welcome to newsday. the headlines... at least 18 people are now known to have died in saturday's attack on a hotel in kabul. witnesses describe the terror. 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. us senators hold a rare sunday session to try to end the budget stalemate that has closed down the federal government. i'm kasia madera in london. also in this programme... turkish troops advance into northern syria — targeting an area held by kurdish groups which have been fighting against islamic state. some pop diplomacy from north korea, as it sends a girl band singer to inspect south korea's winter olympic preparations. live from our studios in singapore and london, it's newsday. good morning.

it's 9am in singapore, 1am in london, and 5.30am in the morning in kabul, where afghan officials say the number of people killed when a group of militants launched an attack on the intercontinental hotel has risen to 18. all of the gunmen also died, but it took the security forces several hours to bring the situation under control from kabul, zia shahreyar reports. the final moments of a fight that had lasted all night. gunfire and explosions, as afghan special forces battle 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 taken place. the afghan national flag waving from the roof, proof that the building has been reta ken. we are in the area. you can see the hotel intercontinental on the hill in kabul, and as you can see, it was burned, part of the hotel was burned. and black smoke has blackened the southern part of the hotel. more than 150 people, including some foreigners, were inside yesterday evening when gunmen burst in and opened fire. eyewitnesses said they were afterforeigners. translation: 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 by local tv showed people escaping by climbing down bedsheets that they had tied to balconies.

this telecoms engineer fell from the sixth floor as he tried to get away. translation: when the sixth floor caught fire this morning, my roommates told me to either burn or escape. i got a bed sheet and tied it onto the balcony. i tried to come down but i was heavy and my arms were not strong enough. i fell down and injured my shoulder and leg. this sustained and complex assault will prompt urgent questions as to how the gunmen got through. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. and in washington, it's been an unusually busy weekend for the senate — which is still trying to strike a deal to end the us government shutdown. their failure to reach an agreement on friday meant that much of the federal government was shut down. both sides have blamed the other. sunday's debate is still going on, but this is how the republicans and democrats laid out

their arguments at the start of the session. this is day two of the senate democrats' government shutdown. day two since the democratic leader made a political calculation to do something that, according to a recent survey, even most democrats don't support. he shut down the government to appease a portion, a portion of his party's left wing base. it makes you shake your head. who comes up with ideas like this? it all really stems from the president, whose inability to clinch a deal has created the trump shutdown. i agree with the majority leader mcconnell, the trump shutdown was totally avoidable, president trump walked away from not one, but two bipartisan deals. and that is after he walked away

from an agreement in principle on daca we reached way back in the fall of last year. if he had been willing to accept one of these deals, we wouldn't be where we are today. that debate could continue for several more hours. we're hearing from the white house that president trump has had several phone calls, and is working hard to end the deadlock. we will, of course, keep you up to date on developments from washington as they happen. also making news today... germany's social democrats have voted to open coalition talks with the group led by chancellor angela merkel. germany has been without a government for four months, after elections resulted in no overall winner. mrs merkel welcomed the move, but said many questions would have to be answered. five people have suffered serious injuries after a train derailment in

sydney, australia. three people became trapped after the train failed to stop at the end of the line. the accident happened at the suburban richmond train station. witnesses described hearing a loud bang, which was enough to shake nearby buildings. russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov has said that the "unprecedented russia—phobia" from the west is worse now than it was during the height of the cold war. in an interview given after his latest visit to new york, he said that at least the cold war tensions came with "some decorum". thousands of people have lined the streets of limerick in ireland to pay their respects to the cranberries singer, dolores o'riordan, who died at the age of 46 on monday. large crowds gathered at stjoseph‘s church in her home city to view her open coffin, ahead of her funeral on tuesday. now, if you like chocolate and you also like shoes, you need these.

these high heels really are made from edible chocolate. they're just some of the creations on show at a festival in rimini in italy. you can also pick up an edible viking, something more fruit—based, or even a solid chocolate bag. wouldn't it be lovely to find out if they taste as good as they look? north korean officials have been inspecting winter olympic venues in south korea. it's the first such trip by a delegation from the north since south korean president moon jae—in, took office last may. sophia tran—thomson has this report, which does have some flash photography. the symbolic torch is already doing the symbolic torch is already doing the rounds in south korea, but with less tha n the rounds in south korea, but with less than three weeks until the opening ceremony of pyeongchang's win the olympics, there has been plenty of speculation that the north will be taking part. on sunday, a sigh of relief organisers and athletes of the north korean

delegation crossed the border under heavy police guard. the officials, led by a north korean girl band star, will spend two days inspecting venues and preparing culture performances. boarding a train in seoul, the representatives avoided answering questions about why they had previously postponed a visit. regardless, the trip is somewhat of a breakthrough after year of escalating tension over north's nuclear missile programme, and a milestone announcement on the ioc in switzerland on saturday confirming that the two nations will march together at the opening ceremony and compete under unified korean flag. the north will send 22 athletes to the winter games and compete in three sports and five disciplines. translation: north korea's participation in the winter olympics will present the most dramatic scene in the history of the olympics, it can bea in the history of the olympics, it can be a chance to show the value

and power of sport when players from two korea's march together and compete as a unified team. seoul and the organisers hope that the games, which they are calling the peace olympics, could ease tensions with the neighbours who they have officially never made peace with since the korean war ended in armistice in 1963. turkey is facing international calls for restraint after it launched a ground offensive against a kurdish militia in syria that has been a key western ally in the fight against the islamic state group. the united states urged turkey to avoid civilian casualties and to ensure that its operation against the ypg remained limited in duration and scope. france has demanded an immediate ceasefire and called for an emergency debate at the un security council on monday. mark lowen reports. as if syria needed more of this. artillery fire from turkey, launching a new ground and air offensive. it's called operation olive branch, though it's anything but a gesture of peace.

from the air, turkish f—i6s struck yesterday. their target — the syrian kurdish militia, or ypg. turkey sees them as terrorists, linked to the outlawed pkk, who have long fought an insurgency in turkey on behalf of the kurdish minority. and it wants them pushed back from the border town of afrin. turkey's president has his own troops fighting for their hero. and with elections next year, war rallies his support base. translation: this is a national struggle, and in this national struggle, we will crush anyone who stands against us. that's a message that resonates in border villages, where grape grower omer gazel and his friends watched the jets. translation: we felt proud and happy as they took off. everyone came out to bid them farewell. but the ypg has backing, too.

both in syria, where kurds rallied today, and beyond. translation: we condemn the attack on afrin, and we tell our brothers there that they are in our hearts, and that we are with them. because of the bravery of the ypg heroes, we will win the battle in afrin. the us armed them in the fight against the islamic state group, infuriating turkey. france too voiced support for them today, calling on turkey to pull back. but the turks are ploughing on. this unverified footage posted on pro—government media aiming to prove turkey's military might. in the hills beside the border, we found a further buildup, as the offensive shows no sign of ending. reinforcements are perched here, a show of strength, ready to back up the ground troops and fighterjets who already inside syria.

every few minutes, you hear the thud of an artillery strike. turkey has clearly committed militarily to this operation, and has widespread popular support here. but if the turks suffer losses or civilian casualties grow, that could change. and the risk is clear. this border town was hit by a rocket, said to be from the ypg, killing one and injuring more. turkey is on dangerous ground, and a likely long, costly offensive is onlyjust beginning. enis senardam from the bbc‘s turkish service told me more about the situation. it has been in the making for quite sometime and in 2016, have heard president erdogan revamping turkey's security strategies. he said we're not going to wait for terrorist to come to our doors, will go and and

eliminate those threats very early. before that speech, turkey experienced more than 20 terrorist attacks, and that left more than 350 people killed. turkey, the ankara government saw that something needed to change, and the steps taken was last yea r‘s to change, and the steps taken was last year's operation in syria, that gave turkish troops a foothold in syria. now, we are seeing that continued with operation olive branch. and how is that being viewed by the people back home, because we have heard it is pretty popular at the moment? it is. nationalist feelings are quite high in the country, we are seeing in social media many people supporting the invasion, but there are also many groups of people calling for restraint and call headedness and saying that the military operation in syria will drag turkey into a swamp. also, the kurdish population

in turkey is quite infuriated because they are seeing the operations as a direct attack on kurds in the region, including in turkey and syria, and that is why they are fearing the military operation, and regarding it also as an attack on themselves. are we likely to see kurds protesting against this? we have seen a similar thing happen a few years ago when a critical turkish town in syria was besieged by the so—called islamic state group. kurds in turkey accuse the ankara government of not helping out, of inaction basically, not going in breaking that siege. and we have seen them taking to the streets in protesting against the government, and those clashes turned out to be deadly. many protesters we re out to be deadly. many protesters were left dead, so that is the biggest concern right now. if this escalates and we start hearing of civilian casualties, the situation

in turkey can get tense. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: for a second day, women have marched around the world. in las vegas, they're protesting donald trump's presidency and trying to persuade more women to stand for office. also on the programme: pope francis causes a bit of a stir on his trip to peru, by comparing gossiping nuns to terrorists. the people of saigon have just heard that, at last, there is to be a ceasefire. the reaction of american servicemen was predictable. i'm going home. demonstrators waiting for mike gatting and his rebel cricket team were attacked with tear gas and set upon by police dogs. anti—apartheid campaigners say they will carry on the protests throughout the tour.

they called him the butcher of lyon. klaus altmann is being held on a fraud charge in bolivia. but the west germans want to extradite him for crimes committed in wartime france. there, he was the gestapo chief klaus barbie. millions came to bathe as close as possible to this spot, a tide of humanity that is believed by officials to have broken all records. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. and i'm kasia madera in london. our top stories: at least 18 people are now known to have died in saturday's attack on a hotel in kabul. witnesses describe the terror. us senators are trying to reach an agreement to end the deadlock over the budget, which has led to the federal government being shut down.

and these pictures of a dramatic rescue from a mountain in scotland are proving popular on bbc.com. they show the moment when a coastguard helicopterfinally reached two climbers who had been stranded overnight in sub—zero temperatures. they had got into difficulties when a blizzard swept across them, but were eventually hauled to safety, alive and well. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the japan times focuses on the displays of unity between the two koreas in the upcoming pyeongchang winter olympics. the paper says some south koreans believe their government went too far with a so—called political show, and see the lull in the tensions as meaningless amid the olympic euphoria. the china daily reveals that china is to begin the process of selecting the next generation of astronauts. it says the new recruits will train to work on the country's planned space station, which is due

to become fully operational in four years. and the south china morning post carries a cheery headline on its front page — the "corridor of pain". it shows a picture ofjust some of the 62,000 runners who took part in the hong kong marathonjust before daybreak yesterday. 32 of them, the paper reveals, ended up in hospital, where they were treated for the effects of pollution. now, kasia, a rather unusual comment by the pope has sparked some discussion online. yes, pope francis has been spending his final day in peru telling nuns to avoid gossip. he was speaking to a gathering of nuns in lima when he gave this bit of advice to them. translation: you know what a nosy

nun is? a terrorist, because gossip is like a bomb. one throws it, it causes destruction, and you walk away calmly. no terrorist nuns, no gossip. i know the best remedy against gossip is to bite your tongue. now, the nuns were a receptive audience, but not everyone in peru was so impressed. pope francis also mentioned what he called the terrorists of ayacucho, who were involved in an uprising in which nearly 70,000 people died or went missing at the end of the last century. a number of peruvians have taken to social media to criticise the comments as insensitive and disrespectful to the dead. and you can read more on that story on our website. two years ago, dr frances arnold became the first woman to win the prestigious millennium technology prize, often considered

the nobel prize for technology. she pioneered a method known as directed evolution — a sped—up version of natural selection in the lab. she is here in singapore attending the global young scientists summit, and came into our studio earlier. i put it to her that her work was at the limits of what non—scientists can understand. i hope it's not such a hard concept, because humans have been using biology for thousands of years to solve problems, and manipulating them at the level of dna and their characteristics all that time, by selective breeding of everything from poodles to racehorses, flowers. so what we can do now is use those same ideas but at the level of molecules. i direct the evolution of things called enzymes, which you would be

surprised how many we use in our daily lives, starting with things like laundry detergents. enzymes improve the characteristics, make it easier to take stains off clothes. and we use enzymes for everything from making pharmaceuticals, materials, textiles, bluejeans, you name it. my methods can be used like selective breeding, but to make better enzymes, because we really don't understand all the details of how they function, but we can breed them just like we can breed a poodle. fascinating. now, of course, you're in the stem industry — science and mathematics. an area that traditionally, women do not seem attracted to. your background is a chemical engineer.

how important is it to have women in this industry — perhaps to make it more innovative? it's such an exciting time for the whole bio—technology industry, and women bring a perspective of wanting to care for the planet, and of not using up all our resources, while we have a good life. women have half the most creative minds on the planet, so we can't solve these really deep problems without bringing women in. and i think this is such a great opportunity for women to use their creativity and capability to solve these really huge global problems. a second day of women's marches is under way around the world, many protesting against president trump on the anniversary of his inauguration. there were events in london and paris, but perhaps the biggest gathering was in las vegas, in the us. our correspondent rajini vaidya nathan was there. from paris to london to las vegas, women have been making back voices heard. chanting: this is what democracy looks like!

last year, we were angry, and that's why we turned out. this year, we're organised and that's why we're turning out. i'm empowered, and i'm ready to get people talking about these issues, and get people excited about them. a year into donald trump's presidency, and the focus isn'tjust on the man himself, but his policies. many believe his immigration plans and cuts he has made to abortion funding and contraception access adversely affect women. he's pushing to make birth control less accessible for women. you know, it'sjust ridiculous how he's supposed to be for the people, but he's against the people. he's against everyone that's here, and that's why i'm here today. in the wake of the me too movement, and a growing conversation around equal pay, many are here to fight on other issues. for amy, who came here today with her five—year—old daughter charlie, this is personal.

for 12 years, i was the victim of domestic violence that my children observed. now i'm free, finally, thank goodness. through no help of the systems that were meant to protect us. and i'm here to hope that the world will listen, and we can create systemic change to help little girls like charlie and myself. and one way organisers think that change can happen is by getting more women to register to vote, and even to run for office. they are channelling their energy on this year's mid—term congressional elections. this state of nevada was picked for this rally because it is a swing state, with a senate seat democrats believe they can win back from the republicans. there may be thousands of women here protesting donald trump, but don't forget that he won the election with a majority of white women voters, and many of those think he is doing a greatjob for women. and so, like so many issues here in the united states, even that of women's rights is one where this country is deeply divided. we have just received

we havejust received images we have just received images from the scene of a train crash in sydney where five people suffered serious injuries after a train derailed. three passengers were trapped after a train failed to stop at the end of the line. the crash happened at the suburban richmond station, with the train apparently failing to break and hitting the buffers at the end of the line. witnesses described hearing a bang loud enough to shake nearby buildings. you have been watching newsday. stay with us. from robotics to coding — how one small malaysian town is becoming one of the region's top hubs for start—ups. that is coming up next on asia business report. that's all for now. stay with bbc world news. hello that. a very different feel to the weather over the next few days.

the transition began during sunday. with nsome snow down to the south—west, it was milder. skip ahead to tuesday and all of us will be into that mild air which is moving in our direction on this south—westerly wind, having more of an influence across the british isles as we go through the next couple of days. this monday morning starts off as a milder note for most with icy stretches across parts of north—east england and eastern scotland. but many places starting the day with significantly higher temperatures. one area of rain perilously close to parts of south—west england, along the south coast as well. but that rain will be clearing off very quickly, and then through the day, we are looking at large areas of cloud and a sunny spells. just one or two showers across parts of north—west england, and still the potential for icy

stretches across parts of north—east england. showers packing in across scotland but look at the temperatures, five and six degrees in edinburgh and glasgow. we didn't get anywhere near that even through the middle of the afternoon on sunday. northern ireland, starting off mainly dry — pretty cloudy, but some sunny breaks, and also sunny breaks in wales and the west midlands, as well. rain in the south will disappear into the near continent very quickly through the morning. we'll keep some showers going across northern scotland. generally speaking, not a bad day. cloud breaking up to give some sunshine, and those temperatures much higher than they were on sunday. in many places at 6— 11 degrees. during monday night, things are pretty quiet. the south—westerly winds continuing to bring it milder air. 3—9 degrees, those are your starting temperatures for tuesday morning. and really, on tuesday, it is all about us being in the thick of this mild air, pumping all the way up from the south—west. tuesday the mildest day of the week for many of us, but that doesn't mean it will be wall—to—wall sunshine, by any means.

some outbreaks of rain, perhaps the south—west. best chance of brightness to the east of high ground, windy but mild. 10 degrees in glasgow, 13 the high in london. now, a bit of a change on wednesday. we're going to bring a cold front southwards and eastwards. a band of heavy rain and strong winds. and that will start to reintroduce some slightly cold air. i say slightly colder — yes, the end of the week will feel a little bit chillier, but nothing like as cold as it has been. iam i am kasha madeira with bbc news. our top story, afghanistan officials say at least 80 people were killed ina say at least 80 people were killed in a deadly attack on a hotel and cobble. fighters from the taliban that targeted the intercontinental. most victims were foreigners, many worked for an international airline. the us senate is holding a rare

sunday session as members attempt to end the budget stalemate that has close down the federal government. in this video is trending. it is a two climbers who were airlifted to safety after spending a night without shelter in subzero temperatures. the men were stuck on a 1000 metre peak in the scottish highlands until coastguard rescue tea m highlands until coastguard rescue team managed to reach them. that is all for me, state with our secure bbc news. —— stay with us here on bbc news.