Infinity Social Updates

Many social media users in Venezuela have reported receiving alerts on Android smartphones moments before Wednesday’s quake that left over 900 confirmed dead. Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS both include the option to display government alerts for emergencies like earthquakes. But the search giant last year also detailed its system that uses the billions of Android smartphones worldwide to detect earthquakes in the first place. How it works Almost all smartphones contain an accelerometer, a movement sensor used for tasks like flipping the screen when users turn it sideways. That same sensor “can also detect the ground shaking from an earthquake,” Google wrote in a July 2025 blog post. Accelerometers can spot potential earthquakes’ fast-moving initial “P” wave, sending information about the tremor to a Google server. By rapidly cross-referencing many such reports, the system can “confirm that an earthquake is happening and estimate its location and magnitude,” Google said. “Th...

Iranians woke early on Saturday to watch the men’s national football team face Egypt, riding an emotional rollercoaster as Iran fought back to draw but missed the chance to directly qualify for the World Cup’s last 32. But all is not lost for Team Melli after the 1-1 draw . Depending on the results in other groups, the Iranians could still reach the knockout stage for the first time in their history. Iran had a troubled buildup to the World Cup due to the war in the Middle East, which broke out in late February with US-Israeli strikes on Tehran. The team has also faced the strain of considerable visa and travel restrictions in the United States, which is co-hosting the 2026 tournament with Mexico and Canada. “It was a good game, even though they were unable to prepare properly,” said Iranian football fan Amin. “I wish they’d played the whole game like the last five minutes,” when Iran was on the attack, the 33-year-old car dealer told AFP . Fans in...

Germany and Italy endured sweltering conditions on Saturday as a heatwave linked to dozens of deaths in Western Europe spread eastwards after temperatures broke records above 40 degrees Celsius. Britain, France, Switzerland and Germany have all experienced record heat in June, and the weather system could test more records as it rolls across Germany towards Poland. Scientists said the heatwave would have been virtually impossible without man-made climate change, which has made this week’s night-time temperatures 100 times more likely than they would have been even two decades ago. On Friday, a new German record of 41.3°C was reached near the city of Saarbruecken close to the French border, a spokesperson for Germany’s National Meteorological Service said, noting the reading was still preliminary. People urged to save water The service issued extreme heat warnings for nearly all of Germany on Saturday as authorities urged people to s...

A 5.1-magnitude earthquake jolted parts of Balochistan on Friday, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD). In a press release, the PMD said the quake’s epicentre was 60 kilometres northeast of Kohlu and that it was felt in the Zhob, Barkhan and Rakhni areas. PMD further said that the quake occurred at 4:48pm at a depth of 17km. Meanwhile, the United States Geological Survey ( USGS ) reported that a 5.2 magnitude quake was recorded north-northeast of Barkhan, at a depth of 10km. Earlier this week, a 5.4-magnitude earthquake jolted parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Islamabad on Monday. According to the PMD, the earthquake was recorded at 3:22pm at a depth of 215km with the Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan as its epicentre. It was felt in Peshawar, Islamabad, Mansehra, Swat, Battagram, Abbottabad, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Attock, Chakwal, Mianwali, Multan and Potohar region, among other areas. Last month, at least one person was killed and 11 others were injured...

SOUTH WAZIRISTAN LOWER: The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) has restored the affected generating units of the Gomal Zam Hydropower Station after eight years and successfully synchronised it with the national grid, bringing the facility back to its full generation capacity of 17.4 megawatts (MW). Officials said that both of the station’s generating units had ceased operations in October 2016 due to a major technical fault. One unit was repaired and brought back into service in June 2018, restoring half of the station’s installed capacity. However, the second unit remained out of service because of the complexity of the technical damage. As a result, the hydropower station continued operating at only half of its installed capacity, generating 8.7MW, for the past eight years. According to a statement issued by Wapda on Thursday, the restoration marks a significant milestone for the country’s hydropower sector. With both generating units now operational, the power stati...

Durga Devi finds no relief after a day working in New Delhi’s sweltering summer , because her poorly ventilated home radiates trapped heat, leaving her bedroom as hot as 45 degrees at night. Campaigners are now documenting conditions in this densely packed area of India’s capital, home to some of the country’s poorest people, hoping to push policymakers to better protect vulnerable communities. “I prefer staying outside after work, because inside the house there is no relief,” said 45-year-old Devi, who lives in the cramped lanes of Delhi’s Sundar Nagri district. She spends eight hours a day working in a factory without a fan, only to return at dusk to stifling heat at home. The one-room house — like many in this part of the sprawling megacity of 30 million people — has concrete walls, low roofs and poor ventilation, which combine to trap heat during the day and keep the space oppressively hot throughout the night. Devi’s son Abhishek has been keeping a heat diary and tracking te...

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, fresh from a spat with US leader Donald Trump, was set to meet French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday to tighten ties. One of Europe’s most prominent right-wing leaders will arrive in the resort of Antibes on the French Riviera for her first bilateral summit with Macron. The talks, set to begin Tuesday afternoon, mark the first Franco-Italian summit since a treaty on a strategic alliance came into force in 2021, elevating relations to a level comparable to that between France and Germany. “This summit will provide an opportunity to deepen Franco-Italian cooperation in several strategic sectors, notably defence, nuclear energy, and space,” the French presidency said. “We need each other,” it said ahead of the talks at the Villa Eilenroc, a dazzling 19th-century residence overlooking the Mediterranean. Relations have often been strained between Macron, a pro-European centrist, and Meloni, who leads a coalition of right and far-right part...

It is a pecularity of Pakistan’s criminal justice system that it has treated children as miniature adults, not just in the way their crimes are prosecuted but in how the victims themselves are perceived. “We handle a four-year-old child through the same protocols used for an 18-year-old boy, a 16-year-old girl, or even a 30-year-old man,” said Police Surgeon Dr Sumaiyya Syed. She is part of the government effort to open the country’s pilot Child-Friendly Medicolegal Clinic at the Office of the Police Surgeon as part of the Anti-Rape Crisis Cell. It was inaugurated last week and fulfils a requirement of the Sindh Medico-Legal Act. In the case of bodily harm, a medico-legal certificate or report needs to be prepared as evidence. The child has to be brought to a government facility where one of its doctors will examine the child and document injuries, their severity and probable cause. The ML certificate is the bridge between medicine and the courts. Every year, Sahil, a nonprofit org...

As Europe sweats through record-breaking temperatures , Asian makers of air conditioners, such as South Korea’s Samsung Electronics, China’s Midea and Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric, are enjoying a boom in sales. Air conditioning is common throughout buildings, transport and homes in major cities across Asia, but it is rare in Europe, and people are struggling to stay cool as searing heat claims lives, disrupts power supplies and shuts schools. Seeking respite from the sizzling weather, people and companies across Europe are snapping up portable and fixed air conditioners as some countries warn the heatwave could intensify. “With temperatures expected to rise further from June onward, we expect sustained demand through the peak cooling season,” said Samsung Electronics in a statement to Reuters . Key markets, including Italy, Spain and France, generated double-digit sales growth in the first half of this year, it added. Rival LG Electronics said air conditioner production lines at on...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held a phone call with the Qatari emir on Wednesday, during which he said the two leaders expressed satisfaction at the “positive progress” made in the first round of technical talks between the US and Iran in Switzerland and agreed to sustain this momentum. “Had a warm and most cordial telephone conversation with my dear brother, His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, emir of the State of Qatar, this afternoon,” PM Shehbaz posted on X. He added that he thanked the Qatari emir for his country’s “steadfast support for the peace efforts that culminated in the historic Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding ”, which was signed by the US and Iran on June 18. “We expressed satisfaction at the positive progress made during the first round of technical talks in Bürgenstock and agreed on the importance of sustaining this momentum through continued dialogue and diplomacy,” he wrote. PM Shehbaz also thanked the Qatari emir ...

Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir and the Libyan armed forces’ deputy commander-in-chief held a meeting on Wednesday, and the two sides emphasised the importance of strengthening bilateral defence ties, according to a statement by the military’s media affairs wing. The meeting was held at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, where Lieutenant General Saddam Khalifa Haftar was presented a guard of honour by a smartly turned-out tri-services contingent upon arrival, a statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said. It added that during his meeting with Field Marshal Munir, matters of mutual interest, regional security dynamics, defence cooperation and avenues for enhanced military-to-military collaboration were discussed. “Both sides underscored the importance of strengthening bilateral defence ties and expanding cooperation in areas of professional military training and security,” the statement said. It further stated that Fiel...

Speaking from the negotiation room at a Swiss resort, US Vice President JD Vance reflected on the complex realities of South Asian diplomacy. Referring to his Indian wife and Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, he remarked : “I have joked that I have two very, very important people in my life — an Indian and a Pakistani. The Indian is my wife, and the Pakistani is Field Marshal Munir.” Field Marshal Munir’s engagement with senior international figures, including his role alongside Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in welcoming foreign delegations to Islamabad, has become a visible feature of Pakistan’s expanding diplomatic role, from South Asia to the Middle East. This trajectory runs counter to India’s efforts to isolate Pakistan following the April 22, 2025 Pahalgam attack. New Delhi reportedly sent 59 politicians to 32 countries to shore up international support, yet Pakistan came out of the four-day war with its regional and international standing inta...

40 people have drowned in France over recent days as they sought to cool down to escape record heat, the prime minister said on Tuesday, ​as a heatwave swept across much of Europe. Britain, Italy, Switzerland and Spain were also sweltering in extreme heat, with record temperatures in some regions disrupting schools and transport ‌networks. Europe is warming at more than twice the global average, according to the World Meteorological Organisation, making such prolonged heat episodes increasingly likely. Children cool off in the Trocadero Fountain next to the Eiffel Tower in Paris as temperatures rise during a heatwave affecting a large part of France, June 22. — Reuters Heat alert across France Much of France is under severe heat alert and set to experience temperatures around 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday, Meteo France said, with temperatures of up to 43°C expected in some parts of western France. The country has just recorded ...

Following months of all-out conflict that began on February 28, 2026, the United States and Iran have transitioned to a de-escalation phase. On June 17, Presidents Donald Trump and Masoud Pezeshkian signed a 14-point memorandum of understanding to end the war, establishing a 60-day ceasefire extension to negotiate the final terms of a deal. Pakistan served as a key mediator throughout the process. Following the signing and despite a rocky start, the first round of high-level talks concluded in Bürgenstock, Switzerland on Monday, June 22, with the two sides agreeing on a roadmap towards a final deal within 60 days, along with communication lines to keep the Strait of Hormuz open and a deconfliction cell to end fighting in Lebanon. Mediators Pakistan and Qatar described the outcome as reflecting encouraging progress, with technical talks set to continue through the rest of the week at Bürgenstock. Most observers and experts describe the overall process as a considerable (if still f...

All eyes were on Burgenstock over the weekend as high-level delegations from the United States, Iran, Qatar and Pakistan descended upon the idyllic Swiss hamlet to iron out the details of the Islamabad Memorandum. The US team of Vice President JD Vance, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, came face-to-face with the Iranian team comprising chief negotiator and parliamentary speaker, Bagher Ghalibaf, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in a rare meeting outside of Islamabad. The talks were hosted and mediated by the Pakistani team of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Information Minister Ataullah Tarar, along with a Qatari delegation led by Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani. The media circus unfolding above Lake Lucerne managed to capture moments f...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday he would quit, paving the way for the country to have its seventh leader in 10 years. The chaos dates back to the Brexit referendum, 10 years ago to the day on Tuesday. In the years since the vote, Britain has tried to forge its own path but struggled to boost its low-growth economy, hamstrung by high debts and a growing welfare bill, at a time of growing geopolitical volatility. June 2016: UK votes for Brexit, PM Cameron quits Britons cause a global shock by voting 52-48 per cent to leave the European Union, ending a more than 40-year union and plunging the country into its biggest political crisis since World War Two. Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron resigns and the party chooses Theresa May to succeed him. June 2017: Snap election gamble backfires Riding high in opinion polls and seeking a bigger majority in parliament to push Brexit legislation through, May calls a snap election. The Conservatives lose their majori...