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wide range of companies. what can we do for you? >> and now "bbc world news." >> hello and welcome to news day on the bbc. >> the headlines this hour -- gun battle at a top kabul hotel. at least six afghan civilians are killed in a major taliban rage. violence on the streets. protestors fire another round of austerity as parliament prepares to vote. >> another boss for the i.m.f., another european but for the first time a woman. and in our power of asia season, we meet some of the one million indonesian women employed in saudi arabia. it's 9:00 in singapore. >> it's 2:00 a.m. here in london broadcasting to viewers around the world an america. this is "bbc," this is news day.

>> it's generally seen as one of afghanistan one of luxurious and supposedly best protected hotel. but the intercontinental hotel in kabul came under attack for four hours with suicide bombs, automatic weapons and grenades. nato killed gunmen who were based on the roof. at least six afghan employees were reported killed inside the hotel. the taliban says it was behind the attack. >> it was a deadly late night attack, a group of suicide bombers and several gunmen made their way past checkpoints and into the intercontinental, one of the most heavily protected hotels in kabul.

10 people were reported being killed. confusion.the scene was of the guests hiding in the room while spore ra active gun fire could be heard. the afghan police engaged the attackers. the task made all the more complicated by working in complete darkness after the electricity was cut off. >> we heard those heavy blasts as well as the gun fire was going on. very intensified and it was very nervousing, the inner city gun. it was very complicated and the situation was very serious. >> then nato helicopters stepped in firing on the gunmen on the hotel's roof to bring the siege to an abrupt end. the security forces were doing a fantastic job of clearing them

and they asked for our support. we stand by to enable the security forces and tonight the position to aid them in this operation was authorized. the intercontinental lies to the west of kabul on a hill overlooking the city. the home of the first vice president is located nearby and had been evacuated. the taliban said it's carried out the attack which came as a meeting of provincial governors was reportedly being held in the hotel. the u.s. government was quick to condemn the attack. it was a key international target now races questions about the handover from nato to security forces just hours before the conference was about to begin. police >> misin athens have -- police in awe thence -- athens clashed

with protestors. if they reject them the efment u. and the i.m.f. will with hold the $12 euro loan they promised. greece could run out of money in weeks. late into the athens evening there were clashes between police and protestors outside parliament, all part of a day of protest against an austerity package which greek m.p.'s will vote on tomorrow. earlier, the protest had turned violent. for hours they were running battles in the square outside parliament. communications trucks were attacked and set on fire. >> after all the tension, bitterness and frustration of recent days, it was almost inevitable that there would be an outbreak of violence. the police fired hundreds of

stunned grenades and clear gas to clear the area in front of parliament. inside the greek government there is real anxiety about the extent of these protests and away from the center of athens, most parts of the greek economy were brought to a halt by a two-day general strike. earlier in the day, there had been protest marches, the government insists that austerity measures are needed to qualify greece for a further emergency loan from the e.u. and i.m.f., without them greece is heading towards bankruptcy but many ordinary greeks don't accept that. >> it doesn't get us out of it. they are lying and everybody knows that. >> time and again i heard ordinary greeks that they were not to blame for the debt crisis. >> we have big government. the i.m.f., because they are trying to pay a debt we didn't

create. >> the greeks face years of budget cuts, $25 billion pounds by 2015. 150 public sectors jobs are planned to go. there will be tax increases including some on the lowest pay and over and above these savings, $44 billion pounds of state assets like ports and airports will have to be privatized. the opposition made it clear they don't accept the government's government for more austerity. i also thought said the leader of the opposition so that i could send the message that the policy of the government that's followed until now is wrong and it has surpassed the limit that the greek people can handle. government supporters were defiant in the face of the protests. >> i believe that today's protest just make it stronger for us to believe and see and understand the responsibility of our vote.

>> late tonight and the thousands of ordinary greeks are still on the streets defying all the pleadings from the european union and the i.m.f. but there is no alternative, no plan b to austerity. >> it was the news that was expected. why they expect it, christine lagarde was appointed head of the i.m.f. >> yes, that's right. the current french finance minister becomes the first woman to be chosen for the top job and she'll be succeeding dominique strauss-khan in the face of sexual charges. on top of her list of priorities will be the crisis in the euro zone. michelle has more. >> christine lagarde is used to breaking glass ceilings. now she shatters another becoming the first female managing director of the

international monetarily fund. >> when i had the meeting at the i.m.f. it was a group of 24 administrators, not a single woman. when i found myself interviewed by these 24 men for three hours, i thought it's good things changed, good everybody brings their own perspective. and i'm very key to do that. >> her main competitor was mexico's central bank government nor augustic n karstens admitting that she was unstoppable. >> it's very difficult to break the tradition given the crisis in europe. europe thinks it needs, it requires to have that from the institution. >> with the euro zone in crisis, europe has never relied more on the i.m.f. so the continent will be reliefs to have one of their own in the

top job. >> i feel lagarde will have much more emp think if the european position and there's a real danger that it could be seen as favoritism rather than technically minded positions. and that would not serve the i.m.f. very well in the long run. >> dominique strauss-khan quit the post to fight sexual charges in new york. >> europeans have got what they wanted but not without trading on many people's toes. >> we're joined by kenneth rogarth a professor of economics. he joins me now from our studio in new york. professor, thank you so much for joining us. first of all, now that ms.

lagarde has the position at the i.m.f. she faces some tough economic crisis. do you think she is well placed to handle the situation? and how do you think she will handle this crisis? >> well, she's entered at a tough moment where it's very likely that some time in the next few months, next few year, greece is going to default and not going to go along with this inch m.f. program as we're seeing hints of today and it's going create huge problems across the euro zone so she has a very, very difficult challenge. as french finance minister she's promoted this plan of giving greece more and more money but she's going have to deal with a plan b because i don't think it's going to work. >> plan b will not work and you also have two other euro zone economies, ireland and portugal also on the brink.

>> absolutely. >> when greece runs into trouble, it hurries portugal and ireland. and together they're not that big and europe can manage the real dangers that it spilled over in larger economies like spain and italy. i wonder if the european can give europe the tough love from the international monetarily fund that it needs. the i.m.f. is not nearly as harsh as its reputation but it's important that it says look, things are over, you have to tighten your belt, things have to change, and not just to greece, to all of europe. >> professor, the i.m.f. has come under criticism for being too europe and u.s. focused. do you think it's time for it to reform and is ms. lagarde the person to do it? >> it's outrageous that the i.m.f. has not reformed that a european is number one, that an american is number two.

they regard these as entitlement in an institution that claims to represent the entire world. back in world war ii, europe and america have all the money in the world but they don't. the emerging markets china and latin america become more and more important. and the institution need to change with them to be effective. so although christine lagarde is a person, the process by which she was elected was ug hi. >> pro-fezor, thank you so much for your insights. in other news hugo chavez has been shown on cuban television. the new images show an apparently well president speaking with fidel castro. he has kept a low profile while he had an emergency operation while on a trip to cuba. his long absence has prompted debate whether he should delegate powers to a vice

president. live from singapore and in london. still to come on the program, fire come within meeters of the u.s. nuclear facility at lose allah mose. -- at los ahamos. >> parts of africa is suffering their worst drought in more than 6 o years. in somalia, the drought has resulted in an unprecedented numbers. refugees flee to kenya. from kenya, will reports. >> they're arriving here exhausted, hungry and often in need of medical help. save the children says 1,300 people are turning up every day from somalia, more than half of them children. some are walking for up to a month to reach the camp with

almost no possessions. for years, people have been coming here to escape the war in somalia but right now a severe drought is also hitting hard. wells have dried up in somalia forcing people to flee. >> we're seeing children as young as three or four trekking through desert, through -- under sering sun to arrive, just to escape the drought and these soaring food crieses that have put millions of people at risk throughout east africa. >> although made up of three settlements. dadab is the largest refugee camp in the world. the organization is struggling to cope with the sharp rise in the number of arrivals. it says because of the conditions in somalia and the arduous journey, the refugees arriving in urgent need of medical care plans to move a new refugee plans have stalled.

the kenyan government is worried about security at the border. the war in somalia shows no end and the douth is expected to continue for several months. conditions in this already overcrowded refugee camp are likely to get even worse. >> this is news day on the "bbc." >> in london, the headline this is hour. one of the top hotels in the afghan capital kabul has come into sustained atk. six taliban and insurgents have been killed. >> could austerity measures due to be voted on by the greek parliament, there have been more rye yachts on the street of athens. a wild fight in the u.s. state of new mexico is threaten a huge

government nuclear laboratory in los a will b amos. more than 12,000 residents evacuated from their homes. the largest nuclear weapons arsenal, all dangerous materials been safely stored and the air is being monitored for radiation. joining me now is joe torres who is a park ranger. he joins us now on the line from new mexico. thank you so much for joining us. first of all, can you give us the most up to date situation where this fire. yes, i can. the prior has reached size -- approximately 61,000 acres and it's a fairly large area adjacent to los alamos national laboratory, the town of los alamos, national reserved lands

and national park lands. the fire has been moving very closely. tell us how close it is now and what it's being done to try and prevent it from spreading even furrer? >> the fire mued very quickly towards the area where the national laboratories are. we -- we immediately constructed a fire line along highway, one of the laboratories ageneral jay sent to us doing what we call a back burn. we burned system of the green area along the highway so it wide pped the buffer between that and the national land. >> how were the residents coping from being moved to their homes and what is happening?

>> a very large fire happened in 2000 -- in los allah mose. and -- los alam of course s. and that alered people for that type of situation. many people were keeping an eye on -- eye -- and as soon as the call for mendtory evaluation -- a mandatory evacuation people were ready to leave. >> meanwhile saudi arabia officials and indonesian officials have been meeting. it followed a recent prozz cushion. her case has shocked indonesian, blaming their own government for not protecting the rights of workers over seas. >> prayers for the pasting of a

loved one. it's impossible to think about what muyaki's story. >> she insisted that her mother suffered abuse at the hands of the saudi employers. >> i don't believe my mother killed someone wut a reason. it's impossible. my mother was a good person. maybe she confessed because she was under pressure. no one was defending her. there are more that 1 million workers. they can help prevent problems with their bosses. so before they go abroad, the girls get talk basic arabic. cooking, cleaning, and how to operate simple machines. it's a rigorous schedule but

they can end twice as much over sees as they do at home. >> most of the women here are little or no education. these sorts of jobs, they're tickets to freedom, a way to see their families back at home in the village but a strength of recent strategies facing women have well concerned about how well they're protected they are when they go to work at work. an indonesian mygrapt workers. failing to look after their rights. but officials say they're trying to find a solution. >> in the future, we are not going to place our workers to their homes. they're isolated and live alone. so we want our workers to live outside. that way there will be no more

abuse cases. but those promises don't mean much to the income of pie grat workers. life is visibly improved. it's the same in villages across the country and that's gone a long way towards blessing millions of indonesians. independence -- indonesians must make sure that it's worth the trip. >> you've been chatting with one of china's biggest music star. >> he has received international fame by combining a pop song. i met up with hill.

he's performing here in london. >> as a piianist, i really don't feel nervous. i don't feel there is so much intensity. for me it's a great thing to do and i love doing it. it's natural. >> that's a few words to come up that describe you and they're all superstar, rock star, megastar. and you've been credited with being able to marry the world that's chassic newic. how do you think you've been able to do that? >> they come from where the megastar or rock star comes act. the onl important thing is i

want to be really keep going a couple of things that i always wanted to do. and i want to connect as many people as possible. >> he performed for president barack obama in washington in the white house. and you received some criticism for the piece of music you chose to perform which is a chinese piece called "my motherland ". >> were you surprised that you got criticism for that piece which some people said was politically and historically significant? >> i played it simply because of its beautiful melody which i grew up with it. you know, this melody is -- if you go to china and a karaoke bar like this is the top 10 that

everyone thinks. and i played this piece many times including in america before you know, this is a way to play a song like the manager. that's it. . i grew up in china. i'm still living in america these days. and i real yrks you know, we'll never do that and this is really -- i will never have attention like what people say and all, make bets side of americans -- i would never do that because it's just not who i am. >> do you think china is opening its doors up to the west in particular with the u.s. and how that's changed within the last two years. i was correct there. coming back, i can see it's time

to get it ready. must ready to buy western, you know, world than before. of course, china will never become u.s. or become u.k. because i don't think it's going to happen because the culture is quite different in the end. but the globalization will help that to open more and more. er every encounter for me -- >> every encounter for me is a new beginning. it's like the best thing. >> i'm always at piece when i listen to classical music. you've been watching news day from the "bbc." >> i so knew that about you.

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