Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan was on Friday sentenced to 14 years in prison, and his wife Bushra Bibi to seven years in a case related to the misuse of authority and corruption involving Khan’s Al-Qadir University Project Trust.
Khan was also given a fine of 1 million Pakistani rupees ($3,500), while Bibi was fined half that amount.

An accountability court operating from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, where Khan has been imprisoned since August 2023, had reserved its verdict in December last year and deferred the announcement three times. Bibi was arrested at the court premises.

Khan, who did not appear before the court on January 13 when the decision was delayed for a third time, had earlier claimed the delays were an attempt to “pressurise” him.

This marks the fourth major case in which the former prime minister has been convicted.

Three earlier convictions, announced in January last year, were related to selling state gifts, leaking state secrets, and unlawful marriage, all of which were overturned or suspended. Despite this, Khan remains behind bars, with dozens of cases pending against him – a situation he describes as a political witch-hunt.

(Aljazeera)

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a “deal to release the hostages” has been agreed.

Netanyahu had delayed a cabinet vote to approve the Gaza ceasefire deal, due on Thursday, accusing Hamas of seeking last-minute changes to the agreement.

On Friday morning his office said Netanyahu had been informed by the negotiating team that agreements on the deal had been reached.

He has ordered the political-security cabinet to convene later on Friday and the government “will then convene to approve the deal”, Netanyahu’s office said. Families of the hostages have been informed, it added.

Representatives of Israel, Hamas, the United States, and Qatar have officially signed the deal in Doha, Israeli media reports.

The ceasefire deal was first announced on Wednesday by mediators the US and Qatar.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani said the agreement would come into effect on Sunday, pending Israeli cabinet approval.

At the time, Netanyahu said the deal’s final details were still being worked on, but he thanked Biden for “promoting” it.

Netanyahu then delayed a cabinet vote to approve the deal on Thursday, accusing Hamas of trying to “extort last minute concessions”.

Hamas said it was committed to the deal, but the BBC understands it was trying to add some of its members to the list of Palestinian prisoners that would be released under the deal.

Although Israeli negotiators have agreed to the deal, which follows months of talks, it cannot be implemented until it is approved by the security cabinet and government.

(BBC News)

The latest test of Space X’s giant Starship rocket has failed, minutes after launch.Officials at Elon Musk’s company said the upper stage was lost after problems developed after lift-off from Texas on Thursday.

But the Super Heavy booster managed to returned to its launchpad as planned, prompting an eruption of applause from ground control teams.

The mission came hours after the first flight of the Blue Origin New Glenn rocket system, backed by Amazon boss Jeff Bezos.

The two tech billionaires both want to dominate the space vehicle market.

“Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn. Teams will continue to review data from today’s flight test to better understand root cause,” SpaceX posted on X.

“With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will help us improve Starship’s reliability.”

Unverified footage shared on social media shows what appears to be the rocket breaking up in flames.

And footage showed orange balls of light flying across the sky over the Haitian capital of Port-Au-Prince, leaving a trail of smoke behind.

“Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!” Mr Musk posted on X, sharing a video showing a fiery trail streaking though the sky.

Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed! ✨
pic.twitter.com/nn3PiP8XwG

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 16, 2025

He also said “improved versions” of the ship and booster were “already waiting for launch”.

“Preliminary indication is that we had an oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall that was large enough to build pressure in excess of the vent capacity,” Musk said a short while later, adding that “nothing so far suggests pushing next launch past next month”.

Footage of the launch clocked up 7.2m views, according to a SpaceX livestream.

The Starship system had lifted off from Boca Chica, Texas, at 17:38 EST (22:38 GMT) in the company’s seventh test mission.

The Starship upper stage separated from its Super Heavy booster nearly four minutes into flight as planned.

But then SpaceX Communications Manager Dan Huot reported on a live stream that mission teams had lost contact with the ship.

The Super Heavy booster managed to returned to its launchpad roughly seven minutes after lift-off as planned, prompting an eruption of applause from ground control teams.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it was aware “an anomaly occurred” during the SpaceX mission.

“The FAA briefly slowed and diverted aircraft around the area where space vehicle debris was falling. Normal operations have resumed,” it said in a statement.

It comes a day after a SpaceX rocket blasted off from Florida carrying two privately constructed lunar landers and a micro rover to the Moon.

The uncrewed Falcon 9 launched from the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday.

And Bezos’ Blue Origin company successfully launched a rocket into orbit for the first time.

It was a huge step forward for Bezos and his company that has spent years getting to the point of sending a rocket into orbit.

(BBC News)