A gripping look at journalism’s ultimate sacrifice, told through stories of courage, loss and unwavering conviction.
In a world where truth-telling can often mean life or death, this documentary shines a light on journalists who paid the ultimate price for their work. From war zones to political cover-ups, their courageous reporting exposed critical truths, but also made them targets. Through intimate interviews with their families, friends, and colleagues, the film provides a heartfelt tribute to their legacies while uncovering the dangerous realities of journalism today.
Drawing on rare footage, personal accounts, and expert analysis, the film goes beyond the headlines to explore the human stories behind the statistics. These are not just tales of loss but of bravery, conviction, and an unwavering belief in the public’s right to know. The documentary also reflects on the emotional toll faced by those left behind, who grapple with grief, fear, and often unanswered questions about justice.
As attacks on journalists rise globally, the film exposes how press freedom is under siege in both autocratic regimes and democratic societies. It challenges viewers to consider the value of truth in an age of misinformation and growing, often orchestrated, hostility towards the media.
By exploring the stories of those who gave their lives in pursuit of the truth, this film offers a sobering reminder of the risks journalists take to inform the world. At its core, it is a call to defend press freedom and to remember the individuals who believed that the role of journalism is the protection of the ruled over the ruler.
This is not just a story about journalism, but a testament to human courage and the enduring power and importance of truth.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is scheduled to meet United States President Donald Trump at the White House, where he is expected to seek a waiver on US sanctions on the purchase of Russian oil.
In a state radio interview released on Friday, the right-wing nationalist and longtime Trump ally said it was necessary to “achieve results” given Russia’s central role in providing Hungary with oil and gas.
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“Hungary depends very much on Russian oil and gas,” Orban said during a recent interview with the Italian publication La Repubblica. “Without them, energy prices will skyrocket, causing shortages in our reserves.”
The meeting will test whether Orban’s close relationship with Trump will be enough to secure exemptions to expanding US sanctions targeting the Russian energy sector, a form of pressure meant to push Moscow towards negotiating an end to its war in Ukraine.
“President Trump and Prime Minister Orban have a long, positive relationship – they are very friendly with each other,” James Bachik, an analyst at the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center, told Al Jazeera.
“We’ll see what sort of exemptions he might get. Donald Trump does have that personal relationship. He’s even empathised in the past with Hungary’s position on their dependence on Russian energy,” he added. “But the question is, will Hungary bring enough to the table to get that exemption?”
Other countries, including US allies such as India, which had previously bought Russian oil with little protest from Washington, have scrambled to respond to the abrupt change in US policy that threatens to impose punitive sanctions and restrict access to Russian oil.
Among European leaders, Orban is also considered more sympathetic towards Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Hungary has often been an obstacle towards European Union efforts to step up pressure on Russia.
The ideological affinity between Trump and Orban, both far-right leaders who have pushed a hardline vision of immigration restriction and sought to crack down on political opposition, could help Orban secure relief from potential sanctions.
“If there has ever been a golden age in Hungarian-American relations, it is now,” Orban said in a recent social media post. “We stand together on the key issues of our time: war and peace, migration, and the protection of family values.”
Prosecutors in Tanzania have charged dozens of people with treason over a wave of deadly protests sparked by a disputed election.
At least 76 people were accused of intending to obstruct the October 29 election, The Associated Press news agency reported on Friday, citing the charge sheet.
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The Reuters news agency reported that at least 145 people were charged with treason for alleged involvement in the protests, citing court documents.
In addition to treason, the suspects also face criminal conspiracy charges, The AP reported.
Specific charges were only outlined against one person, a businesswoman who prosecutors allege encouraged protesters to buy tear-gas masks from her business during the demonstrations.
Human rights activists and the main opposition party Chadema said security forces killed more than 1,000 people during the protests. The government rejects the figure, but has not offered its own death toll.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who was sworn in on Monday, won with almost 98 percent of the vote, in an election that the African Union (AU) said failed to adhere to democratic standards.
The AU’s monitoring arm cited ballot stuffing, the government-imposed internet blackout, allegations of excessive military force and politically motivated abductions as actions “compromising election integrity”.
The two leading opposition candidates were controversially barred from competing in the vote, with the Chadema leader Tundu Lissu still in prison on treason charges that were brought in April.
Religious leaders were among those who urged the government to try to reconcile with political opponents and protesters in the wake of the unrest.
Benson Bagonza, a bishop in the country’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, said the charges would likely make tensions worse.
“The only option for the government to keep at least the relative peace now is … to grieve with the people instead of arresting and taking people to court,” he said.
On Friday, the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) and six other NGOs issued a joint statement condemning the “excessive use of force against unarmed demonstrators, including reprisal killings of civilians, some in their own homes”.
“Families have been left traumatised, and children have witnessed violence against their parents,” it said, adding that hundreds had been detained and that the “extent of human rights abuses is yet to be fully uncovered”.
Chadema party secretary Amos Ntobi believes hundreds were killed in his northern Mwanza region alone.
“We saw people being shot in broad daylight. There were bodies all over the streets — some people were killed instantly, others left badly wounded,” he told the AFP news agency.
Hassan became president in 2021 after her predecessor, John Magufuli, unexpectedly died.
Loud explosions have been heard in Sudan’s army-held capital Khartoum, shortly after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said it was ready for a truce after fighting the government-aligned Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) for more than two years of brutal civil war.
The attacks took place early Friday, targeting Omdruman, part of the greater Khartoum area, and army-held Atbara to the north of the capital, and were intercepted by the army’s air defence systems, according to Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan.
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The day before, the RSF had responded positively to a ceasefire idea proposed by the Quad, a group comprising international mediators – the United States, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
SAF has yet to give an official response to the proposal, which would see a three-month humanitarian pause followed by a permanent ceasefire that would ostensibly pave the way for an eventual political transition to civilian rule.
A Sudanese military official told the news agency The Associated Press on Thursday that the army welcomed the proposal, but would only agree to a truce when the RSF completely withdraws from civilian areas and gives up weapons.
Reporting from Khartoum, Al Jazeera’s Morgan said that it seemed the army would continue fighting until the RSF met its conditions. The RSF, for its part, would also continue fighting until the army agreed to the Quad’s proposal, she said.
Khartoum has seen relative calm since the regular army regained control this year, but the RSF continues to mount attacks in several regions.
Conflict shifts east
On Thursday, the Sudan Tribune newspaper reported diplomatic claims that the US had tried to incentivise army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan to agree to the truce in exchange for lifting sanctions and granting investment opportunities in the mining sector.
The RSF’s announcement that it agreed to the truce comes more than a week after the group seized el-Fasher city, which had been under siege for more than 18 months. It was also the last Sudanese military stronghold in Sudan’s western Darfur region.
That takeover was accompanied by reports of mass killings, sexual violence and looting, triggering international condemnation.
There are now fears of further atrocities as the conflict shifts east towards Khartoum and the oil-rich Kordofan region.
Quad member the United Arab Emirates is accused by the United Nations of supplying arms to the RSF, allegations it has vehemently denied.
Asked on Sunday about the allegations, senior UAE diplomat Anwar Gargash said that the international community made a “critical mistake” in supporting both al-Burhan and rival RSF commander General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as “Hemedti”, when they deposed a Western-backed power-sharing government in 2021.
War broke out in 2023 when tensions erupted between al-Burhan and Dagalo, killing at least 40,000 people, according to WHO. Aid groups say the true death toll could be many times higher.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk could receive the largest corporate pay package in history worth as much as $878bn if he meets certain performance targets.
Here is what this means, and how Musk could become history’s first trillionaire.
What has been announced?
Musk won a Tesla shareholder vote on Thursday, with more than 75 percent in favour, during the company’s annual general meeting at the electric carmaker’s factory in Austin, Texas.
Under this plan, Musk could be given stock worth $1 trillion over the next decade if he hits certain performance targets. However, he would be required to repay some of this to the company – bringing it down to $878bn.
Musk is already the richest man in the world, worth about $473bn, according to Bloomberg. This payout would take him over the $1-trillion line if he maintains this level of wealth.
Tesla shares jumped by 2 percent in pre-market trading on Friday, but have soared by more than 62 percent in the past six months.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk gets into a Tesla car as he leaves a hotel in Beijing, China, on May 31, 2023 [Tingshu Wang/Reuters]
How did Musk react after the results were announced?
After the announcement, Musk climbed on stage and danced while investors chanted his name.
He expressed triumph, as well as appreciation for the shareholders after the vote tally. “I super appreciate it,” he told the shareholders.
“Fantastic group of shareholders. Hang on to your Tesla stock,” Musk said.
“Other shareholder meetings are like snoozefests, but ours are bangers. I mean, look at this. This is sick,” Musk said.
Musk pledged to start production of a two-seater steering-less robotaxi called a “Cybercab” in April. He also promised to unveil Tesla’s next-generation Roadster electric sports car.
He added that Tesla will need to acquire large-scale chip manufacturing capabilities to support its move into artificial intelligence (AI). For this, the company may consider collaborating with Intel, one of the world’s largest semiconductor companies.
Optimus, unveiled as a prototype by the company in 2022, is designed to be an “autonomous humanoid robot” performing “unsafe, repetitive or boring tasks.”
“What we are about to embark upon is not merely a new chapter of the future of Tesla, but a whole new book,” Musk told a crowd of cheering stakeholders.
What goals does Musk have to achieve in order to be paid?
In order to get the pay package, Musk needs to meet a series of operational goals.
This includes manufacturing 20 million vehicles over the next decade, and bringing 1 million operational robotaxis to the roads.
He must attract 10 million subscriptions to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving feature on its cars.
He must also generate profits of up to $400bn.
Another condition is that Tesla’s market valuation must continue to rise above its current $1.5 trillion and reach set milestones, which start at $2 trillion.
After that, he must raise the valuation by nine tranches each of $500bn until the market valuation reaches $8.5 trillion by 2035.
The board’s proposal states that Musk would have to “completely transform Tesla and society as we know it” and he would get “zero” unless he meets the “incredibly ambitious” goals.
However, an analysis by the Reuters news agency, which weighed Musk’s performance goals, as well as insights from more than a dozen experts, found that Musk could still be paid more than $50bn by achieving just some of the board’s goals.
The deal also ties Musk to Tesla for the next 10 years.
The proposal was contentious, with some investors opposing it because of its massive scale. However, the Tesla board warned that Musk might leave the company if the vote did not pass.
Board members said the 75 percent vote in favour of the pay deal demonstrated investor confidence in the long-term leadership by Musk, who has ambitions to move further into AI – particularly by making progress with the Optimus robot, which was unveiled in 2022 and is designed to be an “autonomous humanoid robot” performing “unsafe, repetitive or boring tasks”.
Other investors have expressed doubts about the move towards AI, rather than focusing on electric vehicles. In a post on X, analyst Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, said: “Let it sink in where Musk’s head is at. His vision of the ‘new book’ starts with Optimus.”
A Tesla Optimus robot walks during an appearance outside the Nasdaq Market site in New York City, US, on October 27, 2025 [Brendan McDermid/Reuters]
Which major investors opposed the deal?
Major investors who opposed the deal included Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, which is the Government Pension Fund of Norway, owned 1.14 percent of Tesla as of its half-year filings in June.
Glass Lewis is a California-headquartered corporate governance research and proxy advisory firm, while the Institutional Shareholder Services is a corporate governance and responsible investment solutions with headquarters in Maryland.
“It’s an historic moment for the Congress. It’s an historic moment for the women of America. It is a moment for which we have waited over 200 years,” said United States Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi in January 2007, upon becoming the speaker of the US House of Representatives.
“For our daughters and our granddaughters, today we have broken the marble ceiling,” she added, addressing an applauding audience at the House in Washington, DC.
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Pelosi, 85, who has served as the Democratic representative for California’s 11th Congressional District since 1987, made history when she was elected as the 52nd speaker of the House of Representatives – as the first-ever woman – and served from 2007 to 2011. She later served again from 2019 to 2023.
On Thursday this week, she announced her retirement from Congress as of January next year.
Paying tribute to her home city of San Francisco, she announced her decision in a video message, telling and citizens of the city: “It was the faith that you had placed in me and the latitude that you have given me that enabled me to shatter the marble ceiling and be the first woman speaker of the House, whose voice would certainly be heard.
“I want you, my fellow San Franciscans, to be the first to know I will not be seeking re-election to Congress,” Pelosi, 85, added.
“With a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative.”
Seen as one of the most powerful figures in the modern Democratic Party and one of the most powerful women in US politics, Pelosi was re-elected as speaker of the House in 2019 and served until 2023.
At the end of her second tenure, she stepped down from House leadership for the Democratic Party but retained the honorary title of speaker emerita of the House.
Here’s what we know:
Who is Nancy Pelosi?
Nancy Patricia Pelosi was born on March 26, 1940, in Baltimore, Maryland, and is the only daughter and youngest of six siblings.
She comes from a family with political lineage. Her father, Thomas D’Alesandro Jr, was a congressman who served as mayor of Baltimore for 12 years. Her older brother, Thomas D’Alesandro III, also served as mayor of Baltimore.
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in political science from Trinity College in Washington, DC in the 1960s, Pelosi started an internship with the Maryland senator at the time, Daniel Brewster.
In 1963, she married Paul Pelosi, an American businessman and San Francisco native, and the couple moved to the city six years later, with their six children.
In the 1980s, Pelosi began working with the Democratic National Committee in the state of California. Starting as a fundraiser, she progressed to become the chair of both the California Democratic Party between 1981 and 1983 and the host committee for the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco.
Former US President Joe Biden presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to US Representative and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) during a ceremony at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 3, 2024 [File: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters]
How long has Pelosi been in Congress?
In 1987, Pelosi was elected to Congress as a Democratic representative – a seat she campaigned for, promising action against AIDS, which was badly affecting people, especially from the LGBTQ+ community, in her city of San Francisco.
A national law addressing the epidemic emerged in the 1990s in the form of the Ryan White Care Act, and Pelosi, who was in Congress at the time, celebrated the moment. That law provided the largest funding programme for people with AIDS.
As a congresswoman for nearly 40 years, Pelosi has climbed through the ranks and, in 2001, became the first woman to hold the post of the House minority whip for the Democratic Party. In this post, it was her duty to advance the policies of her party.
In 2002, she became the House minority leader and, in 2007, she was elected speaker of the House when Republican George W Bush was in power.
“In this House, we may be different parties, but we serve one country,” she told the House while accepting the post in January 2007.
What does the House Speaker do?
According to the US Congress website, the Speaker of the House is elected either at the start of a Congress, which lasts for two years, or if there is a vacancy due to death or resignation.
The election takes place by “roll call vote, during which Members state aloud the name of their preferred candidate. If no candidate receives a majority of votes cast, balloting continues.” A speaker remains in office as long as he or she holds the House’s majority vote.
The speaker of the House symbolises “the power and authority of the House” and is tasked with maintaining decorum in the House, allowing members to speak, overseeing debates, and undertaking non-legislative tasks like controlling the Hall of the House.
The Speaker is also responsible for “defending the majority party’s legislative agenda” and also has a role of serving as a member of the House.
But the speaker cannot debate or vote on topics discussed in the House or sit on any standing committee in the House. These committees handle specific issues like overseeing government departments or analysing various financial issues.
What policies has Pelosi championed?
As a congresswoman and speaker of the House twice during her tenure, Pelosi has pursued left-of-centre policies and has been instrumental in passing several important laws and policies.
Climate
When she first took the gavel in 2007 as speaker of the House, she focused on climate policies and set up the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, which held many hearings.
In 2015, she supported former US President Barack Obama in joining the Paris Climate Agreement.
In 2017, President Donald Trump ceased US participation, but when President Joe Biden came to power in 2021, climate was once again on the agenda.
As speaker of the House, Pelosi oversaw the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, which also included policies to address climate change.
Women’s rights
As the first woman to hold the position of speaker of the House in the US, Pelosi has been seen as instrumental in advancing women’s rights.
When Obama came to power in 2008, with Pelosi as speaker, she ensured that the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which addressed equal wages for men and women, was passed.
She also supported women’s reproductive rights, despite being a Catholic, and fought for Roe v Wade – a US law which established that women had a constitutional right to an abortion – when it was overturned during President Donald Trump’s first term.
Healthcare
During President Obama’s tenure, Pelosi was instrumental in ensuring his Affordable Care Act became a law in 2010.
The law lists guidelines to ensure federal subsidies to ensure every person in the US has access to medical care and services.
The law was initially unpopular in the House, but Pelosi held hearings and spoke to Democrats and Republicans to ensure the smooth passage of the bill.
Between 2021 and 2023, Pelosi was also able to help Democrats pass major bills to propel Biden’s agenda, which included a huge COVID-19 relief package.
Foreign policy
As a Congress member in 2003, she opposed the US’s war in Iraq. She has also voiced strong opposition to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
However, when it comes to Israel’s war in Gaza, Pelosi is a staunch supporter of Israel and has defended the US stance towards the war.
In 2024, however, she called on Biden to halt the transfer of arms to Israel.
Pelosi has also been hawkish towards China and triggered a controversy when she visited Taiwan in 2022.
What is her role now?
She currently serves as the Representative for California’s 11th Congressional District, which includes San Francisco, from where she focuses on employment rights.
After her second tenure as Speaker of the House ended in November 2023, Pelosi announced she would step down from the House’s leadership to make way for young members to take up the role.
The end of her tenure made headlines, and interviews with her focusing on her diet – which involved having “her daily hot dog” – also caught the media’s attention. Pelosi has often told reporters that she enjoys a hot dog with mustard for lunch every day, plenty of Ghirardelli chocolates, and a breakfast that generally includes ice cream.
After stepping down as speaker, Pelosi retained the title of Speaker Emerita of the House.
She is also renowned as a brilliant fundraiser for political campaigns. “I had to raise like a million dollars a day – well, at least five days a week,” she once told reporters.
Why is she retiring now?
Pelosi has not given the precise reason for her decision to retire now. But, according to US media reports, it was widely expected after close to 38 years of service.
“I say to my colleagues in the House all of the time, no matter what title they had bestowed upon me – speaker, leader, whip – there has been no greater honour for me than to stand on the House floor and say, ‘I speak for the people of San Francisco,’” she said in her video message announcing her retirement on Thursday.
How did Trump react to news of her resignation?
President Trump, who has clashed with Pelosi on numerous occasions, called her an “evil woman” following the news.
“I think she did the country a great service by retiring. I think she was a tremendous liability for the country,” he told reporters.
Pelosi and Trump are often referred to as adversaries by political commentators and US media outlets, due to their disagreements over policy.
In 2019, during Trump’s first term, Pelosi, Democrat Chuck Schumer – who is currently minority leader of the Senate – and Trump got into a heated argument over building a wall along the US border with Mexico. Trump threatened to shut down the government during the squabble, which was broadcast on television channels around the world.
That same year, Trump and Pelosi discussed the war in Syria, but their disagreements were made public by Trump himself, who tweeted a picture of Pelosi pointing a finger at him.
In 2020, their rocky relationship once again made headlines when Pelosi tore up a copy of Trump’s State of the Union speech, calling it a “lie”. Trump said her actions were illegal since it was a government document, but, in fact, it was her own copy of the speech – not the official document.
Trump supporters who stormed into the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to protest the 2020 presidential election results that Biden won, barged into Pelosi’s office looking for her but couldn’t find her.
In 2022, an assailant broke into Pelosi’s home in San Francisco and assaulted her husband with a hammer, fracturing his skull. The former House speaker was not at the house during the attack. Prosecutors believe the act was politically motivated.
In January 2023, Trump mocked her husband’s attack while addressing a California Republican party convention as he prepared to stand for the presidential race for a second time.
“We’ll stand up to crazy Nancy Pelosi, who ruined San Francisco – how’s her husband doing, anybody know?” Trump said.
“And she’s against building a wall at our border, even though she has a wall around her house – which obviously didn’t do a very good job,” he added.
How have others reacted?
Many American politicians paid tribute to Pelosi on social media platforms this week.
Former Representative Democrat Gabby Giffords (Democrat-Arizona), who was shot in the head in 2011 by a gunman who also killed six others during a constituent event in Tucson in 2011, said in a press statement: “As the first woman Speaker of the House, she inspired me and and at my bedside following the shooting that turned my life upside-down, she uplifted me.”
Former President Obama said on X: “For almost four decades, Nancy Pelosi has served the American people and worked to make our country better. No one was more skilled at bringing people together and getting legislation passed – and I will always be grateful for her support of the Affordable Care Act.”
Former President Biden called Pelosi “the best Speaker of the House in American history” and said it was the reason why he awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the US’s highest honour, in 2024.
“When I was President, we worked together to grow our economy, create millions of jobs, and make historic investments in our nation’s future. She has devoted much of her life to this country, and America will always be grateful,” he said on X.
Right-wing Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene also lauded Pelosi’s leadership. “She had an incredible career. I served under her speakership in my first term of Congress. And I’m very impressed at her ability to get things done. I wish we could get things done for our party,” she told CNN.
Which internet controversies has Pelosi been part of?
According to the Poynter Institute’s PolitiFact, while Pelosi has been lauded for her political achievements, she has also been mocked.
Some posts on the internet said she was removed from the House for being drunk many times. This is untrue.
