Infinity Social Updates

“By God, I fulfilled my duty as a journalist. I risked everything to report the truth, and now, I am finally at rest — something I haven’t known in the past eighteen months.” Final message of Gaza journalist Hossam Shabbat, 23, killed in March by an Israeli airstrike A journalist is never supposed to be the story. In Gaza, however, the killing of at least 223 media personnel by Israel — from October 7, 2023, to Oct 1 this year — turned them into headlines. Social media shared their names and faces, and mourned the last messages they wrote in anticipation of imminent death, while mainstream media documented the numbers and converted them into bite-sized news for the ease of readers. In the newsroom, their deaths seemed personal; these were members of our fraternity whom we had never met but relied on their lens and words. Wafa Aludaini was one of them; she wrote for this publication in 2022, titled ‘ Killing the truth: Shireen Abu Akleh’s murder is a reminder that Israel will go to...

Pakistan on Tuesday, along with China, Russia, and Iran, reaffirmed its commitment to a “stable and peaceful” Afghanistan, while also voicing concern over the “presence of terrorists” in the country at a quadrilateral meeting held in Moscow. The development comes against the backdrop of the 7th meeting of the Moscow Format Consultations on Afghanistan, where countries including India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are set to participate to discuss matters related to Afghanistan, as per the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website. The meeting will be held later today. In a post on X, Pakistan’s special envoy to Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq Khan, who is currently in Russia, detailed the discussions that took place during the quadilateral meeting, saying, “The participating states unanimously reaffirmed their steadfast commitment to a stable, sovereign, and peaceful Afghanistan, underscoring the necessity of a country free from...

American scientists Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi from Japan won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday for work shedding light on how the immune system spares healthy cells, creating openings for possible new autoimmune disease and cancer treatments. This year’s prize relates to peripheral immune tolerance, or “how we keep our immune system under control so we can fight all imaginable microbes and still avoid autoimmune disease”, said Marie Wahren-Herlenius, a rheumatology professor at the Karolinska Institute. Sakaguchi told reporters outside his university laboratory that “I feel it is a tremendous honour,” Kyodo news agency reported. Regulatory T cells: the immune system’s ‘security guards’ The winners for medicine are selected by the Nobel Assembly of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute medical university and receive a prize sum of 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.2 million), as well as a gold medal presented by Sweden’s king. Brunkow is senio...

EACH October, breast cancer awareness returns to the spotlight, with campaigns, charity drives, and public messages urging women to act. Yet, despite years of visibility and repeated campaigns, the disease remains a worsening crisis in Pakistan. The country is often cited as having among the highest breast cancer incidence rates in Asia: one in nine women is at risk in her lifetime. GLOBOCAN 2020 reported over 25,000 new cases in Pakistan, while advocacy groups estimate up to 90,000 annually, with some 40,000 deaths. Studies estimate an annual rise of over 5pc in cases. If awareness alone were enough, these numbers would not be climbing. The problem lies in the gap between knowing and acting. A comprehensive review of studies found that only about a third of Pakistani women have meaningful knowledge of breast cancer, and even fewer practise self-exams or undergo mammograms. Myths persist, particularly in rural areas, where stigma, male gatekeeping, and the absence of female doctors del...

Pope Leo urged the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics on Sunday to care for immigrants, pressing ahead with a message of welcome for migrants days after criticising US President Donald Trump’s hard-line anti-immigration policies. Leo, the first US pope, told thousands of pilgrims celebrating Mass in St. Peter’s Square that immigrants should not be treated with “the coldness of indifference or the stigma of discrimination”. The pope, who did not single out any country for its treatment of migrants, called on Catholics to “open our arms and hearts to them, welcoming them as brothers and sisters, and being for them a presence of consolation and hope.” Pope talks of ‘new missionary age’ Leo had criticised the Trump administration’s immigration policies on September 30, questioning whether they were in line with the Catholic Church’s pro-life teachings, in comments that drew heated backlash from some prominent conservative Catholics. On Sunday, the pope said the global Church was experienci...

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Saturday lauded the security forces for eliminating more than 14 terrorists in Khuzdar district. Earlier, a statement issued on X by state broadcaster PTV News said security forces “foiled an attempt to harass peaceful people in the Zehri area” of the district and destroyed multiple terrorist hideouts during an operation while killing over 14 Fitna al-Hindustan members and injuring over 20. In May, the government designated all terrorist organisations in Balochistan as Fitna al-Hindu­stan — a new phrase aimed at framing India’s alleged role in terrorism as a deliberate destabilisation strategy, potentially to galvanise domestic support. Congratulating the security forces, Naqvi hailed the operation as a “major success”, saying that the nation was “proud of the professional capabilities and courage of the security forces”. He further said: “Security forces are determined to eliminate Indian-sponsored terrorists in Balochistan. The people of...

Minister of State for Law and Justice Barrister Aqeel Malik has said that authorities are in contact with X (formerly Twitter) over the use of former prime minister and PTI founder Imran Khan’s account on its platform and an investigation into who has been operating it is underway. Speaking on Dawn News TV’s programme ‘Doosra Rukh with Nadir Guramani’ on Friday, Barrister Aqeel Malik said: “Investigations are underway [into who is operating PTI founder’s X account].“ “Evidence and further material will come forward, and that will disclose where the account’s links are and who is running it,” the state minister added. “At this moment, all I can say is that there is definitely an [the authorities’] engagement with X. Along with this, I believe that the legal process which is being adopted in this investigation [and] its results will also be before you very soon.” Imran was recently quizzed in prison by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials about his “anti-state” tweets,...