Infinity Social Updates

The Lahore Development Authority (LDA) on Monday sealed 60 properties in its ongoing operation against illegal commercial use and non-payment of commercial fees. The town planning wing sealed over five dozen properties in the provincial capital, according to an authority spokesperson. LDA teams conducted an operation under the supervision of Chief Town Planner-II Azhar Ali and directed by Ali Nusrat, the Director of Town Planning Zone IV, sealing two dozen illegal commercial properties, including well-known restaurants, food outlets, showrooms, bakeries, and cafes in Johar Town, Khayaban-e-Firdousi and surrounding regions, Previously, the LDA had targeted properties on Multan Road and in Gulberg, sealing approximately three dozen properties in total. On Multan Road alone, a dozen illegal commercial properties were sealed. Teams from Town Planning Zone III also took action in Gulberg, sealing two dozen properties involved in illegal commercial use and outstanding commercial fees.

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) has acquitted two policemen allegedly involved in the killing of a young man in a staged encounter in 2018. Constables Uzair Ahmed and Abdul Qadir were charged with staging a ‘police encounter’ that resulted in the death of Shiraz Ahmed within the remits of the PIB Colony police station in November 2018. The ATC-XIX judge, who conducted the trial in the Judicial Complex inside the Central Jail Karachi, ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against the accused persons. The court directed the jail authorities to release Abdul Qadir if he was not required in any other case, and cancelled the surety bond of Uzair Ahmed who had appeared before the court on bail. Another co-accused nominated in this case, Ataullah, who was on bail, passed away during the trial. According to the prosecution, an FIR was registered by Nadra Parveen, mother of deceased Shiraz, stating that on the night of June 26, 2018, she was home when neighbours

US scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun won the Nobel Prize in Medicine on Monday for their discovery of microRNA and its role in how genes are regulated. Understanding the regulation of gene activity has been an important goal for decades, the Nobel jury said. If gene regulation goes awry, it can lead to serious diseases such as cancer, diabetes, or autoimmunity. “Their groundbreaking discovery revealed a completely new principle of gene regulation that turned out to be essential for multicellular organisms, including humans,” the jury said. Collaborating but working separately, the pair conducted research on a 1-millimetre roundworm, C. elegans, to determine why cell mutations occurred and when. They discovered microRNA, a new class of tiny RNA molecules that play a crucial role in gene regulation, which in turn allows each cell to select only relevant instructions. Their findings were published in two articles in 1993. “The seminal discovery of microRNA has introduced a n

Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu was given a red carpet welcome on his first state visit to India Monday, a trip Prime Minister Narenda Modi said marked a “new chapter” to reset troubled ties. Pro-China Muizzu came to power a year ago on a promise to evict dozens of Indian troops deployed in his small but strategically located archipelago. Most South Asian leaders are invited to New Delhi soon after they assume office, but it has taken almost a year for India to accord Muizzu a state visit. India however on Monday rolled out financial support to bolster Male’s struggling economy, with Muizzu and Modi discussing “energy, trade, financial linkages and defence cooperation”, India’s foreign ministry said. “Your visit is a new chapter in our ties,” Modi told Muizzu, who was given an honour guard including cavalry and a marching band. “India will always be there for the progress and prosperity of the people of Maldives.” Muizzu, 46, in a speech alongside Modi that included the virtu

The Paris 2024 Olympics saw around 10,500 athletes compete. Some were chasing gold and glory, while others competed because they had made it to arguably the greatest sporting event in the world. And then there were some like Yazan Al Bawwab and Valerie Tarazi, who were there to prove to the world that Palestinians still exist — even as their homeland was being obliterated some 3,300 kilometres from the French capital. The eight-member Palestinian contingent was a tangible representation to the world that Palestine continues to stand despite decades of apartheid and systemic erasure. The Olympics can be viewed as a microcosm of the real world seen through the lens of sports, and an apt representation of where people come from and the values they hold. The Palestinian contingent was received warmly in Paris by those who understood the gravity of them competing despite the circumstances back home. “We were welcomed by humanitarians, by people who see us as normal human beings,” Yazan

India captain Harmanpreet Kaur produced a steely 29 to steer her side to a scrappy six-wicket victory over Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday. Set 106 to win after restricting Pakistan to 105-8 in their 20 overs, India were looking comfortable at 61-1. But two wickets in two balls by Pakistan captain Fatima Sana opened the door before Kaur took her side to the brink of victory. With India two runs short, however, she slipped and appeared to rick her neck, leaving the field unbeaten on 29 from 24 balls. Sajeevan Sajana hit the winning runs from the next delivery as India closed on 108-4, winning with seven balls to spare. “We have been very disciplined, followed the plans,” said India’s Smriti Mandhana. “In the field we were very good. Better start with the bat would have been good, but we will take that win.” Nida Dar top-scored for Pakistan with 28 from 34 balls but there was little else to cheer after Fatima had won the toss and elected to bat on a wicket that produced some awkward bou

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly session was rescheduled for Sunday after the whereabouts of Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur remained unknown with his party issuing conflicting claims about his arrest and the government denying it, following protests in Islamabad. A large number of protesters reached Islamabad yesterday as PTI held a demonstration in response to their incarcerated founder, Imran Khan’s, call for a “ peaceful protest ”. Different groups of protestors, including the caravan of CM Gandapur entered the capital from Taxila near Nicholson Monument after breaching the police cordon. The CM then left the party workers in Islamabad and moved to the KP House from where he “disappeared,” sparking rumours about his arrest. The PTI initially claimed that Gandapur had been “arrested” but later, KP government spokesperson Barrister Muhammad Saif stated on X that the CM had not been “formally arrested ” though a “heavy contingent of Rangers and police are present at the KP Hou

India’s ruling party is projected to have lost two key provincial elections to the main opposition Congress party and its allies, exit polls showed, suggesting another setback after the party fared poorly in national elections. Local media reported that Congress had a clear advantage in exit polls in the northern state of Haryana, indicating an end to a decade of rule by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state. The opposition also held an edge in the Indian-held Jammu and Kashmir. The two elections were held in phases that ended on Saturday. Votes will be counted on Tuesday and results will be announced the same day. The exit poll results were released late on Saturday. Exit polls, conducted by private polling firms including TV broadcasters, have a patchy record in India, which analysts say poses a particular challenge due to its large and diverse voting population. The exit polls had projected Modi’s BJP would win a large majority in the general

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will make a defiant return on Saturday to the small town in Pennsylvania where an assassin tried to shoot him dead during a rally attended by thousands of supporters. The former president will appear alongside JD Vance, his running mate in the November election, as well as family members of those hurt in the July 13 attack, first responders and tech billionaire Elon Musk. Trump has repeatedly insisted on returning to the site of the shooting, in which one man was killed and two attendees were wounded before the sniper was shot dead. “Butler has become quite a famous place — it’s like a monument now,” the Republican candidate said at a recent rally in Milwaukee. Trump’s campaign said “he took a bullet for democracy” in Butler, and that he would speak behind protective glass on his return. The former president was six minutes into a campaign speech in a scorching field and turning his head to look at a chart of immigration statistics,

England captain Ben Stokes said Saturday he will miss the first Test against Pakistan starting next week, after failing to recover from a hamstring injury. The 33-year-old Stokes has been out since the start of August with a hamstring tear suffered during The Hundred, missing his team’s 2-1 home Test series win against Sri Lanka last month. Top-order batter Ollie Pope, who led the side against Sri Lanka, will stand in again for the first of three matches starting in Multan on Monday. “I tried my hardest to get myself fit for this game,” Stokes told reporters. “But have taken the call to miss this one because I’ve not quite managed to get the game ready.” All-rounder Stokes was at team practice on Friday and Saturday, batting in the nets and bowling a few deliveries with a short start. But the skipper said he was “not sure” he would participate in the second Test — also in Multan and slated for October 15. “I’ve pushed myself incredibly hard and worked really hard with the medical

Six soldiers were martyred and as many TTP terrorists killed in North Waziristan as security forces conducted an intelligence-based operation (IBO), the military’s media affairs wing said on Saturday. According to a statement issued by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), six Khawarij (TTP terrorists) were neutralised during an exchange of fire that took place between the security forces and terrorists on the night of October 4/5 in Spinwam general area of North Waziristan. The statement said that as many “brave” soldiers including Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Ali Shoukat, who was leading the troops, were martyred. The five soldiers who “paid the ultimate sacrifice” were identified as Lance Naik Muhammad Ullah, Lance Naik Akhtar Zaman, Lance Naik Shahid Ullah , Lance Naik Yusaf Ali and Sepoy Jameel Ahmed. In another statement, ISPR said that two Khawarij were killed, including “ring leader Attaullah, also known as Mehran” as law enforcement agencies conducted a joint intelligen

Opener Zak Crawley said on Friday that England’s young pace attack will face a “test of character” in their upcoming Test series in Pakistan where a pitch baked by searing temperatures and surging smog levels await. The team touched down this week in Multan, which will host the first two of a three-match Test series beginning on Monday. With training underway, temperatures are 37 degrees Celsius and air pollution is up to 27 times the level deemed safe by the World Health Organisation, according to monitoring firm IQAir . “It will be challenging, but we have got all the things in place to counter that,” said Crawley, returning to the squad after missing a home series against Sri Lanka with a fractured finger. “We are looking forward to that challenge,” the 26-year-old told reporters in Multan. “We have been talking about it for the last couple of weeks.” He predicted England’s quintet of pace bowlers — on their maiden tours of Pakistan — would particularly face a “test of charact

The UN health agency said on Friday that it had approved the use of the first diagnostic test for mpox, a key tool in countries battling outbreaks. More than 800 people have died across Africa from mpox, where the disease has been officially detected in 16 countries, according to the African Union’s disease control centre. “The approval for emergency use” of the test “will be pivotal in expanding diagnostic capacity in countries facing mpox outbreaks, where the need for quick and accurate testing has risen sharply”, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in a statement. The test, called the Alinity m MPXV assay and manufactured by Abbott Molecular Inc, enables the detection of the mpox virus from swabs taken from human lesions. “By detecting DNA from pustular or vesicular rash samples, laboratory and health workers can confirm suspected mpox cases efficiently and effectively,” the WHO said. “Limited testing capacity and delays in confirming mpox cases persist in Africa, contrib

Seven people were killed and 19 people were injured when a bus fell into a ravine near Quetta’s Brewery Roads Bypass area on Thursday, according to officials. A statement from health department spokesperson Dr Waseem Baig said that seven people were killed and 19 were injured in the accident. It added that three children and a woman were among the dead. Saddar Superintendent of Police (SP) Shaukat Mohmand told Dawn.com that the vehicle, carrying people from a wedding, was travelling from Khilji Colony Bypass towards Baleli when the incident occurred. “One of the tyres burst, causing the bus to fall into a ravine near Brewery Roads Bypass,” he said. The SP added that the bodies and injured were moved to Bolan Medical Complex after administering first aid at the scene. Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti expressed grief over the bus accident and said that the “loss of precious human lives in the tragic accident is a cause of grief and sadness”. In a statement from his office,

The legal fraternity on Thursday largely welcomed the Supreme Court (SC) unanimously accepting a review petition against its 2022 verdict related to the defection clause under Article 63-A of the Constitution. However, it questioned its timing and the composition of the bench. Through its May 17, 2022 verdict , the SC had declared that votes cast contrary to the parliamentary party lines in four instances outlined in Article 63-A should not be counted. Today’s ruling means that in any future legislation, the ballots of lawmakers who vote against party policy will be counted. These four instances include the election of the prime minister and chief minister; a vote of confidence or no-confidence; a Constitution amendment bill; and a money bill. The verdict, pronounced by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa today, could potentially provide major relief to the government in its attempts to garner the required support to make a set of amendments to the Constitution, multiple

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Thursday warned the PTI against its plans to hold a rally at Islamabad’s D-Chowk tomorrow due to several high-profile visits by foreign dignitaries, including the Malaysian prime minister. The PTI has carried out multiple rallies across the country, protesting against the “illegal” imprisonment of its founder Imran Khan, the Election Commission of Pakistan’s delay in following the Supreme Court verdict on the reserved seats, and to “save the Constitution”. Each time, the government has issued a set of strict guidelines ahead of the rallies, sparking clashes between PTI workers and the authorities. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and other PTI lawmakers from the province on Wednesday vowed to attend their party’s Oct 4 rally at D-Chowk in Islamabad “at all costs” and announced that they would reach the federal capital even if it took them several days. The participants said they would remain peaceful in their movement towards Is

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Thursday said that he will not cooperate with the federal government on the Constitutional Package at any cost, stating that such an amendment could not be rushed through parliament and requires consensus. The Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously accepted a review petition against its 2022 verdict related to the defection clause under Article 63-A of the Constitution. Today’s verdict, pronounced by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, could potentially provide major relief to the government in its attempts to garner the required support to make a set of amendments to the Constitution, multiple of which pertain to the judiciary. Earlier, Fazl hinted at supporting the proposed formation of a constitutional court and did not reject the government’s proposals to fix the tenure of the CJP at three years or to increase the age of a judge of the apex court. He added that the Package should not be “person-specific”. One of Fazl’s main point

An unexploded US bomb caused a minor blast at a regional Japanese airport, officials said on Wednesday, with reports saying that the device likely dated from World War II. Footage on Japanese media showed a cloud of dust rising from a blast on a taxiway at Miyazaki Airport on the island of Kyushu. The airport in southern Japan originated in 1943 as an Imperial Japanese Navy base, sending dozens of “kamikaze” aircraft on suicide missions. There were no reports of injuries but dozens of flights were cancelled. The airport confirmed part of a taxiway had caved in. “After investigation with the Self-Defense Forces, we concluded that it is an explosion of a US unexploded bomb,” a transport ministry official told AFP . The official added that it was not known whether the bomb was dropped during World War II, though local media reported it likely was. Other unexploded ordnance dropped by the United States was reportedly found at a nearby construction site in 2009 and 2011. A total of 55

Forty-seven tigers, three lions and a panther have died in zoos in South Vietnam due to the H5N1 bird flu virus, state media said on Wednesday. The deaths occurred in August and September at the private My Quynh Safari Park in Long An Province and the Vuon Xoai Zoo in Dong Nai, near Ho Chi Minh City, the official Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported. According to test results from the National Centre for Animal Health Diagnosis, the animals died “because of H5N1 type A virus”, VNA said. The zoos declined to comment when contacted by AFP . No zoo staff members in close contact with the animals had experienced respiratory symptoms, the VNA report added. Education for Nature Vietnam (ENV), an NGO that focuses on wildlife conservation, said there were a total of 385 tigers living in captivity in Vietnam at the end of 2023. About 310 are kept at 16 privately owned farms and zoos, while the rest are in state-owned facilities. The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that since 2022, the

A North Korean defector to the South was apprehended after he crashed a stolen bus near the border in a failed bid to return to his isolated homeland, police told AFP on Wednesday. The suspect had fled to the South in 2011, and was attempting to re-enter the North aboard the stolen bus when he crashed into a barricade on a bridge just south of the heavily fortified demilitarised zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas, according to Gyeonggi Bukbu provincial police. “He lives under difficult economic conditions as a construction worker and misses his family still in the North,” an investigator told AFP , explaining the man’s reasons for the attempted crossing. The police are considering charging the suspect, who is in his 30s, with theft and violating national security laws, the investigator added. Crossings from the South to the North are rare, with defectors typically heading in the opposite direction, often via China after crossing the Yalu River, which separates it from North Korea.

Survivors of the monsoon floods that ravaged Nepal over the weekend criticised the government on Tuesday for inadequate relief efforts during a disaster that killed at least 218 people. Deadly floods and landslides are common across South Asia during the monsoon season from June to September but experts say climate change is making them worse. Entire neighbourhoods in the capital Kathmandu were inundated at the weekend, along with villages in remote pockets of the Himalayan country that were still awaiting relief efforts. “There is no road, so no one has come,” Mira KC, who lives in a village in Kavre district to Kathmandu’s east, told AFP . “Even if they do, those who died are dead already and the damage is done. All they will do is offer condolences, what will they do?” The floods disproportionately hit Kathmandu’s poorest residents living in haphazard slums along the banks of the Bagmati river and its tributaries, which run through the city. Slum resident Man Kumar Rana Maga

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Tuesday said that his government has implemented measures to combat extremism and terrorism, including intelligence sharing and coordinated operations with law enforcement agencies. His comments came while addressing participants of the National Security and War Course 2024-25 at the Chief Minister House in Karachi. In attendance at the event were 240 officers of the armed forces, civil servants, and military officers from 24 friendly countries led by Chief Instructor Major General Mohammad Akhtar. “Community engagement and outreach programmes have been initiated to prevent radicalisation and promote peace and harmony,” CM Murad said. He stated that the Sindh government has implemented various initiatives to strengthen the police force, including training programmes and infrastructure development. Some of the initiatives include the degradation of the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) and special branch of the police, as well as the

The Punjab government on Tuesday imposed Section 144(6) in Faisalabad, Bahawalpur and Mianwali, prohibiting all forms of public gathering as PTI prepared for a rally in the southern Punjab district. PTI has carried out multiple rallies across the country , protesting against the “illegal” imprisonment of the party founder, ECP’s delay in following the Supreme Court verdict on the reserved seats and “ save the constitution ”. Each time, the government has issued a set of strict guidelines ahead of the rallies, sparking clashes between PTI workers and the authorities. Incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan gave a fresh call for countrywide protests yesterday for the “independence of [the] judiciary”, inclu­ding a demonstration in Islam­abad where all such gatherings are banned. As per the PTI founder’s announcement, the party will hold protests in Mianwali, Faisalabad, and Bahawalpur tomorrow. Separately, PTI Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram announced a “large