World Today: The Total Lunar Eclipse Lights Up the Australian Sky
World Today returns with a selection of news from around the world in the last 24 hours. The main report for the Wednesday edition, 4 March 2026, comes from Australia.
Blood Moon sighting in Australia
Astronomers crowded out last night (03/03) to witness the Moon tinted red-orange in what would be their final opportunity to observe a total lunar eclipse for almost three years.
Perth and southern Western Australia were among the best places in Australia to view the blood moon.
The eclipse lasted for about an hour starting at 7 p.m. local time in Western Australia, turning the Moon from its usual neutral colour to a warm red-orange.
According to astrophysicist Graham Jones, the event marks the end of a sequence of lunar eclipses, and a turning point towards more solar eclipses in the years ahead.
“We are seeing a pattern in eclipses where over a number of years we have a run of large, very good lunar eclipses, and then the balance shifts to several years of very good solar eclipses,” he said.
‘Israel continues to bombard Iran’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will continue to bombard Iran.
He also pledged to strike the militant group Hizbollah in Lebanon with increasing force as the Middle East conflict rages for the fourth day.
“We will continue to strike Iran with full force. Our pilots are in the skies over Iran and Tehran, and also over Lebanon,” Netanyahu said.
“Hizbollah has made a grave mistake in attacking us. We have responded firmly, and we will respond with even greater force.”
Children in Afghanistan are malnourished
Hundreds of thousands of children in Afghanistan are acutely malnourished this year amid a hunger crisis worsened by cuts to foreign aid and violence on the border with Pakistan, according to a United Nations official.
International aid to Afghanistan has fallen sharply since 2021, when U.S.-led forces left the country and the Taliban returned to power.
The crisis has been exacerbated by natural disasters, including earthquakes.
“Acute malnutrition among children has surged,” said the World Food Programme’s Afghanistan Director, John Aylieff.
“Last year we saw the highest surge on record in Afghanistan, and this year, 3.7 million children will require treatment for malnutrition.”
Father of mass shooting suspect charged for gifting rifle to his son
The man who gave his son a rifle as a Christmas gift was found guilty on 27 counts, including second-degree murder.
The weapon is believed to have been used by his son to kill four people at a high school in Georgia, United States.
Jurors took less than two hours to convict 55-year-old Colin Gray after an 11-day trial.
Two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in the town of Winder were killed in September 2024.
His son faces a separate trial on 55 counts, including murder, and has pleaded not guilty, though the fact that he was the shooter is not in dispute.