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Journalist Anas Al-Sharif, murdered by Israel
Further

Until Our Last Breath

Israel has murdered Anas Al-Sharif, 28, a steadfast, well-known Al Jazeera correspondent called "the voice of Gaza to the world," in a targeted strike in Gaza City that also killed four other journalists. Long threatened by Israel for his relentless coverage of Israeli atrocities, Al-Sharif vowed to continue "every day and every hour to report what is happening - this is our cause." In a last message, Al-Sharif wrote, "I lived pain in all its details and I tasted loss and grief time and again...Do not forget Gaza."

Al-Sharif was among five Al Jazeera journalists killed in a clearly targeted strike on a tent housing them outside the main gate of al-Shifa Hospital late Sunday. The other victims were Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa. In his last post before his death, al-Sharif said Israel had launched intense bombing, called "fire belts," on Gaza City; his final video showed the sky lit by orange flashes as loud booms sounded.

Calling Al-Sharif "one of Gaza's bravest journalists" - and one of the most prominent with over half a million followers online - Al Jazeera said he and his colleagues were among the last remaining voices in Gaza "conveying its tragic reality to the world." It accused Israel of waging a “campaign of incitement” against its journalists by repeatedly fabricating evidence seeking to link them to Hamas; in the last 22 months, the Israeli military has killed over 230 journalists, including multiple ones from Al Jazeera.

A U.N. rapporteur had earlier cited Israel's "repeated threats and accusations" against Al-Sharif, arguing, "Fears for (his) safety are well-founded." Last month, Israel claimed it had "unequivocal proof” he was a member of Hamas, and on Sunday they admitted to a deliberate strike against Al-Sharif, "the head of a terrorist cell." Colleagues dismissed the claim as propaganda, with "zero evidence" to support it. Said a colleague of Al-Sharif's: "His entire daily routine was standing in front of a camera from morning to evening."

Other journalists also charge Israel is waging "a deliberate war on journalists" purely for their willingness to risk their lives to document Israel's genocidal crimes, from mass bombardment to mass starvation. “Israel’s strategy is clear: Silence the truth by murdering those who report it," said The Palestine Chronicle's Ramzi Baroud, who mourned having to lose so many journalists solely for their "commitment to the truth." Still, he insisted, "Their deaths will not bury the Palestinian story."

Al-Sharif had earlier written that, "despite all (the) difficulties and tragic circumstances" he and his colleagues had faced over the last brutal year and a half, he held to his belief that "it is the duty of the world to see and witness what we are documenting...This drives us to continue in our coverage to our last breath." Still, he knew death likely awaited. "This is my will and final message," he wrote in April. "If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice."

"First, peace and God’s mercy and blessings be upon you," he wrote in the translated post published by his family. "God knows I have given all my effort and strength to be a support and a voice for my people since I opened my eyes to life in the alleys and streets of Jabalia Refugee Camp. My hope was that God would grant me life so I could return with my family and loved ones to our original town of Ashkelon (Al-Majdal), now occupied. But God’s will was swifter, and His judgment is inevitable."

Berating "those who remained silent, who accepted our killing," he goes on to entrust those reading "with Palestine, the jewel of the Muslim crown and the heartbeat of every free person in this world...with its people and its innocent children who were not granted a lifetime to dream or live in safety and peace," and with his wife and two children he did not live to see grow. "I die steadfast in my principles," he writes. "Forgive me if I have fallen short, and pray for mercy for me, for I have kept my promise...Do not forget Gaza."

"I lost my voice screaming, 'Massacre, massacre,' hoping that the world takes action. But it is an unjust world." - Anas Jamal Al-Sharif.

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An LNG transport ship.
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'Unacceptable': Trump Admin Approves More Exports From LNG Terminal With History of Violations

Climate advocates slammed U.S. President Donald Trump's administration on Tuesday after it signed off on allowing additional liquefied natural gas exports from a controversial terminal with a lengthy history of environmental violations.

In a press release, the U.S. Department of Energy said that Secretary of Energy Chris Wright has now given final authorization for more gas exports from Venture Global's Calcasieu Pass project in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. In total, the new authorizations could allow the export of an additional 20 billion cubic feet of natural gas from the terminal per year.

In touting the authorization, Wright argued that it was "another reminder that this administration is committed to expanding the supply of abundant, affordable, and secure American energy."

The Calcasieu Pass terminal racked up more than 2,000 deviations from its air permit in its first year of operation back in 2022 and has long been a target for environmental and climate activists.

Mahyar Sorour, director of beyond fossil fuels policy at Sierra Club, hammered the administration for supporting policies that would accelerate the global climate emergency.

"It is unacceptable that on the same day Secretary Wright denies climate science, his agency approves more exports from Venture Global's Calcasieu Pass facility," said Sorour. "LNG exports are driving our climate crisis. While communities are experiencing increasingly more dangerous and deadly extreme weather disasters, this administration is pushing an agenda that benefits polluting corporations at all of our expense."

Roishetta Ozane, founder of Vessel Project of Louisiana, warned that the authorizations of new exports posed a direct health threat to her community.

"Venture Global already has countless air permit violations at this facility, polluting my community and making people across the region sick," she said. "But now they've been given a free pass to keep our families in danger with even more LNG exports. This administration is completely disregarding public health, safety, and climate science to boost the profits of a company that cuts corners at every turn, while we pay the price."

Trump has made doubling down on fossil fuels a centerpiece of his administration's energy strategy even as other nations push for a transition to cleaner and cheaper energy sources such as wind and solar power. The massive budget package recently passed by the Republican Congress and signed into law by Trump contained an additional billions of dollars worth of subsidies for fossil fuel production, even as it gutted the green energy subsidies that were approved in 2022 after the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act.

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Attorney General Pam Bondi Testifies In Senate Hearing
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Trump DOJ Gives Monopolist UnitedHealth a Green Light to Swallow Yet Another Competitor

The Trump Justice Department on Thursday paved the way for yet another corporate merger, this time settling a Biden-era legal challenge that aimed to block UnitedHealth Group from adding the home health and hospice care provider Amedisys to its eye-popping list of subsidiaries.

The DOJ's Antitrust Division, which is under siege by lobbyists connected to the White House, said the settlement would require UnitedHealth and Amedisys to "divest 164 home health and hospice locations across 19 states." The deal, which must be approved by a judge, would also require Amedisys to "pay a $1.1 million civil penalty to the United States for falsely certifying that it had provided 'true, correct, and complete' responses under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976."

The settlement was announced on the same day that Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) launched an investigation into UnitedHealth, specifically probing the company's alleged practice of incentivizing nursing homes to slash patient care costs.

Warren was among those who criticized the UnitedHealth-Amedisys settlement, writing on social media that she "sounded the alarm about UnitedHealth's attempt to purchase this home health giant years ago."

"This is another half-baked merger settlement by the Trump DOJ—this time at the expense of the most vulnerable," Warren added. "The public deserves to know if this deal is based on political favors."

"It claims to divest home health and hospice care providers in overlapping markets but, in actuality, cedes them to similarly conflicted buyers, including a highly leveraged private equity firm."

The settlement came as the Trump Justice Department is under growing scrutiny for terminating or sidelining top antitrust officials and acquiescing to lobbyists fighting DOJ merger lawsuits.

Last week, as Common Dreams reported, the Justice Department dropped an antitrust case against American Express Global Business Travel, a company that has paid Ballard Partners—Attorney General Pam Bondi's former lobbying firm—hundreds of thousands of dollars this year to pressure the DOJ on antitrust matters.

Ballard has also been paid big money this year by UnitedHealth, far and away the most powerful healthcare company in the U.S. According to a recent analysis by the Center for Health and Democracy, UnitedHealth currently has around 2,700 subsidiaries, giving it a foothold in virtually every aspect of the U.S. healthcare system.

The legal challenge against UnitedHealth's proposed $3.3 billion acquisition of Amedisys was brought in November 2024 by the Biden Justice Department alongside the attorneys general of Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York, each of whom backed the Trump DOJ's settlement.

Upon announcing the challenge, then-Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter—the head of the Biden DOJ's Antitrust Division—warned that "unless this $3.3 billion transaction is stopped, UnitedHealth Group will further extend its grip to home health and hospice care, threatening seniors, their families, and nurses."

Emma Freer, senior policy analyst for healthcare at the American Economic Liberties Project, said in a statement Thursday that "the DOJ was right to challenge this deal, which would eliminate head-to-head competition that lowers costs, improves care quality, and betters working conditions for nurses and other caregivers."

"This settlement abandons that goal and caves to UnitedHealth Group, one of the most dangerous monopolists in American healthcare," said Freer. "It claims to divest home health and hospice care providers in overlapping markets but, in actuality, cedes them to similarly conflicted buyers, including a highly leveraged private equity firm."

"As a result," Freer added, "Big Medicine will profit at the expense of vulnerable hospice patients, some of whom will pay with their lives, and the workers who care for them."

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a worker helps a woman shop in the meat aisle in a grocery store
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CBO Confirms With Trump-GOP 'Big, Ugly Law,' Working Families Lose 'And Billionaires Win'

Congressional Democrats and policy experts blasted U.S. President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers' recently signed megabill on Monday in response to a new nonpartisan analysis about its varied impacts on American households.

U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), House Budget Committee Ranking Member Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) requested the report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

The analysis "confirms that the deeply unpopular One Big Ugly Law is also deeply unfair. It rips food and healthcare from children, veterans, and seniors, hurting the most vulnerable among us in order to enact massive tax breaks for billionaire donors," Jeffries said in a statement. "The American people deserve better than this cruel Republican budget scam."

"Hardworking families pay the biggest price while billionaires reap the reward."

The CBO said last month that the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act would add $3.4 trillion to the national deficit and cause at least 10 million people to lose health insurance over the next decade—though the latter figure ticks up when accounting for other GOP attacks on healthcare.

The agency said Monday that under the GOP law, the richest 10% of households are set to see $13,600 more annually, mainly attributable to tax cuts. Meanwhile, the poorest 10% will lose about $1,200 per year, mostly due to "reductions in in-kind transfers," such as Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). CBO estimates that roughly 4 million Americans, including 1 million children, will see significant cuts to food aid due to the law's new restrictions.

"Trump and congressional Republicans continue to falsely claim that their Big, Ugly Betrayal of a bill is a windfall for working families. In reality, hardworking families pay the biggest price while billionaires reap the reward," declared Merkley. "It is truly unfathomable that Trump and Republicans in Congress are championing a bill that gives the top 10% $13,600 more per year—while the least affluent 10% will lose $1,200 per year. This is families lose, and billionaires win."

Also noting the projected losses and gains for the bottom and top 10% of households, Brendan Duke, senior director for federal budget policy at the progressive think tank Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), said that "this isn't shared sacrifice—it's class warfare."

As Katie Bergh, a senior policy analyst on CBPP's food assistance team, detailed on social media Monday:

Slashing federal funding for SNAP and imposing those costs on most states will eliminate or reduce SNAP benefits for about 300,000 people in a typical month, CBO estimates. And 96,000 kids will also lose free school meals when they're cut off SNAP.

But the impacts could be far greater than CBO projects if more states slash SNAP—or opt out of the program altogether—in response to the deep cut in federal funding. The risk of these drastic cuts would increase during recessions, when state budgets are more strained.

CBO also estimates that 2.4 million people will be cut off SNAP by the dramatic expansion of SNAP's existing harsh, ineffective, and red tape-laden work requirement. Research consistently shows this policy doesn't increase employment or earnings. It just takes food away from people...

But the harm of the work requirement won't be limited to the 2.4 million adults who will be cut off SNAP. When this policy cuts an adult off SNAP, it also dramatically reduces food benefits for everyone else in the household—including kids, seniors, and people with disabilities.

The megabill will also end SNAP eligibility for tens of thousands of immigrants with a lawful status based on humanitarian need, including refugees, people granted asylum, and certain survivors of labor or sex trafficking. Again, many of those losing food assistance are children.

"Bottom line: At a time when low-income families are increasingly struggling to afford groceries, the Republican megabill means millions of them will soon be losing some or all of the help that they need to put food on the table," Bergh added.

With the president waging a tariff war on the rest of the world, polling released earlier this month shows that Americans are having a hard time with the costs of necessities, including groceries, and are stressed about it. The advocacy group Unrig Our Economy recently launched an interactive tool to help Americans see exactly how much the price of essentials has gone up in their state under Trump and Republican control of Congress.

"Prices keep rising, and American families are struggling. So what are President Trump's Republicans doing to help? They passed a law that will make things worse by stealing from working families to give billionaires a tax break," Boyle said Monday. "This nonpartisan report confirms the GOP's Big, Ugly Law is a total betrayal of the middle class. I won't let the American people forget who sold them out."

While the analysis is new, Schumer stressed that GOP lawmakers knew what they were doing when they passed the legislation.

"Today, yet another nonpartisan analysis of Trump and Republicans' 'Big, Ugly Betrayal' lays out the cold hard facts: While multimillionaires get $300,000 per year in tax breaks, the least wealthy will lose $1,200 a year," he said. "The reality is Republicans knew this when they passed it. They just don't care. They sold out American families all to line the pockets of their billionaire donors and special interests."

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US-EL SALVADOR-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY
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Leaked Drafts Show Trump Administration Scrubbing Out Human Rights Violations of Favored Nations

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration earned condemnation from Amnesty International on Thursday over its leaked plans to downplay human rights violations in countries favored by the American government.

News of the plan was originally reported on Wednesday by The Washington Post, which documented how the administration has been revising State Department reports on human rights in El Salvador, Israel, and Russia to "strike all references to LGBTQ+ individuals or crimes against them." The Post also added that "the descriptions of government abuses that do remain have been softened."

In the case of El Salvador, where the administration earlier this year began lawlessly shipping immigrants deported from the United States, the administration's report stated that were "no credible reports of significant human rights abuses" there, even though a State Department report under former President Joe Biden's administration issued last year documented "significant human rights issues" in the country.

Human rights violations against LGBTQ+ people were deleted from the State Department's report on Russia, while the report on Israel deleted references to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial and to his government's threats to the country's independent judiciary.

Amanda Klasing, Amnesty International USA's national director of government relations and advocacy, ripped the administration for selectively whitewashing human rights records of nations favored by the president.

"The leaked chapters of the latest Annual Human Rights Report reveal a disturbing effort by the Trump administration to purposefully fail to fully capture the alarming and growing attacks on human rights in certain countries around the globe," she said. "Alarmingly, we understand that the mandate from Secretary Rubio was... to go back and wipe out portions of the reports that had already been written—to delete stories from survivors of human rights violations."

Klasing went on to accuse the administration of turning the human rights report "into yet another tool to obscure facts to push forward anti-rights policy choices."

She also emphasized that "it would be a travesty and subversion of congressional intent to downplay or ignore human rights violations faced by marginalized populations including refugees and asylum seekers, women and girls, Indigenous people, ethnic and religious minorities, and LGBTQI+ people throughout the world."

An unnamed State Department official this week told the Post that the administration was merely simplifying the human rights reports to make them more "readable."

"The 2024 Human Rights report has been restructured in a way that removes redundancies, increases report readability, and is more responsive to the legislative mandate that underpins the report," the official said. "The human rights report focuses on core issues."

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Israel kills five Palestinian journalists
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'Blatant and Premeditated Attack on Press Freedom': Israel Assassinates Five Gaza Journalists

The Israeli military on Sunday killed five Al Jazeera journalists with an airstrike on a press tent in Gaza City, a massacre that the media network decried as "yet another blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom."

Reporters Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa were killed in the Israeli strike. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that it was intentionally targeting al-Sharif, claiming he was "the head of a Hamas terrorist cell."

Press freedom organizations, United Nations experts, and human rights groups have denounced such assertions as part of a smear campaign aimed at justifying al-Sharif's assassination. Last month, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it was "gravely worried" about al-Sharif's safety, noting that the IDF ramped up its false attacks after "the journalist cried on air while reporting on starvation in Gaza."

CPJ regional director Sara Qudah said in a statement Sunday that "Israel's pattern of labeling journalists as militants without providing credible evidence raises serious questions about its intent and respect for press freedom."

"Journalists are civilians and must never be targeted," said Qudah. "Those responsible for these killings must be held accountable."

The Al Jazeera Media Network said the five journalists killed by the Israeli military on Sunday "boldly and courageously documented the plight of Gaza and its people since the onset of the war." They are among at least 10 Al Jazeera staff members who have been killed by Israeli forces since October 2023.

"Anas and his colleagues were among the last remaining voices from within Gaza, providing the world with unfiltered, on-the-ground coverage of the devastating realities endured by its people," the network continued. "Through continuous, courageous live coverage, they have delivered searing eyewitness accounts of the horrors unleashed over 22 months of relentless bombing and destruction."

Slain Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif reported near a hospital in Gaza City on October 10, 2024. (Photo: AFP via Getty Images)

The Israeli government has barred the foreign press from entering the Gaza Strip, leaving Palestinian journalists with the immense burden of covering the assault while also struggling for their own survival.

CPJ estimates that more than 180 journalists have been killed since Israel's assault on Gaza began following the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023. The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate puts the figure higher, at 230.

Palestinian journalists are also among those facing the growing threat of starvation under Israel's suffocating blockade.

Mohamed Duar, Amnesty International Australia's occupied Palestinian territory spokesperson, said Sunday that "Israel isn't just assassinating journalists but attacking journalism itself by preventing the documentation of genocide."

“The courageous and brave journalists who have been reporting since the genocide began have been operating in the most dangerous conditions on Earth," said Duar. "At great risk to their lives, they have remained to show the world the war crimes being committed by Israel against almost two million Palestinian women, men, and children."

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