The Saipan surprise: How delicate talks led to the unlikely end of Julian Assange's 12-year saga

WASHINGTON (AP) — About a year and a half ago, a lawyer for Julian Assange presented federal prosecutors in Virginia with a longshot request: Dismiss the case against the WikiLeaks founder. It was a bold ask given that Assange had published hundreds of thousands of secret...

Things to know about how Julian Assange and US prosecutors arrived at a plea deal to end his case

WASHINGTON (AP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is back in Australia as a free man, having resolved through a plea deal a U.S. Justice Department case charging him with obtaining and publishing government secrets on his secret-spilling website. It was a stunning resolution to a...

AP Week in Pictures: Global

June 21-27, 2024 Police fired shots at demonstrators protesting over proposed tax hikes in Kenya. Lithuanians and Ukrainians wearing traditional and local styles celebrated the summer solstice. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange returned to his homeland in Australia after pleading...

Julian Assange is now free to do or say whatever he likes. What does his future hold?

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — He has run for office, published hundreds of thousands of leaked government documents online, and once lobbied to save his local swimming pool. One of the most polarizing and influential figures of the information age, Julian Assange is now free after five years in...

Stella Assange thanks Australian lawmakers for WikiLeaks founder's freedom

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Stella Assange thanked the spectrum of lawmakers who campaigned for her husband, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, to be freed during her visit Thursday to Australia’s Parliament House, where political leaders differed over how welcome the convicted felon was in his...

Australian leaders cautiously welcome expected plea that could bring WikiLeaks founder Assange home

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian leaders cautiously welcomed an expected plea agreement that could set free Julian Assange, who was pursued for years over WikiLeaks' publication of a trove of classified documents. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday there was...

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange returns to Australia a free man after US legal battle ends

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange returned to his homeland Australia aboard a charter jet and raised a celebratory clenched fist as his supporters cheered Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to obtaining and publishing U.S. military secrets in a deal with Justice...

Saipan, placid island setting for Assange's last battle, is briefly mobbed — and bemused by the fuss

SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands (AP) — It was a peculiar setting to the final act in a legal drama that has now spanned the globe: a rural Western Pacific island, where visitors are usually tourists — attracted by laid-back resorts, snorkeling, diving and golf — and the furthermost reach of...

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange lands in Australian capital Canberra after US legal battle ends

What to know about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and the guilty plea that freed him

WASHINGTON (AP) — The guilty plea by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange brings a stunning conclusion to an international saga of the quixotic hacker who exposed government secrets. The deal reached with the U.S. Justice Department came after Assange spent 12 years either in...