Just look to the skies to get answers to any troubling questions that you might have because – ‘Uparwala Dekh Raha Hai’. Aaj Tak’s fabricated absurdity claims to be the “most unique and most dynamic” astrology show on TV. Interesting predictions for 2016 based on “research” by “experts” are in store for PM Modi, CM Kejriwal and even ISIS. The terror group apparently carried out most attacks on 10th and 11th as those dates opened a VIP entry to heaven. » Continuing the string of defamation cases, the latest to get struck by the Tamil Nadu government are TOI & Dinamalar. Even after the SC asked them not to take offence over criticism of governance, the TN government handed out a suit each to TOI and Dinamalar, for carrying reports attributing the recent Chennai floods to non-natural causes – bureaucratic hassle and negligence. » Read how the Pakistani media reported the terror attack in Pathankot. From praising the Pak Government’s quick condemnation of the attack to India’s ‘muted’ blame on Pakistan, the editorials seem cautious. Meanwhile BBC might have stepped on the axe by referring to the terrorists as ‘gunmen’. » Telecom operators wait for court orders on the matter of compensating users for call drops. TRAI regulations, effective from January 1, dictate that telcos pay users Re. 1 for every call drop due to network glitches, with a cap of Rs. 3 per day. TRAI has said that it will refrain from any coercive action till the next court hearing on January 6th.
Pakistan
Indo-Pak Rut
The attack at the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot will prove to be detrimental to the ongoing Indo-Pak dialogue according to Pakistani media. Urdu newspapers Jang, Dawn and The Express Tribune also went ahead and criticized India’s accusations against Pakistan without any proper investigation. » A UK based website has been set up to chart out the last days of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, releasing documents relating to a day before his plane crash in 1945. Check out the documents on http://www.bosefiles.info, the site launched by Independent journalist and Bose’s grand-nephew Ashis Ray. » Publisher of The New York Times in Pakistan blanked out an article titled “The Imperiled Bloggers of Bangladesh”. Discussing how atheist blogger Asif Mohiuddin had to flee his country due to the rise of Islamist extremism and violence against rationalists, The International NYT decided to impose self-censorship in Pakistan, choosing to remove the article which was printed in the international edition. » Arab Spring Activist Iyad El-Baghdadi’s account got suspended as Twitter mistook him for IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. With no comments from Twitter on this issue yet; “To confuse an Arab man for the IS leader because of his very Arabic common surname is overt racism, @twitter,” is what Iyad had to say about the incident.
Why So Racist!
A cartoon in Rupert Murdoch owned newspaper ‘The Australian’ has portrayed India in a bad light. Depicting Indians starving and eating solar panels in response to the Paris Climate Conference, the cartoon drew instant rebuke with many condemning it as ‘racist’. » Sushma Swaraj expressed hope that the renewed dialogue with Pakistan will start a new chapter of peace. However, raising her voice to be heard in the Parliament, she also said that “uninterruptible” dialogue is not a promise the Government can make in Indo-Pak ties. The level of talks on terror has been raised as this issue will now be dealt with by the National Security Advisers (NSAs) instead of Foreign Secretaries as before, she added. » Congress has said that the allegations against Sonia & Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case were deliberately orchestrated, “patently false” and “defamatory” as they had “not received a rupee”. P Chidambaram said that the transactions being questioned were legal and expressed confidence that both the leaders would be fully vindicated through the judicial process. » Bangladesh has lifted a nearly month long ban on social media. The ban was imposed in anticipation of protests after the SC upheld death penalties for two opposition leaders Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed for atrocities committed during Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence.
Developed Nations Slammed
According to UK’s Financial Times, PM Modi has criticized developed nations by saying that it would be “morally wrong” to ask poor nations to drop fossil fuels to battle climate change. Pointing out that developed nations “lecture India” but deny providing nuclear fuel for clean energy, Modi said that the existing technology is not accessible to poor nations due to restrictions. » After branding current PM Narendra Modi as the “first PM of India”, Google now thinks that the current Home Minister Rajnath Singh was the “first Home Minister of India”. Likewise, it shows Sushma Swaraj, the current Foreign Minister as the “first Foreign Minister of India”. Mistakes much? » Aamir Khan’s remarks on intolerance led to the creation of a website slapaamir.com, which has now been replaced by another site that allows you to kiss him. The site kissaamir.com recorded a whopping 1 lakh kisses in an hour and also Facebook & Twitter tags which say “Share to spread love”. » BlackBerry is set to make an exit from Pakistan due to the government demanding access to BlackBerry Enterprise Service emails and BBM chats for “security reasons”. While a negotiation could have taken place, BlackBerry chose to make an exit citing that they would not compromise on their users’ privacy.
The Ironic Mask of Tolerance
The self-dubbed ‘Tolerance March’, called by actor Anupam Kher turned ugly as the participants of the rally heckled and abused reporters from various channels. Protesters reasoning their act accused the media of biased and politically motivated reporting and slogans of criticism. Reacting on the issue, Anupam Kher has apologized publicly and has also stated that “there is no place for such intolerance.” » Sunday, the eve of Bihar assembly election results saw #Bihar become the most trending twitter topic in Pakistan. It all started with a tweet from former Jammu & Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah reading, “Sorry, it’s all the smoke from the crackers in Pakistan,” an indirect jibe at BJP president Amit Shah on their defeat to Nitish-Lalu alliance. Amit Shah had previously tweeted that “If by any mistake BJP loses, victory and defeat may be in Bihar but fire crackers will go off in Pakistan”.
Author 1 : Authority 0
Denied visa could not stop Pakistani author Kanza Javed from launching her book ‘Ashes, Wine and Dust’ in India. The author, due to attend the Kumaon Lit Fest for the launch of her book, coordinated with her publisher Aanchal Malhotra for a last-minute launch over Skype, after her visa request was rejected. » Taking a page out of Apple’s marketing book, Microsoft has launched a page for MacBook users that will facilitate a smooth migration to its recently launched laptop, the Surface Book. Microsoft has created quite a buzz with claims that its laptop is two times faster than Apple’s – a strategy Apple has been using for years. » Can Public Relations salvage broken trust? Taking an instance from the Maggi case study, PR news site- ‘Image Management’ gives an interesting take on how efficient PR can offer solutions in times of crisis.
#RAWattacksAfghanParliament
Top trending in Pakistan is a claim that India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) was behind the terrorist attack on the Afghan Parliament. The attack, which happened on Monday, killed a woman and a child and injured 40 others. Politically inspired perhaps? Al-Jazeera journalist, Ahmed Mansour is freed after a short detention in Berlin. Not surprisingly, German prosecutors dropped the extradition request. Mansour is now free to leave the country.
Gateway for Ideas
A big win for Genesis BM’s division Step Up – a leading public relations consultancy, that will be the official communications partner for the first TEDxGatewayWomen 2015 conference in India. The TED event will be held at the National Centre of Performing Arts (NCPA) in Mumbai on May 29, 2015. “Step Up will position and establish TEDxGatewayWomen as a leading TEDx conference in the country for ideas that matter for women, supporting the event through a robust media and communications strategy”,said Yashraj S. Akashi, Senior Ambassador, TEDx India.
Partnering with Telenor, Facebook launched its highly controversial and criticized Internet.org initiative to provide free basic internet in Pakistan – making it the eleventh country where Internet.org is present.
Defying Taliban
Bloggers have been silenced as the Pakistani government temporarily blocks WordPress, to curb usage by Tehreek Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an internationally funded terrorist group. The Pakistan Telecommunications authority has reportedly asked all ISPs across the country to block access to a specific domain, failing this to temporarily suspend the entire WordPress site.
goskribe.wordpress.com 