NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

Israel strikes Lebanon as Iran says it "cannot trust the Americans at all": Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said that his country "cannot trust the Americans at all" and Iran is "trying to maintain" the "shaky" ceasefire "to give diplomacy a chance." CBS

Big promises, thin results from Trump’s China trip: During a Friday briefing with reporters on Air Force One en route back to the U.S. from Beijing, Trump revealed few substantive agreements while suggesting that at Xi’s behest he was rethinking a key element of U.S. relations with Taiwan. Trump provided no details of a potential U.S. sale of soybeans to China beyond a vague assertion that China would buy “billions of dollars” worth. He touted the sale of 200 Boeing aircraft to China but that was less than half of what some analysts and investors had expected. Beijing didn’t confirm either agreement and Boeing did not respond when asked to confirm the sale. POLITICO

WORST ADMINISTRATION EVER?

An FCC Commissioner Tells Disney the Agency Is on a Campaign to Censor It: ABC has been a victim of a “sustained, coordinated campaign of censorship and control” by the Trump administration, Federal Communications Commissioner Anna Gomez told Josh D’Amaro, chief executive of Disney, the network’s parent company. The FCC under Republican Chairman Brendan Carr has been weaponized to pressure “a free and independent press and all media into submission,” Gomez wrote in a letter sent to D’Amaro on Monday and viewed by The Wall Street Journal. 

The families going hungry because of Trump’s food stamp cuts: Since the law was enacted last summer, about 3.5 million people have fallen off the SNAP rolls nationwide as of January, according to federal data. No state has seen a more dramatic drop than Arizona, which offers a window into what may be in store for other states. “It’s a frightening time for the folks we serve,” said Natalie Jayroe, CEO of the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona. NBC

Medical Experts Declare President Trump Too Unstable to Remain in Office, Cite Nuclear Weapons Risks: On April 30, 2026, a group of 36 leading physicians and other doctors with expertise in mental health issued a statement calling for President Donald J. Trump’s immediate, lawful removal from office for medical reasons. His mental instability, coupled with his sole, unchecked authority to launch nuclear weapons, makes him a clear and present danger to the safety of all Americans, they declared. The U.S. Senate offices of Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Jack Reed (D-RI) entered the experts’ statement into the Congressional Record, Vol. 172, No. 76. PEACE AND HEALTH BLOG

DESI NEWS

US reportedly dropped fraud charges against Indian billionaire after he hired Trump’s lawyer: The US Department of Justice is dropping its fraud charges against the Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, the richest man in Asia, after he hired a new legal team led by Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, according to new reports. In an undisclosed April meeting at the justice department, Trump’s personal lawyer, Robert J Giuffra Jr, said that Adani would invest $10bn in the US economy and create 15,000 jobs if prosecutors dropped the charges against him. THE GUARDIAN

US widens drive to revoke citizenship of foreign-born Americans: The Trump administration is widening its drive to revoke the citizenship of foreign-born Americans, filing a new wave of denaturalisation cases against individuals accused of fraud, terrorism links and serious financial crimes, the Justice Department announced on Friday. The US Department of Justice said it had initiated proceedings against roughly a dozen naturalised citizens, including an Indian-origin businessman accused of defrauding investors of millions of dollars. CBS DAWN

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND SAFETY

Trump Admin Withholds $1.3 Billion in Medicaid Reimbursement Payments from California: The Trump administration is withholding $1.3 billion in Medicaid reimbursement payments from California, after top officials accused the state of failing to adequately address fraud in its Medi-Cal program. It’s the latest in a string of similar actions targeting states run by Democrats. DEMOCRACY NOW

After USDA request, Indiana plant biologist locked out of lab by school: A faculty member at Indiana University (IU) Bloomington who has sharply criticized the government’s recent prosecution of several Chinese scientists accused of smuggling biological materials into the United States has been locked out of his laboratory by the school in response to a request by one of his federal funders. SCIENCE

CORRUPTION ALERT

Tobacco industry secures a win with help from Trump: Over lunch at his golf club in Jupiter, Flor­ida, Pres­id­ent Don­ald Trump got an ear­ful from a group of tobacco exec­ut­ives and lob­by­ists unhappy with the way the Food and Drug Admin­is­tra­tion was reg­u­lat­ing their industry. Even­tu­ally Trump had heard enough. He inter­rup­ted the con­ver­sa­tion to call Dr. Marty Makary, the FDA com­mis­sioner. No answer. Furi­ous, the pres­id­ent then dialed Makary’s boss, Health Sec­ret­ary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and another top health offi­cial, Dr. Mehmet Oz, the head of the Cen­ters for Medi­care and Medi­caid Ser­vices and complained. Less than one week later, the exec­ut­ives got what they wanted. On Fri­day, the FDA issued new guid­ance that could pave the way for major tobacco com­pan­ies to begin selling flavored vapes and to snare a chunk of the $6 bil­lion e-cigar­ette mar­ket away from illegal Chinese com­pet­it­ors. The new policy bypassed the FDA’s reg­u­lar rule­mak­ing pro­cess. On Tues­day, Makary resigned, telling asso­ciates he could not in good con­science remain the head of an agency that backed such a policy. PRESS READER

Trump name-drops Palantir by ticker symbol, 1st president to hype a stock. It surged $10B in minutes amid a 16% freefall: President Donald Trump did something no sitting president has publicly done — he appeared to endorse a publicly traded company by its stock ticker symbol, praising defense tech firm Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) on Truth Social on Friday in a post that reversed the stock's slide within minutes. Trump touted Palantir on Truth Social after buying the company’s stock, records show. YAHOO FINANCE CNBC

How Trump’s $500 Million UAE Crypto Deal Trades U.S. National Security for Family Profit: Days before Trump’s second inauguration, the United Arab Emirates’ “Spy Sheikh” secretly bought 49 percent of the Trump family’s crypto firm. Months later, the administration handed over America’s most sensitive AI chips technology to the United Arab Emirates despite national security concerns. This isn’t just profiteering; it’s a betrayal of U.S. national security. CAP

Terms on Trump Mobile site indicate phones may never come: “Estimated ship dates, launch timelines, or anticipated production schedule are non-binding estimates only,” reads a portion of the terms and conditions, directly under a header reading “No Guarantee of Release, Delivery or Timing.” The site also indicates that the phone may never be released at all. THE HILL

Trump Bought Boeing Stock, Then Announced New Order for 200 Planes: Trump’s disclosure filing showed he was aggressively buying stocks in the $1 million-to-$5 million range, including Boeing and GE Aerospace. Shortly afterward came news of a potentially historic China aircraft agreement. 247WALL ST

Trump ethics filing reveals thousands of trades tied to U.S. stocks: President Donald Trump disclosed a flurry of at least $220 million in financial transactions earlier this year in the securities of major U.S. companies, according to two new financial disclosure forms released Thursday by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. NBC

TAKE ACTION

The only way out of the mess we are in right now is Democratic control of the House and Senate? Help TSB support candidates who will stand up to Trump. Donate to us to help turn out desi voters at theyseeblue.org/donate.