World
Protests in Indonesia over MP’s housing allowance. Trump attempts to dump Federal Reserve governor. Taiwan TV show depicts Chinese invasion. By Jonathan Pearlman.
World leaders condemn ‘indefensible’ hospital attack
Great power rivalry
Gaza: An Israeli attack on a hospital in Gaza on Monday that killed at least 20 people drew international condemnation – including from the United States and the United Nations – days after famine in northern Gaza was declared by a global hunger monitor.
The attack on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis began with a strike that killed a Reuters cameraman operating from an outside staircase before a second strike about 10 minutes later killed four journalists and several medics who had rushed to the scene.
Immediately after the attack, Donald Trump, informed about it by a reporter, said: “I’m not happy about it. I don’t want to see it. At the same time, we have to end that whole nightmare.”
Thameen al-Kheetan, a UN human rights office spokesperson, said on Tuesday “there needs to be justice”. “This is a shock and this is unacceptable,” he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the strike a “tragic mishap”. The Israeli military later said it had targeted a surveillance camera positioned near the hospital by Hamas to observe soldiers, though no evidence was provided. It said six of those killed were militants.
The attack was condemned internationally, including by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who said it was “completely indefensible”, and Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong, who said it was horrific and urged Netanyahu to “heed the call of the world and agree to a ceasefire”.
Israel has been expanding an offensive in Gaza City despite an assessment last week by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification – a global body that assesses food shortages – that famine is occurring in and around the city. The finding marked the first declaration of a famine since the start of the Israel–Hamas war in October 2023.
Reem Tawfiq Khader, a 41-year-old mother of five from Gaza City, told BBC News her family had not eaten protein for five months. “My youngest child is four years old – he doesn’t know what fruit and vegetables look or taste like,” she said.
More than 220 people have died of malnutrition during the war, according to local officials. Israel has denied that a famine is occurring and blamed the UN and rights groups for failing to distribute aid.
Trump was due to host a meeting on Wednesday about postwar plans for Gaza. He told reporters a “conclusive ending” to the war would be reached within two to three weeks.
The neighbourhood
Indonesia: Protests erupted in Indonesia this week over reports the 580 members of the country’s House of Representatives have been receiving a housing allowance of 50 million rupiah ($4720) each month.
Thousands of demonstrators – mainly students as well as motorcycle ride-hail drivers – protested in Jakarta and attempted to reach the parliament but were forced back by more than 1250 police officers. Protesters threw rocks and bottles at police, who fired tear gas and water cannons.
The protests followed local media reports about the housing allowance, which is about 25 times the monthly minimum wage.
Public anger has been mounting as austerity measures introduced by President Prabowo Subianto have resulted in cuts to education and health. Prabowo has reduced spending to help pay for several large-scale projects, including his ambitious scheme to provide free meals to children and pregnant women.
A 26-year-old protester, Agung Setiabudi, who earns about three million rupiah a month as a food delivery driver, told The Australian this week he had struggled to find a job because he was considered “too old” to work in a factory.
“We work every day … hustling on the street for money,” he said. “Meanwhile MPs in there earn three million a day just for sitting around.”
Democracy in retreat
United States: Donald Trump attempted to oust Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook this week as he seeks to pressure the central bank to lower interest rates, just three weeks after he fired a statistics chief over the release of disappointing jobs figures.
On Monday, Trump said he was removing Cook – who has voted to keep interest rates steady – over allegations that she falsified records to obtain a mortgage. No president had previously tried to fire a governor of the Fed. United States presidents can only fire Federal Reserve officials “for cause”.
Cook, the first African–American governor, was appointed by former president Joe Biden in 2022 and is due to serve until 2038. She has denied wrongdoing and plans to challenge the attempt to fire her.
“I will not resign,” she said in a statement. “I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy.”
Trump had previously indicated he wanted to fire the Federal Reserve’s chair, Jerome Powell, for not cutting interest rates. Minutes of the board’s most recent meeting in late July showed that a majority voted to keep rates steady, but two members – both Trump appointees – voted to cut rates.
Following the move to fire Cook, the Fed said in a statement on Tuesday: “Long tenures and removal protections for governors (ensure) that monetary policy decisions are based on data, economic analysis, and the long-term interests of the American people.”
In early August, Trump fired the head of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics following the release of a report that revised down recent job numbers by more than 250,000. Trump said the figures were “rigged”. He has nominated a new head, E.J. Antoni, a conservative economist who has described the bureau’s statistics as “phoney baloney”.
Spotlight: Taiwan TV show depicts invasion
On August 2, a new 10-part series began airing on Taiwanese television that dramatises the island’s worst nightmare: invasion by China.
The series, Zero Day Attack, which was partly funded by the government, depicts the lead-up to an invasion in 2028 as China imposes a blockade, causes blackouts and internet outages, and conducts a misinformation campaign including fake news and efforts to discredit Taiwan’s democracy.
Producer Cheng Hsin-mei told BBC News the aim was to “warn the Taiwanese people that the war is really coming” and to highlight China’s use of “disinformation campaigns and grey zone warfare to put our society in chaos and make us confused about our identity”.
Beijing said the series showed Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party was stoking anxieties and “attempting to provoke war”.
“The film is plunging Taiwan into the flames of war,” said Chinese defence ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang.
The series is part of a recent wave of television shows, comic books and games in Taiwan that have explored fears of a potential Chinese invasion.
Chen Yu-jen, of National Taiwan Normal University, told The Washington Post this week such fears have increased in the past year amid concerns about whether Donald Trump would assist Taiwan in a war with China.
“There have been more and more works of entertainment related to war,” she said. “This, of course, is tied to the broader shifts in the political climate.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping has said Beijing, which views Taiwan as part of China, regards “reunification” as inevitable.
Polling by National Chengchi University in Taiwan shows more than 80 per cent of people want to retain the status quo – rather than pursue independence or unification in the near future – but just 6 per cent favour eventual unification with China.
This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on August 30, 2025 as "World leaders condemn ‘indefensible’ hospital attack".
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