A siege in a luxury hotel in the capital kabul, 12 hours after it was stormed by gunmen. Afghan Officials Say at least 18 people died in the attack, including 1a foreigners. 160 people were rescued from the hotel by the security forces. The taliban says it carried out the attack. Our correspondent Zia Shahreyar reports from kabul. The final moments of a fight that had lasted all night. Gunfire and explosions, as Afghan Special forces battled to regain control of the intercontinental hotel. One soldier throws a grenade. He moves away, then the explosion. The room is soon on fire, evidence of the struggle that had ta ken on fire, evidence of the struggle that had taken place. The Afghan National flag waving from the roof, proof that the building has been reta ken. Proof that the building has been retaken. More than 150 people, including some foreigners, were inside yesterday evening, when gunmen burst in and opened fire. Translation there were old people and children inside the hotels rooms, and the attackers were knocking on the door of each room, trying to reach their targets. They killed ordinary people and officials, they were also targeting foreigners. These images filmed this man fell from the sixth floor as he tried to get away. Translation when the sixth floor caught fire, my roommate told me either escaped or burn. I got a bed sheet and tied it the balcony. I try to come down but i was heavy and my arms were not strong enough. I fell and was heavy and my arms were not strong enough. Ifell and injured my shoulder and leg. The hotel is one of kabuls most well known landmarks. It was last attacked seven landmarks. It was last attacked seve n years landmarks. It was last attacked seven years ago. This sustained and complex assault will prompt urgent questions as to how the gunmen got through. We spoke to him a short time ago to getan we spoke to him a short time ago to get an update. According to the officials, they have rescued 160 people, 41 of them foreign citizens, and youve got a hotel that accommodates 41 foreign citizens, that is a complete target for groups like taliban and isas. The taliban have taken responsibility, saying there were americans and citizens of other invading countries, as they call it, and thats why they targeted this hotel. I was there, and they wouldnt allow the journalists to get into the hotel, but from the very close area that i saw, part of the hotel had burned during the night, and it was very clear that it has been a complete scene of chaos. And the Afghan Interior Ministry just told the bbc that he believes six insurgents were involved, and he said that possibly there were people inside the hotel who had contact with these insurgents, and help them to get through. He also said that recently, only three weeks ago, the security of the hotel was contracted out to a private company, and he was not sure why it was done, and he said he has already asked for a com plete said he has already asked for a complete investigation into this incident. Obviously he and the whole Security Officials in kabul are under pressure to explain how these insurgents got through to this very well secured hotel. They must have gone through more than four or five checkpoints. I have been to this hotel in the past, and i know how tight the security is, so it is really a big question to ask, why and how they have been able to get into this hotel. The figures that weve got at this point its only six, but from other sources we hear that the numbers are possibly higher. The officials havent confirmed that. But a private airline in kabul hasjust announced that the company has lost some pilots, and some stewards in this incident. They were staying in that hotel. Foreign citizens. And they had cancelled many of their flights, apologising to their passengers. So it is very clear that it has been a very well planned attack, and the gunmen have been very, very well equipped, because they have been able to resist the very well equipped Afghan Special forces and nato forces for around 12 to 1a hours. A man has been arrested after an eight Year Old Girl was stabbed to death in the West Midlands. Police say theyre treating it as a domestic incident, and arent looking for anyone else. Liz copper is in walsall for us this afternoon. The thing you might be to see behind me, Police Forensics teams are still hear this lunchtime. Police were called first of all around quarter past nine yesterday evening to this bungalow. They found this eight Year Old Girl with serious injuries. She was taken to hospital. Sadly, nobody could do anything to save her life. She died a short while later. A 54 year old man is also in hospital, any has a stab wound to his stomach. His condition is described as stable, and police say in due course they will be interviewing him. Now they said that they are treating this as a domestic incident, and as such they are not looking for anybody else in connection with the death of this little girl. They say that her family, they are describing the family, they are describing the family as understandably absolutely devastated. They are being given the support of specially Trained Police liaison officers, and suddenly eve ryo ne liaison officers, and suddenly everyone i have spoken to on the street here today has described a deep, profound sense of shock at what has happened. The ukip leader henry bolton has insisted he will not quit his job. Mr bolton says its not right for the partys ruling body tojudge him on his personal life. Hes expected to face a vote of no confidence at an emergency meeting today, after offensive texts , sent by his former girlfriend , emerged last week. Our political correspondent, emma vardy is here. Maybe start with a bit of background to this. Absolutely, pressure has been mounting on henry bolton because of the scandal over his now ex girlfriend, which has been developing ever since christmas. Those are offensive, racist text m essa 9 es we re those are offensive, racist Text Messages were leaked to the newspapers. He broke up with his girlfriend, joe marney, has particularly sort of distance himself from that relationship, but to no avail. There have been mounting calls for him to resign over this. He has been strongly making the case that he should stay as leader, saying actually dont judge me on my personal life, i will sort that out in private. He is particularly saying the National Executive committee, who he is meeting with right now, should not act as a moral court, and that he wa nts to act as a moral court, and that he wants to remain in position to take the party forward. I want to put all of this behind us, the personal issues relating to my marriage off a meal to deal me to deal with. There is nothing more that she or i or anyone else can do with that and it is the National Executive who needs to recognise that by pursuing an action against me they are undermining the party further. So this meeting has been going on foran hourorso, any for an hour or so, any news coming out . We dont know the outcome of the moment. It is expected a vote of confidence will be held. If the Ruling Committee vote they have no confidence in the leader henry bolton, that would mean sacking him on the spot. It would mean they would call a emergency meeting of wider Party Members and be put to the vote there. Will he try to hold on . We will have to try and see in those secret discussions at the moment. He could decide to resign this afternoon. They feed us, the party would then be seeking its fifth leader injust party would then be seeking its fifth leader in just over a year. There has been scandal after scandal, a series of leadership elections, the party has been haemorrhaging support after it hit the high note, when it came third in the high note, when it came third in the general election, in terms of the general election, in terms of the share of the vote behind the conservatives and labour but since then has really struggled to maintain its appeal for voters ever since the brexit referendum. What does ukip say about that . Why does it still feel it has a role in politics here . At the moment, ukip meps were coming out and making the case that ukip needs to position itself as the party of hard brexit. It also needs to develop policies on a range of areas but particularly the Party Faithful want to keep the government was mcphee to the fire, in terms of making brexit, the ha rd est in terms of making brexit, the hardest former brexit perhaps as you might describe it, but there are others who say it is difficult to maintain that appeal to voters when your reason for existing seems to have been achieved. If ukip was seen to bea have been achieved. If ukip was seen to be a one policy party, they were successful in pa rt to be a one policy party, they were successful in part and get that brexit referendum, the country voted the brexit, so what is there reason for being any more . Of course there are the Party Faithful who there are still room in british politics the ukip to exist, others say it is close to extinction. Emma, thank you very much. 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. For many parents sometimes they say they dont want to go out, dont want to take their autistic son or daughter out to the shops or to schools and services and other places because theyre worried about what might happen. If they can park much closer to their destination, they can easily take someone away if there is an issue or difficulties when they are out and about. 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. Germany could move closer to having a stable government later today, four months after inconclusive general elections. The centre left social democrats are due to vote on whether to begin formal Coalition Talks on renewing the four Year Alliance with the conservatives of the chancellor, Angela Merkel. Our correspondentjenny hill is following developments from berlin. What is the reluctance in continuing that coalition . A lot of people within the social Democrat Party feel that their time spent already in coalition with Angela Merkels conservatives was to blame for a shockingly poor election result in september, and the blame for their languishing position at the very bottom end of the polls. The social democrats have often been rather indistinguishable from mrs merkels conservative party, because they are so lumped together in this coalition. So many felt after the election result in september that they should go into opposition, redefine the party, really tried to rejuvenate it, and there is still a lot of opposition within the party to working with mrs merkel again. In fa ct after to working with mrs merkel again. In fact after the election, the social democrat leader Martin Schultz himself said he would never work with her again and vowed to take the party into opposition. He has performed a huge u turn, in fact he is just performed a huge u turn, in fact he isjust addressing the performed a huge u turn, in fact he is just addressing the conference now, because he very much wants the social democrats now devoted to allow Coalition Talks to win. Votes we understand are about to get under way, certainly within the next few minutes. It is going to be watched very nervously by Angela Merkel, for whom this really is crunch time. She is really running out of options, she has already tried to form a coalition of two other parties that fell away before christmas. Doesnt work, she is in trouble, looking to either try to run a minority government, not something very common here in germany, for historical reasons it is something not very popular here. She could try to resurrect the original coalition, as they are called, jamaica coalition, but it is unlikely. That means it is quite possible germany would have to go back to the ballot box and fresh elections, then you are looking at a big . Over Angela Merkels future really. Potentially very difficult times for mrs merkel, and as mr schultz has just reminded the conference, the eyes of europe are on them now, and that is because Angela Merkel has been so focused on Domestic Affairs for the last few month that there is a sense within europe that actually the eu cant get on with trying to work its future, trying to work out how its going to be once britain leaves, until she has formed a stable government in germany and can really return her focus to the world stage full stop so a lot rides on the vote, which should be happening in the next few minutes. Thank you very much, jenny hill enda lynn. The headlines on bbc news officials in afghanistan say 18 people were killed by gunmen who stormed a major hotel in kabul last night. 1a of them were foreign nationals. A man has been arrested after an eight Year Old Girl was stabbed to death in the West Midlands ukip leader henry bolton has hit back at critics, saying his pa rtys has hit back at critics, saying his partys National Executive committee has no power tojudge on personal matters. In sport, england win the one day series against australia with two days to spare. Jos buttler scored a century as england won by 16 runs in sydney. Test Bowlerjames Anderson described englands team as their best ever one day side. British number two kyle edmund which isa grand british number two kyle edmund which is a grand slam quarterfinalfor the first time in his career, through to the last eight of the Australian Open after knocking out Andreas Seppi in melbourne. The bbc understands watford will appoint a former malaga manager after sacking their manager. The club blames evertons interest in silva before christmas was the england golfer Tommy Fleetwood retains his abu dhabi championship title. That is the sport, more in an hour. 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. Rose all and joins us from north london, pensions minister. What powers does the pensions regulator already have the stock dividend is being paid before pensions are put in good order . In fact, as you say, the pensions regulator already has the pensions regulator already has the power to stop a company paying dividends, if it believes that will jeopardise the pension scheme. But the pensions regulator would only do that if the trustees call it in, and the regulator looks at the scheme and decides that the company should be putting money into the pension scheme, rather than into the dividends payments. That also has the power to question executive pay as well. But i think there are duties on trustees and of course on Company Management that need to be taken Company Management that need to be ta ke n really Company Management that need to be taken really seriously when we have such problems with pension deficits in so many of our big companies. Thousands of them are operating with a black hole, i was reading, so what more needs to be done to make sure that trustees and managers act responsibly . Well, i certainly think that the bhs and now carillions situations are a necessary wake up call, so that individual management and pension trustees, as well as investors, look more carefully at the pension situation. Too often, i feel that pension liabilities have been almost ignored when a companys a nalyst been almost ignored when a companys analyst is looking at what is happening, and if the analysis that hedge fund is had done, which led them to short the karelian stock, partly because the cash flow wasnt sufficient, had also been undertaken by the pension trustees, and calling in the regulator, then it would have become much clearer, much sooner, that the Dividend Payment may need to be controlled or curtailed, and also that the Top Executive management pay would need perhaps to be looked at, because money was definitely needed for the pension scheme, which hasnt necessarily gone into it. How much strain then is the Pension Protection Fund under its self, if so Many Companies are running pension deficits . M its self, if so Many Companies are running pension deficits . It is important to stress at the moment that the Pension Protection Fund is really very well funded, and in fact it has budgeted for a number of large schemes to fall into it, which hasnt really happened. Some of the corporate failures that have happened, like bhs, didnt end up in the phf. Carillion i am sure will but it can take on a few of the large pension schemes but it couldnt take on any of them, by any means. It couldnt take on too many. To that is why i think it is urgent that the prime ministers determination to make sure that bosses dont underfund pensions when they could fund them better, and also the pensions regulator ss powers to require trustees perhaps to look at their corporate sponsor in detail, and very carefully, are used much more come because we may be entering a bit of a danger zone for pension schemes over the next few years, and we dont want to swamp the Pension Protection Fund unnecessarily. Equally of course we wa nt to unnecessarily. Equally of course we want to make sure we have thriving businesses too. So there is a delicate balancing act, but i think in some cases it has been far too late to look at some of these issues, and we want Company Management, not the just treat these liabilities as unimportant. They are real liabilities, they are not less important than your bank debt and your dividends, and yet perhaps they are more important because they have peoples lives attached to them. Baroness altman, thank you very much for your time. Frances president , emmanuel macron, has told the bbc he shares the outrage of african countries about reports donald trump used a vulgar and offensive word to describe them. Mr trump was forced to deny being a racist when he was accused of making the comments during an Oval Office Meeting on immigration. Speaking to andrew marr, president macron said it was important to understand the history behind the countries involved let me ask you, if i may, about yet another leader. I wonder what you thought when you got up in the morning and read what president trump, i cannot say the word, had said about certain african countries, s hole countries. He denies it but a lot of people say he used that word. Among the countries that were offended were many french speaking countries in africa. Did you share the outrage . For sure. It is not a word you can use. And, and, if we want precisely to build peace, development in this country, and respectful relationships,. You cant use that kind of word. By definition, i think a lot of our issues are due to frustrations, past humiliations. We have to understand that. And i do believe that we have to respect all the countries. That is what we owe them, and that is much more efficient. I have a very direct relationship with president trump. You have sat down with him for dinner at the top of the eiffel tower. I wonder what you make of him as a person, having come across in as a person, having come across him closely . I think, he is not a classical politician. First of all, he was elected by the people, use elected by the people, he is the president of the united states. Thats a great country. So i want to work with him and i think weve built a very strong relationship. We disagree on several topics. Sure. I call him regularly. I am always direct and frank, and he is. Sometimes i convince him and sometimes i fail. To you wake up in the morning and think, what is it written on twitter this night . No. Thats the sort of mix between personal and political reaction. And if you want to hear more from president macron, you can see the full interview at 8. 30 this evening, here on the bbc news channel. A walk in the countryside a simple activity that has inspired artists, writers and even the prime minister. Now, a 2004 trek taken by a group of men has been turned into a play. Black men walking covers a few miles in the Peak District, but 2,000 years of black history. Ali fortescue has been to meet the cast and the real men they portray. We are home. 2,000 years of black british history, told on a walk in the Peak District. We walked england before the english. Its a play inspired by a real Walking Group and just days before the first curtain call, the cast have come back to where the story started for a final run through and to meet the men who inspired the play. So the story takes place on a day when the walkers probably shouldnt be going out because of weather warnings, and along the way, they encounter over 500 years of black british history, characters from the past emerging. What the play is looking at how long do you have to be in a place to become part of it . How long do you have to be in yorkshire to become a yorkshireman or woman . So today is all about getting the actors into character, so here we are in the Peak District and this is, of course, all about a Walking Group. So shall we do some walking . Yeah. Why not were joining the original walkers on a route that theyve done many times. Its a long stretch along the yorkshire derbyshire border. More than enough time for the actors to get to know the walkers and the story that theyll be bringing to the stage. So, mark, youre one of the founding members of the original Walking Group. Why was that group started . We very much wanted something that was healthy, something that gave us an opportunity to share and talk and discuss with each other, because its something that men dont do, particularly men, perhaps, within the black community. We felt that we wanted to continue to develop our friendship. And now youve inspired a play, can you believe that . Its amazing to think that thats the case. So were looking forward to seeing what the play will do and say about the group, but, perhaps wider than that, what it has to say about living in britain today in the 21st century. Theres a real kind of misunderstanding that the black communitys just arrived recently, on windrush, for example, when weve been here for centuries. I wanted to reflect that, i want to tell those stories. The sort of hidden british histories in my thesis are all black, and those are the stories were telling. More than ten years since they started walking, this is one theyll never forget, as the sheffield walkers bid farewell to the actors who will be taking their story around the country. Ali fortescue, bbc news. Lets have a look at the Weather Forecast now. Is slowly improving picture across the country with a mix of rain, snow and sleet disappearing immensely but it was dobbie quite cold over eastern areas before the milder air makes inroads from the west. More rain across the south west through the night. We have a release some localised flooding. A much milder end to the night in the past few nights. Milder air will be the theme as we head into the early part of the new working week. There will be quite a bit of rain across southern areas to begin monday. That should clear away, rain across scotland also clearing. So we should through the afternoon season good spells of sunshine, a few showers across the west, temperatures between eight and 11 degrees stock as we head on towards tuesday, even milder, south, south winds feeding in a lift cloud, and bricks of rain on Western Hills bullock of those temperjust, double figure values for most of us. But look at those temperatures. This is bbc news. Our latest headlines officials in afghanistan say 18 people were killed by gunmen who stormed a major hotel in kabul last night. 1a of them were foreign nationals. 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 its not right for the partys Ruling Committee tojudge him on his personal life an emergency meeting on his future is being held this afternoon. Hundreds of people have been taking part in a womens times up protest against discrimination and harassment outside downing street. Now on bbc news, click travels to the us to see how new Predictive Software can help in emergencies. This week, cars, bars and a police ride