Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Monday 22 January. Top stories Witnesses to a terrorist rampage at a luxury Kabul hotel have described guests being sprayed with bullets as they ran, whole floors were engulfed in flames as a security team that fled "without a fight" from gunmen in army uniforms. The terrorist attack on the Intercontinental Hotel – a favourite with journalists, politicians and aid workers – has been claimed by the Taliban, and killed at least 18 people, including 14 foreigners. Afghan and western security forces regained control of the building after a 14-hour siege involving dozens of hostages. Some guests tried to escape using bed sheets to climb down from balconies. One of the guests was in the hall of the hotel when he saw four men dressed in army uniforms storm the hotel just after 9pm. "They were shouting in Pashto: 'Don't leave any of them alive, good or bad. Shoot and kill them all,'" he said. The raid is the latest in a long series of attacks aimed at undermining confidence in Afghanistan's western-backed government. Ashraf Ghani, the Afghan president, has ordered an investigation and blamed neighbouring countries for helping militant groups. "As long as the terrorist groups have secure protection and safe haven, the region will not find security, stability," he said in a statement. Australians should question how much university vice-chancellors earn, the education minister, Simon Birmingham has declared, after the UK's University of Bath forced out its own vice-chancellor over an "outrageous" salary that was half that of Australia's highest-paid equivalent. Dame Glynis Breakwell's pay packet of £468,000 a year ($812,500) led to a national conversation in Britain and student protests. But her salary represents just half of what the vice-chancellor of the University of Sydney earns after benefits, and ranks only 28th among her Australian contemporaries. Birmingham says the international comparison should prompt taxpayers to ask if they are "getting value for money". The New South Wales opposition has asked the competition regulator to intervene in the forthcoming privatisation of WestConnex, warning a successful bid by toll- road giant Transurban risks creating a near-monopoly on Sydney's motorways and higher tolls for consumers. Transurban already owns the majority of tollways in Sydney, including the M5 South-West, the M2, the Lane Cove tunnel, the Eastern Distributor, the Cross City tunnel and NorthConnex, which is under construction. It is the biggest toll road company in Australia, commanding a 73% share of tolls across the country and is widely regarded as the frontrunner to win WestConnex, the nation's largest road infrastructure project. The opposition has questioned the Turnbull government's framing of last week's record jobs numbers, saying wages growth is still historically low, there are 730,000 unemployed, and businesses are increasingly using labour hire to drive conditions and wages down further at the worst time for the economy. The shadow finance minister, Jim Chalmers, said the Coalition was avoiding talking about the lack of job security in Australia. With parliament due to return on 5 February, the treasurer, Scott Morrison, said the Coalition would keep pushing to legislate its $65bn tax cuts as a way to boost economic growth. But Chalmers said the government had to stop fixating on tax cuts for big business and start focusing on deteriorating wages and working conditions. Amazon will open its first checkout-free grocery store in Seattle on Monday, moving forward with an experiment that could dramatically alter bricks-and-mortar retail. The shop relies on cameras and sensors to track what shoppers remove from the shelves, and what they put back. Cash registers and checkout lines become superfluous: customers are billed after leaving using a credit card on file. According to a source, there have been problems. These included correctly identifying shoppers with similar body types, and children causing havoc by moving items during the testing phase of the technology. Sport Nick Kyrgios is out of the Australian Open after a thrilling match against Grigor Dimitrov, losing to the world number three 7-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6. In Australia, sound and movement in the stands is what differentiates football as a sporting experience. Supporters should always be viewed as active participants in football, not passive onlookers or exploitable consumers, argues Jonathan Howcroft. Former tennis star Jelena Dokic's book Unbreakable documents in harrowing detail the abuse she endured from her father. But since its publication, Dokic is finding support all around, including from some surprising quarters, such as from Nick Kyrgios's mum. Thinking time |
As the debate about changing the date of Australia Day continues, Goori writer and researcher Jack Latimore takes aim at the "establishment shills who claim that opposition to Australia Day is not supported by the majority of Aboriginal people". Pointing out that Indigenous opposition to 26 January is not a recent phenomenon, Latimore describes the overwhelming sentiment among First Nations people towards Australia Day as "an uneasy blend of melancholy approaching outright grief, of profound despair, of opposition and antipathy, and always of staunch defiance. The day and date is steeped in the blood of violent dispossession, of attempted genocide, of enduring trauma." Zadie Smith has been a vital literary voice since her first novel, White Teeth, became an instant bestseller. Her second collection of essays, Feel Free, could be described as a tour through her enthusiasms punctuated with diversions. Written between 2008 and 2017, the 33 essays, columns and reviews were, in a way, a respite from her fiction. "Usually an essay comes when I'm playing hookey from novel writing," she says. "Writing a novel is like doing a long-distance race, and writing an essay in the middle of one is like turning left off the route, finding a cafe and paying close attention to something different. It's a form of relief." Life is tragic, says the provocative Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson, and we are all capable of turning into monsters. Tim Lott meets the controversial Peterson as he publishes 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, and is told in no uncertain terms that the pursuit of happiness is a pointless goal. "Don't compare yourself with other people, compare yourself with who you were yesterday. No one gets away with anything, ever, so take responsibility for your own life." What's he done now? As the second day of the US government shutdown wore on, there appeared little sign of progress as both parties continued to blame each other. Donald Trump used Twitter to urge Senate Republicans – who hold a slim majority – to end the impasse by taking the "nuclear option". Such a move would allow Republicans to pass legislation without Democratic support, by lowering the majority needed to pass a bill to just 51 votes. Media roundup The Daily Telegraph splashes with calls by some experts and even government figures for schools to include the #metoo movement and Hollywood sexual abuse scandal in their sex education curriculum. The Courier Mail reports that thousands of Queensland state school students are opting out of religious education in school, with 360,000 students not having nominated a religion or recording one when they enrolled – making up two thirds of enrolled students in the state. The ABC has a disturbing investigation into the illegal trade of baby orangutans in South-East Asia. "The demand is always there, they always want orangutans," a former smuggler told ABC. "Each week at least I would send three orangutans — two females and one male. That demand was there every week." Coming up A funeral will be held for actor Jessica Falkholt nearly two weeks after a service was held her parents and sister who were all killed in a Boxing Day car crash. The auditor general report is due to hand down a report into the Australian electoral commission's handling of 2016 election Supporting the Guardian We'd like to acknowledge our generous supporters who enable us to keep reporting on the critical stories. If you value what we do and would like to help, please make a contribution or become a supporter today. Thank you. |
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An Afghan soldier stands guard as smoke billows from the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul. Photograph: Wakil Kohsar/AFP/Getty Images 
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