'Very hot' and 'in the news' is about right (8)
I believe the answer is:
tropical
'very hot' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'in the news is about right' is the wordplay.
'in the news' becomes 'topical' (I've seen this before).
'is about' is an insertion indicator.
'right' becomes 'r' (common abbreviation).
'topical' going around 'r' is 'TROPICAL'.
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for tropical that I've seen before include "extremely warm" , "Belonging to hot regions" , "Found in Cancer or Capricorn" , "Middle-earth" , "Hot and humid type of weather" .)