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Apr 8, 2026 - World

Analysis of six extreme heatwaves found when temperature and humidity were accounted for, all were potentially deadly for older peopleExtreme heat is already creating “non-survivable” conditions for humans in heatwaves that have killed thousands and likely many more, according to new research that warns people are more susceptible to rising temperatures than first thought.Scientists re-examined six extreme heatwaves between 2003 and 2024 and found that when temperature, humidity and the body’s ability to stay cool were accounted for, all were potentially deadly for older people. Continue reading...

Apr 8, 2026 - World

The prime minister clearly believed the US president’s threat of mass bombings of bridges and power plants crossed a new lineFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAnthony Albanese has adopted a careful and deliberate strategy for dealing with Donald Trump since his return to the White House in early 2025: don’t buy-in, don’t bite back.The approach is a calculation that there is little to be gained from responding to Trump’s every Truth Social post, lest it distract the government, provoke the president or, heaven forbid, threaten the Aukus pact. Continue reading...

Apr 8, 2026 - World

The successor to Donald Trump will have a hard time convincing world allies of the United States' stability, an analyst has warned. A longer-term test will be put to the US by world leaders because of the two terms Trump has served in the Oval Office. Political analyst Rafael Behr, writing in The Guardian, suggested that even the first term Trump served still has an effect on how other countries view the US. Behr wrote, "There is a psychological need to believe that the havoc unleashed by Trump, while extreme, is exceptional – a singular event, like the Covid pandemic; painful and costly, but not a permanent change to the order of things. The president is mortal.""His powers may be constrained if Democrats prevail in November’s midterm elections. Ceasefires can be brokered. Closed waterways can be reopened. Supply chains can be rewoven.""But the Trumpdemic is a more complex syndrome. The US was thoroughly exposed for a full term after the 2016 election, culminating in an acute anti-democratic seizure on January 6, 2021. That severe infection did not cultivate enough immunity in the body politic to prevent a second term that is already proving more virulent in its attacks on probity and basic human decency than the first one.""There is no guarantee that a successor to Trump will be able to restore the old constitutional norms, assuming it is even someone who cares to try. Former US allies would be grateful for a less deranged president, but they cannot be sure that sanity would endure longer than any single election cycle. Trust is gone."Part of the problem, Behr adds, is that no world leader or intergovernmental body, such as NATO, solved how to deal with Trump as a president. He wrote, "No democratic leader has fully mastered the art of Trump-whispering because the president doesn’t respect power when it is softly spoken. The EU is still figuring out how to project a unified message."Trump has suggested pulling the US out of NATO, calling the alliance a "paper tiger." Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticized NATO for not backing the Iran war. Trump argues NATO members weren't supportive during Ukraine conflict. However, Rubio acknowledged NATO provides crucial basing rights for US military operations globally, though tensions remain high under the current administration.

Apr 8, 2026 - World

If the Pakistan-brokered Iran ceasefire had not been announced shortly before Donald Trump’s deadline that included a threat that “a whole civilization will die tonight,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth would have been confronted by a revolt inside the Pentagon, according to new reporting.That is according to MS NOW’s David Rohde, who told “Morning Joe” co-host Jonathan Lemire that a handful of Pentagon lawyers were committed to refusing to approve some of the targets the White House wanted to destroy.Speaking moments after the former Fox News personality-turned Pentagon head once again battled with reporters at a press availability, Rohde was asked about the aftermath of the ceasefire with Iran.After noting that Vice President JD Vance was tangentially involved in ceasefire negotiations, he veered off and told Lemire, “And just my last thought: this war was a test of how we wage war as a democracy. We are a democracy. And I feel like as a journalist, that is our, that's my core belief and it's the most defining trait we have. So I completely agree with you in terms of Congress not playing a role.”"We were going to take out all these bridges and that somehow the regime was profiting from bridges and power stations,” he continued. “You know, I had military, former military lawyers saying they were talking to current military lawyers, and these lawyers were going to resist inside. They were not going to sign off on a target list that involved war crimes.”“And I can just tell you from embeds and my own time in the military and embeds, and the people I've known in the military, the United States military does not intentionally commit war crimes, period,” he added. “It does not engage in that kind of war fighting; That's one of our qualities as a democracy. And so this administration was testing that and flirting with that –– we have killed civilians. There's no question we've made huge mistakes in war. But I just, you know, so I don't know how we did as a democracy.” - YouTube youtu.be

Apr 8, 2026 - World

President Trump excoriated NATO Wednesday ahead of his scheduled meeting with its top official, saying the international alliance flopped dramatically when it didn't help the U.S. during its military strike on Iran.