Top World News

Apr 8, 2026 - World

Exclusive: Taskforce led by former Treasury official Anthea Long will advise on cost-cutting options for $52bn programGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastLabor has quietly established a razor gang to drive budget savings in the national disability insurance scheme, as it works to further rein in costs ahead of next month’s federal budget.An NDIS Sustainability Taskforce was established within the health department earlier this year, with instructions from the federal government and national cabinet to advise on cost-cutting options for the $52bn program. Continue reading...

Apr 8, 2026 - World

The prime minister clearly believed that Trump’s threat of mass bombings of bridges and power plants crossed a new lineGet 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

Earnings at renewable energy division expected to soar to between $200m and $700m in first quarterBusiness live – latest updatesShell is expected to report “significantly higher” profits from its trading desks in the first quarter of this year after weeks of market volatility triggered by the Iran crisis.The surge in energy commodity markets over recent weeks is expected to drive up trading results at Shell’s chemicals and products unit, which includes its main oil trading desk.The standfirst of this story was updated to clarify that Shell predicted higher earnings at its renewable energy division Continue reading...

Apr 8, 2026 - World

The Artemis II crew completed a flyby of the moon's far side and sent back some amazing images of the lunar surface.

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.