28/12/2017 BBC News at Six

A suicide bombing in the Afghan

capital, Kabul, has claimed

the lives of at least 40 people.

capital, Kabul, has claimed

The Islamic State group says it

carried out the attack on a Shia

cultural organisation in the west

of the city.

We report from the scene.

This is the building

where the explosion happened

and you can see the building has

been almost completely destroyed.

More than 80 people were injured.

There were women and children

among the casualties.

Passengers stranded at Stansted

overnight have criticised

the airport's response

to the freezing weather conditions.

How the NHS in England raised more

than £174 million in hospital

parking charges last year.

That is down the ground, beautiful

from Alastair Cook!

And an unbeaten 244

from Alistair Cook puts England

in control of the fourth

Ashes Test in Melbourne.

Good evening.

A suicide bombing in the Afghan

capital, Kabul, has claimed

the lives of at least 40 people

and injured more than 80 others,

with women and children

among the casualties.

The Islamic State group says it

carried out the attack

which targeted a cultural

organisation and news agency

in the western part of the capital.

In recent months, so-called

Islamic State has attacked many

Shia Muslim targets in this area

of Kabul where the majority

of the city's Shia population lives.

Our correspondent in

Kabul, Zia Shahreya,

has just sent this report.

The force of the explosion is clear

to see. Among the rubble, relatives

desperately search for their loved

ones. But there was little left

behind. The bomb went off inside

this building, a cultural centre and

also home to an Afghan news agency.

Students had been marking the 30thth

anniversary of the Soviet invasion

of Afghanistan. The bomber

apparently has entered through that

way inside this hole where the

seminar was happening and the hall

was full of people, students, male

and female, from different

universities here. TRANSLATION:

I

saw many dead in the area, I was

looking for my cousin but could not

find his body and I'm not sure what

happened to him. The number of dead

people has increased.

After the

explosion, ambulances took the

injured to the hospitals nearby.

This man one of dozens badly hurt in

the explosion will stop some of the

wounded were taken in for surgery.

TRANSLATION:

A total of 35 dead were

registered here and 20 others

wounded. There are men, women and

children among the injured.

For some

waiting outside for news it was all

too much. Back in the area, to the

west of the capital, where the bomb

went off, armed guards patrol. The

initial blast was followed by two

other explosions but nobody was hurt

in those. So who was behind the

attack? So-called Islamic sect has

claimed responsibility, saying it

targeted the centre with a suicide

bomber and other bombs. It has

behind a number of other attacks on

Shia targets in the country in

recent months. The President's

spokesman called it an unpardonable

crime against humidity and pledged

to destroy terrorist groups.

Freezing temperatures around the UK

have been causing travel

disruption for a second day.

Around 100 passengers were stranded

at Stansted Airport after a number

of flights were cancelled yesterday.

And drivers are being warned of icy

conditions in many areas.

Our correspondent Anisa

Kadri has the latest.

Hanging around for a flight

longer than you expected.

It's not much fun, especially

when the queues are just getting

longer and you find out your flight

is now not just delayed,

it's cancelled.

More than 12 hours after Sarah's

flood to Stockholm was meant

to take off from Stansted,

Sarah was still here

and will now fly tomorrow.

I only found out literally I think

it was three hours after my flight

was supposed to leave

that it was cancelled

and there was no boards to tell us

that it was delayed or anything

so it was literally like going

backwards and forwards

between the one person

who was there kind of thing.

I just ended up lining

up for like ten hours

to try to get a new flight!

Did you get any sleep at all?

No.

I think I've been

awake 25 hours now.

You only need to head to social

media to get an idea

of the frustration some people

here felt last night.

One person tweeted it was

a shambles, another posted a picture

of people sleeping on seats.

Stansted Airport says it has cleared

the backlog of stranded passengers

and things are returning to normal.

They say there still could be delays

because of the weather.

And the weather has been causing

problems elsewhere, too.

In the Cairngorms, three climbers

had to be rescued after getting lost

in blizzard conditions.

The rescue took five hours.

The wintry weather is not going away

as we are being told to make

sure our vehicles are safe

for the road.

Check your tyres, make sure

you've got some good tread

and they are well inflated,

that should keep you safe

on the road, because they keep

you gripped to the road, after all.

And pack accordingly

so have your own winter break down

kit with plenty of spare warm

and dry clothing, a flask,

some snacks, a shovel and certainly

a fully charged mobile phone.

Today in Inverness people

were enjoying the snow

but there is more on the way

for Scotland and the Met Office

is warning that tonight could be

the coldest night of the year.

A 44-year-old man accused

of stabbing a woman to death

in a supermarket in Skipton has

appeared in court.

Neville Hord appeared

at Leeds Crown Court and spoke only

to confirm his details.

He's charged with the murder

of 30-year-old Jodie Wilsher

who was attacked at the Aldi store

where she was working.

Police in north London say a woman

who was found dead in Finsbury Park

yesterday may have been murdered

on Christmas Eve.

The body of the woman,

thought to be in her 20s,

was discovered in an outbuilding

next to a sports pitch.

The United Nations special envoy

to Syria has warned that children

could be being used as "bargaining

chips" as medical evacuations

continue from rebel-held

areas of Damascus.

More people have left today

after 12 people were allowed

to leave eastern Ghouta.

Aid agencies allege those released,

including critically-ill

children, are being exchanged

for captured government workers.

NHS hospitals in England made

a record £174.5 million

from car parking charges

in the past financial year.

The figures, obtained

through a Freedom of Information

request, showed more than half

of Hospital Trusts also

charged for at least some

of their disabled bays.

Our correspondent Phil

Mackie has the story.

A hospital visit can be upsetting,

even traumatic, and that's before

you pay for your parking ticket.

NHS hospitals in England made over

£174 million in fees last year.

That's a rise of 6%

on the year before.

And nearly £1 million came from

fines which was an increase of 32%.

The Hospital Trust which make

the most money was the Heart

of England which runs three

hospitals in Sutton Coldfield,

Solihull, and here in Birmingham.

Last year its income from car

parking was £4.8 million.

It's shocking actually

because I come quite a lot

with my son and the amount we have

to pay, it's really bad.

I don't mind paying a small fee

but I've had occasions where I've

spent £20 in one day.

It's the hassle of visiting

hospital on a regular basis,

it's just another hassle.

No one from the Heart

of England Trust was available today

but they have given a statement

saying they know that parking costs

can be a financial burden

to patients and visitors.

They say that fees have gone down

in the past year and the money

they make is reinvested in,

among other things, utility bills

and the maintenance of car parks.

Fees have already been largely

abolished in Scotland and Wales

and campaigners think it is time

they were listed elsewhere, too.

You might have to make 50 trips

to hospital if you are

receiving cancer treatment.

Sometimes you need to be

there all day which means you might

have to pay £25 or £30 just to cover

the cost of your chemotherapy

on that particular day.

So it has a really

big effect on people.

Today's figures will only raise

pressure to cap or end

charges in the future.

A British medical team is flying

to Bangladesh to help hundreds

of thousands of Rohingya refugees

who've fled violence

in their home country of Myanmar.

More than 40 doctors,

nurses and firefighters from the UK

will spend six weeks in Bangladesh

tackling an outbreak of diptheria

in the refugee camps.

75% of the people who have been

infected with diphtheria are under

the age of 15 so we need

to act fast.

We have to try to treat these kids

and stop the disease spreading.

It is going to be tough.

Every year thousands of planning

permissions are granted

for new homes but the properties

are not actually built.

There are currently 684,000 valid

permissions that haven't yet

been put into effect.

The Chancellor, Philip Hammond,

has set up an urgent review

to understand the reasons.

So, in the midst of an acute housing

shortage, why is the process

of building much-needed new homes

proving to be so cumbersome?

My colleague Sophie Long has

been to Clacton in Essex

to try to find out.

Clacton-on-Sea.

Like many towns across the country,

they need to build hundreds

of houses here to provide homes

for those that don't have

them in a way that is

sympathetic to those that do.

Well, this is a site that got

planning permission two

years ago for 300 homes,

but as you can see, nothing

is being built yet...

One problem is that developers

are not building on land

where permission has been granted.

What needs to happen

is a fundamental look, I think,

at planning and how it works,

because the planning system,

the planning laws are not working.

You can't blame developers

who are exploiting loopholes

that they manage to find.

The loophole they found

here is that they can land bank,

they can get permission on land

with no intention of developing

at any time soon, get

the permission, put it in the bank,

go on to the next site,

get permission for that one.

The developers say they find that

accusation staggering,

that they would be building here now

but this is a textbook example

of local planning issues stopping

house-builders from building

the homes that the country needs.

"We have," they say,

"been thwarted by over two years

of council bureaucracy,

very poor decision-making

and planning red tape."

Building is happening,

but not on the scale needed

to solve the housing crisis.

Developers say they are not the ones

dragging their feet.

Overall, the system is just too

cumbersome, there are too

many things that get put

through the planning system

that don't need to go

through the planning system.

That means that once you've

got an initial consent,

you still need to do a lot of work

before you can get on site

and start development.

Nearly everyone agrees there's

a housing crisis and more

homes need to be built.

The question is how and where -

unblocking the problems

in the planning process has now

become a national priority.

A couple of miles along

the coast is Jaywick Sands.

Developers don't want to build here.

It is the most deprived

place in England.

Transport links are poor,

and unemployment is high.

But the need for new

housing is clear.

There's a lot of houses what's

empty, what could be done up

for people who ain't got

housing and everything.

Houses are being built

where there's money to be sold,

so the developers make their money

back for expensive homes,

they're not putting money

for affordable living,

I don't think.

The council says it is now taking

the lead, and community activists

are hopeful that change is ahead.

We've been talking about this

for about four or five years,

nothing has happened.

My view is everybody should

have a decent place to live,

you know, the social housing has got

to happen, council housing

is there as part of it,

everybody wants that social housing,

and starter housing,

stuff like that.

The problem is that local

authorities and developers

have different priorities.

But the need to find common ground

and get more new homes built quickly

now has a new sense of urgency.

Sophie Long, BBC News,

Clacton-on-Sea.

The football club currently

at the bottom of the Premier League,

Swansea City, has just appointed

the former Sheffield Wednesday

manager Carlos Cavahal

as their new boss.

The Portuguese becomes Swansea's

fifth permanent manager in the space

of two years and he replaces

Paul Clement who was sacked

earlier this month.

The cricket news, and an unbeaten

244 by Alistair Cook has helped

England to take control

of the fourth Ashes Test.

They finished the third

day on 491-9, a lead

of 164 over Australia.

Cook's double century

was the highest score by a visiting

batsman at the Melbourne Cricket

Ground.

And he's now sixth in the all-time

list of leading Test scorers,

as our correspondent

Patrick Geary reports.

For England, finally, belatedly,

serenity at the MCG but those

who have followed them

here are always wary

of a wave around the corner.

Followed by unwelcome ducks.

Imagine the ripples caused

by Joe Root's misplaced hook.

61, out, missed out.

Dawid Malan's error was even

stranger, given LBW,

he chose not to review.

The hotspot showed he had hit it,

a lifeline ignored.

Jonny Bairstow came and went,

then Moeen Ali under pressure,

trying to be carefree

and ended up careless.

In contrast to the muddled minds,

the clarity of Alastair Cook.

Beyond 150, fortunately

just beyond Steve Smith,

the second time he dropped him.

Cook took over the management

of the innings, driving

England into a lead,

pushing onto a remarkable

double century.

He found a loyal lieutenant

in Stuart Broad, first brave

then bold, making a 50 that

infuriated the Aussies.

By close, their total was nearly

500, Cook had scored more than any

visiting Test batsmen here and had

been at the crease in the Melbourne

heat for 10.5 hours.

Surrounded by doubts

about his future.

Do you ever doubt yourself

going into the match?

100%.

For 12 years.

I continue to doubt myself.

The longer it goes,

the harder it becomes.

I suppose that is why I am

quite proud, last night

going in again and delivering

a performance like

that was pleasing.

It is a shame it is

four weeks too late.

Afterwards we heard England's

players applaud Cook

in the dressing room,

a tribute to his resilience,

fitness and concentration.

On day four, over to the bowlers

to turn this tireless effort

into a first victory of this

Ashes series.

Patrick Geary, BBC News, Melbourne.

The immense power of social media

was once again in evidence

this Christmas time,

when a welder from south-west London

left his Christmas wage

packet in a local pub,

The Alexandra in Wimbledon.

More than a million people responded

to an appeal on Twitter and Facebook

and identified Mariusz

so that the pay packet

could be returned yesterday,

six days after he lost it.

Our correspondent Chi Chi Izundu

takes up the story.

This is the story of a welder, a pub

and lost wage packet. Last Thursday

after a few hundred people have been

here at The Alexandra pub

celebrating their Christmas parties,

at the end of the night a small

brown envelopes stuffed with cash

was spotted on the floor.

The only

reason I realised it was a wage

packet was because I used to get

paid in a similar packet when I

first came to the country.

All they

had was the name Mariusz and £600.

The landlord and his wife posted a

picture on social media which is

reposted by author JK Rowling and

hundreds of thousands around the

world joined in.

We did not find him

straightaway and a couple of

celebrities retweeted it and it went

bonkers. My phone was like a frizz

buzzing! Has we were getting

messages from all over the world, so

much interest trying to find this

guy, people contacting as saying at

we found them? From Canada and

America and Australia, everywhere.

And then what happened.

Lo and

behold, yesterday, he walked in the

door and said hello, I'm Mariusz and

I believe you've got my money!

It

was like the biggest anti-climax in

history, he just wandered in!

Mariusz explained he took out his

phone to take pictures of his

Christmas party and that is probably

when his wage slip fell from his

pocket and under this chair and he

did not notice until about a day

later. He had not seen the social

media posts, it was his son who

alerted him to them and he may have

kept the loss quite from his wife to

have, as he called it from a stress

Christmas!

He came in yesterday and

got it.

In a show of gratitude, he

gave lobby a generous tip. --

Knobby.

There's more throughout the evening

on the BBC News Channel and we're