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Business Recorder
3 days ago
- Politics
- Business Recorder
CPJ demands probe into murder of journalist
NEW YORK: Pakistani authorities must immediately investigate the May 24 killing of journalist Latif Baloch in Balochistan and ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Tuesday. 'Pakistani authorities must immediately investigate the reasons behind Latif Baloch's killing and determine whether it was linked to his work as a journalist,' said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ's Asia regional director. 'Journalists in Pakistan face growing violence and intimidation from both state and non-state actors. The government must ensure the safety and freedom of journalists in Balochistan and across the country.' Baloch was affiliated with some major media outlets. Balochistan police Inspector General, Moazzam Jah Ansari, did not respond to CPJ's request for comment via messaging app.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump's Medicaid Cuts Will Gut a ‘Medical Lifeline' for Millions
Sabrina Bishop, a California home care worker, and her disabled patient, Ronald Penn, traveled to Washington, D.C., last week to warn lawmakers about the impact that Donald Trump and Republicans' tax bill, which would massively cut Medicaid, will have on Americans who rely on home health care services. 'We're really trying to get them to understand that this is about saving human lives, but they want to focus on giving these billionaires and corporations tax breaks who don't even need it,' Bishop tells Rolling Stone. 'I can't believe that there's people out there who would actually entertain taking away care for people who need care,' says Penn, a veteran and retired hospice care worker, calling the idea 'absolutely criminal.' Last week, Republicans in the House of Representatives passed legislation to extend and expand Trump's 2017 tax law, which disproportionately benefited the wealthy and big corporations. Their latest tax legislation would similarly benefit the wealthy — and it would pay for those tax cuts, in part, with huge cuts to Medicaid, the government health insurance program for low-income and disabled Americans. At least 10 million Americans are expected to lose Medicaid as a result of measures in the tax bill. The legislation will also limit 'provider taxes,' which states use to provide supplemental payments to hospitals, doctors, and other health care providers. The bill would additionally impose a financial penalty on states that offer health coverage to undocumented immigrants. For California, this would mean a $30 billion reduction in federal funding by 2034. Taken together, these changes could greatly impact available funding for home health care workers like Bishop. The idea of cutting Medicaid is wildly unpopular, according to numerous polls. One recent survey, commissioned by the Committee to Protect Healthcare, an advocacy group for doctors and health care advocates, found that 62 percent of respondents oppose cutting Medicaid, compared to only 22 percent who support doing so. The group found that messages attacking GOP House candidates on Medicaid cuts shifted voter opinions by as much as 3.4 percent against Republicans. Penn and Bishop, a member of AFSCME Local 3930/United Domestic Workers, met with several California lawmakers and congressional offices in Washington last week to warn about the impact that the Medicaid cuts will have on home health care workers and their patients. Noting that Republicans are calling this legislation 'a big, beautiful deal,' Bishop says, in reality, the legislation is 'going to cut the medical lifeline off for millions of human beings, millions of people.' She adds, 'Millions of lives will be lost.' Bishop, 59, assists disabled patients, seniors, and others who cannot care for themselves — helping them with 'cooking, cleaning, running errands, medication management' — so they can 'stay in their own home, versus being put in an institution where their quality of life could be diminished.' Penn, 61, lost his eyesight and his legs due to illness. 'I'm financially OK, but I can't care for myself the way I'm used to,' he says. 'I can't drive. I can't cook.' 'That's where Sabrina comes in,' he says. 'Without my personal caregiver — and not just her, but others that work alongside her — it would grossly impact my life. I would end up in a state, county-run facility. … My livelihood would be greatly diminished, and it would cost the state and cost the federal government more money to put me in these types of places, where I wouldn't be able to come and go as I please, I wouldn't be able to thrive. I wouldn't be able to have the life that I so honestly and richly deserve — that I earned.' Bishop and Penn met with Democratic Rep. Juan Vargas, their representative, and staffers for California freshman Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff. They also met with an aide for Republican Rep. Kevin Kiley. They say the meeting with the Kiley staffer did not go well. 'I tried to reach out to him and try to appeal to his heart,' says Penn, adding that he tried to explain that it would 'cost less money to get the systems working properly and effectively' than it will if Republicans slash Medicaid. He says Kiley's aide started reciting talking points about undocumented immigrants taking advantage of the Medicaid system. This has become a key plank in Republicans' messaging efforts to defend their tax bill, despite it being false. Undocumented immigrants are ineligible for Medicaid. Democrats have pointed out that, of the millions of Americans who are expected to lose their health insurance coverage as a result of Republicans' Medicaid cuts, precisely none of them are undocumented. 'That's not the real problem,' says Bishop, adding that Republicans are merely looking for a way to give more tax breaks to the wealthy. 'If we could get them to pay their taxes, we could have a better program.' More from Rolling Stone Tom Morello Joins Bruce Springsteen and Harvard in Trump Standoff: 'F-ck That Guy' Trump Capped Memorial Day by Pardoning a Crooked Sheriff NPR Sues Trump for Trying to Strip Its Funding Best of Rolling Stone The Useful Idiots New Guide to the Most Stoned Moments of the 2020 Presidential Campaign Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal The Radical Crusade of Mike Pence
Business Recorder
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Business Recorder
CPJ slams blocking of journalist's YouTube channel
NEW YORK: Pakistani authorities must immediately restore access to exiled investigative journalist Ahmad Noorani's YouTube channel in Pakistan and stop law enforcement agencies harassing him and his family, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Friday. 'Blocking journalist Ahmad Noorani's YouTube channel and filing a criminal case against him is indicative of Pakistan's relentless campaign against exiled journalists,' said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ's Asia programme coordinator. 'It also appears that the journalist's family is being targeted back home in Pakistan. The brutal intimidation of journalists and their families must stop, and the Pakistan government must allow the media to report freely.' US-based Noorani told CPJ that he believed his brothers' forced disappearance was because of his March 17 investigative report, which said the military was misusing its influence over civilian institutions. CPJ's text message to Information Minister Attaullah Tarar requesting comment received no response.
Mint
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Mint
In Gaza, long-suffering Palestinians are directing their anger at Hamas
As the Gaza war nears its 20th month, pressure is building on Hamas from different fronts—not least of which is the growing anger among ordinary Palestinians who have had enough of the hunger, sleeplessness and the ever-present threat of airstrikes from Israeli forces. Israel says it has started to expand its military offensive in the Gaza Strip, potentially displacing more Palestinians and occupying territory. The specter of starvation is growing from two months of Israel blocking humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave after a fragile cease-fire broke down. A U.S.-backed aid distribution is being planned, which Israel says would prevent Hamas profiting from seizures of food and fuel deliveries to civilians. An Israeli airstrike this week targeted Mohammed Sinwar, Hamas' top leader in Gaza, which if proven to be successful would be a big blow to the militant group. But few expected Hamas to be wrestling with the most visible internal challenge to its authority since it seized control of the Gaza strip in 2007: the people it professes to represent. Hamas has ruled harshly, often jailing and killing its critics or threatening them into silence. Yet a simmering, continuing resistance has added to the pressure on Hamas, especially in northern Gaza, where the town of Beit Lahiya is the epicenter of anti-Hamas protests that began in March. After the demonstrations erupted in the town, they quickly spread to other parts of the Gaza Strip. Chanting 'Hamas out," large crowds, often at great risk, have demanded an end to the war and Hamas to cede control of the enclave. Since then, smaller but boisterous protests have taken place, where fear of Hamas has seemingly evaporated. On social media, influencers—many of them Palestinians based in Egypt, Turkey, Europe and the U. S.—are urging Gazans to rise against Hamas and amplifying the protests globally. They are filling a void created by militant threats against journalists in Gaza, forcing many reporters to self censor their coverage of opposition to Hamas, said the Committee to Protect Journalists on Thursday. 'I consider myself the voice of the protests," said Hamza al-Masri, a Turkey-based influencer, who has more than 1.2 million followers across several platforms. 'Hamas has terrorized people in Gaza." What is unfolding in Beit Lahiya and on social media opens a window into how Hamas misinterpreted the shift in sentiments of many Gazans. It also represents an unprecedented collective defiance against the militants. 'The general feeling among Palestinians all over Gaza, not just Beit Lahiya, is that Hamas doesn't care about their lives or suffering," said Mkhaimar Abusada, a professor of political science at Al-Azhar University—Gaza who now lives in Cairo. 'The general feeling is that Hamas cares more about its own survival." In Beit Lahiya, 'they've lost a lot of their wealth, they've lost a lot of their cultivated land in this Israeli assault," he added. 'That's why they are speaking out loudly against Hamas." A Hamas spokesman didn't respond to a request for comment about the discontent. In recent days, the pressure on Hamas has intensified. Early on Friday, Israeli airstrikes targeted Beit Lahiya and nearby Jabaliya camp, killing scores, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry. The Israeli military didn't respond to a request for comment on the Beit Lahiya strikes. In a statement, the military said its air force had struck what it called over 150 targets throughout the strip, including terrorist cells and military structures. Later, the Israeli military said that it had been conducting strikes and mobilizing troops over the past day as part of an expanded offensive to take control in parts of Gaza. The strikes are generating more discontent. 'People are very angry," said Ahmed al Masri, 26, an activist in Beit Lahiya who says he has no connection to Hamas, after the airstrikes. 'There is no safe place. What's happening to us at the hands of both the occupation and Hamas is absurd and insane. This rage is against Israel and Hamas." Hours before the airstrikes, Hamas released a statement claiming they had released their last living American hostage seized in the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, Edan Alexander, as a goodwill gesture to President Trump. A Hamas official said the understanding was that his release would result in the entry of humanitarian aid in Gaza and negotiations for a permanent cease-fire. A U.S. official said Alexander was released by Hamas without any conditions. While the protests have subsided in most areas as Gazans wrestle with deepening hardships such as finding food, medicines, clean water and shelter, a few hundred protesters took to the streets in Beit Lahiya three weeks ago. Calls are out for more protests on Saturday, one activist said, after the strikes on Friday. Nearly half of all Gazans support the protests, according to a poll released earlier this month by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, an independent non-profit based in Ramallah. Located four miles north of Gaza City and less than two miles from the Israeli border, Beit Lahiya is wealthier than most areas. Many of its roughly 100,000 population are farmers and agricultural workers who once thrived off economic links to Israel, especially exporting strawberries, which locals refer to as 'red gold," and flowers across the border and to Europe. Now, residents have seen their properties destroyed, breeding resentment against both Israel and Hamas. 'Beit Lahiya was the vegetable and fruit basket of the entire Gaza Strip," said Yousef Rajab, 30, a resident. 'We lost our land, our livelihoods. What's left for us?" Airstrikes launched after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel crushed homes before Israel sent in ground forces, forcing tens of thousands to flee. In mid-January, following a cease-fire deal, residents returned to their shattered neighborhoods, shocked by the destruction, said residents and activists. They began to rebuild their lives, but in March the cease-fire collapsed, as Israel launched further airstrikes after talks to extend the truce stalled. Soon, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants arrived in Ahmed al Masri's neighborhood in Beit Lahiya. They began launching rockets made from sewage pipes into Israel, he and other residents said. Israeli forces then dropped leaflets on the town, ordering residents to evacuate their homes again. Those orders were the tipping point, said residents, protest leaders and analysts. 'That's when things really exploded," said Ahmed al Masri. 'People had had enough. We didn't want war. We didn't want Hamas." Anger spread through the town, including among influential families and clan elders. They met with activists and residents who then called on Facebook for people to take to the streets. Others went door to door or drove a car with a loudspeaker, encouraging protest. 'The fear barrier was broken when the evacuation orders came," said Rajab. Hamas in previous years swiftly cracked down on protests. This time, some militants threatened protesters and unsuccessfully tried to disrupt the demonstrations. But the group, weakened by months of Israeli attacks, didn't systematically shut down the open defiance with force. When the protests started in late March, Hamza al Masri said he called some of the activists to express support from his base in Turkey. The 37-year-old influencer, from Beit Hanoun, joined the militants as a teenager, attracted by their religious stance and calls for Palestinian liberation, he said. By his late 20s, he was disillusioned. In 2017, Hamas militants repeatedly detained him, beat him and held him for as long as eight days to stop his critical social-media posts. 'I reached a point where it was either I commit suicide or leave Gaza," said Masri, who fled the territory in 2021. Like many Gazans, Masri at first voiced support for Hamas' attacks on Oct. 7, seeing it as a long overdue response to Israel's harsh treatment of Palestinians. But as the war and suffering deepened, he changed his mind. In last week's poll, 37% of Gazans said they approved of the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel, down from 71% in March 2024. As thousands took the streets in front of the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahiya, Masri stayed in touch with protesters, encouraging them to send videos and photos. He posted them on Telegram and other social media portals. Many other social-media influencers around the world were posting as well. The protests went viral. 'It was clear Beit Lahiya wasn't alone," said Masri. Write to Sudarsan Raghavan at
Express Tribune
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Press freedom under siege in Trump's first 100 days
In a nation long regarded as a global standard-bearer for free speech, the first hundred days of Donald Trump's second presidency have marked an ominous turning point for the American press. A new report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 'Alarm Bells: Trump's First 100 Days Ramp Up Fear for the Press, Democracy', lays bare a landscape increasingly hostile to independent journalism, in which reporters are being sidelined, public broadcasters undermined, and regulatory agencies turned into tools of intimidation. For newsrooms across the country, the report paints a very grim picture. Media outlets and practitioners now face both overt pressure and subtler constraints—pressures that risk tipping into full-fledged self-censorship. Major networks including CBS, NBC, NPR and PBS have been subjected to federal scrutiny. Journalists covering issues central to the Trump White House agenda—immigration and national security—face intense scrutiny and the possibility of retribution for their reporting. 'It is concerning to see how quickly this administration has taken actions that limit journalists' First Amendment rights,' Katherine Jacobsen, CPJ's US, Canada, and Caribbean program coordinator, told the Express Tribune. 'We chose the title Alarm Bells because we believe it's vital—not just for journalists, but for the American public and the international community—to take stock of what's happening in the US and consider the potential consequences,' she added. That warning carries international weight. The United States has long been seen as the gold standard for press freedom—a democratic superpower with the First Amendment enshrined in its Constitution and a global reputation for protecting independent journalism. But as Jacobsen points out, when the US falters, others take note. 'The US—for better or worse—has long presented itself as a promoter of press freedom. So when the US falls short, it becomes much harder to advocate for press freedom abroad,' she said. 'The Trump administration's actions serve as a kind of permission structure for other leaders… It sets a tone globally, like it or not. And that's deeply troubling.' At home, the Trump administration has increasingly curated its media environment, bringing in right-leaning influencers and fringe bloggers to White House briefings—figures who often frame questions to elicit sympathetic responses and reinforce the president's political narrative. The result is a corrosive distortion of the press pool's traditional role. 'What Trump and his allies have done very effectively is tap into one particular media ecosystem in the US—not necessarily a journalistic one, but still a media space,' Jacobsen said. 'And that's really concerning. Because journalism is fundamentally about holding power accountable. If the people in that space aren't asking hard or meaningful questions, it disrupts the flow of information,' she added. The CPJ report suggests the chilling effect is already taking hold. Some newsrooms, hoping to avoid the fate of the Associated Press—which faced exclusion and regulatory scrutiny—have begun 'quietly bending' to White House preferences. Asked how she distinguishes between cautious strategy and institutional self-censorship, Jacobsen acknowledged the nuance—but flagged the danger. 'When someone less traditional is in power—someone with unconventional methods, which Trump himself often touts—people look to journalists to help them make sense of what's happening,' she said. 'That's a core role of journalism, and it becomes even more important in uncertain times. People pay closer attention when they feel something is shifting.' But the shift now seems tectonic. Public funding for outlets like NPR and PBS is under threat. International broadcasters such as Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty—once key instruments of US soft power—have been silenced. Meanwhile, support for independent media overseas, once backed by the US Agency for International Development and other federal channels, has been quietly slashed, leaving fledgling democracies and authoritarian regimes with fewer avenues to access credible reporting. In parallel, threats to journalist safety have surged. The New York-based media watchdog reports a marked increase in requests from American newsrooms for hostile-environment training and legal support—measures more commonly associated with reporters operating in conflict zones or under autocratic regimes. The language employed by the White House—branding the press as 'the enemy of the people'—has not only normalised public contempt but, in some cases, incited violence. Some experts have even described the Trump administration's tactics as 'Nixon on steroids,' referencing former President Richard Nixon's well-documented contempt for the press. The concern, Jacobsen cautioned, is that the current climate might not be temporary. It could calcify into a generational redefinition of journalism's role and remit. 'This isn't just an American problem,' the CPJ report concludes. 'The White House's posture toward the press sets an example for the world.'
