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RIYADH: The Communications, Space and Technology Commission and the Saudi Space Agency, in partnership with Neo Space Group, have launched the global SpaceUp Competition to develop innovative space-based solutions.

The contest aims to promote space entrepreneurship, support local companies specializing in space-based solutions, attract global entrepreneurs, startups and small and medium-sized enterprises, and encourage the adoption of space-based solutions across various sectors.

SpaceUp offers six challenge tracks with contractual opportunities of around $28 million, in addition to providing direct access to end-users and localization.

The first track, “Monitoring Date Palms Pest and Disease,” sponsored by the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture and the Weqaa Center, focuses on space-based solutions to monitor palm farms and detect pests.

The second, “Improving City Livability by Monitoring Urban Heat Islands,” by the Quality of Life Program, aims to solve the problem of rising temperatures in crowded cities.

“Monitoring the Impact of Infrastructure Development,” by Riyadh Infrastructure Projects Center, promotes infrastructure projects and traffic management.

The fourth and fifth tracks, both sponsored by the Ministry of Municipalities and Housing, are “Optimizing Urban Road Assets,” which aims to provide solutions to detect urban road damage and improve maintenance, and “Mapping of Urban Trees,” focused on monitoring and maintaining urban green spaces.

The final track, “Greening ��������Ƶ,” seeks to monitor tree growth and support sustainability efforts related to the Saudi Green Initiative.

“The SpaceUp Competition extends the efforts of CST and the SSA in enhancing investment opportunities in the Saudi space sector and stimulating research and innovation,” said a statement released by the CST on Monday.

Registration for the competition starts on Jan. 20 and will be open until April 12 via the competition webpage at https://new.cst.gov.sa/en/about/program-and-initiatives/spaceup-competition

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan will appeal against his conviction in a land graft case in a high court this week, his lawyer Salman Akram Raja confirmed days after the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder was handed a 14-year jail sentence in the case. 

An accountability court in Pakistan’s capital on Friday handed Khan a 14-year jail sentence and slapped his third wife with a seven-year imprisonment term after finding them both guilty of receiving land as a bribe from a real estate tycoon.

The couple say that the Al-Qadir Trust, set up by Khan and Bushra Khan in 2018 when he was still in office, was established to impart religious education. Pakistani authorities, however, say the trust was a front for the couple to receive valuable land as a bribe from real estate developer Malik Riaz Hussain, who is one of Pakistan’s richest and most powerful businessmen. 

Hussain, like Khan and his wife, both deny any wrongdoing in the case. Khan’s party responded to the verdict last week by saying it lacked “any solid foundation and is bound to collapse.”

“If [the appeal] is not filed tomorrow [Monday] then it will be filed the day after [Tuesday],” Raja told ARY News, a private news channel, on Sunday night. “And obviously, we will file a request with the appeal to dismiss this verdict and that the punishment should also be dismissed,” he added. 

Raja hoped the high court would listen to the appeal “soon” and issue its verdict within the next few weeks. He said after the high court’s verdict, whichever party disagrees with the decision will then appeal against its decision at the Supreme Court. 

He did not specify which high court the party intends to file Khan’s appeal in. 

Authorities say the Al-Qadir Trust scheme originated with 190 million pounds repatriated to Pakistan in 2019 by Britain after Hussain forfeited cash and assets to settle a British probe into whether they were proceeds of crime. 

Instead of putting it in Pakistan’s treasury, Khan’s government is accused of using the money to pay fines levied by a court against Hussain for illegal acquisition of government lands at below-market value for development in Karachi.

Raja reiterated that Khan and his wife had not personally benefitted from the amount repatriated to Pakistan, saying that it had been used to pay Hussain’s fines as a result of a mutual understanding between the real estate tycoon and the UK’s National Crime Agency. 

“Our stance is clear: that this decision is against the law and logic,” he said. “And cannot under any circumstances stand after an appeal.”

Khan, who has been in jail since August 2023 and faces a slew of legal cases, says all charges against him are politically motivated and being backed by his political rivals led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the country’s all-powerful military. Both deny the allegations.

The announcement of the controversial verdict was delayed three times, most recently last Monday, as the government holds reconciliation talks with Khan’s PTI party.