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Hello and welcome to NewsHour.
It's coming to you live from the BBC World Service studios in central London.
I'm Tim Franks.
We're beginning with the news that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has requested a pardon from the country's president,
Isaac Herzog.
Mr Netanyahu has been on trial for the past five years,
on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
This request for a pardon has not come out of the blue.
Mr President, why don't you give him a pardon?
Donald Trump making the call six weeks ago, turning to a rather bemused looking Isaac Herzog,
as Mr Trump delivered a speech in the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament.
Mr Trump followed up that initial request a couple of weeks ago with a letter to President Herzog.
Isaac Herzog politely pointed out that for the Israeli President's office to consider a pardon,
the request had to come from the person seeking that pardon.
Well, today it has.
Benjamin Netanyahu himself put out a two-minute-long video statement explaining why he'd done so,
among the reasons this.