Infinity Social Updates

The European Union faces a sobering geopolitical reality: its influence in regions, such as the Middle East and the Persian Gulf, that directly affect its security and economic interests is diminishing. The Iranian dossier serves as the clearest example. Once a primary architect of the Iran nuclear deal, the EU now finds itself marginalised as US-Iran backchannel negotiations and regional security calculations dictate the trajectory of the relations with Iran. Europe neither participated in any combat operations nor did it play any diplomatic role in bringing the conflict to its resolution. Brussels has been reduced to the role of a concerned but impotent bystander. Into this vacuum, Pakistan has moved with strategic intent. Islamabad has close military-to-military relationship with Washington, with Field Marshal Asim Munir having forged a relationship of trust with US President Donald Trump. On the other hand, Pakistan has long historical ties with Iran, as well as deep relations...

ISLAMABAD: After a gap of 14 years, 27 police stations in the federal capital were provided 30 new vehicles on Saturday to improve response time and mobility. According to a statement issued by the interior ministry, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry handed over the keys to Islamabad police during a ceremony held at Police Lines. The statement quoted Naqvi as saying that the concept of modern policing was impossible with non-functional vehicles. “Only by meeting police requirements in line with the times can we achieve the desired results. These new vehicles will improve police response time,” he said. He was further quoted as saying that all necessary resources were being provided to Islamabad police to ensure public safety and security. “With the provision of resources, police will be able to perform their duties in a better manner,” he said. He said construction and upgradation of a...

Chinese AI startup Z.ai said on Friday its open-source GLM-5.3 model had neared Anthropic’s restricted Mythos 5 in identifying software vulnerabilities, bolstering the credentials of a Chinese AI challenger gaining traction among Western developers. Z.ai said GLM-5.3 scored 84.5 per cent on CyberGym, a test of whether a model can review code, identify security flaws and confirm that they are real. That was slightly higher than the 83.8pc it reported for Mythos 5. The results have not been independently verified. GLM-5.3 lagged behind Mythos 5 in converting discovered flaws into working attacks, a standard part of defensive security research. Z.ai said its model scored 54.4pc on the ExploitBench test of this capability, versus 78.0pc for Mythos 5. In a separate timed test, Z.ai said GLM-5.3 completed 105 attack-development tasks in two hours and 130 in six hours. Mythos 5 completed 181 and 247 tasks, respectively. Anthropic has made Myt...

US President Donald Trump’s envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner will visit Israel next week in hopes of bridging gaps on a Gaza plan rejected by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, officials said Friday. Kushner and Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza of Trump’s so-called Board of Peace implementing the deal, will visit both Israel and key mediator Egypt. The trip comes after Netanyahu publicly rejected a 15-point plan announced by Mladenov in which Hamas agreed to hand over its weapons to a new Palestinian governing committee in Gaza. A Board of Peace official said Kushner and Mladenov hoped for “constructive conversations” on advancing Trump’s overall peace plan that began with the October 2025 declaration of a ceasefire, which has reduced but not ended Israeli strikes in Gaza. “The United States and Israel agree on the end state, which is a demilitarised Hamas,” the official said on condition of anonymity. “We will hear the concerns that have been raised and ...

IT has been 79 years since Pakistan was brought into being. Much water has passed under the proverbial bridge, but basic contradictions around national identity, resources and representation, and relations with neighbouring countries are as acute as they were in 1947. At the heart of it is the ahistorical notion that the subcontinent’s Muslims are a timeless nation with social mores and interests distinct from Hindus. East Pakistan’s secession in 1971 could have spurred a fundamental reformulation, but the state chose to reinforce this narrative. The rise of Hindutva in recent years, and the events of May 2025 in particular, have given state ideologues a new lease on life. Yet the treatment of Pakistan’s peripheries continues to provide fuel for competing national claims amongst politicised youth across numerous geographies. These voices remain at best unheard and at worst suppressed. And so, Pakistan remains beset by a fundamental paradox — a state that insists on projecting itself...

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday sought comments from the Directorate General Immigration and Passports and the federal government on a petition challenging the non-renewal of the passport of Arshad Khan, popularly known as ‘Arshad Chaiwala’. Justice Umair Majeed Malik issued notices to the Director General Immigration and Passports and the Federation through the Interior Secretary on the petition filed by Mr Khan, who rose to fame after his photograph while working at a tea stall in Islamabad went viral on social media. During the hearing, Barrister Umar Ijaz Gilani appeared on behalf of the petitioner and contended that his client was a well-known entrepreneur who had promoted Pakistani culture globally. The counsel submitted that the authorities had failed to renew the petitioner’s passport despite the passage of almost a year since he had applied for its renewal. According to the petition, Arshad Khan applied for renewal of his passport on August 20, 2...