DAILY NEWS Stream – April 8, 2025

The US says it will not leave NATO and urges alliance members to spend 5% of GDP [gross domestic product] on defense at foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels [Belgium] (VnExpress)

The US will know within weeks - not months – if Russia is serious about a Ukraine ceasefire, and will not allow Putin to drag out negotiations, says US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (Al Jazeera)

US Defense Secretary Hegseth to visit Panama this week after President Trump demands control of the critical Panama Canal shipping lane (AP)

President Trump gives TikTok 75 more days to sell to a non-Chinese company or face a US ban (Sky News Australia)

US: Former Congress leader Newt Gingrich [Republican] condemns the wave of federal judges blocking President Donald Trump’s agenda, calling it a “judicial coup d’etat [overthrow]” (Fox News)

Lowering your levels of bad cholesterol could cut your risk of dementia by 26%, new study finds (Euronews)

Scientists warn the Sun could hit solar maximum in July 2025, threatening space tech, telecommunications, and Earth’s climate with explosive bursts of radiation (Dân Trí)

6.2 magnitude earthquake strikes Japan near Nishinoomote City, widely felt but no major damage reported (Earthquake Track)

US: At least 16 dead in flooding and tornadoes as storms lash the country from the states of Texas to Ohio (AP)

Beryl, Helene, and Milton join the list of nearly 100 hurricane names so deadly they won’t be repeated, after the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season was the ninth in a row with above average activity, World Meteorological Organization [WMO] says (Euronews)

Greece’s recent storms were made wetter and more destructive by climate change, study finds (Euronews)

The Arctic’s glaciers are retreating, exposing new coastlines that could trigger tsunamis by landslides, study finds (Euronews)

Swedish hedgehogs found to contain toxic chemicals including lead, pesticides, and plastics, including banned PCBs [polychlorinated biphenyls] that have lingered in urban environments for decades, threatening human and wildlife health (Euronews)

“Reckless and shortsighted”: The EU lifts its ban on turtle dove hunting in Spain, France, and Italy, sparking backlash from concerned citizens as the birds remain vulnerable to extinction globally (Euronews)

Researchers discover North America is slowly becoming thinner as blobs of rock drip away beneath the continent (Phys.org)

Analysis: AI [artificial intelligence]-generated “slop” is slowly killing the internet, infesting platforms like Facebook with low-quality text, videos, and images – and nobody is stopping it (The Guardian)

20% of festivals in 16 countries surveyed were fully vegan or vegetarian in 2024, compared to just 8% in 2023, non-profit A Greener Future reports (Event Industry News)

Love-expanding quote of the day: “Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold.” – Zelda Fitzgerald