LONDON (AP) — England forward Ivan Toney denied assaulting a man at a Soho nightclub as he appeared in court Thursday to face the charge for the first time.
The former Brentford striker who now plays for Al-Ahli in the Saudi Arabian league appeared at at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
The 30-year-old Toney is accused of headbutting and punching a man during a confrontation at a nightclub in central London, on Dec. 6 last year.
Toney pleaded not guilty to a charge of assault causing actual bodily harm.
A spokesperson for the player previously released a statement saying Toney “acknowledges the charge and although he is naturally shocked, he looks forward to being given the opportunity to clear his name in court.”
Toney was a member of the England team that finished in third place at the World Cup in July. He's not on the current England team for a series of Nations League games.
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FILE - England's Ivan Toney attends a training session ahead of the quarterfinal World Cup soccer match against Norway, on July 10, 2026, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier, File)
A copilot stabbed his captain and attempted to crash a flight from the United Arab Emirates to Israel. Passengers, many of them Israelis, feared for their lives as the FlyDubai aircraft lost half its altitude in about a minute.
Israel scrambled fighter jets out of concern for a possible hijacking as the drama unfolded on Wednesday. The wounded pilot managed to open the cockpit door, and a passenger and a crew member rushed in to subdue the attacker, an Omani national. Other crew members gained control of the aircraft, which landed safely in Saudi Arabia.
The terrifying flight came just days before the anniversary of the militant Hamas group's Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that launched the war in Gaza. It has rekindled anxieties about airline security and focused attention on an unsettling question: Are pilots a significant threat to the flying public's safety?
Here’s what we know — and don’t know — about what happened on FlyDubai flight FZ1073:
The distress call came at 8:44 a.m. local time, about two and a half hours after the flight with about 170 passengers left Dubai in the UAE, heading to the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.
Officials later said that a fight had broken out in the cockpit as the copilot tried to stab the pilot and crash the aircraft.
The plane swiftly lost altitude — dropping from 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet (around 10,000 meters to 5,100 meters) in the span of about a minute. It then circled close to the Jordanian border before landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, about an hour later.
A person who heard the flight’s communications with air traffic control said the plane was being turned away by Saudi Arabia and Jordan before eventually landing in Tabuk, while passengers screamed in the background. The person who heard the communications spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Aviation experts said they were surprised that the plane did not crash after a descent so extreme that most of the rudder was ripped off the tail.
After landing at Tabuk's Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport, Saudi authorities arrested the copilot.
The injured pilot, Capt. Smit Machchhar, has been praised as a hero in his home country of India. Passengers described how a bloodied Machchhar managed to open the cockpit door to let them in. They restrained the attacker while the Boeing 737 descended sharply, according to witnesses and Israeli authorities.
A plane carrying passengers from the flight landed Wednesday evening in Israel.
A passenger and a crew member managed to enter the cockpit, allowing other crew members to fly the plane to a safe landing, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who cited a passenger he had spoken to.
The cockpit door on all aircraft is locked during flight for security reasons — a measure that became the industry standard after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, in which hijackers broke into the cockpits of four domestic flights in the United States.
Netanyahu said on X that the pilot's opening of the cockpit door had "enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker — preventing a catastrophic midair disaster.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday called Machchhar a hero.
“In the face of the gravest danger and despite being seriously injured, he showed immense courage and an unwavering resolve to protect the lives of others. His valor helped save hundreds of lives and avert a great tragedy,” Modi wrote on X.
One question surrounding this incident is how anyone on the aircraft — especially a pilot — was able to get a knife onboard. It's unclear how big the knife was that was used in the attack or if it was a knife.
In an interview with Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity that aired Wednesday night, Netanyahu said the attacker might have hit the captain with an axe. Airlines are generally required to carry crash axes in the cockpit for use in an emergency to break open a window to escape or break open a panel to access a fire.
Pilots undergo rigorous screening, including passing through metal detectors, at checkpoints at all airports. It's also standard for airlines to vet their pilots' background for criminal and employment history, their physical and mental health, as well as having them undergo intelligence and security screening.
Israel has some of the most stringent airline security measures worldwide. Passengers on Israel-bound flights regularly are taken aside for questioning and baggage searches after passing through normal airport security. It's unclear whether the pilots of the FlyDubai flight had been screened as vigorously.
Associated Press writers David Rising in Bangkok, Thailand, and Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi contributed to this report.
Passengers embark on a FlyDubai aircraft at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Holding balloons people wait for the arrival of passengers at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
A FlyDubai aircraft carrying Israelis who experienced an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia arrives at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
