Morning mail: truck bomb kills more than 200 in Somalia Monday: At least 239 people die in Mogadishu attack, blamed on al-Qaida affiliate al-Shabaab. Plus: Australian power prices go through the roof The scene of the explosion in the centre of Mogadishu. Photograph: Mohamed Abdiwahab/AFP/Getty Images Eleanor Ainge Roy @EleanorAingeRoy Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Monday 16 October. Top stories At least 239 people have been killed and at least 300 others seriously injured in a truck bomb attack in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, which is being blamed on the militant group al-Shabaab. The attack is one of the most lethal terrorist acts anywhere in the world for many years, and the death toll is expected to rise. The truck packed with several hundred kilograms of military-grade and homemade explosives exploded near a hotel on a busy street in central Mogadishu. Sources close to the Somali government said the truck had been stopped at a checkpoint and was about to be searched when the driver suddenly accelerated. It crashed through a barrier, then exploded. This ignited a nearby fuel tanker, creating a massive fireball. The devastating bombing provoked a chorus of international condemnation. Michael Keating, the UN special envoy to Somalia, called it "revolting". The Somali president, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, faces huge challenges in trying to rid the country of al-Shabaab, which has been affiliated to al-Qaida since 2011. It has not yet claimed responsibility for the attack. Over the past decade electricity prices have risen 63% for Australian households, the competition watchdog says. The lack of competition in the electricity market is behind the "severe affordability problem" in residential power, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says. Big price increases have not been matched by wage growth or prices in other parts of the economy and it "disproportionally affects those segments of society least able to afford it". The report found Queenslanders would be paying the most for their electricity bills this year, followed by South Australians and those living in New South Wales, while Victorians would pay the least. The Turnbull government is expected to put its new energy policy to cabinet and the Coalition party room this week. Muslim inmates at a correction centre in Brisbane have made allegations of abuse, humiliation and deprivation against prison staff. The Islamic Council of Queensland made a series of complaints about the behaviour of staff towards inmates at the Arthur Gorrie correctional centre, the state's largest prison. In a letter sent to Queensland Corrective Services in June, the council said that "on at least five occasions non-Muslim prisoners have been instructed to physically assault Muslim prisoners", including one time "without the guard realising he was instructing another Muslim to commit the assault". Australia's human rights record will be critically assessed by a panel of experts this week, with asylum policies and persistent Indigenous issues highlighted as areas of significant concern. Officials from Canberra will appear before the UN human rights committee in Geneva as Australia prepares to join the powerful human rights council. A report prepared for the Geneva committee argues while Australia has made some positive steps, in other areas it has "clearly gone backwards". The report takes aim at the mandatory indefinite detention of asylum seekers, housed in "cruel, inhuman and degrading conditions", and also criticises youth detention, citing alarming reports of brutality against juvenile offenders. The head of the Business Council, Jennifer Westacott, says Australia needs to slash its top rate of company tax from 30% if it wants to be competitive with other countries. "The average company tax rate across the OECD is 24% and falling. The average across Asia is 21%," she said. Businesses that weren't thriving "can't create jobs and can't give workers a pay rise", she said. Westacott said every time another country cut its rates it was a "de facto tax increase on Australia". Sport As the A-League season got into gear with a nervy 3-2 win for Sydney FC and an entertaining 2-2 draw between Newcastle and Perth on Sunday, the underlying tensions between Football Federation Australia and A-League clubs seem ready to explode into open conflict. After FFA last week called an EGM for next month, an amicable conclusion to the bitter civil war over the game's governance appears a long way off, writes Jonathan Howcroft. Maria Sharapova has clinched her first WTA title since returning from a drug ban after beating Aryna Sabalenka 7-5, 7-6 to win the Tianjin Open, while Roger Federer defeated Rafael Nadal in the final of the Shanghai Masters. The 6-4, 6-3 win was Federer's fourth victory against his rival in as many matches this season. Thinking time George Michael with Elton John in 1985. Photograph: Dave Hogan/Getty Images It's been nearly a year since George Michael died and, in this moving tribute, Elton John, Mariah Carey and James Corden remember their friend. "So meeting up with George was always an event because he had such a definite opinion on everything and when opinions clashed it would make for an interesting evening," John remembers. "People genuinely adored George and it wasn't just the music. They felt for him and they felt his struggles; he was completely authentic." For too many women, the joy of having a child is marred by significant career and financial sacrifices. And these are evident nowhere more than in women's superannuation savings. The average Australian woman is retiring with half the superannuation balance of the average Australian man. The median superannuation balance for women in 2017 is just $28,000, while for men it is around $100,000. Fair and equal? Certainly not, write Edward Cavanough and Tara Moriarty. The medical historian Lindsey Fitzharris is obsessed with mortality, and her new book, The Butchering Art, delves into the life and works of the world's early surgeons, who often operated on patients who were conscious and without pain relief. Growing up in the modest village of Mount Prospect, Illinois, Fitzharris spent her childhood "doing cemetery runs" with her grandmother, peeking into mausoleums and hunting ghosts. When she eventually settled down to write The Butchering Art after a messy divorce, it was far from pain-free. Media roundup The Australian Financial Review quotes big-name bankers David Gonski and Ian Narev on moves by Google and Facebook towards the banking sector. The ANZ chairman and the Commonwealth Bank chief executive say the tech companies will have a fight on their hands if they want to compete with banks in Australia. The Daily Telegraph has a skin-crawling yarn on a "monster rat" found in a Sydney backyard, with independent the City of Sydney councillor and businesswoman Angela Vithoulkas saying the city needs a "rat taskforce" to address the out-of-control rat population. And senior national security figures have told the ABC there are real fears among the "five eyes" intelligence partners (the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) about the Chinese government's aggressive intrusion into western universities. Coming up Parliament resumes in Canberra today, with the focus on the government's energy policy, and a nervous wait ahead for the high court's decision in the cases of the five current and two former parliamentarians under scrutiny over dual citizenship. The man charged with assaulting Kevin Rudd's godson at a Brisbane bus stop during a dispute over same-sex marriage will appear in court. Guardian News & Media Limited - a member of Guardian Media Group PLC. Registered Office: Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1 9GU. Registered in England No. 908396