World
Pacific island states fracture over Taiwan. El Salvador president to rule indefinitely. Murdoch’s new US tabloid. By Jonathan Pearlman.
‘Horrific results’ forecast as Gaza hunger crisis deepens
Great power rivalry
Gaza: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reportedly this week considering expanding the military campaign in Gaza and completely taking it over, as aid groups warned that recent increases of supplies were not enough to address the enclave’s hunger crisis.
Despite Israel’s pauses in fighting and international airlifting of supplies, the United Nations and aid groups said food was not reaching many of those in need due to a lack of safe access, looting and violence near distribution centres. Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said on Tuesday eight hunger-related deaths had been recorded in the previous 24 hours.
James Elder, from UNICEF, told reporters this week: “There’s a sense through the world’s press that things are improving … But unless there is sustained humanitarian aid … there will be horrific results.”
UN data showed that of 2604 aid trucks entering Gaza since May 19, when a block on aid was lifted, 2310 were intercepted “either peacefully by hungry people or forcefully by armed actors”.
UN officials said Israel has refused to allow aid trucks to travel on less crowded routes, resulting in widespread looting. Israel said the UN has refused to let Israel or private contractors provide security to convoys.
Mona Qadoum, a 45-year-old mother of five in Gaza City, told The Washington Post she was surviving on cans of lentils she stored away months ago and has started to beg for food.
“They say aid trucks have entered Gaza, so why hasn’t any of it been distributed?” she said. “Only the looters and thieves have taken anything.”
As ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas stalled, Netanyahu reportedly proposed this week to order the military, which controls about 75 per cent of Gaza, to take over the rest of the enclave, including parts where much of the population is now concentrated.
“It is still necessary to complete the defeat of the enemy in Gaza, release our hostages and ensure that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to Israel,” he said at a military base.
Asked about the plan, United States President Donald Trump told reporters he was focused on food distribution.
“As far as the rest of it, I really can’t say. That’s going to be pretty much up to Israel,” he said.
The neighbourhood
Solomon Islands: A rift has emerged among Pacific island states over a push by China to exclude Taiwan from a regional summit next month.
China has reportedly been pressuring Solomon Islands to prevent Taiwanese officials from attending the yearly leaders meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum, whose 18 members include Australia and New Zealand. Solomon Islands, which is hosting the meeting, has close relations with China and signed a secret security pact with Beijing in 2022.
According to ABC News, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele plans to propose all partners of the forum be barred from attending the summit – a move that would exclude Taiwan as well as other partners such as China, the US, Japan and the European Union. Manele’s aim would reportedly be to find a politically palatable way to exclude Taiwan, which has sent delegations to the forum as a “development partner” for more than 30 years.
China regularly seeks to block Taiwan’s involvement in international forums and has pushed several Pacific countries to switch recognition from Taiwan to China in recent years, including Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Nauru.
The three remaining Pacific countries that recognise Taiwan – Marshall Islands, Palau and Tuvalu – have warned they may withdraw from the forum if Taiwan is excluded from the summit.
Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine told parliament on Monday that the forum’s affairs should not be “dictated” by non-members such as China.
“If the practice of interference in the affairs of the forum becomes the norm, then I question our nation’s membership in the organisation,” she said.
Palau’s president, Surangel Whipps Jr, said excluding Taiwan could lead to a “PIF split”.
Democracy in retreat
El Salvador: The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, who has described himself as the “world’s coolest dictator”, has been cleared to rule indefinitely after the parliament abolished term limits.
Bukele, who is 44 years old, has overseen a popular but oppressive crackdown on criminal gangs. Safety has drastically improved and the murder rate has fallen to one homicide per 50,000 people from one per 2000 people. The strict measures involved mass arrests and jailing more than 2 per cent of adults in the country, which has 6.6 million residents.
The legislature, which Bukele’s New Ideas party controls, last week voted to end term limits and to increase the length of the president’s term from five years to six.
Ernesto Castro, one of 54 lawmakers who belong to Bukele’s party, posted to X: “With these decisive measures, we are ensuring a stronger, fairer and more efficient democracy.”
But Marcela Villatoro, one of three opposition lawmakers who voted against the measures, said: “Democracy in El Salvador has died. When democracy is lost, it takes years to get it back.”
Bukele was first elected in 2019 and won a landslide re-election in 2024. He made a deal with Donald Trump this year to accept hundreds of migrants deported from the United States and has increasingly curbed dissent, including harassing and detaining civil rights activists and journalists.
The public response to the constitutional changes was relatively muted.
Cecilia Lemus, who lives in the capital, San Salvador, told The New York Times: “Maybe I’ll feel differently if you ask me in 10 years, I don’t know. But for today, I have no problem with him being re-elected.”
Spotlight: Murdoch’s new US tabloid
Rupert Murdoch plans to launch a new newspaper – the California Post – that will be a West Coast counterpart of his staunchly pro-Trump tabloid, the New York Post.
The newspaper, to be based in Los Angeles, will be edited by Nick Papps, who is the weekend editor of Melbourne’s Herald Sun and was a LA correspondent from 2004 to 2006.
Murdoch previously assigned Col Allan, a former editor of Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, to edit the New York Post from 2001 to 2016.
The new tabloid will seek to capitalise on the troubles facing the state’s largest-circulation newspaper, the Los Angeles Times, which has experienced a circulation slump, staff cuts and losses of as much as US$50 million a year. The paper’s current owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, a biotech entrepreneur, blocked it from endorsing Kamala Harris for president in last year’s election – a move that prompted staff resignations and lost thousands of subscribers.
Robert Thomson, the chief executive of News Corp, said in a statement the new tabloid will feature “serious reporting and puckish wit”.
“California is the most populous state in the country,” he said. “Yet many stories are not being told, and many viewpoints are not being represented.”
Analysts said the tabloid’s daily print offering will struggle to compete with the LA Times, which will still have a much larger and more experienced staff. But the publication will be free online – unlike the LA Times – and could attract substantial advertising revenue.
The paper will launch in 2026, ahead of California’s gubernatorial elections.
Gavin Newsom, the outgoing Democratic governor and a frequent target of the New York Post, said in a post on X: “Rupert Murdoch is investing in California because even the New York Post can’t deny our success.”
This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on August 8, 2025 as "‘Horrific results’ forecast as Gaza hunger crisis deepens".
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