Top Asian News 3:38 a.m. GMT

Associated Press

Updated 25 June 2024 at 11:38 pm·1-min read

WikiLeaks’ Assange pleads guilty to publishing US military secrets in deal that secures his freedom

SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands (AP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange pleaded guilty to obtaining and publishing U.S. military secrets Wednesday in a deal with Justice Department prosecutors that secures his liberty and concludes a drawn-out legal saga that raised divisive questions about press freedom and national security. The criminal case of international intrigue, which had played out for years in major world stages of Washington and London, came to a surprise end in a most unusual setting with Assange, 52, entering his plea in a U.S. district court in Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands. The American commonwealth in the Pacific is relatively close to Assange's native Australia and accommodated his desire to avoid entering the continental United States.

The Telegraph
Woman charged after video allegedly showed prison officer having sex with inmate
A woman has been charged after a video emerged that allegedly showed a prison officer having sex with an inmate in a jail cell.
The Independent
A pair of siblings were stabbed and the sister’s dying words were that the killer was a man from Detroit. Thirty-four years later, he’s been arrested.
Pamela Sumpter, was raped and stabbed, and her brother John Sumpter was stabbed to death, at their Georgia home on July 15, 1990. Andrea Cavallier reports
The Independent
Seven people - including four kids - shot by neighbor who once told them to ‘go back to where they came from’
Motive still being investigated, but shooting ‘could’ have racial element, police say
CNN
A year ago, she drank battery acid to escape life under the Taliban. Today, she has a message for other Afghan girls
Arzo survived a suicide attempt but now faces a new threat that could send her family – and millions like them – back to Afghanistan and a life that has become so intolerable for women and girls that some would rather die.
People
Colo. Man Killed Wife and Daughter with Ax, Then Called 911 and Told Police He Didn't Regret It
Reginald Maclaren was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder
CNN Business
One of the world’s richest men wants to transform India’s biggest slum
When Masoom Ali Shaikh arrived in Mumbai in 1974 as a young man from northern India, the patch of land where he set up shop was “just a creek with no proper road and garbage all around,” he said.
People
2 Missing Ga. Firefighters Who'd Been High School Sweethearts Are Found Dead Days After Woman Keyed Man's Car
The two firefighters had dated for about seven years before breaking up, according to Kuhbander's parents
The Guardian
Life at the heart of Japan’s lonely deaths epidemic: ‘I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried’
Some 68,000 people are expected to die alone and unnoticed in Japan this year, police say, as the population continues to age
People
'Very Sweet Young Lady' Is Killed on Her 21st Birthday, Suspect in Custody
Joselyn Toaquiza was reported missing on Wednesday, June 19, the day after she turned 21, before police learned she'd been killed the day before
BANG Showbiz
Kanye West’s wife accused of sending adult videos to an employee ‘that were accessible to minors’
In yet another lawsuit to hit the scandal-plagued rapper, Kanye West’s wife is being accused of sending adult videos to an employee that were accessible to minors.
People
Boy, 13, Shot and Killed by Police: 'I Will Never Get to See Him Grow Up,' Sister Says
Nyah Mway was shot on Friday, June 28, in Utica, New York, while allegedly wielding a replica handgun
The Independent
Murder suspect accused of killing boyfriend by suffocating him in a suitcase sends 58-page letter to judge saying ‘I am not the problem’
Sarah Boone, 46, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder after her boyfriend Jorge Torres Jr, 42, was found lifeless inside a suitcase after what she described as a game of hide-and-seek gone wrong
The Independent
Mother and her children may have been ‘coerced’ to travel to ‘religious rehab’ in Mexico
Martha Unger, 23, and her daughters, Madilynn Grace Unger, 2, and Haylie Faith Unger, 1, vanished from their Kansas home on Friday
People
“Bachelorette” Alum Katie Thurston Says She Is a ‘Victim of Rape’ and Details the Aftermath: ‘I Refuse to Feel Defeated’
"While I'm not ready to share my story, I want to share the valuable resources that saved my life," Thurston said
BBC
One dead after armed gunmen storm French wedding
Gunmen opened fire on guests at a venue in Thionville, north-east France killing a man in his 30s.
The Independent
Seven dead after violent storms cause flooding in Switzerland, France and Italy
Torrential rain causes landslides and flooding across three countries
The Independent
Bodycam footage released after 13-year-old boy shot and killed by police in New York
Body camera footage released by the department shows officers tackling the boy to the ground before firing a gun
PA Media: UK News
‘Heed the lessons from Undercover Policing Inquiry’, lead lawyer warns
David Barr KC said the inquiry is not just an historical exercise and the next government and police chiefs must learn lessons from the past.
CNN
Exclusive: ‘I believe I watched him die,’ says former inmate as murder charges filed against Missouri corrections officers
Five former corrections officers are facing a combination of assault, manslaughter, and murder charges over the December 8, 2023 death of Othel Moore Junior, a former inmate at a maximum security prison in Jefferson City, Missouri, according to newly released indictments.
CNN
‘What’s going to happen for us?’ These gay military veterans wonder what Biden’s new pardon means for them
After President Joe Biden pardoned American veterans who were convicted under a military law that banned gay sex for more than 60 years, Mona McGuire and Karla Lehmann have been left wondering whether the announcement will affect service members, like them, who accepted less than honorable discharges rather than face court martial – a lasting stain on their military records.

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