Court upholds corruption conviction of ex-Prez Sarkozy
Paris, Dec 18: France’s highest court has upheld an appeal court decision which had found former President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of corruption and influence peddling while he was the country’s head of state. Sarkozy, 69, faces a year in prison, but is expected to ask to be detained at home with an electronic bracelet – as is the case for any sentence of two years or less. He was found guilty of corruption and influence peddling by both a Paris court in 2021 and an appeals court in 2023 for trying to bribe a magistrate in exchange for information about a legal case in which he was implicated. “The convictions and sentences are therefore final,” a Court of Cassation statement on Wednesday said. (AP)
Guardian confirms sale of The Observer to Tortoise Media
London, Dec 18: The owner of Britain’s Guardian newspaper confirmed Wednesday that it has sold the Observer, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper, to Tortoise Media for an undisclosed fee. The Scott Trust, which owns the Guardian Media Group, said in a statement that Tortoise Media is purchasing the Observer through a combination of cash and shares. The Observer, which was founded in 1791 and became part of the Guardian Media Group in 1993, is a bastion of liberal values in Britain’s media landscape. Tortoise was launched in 2019 by James Harding, a former editor of the London Times and director of news at the BBC, and the former US ambassador to London, Matthew Barzun. (AP)
8 schoolgirls jump out of window after ‘quake’ in Pak
Lahore, Dec 18: Eight schoolgirls were seriously injured after jumping from a first-floor classroom in panic, mistaking the vibrations and sounds of a road roller for an earthquake in Pakistan’s Punjab province, Rescue 1122 said on Wednesday. The incident occurred on Tuesday in Jahanian, Khanewal district, approximately 350 kilometres from Lahore. According to Rescue 1122, the students, aged between 12 and 14, were present in class when they felt strong vibrations and heard a thunderous noise caused by a road roller operating near the school as part of road construction work. With no teacher present in the classroom, the students became alarmed, believing an earthquake was occurring and that the roof might collapse. While many students rushed downstairs, eight of them, overcome by fear, jumped out of the first-floor window, sustaining serious injuries. (PTI)
Roadside bomb targeting polio workers kills 3 in Pakistan
Peshawar, Dec 18: Three security forces personnel have been killed and two others injured in a blast targeting a vehicle carrying polio workers in northwest Pakistan’s restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The incident occurred in the Daraban area of Dera Ismail Khan district on Tuesday when a security forces vehicle enroute for polio duty was struck by a roadside blast triggered through an improvised explosive device (IED). (PTI)