Jerusalem — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu submitted a request to the country’s president on Sunday for a pardon in his years-long corruption trial, arguing that criminal proceedings were hindering his ability to govern and a pardon would serve the interests of Israeli society.
Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, has long denied the bribery, fraud and breach of trust charges. His lawyers said in a letter to the president’s office that the prime minister still believes the legal proceedings would result in a complete acquittal.
“My lawyers sent a request for pardon to the president of the country today. I expect that anyone who wishes for the good of the country supports this step,” Netanyahu said in a brief video statement released by his political party, Likud. Reuters
UK plans justice system overhaul to cut case backlog
London — Britain’s government is set to propose a criminal justice system overhaul next week aimed at cutting a backlog of nearly 80,000 cases that has left thousands waiting years for justice.
The Labour government, which has warned the number of cases waiting to be heard could rise to 100,000 by 2028 without action, said the reforms would take forward recommendations from a review conducted earlier this year.
Justice secretary David Lammy’s office said in a statement on Sunday that he would outline proposals to modernise courts and speed up cases to put victims “front and centre”. Reuters
Reeves denies misleading public on fiscal forecasts
London — British finance minister Rachel Reeves on Sunday denied she misled the public over official forecasts ahead of this month’s budget, saying she had been honest about the need to build up a bigger fiscal buffer.
In a speech on November 4, Reeves appeared to lay the groundwork to break the Labour Party’s promise to voters before the 2024 election and raise income tax rates, citing a “weaker than previously thought” productivity performance.
In a letter published on Friday, the head of Britain’s budget watchdog said it had previously provided the government with forecasts showing that its productivity downgrade was offset by increases in real wages and inflation — which Reeves did not mention.
The opposition Conservative Party has said that Reeves should resign for misleading the public about the economic situation ahead of her November 26 budget. Reuters
US halts Afghan visas after deadly DC shooting
Washington — US President Donald Trump’s administration has ordered its diplomats worldwide to stop processing visas for Afghan nationals, according to a state department cable seen by Reuters, effectively suspending the special immigration programme for Afghans who helped the US during its 20-year-long occupation of their home country.
The cable, sent to all US diplomatic posts on Friday, says that effective immediately, consular officers are instructed to reject any immigrant or non-immigrant visa applications from Afghan nationals, including applicants for special immigrant visas. On Wednesday, a former member of one of Afghanistan’s CIA-backed units was accused of shooting two US National Guard soldiers in Washington, DC. One of them later died.
The state department on Saturday referred Reuters to a statement on platform X by secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday in which he said that “all individuals” travelling on Afghan passports would have their visa issuance “paused”. Reuters
Airbus A320 glitch disrupts flights amid global recall
Paris — Global airlines scrambled to fix a software glitch on Airbus A320 jets on Saturday as a partial recall by the European planemaker halted hundreds of flights in Asia and Europe and threatened US travel over the busiest weekend of the year.
Airlines worked through the night after global regulators told them to remedy the problem before resuming flights.
The overnight effort by airlines appeared to help head off the worst-case scenario and capped the number of flight delays in Asia and Europe. In the US, which will face high demand after the Thanksgiving holiday period.
Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury apologised to airlines and passengers after the surprise recall of 6,000 planes, or more than half of the global A320-family fleet, which recently overtook the Boeing 737 as the industry’s most-delivered model.
Friday’s alert followed an unintended loss of altitude on an October 30 JetBlue flight from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey, which injured 10 passengers, according to France’s BEA accident agency, which is probing the incident. Reuters
China’s services sector contracts for first time since 2022
Beijing — China’s non-manufacturing activity shrank in November for the first time since December 2022, an official survey showed on Sunday.
The non-manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI), which includes services and construction, fell to 49.5 from 50.1 in October, the lowest reading since December 2022, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
The bureau’s composite PMI of manufacturing and non-manufacturing fell to 49.7 in November, compared with 50.0 in October. Reuters
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