A video of an Indian TV debate on Ukraine went viral after the host berated a guest live on air for more than a minute before realising he was shouting at the wrong person.
The clip shows Rahul Shivshankar, Indian television anchor for the Indian news channel Times Now, scolding Bohdan Nahaylo, the chief editor of Ukraine’s English-language newspaper Kyiv Post.
In the video, Shivshankar confuses Nahaylo with Daniel McAdams, the executive director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, who was the other panellist on his show.
The viral clip shows Shivshankar telling “Daniel McAdams” to “just take a bit of a chill pill”, before launching into his rebuke and telling him to “relax”. Nahaylo hits back by saying he doesn’t want to because “my country is at war”. The Indian anchor goes on a tirade for a few minutes and is finally told loud and clear by the guest Daniel McAdams that the anchor is yelling at the wrong person
Mr #McAdams will make for a terrific comic book superhero who shuts down shouty TV presenters & saves the world from descending into decibel hell!#mcadamshttps://t.co/MVFo9sBhmI
There is a great gender gap in social media users of Pakistan, reveals a report published by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) for the year 2021.
“Pakistan has some of the widest gender gaps identified not only by international organisations but also by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS),” states the report.
“The digitally excluded segments of Pakistani women are mainly illiterate, unemployed, disabled, and those over 45 years of age,” it added.
Since the last couple of years, the percentage of female mobile subscriptions is only 21 per cent of the total subscriptions. This results in a large number of unaccounted women using mobile connections. Of 1,825 million (FY 2021) mobile connections across Pakistan, only 38 million are held by females against their CNICs; the remaining 144 million connections are held by the male population.
The Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) Household Survey 2021 released by PBS reported that 46 per cent of the country’s population (25% female and 65% male) owns a mobile phone. In terms of the rural-urban divide, the gap between male-female mobile ownership in rural areas is much higher compared to urban areas.
As per the report, out of the total social media users in the country, only 22 per cent are women, while the rest of 78 per cent are men.
The report also revealed the websites that are most visited local websites by the users, which are Daraz, OLX, Urdu Point, and Dawn.
An 80-year-old woman in the US, who was being held hostage by an intruder, was saved because she had not texted her daily Wordle score to one of her daughters. Wordle is a popular word game, which has recently been bought by the New York Times.
According to media reports, Denyse Holt was woken up by a naked man with a knife in the middle of the night. The 32-year-old intruder also disconnected her phones and took two knives from her kitchen before taking her to the basement and locking her there for 17 hours without food or medication. “I didn’t think I was going to live,” she told CBS Chicago.
Her daughter in Seattle thought something was off when her mother did not text her daily Wordle score. “I didn’t send my older daughter a Wordle in the morning and that was disconcerting to her,” said Holt.
Friends and family alerted the police, who found a broken window on the first floor of the home and blood when they arrived at Holt’s home. Police told CBS Chicago that the intruder, James H. Davis III, was taken into custody and is facing felony charges. He continued to refuse to surrender but was eventually caught by the police. Davis was charged with home invasion, aggravated kidnapping while armed with a weapon and two counts of aggravated assault against a peace officer.
A clip of a Pakistani drama Judwa is doing the rounds on social media in which a bride has been swapped on her wedding night by her twin sister and netizens are confused about what is happening.
Memes of that viral clip are circulating on social media. We have collected a few, have a look:
One of the social media users has broken down what is happening in the drama.
Saving you from the torment, you owe me one!
1. Identical twins (F) marry fraternal twins(M). 2. Another girl has a crush on a fraternal twin (M) asks mom (phopo of groom) to sabotage. 3. Phopo switches room on wedding night. 4. Grooms go to wrong rooms.
While one user revealed that phupho of the brothers was behind the misunderstanding.
2/2) But she gets burned and dies on mehndi night. Phupho realises it’s because of her false oath on Quran so she repents and apologies. Boys parents convinces them ti marry again. So then Shiza marries Zain and Fiza marries Faraz.
Twitter has revealed that a record number of requests have been made from several governments around the world to remove content from the social media platform between January and June 2021.
According to the platform, 95 per cent of the demands came from five countries which include Japan, Russia, Turkey, India and South Korea.
The company said that in July 2021, it had seen a surge in government demands to take down content posted by journalists and news outlets.
In a report, they said that 43,387 legal demands for the removal of content from 196,878 accounts were made in the six months. It is the largest number of such requests in a reporting period since Twitter started releasing its transparency reports in 2012.
Sinead McSweeney, Twitter’s vice president of global public policy and philanthropy, said, “We’re facing unprecedented challenges as governments around the world increasingly attempt to intervene and remove content. This threat to privacy and freedom of expression is a deeply worrying trend that requires our full attention.”
Previously, Twitter faced high-profile tussles with governments from India to Nigeria over content moderation and regulation.
A screenshot of a Fiverr Gig is making rounds on social media in which the seller has posted a gig to pray at Data Darbar and other shrines in Lahore in exchange for money. Thee silver package which costs Rs 4,616, had the following description, “I will pray professionally for you in the city of Data Ganj Bakhsh Lahore.” He also gave two days delivery time.
The seller also offers a diamond package for Rs18,463. In the silver package the seller is offering the following services, “I will pray, burn oil lamp and distribute meal to the needy, in place of you, in your desired shrine.
Stepanka Matto a Czech-American YouTuber, social media influencer, reality TV show star and model who claimed have made $50,000 in a week by selling her farts in a jar was hospitalised for “overdoing it”. She sold each jar for $1000. She has now announced her retirement after the health scare.
The Daily mail quoted Matto in a statement, “I thought i was having a stroke and that these were my final moments. I was overdoing it.”
“I remember within one day I had about three protein shakes and a huge bowl of black bean soup,” she said while explaining the events that led her to hospital.
“I could tell that something was not right that evening when I was lying in bed and I could feel a pressure in my stomach moving upward.”
She continued by adding, “It was quite hard to breathe and every time I tried to breathe in I’d feel a pinching sensation around my heart. And that, of course, made my anxiety escalate.”
“I actually called my friend and asked if they could come over to drive me to the hospital because I thought I was experiencing a heart attack.
“I ended up going to the hospital that evening. I didn’t tell my doctors about the farting in the jar but I did tell them about my diet,” the influencer added.
“It was made clear that what I was experiencing wasn’t a stroke or heart attack but very intense gas pains.” “I was advised to change my diet and to take a gas suppressant medication, which has effectively ended my business.”
2021 might feel like it was the shortest year but it has also given us a lot of things to look back at. From Prime Minister Imran’s comments about rape to Pawri girl’s viral video, here are all things that the Pakistani internet went crazy about in 2021:
January: Cannoli Café Soulfaces backlash for elitist comments
In the start of 2021 a video of the owners of Cannoli Café Soul in Islamabad, Uzma and Diya, went viral in which they both could be seen mocking and ridiculing their restaurant manager for his English speaking skills.
I’ve actually met Owais at Cannoli… he is a very decent guy… it’s sad that he’s employed by such vile and distasteful elitists… both these women need to take a hard look in the mirror, because there’s nothing there… so disgusting
February: Allama Muhammad Iqbal’s Statue, Groove mera and Pawri ho rahi hai:
The internet was not pleased about a statue of poet Allama Muhammad Iqbal that was installed at the Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park in Lahore. The statue started a meme fest on social media, and it eventually resulted in the removal of the statue.
Groove Mera:
Iqbal was not the only topic to be discussed by social media users in February. Naseebo Lal also made social media Groove with her PSL special song.
How can we forget Pawri girl? She took the internet by storm not only in Pakistan but in India too. Pawri Ho Rai Hai became a trend on social media with many people including celebrities sharing their own take on it. The Pawri girl Dananeerr Mobeen can be seen in an ISPR sponsored drama these days.
Many hearts were broken in March because on March 25 Faisal Kapadia and Bilal Maqsood announced that they have parted ways and are ‘concluding’ Strings after producing music for 33 years. Social media talked about it for days.
April: PM Khan’s problematic statement about Rape
Prime Minister Imran Khan in April, during an interactive session with the public, blamed the rising cases on vulgarity on what women wear. His comment sparked an outrage on social media, prompting Pakistanis to not only bust myths related to rape but also call him out for his insensitive remarks. Some even shared their own personal experiences to make it more clear that why rape happens and why it is never okay to blame the victim.
May: Kissing couple on local flight
May was all about the man who could not handle a public display of affection on a local flight. Internet users debated every kind of opinion on it.
On May 25, the news of a couple kissing in a flight that was going from Karachi to Islamabad blew up on social media and people expressed their anger over the public display of affection. The hashtag #airbluekissing trended for days.
Avideo of Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan slapping Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) MNA Qadir Khan Mandokhel went viral on social media in June. Twitter was flooded with memes.
July: “Our Culture is our husband.”
“Our culture is our husband”, was the most talked statement of 2021 in July. Sadaf Kanwal’s problematic statement on a woman’s role in a marriage went viral on social media. Her comments caused quite a bit of anger among Pakistanis online.
A strong women is the one who knows how to babysit her husband… Ajeeb Logics. Bibi pehle ye to decide krlo Sherry ko pta hona chahye ya nahi pta hona chahye. #SadafKanwalpic.twitter.com/tTRUXlgdLE
In the last week of August, Mariyam Nawaz’s son tied the knot with Ayesha Saif. The marriage was the talk of the town, but more than the marriage, Junaid’s singing skills were the center of attention. Junaid was seen crooning to the chartbuster song, Kya Hua Tera Waada from the hit Bollywood film Hum Kisi Se Kam Nahi starring Rishi Kapoor. Junaid’s hidden talent won the hearts of Pakistanis.
Junaid Safdar sings classic song “Kya hua tera wada”
In September, an old video of Nida Yasir surfaced from Good Morning Pakistan. The Nadaniyaan star was finding it tough to understand the meaning of a ‘Formula 1’ racing and Internet did not forgive her.
Pakistan defeated Indiain T20 World Cup for the first time and obviously the internet went crazy about it. From Shaheen Shah Afridi’s explosive spell to Rizwan and Babar’s record breaking innings, Pakistani social media just could not stop praising the Pakistani team. It was overall a good year for Pakistani cricket.
November: Malala tied the knot
In November, Malala surprised everyone by tying the knot with Asser Malik. She tied the knot in a small intimate nikkah ceremony.
People talked about the couple for days. Some even dug out all the details about Asser.
December: Junaid Safdar, Ayesha and Katrina, Vicky’s wedding
December is known as the month of weddings and Junaid Safdar and Ayesha’s, and Katrina and Vicky’s wedding was all over internet.
After the nikkah of PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz’s son, Junaid Safdar took place in London, the wedding festivities took place in mid of December in Pakistan.
Katrina Kaif and Vicky Kaushal officially tied the knot on December 9. The star couple got married in a traditional Indian wedding ceremony and their fairy tale wedding was one of the most talked about on the Internet in Pakistan and India.
People on social media are calling out two bakeries in Karachi for refusing to write “Merry Christmas” on cakes. A Facebook user on a Facebook group wrote, “Shame on Delizia and Auntie Muanaver’s Food and Dessert for their jahalat. Their bigotry has no place in progressive and pluraistic Pakistan.”
Earlier, in another post, a Facebook user posted about how a Karachi based bakery chain Delizia, refused the request of a customer to write ‘Merry Christmas’ on a cake.
The Current reached out to Delizia for comment but their customer service representative refused to comment on the matter, saying “they are not allowed to comment.”
The Current also tried to reach out to Auntie Muanaver’s Kitchen but no one picked up on the number provided on their Facebook page.
People on social media are calling out the bakeries for refusing to write Merry Christmas.
In 2018, a similar incident happened in the Badar Commercial branch of Delizia bakery when a customer was declined a cake with ‘Merry Christmas’ written on it. The staff made a similar excuse at that time as well that it was not company instructions. It was reported on another Facebook page, Karachi Food Diary.
Actor Ushna Shah has said that people should stop watching television and use social media if they feel celebrities are responsible for spreading vulgarity.
The celebrity said that people with ethics and morals who think of celebrities as being inferior and responsible for spreading vulgarity should stop watching television and stop using social media.
Taking to Twitter, Shah wrote, “Show your gherat (honour) please.”
Every Pakistani with morals and ethics who finds acting & actors inferior, who thinks we spread “Fahashi” should promptly get rid of their TV (or any channel that shows content that isn’t preaching Islam) and get off social media immediately! Show your gherat please.
Earlier, the Balaa star had advised parents to raise their children by themselves instead of relying on celebrities to do so.
The celebrity posted a bit of rather angry, but important advice for parents whose children are old enough consume online entertainment content.
She clarified that the private life of celebrities is none of other people’s business.
Shah went on to say that if it is good enough for the children in the families to see the content, but not good enough for the parents, then don’t allow them to use Instagram or ban them from showbiz stars’ social media pages.
