Waseem Shahzad

[The Husky @Mr_Husky1]

A 24-year-old Polish tennis player arrived in Paris last week ranked 114th in the world, with no sponsors, no guaranteed income, and no certainty she could even pay for her hotel room.

She had to win three qualifying matches just to enter the French Open main draw. Prize money is only paid at the end of the tournament, so a Polish sports drink brand quietly stepped in and covered her hotel bill.

Her name is Maja Chwalinska. And today, she plays in the French Open final.

Before this tournament, she had won exactly one Grand Slam main draw match in her entire career. She had battled depression so severe that in 2021 she couldn't get out of bed. She underwent knee surgery in 2022. She spent years grinding through small tournaments across Europe just to stay afloat.

Then she arrived in Paris, won three qualifiers, and kept winning. Zheng Qinwen. Elise Mertens. Maria Sakkari. Diana Shnaider. Nine straight matches. One set dropped.

She is now the first qualifier in French Open history to reach the final. The last time a qualifier reached a Grand Slam final, it was Emma Raducanu at the 2021 US Open. Raducanu won.

By simply making the final, Chwalinska has earned more prize money than her entire career combined. The runner-up cheque alone is $1.6 million. If she wins today, she takes home $3.25 million.
One week ago she couldn't pay for her hotel room.

[Waseem Shahzad @Was007]

@Saqibca Express vpn

[Waseem Shahzad @Was007]

@rallaf @HurstPublishers @DHAbooks Masha’Allah absolutely an amazing read. Thank you

[Nicholas Kristof @NickKristof]

This is a hard article to read, but I hope you'll do so. I've spent some time reporting on widespread rape and other sexual violence of Palestinian male and female prisoners by Israeli authorities, and the article is now published. The assault victims were warned not to give speak of what they endured -- they were sometimes told they would be killed or raped if they gave interviews -- but they found the courage to do so. One man described being raped three times in a single day in Israeli prison, the third time after he tried to protest. A young woman said the guards would come in at the beginning of each shift and strip her naked and abuse her. Another reported that she was shown photos of herself being raped and warned they would be released unless she cooperated with Israeli intelligence. Even three children who had been detained told me they had been sexually abused. Look, whatever our position on the Middle East, we should be able to agree on being anti-rape. Sexual assaults were horrific when Israeli women were targeted on Oct. 7, and they're equally horrific when Israeli authorities use them against Palestinians day after day after day. We should be able to find common ground in opposing rape. Here's a gift link to the article: https://t.co/aMMHId49OO

[Waseem Shahzad @Was007]

@DrShoaibAM Congratulations Shoaib.

[Football on TNT Sports @footballontnt]

According to a Stanford University study, since Mo Salah joined Liverpool, hate crimes in the area decreased by 19% and anti-Muslim comments online have dropped by 50%. Impact on and off the pitch.

[Gary Lineker @GaryLineker]

The most important film of our time. ⬇️

[Department for Science, Innovation and Technology @SciTechgovuk]

Free AI training is now available for every adult in the UK 🇬🇧

We're partnering with leading tech companies to upskill 10 million workers by 2030 – the biggest targeted training programme since the Open University.

Find the right course for you: https://t.co/HWc4dRwUdE

[Waseem Shahzad @Was007]

@JoudNassan What a beautiful post. As someone who has a deep appreciation for Sufi texts, it was truly a pleasure to read such a graceful and meaningful story. Please do keep them coming, Joud.

[𝔗𝔯𝔲𝔱𝔥 𝔐𝔞𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔰 @politicsusa46]

For anyone who would like to hear Mark Carney’s outstanding Davos speech in full here it is. This is what true global leadership looks like.

Canada should be immensely proud today, because they are leading the fight back when others dare not.

🎥 TikTok - https://t.co/BExGV2YIDq

[Waseem Shahzad @Was007]

جيبوها يا لولاد! 🇲🇦🏆 القارة السمراء اليوم تتحدث بلكنة مغربية. بالتوفيق لأسود الأطلس في النهائي الكبير! ❤️💚
#ديما_مغرب #
#AFCON2025

[Ihsan Ullah Khan 🇵🇰 @IamIhsanMarwat]

سوشل میڈیا پر وائرل نعت شریف کی اوریجنل ویڈیو !
ضرور سنیں ، شئیر کرنا !

پاس آئے خوشی، دور ہو جائے غم
تجھ کو بھیجا گیا ہے، کرم کیلئے
صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم

[Waseem Shahzad @Was007]

@UrduVirsa چاند تاروں میں نصیر آج بڑی حل چل ہے
ہم کو آثار بتاتے ہیں کہ آپ آتے ہیں

[Javed Hassan @javedhassan]

I’ve now been in China for almost a fortnight, mostly in the teaming metropolis of Shanghai, with a brief weekend trip to Zhuhai. What I found, in many ways, is what one might expect: a nation hurtling toward the future, with cities adorned by the sheen of extraordinary development. The metro, spotless and efficient, hums beneath Shanghai.

At Fudan (Shanghai) and Sun Yat-sen (Zhuhai) Universities, I’ve met minds burning bright with the promise of tomorrow; academics and students whose intellect could rival any in the world. The food, as one would expect, is delicious once you find the right restaurants, but prices are not what I anticipated, they’re comparable to Pakistan.

But there is something else here, something unexpected that stirs the soul in a society often described as pragmatic, relentless, fast-paced. It is the quiet, unassuming generosity of strangers, random acts of kindness that defy the rush of modern life. Time and again, I have been touched by this warmth. Students, seeing me fumble with the intricacies of AliPay, buying me coffee without a second thought. Locals have walked a mile out of their way to guide me to an address when I was lost in Shanghai’s labyrinthine streets.

One event moves me to write this post. It started in Zhuhai airport, where security officers confiscated my phone’s battery pack. It lacked the proper 3C marking, they said, and so it was taken. My phone, as it often is, was gasping its last breaths, hovering at a perilous 6% as I landed at Shanghai Pudong Airport. I had just enough power to navigate the metro with AliPay, but I knew I was racing against time. At my destination, I would need to exit, and a dead phone would leave me stranded. In a moment of quiet panic, I asked fellow passengers if anyone had a charger to spare. A man, his face expressionless, handed me his battery pack. Halfway through the journey, he rose to disembark at his stop. I moved to return the charger, but he waved me off, refusing to take it back.

A battery pack of no small value, at least 70 to 100 yuan, about ten to thirteen dollars was given to me by a stranger, without expectation or motive beyond the simple act of kindness. In a world that often seems to move too fast for such gestures, this was a moment of profound humanity. He didn’t even expect a thank you. How often would that happen in London or New York? Not even in Pakistan, where people can be extraordinarily generous to foreigners.

I have found that the Chinese people are a study in resilience. They are a nation of tireless workers, a people who have endured great hardships through the long arc of history. Yet, in this land of soaring ambition and relentless progress, they have not lost their warmth. They have not forsaken the quiet grace of generosity. This is China: not merely a nation of steel and glass, but a nation of heart. And that, perhaps, is the most unexpected discovery of all.

[Waseem Shahzad @Was007]

Big news in military aviation: AirForces Monthly highlights Pakistan’s success in neutralizing Indian Rafale jets. A major milestone in South Asia’s aerial dynamics! 🇵🇰✈️ #PakistanAirForce #Rafale #AirForcesMonthly”

[Waseem Shahzad @Was007]

@sarataseer @WajSKhan 😂😂