TOO HOT TO LIVE

HUMANS will still be able to live in tropical areas in the future if climate change is contained to 1.5C of warming, a new study says.

Otherwise conditions will “exceed the human survival limit” in hot and humid environments, according to the study.

The Princeton University modelling looked at the effect of heat and humidity on the human body in tropical regions, which include far north Queensland, the top half of the Northern Territory and the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

SEOUL: South Korea and the US have reached agreement on Seoul’s contribution to the costs of the US troop presence on the peninsula, Seoul said on Monday, as the allies kicked off annual joint military exercises.

The issue had bedevilled the two allies’ security alliance under former president Donald Trump, who accused the South of freeloading.

Washington stations 28,500 troops in the country to defend it from the nuclear-armed North, which invaded in 1950.

They are a key part of the US deployment in Asia, but negotiations over funding were stalled by the former US administration’s demands that the South pay billions of dollars more towards their costs.

The Trump administration initially insisted on $5bn ($6.5bn) a year — a more than fivefold increase from the $920m Seoul paid Washington annually under the previous deal, which expired at the end of 2019.

Seoul said the two sides had reached an agreement “in principle” but did not specify the agreed amount.

The new deal must still be approved by the South Korean legislature. US President Joe Biden has vowed to revive frayed US alliances under his predecessor to counter geopolitical challenges.

“America’s alliances are a tremendous source of our strength,” the US State Department said in a tweet.