Witnesses to a terrorist rampage at a luxury Kabul hotel have described guests being sprayed with bullets as they ran, whole floors engulfed in flames and a security team that fled “without a fight” from gunmen in army uniforms. Thick smoke billowed from Kabul’s Intercontinental hotel on Sunday as Afghan and western security forces regained control of the building after a 14-hour siege involving dozens of hostages including foreigners. Some guests tried to escape the carnage and a later fire by using bed sheets to climb down from balconies.At least 18 people were confirmed to have been killed, including four Afghans and 14 foreigners. The Afghan news agency Tolo claimed one of its reporters had seen “dozens [of] bodies” and other witnesses compared the inside of the hotel to a butcher’s shop. (theguardian)…[+]

Germany has inched one step further towards forming a new government after the centre-left Social Democratic party gave its lukewarm endorsement of a renewed Angela Merkel-led “grand coalition”. At a special SPD congress in Bonn that welcomed leader Martin Schulz’s main speech with sarcastic applause and saw standing ovations for his fiercest critics, the party’s delegates nonetheless gave a cautious green light to the second and final stage of coalition talks with Merkel’s centre-right Christian Democrats.“The SPD must and will be visible, audible and recognisable!” said Schulz at the end of a week of rallying support at party offices across the country.(theguardian)…[+]

Romania is taking the biggest step backwards on the rule of law since it joined the European Union, a former justice minister has warned before what could be the biggest street protests in a year this weekend in Bucharest.Monica Macovei, who was an architect of Romania’s anti-corruption policy when she was justice minister from 2004-07, said changes introduced to bring the country into the EU were being dismantled. She said recent changes to the judicial system and the proposed decriminalisation of some corruption offences constituted an unprecedented assault on the rule of law since Romania joined the EU in 2007. “There has been backwards and forwards, but this is worse.” Macovei, now an MEP, was speaking to the Guardian at her offices in Brussels before Romania lost its second prime minister in seven months this week. Viorica Dăncilă has been named as prime minister designate, following the sudden departure of Mihai Tudose, who fell out with the leader of the ruling Social Democrat party.(theguardian)…[+]

Vladimir Putin has joined millions of Orthodox believers to plunge bare-chested into icy water in a Russian tradition marking the Epiphany.Surrounded by Orthodox priests and glittering religious icons, and with the temperature hovering around -5C, the president lowered himself into the waters of Lake Seliger, 220 miles (350km) north-west of Moscow. He was one of many Russians who submerged themselves in lakes and rivers in the annual ritual, which normally takes place on 18 and 19 January and last year saw 2 million people take the plunge.State TV footage showed the president marching over the ice-covered lake in knee-high felt boots wearing a cream sheepskin coat as priests chanted and waved an incense lamp. Asked by a journalist if it was cold, Putin replied: “No, it’s great.” Stripping down to swimming trunks, the president then lowered himself into a hole cut in the ice, puffing slightly and crossing himself, a crucifix hanging around his neck. Holding his nose Putin then dipped under the water.(theguardian)…[+]

French police have clashed with striking prison guards at Europe’s largest jail on the fourth day of walkouts across the country over security concerns. Officers fired teargas as scuffles broke out at the Fleury-Mérogis prison, south of Paris, where guards are protesting after a series of attacks on staff.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has promised to draw up a national prisons plan to address concerns by the end of February. The attacks that sparked the guards’ protest have highlighted security problems and radicalisation inside often overcrowded French prisons.  In the latest outbreak of violence, two guards were injured after an attack by prisoners at the Borgo jail in Corsica, the justice ministry said on Friday. Outside the entrance to Fleury-Mérogis jail, which has more than 4,300 inmates, about 150 striking guards built a barricade of burning tyres and wooden pallets to prevent their colleagues from getting to work.(theguardian)…[+]

Donald Trump, who has routinely peddled conspiracy theories and mistruths from the office of the presidency, sought to question the accuracy of the media on Wednesday by unveiling the so-called “Fake News Awards”.The president used his preferred medium of Twitter to announce “the winners”, which ranged from minor errors by journalists on social media to news reports that later invited corrections, with the New York Times and CNN the most frequently named. The “awards” were revealed on the Republican National Committee’s website, which swiftly crashed as a result of the attention, and prompted swift backlash, including from his own party.Much of the list centered around reporting on the investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election. The president has repeatedly dismissed the inquiry as “fake news”, despite the consensus of the US government and its allies that Moscow worked to sway the presidential election in Trump’s favor.(theguardian)…[+]

The bride had walked down the aisle countless times before, usually pushing a trolley of drinks or reheated food. She wore a neat uniform with a name badge instead of a white dress, and probably checked the guests had fastened their seat belts before the ceremony. Love was definitely in the air when Pope Francis married two cabin crew members in an impromptu wedding on a flight taking the pontiff and his entourage between two Chilean cities. Paula Podest, 39, and Carlos Ciuffardi, 41, had been married in a civil service but their planned religious ceremony was scotched when an earthquake in 2010 almost destroyed their parish church in the Chilean capital, Santiago. Seizing an unmissable opportunity, the couple asked Francis to bless their marriage. But he had something else in mind. “Do you want me to marry you?” he asked them. “Here?” they replied, astonished.(theguardian)…[+]

Zimbabwe’s president Emmerson Mnangagwa has announced that elections will be held within “four to five months”, the first since the end of Robert Mugabe’s 37-year rule last year.          

Zimbabwe’s president Emmerson Mnangagwa has announced that elections will be held within “four to five months”, the first since the end of Robert Mugabe’s 37-year rule last year. Mnangagwa, who was sworn in after Mugabe was forced to resign following a military takeover in November, also reaffirmed a pledge that the elections would be “free, credible, fair and indisputable”.“Zimbabwe is going for elections in four to five months’ time and we have to preach peace, peace and peace,” the new president, who served as Mugabe’s right hand man for decades before taking power, said during a visit to neighbouring Mozambique.

Successive polls have been marred by violence and intimidation, leading to sanctions and the diplomatic isolation of the former British colony. The vote is being seen as a key test of Mnangagwa’s democratic credentials and it is crucial to unlocking badly needed financial assistance from international financial institutions as well as repairing relations with western powers.(theguardian)…[+]

The Bayeux Tapestry will be loaned to Britain after Emmanuel Macron agreed to let it leave France for the first time in 950 years. The president is expected to announce at an Anglo-French summit on Thursday that the artefact depicting the the Norman buildup to, and success in, the Battle of Hastings in 1066 will be loaned to the UK, probably in 2022..

Theresa May will use the decision, which has involved lengthy talks between each country’s respective culture departments, to highlight the strength in UK-French relations after Brexit. An Elysée official said the loan was agreed in principle but would not happen for several years because work needed to be done on the tapestry to ensure it was safe to move it. “It’s very symbolic for France and maybe even more for the UK,” he said. The date of the loan would probably be 2022 when, it is understood, the Bayeux Museum closes for refurbishment.One leading contender to show the tapestry would be the British Museum. Its director, Hartwig Fischer, said it would be “honoured and delighted” to display the tapestry.(theguardian)…[+]

The home in California where two parents allegedly tortured their 13 children had doubled as a private school for the siblings – but the premises received no government oversight and was never inspected by education officials. David Turpin had been home-schooling his children at the house in Perris, east of Los Angeles, which he called the Sandcastle Day School. In the 2016-17 school year, it had an enrollment of six, with one student each in the fifth, sixth, eighth, ninth, 10th and 12th grades.

There was no indication anyone other than his children were enrolled, authorities said. Authorities said they uncovered the abuse when a 17-year-old girl jumped out of a window, called 911 and led police to 12 of her brothers and sisters aged from two to 29 years old, all malnourished and some chained to furniture. Turpin and his wife, Louise Anna Turpin, were being held on $9m bail and could face torture and child endangerment charges.(theguardian)…[+]