to be in the quarterfinals. It is certainly my best result at a grand slam. You know, its not easy to win four matches at a grand slam. Definitely pleased. It shows im improving. Lots of ha rd pleased. It shows im improving. Lots of hard work paying off. You know, like you said, that constant working at everything, my game, on and off the court, and it is good when you get results and it comes together. Watford have sacked manager marco silva after just eight months in thejob. The club are blaming evertons approach for the portuguese in november as the catalyst for this decision. Watfords statement said that without the unwarranted approach they would have continued to prosper under his leadership. The hornets have won just one of their last 11 premier league games and are 10th in the table. Alexis sanchez is on the verge of joining Manchester United from arsenal, after united midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan agreed to be part of a direct swap. The players will both have their medicals today. Mkhitaryans paperwork for his transfer was completed yesterday. The length of the armenians contract at arsenal and his salary is undisclosed. Sanchez missed arsenals 4 1win over Crystal Palace because he was travelling to manchester. Theres one premier league match today. Spurs could go fourth with a win at southampton in the 4pm kick off. Spurs beat the saints 5 2 on boxing day but Mauricio Pochettino is bracing himself for a tough match. I dont have doubt that they are going to success because the club is so strong, great manager, great Coaching Staff and great players. I have no doubt that they are going to win success, but i hope after sunday because for us it is so important, the three points, but i know it will be very tough because they need three points, too. In the scottish cup fourth round, it is the Edinburgh Derby between hearts and hibs. Rangers were due to play fraser brown of the Highland League but the match has been called because of a frozen pitch. Fraserburgh. Scotland are playing Northern Ireland in the world cup qualifying netball. Both teams have qualified for the 2019 world cup in liverpool but this match will decide who topped the group. At the moment, scotla nd who topped the group. At the moment, scotland winning 111 6. You can follow it live now on the bbc sport website. Thats all the sport for now. Ill have more in the next hour. Germany could move closer to having a stable government later, four months after inconclusive general elections. The centre left social democrats are due to vote on whether or not to begin formal Coalition Talks on renewing the four Year Alliance with the conservatives of the chancellor Angela Merkel. Jenny hill is following the latest developments from berlin. This has been going on for ages and ages, hasnt it . It has and Angela Merkel, frankly, is running out of options. In reality, this is one of her last real shots at putting together a new, stable government, the government, the security she promised germany. Shes one of the most powerful woman in the world but today, her hands are tied because the ball is very much now in the court of the social democrats. Ive just been watching some of the speeches there, a special party day, at the end of which they will vote on whether to go into another coalition, another four years with Angela Merkel. The party is really passionately, deeply divided. Many within it to say, you know what . Four years of government with Angela Merkel, eight years, actually, has led us to a disastrous election result in september. Our showing in the polls is really poor. We have been overshadowed by her, she has stolen our policies, we certainly dont want to work with her again. But there are equally significant numbers within the party who say, it is our duty to ensure germany has a stable government. It is four yea rs has a stable government. It is four years four months since the general election and we need to deliver stability and it is our duty to go into another coalition government. The party really torn about it. I wouldnt advise anyone to put money on the outcome of the vote today. I think Angela Merkel will be watching very nervously because if they vote no, she does not have very many options left at all. She could try to pursue a minority government. It is not a popular option and its impractical and unlikely. She could go back to her first choice of coalition partners, the green party and the free democrats. She tried to get a coalition going with them before christmas and that failed so that is unlikely. The real option left is fresh elections and that is something which really concerns people here in germany, not least Angela Merkel herself. Not many options for her. She will be watching very nervously. And so, i expect, are many european leaders who are keen to get her focus away from Domestic Affairs and back onto the european and global stage. What are germans making of this because they are used to Coalition Politics and all the haggling that goes with that, but is there a degree of paralysis within government because of this inability to form a clear government . Know, germany is very good at looking after itself because there are Successive Coalition governments, the talks can take months so the Civil Service for example is very good. Germany kind of runs itself and bearing in mind there is an acting government, it is not true to say germany does not have a government at the moment but the public mood is, it is starting to feel a bit fed up. Certainly, support for another grand coalition, the polls suggest, has begun to fall. There is a sense that people just want something to happen. This has been a really long, drawn out process. German politics is not particularly exciting when it comes to forming new government. People are to forming new government. People a re pretty to forming new government. People are pretty fed up and one of the delegates speaking just now made the the social democrats after the election said, thats it, were Never Working with Angela Merkel again, but when Coalition Talks with her other preferred partners failed, they said they still wouldnt work with her but then they change their mind and decided to give it a shot and now they are starting to decide whether they really wa nt starting to decide whether they really want to work with error again. You can see a lot of u turn is going on which is starting to really u pset is going on which is starting to really upset i think certainly large portions of the electorate and you can see that in the polls, support for the social democrat has fallen further than at the general election and that was pretty bad. I think there is a mood out there that says it is time that Angela Merkel really got stuck in and gave us the government she promised. Bear in mind she promised germany government in time for christmas. Nearly a month later, germans are still waiting. But bear in mind, too, that germans are used to slightly longer proceedings when it comes to forming a government. Perhaps people are not as impatient as they would be in, say, britain but having said that, Angela Merkel knows shes got to get something together fairly soon but the point today is that theres nothing she can do. Maybe in time for next christmas thank you for joining us. Large scale because of dangerous and fa u lty large scale because of dangerous and faulty goods will be managed by a new body from today. The office for product safety and standards will ensure that they are removed from homes and shelves more quickly. In recent years, there have been notable product recalls such as the Samsung Galaxy note and some whirlpool tumble dryers. Now the government hopes to accelerate the time between recognising a problem with a product and removing it from shops and homes. The new office for product safety and standards will primarily cover electrical or white goods, like washing machines or fridges. It will have a panel of experts to help decide whether a minor or local issue requires a national recall, and it will ensure that imported goods from the eu will be properly checked once the uk leaves next year. What this new body will do is it will ensure that the know how and the Technical Expertise is available to prevent any delays and keep the public as safe as possible. Hundreds of electrical products are recalled in britain every year. This new agency hopes to prevent these kinds of incidents. Joe lynam, bbc news. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in cities across the us for the second womens march, protesting against President Trump on the anniversary of his inauguration. The largest demonstrations were in new york and chicago and protests have been held also in london, outside downing street. Our correspondent simonjones was at the march in central london. Hundreds of women have gathered here and the message of this rally is, times up, times up for Sexual Harassment of women, times up for treating women as second class citizens, times up for abusing women on social media. Its very noisy. Theres been a lot of chancing at times and you can hear the crowd cheering. There are speakers, lots of people wanting to make their voice heard. Lets talk to one of the organisers. What is this all about . Were here basically to say times up on all systematic oppression of women, including Sexual Harassment and abuse as well as economic oppression. We currently have a government imposing an Economic Policy that disproportionately impacts women. 85 tax and welfare changes and austerity have been absorbed by women. Times up on the policing of trans womens bodies, on the misogynistic culture that disproportionately affects black women, muslim women and women of colour. Times up on any form of bigotry and oppression. This is taking place a year after women in london took to the streets and marched through london, which coincided with President Trumps first full day in office. Looking back at the past year, have things changed . Back at the past year, have things changed . We back at the past year, have things changed . We have had the hollywood sex scandal and things like that. Over the last year, the Womens Movement has had a lot more energy from this. A lot more people have come active who were not before which, as someone who has been around for a bit longer, is really exciting. We have had an enormous amount of attention to issues which disproportionately affect those assigned female at birth like menstrual poverty and to boot, which has received an enormous amount of attention in the last few months. Reproductive rights, disproportionately affecting, women who are british citizens who cannot access legal abortion at the moment in Northern Ireland and that is starting to get attention which is really exciting. Men are invited today but there are predominantly women here. Is there a danger that you send out a message that all men are misogynists or abusers . No, nobody is saying all men. What we are saying is that all women have experienced abuse. If your priority when you hear women turning around, and the scale of women, saying, yes, i have been a salt onto, and your response is to say, what about the men who are not abusers . You are missing the point, it is not about all men, it is about all women. Thank you forjoining us. A very noisy atmosphere but people are determined, as i said, to get their stories heard. Time for the weather with tomasz schafernaker. Wintry weather crossing the country as i speak. It will be fairly tricky on some roads no doubt with the snow and icy patches around as well. Lets look at lunchtime. A good dose of snow on the way for the highlands, ten or maybe 15 centimetres of fresh snow. Snow is starting to fall across the Southern Uplands and throughout northern england. Moving through the midlands, into eastern areas as well, at this stage, just about reaching lincolnshire and east anglia. To the south, a completely different story, a bit of sleep around the m4 earlier but essentially what is happening is the mild airfrom the essentially what is happening is the mild air from the atlantic, and the wind pushes the weather front out of the way so milder air reaches most parts of the country and by the end of the night and very early monday morning, it is above freezing across the uk. 9 degrees in plymouth. This isa the uk. 9 degrees in plymouth. This is a snapshot of monday. An entirely different day on the way. Goodbye. The