Infinity Social Updates

Ousted Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s son and adviser on Tuesday described allegations of corruption involving the family in the 2015 awarding of a $12.65 billion nuclear power contract as “completely bogus” and a “smear campaign”. Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission said on Monday it had launched an enquiry into allegations of corruption, embezzlement and money laundering in the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project, backed by Russia’s state-owned Rosatom. A deal for two power plants, each with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts, was signed in 2015. The commission has alleged that there were financial irregularities worth about $5bn involving Hasina, her son Sajeeb Wazed and her niece and British treasury minister Tulip Siddiq, through offshore accounts. Rosatom, the world’s largest supplier of enriched uranium, refuted the allegations, adding that it was committed to combat corruption in all its projects and that it maintains a transparent procurement system. “Rosatom ...

Senior PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah announced late Tuesday that the government was willing to accommodate PTI’s demand for a time frame in ongoing talks, following PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan’s conveyance of former premier Imran Khan’s demand for a defined timeline. Since Imran’s incarceration last year in several cases, PTI’s relations with the government and the establishment have deteriorated sharply, marked by protests that frequently escalated into violence amid state repression . Tensions further intensified after PTI’s ‘Final Call’ rally last month, with renewed calls to ban the party and task forces formed against alleged “malicious campaigns.” PTI claimed a dozen deaths of its supporters during this period, a claim the government denies. Following the turmoil, Imran established a five-member committee to hold talks with “anyone,” signalling a shift in PTI lawmakers’ stance in parliament. In response, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, on the recommendation of NA...

GUJRAT: The special judge, Central-I, Gujranwala, on Tuesday sentenced two human traffickers to 33-year imprisonment each, besides imposing a fine of Rs1.8 million on each of them. The court issued the verdict in case No 505/23, registered by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Dec 5, 2023, under sections 17(1)& 22(b) EO 1979 & 3,6 PSMA 2018. According to the prosecution, Muhammad Sarwar and Muhmmad Rauf received Rs700,000 from the complainant on the pretext of sending his brother to Italy. But, when the emigrant reached Libya, the convicts took him hostage, tortured him and extorted Rs2.55 million more from his family in Pakistan. Despite extortion of extra amount, the traffickers neither sent the emigrant to Italy from Libya, nor back to Pakistan and he had been missing since then. The case was prosecuted by FIA Assistant Director (Legal) Asfahan Akram Kang and Inspector Shafique was the investigation officer. In yet another case (No 139/21), the court handed down...

A powerful blast ripped through an explosives plant in northwestern Turkiye on Tuesday killing 12 people and injuring five others, officials said. Footage showed shards of glass and metal scattered outside the plant, where ambulances stood by. “According to initial reports, 12 employees died and four were taken to hospital with injuries as a result of the explosion” in the Karesi district of Balikesir province, local governor Ismail Ustaoglu said. “I wish God’s mercy upon our deceased citizens and a speedy recovery to our wounded,” he added. Officials later revised the number of the injured as five and added they were not in a serious condition. There were no staff members left inside the factory and the blaze was put out, they added. The blast took place at 8:25am (0525 GMT) at a section of the plant which local officials said collapsed under the force of the explosion. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the cause of the blast at the factory, which is located away from reside...

TWO political families have mainly piloted our twisted and bumpy semi-democratic ride. I covered the Bhuttos last time. Today, I turn to the Sharifs, now into a record fifth family stint and 11-plus years as prime minister despite joining politics much later than the Bhuttos, their past arch-enemy and present frenemy. The Sharifs started their political ride under a dictator like Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Bhutto left Ayub Khan to start an anti-establishment, socialist party to build on ongoing such politics since 1947 in the smaller provinces and won a fair mandate in West Pakistan but backed Yahya Khan against fellow socialist Mujibur Rahman in 1971. In contrast, Nawaz Sharif’s rise in 1980s reflected a re-politicisation after decades of Punjab’s elites, who, after the 1950s, had shirked politics given their hold on bureaucracy, the judiciary and military and the Bengali electoral edge. The 1971 tragedy and the numerical edge it gave Punjab made democracy both necessary and viable f...

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Tuesday confirmed details of the West Indies men’s cricket team’s tour of Pakistan for the two ICC World Test Championship matches. The West Indies cricket team will arrive in Islamabad on January 6. After playing a three-day match against Pakistan Shaheens from Jan 10-12 at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, they will take on Pakistan in back-to-back Tests in Multan, according to a PCB statement . “The first Test will be played from Jan 17-21, while the second Test will be held from Jan 25-29,” the statement said. The matches will count towards the World Test Championship, though both teams are out of contention to reach the final. This will be the West Indies’ first Test tour of Pakistan in 19 years when they played three Tests in November 2006, while their last Test away Test series against Pakistan was in the UAE in October 2016. However, the West Indies have thrice toured Pakistan since April 2018; once for the ODI series (June 2022) and twice...

Starbucks workers have expanded their strike to four more US cities, including New York, the union representing over 10,000 baristas said late on Saturday. The five-day strike, which began on Friday and initially closed Starbucks cafes in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle, has added locations in New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia and St. Louis, Workers United said in a statement. It did not specify in what New Jersey city the walkout was occurring. Starbucks said the disruptions from the strike have no significant impact on its operations because only a small handful of US stores have been impacted. “Workers United proposals call for an immediate increase in the minimum wage of hourly partners by 64 per cent, and by 77pc over the life of a three-year contract. This is not sustainable,” the coffee chain said. The union is striking in 10 cities, also including Columbus, Ohio; Denver and Pittsburgh, during the busy holiday season which may impact the company’s Christmas sales. The co...

Former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani on Monday condemned the formation of an eight-member committee for the revision of existing or grant of new allowances to government servants, calling it “double standards on the part of the finance minister”. Despite a shortfall in revenue collection, the government has started working on offering lucrative allowances to its employees, in addition to a salary increase of up to 25 per cent, effective from July 1, 2024. A previous Dawn report stated that the PM Office and the Ministry of Finance had been receiving regular representations from various stakeholders and employee groups, seeking additional compensation, particularly following the recent significant increases in salaries and allowances for judges. As a result, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif constituted an eight-member ‘special committee’ for “revision of existing or grant of new allowances to government servants” during the current financial year. Led by Finance Minister Muhammad Au...

The United States said Monday it is opening an investigation into China’s policies for its semiconductor industry , over concerns that Beijing is turning to “extensive anticompetitive and non-market means” to undermine other economies. The probe centers on foundational semiconductors — which go into everything from cars to medical devices — and whether China’s actions create burdens for US commerce, according to the US Trade Representative’s (USTR) office. The fear is that Beijing’s practices undermine “the competitiveness of American industry and workers, critical US supply chains, and US economic security,” the USTR’s office added. “We have seen time and again, a pattern of harmful impact from nonmarket policies and practices across industries that the PRC has targeted for worldwide market dominance,” said USTR Katherine Tai, referring to the People’s Republic of China. Previous instances have included steel, aluminum, solar cells, electric vehicles and now, semiconductors, Tai...

At least 50 children have died in Parachinar due to the recent shortage of medicines caused by the closure of roads leading to the city in the aftermath of armed violence between warring tribes last month in the restive Kurram tribal district, officials said. Thousands of people have been stranded in Parachinar because of clashes that have killed at least 130 people since last month. Residents have reported food and medicine shortages in parts of the Kurram district, which borders Afghanistan, as the government struggles to end a reignited feud between tribes stemming from decades-old tensions over farmland. Dr Zulfiqar Ali, a paediatrician at the DHQ Hospital in Parachinar, told Dawn.com today that 51 children in the city had died due to a “shortage of medicine”, adding that the situation was getting worse due to a lack of medical oxygen and heating apparatus. Philanthropist Faisal Edhi corroborated the figure, stating that more than 50 children had died in the hospitals in ...

Tyson Fury insisted Oleksandr Usyk got an early Christmas gift from the judges after the Ukrainian won their heavyweight championship rematch overnight on Saturday. The “Gypsy King”, who was non-committal about his future, insisted he had won the fight that was scored 116-112 by all three officials in a unanimous decision. The 36-year-old Fury, unbeaten until he first met Usyk in their four-belt unification fight in May, departs Riyadh’s Kingdom Arena with two defeats on his record. “Listen, it is what it is. I’m not going to cry over spilt milk, it’s happened now,” said Fury. “I know boxing, I’ve been in it all my life — you can’t change no decisions. But I feel a little bit hard done by, actually a lot.” He added, “There was a little bit of Christmas spirit in there. He got a little Christmas gift.” Asked whether the public would see him fight again, Fury said: “You might do, you might not do. Who knows?” Promoter Frank Warren also claimed victory for Fury, calling the de...

Tehran has formally protested the arrests of two Iranians in Italy and the United States accused of transferring sensitive US technology to Iran, local media reported. US prosecutors on Monday charged Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi and Mohammad Abedininajafabadi with “conspiring to export sophisticated electronic components from the United States to Iran in violation of US export control and sanctions laws”, according to a statement from the US Department of Justice. The statement added that the illegally exported technology was used in a January drone attack that killed three US servicemen in Jordan. Iran denied any involvement in the attack, dismissing the claims as “baseless accusations.” “We consider both the cruel and unilateral US sanctions against Iran and these arrests to be contrary to all international laws and standards,” foreign ministry official Vahid Jalalzadeh told the Tasnim news agency late on Saturday. Jalalzadeh said the ministry had “invited” the Italian charg d’af...

For generations, the small Hindu temple outside the capital in Bangladesh was a quiet place to pray — before arsonists ripped open its roof this month in the latest post-revolution unrest. It is only one of a string of attacks targeting religious minorities since a student-led uprising toppled long-time autocratic leader Sheikh Hasina in August. “We don’t feel safe,” said Hindu devotee Swapna Ghosh in the village of Dhour, where attackers broke into the 50-year-old family temple to the goddess Lakshmi and set fire to its treasured idols on December 7. “My son saw the flames and doused them quickly,” said temple custodian Ratan Kumar Ghosh, 55, describing how assailants knew to avoid security cameras, so they tore its tin roof open to enter. “Otherwise, the temple — and us — would have been reduced to ashes.” Hindus make up about eight per cent of the mainly Muslim nation of 170 million people. In the chaotic days following Hasina’s August 5 ouster there was a string of attack...

Originally published on May 9, 2024. “ISPR sahib , listen to me carefully. Respect is not [confined] to a single institution; respect should be for every single citizen,” thundered then-PTI chief Imran Khan in a video released a little after 11am before departing for the Islamabad High Court on May 9 last year. Policemen escort former prime minister Imran Khan as he arrives at the high court in Islamabad on May 12. — Aamir Qureshi/AFP/File Hours later, he was arrested in the Al Qadir Trust case . The case was irrelevant to his supporters and the development was expected — nevertheless, Imran Khan was “a red line” and so, protests erupted almost immediately. But within hours, they turned into riots that lasted more than 24 hours across Pakistan. When the smoke from torched vehicles and tear gas finally cleared, condemnations poured in and a chase ensued. Nearly 500 first information reports were registered. Thousands were arrested, of whom 105 were handed into military cust...