Infinity Social Updates

Pakistan recalled former skipper Babar Azam on Wednesday for the away Test series and white-ball matches against South Africa starting next week, but there was no place for spinner Sajid Khan. The 30-year-old star batsman was dropped following defeat in the first Test against England in October and rested for the ongoing limited-over series against Zimbabwe. Pakistan will play three T20 Internationals in South Africa starting from December 10, followed by three one-day matches and two Tests. Fast bowler Mohammad Abbas also returns to the Test side after last playing in 2021. Off-spinner Sajid misses out despite taking 19 wickets in the 2-1 home Test series win over England, with selectors taking into consideration the less spin-friendly pitches in South Africa. “We have adopted horses for courses policy to ensure squads are well-balanced and leaving out Sajid was an extremely difficult decision,” Aaqib Javed, a senior member of the selection committee, said in a Pakistan Cricket...

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday expressed dismay over the shutdown of businesses in the capital during PTI’s ‘final call’ protest , noting that actions of both the government and the protesting party were “wrong”. On Nov 13, Imran issued a “ final call ” for nationwide protests on Nov 24, demanding the restoration of the PTI’s electoral mandate, the release of detained party members, and the reversal of the 26th Amendment which he said had strengthened a “dictatorial regime”. The IHC had ruled the PTI’s planned protest as unlawful and directed the federal government to take all necessary measures to maintain law and order in Islamabad without disrupting public life, particularly as the Belarusian president’s arrival coincided with the protest. During that hearing, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq had questioned the repeated disruptions caused by protests. “What alternative solutions can be implemented instead of shutting down the city with containers?” he had asked. ...

US President-elect Donald Trump’s attorneys sought to dismiss his historic criminal fraud conviction in a new filing released on Tuesday — arguing President Joe Biden used similar reasoning to pardon his son, Hunter Biden. The Democratic lame-duck president pardoned his son on Sunday, after Hunter was convicted earlier this year of tax evasion and illegally possessing a firearm, arguing he was “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted” by the Department of Justice (DOJ) “only because he is my son.” Trump’s motion to dismiss, filed on Monday, saw his legal team cite the arguments used by Biden to make their own case to presiding judge Juan Merchan. Biden’s “comments amounted to an extraordinary condemnation of President Biden’s own DOJ,” the letter’s introduction reads. “This is the same DOJ that coordinated and oversaw the politically-motivated, election-interference witch hunts targeting President Trump.” The 69-page brief also invoked the doctrine of presidential immunity — whic...

A gunman shot at a prominent Sikh politician outside the Golden Temple in northern India on Wednesday before police caught and arrested him, in a scare at the popular site that witnessed a bloody clash between Sikh militants and troops four decades ago. The politician, Sukhbir Singh Badal, former deputy chief minister of Punjab state, was unharmed. The shooter, identified by police as Narain Singh, 68, was seen in TV footage from news agency ANI walking to the entrance of the temple in Amritsar city, the holiest shrine for Sikhs, and stealthily removing a gun from his pocket to fire at Badal. He was stopped and pushed away by a policeman in plainclothes who was standing next to Badal, but not before he fired a stray shot, which did not hit anyone, police said. “Due to the alertness and deployment of our police, this attack attempt was foiled,” Amritsar Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar told reporters, adding that the gunman had been arrested. The reason for the attack wa...

The Pakistan Stock Exchange surged past 104,000 points Tuesday, gaining more than 1,000 points a day after data showed inflation fell to a six-and-a-half-year low in November. The benchmark KSE-100 index rose 1,084.31 points, or 1.05 per cent, to settle at 104,359.25 at 2:47pm. The market initially dropped sharply, falling 449 points in early trading, before rebounding to reach an intraday high of 104,445.80. The rally followed news that Pakistan’s annual inflation rate dropped to 4.9pc in November, its lowest level since 2017. The country’s trade deficit also narrowed by 19pc year-over-year to $1.59 billion. “The market is rerating upwards in anticipation of lower interest rates and stronger earnings growth,” said Yousuf M Farooq, research director at Chase Securities. He advised retail investors to maintain a long-term focus and build diversified portfolios through consistent monthly investments. The November inflation reading pushed real interest rates above 10pc, potentially s...

THERE are indeed signs that the economy is stabilising. The PSX share index has, for the first time, crossed 100,000 points. The rupee-dollar exchange rate has rema­ined stable over the entire year despite speculation to the contrary. The inflation rate has come tumbling down to around six per cent when even the most optimistic projection was of near double this number. The recurring dreaded current account deficit has turned positive with a spurt in exports and a windfall rise in remittances, albeit with controlled imports. These are all positive developments. But will this trend continue? Most importantly, if it does will it ignite sustained high growth, or as is the case with many developing countries, will it end up in the low-growth equilibrium trap of macro stability without growth? While the government has taken full credit for stabilising the economy, these developments are of course not just the result of its efforts. To start with, the slowing down in the rate of inflation ...

A court in Vietnam on Tuesday upheld a death sentence for real estate tycoon Truong My Lan after rejecting her appeal against a conviction for embezzlement and bribery in a high-profile $12 billion fraud case, state media reported. Lan, the chairwoman of real estate developer Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group, was sentenced to death in April for her role in what was Vietnam’s biggest financial fraud case on record. The High People’s Court in southern Ho Chi Minh City determined there was no basis to reduce Lan’s death sentence, reported online newspaper VnExpress . If Lan is able to return three-quarters of the money embezzled while on death row, it is possible the sentence could be commuted to life imprisonment, the report said. She is one of the most famous business executives and state officials jailed in the communist country’s lengthy anti-graft campaign known as “Blazing Furnace”. “The consequences Lan caused are unprecedented in the history of litigation and the amount of money...

Just after midnight as poisonous plumes of smoke wafted through the Indian city of Bhopal four decades ago, Gas Devi was born, gasping for every breath. Her feeble cries were drowned out by the screams of men, women and children as they ran to escape the cloud of highly toxic gas leaking from the Union Carbide factory on the night of December 2, 1984. Some 3,500 people were killed in the immediate aftermath, and up to 25,000 are estimated to have died overall in the world’s deadliest industrial disaster . Forty years later, the horror continues to blight the lives of those like Devi — as well as countless others born with deformities since that fateful night. Devi, a daily wage labourer, has constant pain in her chest, one of her lungs is not developed fully and she keeps falling sick. “My life is a living hell,” Devi told AFP , speaking at her shanty in Bhopal, the capital of the central state of Madhya Pradesh. Even if she wanted, she cannot forget the night she was born. “My p...

The Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday allowed the Additional Attorney General of Pakistan (AAG) more time to seek government directives regarding the audio leaks case. On Nov 22, the Constitutional Bench of the SC ordered the government to state whether it intends to continue with the inquiry commission constituted in the wake of audio leaks. On August 19, the SC suspended the IHC’s orders in the audio leaks case. Also in August, the top court had observed that a hearing of the three-man inquiry commission formed to probe the veracity of audio leaks was never fixed after its last hearing on May 27, 2023. Monday’s hearing was taken up by all members of the Constitutional Bench except Justice Ayesha Malik . At the outset of the hearing, the federal government sought more time in the audio leaks case, with Additional Attorney General of Pakistan Aamer Rehman requesting the court to provide a short date for the hearing. “The question is, does the government ...

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad sought to shore up support from his allies Sunday, after a monitor said a shock rebel offensive saw government forces lose control of Aleppo for the first time since the start of the country’s civil war. An Islamist-dominated rebel alliance attacked forces of the Syrian government on Wednesday, the same day a fragile ceasefire took effect in neighbouring Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah after two months of military operations. The Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group and allied factions now “control Aleppo city, except the neighbourhoods controlled by the Kurdish forces”, Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP . For the first time since the civil war started more than a decade ago, the country’s second city “is out of control of Syrian regime forces”, he said. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi travelled to Damascus on Sunday to meet Assad, saying before his departure that Tehra...

India’s Jay Shah started his tenure as chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Sunday, replacing New Zealander Greg Barclay, the governing body said in a press release . The 35-year-old Shah, son of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home minister Amit Shah, is the youngest ever ICC chairman. Shah, also president of the Asian Cricket Council, was the sole candidate for the role after Barclay decided not to seek a third term. According to a press release issued by the ICC, the agency announced the start of Shah’s term, citing it as a “new chapter of global cricket”. While quoting the powerful Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket, the press release said he was “honoured” to be starting in the role of ICC chair and thanked the directors and member boards for their support and trust. ’“This is an exciting time for the sport as we build up to the LA28 Olympic Games and strive to make cricket more inclusive and popular than ever before,” the press release quoted Sh...

The interior ministry reiterated on Sunday that despite a prior Islamabad High Court (IHC) ruling deeming PTI’s November 24 power show “unlawful,” the party still breached the Red Zone in Islamabad. On Nov 13, Imran issued a “ final call ” for nationwide protests on Nov 24, demanding the restoration of the PTI’s electoral mandate, the release of detained party members, and the reversal of the 26th Amendment , which he said had strengthened a “dictatorial regime”. In the early hours of Wednesday, a day of pitched battles between security forces and PTI protesters across the federal capital ended in a hasty retreat of the party’s top leadership and supporters from the Red Zone in the early hours of Wednesday. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said in a statement that security forces had “bravely repulsed the protesters”, while PTI harshly criticised the interior minister for his statements and blamed him for the alleged violence against its supporters, claiming multiple deaths. Amnesty...

Users across the country once again reported internet disruptions on Sunday, as the government downplayed the outages, dismissing concerns about the firewall situation as “blown out of proportion.” Screengrab taken from X In recent months, users have experienced sluggish speeds, difficulty downloading media on WhatsApp, and intermittent connectivity issues. Digital analysts say the government has been testing a “ firewall ” that monitors some platforms and gives the power to block content, like photos or videos of rallies shared on WhatsApp. The country started facing internet disruption again last week after the government restricted access to mobile services in light of PTI’s final call rally . According to Downdetector, an internet outage tracking website, several websites reported outages early today. Screengrab taken from Dow Detector Screengrab taken from Down detector The tracking website received 57 reports on the outage of WhatsApp , 86 for TikTok and...

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) said on Sunday it expects to resume European routes soon and is eyeing several UK destinations after the EU aviation regulator lifted its bar on the flag carrier. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) suspended PIA’s authorisation to operate in the EU in June 2020 over concerns about the ability of Pakistani authorities and its Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) to ensure compliance with international aviation standards. “PIA plans to approach the UK’s Department for Transport (DfT) for UK route resumption, as EASA clearance is a prerequisite for their decision,” PIA spokesman Abdullah Hafeez Khan told Reuters . EASA and UK authorities suspended permission for PIA to operate in the region after Pakistan began investigating the validity of pilots’ licenses following a deadly plane crash that killed 97 people. Khan said the airline expects to resume flights to Europe, starting with Paris, within the next three to four weeks. Once PIA ...