VAN TERROR ATTACK IN BARCELONA

At least 13 people have died and 100 are injured — numbers that authorities warn may rise — after a van swerved to hit pedestrians walking down Las Ramblas, a hugely popular tourist thoroughfare in Barcelona. Spanish police have said the crime is being investigated as a terror incident, and two people have been arrested. One is a North African man with resident papers for Spain, according to local media. Police also released an image of a suspect named Driss Oukabir.

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, putting out a statement from its media arm, the Aamaq news agency.

There were initial reports that an attacker had holed up in a cafe with hostages, but those were subsequently corrected by Spanish authorities.

Spain has generally avoided high casualty terror attacks in recent years, though police foiled one major operation in April and the country has been used as a transit point for jihadists travelling to Syria.

ANOTHER DUAL NATIONAL

Nationals Party deputy leader Senator Fiona Nash told the Senate — minutes before it rose for a two-week break — that she might also have dual citizenship, due to her Scottish father. Nash is the third government minister to be referred to the High Court — leader Barnaby Joyce and Matt Canavan will also have their eligibility to sit tested by the court. Nationals Senator Barry O’Sullivan and MP David Gillespie are also set to front the High Court over accusations they were ineligible to stand for Parliament because of business dealings with the government. The Liberal Party is furious at its Coalition partner over the repeated blows to the government, the Australian Financial Review‘s Phillip Coorey writes. One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts has also been referred to the High Court.

The government is now facing an escalated attack from Labor to demote ministers while waiting on a result. Joyce and Nash will both keep their portfolio responsibilities while the matter is before the court. The Australian Financial Review reports that key crossbenchers support Labor’s demand that Joyce step down from cabinet.

HANSON STUNT UNITES POLLIES

One thing did unite politicians yesterday — condemnation of Senator Pauline Hanson‘s burqa stunt. The One Nation leader wore a black burqa into the Senate yesterday afternoon during question time to push her campaign to ban the burqa. Attorney-General George Brandis‘ speech in reply prompted a standing ovation from Greens and Labor senators in the chamber:

“I can tell you, Senator Hanson, that it has been the advice of each director-general of security with whom I have worked and each commissioner of the Australian Federal Police with whom I have worked that it is vital for their intelligence and law enforcement work that they work co-operatively with the Muslim community, and to ridicule that community, to drive it into a corner, to mock its religious garments is an appalling thing to do.”

Muslim leaders told The Australian they are worried the stunt would encourage “alt-right” attacks on their communities.

MEDIA REFORM DEADLOCK HITS TEN

The media reform impasse has put a spanner in the works for Lachlan Murdoch and Bruce Gordon‘s attempt to buy Ten. Bids for the troubled network, in administration, close today, but the billionaires cannot buy it without the changes promised by the media reform bill, which hasn’t been able to pass through the Senate. Murdoch and Gordon need the two-out-of-three and the 75% reach rules lifted for them to be able to own the network. Ten boss Paul Anderson told the Australian Financial Review he was “extremely disappointed” the laws hadn’t passed. “It beggars belief that despite all the evidence of what is happening to Australian media companies, and Ten’s situation in particular, there is little appreciation of the urgency of these reforms,” he said. The Australian reports the failure to get the reforms through boosts the chances of a US hedge fund buying the network.

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Telstra shareholders hit with NBN reality

High Court rules offshore detention valid

SA Liberal MP charged with theft

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Sydney: State funeral for Labor figure John Richard Johnson

Canberra: Vietnam Veterans Day commemoration ceremony

Hobart: Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards

THE COMMENTARIAT

It’s off to the High Court, or, arguing against yourself after a week of low, low farce — Laura Tingle (Australian Financial Review $): “The government may have been failing to overcome its disappointment deficit with the electorate. But this week’s events have put it in the territory of bedlam and reputational damage from which it is difficult to recover. So much will depend on how the High Court case now plays out, and how long it takes.”

Poor acting, dull scripts and a sorrowful story that never changes — David Crowe (The Australian $): “The shock yesterday was that the government could not reach an agreement with Nick Xenophon to secure the wider reform. Cabinet ministers baulked at Xenophon’s idea of giving tax breaks to media companies with up to $30 million in revenue.”

Pauline Hanson: the insult that shocked a nation — Shakira Hussein (The Age): “The shock is not that she mocked Australia’s Muslim community. That’s absolutely routine…No – the shock is that Hanson mocked the national Parliament by using it as a stage for her own alt-right pantomime.”

Evil hid behind handy seal of confession — Chrissie Foster (The Australian $): “In his affidavit McArdle stated this about his crimes: “I was devastated after the assaults, every one of them. So distressed would I become that I would attend confessions weekly.” After each confession, he said, “it was like a magic wand had been waved over me”. The confessional forgiveness gave him a clean slate that allowed him, within the week, to reoffend — a cycle that lasted for several decades.”

THE WORLD

The office of Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abad has acknowledged “abuses” of civilians occurred during the recapture of Mosul from the Islamic State. The admission comes after Der Spiegel magazine published images of torture by elite Iraq forces during their campaign to liberate the city. — Reuters

A lawsuit brought by men who were tortured in CIA “black sites” has been settled. The suit was filed against psychologists James Mitchell and John “Bruce” Jessen, who received millions of dollars from the US government to devise abusive interrogation techniques. The two doctors maintain they were not responsible for he treatment of the detainees but released a statement acknowledging they played a part in “a program for the CIA that contemplated the use of specific coercive methods to interrogate certain detainees”. — The Guardian

Qatari nationals will be able to travel across their country’s land border with Saudi Arabia to visit Mecca for the Hajj. Qatar remains under a land blockade from Saudi Arabia, but the neighbouring state has now relented after threatening that pilgrims might need a special permit if they intended to visit Mecca this year. — BBC

WHAT WE’RE READING

Trump’s lack of discipline leaves new chief of staff frustrated and dismayed (Washington Post): “The Kelly era was a bright, shining interlude between failed attempts to right the Trump presidency and it has now come to a close after a short but glorious run … like all people who work for the president, he has since experienced the limits of the president’s promises to cooperate in order to ensure the success of the enterprise.”

Steve Bannon, unrepentant (Prospect): “I had never before spoken with Bannon. I came away from the conversation with a sense both of his savvy and his recklessness. The waters around him are rising, but he is going about his business of infighting, and attempting to cultivate improbable outside allies, to promote his China strategy. His enemies will do what they do.”

Steve Bannon thought he wasn’t giving an interview (Axios): “The piece gives Bannon’s enemies ammunition at a time he’s extraordinarily vulnerable. They’ve been saying he’s a leaker, a self-promoter, ‘President Bannon,’ etc. This interview plays right into their hands.”

Could Trump’s blundering lead to war between China and Japan? (The Guardian): “Trump, in his clumsy way, had hit on an existential point, one that he exploited brilliantly in his campaign. Why do Asian countries need the US in the region anyway? Why can’t they get on with each other independent of the US? To fully grasp this dilemma, it is essential to understand the poisonous relationship between China and Japan.”

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