Infinity Social Updates

A webpage impersonating Dawn was online and accessible on Thursday. The page shared fake news and disinformation while pretending to be part of the Dawn Media Group. The website is not part of, associated with or has any connection to the Dawn Media Group. The webpage, operating from a URL not associated with the Dawn.com web domain, has shared a ‘news report’ on business tycoon Arif Habib supposedly launching an AI platform called BTC+700 Lurot, luring readers into investing in it to earn money. The webpage is not hosted on Dawn.com’s website. The story falsely claims that the so-called BTC +700 Lurot project was “created within the framework” of the Pakistan Digital 2030 vision, with the support of the government and “leading Pakistani enterprises”. No information on any such development could be found through a web search. A visual on the webpage falsely claims that Pakistan State Oil (PSO), the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and a made-up “Pakistan...

QUETTA: The bodies of six of seven labourers who were kidnapped earlier this week in the Turbat city of Balochistan’s Kech district were found with bullet wounds on Thursday, an official told Dawn. On Tuesday, unidentified armed men had blocked Turbat-Mand Road in the Kalatak area of Kech district and taken away the seven labourers, who were travelling in a vehicle. The kidnappers had killed one of the labourers the same day and dumped his body on a highway. On Thursday, the bodies of the remaining six labourers were also found, Balochistan Home Department spokesperson Babar Yousafzai told Dawn . He said the kidnappers had taken the labourers to an undisclosed location, where one of them was killed shortly after the abduction and his body was dumped on the highway. They later also killed the six remaining labourers, whose bodies were found in Turbat’s Nasirabad area, he added. Yousafzai said the bodies bore torture marks and bullet wounds, and it seemed that the labourers had be...

The rogue agent that escaped from OpenAI and went on a days-long hacking spree at the AI firm Hugging Face also compromised a customer at a second tech company New York-based Modal Labs, according to a Modal executive and two other sources familiar with the matter. AI models that underpin tools like chatbots and image generators are known as agents when they act autonomously to carry out tasks in the real world. Modal executives emphasised that the company itself was not hacked. According to a timeline published by Hugging Face on Tuesday, the rogue agent broke into a sandbox, or an isolated testing environment, “hosted on a third-party provider’s infrastructure” before turning it into a launchpad for the broader hack. The third-party provider was not named in the blog post, but Modal’s chief technology officer, Akshat Bubna, said the agent exploited vulnerable code written by a customer that was hosted on Modal’s platform. Modal sa...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday that the government’s vision for national digitalisation aims to provide citizens access to all public facilities under a single digital identity. Chairing a review meeting in Islamabad on the implementation of a national-level integrated digital policy framework, PM Shehbaz said that implementing this vision in line with modern-day demands held “key importance” in forming an integrated society, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). “After the full implementation of the national digital vision, citizens will be able to access all public facilities, including government verification of documents, banking services, health, transfers, and all other facilities, under a single digital ID at one place,” the statement cited the premier as saying. It added that a meeting of the National Digital Commission (NDC) should be convened soon in order to take all stakeholders into confidence on the policy, including the...

Security forces have killed 32 terrorists during operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan over the last 24 hours, the military’s media affairs wing said in a statement released on Wednesday. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said “comprehensive joint operations” were carried out in various parts of the two provinces, in continuation of action against the “terrorists nexus of India-sponsored Fitna-al-Khawarij and Fitna-al-Hindustan ”. The state uses the term Fitna-al-Khawarij for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and has designated Balochistan-based groups as Fitna-al-Hindustan to highlight India’s alleged role in terrorism and destabilisation across Pakistan. ISPR said that the operations in KP and Balochistan were aimed at weeding out terrorists and their facilitators. Multiple “intelligence-based area sanitisation and targeted operations” were conducted in KP’s Khyber on July 28 and 29, during which 24 terrorists belonging to Fitna-al-Khawarij wer...

Firefighters raced on Tuesday to subdue huge wildfires that have forced unprecedented evacuations of tens of thousands of people across France and Spain, as western Europe braced for another heatwave. The fires have torn through a region already battered by a blisteringly hot and dry summer. Crews were seeking to capitalise on more favourable weather before a new wave of higher temperatures settled in from Wednesday. In the Bordeaux region of France, firefighters contained the forest blaze overnight, while in Spain, authorities allowed people from nine out of 11 towns in the central Toledo province to return to their homes. However, fires still raged out of control in Madrid and nearby provinces, prompting heightened vigilance. One Spanish evacuee described a “red hell” of fire, portraying intense scenes as residents fled with little more than clothes on their backs. Europe, the world’s fastest warming continent, has endured record-breaking heatwaves ...

LAHORE: A National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) official on Tuesday informed a sessions court that PML-N MPA Saqib Chadhar had been found guilty of harassing actor Momina Iqbal after investigation. NCCIA Lahore Station House Officer (SHO) Najam Bajwa shared this as Additional District and Sessions Judge Nusrat Ali Siddiqui took up pre-arrest bail petitions of the MPA and his wife, who was also named in the first information report registered after Iqbal’s harassment allegations. Chadhar and his wife appeared before the court upon the expiry of their previous pre-arrest interim bail. During the hearing, SHO Najam Bajwa informed the court that the investigation against Chadhar had been completed and he had been found guilty of the allegations levelled by Iqbal. He further told the court that Chadhar’s wife had surrendered her mobile phone to NCCIA two days ago and the device had been sent for forensic examination. For his part, the counsel for Iqbal urged the court to d...

When cricket returns to the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028 , it will bring far more than bats, balls and wickets. Its inclusion reflects a strategic calculation by Olympic leaders that the surest route to billions of new viewers runs through India, cricket’s commercial heartland and a country they believe is increasingly central to the Games future. Cricket , absent from the Olympics since 1900, offers the International Olympic Committee (IOC) something no recent addition has: direct access to a fan base of more than two billion people and, crucially, the commercial power of the Indian market. As the Games seek a younger and broader audience, it may prove the most valuable sport added to the Olympic programme in decades. Cricket has been one of the major global sports not to feature in the Olympics, IOC Sports Director Pierre Ducrey told Reuters in an interview. “It is very strong in markets where maybe you could say the Olympic Games today may not have penetrated as much as the...

The State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on Monday kept the interest rate unchanged at 11.5 per cent. The decision was announced by SBP Governor Jameel Ahmed during a press conference. At the outset of the press conference, the governor said, “MPC has decided to keep the policy rate unchanged at 11.5pc”. “There were several reasons for this, but I would like to explain some background: every time we hold committee meetings in January and July, we also issue projections for the next six months and what would be the level of economic growth, inflation outlook and situation of the external account; I will share that assessment as well.” The governor explained that in the first half of the previous year, inflation was declining; however, “the fallout from the Middle East crisis impacted our domestic situation”. “From July to February, our average inflation was 5.5pc,” which he said was within the government’s target range of 5-7pc. Analysts had expected the ...

The Sindh government has declared a public holiday on Wednesday (July 29) on account of the annual urs of Sufi poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai. According to the notification shared on Monday, the provincial government has declared July 29 as public holiday throughout the province for all government offices, autonomous bodies, semi-autonomous bodies, corporations and local councils under its administrative control, except for essential services. The notification was shared by the Sindh Information Department on the social media platform X. The three-day annual urs of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai is held every year from Safar 14 at his final resting place in Bhit Shah. from Dawn - Home https://ift.tt/dp50VPb

In South Asia, the state has often existed in tension with society, asserting control not only over governance but also over history, memory, and legitimacy, while society is forced to negotiate or submit to official narratives. Rather than reinforcing one another, the political and social spheres frequently become antagonistic, with the imperatives of postcolonial state-building overriding justice, dissent, and collective memory. It is against this backdrop that Satluj, inspired by the life of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, assumes significance beyond cinema as an effort to reclaim a contested history. Its removal from ZEE5 only two days after its July 2026 release in India highlights the persistent struggle over who has the authority to narrate the past and whether censorship can erase, or merely delay, historical memory. Originally produced as Punjab 95, Honey Trehan’s film traces Khalra’s investigation into enforced disappearances and illegal cremations during Punjab...

The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) on Sunday issued a glacial lake outburst flood (Glof) alert for Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the first week of August. Meanwhile, commuters were stranded in various parts of GB as road access to several areas remained cut off for the fifth consecutive day due to flash floods and Glofs . In continuation of the alert issued on July 17, the combined effect of warm thermal regime and ongoing intermittent precipitation was likely to continue across GB and KP till the first week of August, the PMD said. “This significant warming with intermittent rain will substantially accelerate snow and ice melt in the glaciated valleys of these regions,” it added. Consequently, the Met Office said that water levels in river streams of these valleys were likely to remain high, the existing glacial lakes might rapidly expand with an increase in their water levels, and new glacial lakes were likely to form due to a high volume of melted water...

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi on Sunday said that more than 1,300 kilogrammes of explosives were used in the recent attack on a Tank checkpost that resulted in the martyrdom of 15 people, including 14 security personnel. The governor made the remarks while speaking to journalists at the Regional Police Office in Dera Ismail Khan after attending a security briefing on the law and order situation in the region. DI Khan’s District Police Officer (DPO) Ziauddin Ahmad and Tank DPO Abdul Samad Khan were also present on the occasion. Kundi described Friday’s attack on the Manji Khel checkpoint in Tank as a tragic incident in which he said personnel of the Pakistan Army, police and the forest department embraced martyrdom in the line of duty. More than 1,300 kilogrammes of explosives had been used in the attack, he said, adding that it showed the scale and sophistication of the terrorism threat. The KP governor called for a unified national response to ...

Palestinian officials said Israeli settlers set fire to two mosques in the occupied West Bank overnight on Sunday. Violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has surged since the Israeli assault on Gaza began in October 2023. Abdel Azim Wadi, mayor of the town of Qusra, south of the city of Nablus, told AFP that settlers torched a mosque under construction in the southern part of the town. “The fire destroyed the mosque’s entrance and even damaged its stonework,” Wadi said. He added that the attackers spray-painted Hebrew graffiti on the mosque’s walls, including the word “revenge”. The Israeli military said troops were dispatched to the outskirts of Qusra after receiving a report that a mosque had been set ablaze. “The soldiers searched for suspects who had fled prior to their arrival and identified signs of arson and graffiti at the scene,” it said, adding that Israeli police would investigate and collect evidence. In a separate incident, Israeli settlers set fire to a mosque...

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi visited Quetta on Saturday, where he chaired a high-level meeting with Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti to review the province’s law and order situation. According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Interior, the chief minister briefed the meeting on the overall security situation, ongoing measures and the provincial government’s future strategy. The statement said the meeting decided to further enhance the professional capacity of the Counter-Terrorism Force and Balochistan police, while expediting the implementation of measures aimed at strengthening the provincial police. It said the interior ministry assured the provincial government of its full cooperation in providing the resources required for the purpose. “The federal government will continue to provide all possible support for sustainable peace in Balochistan,” Naqvi was quoted as saying. He also stressed the need for the immediat...

The United Nations General Assembly voted on Friday to renew Volker Turk’s mandate as high commissioner for human rights for four years despite strong opposition from the United States, Russia and Israel. By a vote of 144 in favour, 10 against, and 13 abstentions, the assembly approved the renewal, beginning October 12, 2026, as proposed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. An alternative proposal from Russia to extend the mandate by only a few months, until December 31, 2026, was overwhelmingly rejected, as was the US request to postpone the vote. Ambassador Jeff Bartos, US representative for UN management and reform, criticised the four-year renewal on both procedural and substantive grounds, accusing Guterres of having rushed the process. “Make no mistake: If this assembly tolerates procedural overreach, backroom deals, and the misuse of UN posts, there will be consequences. “The United States will immediately reassess our engagement, participation, and funding,” he warned...

US President Donald Trump lashed out at “fake news media” and talked about serving a banned third term as he addressed a rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Friday, three months after an assassination attempt disrupted the event. “This place is really the largest group of Trump derangement syndrome people ever put together at one time,” Trump told the media gala at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington, DC. The 80-year-old started with a relatively conciliatory tone, reflecting on the attack by a gunman that forced him to be evacuated from the dinner in April. “The show must go on,” Trump said. But he quickly pivoted to attacking a wide range of perceived enemies in an often rambling speech, starting with journalists before training his fire on Democratic opponents. Trump had earlier thrown up his hands and laughed as he shook hands with a Wall Street Journal team that broke stories on his ties to disgraced financie...

Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin, a former ally of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, has resigned citing serious health issues, his office said on Friday. Shahabuddin, 76, has held the largely ceremonial post of president since April 2023, a period that included volatile months after Hasina’s flight to India following a student-led uprising against her rule in 2024. “Recent medical examinations have diagnosed me with a condition known as autonomic neuropathy. Due to this condition, I occasionally experience momentary loss of consciousness,” Shahabuddin said in a statement released by his press secretary. The speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad, the national parliament, will perform the duties of the president until a new one is elected, the statement said. Shahabuddin also cited his deteriorating health in a resignation letter to the speaker of parliament, seen by AFP . “Due to worsening physical and mental incapacity… it is no longer possible for me to properly discharge t...

The government on Friday took another step towards completing the higher military command’s restructuring initiated last year under the 27th Constitutional Amendment by appointing Gen Syed Aamer Raza as the country’s first commander of the National Strategic Command (NSC). The four-star post was created under last year’s constitutional tweak to oversee the operational integration of Pakistan’s strategic forces — a role previously exercised by the Chai­rman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, which was abolished under the 27th Amendment. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif promoted Gen Raza from the rank of lieutenant general to the rank of a general and simultaneously appointed him as the CNSC. Apart from the CNSC, the 27th Amendment also resulted in the creation of the post of the chief of defence forces (CDF), which is concurrently held by the army chief. Field Marshal Munir became the country’s first CDF after changes to the Army Act. Under the Army Act, ...

India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka secured direct entry into the men’s cricket knockout stage at the 2026 Asian Games after the draw was announced on Thursday. The 10-team men’s competition, starting from September 24 in Nagoya, will begin with a preliminary round featuring Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal and Oman competing for the remaining quarter-final berths. Afghanistan, Japan and Nepal were drawn in Group A, while Hong Kong, Malaysia and Oman were placed in Group B. The top two teams from each group will advance to the knockout stage to join the four seeded sides. The women’s tournament, scheduled from September 17-22, features eight teams and will begin at the quarter-final stage. Defending champions India will face hosts Japan, Bangladesh will take on China, Sri Lanka will meet Malaysia, and Pakistan will play Thailand. All matches in both competitions will be played in the Twenty20 format. India swept ...