• The American Heart Association released a Presidential Advisory on April 30, 2026, declaring U.S. health care affordability at a crisis point due to rising costs driven by chronic diseases.
• Costs are forcing Americans to delay or avoid care, worsening health outcomes and increasing medical debt; a Gallup survey shows widespread worry about accessing affordable care.
• A McLaughlin & Associates poll found 51% of voters cite health insurance as their top concern, followed by hospital bills (11%) and medicine costs (10%).
• Gas prices have surged above $4 per gallon and flights skyrocketed as the Strait of Hormuz blockade impacts energy markets amid the US-Israel war with Iran, eroding Trump's key political advantage.
• More than three-quarters of registered voters—including over half of Republicans and 82% of independents—now blame Trump for the cost-of-living crisis affecting fuel, groceries, housing, and healthcare.
• Trump's second-term approval ratings have fallen far faster than previous presidents after a government shutdown, tariffs, and the joint US-Israel attack on Iran, with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warning the war is fueling inflation.
• A new suicide prevention strategy shifts focus from crisis intervention to upstream policies designed to give people reasons to live and address root causes of suicide risk.
• The approach has demonstrated effectiveness in helping individuals in acute distress, including a farmer profiled by CBS News who benefited from this comprehensive intervention model.
• This prevention philosophy represents an evolving understanding of mental health intervention that emphasizes long-term resilience and life satisfaction over immediate crisis management.
Motorists are forced to queue up to six hours for fuel or pay more on the black market, while farmers lack fuel to operate machinery and harvest crops.
Climate group calls for urgent windfall tax on excess fossil fuel profits, as delegates tell Colombia conference their nations are sufferingThe Middle East oil and gas crunch will impose as much as a trillion dollars of additional costs on the global economy while petroleum companies rake in spectacular profits from elevated fuel prices, analysis has revealed.The uneven distribution of risk and reward comes amid rising concern that the US-Israeli attack on Iran is worsening inequality, poverty and hunger across a world that has become dangerously dependent on fossil fuels. Continue reading...
Tehran’s UN envoy says ‘full respect’ of Iran’s rights also key for lasting regional stabilityUS is being ‘humiliated’ by Iran’s leadership, says Friedrich MerzWe are restarting our live coverage of the US-Israeli war on Iran.Iran needs “credible guarantees” against more US-Israeli attacks before it can ensure security in the Gulf, Tehran’s envoy to the UN has said, while on a Russian visit Iran’s foreign minister blamed Washington for the failure of peace talks.Donald Trump is unhappy with an Iranian proposal on the war because it does not address Iran’s nuclear program, Reuters cited a US official as saying on Monday, after Trump discussed the proposal with his top national security aides. Iran had offered to end its closure of the strait of Hormuz if the US lifted its blockade and ended the war in a proposal that would postpone discussions on Iran’s nuclear program, the Associated Press reported earlier, citing two unnamed regional officials. Later reporting quoted White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt as saying the proposal was “being discussed”.Lebanese president Joseph Aoun said direct talks with Israel sought to end the war on Lebanon and that those who dragged Lebanon into it were the ones committing “treason” – a jab at the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah, which claimed several attacks on Israeli targets in south Lebanon on Monday.Iraq’s newly elected president nominated businessman Ali al-Zaidi as the country’s prime minister-designate on Monday, after the country’s leaders yielded to US pressure not to support the bid of a former premier close to Iran.The Coordination Framework – an alliance of Shia factions with varying links to Iran – had initially backed powerbroker Nouri al-Maliki to become the country’s next premier, but Trump’s ultimatum left Iraqi leaders looking elsewhere.The US and Iran clashed at the UN on Monday over Tehran’s nuclear program and its selection to be one of dozens of vice-presidents at a month-long conference to review the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. US official Christopher Yeaw said Iran’s selection was an “affront” to the treaty. Tehran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Reza Najafi, rejected the US statement as “baseless and politically motivated”. Continue reading...
• Active fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces has intensified blockades on humanitarian corridors, trapping over 2 million internally displaced persons without access to food and medical supplies.
• The UN World Food Programme reported that starvation conditions now affect multiple regions, with malnutrition rates among children exceeding 40 percent in some areas.
• The U.S. State Department announced an additional $150 million in emergency humanitarian assistance but acknowledged that insecurity makes delivery of aid increasingly difficult.
US president says there’s ‘no reason to meet’ Tehran unless they agree never to have nuclear weaponsWelcome to our live coverage of events in the Middle East.Donald Trump has said Iran can telephone if it wants to negotiate an end to the war and that it must agree never to have a nuclear weapon, while Pakistan’s leaders have sought to revive the stalled peace talks between Washington and Tehran.Iran gave the US a new proposal on reopening the strait and ending the war, with nuclear negotiations postponed for a later stage, according to the news site Axios. The US state department and White House did not immediately comment on the Sunday report, which cited an unnamed US official and two sources.Araghchi’s talks with Pakistani officials on Sunday had included “implementing a new legal regime over the strait of Hormuz, receiving compensation, guaranteeing no renewed military aggression by warmongers and lifting the naval blockade”, according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency. In the talks with Omani leader Haitham bin Tariq al-Said, Araghchi called for a regional security framework free of outside interference.Araghchi would meet with Putin “in continuation of the diplomatic jihad to advance the country’s interests and amid external threats”, Iran’s envoy in Russia, Kazem Jalali, said on X.Two US air force C-17s carrying security staff, equipment and vehicles used to protect US officials flew out of Pakistan after the latest diplomatic trip was called off, two Pakistani government sources told Reuters on Sunday. Continue reading...
Engineer and two drivers killed in recent weeks as scarcity of clean water fuels spread of preventable diseasesIsraeli forces in Gaza killed a water engineer and two drivers who transported water to displaced families over four days in mid-April, exacerbating severe shortages of clean water that are fuelling the spread of preventable disease.Israeli limits on the shipment of soap, washing powder and other hygiene products into Gaza have also forced prices up, adding to the challenge of keeping clean and avoiding infection in overcrowded shelters and tent encampments. Continue reading...
• Egypt has convened an emergency regional summit with Ethiopia, Sudan, and other Nile Basin nations to address water allocation disputes intensified by Sudan's ongoing civil war and dam infrastructure threats.
• The summit, held in Cairo on Friday, focused on protecting the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and Blue Nile water flows during heightened regional conflict; negotiations remain deadlocked.
• US officials are monitoring the summit closely, concerned that water scarcity could fuel refugee crises across the Horn of Africa and destabilize a critical US partner region.
