Philippines’ first hijabi anchor redefines Muslim representation, one newscast at a time

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Updated 09 April 2025
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Philippines’ first hijabi anchor redefines Muslim representation, one newscast at a time

  • Princess Habibah Sarip-Paudac became first Muslim in state broadcaster’s newsroom
  • A news anchor at PTV, she also became Salaam TV and Salaam Radio host

MANILA: When Princess Habibah Sarip-Paudac first appeared on national television in 2012, she made history — not only as the Philippines’ first presenter to wear a hijab, but also as the first person from the country’s Muslim south to deliver the national news.

A native of Marawi, one of the main cities in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, home to much of the Philippines’ minority Muslim community, Paudac traveled to Manila to audition at the People’s Television Network.

She won the contest and on Aug. 8, 2012, the flagship state broadcaster took her on air. Everyone back home was glued to their TVs.

“It was the first time. Everyone was so happy. Everyone was like cheering for me that day. And I feel that it was a big responsibility,” Paudac told Arab News.

“A lot of people were so surprised that I was able to pave the way for Muslim women in the national mainstream media. So, for its impact, for the people, of course, it was so big.”

Paudac, a college teacher and community worker, had no training in broadcast news but from the very first day at PTV was thrown in at the deep end.

“I really made (sure to) see to it that I would be learning day by day through this job,” she said. “I think the love for journalism started from there.”

Paudac quickly picked up the rules of journalism and reporting, studied the current news, and learnt how to read and deliver it perfectly. But as time went by, she realized there was also another task in front of her — one that was not related to her job.

As the only Muslim in the newsroom, her colleagues would often ask her about her religion and background, and to explain to them the things they did not know about Islam and about her homeland in Mindanao.

“For them, it came s a surprise that I was able to speak Tagalog, that I was able to speak English ... And I was like, no, people in Bangsamoro are well educated, and we have good education there, and I’m just one of the many successful women out there. We have lawyers, we have doctors, we have teachers. Now we have a news anchor,” she said.

“It became like an eye-opener for me. I was like: ‘I think this is my purpose. This is what Allah wants me to do.”

As her career advanced, besides being a news anchor, Paudac also became a host at Salaam TV and Salaam Radio — PTV’s channels focused on Filipino Muslims.

She also grew increasingly active in her role of challenging stereotypes about Muslim women and has managed to make them be seen and recognized as professionals.

Now she hopes that more of them will feel encouraged and empowered to pursue high-profile careers.

“I hope that they can get something from me, from my representation. And this job is very noble. You can learn a lot from it. You can give more into your community through this, you are a representative not just of your community, but your faith as well. And you can educate a lot of people,” Paudac said.

Her message to fellow Muslim women is clear — that they can excel and redefine spaces while staying true to their faith and identity.

And for that, she has some advice: “Please, take care of your hijabs. Take care of yourselves. Make yourself a resourceful person. Learn a lot ... most importantly, never ever leave behind your faith, your identity.”


Film claims to name killer of slain journalist Shireen Abu Akleh

Updated 11 May 2025
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Film claims to name killer of slain journalist Shireen Abu Akleh

  • Produced by independent news site Zeteo, the documentary “Who killed Shireen?” names for the first time the suspect as Alon Scaggio, an elite soldier

NEW YORK: A new documentary purports to name the Israeli soldier who killed Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, who was gunned down in the West Bank while reporting in 2022.
Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist known for her coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict, was shot dead in Jenin in the north of the occupied West Bank while she worked, wearing a bulletproof vest marked “press.”
Al Jazeera and witnesses immediately blamed the Israeli army. Then Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett said it was probable the shots had come from Palestinian militants.
In the weeks that followed, several journalistic investigations pointed the blame at Israeli gunfire.
Months later, Israel released an internal investigation that found a “high probability” that Abu Akleh was accidentally shot by the Israeli army, which claimed it was targeting armed Palestinians.
Produced by independent news site Zeteo, the documentary “Who killed Shireen?” names for the first time the suspect as Alon Scaggio, an elite soldier.
“Israel did everything it could to conceal the soldier’s identity, they wouldn’t provide the US with any information. They wouldn’t let the US interview him. They wouldn’t give the US his statement. And they wouldn’t give his name,” said Dion Nissenbaum, a journalist who worked on the film.
Assisted by producer Conor Powell and reporter Fatima AbdulKarim — who worked for The New York Times in the West Bank — Nissenbaum, a former Wall Street Journal correspondent, consulted testimony from two Israeli soldiers present in Jenin on May 11, 2022 as well as top US officials.
The documentary alleges that Scaggio, then 20, had completed training for the elite Duvdevan unit just three months prior.
“He shot her intentionally. There’s no question about that. The question is did he know she was a journalist and did he know she was Shireen Abu Akleh? Was it an order from above?” Nissenbaum told AFP.
“Personally, I don’t think it was an order. I don’t think he knew it was Shireen. Nobody ever has indicated that he could tell that it was Shireen. But she was wearing the blue flak-jacket with the word ‘press’ on it.”
“The evidence (suggests)... it was an intentional killing of Shireen Abu Akleh. Whether or not they knew it was her or not can very well be debated, but they would have absolutely known that it was a media person or a non-combatant at a minimum,” said a senior official from the administration of then US president Joe Biden, speaking in the film anonymously.
Washington did not exert significant pressure on the issue, the documentary claims, for fear of antagonizing its ally.
Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen said he called on Biden to declassify documents about the killing — but went unanswered.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said “it is the first time that a potential suspect has been named in connection with an Israeli killing of a journalist” according to its records dating back to 1992.
Impunity in the case “has effectively given Israel permission to silence hundreds more” journalists, the CPJ said.
Reporters Without Borders estimates around 200 journalists were killed in the past 18 months of Israeli strikes on Gaza.
An Israeli army spokesman condemned the unauthorized disclosure of the suspect’s name despite no “definitive determination” of who shot Abu Akleh.
The soldier in question “fell during an operational activity,” the army added.
Nissenbaum had initially thought Scaggio died in Gaza, but ultimately concluded he was killed in Jenin on June 27, 2024 almost two years after Abu Akleh.


Ray-Ban Meta glasses to launch in the UAE

Updated 09 May 2025
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Ray-Ban Meta glasses to launch in the UAE

  • Release ‘marks beginning of an effortless, more connected future,’ senior Meta official says
  • Collection features different styles and lens variations, including prescription lenses

DUBAI: Meta and optical multinational EssilorLuxottica have announced that the Ray-Ban Meta collection will be available in the UAE from May 12.

The glasses, when paired with a smartphone, allow users to take hands-free pictures and videos, listen to audio with open-ear speakers, and use the inbuilt Meta AI assistant.

The launch “marks the beginning of an effortless, more connected future — one that empowers people to stay in the moment while staying connected to the things and people that matter most,” Fares Akkad, regional director for Middle East and Africa at Meta, told Arab News.

The glasses feature an ultrawide 12-megapixel camera, which can take photos and 1080-pixel videos of up to three minutes. Users can also stream live via the glasses to Instagram or Facebook for up to 30 minutes.

Meta AI, the company’s AI assistant, is built into the glasses and can be used through voice prompts to help with tasks such as recommending music or clicking a picture.

In the coming months, users in the UAE will also be able to use Meta AI to ask questions about their surroundings, such as identifying landmarks or translating street signs, as well as live translation of conversations in English, French, Italian and Spanish. However, live translation for Arabic is not supported yet.

Akkad said: “Just a few years ago, the idea of wearing glasses that could take pictures and videos with voice command, translate to different languages, and become a seamless, helpful assistant everywhere you go felt like something out of science fiction.

“Today, it is a tangible reality.”

Users will be able to regularly update the software on the glasses to enable more features as they are rolled out. These include timers, alarms, calendar and email access.

The Ray-Ban Meta collection features different styles and lens variations, including prescription lenses.

It will be available at all Ray-Ban and partner stores in the UAE from May 12 with prices starting at AED1,330 ($360).

 


India tells X to block over 8,000 accounts, mainly Pakistani

Updated 09 May 2025
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India tells X to block over 8,000 accounts, mainly Pakistani

  • Move appears to be part of India’s sweeping crackdown targeting social media accounts of Pakistani politicians, celebrities and media organizations
  • X said it disagreed with the demands but it had begun the process to withhold the specified accounts in India

WASHINGTON: India has ordered X to block more than 8,000 accounts, the platform said Thursday, adding that it was reluctantly complying with what it described as government-imposed “censorship.”
The move appears to be part of India’s sweeping crackdown targeting social media accounts of Pakistani politicians, celebrities and media organizations amid heightened tensions and deadly confrontations between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
The order, which X said includes demands to block international news organizations and other prominent users, comes a day after Meta banned a prominent Muslim news page on Instagram in India at New Delhi’s request.
“X has received executive orders from the Indian government requiring X to block over 8,000 accounts in India, subject to potential penalties including significant fines and imprisonment of the company’s local employees,” the site’s global government affairs team said in a statement.
It added that in most cases, the government had not specified which posts from the accounts violated Indian laws, and in many others, it provided no evidence or justification for the blocks.
The Elon Musk-owned platform said it disagreed with the demands but it had begun the process to withhold the specified accounts in India.
“Blocking entire accounts is not only unnecessary, it amounts to censorship of existing and future content, and is contrary to the fundamental right of free speech,” the statement said.
“This is not an easy decision, however keeping the platform accessible in India is vital to Indians’ ability to access information.”
The move comes amid fierce fighting between India and Pakistan, two weeks after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing a deadly attack on tourists in the Indian-run side of the disputed Muslim-majority region of Kashmir.
Pakistan rejects the charge.
At least 48 people have been killed on both sides of the border in escalating violence since India launched air strikes on Wednesday that it said targeted “terrorist camps.”
Both countries accused each other on Thursday of carrying out waves of drone attacks.
X said it could not make the Indian executive orders public due to legal restrictions, but it encouraged the impacted users to seek “appropriate relief from the courts.”
It did not name the affected users, but in recent days the Indian media has reported that the country has blocked the X accounts of Pakistani politician Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Pakistan’s former prime minister and cricket captain Imran Khan.
India has also banned more than a dozen Pakistani YouTube channels for allegedly spreading “provocative” content, including Pakistani news outlets.
Pakistani Bollywood movie regulars Fawad Khan and Atif Aslam were also off limits in India, as well as a wide range of cricketers — including star batters Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan and retired players Shahid Afridi and Wasim Akram.
Rising hostilities between the South Asian neighbors have unleashed an avalanche of online misinformation, with social media users circulating everything from deepfake videos to outdated images from unrelated conflicts, falsely linking them to the ongoing fighting.


Ireland’s RTE urges talks on Israel’s Eurovision participation amid growing pressure

Updated 09 May 2025
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Ireland’s RTE urges talks on Israel’s Eurovision participation amid growing pressure

  • European Broadcasting Union ‘whitewashing’ Israeli war crimes
  • EBU must ban Israel like it did with Russia in 2022, say activists

DUBAI: Ireland’s national broadcaster RTE has invited the European Broadcasting Union for talks on Israel’s participation in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest, as pressure mounts from dozens of former contestants demanding the country’s exclusion.

RTE’s Director-General Kevin Bakhurst has expressed deep concern over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the situation of Israeli hostages, emphasizing the need for RTE to remain objective in its coverage of the war.

He also pointed to political pressure on Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan, from the Israeli government.

Israel, a Eurovision participant since 1973, is set to compete in this year’s contest, running from May 13 to 17, in Basel, Switzerland, with singer Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack at the Nova music festival.

Earlier this week, in an open letter, 72 former Eurovision contestants called on the EBU to ban Israel and its national broadcaster, KAN, from this year’s contest.

They cited the country’s war in Gaza and accused the union of “normalizing and whitewashing” alleged Israeli war crimes.

They argued that Israel’s participation would be inconsistent with the EBU’s decision to ban Russia in 2022 over its invasion of Ukraine.

The EBU previously said it acknowledges the concerns but aims to keep Eurovision a positive, inclusive event that transcends politics and unites people through music.


Israel detains Palestinian journalist amid press freedom concerns

Updated 08 May 2025
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Israel detains Palestinian journalist amid press freedom concerns

  • Ali Al-Samudi, 58, would remain in custody until October due to ‘considerations for the security of the region and public safety,’ Israeli military said

RAMALLAH: Israel’s military said on Thursday it would hold a Palestinian journalist arrested last month in administrative detention, raising fresh concerns over press freedom.

Ali Al-Samudi, 58, would remain in custody until October due to “considerations for the security of the region and public safety,” the military said in a newly published decree.

The Palestinian Commission for Detainees and the Palestinian Prisoners Club denounced the decision and Samudi’s treatment since his arrest on April 29.

His detention, they said in a joint statement, was part of Israel’s increasing use of administrative detention against journalists since the Gaza war began.

They said the practice had “intensified dramatically.”

Samudi is a freelance journalist who works with several outlets, including Al Jazeera.

He was with Shireen Abu Akleh when she was killed by gunfire in Jenin on May 11, 2022. He was shot and wounded in the shoulder.

The Prisoners Club says Israel has detained 50 Palestinian journalists since the Gaza war began on Oct. 7, 2023, with 20 held under administrative detention.

The practice, a legacy of the British Mandate, allows Israel to detain people without charge, with detentions renewable indefinitely.

The commission and the club held Israel responsible for Samudi’s life and fate, saying he “suffers from several health issues and previous injuries.”

The Journalists’ Syndicate and Palestinian human rights organizations have reported the killing of more than 200 journalists in the Gaza Strip.

Other journalists have gone missing during the ongoing war, while Israel continues to prevent foreign journalists from entering Gaza.

In a statement published last week, the Jerusalem-based Foreign Press Association noted that “never in Israel’s history has the government imposed sweeping restrictions on the media for such an extended period.”

Between 2024 and 2025, Israel went down 11 places on Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index, from 101 to 112 respectively.