Good morning, welcome back after the holiday break. This is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Tuesday 2 January. Top stories Donald Trump has welcomed in the northern hemisphere's new year with a blistering attack on Pakistan, accusing it of providing a "safe haven" to terrorists, and calling the US's aid program "foolish". "The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit," Trump tweeted. "Thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!" Tensions have been high between Washington and Islamabad since the northern summer, when the US president announced his administration's national security strategy for Afghanistan. As part of the "fight-to-win" strategy Trump called on Islamabad to cut support for militants who find a haven along the Afghan border and warned Pakistan would have "much to lose" if it did not comply. The New York Times reported last week that the Trump administration was considering withholding $255m in aid to Pakistan, after it refused the US access to a captured militant from the Taliban-linked Haqqani network. Pakistan's foreign minister, Khawaja Asif, said on Twitter: "We will respond to President Trump's tweet shortly inshallah … Will let the world know the truth … difference between facts & fiction." Australia's first Indigenous children's commissioner has warned against using hard targets to reduce the number of Indigenous children being removed from their families. Andrew Jackomos, who finishes his term later this month, favours measures that focus on reuniting families, saying hard targets could have deadly consequences. "My worry is that if you have targets straight on the number of kids removed then you may see kids who need to be removed not removed," he said in this exclusive interview. Reducing the number of Indigenous children removed from their families and the overepresentation of Indigenous people in the prison system are two areas Indigenous groups would like the prime minister to address in his upcoming review of the Closing the Gap targets. The two were inextricably linked, Jackomos said, with children who were known to the child protection system 14 times more likely to also be involved in the youth justice system. Hollywood stars including Natalie Portman, Emma Stone and Reese Witherspoon are among 300 female actors, agents, writers, directors, producers and entertainment executives who have launched Time's Up, a campaign to counter systemic sexual harassment in the entertainment business and workplaces nationwide. The initiative, announced with a full-page ad in the New York Times, includes a $13m legal defence fund to help women in less privileged professions protect themselves from sexual misconduct and the consequences that may arise from reporting it. "The struggle for women to break in, to rise up the ranks and to simply be heard and acknowledged in male-dominated workplaces must end; time's up on this impenetrable monopoly," the open letter reads. Ten people have been killed in Iran, according to the state broadcaster, as the rapid spread of unrest intensifies. Protesters defied warnings by the authorities to stay away or be confronted with an "iron fist", as demonstrations continued on Sunday evening for the fourth day. The demonstrations began last Thursday after opponents of the moderate president gathered in north-eastern Iran, but soon spread nationwide, escalating from initial demands over economic grievances to take on a more overtly political dimension. President Hassan Rouhani also denounced comments made by the US president, Donald Trump, saying Trump had no right to express sympathy with Iranians because "a few months ago, he called the Iranian nation terrorist" and was "against the Iranian nation from head to toe".
Tributes have been paid in the UK to the five people who died in the Sydney seaplane crash on New Year's Eve. Richard Cousins, 58, was due to step down as chief executive of the catering company Compass in March, and was starting a new personal life with Emma Bowden, 48, described by a colleague as "the Grace Kelly of OK! Magazine", where Bowden worked as art editor. Cousins' son Will, 25, worked for Open Britain, the group campaigning against a hard Brexit. Its chairman called him "an extraordinary young man". Will's brother Edward, 23, and Bowden's daughter Heather, 11, were also killed, along with the pilot, Gareth Morgan. Sport Manchester United got a run of draws out of their system with a comfortable 2-0 win over Everton in the Premier League overnight, while at the bottom of the table Stoke slid further into trouble after losing 1-0 at home to Newcastle. Stoke's manager Mark Hughes stormed out of the post-match media conference as pressure mounted on him to quit. The player who made the biggest impact on NFL in 2017 was the man who wasn't there – Colin Kaepernick. The NFL quarterback refused to stand for the national anthem in 2016, in a plea for the nation to start a conversation about race. That moved other players to speak out, breaking through an unwritten edict that football players should be seen but not heard. It may have cost Kaepernick his career, writes Les Carpenter. Thinking time |
Perhaps more than any other living Australian, Ian Chubb has dedicated his life to championing science. Now the neuroscientist, former chief scientist, former vice chancellor and dedicated advocate for scientific research thanks Australian science for every breath he takes, after being diagnosed with stage-four metastatic kidney cancer. Because now, as far as he and his oncologist can tell, he is completely cancer-free. An experimental drug – one of a class of "immune checkpoint inhibitors" that unleash the body's own killer immune cells on to the cancer – has wiped away any trace of Chubb's previously advanced cancer. Chubb's experience, while still not representative of the majority of patients, is an increasingly common story from the world of cancer immunotherapy, which is revolutionising the field of oncology.
The sale of literary fiction is in decline, and this comes as no surprise to writer and journalist Tim Lott, who asks why taxpayers are being asked to subsidise authors who are continually failing to engage their readers with any sort of story. "You can be a great writer and a great storyteller as well," writes Lott. "Nowadays, long-form TV has taken the place of most novels. What distinguishes great TV such as Breaking Bad, The Sopranos and many more is the power of the narrative drive. With the great fields of time and scope now opening up on TV, these series have become the new novels. If novelists want to compete they have to up their game." Media roundup The Australian Financial Review trumpets the success of Australia's super funds, reporting that they posted double-digit gains in 2017 for the first time in five years, providing better returns than property as the residential market cools. The Age devotes its front page to a startling headline and striking picture: "I'm ashamed to call myself Sudanese", detailing concerns by African youth leaders that a hardened group of repeat offenders are responsible for a crime wave being blamed on the wider African community in Victoria. And the ABC reports on calls by Liberal backbencher Sarah Henderson that international tourists should have to pass a driving test before being allowed to drive on Australian roads. "It is a real danger that these international tourists are coming across from other parts of the world, getting into a hire car … and they really are a moving time bomb," she said. 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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Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump, with their son Barron, arrive for a New Year's Eve party at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters 
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