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Netanyahu Appears in Court after Pardon Request Backed by Trump

(FILES) US President Donald Trump (L) holds hands and speaks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, in Jerusalem on October 13, 2025. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla / POOL / AFP)
(FILES) US President Donald Trump (L) holds hands and speaks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, in Jerusalem on October 13, 2025. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla / POOL / AFP)
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Netanyahu Appears in Court after Pardon Request Backed by Trump

(FILES) US President Donald Trump (L) holds hands and speaks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, in Jerusalem on October 13, 2025. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla / POOL / AFP)
(FILES) US President Donald Trump (L) holds hands and speaks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, in Jerusalem on October 13, 2025. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla / POOL / AFP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared in court on Monday for the first time since asking the country's president for a pardon in his long-running corruption trial, a move backed by close ally US President Donald Trump.

Opposition politicians have come out against the request, with some arguing that any pardon should be conditional on Netanyahu retiring from politics and admitting guilt. Others have said the prime minister must first call national elections, which are due by October 2026, before requesting any pardon.

Naftali Bennett, a former prime minister, said he would support ending the trial if Netanyahu were to agree to withdraw from politics "in order to pull Israel out of this chaos".

"This way, we can put this behind us, unite and rebuild the country together," said Bennett, who led a coalition government that won the 2021 election, ousting Netanyahu from office. Netanyahu won the election the next year to return to power.

Polls show Bennett as the most likely to head the next government if Netanyahu departed.

Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, was indicted back in 2019 on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust after years of investigations. His trial began in 2020.

The prime minister has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and made no admission of guilt in his request for a pardon, with Netanyahu's lawyers stating that he believed that the legal proceedings, if completed, would end in a complete acquittal.

A small group of demonstrators gathered outside Monday's Tel Aviv court hearing, some of them wearing orange prison-style jumpsuits and calling on Netanyahu to go to prison, Reuters reported.

In a letter to President Isaac Herzog that was released on Sunday, lawyers for Netanyahu said that frequent court appearances were hindering the prime minister's ability to govern. A pardon would also be good for the country, they said.

Pardons in Israel have typically been granted only after legal proceedings have concluded and the accused has been convicted. There is no precedent for issuing a pardon mid-trial.

Allies of Netanyahu's right-wing coalition have backed his request, which came two weeks after Trump wrote to Herzog asking him to consider pardoning Netanyahu, calling the cases against him a "political, unjustified prosecution".

In recent elections, Netanyahu's rivals have made his legal cases a central campaign issue. Many polls indicate that his coalition, the most right-wing in Israel's history, would struggle to win enough seats to form the next government.

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World

High Hopes at China's Gateway to North Korea as Trains Resume

The sun rises over the North Korean town of Sinuiju, behind the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge (L) and the Yalu River Broken Bridge (R), as seen from the border city of Dandong, in China's northeast Liaoning province on March 26, 2026. GREG BAKER / AFP
The sun rises over the North Korean town of Sinuiju, behind the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge (L) and the Yalu River Broken Bridge (R), as seen from the border city of Dandong, in China's northeast Liaoning province on March 26, 2026. GREG BAKER / AFP
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High Hopes at China's Gateway to North Korea as Trains Resume

The sun rises over the North Korean town of Sinuiju, behind the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge (L) and the Yalu River Broken Bridge (R), as seen from the border city of Dandong, in China's northeast Liaoning province on March 26, 2026. GREG BAKER / AFP
The sun rises over the North Korean town of Sinuiju, behind the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge (L) and the Yalu River Broken Bridge (R), as seen from the border city of Dandong, in China's northeast Liaoning province on March 26, 2026. GREG BAKER / AFP

Now retired, Wang Meili wants to see the world -- including North Korea, the reclusive nation that lies across the river from her lifelong home in northeastern China.

North Korea has long kept tight control over foreign visitors, and effectively sealed its borders at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic six years ago, AFP said.

It has since partly reopened and restored daily passenger train services with China this month, but has not yet resumed issuing tourism visas to Chinese citizens, who once made up the bulk of its overseas visitors.

"We'd like to get visas to go. I've already got my passport," said 68-year-old Wang, who grew up in the border city of Dandong.

In another apparent sign of North Korea's reopening, Air China is set to resume flights to Pyongyang on Monday.

But for now, only those with work or study visas can go.

AFP journalists in Dandong, the main gateway for cross-border travel and trade, saw a mostly empty passenger train rattle over a bridge into North Korea this week.

Nearby, tourists on another bridge, partly destroyed by US bombs during the Korean War, posed for photographs and peered through binoculars at the North Korean city of Sinuiju on the opposite shore.

Tour boats took curious sightseers to gaze at North Koreans cycling along the Yalu river separating the two countries or cleaning boats on the bank. Uniformed guards stood at regular points along the boundary.

Li Shuo, the manager of a Dandong-based travel agency, said the resumption of passenger train services had had "no impact" on his business.

Unable to run tours into North Korea, he has been offering trips through border areas so customers can catch glimpses into the secretive state from a distance.

"We can only wait for news" on tourism visas, Li said, adding that they "would be a good thing for domestic tourists".

"Many people want to go," he said.

- 'The people are brainwashed' -

Others were less keen.

One Chinese tourist from the northeastern city of Shenyang told AFP that a peek at North Korea from Dandong was close enough for him.

"It's totalitarian over there, the people are brainwashed," he said, declining to provide his name given the sensitivity of the topic and his public-sector job.

"Actually, there's brainwashing here in China too, but it's not as severe," he said.

AFP also spoke to tourists from outside mainland China -- including Hong Kong, Japan and Australia -- all drawn to Dandong for a rare view of the country it borders.

Louis Lamb, a 22-year-old nurse from Brisbane, told AFP that travelling into North Korea was "a bucket-list item".

"You can see (North Korea) from a certain perspective in what we see from our media," said Lamb, adding that he would like to experience the country for himself.

Although stretches of the opposite riverbank appeared "desolate", he said, "it's a lot more developed than I thought".

China is a major backer for diplomatically isolated North Korea, though Pyongyang has notably drawn closer to Russia since the start of the Ukraine war.

But trade with China, much of it through Dandong, is a key lifeline for North Korea's moribund economy, under UN sanctions because of its nuclear weapons program.

Cross-border shipments swelled to $2.7 billion last year and have nearly rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, according to Chinese customs data.

AFP journalists saw a steady stream of trains and freight trucks hauling cargo from Dandong to Sinuiju.

- 'Going home soon' -

For some in Dandong, North Korea's tentative reopening kindled hope of returning home.

Thousands of North Koreans are thought to reside in the city of two million people, despite sanctions banning them from working overseas.

North Korea's abrupt border closure in 2020 stranded many of them abroad for years, and Pyongyang later beefed up defenses along the frontier to dissuade illegal crossings.

Staff at a North Korean restaurant in Dandong forbade AFP journalists from filming or taking photos of a large screen showing a patriotic music and dance performance.

One waitress from Pyongyang told AFP she had been in China for over six years without returning home.

Western experts say such workers endure miserable living and working conditions, have their movements restricted and see most of their wages commandeered by the North Korean state.

But after a long wait, travel between the two nations now seemed to be getting easier, the waitress said, declining to give her name.

"I'll be going home soon."

World

Report: Pentagon Preparing for Weeks of Ground Operations in Iran

US Marines join in the Cobra Gold US-Thai joint military exercise on Hat Yao beach in Chonburi province, Thailand, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
US Marines join in the Cobra Gold US-Thai joint military exercise on Hat Yao beach in Chonburi province, Thailand, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
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Report: Pentagon Preparing for Weeks of Ground Operations in Iran

US Marines join in the Cobra Gold US-Thai joint military exercise on Hat Yao beach in Chonburi province, Thailand, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
US Marines join in the Cobra Gold US-Thai joint military exercise on Hat Yao beach in Chonburi province, Thailand, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

The Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran, the Washington Post reported Saturday, ‌citing US ‌officials.

The plans ‌could ⁠involve raids by ⁠Special Operations and conventional infantry troops, the Post reported. Whether President Donald Trump would approve ⁠any of those ‌plans ‌remains uncertain, according to ‌the Post.

The Trump ‌administration has deployed US Marines to the Middle East as the ‌war in Iran stretches into its ⁠fifth ⁠week, and also has been planning to send thousands of soldiers from the US Army's 82nd Airborne to the region.

World

Seven Injured, Man Arrested after Car Hits Pedestrians in UK

Police officers work near to a variety of personal items seen covering the road inside a cordon set up on Friar Gate in central Derby, central England on March 29, 2026, following an incident the night before where was vehicle has driven into pedestrians. (Photo by Darren Staples / AFP)
Police officers work near to a variety of personal items seen covering the road inside a cordon set up on Friar Gate in central Derby, central England on March 29, 2026, following an incident the night before where was vehicle has driven into pedestrians. (Photo by Darren Staples / AFP)
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Seven Injured, Man Arrested after Car Hits Pedestrians in UK

Police officers work near to a variety of personal items seen covering the road inside a cordon set up on Friar Gate in central Derby, central England on March 29, 2026, following an incident the night before where was vehicle has driven into pedestrians. (Photo by Darren Staples / AFP)
Police officers work near to a variety of personal items seen covering the road inside a cordon set up on Friar Gate in central Derby, central England on March 29, 2026, following an incident the night before where was vehicle has driven into pedestrians. (Photo by Darren Staples / AFP)

British police said on Sunday seven people had suffered "serious but not life-threatening injuries" after a car was driven into pedestrians in a central England city, with one man arrested.

Officers arrested the man in his 30s shortly after the incident in Derby, located about 40 miles (64 kilometers) north of Birmingham, Derbyshire Police said in an update.

"He was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, causing serious injury through dangerous driving, inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent, and dangerous driving," the force added.

"The investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident are ongoing and we are keeping an open mind as to the motives."

The car, a black Suzuki Swift, struck the pedestrians at about 9:30 pm (2130 GMT) on Saturday, according to police.

The seven people hurt were treated at the scene by ambulance crews and taken to Royal Derby Hospital and Queen's Medical Centrer in the nearby city of Nottingham, the force's update said.

"The seven suffered a range of serious but not life-threatening injuries and we can confirm that, contrary to online speculation, no-one died in the incident," Derbyshire police noted.

The force had earlier said it did not believe there was an ongoing risk to the public.

Derby North MP Catherine Atkinson said she was "deeply shocked".

"My thoughts are with those injured and I'm grateful to our emergency services," she said on social media.

"Please follow police advice and avoid the area. Anyone who has information should contact hem as soon as possible."