Articles about Shortage

Most of the stations hit with penalty infringement notices were in regional NSW, while 23 were in Sydney Ninety-three service stations in New South Wales are facing fines for misrepresenting their prices amid Australia’s fuel crisis – although none are facing penalties for price gouging.A two-week compliance blitz has seen inspectors visit about 75% – or just under 1,800 – of stations registered with fuel price app FuelCheck in NSW, issuing 93 penalty infringement notices, the state government said on Sunday. Continue reading...

Ripple effects of oil and fertiliser shortage felt by farmers in India and Sri Lanka despite governments saying there is enough stock to go roundGurvinder Singh never thought the war in Iran would touch his quiet corner of Punjab.Yet looking out over his smallholding, where he alternates between wheat and rice crops in the state known as India’s breadbasket, the 52-year-old farmer can barely think of anything else. His anxiety over a conflict playing out thousands of miles away is crippling as he fears what will come of this season’s rice crop. Continue reading...

People receive rehab only three to four days a week in hospital – and one to two days once they are discharged, data suggestsThe NHS is failing stroke patients and limiting their chances of recovery because of a shortage of rehabilitation care staff, health leaders have said.More people are surviving strokes than ever before in the UK. But their hopes of getting better are being dashed because of a lack of physiotherapists and other specialist staff, according to the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy and the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Neurology. Continue reading...

• The CDC temporarily halted testing for rabies and pox viruses—including those for smallpox and mpox—to assist state labs, as part of an agency-wide review started in late 2024. • By July, the rabies team will have only one advisor left for states, while the pox virus team will have none due to dwindling staff from resignations and layoffs. • Experts express concern over reduced clinical expertise, potentially weakening national responses to outbreaks.

Federal agency, which normally supports state and local public health labs, has been hobbled by staff departuresSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxThe US federal agency responsible for monitoring diseases has temporarily halted certain diagnostic testing, including those for rabies, human herpesvirus and several other infectious illnesses.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a list on Monday showing that more than two dozen types of testing are now unavailable. Continue reading...

Michael O’Leary says UK’s reliance on Kuwait for jet fuel supply amid Iran war exposes it to possible shortagesThe UK is the most vulnerable country in Europe to potential jet fuel shortages as the Iran war throttles supplies from the Gulf, the boss of Ryanair has said.Michael O’Leary, the chief executive of the budget airline, said Britain would be the most exposed to jet fuel shortages because it relies on Kuwait for about 25% of its supply. Continue reading...

Concern that supply chain disruption could hit health essentials – and prices – from painkillers to cancer treatmentBritain is “a few weeks away” from medicine shortages ranging from painkillers to cancer treatment if the Iran war continues, according to experts, while drug prices could also rise.The conflict has disrupted the supply of a myriad of crucial raw materials, including oil, gas, crop fertiliser and helium – and health essentials could be next. Continue reading...

• International medical graduates play a vital role in addressing the U.S. physician shortage projected at 86,000 by 2036, particularly for Medicare patients and underserved communities. • The American Medical Association's March 27, 2026 National Advocacy Update calls on representatives to co-sponsor H.R. legislation to support these essential workers. • This effort aims to ensure adequate healthcare workforce amid growing demands from aging populations and expanded coverage.

Teesside site mothballed in September given £100m in government investment to restart production for at least three monthsA shuttered carbon dioxide plant is to reopen on Teesside with £100m of government investment in response to fears the war in Iran could trigger shortages of the gas that multiple industries rely on.The business secretary, Peter Kyle, has approved the reopening of the Ensus plant to help bolster production of CO2, which has uses ranging from carbonating drinks and keeping food fresh to medical procedures and the sedating of animals for slaughter. Continue reading...

Ha Nguyen McNeill testified before House committee about airport wait times amid DHS funding shutdownThe acting head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said on Wednesday that airports across the country are experiencing the “highest wait times in TSA history”, as the partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) enters its sixth week.At a House homeland security committee hearing, Ha Nguyen McNeill said her agency has been shut down for 50% of the fiscal year so far – a stretch that includes last year’s record-breaking 43‑day lapse in federal funding. She told lawmakers that by Friday, TSA employees will have missed $1bn in paychecks as a result of the closures. Continue reading...

Fuel tax cuts also risk adding to inflation by enabling some households with enough income to spend moreFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastFuel excise cuts would be a “political band-aid” that could worsen petrol shortages and add to inflation, economists have warned.The mining billionaire Gina Rinehart, Tasmania’s state premier and Liberal opposition leaders in New South Wales and Victoria have called for the Albanese government to cut the excise on petrol and diesel. Continue reading...

Energy minister Michael Shanks reassures drivers ahead of chancellor’s statement to MPsGood morning. At lunchtime Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, will give a statement to MPs that will cover what the government is doing, and (more tentatively) might do, in response to the soaring global energy prices caused by the Iran war. After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, also creating a global energy shortage, the Conservative government ended up spending £40bn supporting families and firms with energy bills over the following winter. Reeves’s problem is that she has not got £40bn spare. With spring upon us, and people starting to turn down their central heating, the issue may not seem particularly pressing in many households (although heating oil and petrol prices are already soaring.) But, by the end of this year, this could be the sort of colossal economic crisis that gets remembered for half a century.As Chris Mason explains in a good preview, Reeves is expected to cover three points. She is expected to confirm that the government wants to give the Competition and Markets Authority new powers to deal with any potention profiteering by oil companies. She will confirm that the government wants to go “further and faster to secure the next generation of nuclear power and to reclaim Britain’s place as a leading nuclear nation” (as the Treasury puts it in its overnight preview).[Drivers] should do everything as absolutely normal because there is no shortage of fuel anywhere in the country at the moment. We monitor this every single day, I look at the numbers personally. There’s no issue at all with that …People should go about their business as normal. That’s what the RAC and the AA have said. It’s really important people do that. There’s no shortage of fuel and everything is working as normal.Look genuinely, people shouldn’t change their behaviour or their habits in the slightest. Continue reading...

From a shop owner in India to a community worker in New South Wales, rising fuel prices are forcing people to ration oil usageMiddle East crisis – live updatesAlagesan, 35, needs liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to run his roadside drink and snack shop in Coimbatore, India, but with the fuel shortage since the US-Israel attacks on Iran, he worries his business could fold.“I am far away from the Middle East, but my life is affected,” he said. “The gas cylinder is not available because of the war. I don’t know what to do.” Continue reading...

• Research firm IDC significantly lowered its 2026 PC shipment forecast to an 11.3% decline, compared to the previous projection of a 2.4% drop, driven by ongoing memory shortages, rising component costs, and supply chain disruptions expected to persist into 2027. • Tablet shipments are also expected to fall 7.6% in 2026, though the overall market value is projected to increase slightly as higher component costs drive up per-unit prices for computers and devices. • IDC predicts that truly inexpensive computers will become rarer as the industry adapts to a new normal with elevated component pricing, fundamentally changing the affordable computing landscape.

Energy minister says it will take ‘some time’ for extra supply to reach regional areas. Follow today’s news liveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe energy minister, Chris Bowen, says it will take “some time” for the petrol and disesel released from Australia’s domestic stockpile to reach areas hit by shortages.On Friday, the Albanese government directed fuel companies to release nearly a fifth of reserve petrol and diesel supplies. Dozens of service stations across the country have run out of petrol as retailers struggle with customers panic-buying in response to skyrocketing prices from the Middle East conflict.There will be some time for it to flow through. There’s a very complicated supply chain.But it is going to have an impact. Some companies have said it will start to have an impact in coming days, to some degree. But there will be some time before it’s all released. Continue reading...