kyle edmund beat italian andreas seppi to reach his first grand slam quarter—final. and how to get out — and stay out — of debt. good morning 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 has the latest. the intercontinental hotel in kabul, 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. it's thought the security guards at the entrance to the 5—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 in 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. since the siege has ended, the taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack in kabul where the bbc‘s zia shahreyar is keeping across the story. as was mentioned, the confrontation is over after more than 12 hours of clashes between afghan security forces and the assailants. only half an hourago forces and the assailants. only half an hour ago the taliban released a statement claiming responsibility for the attacks, saying they have targeted american citizens and other, as they call it invading country's citizens who are staying in the hotel and the afghan government before that announced the attack was done by the network affiliated with taliban. as was mentioned, the attack lasted for 12 hours and the confrontation was going on all through the night. we saw pictures of people trying to jump saw pictures of people trying to jump down from the different floors of this 6—storey hotel. six people we re of this 6—storey hotel. six people were injured, six people killed including one foreign citizen, we do not know the nationality of the foreign citizen. the afghan government and interior ministry has announced they have rescued 160 guests from the sawtell, including 41 foreign citizens. —— from this hotel. it is a bit unbelievable so many foreign citizens were staying at this hotel because the hotel was at this hotel because the hotel was a few years ago and since then not a lot of foreign citizens they are to stay in this hotel. it has been a very well—planned attack, apparently, it's a very secure hotel, lots of checkpoints to go through if you want to go inside it and now there are questions about how the insurgents, the government has now said three, before it was seeing four but now it says three, how they entered the hotel and shot and killed and injured so many people inside. briefly, does this terrifying attack show how bad the security situation in kabul still is? yeah, it is, because often when terrorists were a bit calmer last year ‘s, because winter is not very common as the season year ‘s, because winter is not very common as the season for fighting, so this winter we have had a lot of attacks, so many claims by isis on mosques, political gatherings and demonstrations, and now this hotel. so it seems the situation, security situation, has got worse. we have been getting news this morning from west midlands police and eight—year—old girl has been stabbed to death in the west midlands and what police are calling a domestic incident. one man has been arrested. let's get more details. what more and the police saying? we do not know too much more. this busy small—town between walsall and ipswich. officers were called around 9:15pm last night the residential street where they say they found the little girl who was seriously injured, she was taken to hospital but sadly died later on. they have also arrested a 54—year—old man in connection with what happened, he himself is being treated in hospital with the stab wounds. he is in a stable condition and officers say they will question him in due course. it detected homicide unit say they are treating it as homicide unit say they are treating itasa homicide unit say they are treating it as a domestic incident and are not looking for anyone else in connection with the girl's death and the family liaison team are supporting the family of the little girl, who are naturally devastated. no further comment on the potential relationship between the arrested man and little girl. us vice president mike pence is continuing his four day middle east visit. he is injordan today where he will meet king abdullah ii. let's get an update from our correspondent yolande knell who is in thejordanian capital amman. what is the significance of this visit by the vice president? the white house says mike pence is here to talk about bilateral security and highlight the role jordan has played in the fight against so—called islamic state in neighbouring syria. there are many american troops are based injordan still. it also says he wants to speak to the king abbot counterterrorism efforts. but of course for the jordanians, it counterterrorism efforts. but of course for thejordanians, it is jerusalem that will be the focus of discussions and interest. that announcement one month ago by president trump he was breaking with decades of international consensus and recognising jerusalem as the capital of israel. that has caused a lot of unrest around the arab world, including here injordan. the king himself is seen as the custodian of the muslim and christian holy site in the old city ofjerusalem for historic reasons so this is something that concerns him greatly and he has been very critical of that american decision. he will want the top abbot the impact it has on the top abbot the impact it has on the israeli—palestinian conflict —— talk about the impact. and funding for the un agency for palestinian refugees, historically the usa has been the biggest donor and it recently announced it is holding back half of its funds for this year. in jordan you back half of its funds for this year. injordan you have around 2 million people registered with this organisation and receive some support. there are other 350,000 people in their camps. the jordanians have been stressing there could be some issues around stability in jordan caused could be some issues around stability injordan caused by the funding traces for this organisation. part of the reason for the vice president's mission, is it too smooth ruffled feathers in the arab world after the decision by donald trump to recognising jerusalem as the capital of israel? i think it has to be interpreted that way although that's not how the white house was selling it. jordan isa white house was selling it. jordan is a country not on mike pence's original schedule. he was supposed to come last month and ended up delaying his trip twice amid the u nrest delaying his trip twice amid the unrest that took place after president trump's announcement. it well—known mike pence, an evangelical christian, partly because of his religious views, is a strong supporter of that us announcement, policy change on jerusalem. it will fall to him to explain to the readers who are dealing in some cases with that bank dealing in some cases with that bank dealing with the windows, to explain what the us plan is going forward. in israel, where mike pence will travel later this evening, he will be warmly welcomed, he will speak at the israeli parliament and pray at the israeli parliament and pray at the western wall in the old city of jerusalem. there you will get a very different perspective. thank you very much indeed for that update. ukip's ruling national executive committee will meet today for a specially—convened meeting to discuss the controversy surrounding the pa rty‘s 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 harry's fiance meghan markle. one ukip member of the european parliament, patrick o'flynn, has been speaking to the bbc's sunday politics. he explained the party's days might be numbered if it does badly in the local elections in may. let me put it this way, to use an old phrase of david mellor, there is no doubt the party is drinking in the last chance saloon and that is the local government elections in may, for which we have good candidates who want to stand and i will not undercut them, they deserve support. if we have a situation when we were wiped out in the county council elections and the general election and now the district elections, too, maybe people will have to get round the table and see if the electorate are trying to tell us something, and that is — thank you very much, good night. but if people in the eastern counties want ukip to flourish and continue, they really need to vote ukip candidates in may. but you were a one—subject party and that is now gone, many would say. the party was set up with the central aim of getting the uk out of the european union but my retort is that has not happened yet and we do not know on what terms that will happen, there is a huge effort among the establishment to stop it happening, we do not know when the sunset clause date is on the transition deal. i leftjournalism and went into politics with ukip to achieve this central aim and i will certainly not be quitting until that central aim is achieved. you have had a succession of leaders since nigel farage left, do you think you need another one now? i don't think it's an issue of an individual leader. somebody in that film said it is. i'm saying there is a fundamental change in british politics that occurred injune 2016 and now we have allegedly a government committed to brexit and you could even argue it has a better brexit offer than ukip has, due to being in government. but we have to be there as the guard dogs of brexit and be the option if there is too much backsliding. do you think henry bolton should stand down? i don't see it would achieve anything to go into yet another leadership contest. our political correspondent, emma vardy is here. questions about the party leader and being raised about the future of the party itself. absolutely, if henry bolton was to call later today the party would be looking for its fifth leader injust over one party would be looking for its fifth leader in just over one year. it had problems with infighting, a series of scandals. what we are seeing here is ukip has struggled ever since the brexit referendum because its reason for existing seemed to vanish, it achieved its central theme in the eyes of many. loyal ukip activists and party members say there is a position for ukip in british politics going forward and it can broaden its appeal. others are more sceptical saying any sign of the surgeons for the party seems more unlikely. what of henry bolton, does it look like he will have to stand down because his supporters say he himself has not done anything wrong, it was his girlfriend to set these text messages and he has not ended their relationship. there are those saying what happened in your private life, you should be able to distance yourself from that. henry bolton himself is not going without a fight. he is doing media interviews this morning, he will face the pa rty‘s this morning, he will face the party's ruling body, the nec, this afternoon. it might go to a vote of confidence, if he continues to want to stay on but the ruling body says you should go, to get rid of him that would have to go to a vote of wider party members. depending on what happens this afternoon he might decide to resign. gerard patton, ukip ncep, but it's a sickly when he said some things in politics it comes a time when the game is up —— put it succinctly. will he live to see another day, us we will find out later this afternoon after that nec committee meeting. thank you very much. the headlines on bbc news: afghan security forces regain control of a hotel in kabul after it was seized by gunman — six civilians died and 160 others were rescued. an eight—year—old girl has been stabbed to death in the west midlands and what police are calling a domestic incident. the ukip leader henry bolton fights to keep his job as the party holds an emergency meeting to discuss his future. critics say it's time for him to go. and now the latest sport, including the tennis and good news for one british tennis star above under. all the latest now. kyle edmund has powered into his first grand slam quarter—final. he's beaten italy's andreas seppi at the australian open. the british number two recovered from a slow start to win in four sets in melbourne. nick parrott reports kyle edmund could barely stand after his last match in melbourne, now he has reached greater rates than ever before. he was at a —— early on it looked like andreas seppi could prove too hot to handle. 27 places separate them in the world rankings, on court it was much closer, with the italian taking the first set on a tie—break. at 33, andreas seppi has a decade of experience on kyle edmund and at times it showed. the briton was broken first but a change in footwear led to the changing fortu nes in footwear led to the changing fortunes as he bid on to level the match. winning five games in a row so kyle edmund grow in confidence and andreas seppi's stubborn resista nce and andreas seppi's stubborn resistance in drain away. it took almost three hours, but finishing things in four sets will help kyle edmund in his recovery for the preparation for what will be the biggest match of his career in the quarterfinals. number one seed rafael nadal is also through to the quarter—finals after beating argentina's diego schwartzman in four sets. the 24th seed proved nadal‘s trickiest opponent so far, taking a first set of the tournament off the 16—time grand slam champion. nadal will play croatia's marin chilich in the last eight. world number two caroline wozniacki is through to the last eight of the women's draw after a comfortable straight sets win. england's cricketers have given themselves a good chance of clinching their one day series against australia. england posted 302 from their 50 overs after being put into bat in the third match in sydney. they made a slow start and when moeen ali was out they were 189 for six in the 39th over. jos buttler and chris woakes repaired the damage — woakes made an unbeaten 50 and buttler reached his century off the last ball of the innings. a few moments ago australia were 210 for 5 in the 39th over. ther‘s one more premier league match today. spurs could go fourth with a win at southampton in the four o clock kick off. after last weeks blip leaders manchester city got back on track yesterday with a comfortable 3—1 win over newcastle. manchester united are still 12 points back in second despite winning at burnley. cheslea are third after winning at brighton arsenal scored four in the first 22 minutes in their 4—1 win against crystal palace. elsewhere, leicester beat watford, and paul lambert enjoyed a victory in his first match in charge at stoke. celtic cruised into the scottish cup fifth round with a 5—0 thrashing of brechin city. the scottish premiership champions have had a three—week winter break, and looked refreshed at celtic park. brendan rodgers fielded a strong team, despite his opponents currently sitting bottom of scottish football's second tier, without a league win all season. saracens are still in with a chance of retaining their champions cup trophy, after beating northampton saints 62—14. the defending champions had to win against saint to have a chance of making the quarter—finals. but, they still need other results to go their way today if they are to make the last eight. scarlets have no such worries. they beat toulon to become the first welsh side to qualify for the quarter finals since 2012. bath and ospreys are out though there will be a new name on the masters trophy this evening with mark allen taking on kyren wilson. neither player has reached this stage before. allen knocked out two—time winner john higgins in his semi—final, having already beaten ronnie o'sullivan. wilson defeated world number three judd trump to make his first masters final. that's all we sport for no. you can find out more about all those stories on the bbc sport website. i will have more for you in the next half—hour. 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. 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 where ever they need to go is very important. scope said it's 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 8—week public consultation. helena lee, bbc news. let's talk to sarah lambert, head of policy and public affairs at the national autism society. do you welcome this? we absolutely do. we have been campaigning for yea rs do. we have been campaigning for years to make access to a blue badge much more accessible for autistic people and their families and we know for those who can access them it can be a real lifeline, the difference between being able to go out and see friends and staying at home. how exactly will the rules change? the government is launching a consultation that sets out proposals for how come across england, the eligibility for a blue badge can change and it will take more into account people's needs in terms of if they have awareness of safety, perhaps anxiety when travelling. it's a consultation so everybody should get involved and respond and let the government know how important it is these changes happen. how, specifically, would that help people who have autism? talk us through the problem is those people have in terms of parking. for lots of autistic people, when they go out and about in public they can get very overwhelmed by crowds or light and sound and can become so overwhelmed the mac have a meltdown. that anxiety can also be around having knowledge of where you may park and what might happen. parents often tell us if they know they can quickly take their child away if there is a problem and go home that gives them confidence to take their and for adults, too, for some they may have support to make sure they are safe when they are out and about and to be able to park much more closely ca n and to be able to park much more closely can give them the issues about where the kindle and if there isa about where the kindle and if there is a problem they can easily escape. —— where they can go. would this be everybody with autism orjust —— where they can go. would this be everybody with autism or just severe cases, how would that work? it's the government consultation to look at the mechanism and how you might describe that because not all people on the autism spectrum will need to get the blue badge, it willjust be for those who can really benefit from it and for them it is really important. you can imagine a situation where people see somebody parking with the blue badge and say hang ona parking with the blue badge and say hang on a minute, you are not obviously physically disabled, white are you parking their? and challenging somebody with autism or a member of the family has autism and unfairly challenging them, it could lead to some difficult situations, potentially. we do hear of that situation at the moment for those families with a blue badge, where their child or adult son and daughter gets out of the car and clearly do not have obvious physical disabilities and they are not having a problem at that moment. so alongside the roll—out of these changes it will be really important the government looks at how they are raising awareness of autism and other invisible disabilities, so the public to understand how important this can be. on the whole it'sjust a move to a more enlightened policy of parking, that's the idea? absolutely. the original blue badge policy was set up more than 30 years ago, when our understanding of this ability and difference was very different. this is very much about modernising and updating what we know about disability and making sure there is much more parity for those with different types of disability. good to talk to you. sarah lambert from the national autistic society. after two years of grueling training, six british army soldiers have become the first all—female group to cross the antarctic using muscle power alone. known as the ice maidens, the team began their 1,000—mile expedition across the ice on the 20th of november, pulling 80—kilogram sledges in temperatures as low as minus a0 degrees celsius and through winds of up to 60 miles an hour. they crossed the finish line just before 10am yesterday. it took then 62 days — but they finished 13 days ahead of schedule. major nics wetherill, who first came up with the idea for the expedition, spoke to us from the union glacier in antarctica. she described how the team eventually reached the finish line. the finish line, you cannot see it, there is nothing there, it's a marker on the gps, so that was difficult to find but we crossed it but then the aeroplane that was coming to pick us up could not land so we were stuck with the rations we had and had to go on other further five kilometres to where the plane landed and they provided us with a salmon and avocado sandwich. some ca ke salmon and avocado sandwich. some cake and brownie, which was just incredible! snow and icy there, some snow around here. let's get the latest forecast. wintry weather crossing the country asi wintry weather crossing the country as i speak and it will be fairly tricky on some roads with the snow and icy patches around. let's look at lunchtime. some snow on the way for the highlands, ten — 15 centimetres of fresh snow. snow across the southern uplands, northern england, midlands into eastern areas. you can see itjust about reaches lincolnshire and east anglia. completely different story to the cells, some sleet around early on but the smile ear off the atlantic, pushes the weather front out of the way, the mild air reaches most of the country by early on monday morning and it is above freezing across the uk as a whole. here is a snapshot of monday, an entirely different day on the way tomorrow. this is bbc news — our latest headlines: afghan security forces regain control of a hotel in kabul after it was seized by gunmen. six civilians died and 160 others were rescued. the taliban says it carried out the attack. an 8—year—old girl has been stabbed to death in the west midlands, in what police are calling a "domestic incident". the ukip leader, henry bolton, fights to keep his job as the party holds an emergency meeting to discuss his future. critics say it's time for him to go. on monday, if henry is still the leader of this party then we are going to lose members, activists, branches and donors and this jeopardises the very existence of our party. now on bbc news, the week's strongest stories from the bbc‘s inside out teams. welcome to inside out.

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