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Gaza remains deadliest place for aid workers for third consecutive year: UN

Gaza remained the world’s deadliest place for humanitarian workers for the third consecutive year, with 186 aid personnel killed in 2025, the United Nations humanitarian office said Wednesday. Sudan ranked second, with 71 aid workers killed during the year, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement marking World Humanitarian Day. Worldwide, 907 humanitarian workers were killed, injured or kidnapped in 2025, setting another record for violence against aid personnel, according to figures from Humanitarian Outcomes’ Aid Worker Security Database. Although the annual death toll fell slightly to 350, the UN humanitarian office said the overall level of violence showed no sign of easing. A further 322 aid workers were injured and 235 kidnapped. Read: UN urges support for Afghan women “More than 1,000 aid workers have been killed in just three years and that is utterly unacceptable,” said Tom Fletcher, UN under-s...

Trump approval falls to 33%, lowest of his presidency: poll

President Donald Trump's approval rating fell to the lowest level of his presidency, ‌with an overwhelming majority of Americans concerned the US war with Iran will last a long time, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that concluded on Monday. Just 33% of respondents in the four-day survey said they approved of Trump's performance in the White House, while 64% disapproved. Trump's approval rating, down from 35% in a poll that closed earlier this month and ​lower than at any point in his current term, has now tied the lowest level of his prior term reached in December 2017. After ​returning to the White House in 2025 with just under half the country approving of his presidency, Trump's popularity ⁠this year took a hit after he ordered strikes on Iran alongside US ally Israel. The ensuing conflict paralysed a fifth of the global oil trade, ​triggering a surge in the price of gasoline that is weighing on US households - and on Trump's Republican allies defending congressional majorities in November midterm elections. EXCLUSIVE: Trump approval falls to 33%, lowest of his presidency, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds https://t.co/gNqlnOJSDi https://t.co/gNqlnOJSDi — Reuters (@Reuters) August 17, 2026 Trump, who ​campaigned on promises to keep inflation in check and avoid long-lasting wars, initially pledged the conflict with Iran would take a few weeks. But Iran has proved resilient and has kept the oil trade through the Strait of Hormuz largely bottled up even as the conflict has cooled. Read: As Iran war drags on, Americans are bracing for more chaos in Middle East, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds Some 80% of Americans, including 87% of Democrats and 71% of Republicans, ​think US involvement in Iran "will go on for an extended period of time", the Reuters/Ipsos poll found. Just 16% said the conflict would likely end ​in a few weeks. Trump justifies high gas prices Trump told a political rally in Garden City, New York, on Friday that paying "a tiny little bit more for your gasoline" is worth ‌the cost ⁠of ensuring "a very evil country" could not have a nuclear weapon, one of his stated rationales for the war. "I'll NEVER APOLOGISE FOR IT" Trump on Rising Gas Prices "So remember that when you have to pay a little bit more, you're at four dollars. It's okay...I'll never apologise. I did the right thing." Speaking at a rally in Garden City, New York, U.S. President Donald Trump… pic.twitter.com/85bCIutbnG — Sovereign Media (@sov_media) August 17, 2026 Throughout the conflict, the president has alternated between threats of escalation and assertions that a peace deal is imminent. Only one in five Americans, and just half of Republicans, think the war has been worth it, the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll found. Concerns about the war and gasoline prices have Republicans nervous about their hopes of defending their slim majority in the ​US House of Representatives in the ​November 3 elections, and Democrats increasingly ⁠see the US Senate also within their grasp. Reuters/Ipsos polling this month has shown voters prefer Democrats over Republicans as better stewards of the economy for the first time in about a decade. The latest poll showed 38% of voters think ​Democrats will handle the economy better, compared to 35% who prefer the Republican approach. Democrats are also seen ​as better equipped to ⁠manage the cost of living. Read More: Majority of Americans see Iran war as tougher than expected: poll The Republican approach to immigration has remained more popular than that of Democrats throughout Trump's term, with a sharp fall in border crossings and a sustained nationwide crackdown ordered by Trump. But Republicans are losing ground amid deadly confrontations and a surge in detainees, including children. Some 40% of registered voters said Republicans ⁠have the better ​approach on immigration policy, compared to 38% who pick Democrats, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos ​poll. That two-percentage-point spread is the lowest of Trump's term. Republicans led by 26 points in January 2025. The Reuters/Ipsos poll, which was conducted online, gathered responses from 1,166 US adults ​nationwide and had a margin of error of three percentage points in either direction. Trump returned to office in January 2025, vowing to avoid "stupid wars", a message that resonated with voters weary of the two decades of war that followed the September ​11, 2001, Al-Qaeda attacks.

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At least 32 miners dead after bridge fails at cobalt site in southeast DR Congo

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