Infinity Social Updates

Ali Tareen, former owner of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) team Multan Sultans, on Thursday said he had pulled out of the HBL PSL team auction, as owning the team was also about “giving a voice” to south Punjab. In a post on X, Tareen said he and his family would not participate in the franchise auction. “Our time with Multan Sultans was never just about owning a cricket team. It was about south Punjab,” he wrote. “[It was] about giving a voice to a region that had been overlooked for too long. That’s what drove everything we built.” Tareen added that if he were to return to the league, it would have to be for the same reason, stating that south Punjab “is where my heart is”. “This year, I’ll be in the stands. Cheering for players on and celebrating with the fans. And when the Multan team is being sold, we’ll be ready,” he wrote. More to follow. from Dawn - Home https://ift.tt/G5WO01M

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Thursday the government was firm in its resolve to eradicate terrorism from the country, and particularly lauded Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir in this regard. The premier said this while addressing political leaders in Quetta. He said it was unfortunate that Balochistan had been grappling with terrorism, adding that the role of the armed forces in combatting terrorism could not be appreciated enough. “Be it the soldiers and officials of the army, Rangers personnel and officials, or those of Levies, and the common man, their sacrifices will be remembered in history,” PM Shehbaz said. He said the fight against terrorism was ongoing and Fitna-al-Khawarij — a term that the state has designated for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan — were being provided support from our “neighbouring countries, which is unfortunate”. More to follow from Dawn - Home https://ift.tt/TvugiK2

BANNU: At least two cops were injured in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu as a police vehicle transporting prisoners to Hangu came under attack by “terrorists” on Thursday, sources said. Sources in Bannu police told Dawn that the vehicle, which belonged to Hangu police and was carrying prisoners for court appearances, came under fire at Domel Link Road. A source in the Bannu Central Jail’s administration also confirmed this to Dawn, saying that the prisoners were being transported for court hearings as per routine. The vehicle was attacked on the way to the court, the source said. Sources in Bannu police said the vehicle’s driver changed route and reached Karak following the incident. The sources said the two injured cops were being provided medical treatment at the district headquarters hospital in Karak, adding that Hangu District Police Officer Khanzaib Mohmand also visited the injured personnel at the hospital. Meanwhile, an investigation into the attack is under way and security ...

Bangladesh cricket said on Wednesday it was in talks with the International Cricket Council (ICC) for a “practical” solution to its request to move its T20 World Cup matches out of India. India forced Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman to quit the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Saturday, prompting anger in Dhaka. With ties tense between the two countries, Bangladesh wants the ICC to shift their World Cup games from India to co-hosts Sri Lanka, citing security concerns. The World Cup begins on February 7 and Bangladesh are scheduled to play their four group matches in India. Senior Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) official Nazmul Abedeen Fahim told AFP today that talks were ongoing with the ICC “regarding security issues”. A BCB statement said it would “continue constructive engagement with the ICC and relevant event authorities”, seeking an “affable and practical solution that ensures the smooth and successful participation of the team”. The BCB said it was “firmly com...

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Wednesday that a special protection unit was being set up in Islamabad for the security of Chinese nationals. According to a press release issued by the interior ministry, Naqvi made the remarks as he met China’s Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong in Beijing. The two met at the headquarters of China’s Ministry of Public Security, where Naqvi received a warm welcome, the interior ministry said. During the meeting, the leaders agreed to develop a joint and rapid response system against terrorism, including expanding training programs aimed at enhancing police capacity, it added. Xiaohong lauded Pakistan’s efforts in countering terrorism and strengthening internal security, the statement said. “We appreciate Pakistan’s sacrifices in the fight against terrorism,” he was quoted as saying. During the meeting, “both ministers agreed on a joint strategy for training and enhancing the professional skills of police and security personnel”....

Everybody calls the Deosai Plateau the ‘land of giants.’ Even the Dawn correspondent in Gilgit wrote that it ‘is sometimes called the land of giants.’ But is it? And if it is, where does the title come from? But before that, a bit of geography: the rolling, well-watered grassland sits at an average height of 4,000 metres above the sea, just south of Skardu in Baltistan division. Covering an area of roughly 4,500 square kilometres, it is hemmed in by peaks rising another 1,000 metres higher. It is home to a wide variety of mammals, the Tibetan brown bear being its signature species. SPLICING IN HISTORY The earliest reference we get to it, only by association, is from the Shah Jahan Nama, when we hear that, in 1637, the Lahori Arain Zafar Khan, then governor of Kashmir, led an army comprising 2,000 cavalry and 10,000 infantry to capture ‘Little Tibet’, as Baltistan was known. This was after an earlier attempt during Jahangir’s rule had ended in a disastrous retreat, with a huge loss o...

A group of European leaders on Tuesday underlined their support for Denmark after US President Donald Trump again voiced designs on its autonomous Arctic territory of Greenland. The leaders of France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain as well as Denmark said that sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders were “universal principles, and we will not stop defending them”. Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears about Trump’s designs on Greenland, which has untapped rare earth deposits and could be a vital player as polar ice melts, opening up new shipping routes. Greenland is on the shortest route for missiles between Russia and the United States, and Washington already has a military base there. With the situation in Venezuela more pressing, Trump quipped on Sunday that “we’ll worry about Greenland in about two months”. The European leaders’ joint statement said: “Arctic security remains a key priority for Europe and it i...

A high-level Senate delegation, led by Deputy Chairman Senator Syedaal Khan, will undertake an official visit to the United States from January 20 to 25, 2026, the Senate Secretariat said on Tuesday. The development comes after Pakistan-US relations saw a notable thaw in 2025, a year marked by high-level engagement, strategic recalibrations, and complex regional developments. The Secretariat termed the visit a “historic milestone” in Pak–US parliamentary relations, signifying the “beginning of a new institutional chapter in bilateral engagement”. According to the statement, the visit was organised under the auspices of the Pakistan Policy Institute USA. It will also include the United States–Pakistan Inter-Parliamentary Group for the first time. “This development represents a major achievement of strategic and non-traditional parliamentary diplomacy,” the statement said, adding that the visit “reflects a shared commitment to strengthening democratic institutions through direct eng...

India’s Supreme Court denied bail on Monday for former student leader Umar Khalid , who has been detained for more than five years on charges of conspiracy to trigger deadly riots . Khalid, 38, was arrested in September 2020 under a sweeping anti-terrorism law and has remained in custody since, aside from brief releases to attend family weddings. His case has become a touchstone for critics who say India’s more than 200 million Muslims face discriminatory treatment in the Hindu-majority nation. Khalid was detained after the February 2020 sectarian riots in Delhi when 53 people were killed — mostly Muslims, but also several Hindus. The Supreme Court in New Delhi dismissed his appeal for bail, saying that “prolonged incarceration” was not grounds to grant him release. It also denied bail on the same grounds to another student activist, Sharjeel Imam. But it approved bail for five others in the same case. Khalid, a former student at Delhi’s prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru Universi...

The Bangladesh government on Monday ordered an indefinite ban on the telecast and promotion of the Indian Premier League (IPL) following the controversy surrounding the removal of Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman from the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) squad, The Daily Star reported. The development comes after KKR said on Saturday they had released the Bangladesh bowler after being told to do so by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Bangladesh are scheduled to play three T20 World Cup matches in Kolkata next month, with the February 7-March 8 tournament being co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka. On Sunday, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) said after an emergency meeting that it had “formally requested” the International Cricket Council (ICC) shift its team’s games to Sri Lanka . A statement from the ministry of information and broadcasting said that it had “noted that no reason was communicated for the decision behind Mustafizur Rahman’s exclusion [from the IPL...

The British Ministry of Defence said it cooperated with France on Saturday night to strike an underground facility in Syria that had likely been used by the militant Islamic State (IS) group to store weapons. “Royal Air Force aircraft have completed successful strikes against Daesh in a joint operation with France,” the ministry said in a statement, using the Arabic acronym for IS. “This facility had been occupied by Daesh, most likely to store weapons and explosives. The area around the facility is devoid of any civilian habitation,” the statement added. The ministry said there was no indication the bombing north of the ancient site of Palmyra had posed any risk to civilians. IS was territorially defeated in Syria in 2019 but still maintains a presence, particularly in the country’s vast desert. Last month, Washington said a lone IS gunman in Palmyra attacked American personnel, killing two US soldiers and a US civilian. US forces said they struck dozens of IS targets in Sy...

Joe Root and Harry Brook tamed Australia’s all-pace attack with an unbroken 154-run stand on Sunday to rescue England and give them the upper hand after a rain-hit day one of the fifth and final Ashes Test. Batting after skipper Ben Stokes won the toss at a sold-out Sydney Cricket Ground, they steered the tourists to 211-3 when bad light forced the players from the field just before tea. Subsequent rain and the risk of lightning made no further play possible, with stumps called an hour early. Root was not out 72 and Brook on 78 after coming together with England tottering at 57-3 following the wickets of Ben Duckett (27), Zak Crawley (16) and Jacob Bethell (10) before lunch. The world’s top two-ranked batsmen set about counter-attacking on a decent batting pitch providing little movement for the bowlers. Both brought up hard-fought half-centuries and, with dark storm clouds looming, kept the scoreboard ticking over at a fast clip. “We’re in very good position, obviously three dow...

The US struck Venezuela and captured its long-serving president, Nicolás Maduro, on Saturday, President Donald Trump said, after months of pressuring him over accusations of drug-running and illegitimacy in office. Washington has not made such a direct intervention in Latin America since the invasion of Panama in 1989 to depose military leader Manuel Noriega, over similar allegations. F-22, C-130 and F-35 aircraft are seen at the former Roosevelt Roads naval base. —Reuters US Air Force F-35 Lightning II fighter jets fly over before landing at the former Roosevelt Roads naval base. —Reuters A US Coast Guard HC-130J aircraft approaches for landing at the former Roosevelt Roads naval base, —Reuters A US Coast Guard HC-130J aircraft overflies the former Roosevelt Roads naval base before landing. —Reuters Smoke rises near Fort Tiuna, after US President Donald Trump said the US has struck Venezuela. —Reuters Picture of fire at Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela’s largest milita...

Venezuelan security forces patrolled largely empty streets at dawn in the capital, Caracas, on Saturday, hours after loud explosions woke residents to the news that US commandos had bombed the country and captured President Nicolas Maduro . Streets close to the Miraflores presidential palace were deserted except for checkpoints manned by uniformed gunmen, as residents expressed their shock at a US military strike that left them guessing who was now in charge of the oil-rich nation. Smoke streaked the sky, with a dark plume still billowing from the direction of the Port of La Guaira to the north, while another was visible near an air base in the capital. Most residents stayed home, devouring the latest information on their phones, while some went to stock up on groceries in case they need to hunker down for a prolonged period. For supporters of the opposition, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado , excitement was also in the air. People ride a motorbike on an emp...

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who has been in power for nearly 12 years, saw his rule come to a sudden end earlier today. After a lightning raid on Caracas, President Donald Trump said Maduro had been captured by US forces on Saturday. Trump, whose government has accused the Venezuelan president of running drug cartels and other crimes, had been pressuring the strongman to leave office for months. Maduro was born into a working-class family on November 23, 1962, the son of a trade union leader. He worked as a bus driver during the time army officer Hugo Chavez led a failed coup attempt in 1992. He campaigned for Chavez’s release from prison and became a fervent supporter of his leftist agenda. According to a BBC report, Maduro held a long and close association with Chavez, which dates back to Chavez’s imprisonment. Maduro won a seat in the legislature following Chavez’s 1998 election. In the years that followed, he rose to become president of the National Assembly and th...

The United States early on Saturday launched a “large-scale strike” on Venezuela, with President Donald Trump announcing that US forces had captured the South American country’s leader, Nicolas Maduro and his wife. “The United States of America has successfully carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the country,“ Trump said in a Truth Social post . Multiple explosions rocked Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, earlier in the day, and columns of black smoke and aircraft could be seen. Responding to the development in a video statement, Venezuela’s Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino said the country would resist the presence of foreign troops. The strikes come after months of steadily mounting US military and economic pressure on Maduro and his country’s oil-export-dependent economy. Here is how the world is reacting to the development. ‘Violation of territorial integrit...

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday sent a notice to Adviser to the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Shafiullah Jan, seeking an explanation for his statement blaming the electoral body for irregularities during the Haripur by-elections last year. During a press conference on December 19, Jan blamed the ECP for electoral irregularities, and claimed Form 47 was issued from Islamabad instead of the returning officer’s office. “This was a singular yet bizarre event in the country’s history, when a Form-47 was issued from Islamabad,” adding that “ECP didn’t upload all Form-45s from 602 polling stations in the constituency, nor could the PMLN produce all Form-45s from 602 polling stations.” In its notice, the ECP said that “baseless” allegations were made against the commission concerning the conduct of the Haripur by-elections, including the issuance of Form-47 from Islamabad, the non-uploading of Form-45 on its website, and other claims of irregularities. “The...

KARACHI: Heavy vehicles’ reign of terror continued in the metropolis on Thursday as a female motorcyclist was killed after being hit by a trailer. In recent months, the city has witnessed a rise in traffic accidents, especially involving heavy vehicles such as dumper trucks and water tankers. Quaidabad’s Station House Officer (SHO) Mohammad Ali Shah told Dawn that the driver of a 10-wheeler hit the 20-year-old female motorcyclist on the main Mehran Highway near MN Textile in Landhi. “She suffered critical injuries and died on the spot,” Shah said. “The driver managed to escape from the spot, leaving behind the heavy vehicle that was impounded by the police,” he said. The body was moved to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) for legal formalities. Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the Edhi Foundation said that a 60-year-old man was killed when a trailer truck hit him in Defence Phase 1 near the Akhtar Colony signal on Thursday night. The statement added that since January...

Every time I open my “For You” feed on Instagram, I’m ushered into a parallel classroom: informal, intimate, and oddly generous. Young girls and boys who look my age and live inside the same algorithmic present lean into their cameras, handing me bite-sized context to systemic injustices, climate disasters, and political upheavals. One tells me why women stay in abusive relationships long after the myth of “choice” collapses, unpacking trauma bonds and survival instincts with the precision of a psychology lecture delivered from a bedroom floor. Another explains the systematic oppression of women in Afghanistan and how bans on their work, movement, and education have collapsed into sanctioned violence, compressing years of repression into three lucid minutes of a GRWM (get ready with me) reel. I first learned the language of geopolitics and settler colonialism here as a lived, continuous process instead of an abstract academic concept. Someone casually recommended ‘ Decolonisation is ...

Days after concluding a three-day visit to Lahore to launch PTI’s street movement, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi announced on Thursday that he will visit Karachi on January 9. “Friday, January 9!” the chief minister said on social media platform X. “Karachi, Sindh, are you ready?” Afridi said he would be coming to Karachi “bearing Imran Khan’s message”, adding that he would be meeting “all friends of the party”. Afridi had previously announced that Karachi was his next destination for galvanising party supporters. During his visit to Lahore, the KP CM had attempted to deliver a speech to supporters at Liberty Chowk but was unable to do so as a heavy contingent of police had blocked all roads leading to the area by setting up pickets. He had also addressed PTI lawmakers at the Punjab Assembly, a visit that was marred by altercations between members of his entourage and security officials, while several heated exchanges between PTI leaders and journalists we...