Foreign News
Imran Khan jailed for 14 years in corruption case

Former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan has been sentenced to 14 years in prison over a corruption case, in the latest of a series of charges laid against him.
It is the longest valid prison sentence the cricket star-turned-politician, who has been detained since August 2023, has received.
He has faced charges in over 100 cases, ranging from leaking state secrets to selling state gifts – all of which he decried as politically motivated.
The latest case has been described by Pakistani authorities as the largest the country has seen – though the country has seen huge financial scandals in the past, some of which involved former leaders.
Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were accused of receiving a parcel of land as a bribe from a real estate tycoon through the Al-Qadir Trust, which the couple had set up while he was in office.
In exchange, investigators said, Khan used £190m ($232m) repatriated by the UK’s National Crime Agency to pay the tycoon’s court fines.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party argued that the land was donated to the trust for a spiritual education centre and was not used for Khan’s personal gain.
In a post on X, PTI chairman Gohar Ali Khan said that the former prime minister “has done no wrong” and that this was a “politically motivated unfair trial”.
“But [Imran Khan] will not give in, he will not give up, he will not break,” he wrote.
Friday’s verdict comes after multiple delays as Khan’s party held talks with the government.
After his conviction on Friday, Khan told reporters in the courtroom that he would “neither make any deal nor seek any relief.”
Khan’s prison sentence of 14 years is the maximum that could be given in the case. He has also been fined more than £4,000.
His wife has been sentenced to seven years and fined more than £2,000. Bibi, who has been out on bail since last October, was taken into custody in court after her sentence was announced.
In 2023, Khan was sentenced to three years in prison for not declaring money earned from selling gifts he had received while in office.
Last year, Khan received a 14-year jail sentence over the selling of state gifts, and another 10 years for leaking state secrets. Both those sentences were suspended months later.
Despite being in jail and barred from holding public office, Khan still looms large over Pakistan’s political scene. Last year’s election saw candidates backed by Imran Khan winning the most number of seats out of all the parties.
Khan’s prosecution has triggered large-scale protests by his supporters – which have been met with a crackdown from authorities. Thousands of protesters have been arrested and many injured in clashes with the police.
[BBC]
Foreign News
Belgian prince loses bid for benefits on top of £300k royal allowance

A Belgian prince’s attempt to claim social security benefits on top of his six-figure royal allowance has been rejected by a court.
Prince Laurent – the younger brother of King Philippe – received €388,000 (£295,850; $376,000) from state funds last year but said that his work entitles him and his family to social security.
He had argued that he was partly self-employed because of the duties he carries out as a royal, as well as running an animal welfare charity for the past decade.
Laurent, 61, said he was acting out of “principle” rather than for money. The court disagreed.
“When a migrant comes here, he registers, he has a right to social security,” he told Belgian broadcaster RTBF.
“I may be a migrant too, but one whose family established the state in place.”
But on Monday a court in Brussels turned down Laurent’s request on the grounds that the prince can be considered neither self-employed nor an employee.
However, according to broadcaster VTM the judge acknowledged that the prince should actually be entitled to a pension – but said gaps in legislation made that impossible and called for the law to be amended.
His lawyer, Olivier Rijckaert, told Belgian newspaper Le Soir that Laurent’s request had not been based on a “whim” and insisted on its symbolism, saying that social security is “granted by Belgian law to all residents, from the most deprived to the richest”.
Mr Rijckaert also said that most of the prince’s allowance is spent on his assistant’s salary and various travel expenses.
This means Laurent is left with about €5000 (£4300; $5500) a month but no social security benefits, such as the right to claim back some medical expenses.
The prince – who has three adult children with British-born wife Claire Coombs – has also expressed his concerns over his family’s wellbeing since the royal allowance will be cut when he dies.
Laurent took legal action against the Belgian state after his application for social security was refused. A first hearing was held in November 2024.
According to RTBF, the prince and his legal counsel have not yet decided whether to appeal the court’s decision.
Laurentm who is the 15th in the Belgian line of succession, is no stranger to controversy and is sometimes termed the prince maudit – the “cursed prince” – in Belgium.
In 2018, the Belgian federal parliament voted to dock his monthly allowance for a year after he attended a Chinese embassy reception without government permission, in full naval uniform.
He has also racked up several speeding fines and has been criticised for attending meetings in Libya when the late Muammar Gaddafi was still in power.
[BBC]
Foreign News
Rains add to misery in quake-hit Myanmar as death toll rises to 3,471

Heavy rains have lashed parts of earthquake-hit Myanmar, complicating relief efforts and raising the risk of disease as the death toll from the powerful quakes that struck the country on March 28 rose to at least 3,471.
Aid workers in the hard-hit city of Mandalay, near the epicentre of the earthquake, said on Sunday that rains and winds hit tent camps in the area overnight and in the morning, soaking survivors and their belongings.
More bouts of rain were expected later in the day, while temperatures were also forecast to climb to 37 degrees Celsius (98 degrees Fahrenheit).
“The weather is very extreme,” Tun Tun, a specialist with the United Nations Development Programme, told the AFP news agency.
Aid agencies have warned the combination of unseasonable rains and extreme heat could cause outbreaks of disease, including cholera, among quake survivors, who are camping in the open.
The magnitude 7.7 earthquake hit a wide swath of Myanmar, home to 50 million people, causing significant damage to six regions and states, including the capital, Naypyidaw.
It left many areas without power, telephone or mobile phone connections, and damaged roads and bridges, making the full extent of the devastation hard to assess. It also worsened an already dire humanitarian crisis triggered by the country’s civil war that has internally displaced more than three million people and left nearly 20 million in need, according to the UN.
State media in the military-led country now say the earthquake has caused 3,471 deaths and injured 4,671 people, while 214 remain missing.
It has damaged some 5,223 buildings, 1,824 schools, 4,817 pagodas and temples, 167 hospitals and clinics, 169 bridges, 198 dams and 184 sections of the country’s main highway.

Damage has been particularly severe in the city of Sagaing near the epicentre, as well as in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city.
UN aid chief Tom Fletcher, who is in Mandalay, described the scale of the damage as “epic” and said survivors, who are “traumatised and fearful”, need food, water, shelter and electricity urgently.
In a video posted to X, Fletcher noted the quake had brought devastation to communities that were already in crisis. “It’s a compounding crisis,” he said. “It’s earthquake, on top of conflict, on top of huge existing need.”
[Aljazeera]
Foreign News
Zimbabwe to scrap tariffs on US goods as it faces 18% Trump levy
Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has announced he will suspend tariffs on goods imported from the US in an attempt to build a “positive relationship” with President Donald Trump’s administration.
The move comes days after Trump imposed 18% tariffs on Zimbabwean exports to the US.
“This measure is intended to facilitate the expansion of American imports within the Zimbabwean market, while simultaneously promoting the growth of Zimbabwean exports destined for the United States,” Mnangagwa said on X.
Zimbabwe has had strained diplomatic relations with the US since it adopted a controversial land policy about 25 years ago, and because of its poor human rights record.
Trade between the two countries amounted to only $111.6m (£86.6m) in 2024, US government data shows.
The US exported goods worth $43.8m to Zimbabwe in 2024, up 10.6% from the previous year, while imports were down 41% to $67.8m.
Zimbabwean political analyst Tendai Mbanje told AFP news agency that the decision would not result in substantial economic benefits for Zimbabwe and would would only benefit the US.
Prominent Zimbabwean journalist and government critic Hopewell Chin’ono said the president appeared to be trying to “appease” the Trump administration.
Mnangawa possibly hopes that the administration would lift sanctions imposed on him, but it was a “long shot”, he added on X.
[BBC]
-
Business23 hours ago
Colombo Coffee wins coveted management awards
-
Features2 days ago
Starlink in the Global South
-
Business3 days ago
Daraz Sri Lanka ushers in the New Year with 4.4 Avurudu Wasi Pro Max – Sri Lanka’s biggest online Avurudu sale
-
Business4 days ago
Strengthening SDG integration into provincial planning and development process
-
Business3 days ago
New SL Sovereign Bonds win foreign investor confidence
-
Sports5 days ago
To play or not to play is Richmond’s decision
-
Features2 days ago
Modi’s Sri Lanka Sojourn
-
Sports4 days ago
New Zealand under 85kg rugby team set for historic tour of Sri Lanka