Author: DW

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be allowed to walk free after he pleaded guilty to a single felony charge for publishing US military secrets on Wednesday. Asked by the judge whether he would plead guilty or not guilty, Assange replied: “Guilty to the information.” The plea was part of a deal with US persecutors that secures Assange’s freedom and concludes a drawn-out legal saga that raised divisive questions about press freedom and national security. “With this pronouncement, it appears that you will be able to walk out of this courtroom a free man,” the judge said. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said…

Julian Assange is travelling to his native Australia on a private jet after US authorities agreed to drop their demand for the WikiLeaks founder to be extradited from the UK having struck a plea deal with him.Assange had to pay $500,000 (£394,000) for a chartered flight from Stansted to Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands – a US commonwealth in the Pacific – where he will plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information. In exchange he will be sentenced to time served – the 62 months he has already spent in…

The popular Italian travel destination of Capri is currently inaccessible to non-residents and tourists without hotel reservations. The situation was prompted by a technical issue on the Italian mainland that caused the island’s water supply to break down. On Saturday, Capri Mayor Paolo Falco issued an order barring all non-residents and day tourists from docking until further notice. The order forced several ferries on route to Capri from Naples and Sorrento to return to port. Capri’s famous Grotta Azzurra (Blue Grotto) leaves those who have seen it talking about it for a lifetimeImage: Antonio Gravante/CHROMORANGE/picture alliance “We’ve been working through…

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange pleaded guilty to a single felony charge for publishing US military secrets in a deal with US prosecutors. Asked by the judge whether he would plead guilty or not guilty, Assange replied: “Guilty to the information.” The guilty plea secures Assange’s freedom and concludes a drawn-out legal saga that raised divisive questions about press freedom and national security. What are the details of the plea deal? Assange arrived at the court on the US Pacific island territory of the Northern Mariana Islands after he was released from the UK’s Belmarsh Prison on Monday. The 52-year-old was wearing a black suit…

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has pleaded guilty to one count of espionage as part of a plea deal with US authorities. The agreement means Assange will be sentenced to time already served in a British prison. His court appearance took place on the US territory of Saipan. He left the UK on Monday after being released on bail from Belmarsh high security jail.Addressing the court, Assange said that he broke US law by encouraging classified leaks, but said he believed the Espionage Act violates free-speech.The US request to extradite the WikiLeaks founder on spying charges has been dropped and he…

Christian Tein, head of the pro-independence CCAT group in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia, will be held in France after being charged Saturday over deadly riots last month, his lawyer said. Along with Tein, three other activists, including the group’s communications director, Brenda Wanabow, will be sent nearly 17,000 kilometers (10,500 miles) to France. Tein was charged by an investigating magistrate in the capital of New Caledonia, Noumea, on Saturday. He was the first of a group of 11 people arrested Wednesday to face charges over the violence that left nine people dead, including two police officers. Noumea’s…

UNESCO has warned that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef “remains under serious threat,” directing the country to take immediate action to protect the world’s largest coral system. “Urgent and sustained action is of utmost priority,” the United Nations’ cultural organization said in a draft decision released late on Monday. ‘Huge win,’ says environment minister UNESCO asked Australia to update its protection efforts by early next year, but did not recommend placing the reef on its endangered heritage list. The organization praised Australia’s steps on water quality and restrictions on gill-net fishing. It nevertheless expressed concern over land clearing and urged more ambitious emission…

As protesters faced off against heavy-handed police in Kenya’s capital, members of parliament passed the tax bill that pushed them into the streets.The financial bill will impose new levies on essential goods and push the burden of external debt repayment on the country’s increasingly unemployed and struggling citizens. When the marchers made it into the parliament chambers they had vowed to occupy, their rage and betrayal was on full show.Flags were flung, glass was shattered and the open buffet food was devoured.Lawmakers hid in the building for two hours until the storm had passed. Please use Chrome browser for a…

One person was dead in Switzerland on Sunday after severe storms hit the south of the country, causing flooding and a landslide. Three people initially went missing in the landslide, but police later announced that the body of one was found. The search for the other two remained ongoing. Dozens of people were evacuated due to a landslide in the Mesocco and Calanca valleys in the southeastern canton of Graubünden. The houses of those missing were destroyed in the landslide in Mesocco. Streets in the village were flooded, according to cantonal police. Another woman had been reported missing but was found…

Police in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Tuesday fired live rounds to break up demonstrations as thousands took to the streets across the country to protest proposed tax rises.  Follow updates on the deadly escalation of protests in Kenya here. What’s the latest on the protests? Reports emerged that some of the protesters had been shot and that several people had been killed. Reports varied significantly in the number of fatalities, from between one to 10. Some demonstrators entered parliament at about the same time, with the building set on fire soon afterward. The country’s youth-led protest movement has become a major headache for the…