WikiLeaks’s Assange arrives in Australia following release on US plea deal

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeared in court in Saipan in a deal that ended a 14-year legal ordeal.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has arrived in Australia after he was freed by a United States court in Saipan under a plea deal.

Assange’s plane landed in Canberra on Wednesday, hours after the 52-year-old pleaded guilty in a court in Saipan to a charge of espionage, related to obtaining and publishing US military secrets.

In the US Pacific territory courtroom, District Judge Ramona Manglona had sentenced Assange to five years and two months – the time he spent in prison in the United Kingdom fighting extradition to the US – and said he was free to go.

“With this pronouncement, it appears that you will be able to walk out of this courtroom a free man,” the judge said on Wednesday.

“I can’t stop crying,” his wife, Stella, wrote on the social media platform X.

The Australian had earlier flown into Saipan from the UK on a private aircraft. He walked into the court accompanied by members of his legal team and Australia’s ambassador to the US, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

He answered basic questions from the judge and listened as the terms of the deal were discussed.

Addressing the court, Assange said he believed the Espionage Act under which he was charged contradicted First Amendment rights in the US Constitution, but that he accepted that encouraging sources to provide classified information for publication could be unlawful.

As a condition of his plea, he will be required to destroy information provided to WikiLeaks.

Saipan was chosen for the court appearance due to Assange’s opposition to travelling to the mainland US as well as its proximity to his home in Australia, prosecutors said.

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the hearing was a “welcome development”.

Australia used “all appropriate channels” to support a “positive outcome” in the case, he said.

“Regardless of your views about Mr Assange, his case has dragged on for too long. There is nothing to be gained from his continued incarceration and we want him brought home to Australia,” Albanese told reporters in Canberra.

Following the judge’s ruling, a representative for Assange said the WikiLeaks founder would not be making a statement or taking questions.

His lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, said it was an “historic day” and thanked Albanese for helping make Assange’s release possible.

 Fidel Narvaez, a former Ecuadorean diplomat who gave Assange political asylum at Ecuador’s embassy in London in 2012, told Al Jazeera that he felt “overwhelmed by joy” that Assange was released.

“I am celebrating, of course,” Narvaez said, adding that Assange has been facing “persecution by the most powerful country in the world” for 14 years, while simultaneously being abandoned by his own country.

Narvaez pointed out that Assange would probably not have taken a guilty plea deal had it been offered to him years ago, noting that this has set a precedent that will discourage others from repeating his actions in the future.

“Who will want to replicate what Julian Assange and WikiLeaks did if they know what is going to come after them for publishing the truth? This is not a perfect picture, but Julian is free and I think the world is a much better place today than it was yesterday,” Narvaez said.

Barry Pollack, another of Assange’s lawyers, said his client had been the victim of an injustice.

“The prosecution of Julian Assange is unprecedented,” he told reporters outside the court.

“In the 100 years of the Espionage Act, it has never been used by the United States to pursue a publisher, a journalist, like Mr Assange. Mr Assange revealed truthful, important and newsworthy information including revealing that the United States had committed war crimes, and he has suffered tremendously.”

The release of Assange and his return to Australia appears to mark the final chapter in a 14-year battle.

Assange spent more than five years in a UK high-security jail, and before that seven years inside the Ecuadorean embassy in London, as he fought accusations of sex crimes in Sweden, which were later dropped, and battled extradition to the US, where he faced 18 criminal charges.

Assange’s supporters view him as being victimised because he exposed US military crimes in its conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Washington has said the release of the secret documents put lives in danger.⍐

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES  25 Jun 2024

Sri Lanka to declare ‘end to bankruptcy’ next week

Sri Lanka to declare ‘end to bankruptcy’ next week

 By Bandula Sirimanna Sunday Times 24-06-24

Sri Lanka is to declare ‘end to bankruptcy’ next week following an agreement reached with bilateral creditors and private bond holders on external debt restructuring at the end of second round of talks with them, highly informed official sources confirmed.

The government will sign a MoU with the official creditor committee of the Paris Club of Nations and an agreement with the Export-Import Bank of China and Ad Hoc Private Bondholder’s group will be reached on Wednesday June 26, a top government official closely associated with negotiations told the Business Times.

Sri Lanka will announce the country’s freedom from bankruptcy status on Thursday June 27, 26 months after declaring a preemptive default in April 12, 2022 suspending external debt repayment at a time where the country’s gross official reserves stood at just US$ 20 million, he disclosed.

India and China have expressed willingness to continue to work with relevant countries and international financial institutions to support Sri Lanka’s debt sustainability and agreements with bilateral creditors have been assured, he added.

Earlier the Ministry of Finance stated in a media release that despite “constructive discussions” in London with some of the Steering Committee members of the Ad Hoc Group of Bondholders, which consists of some of the country’s biggest private holders of debt, the two sides could not reach agreement on “restructuring terms on April 16.”

The Steering Committee comprises 10 of Sri Lanka’s largest bondholders and the Ad Hoc Group consists of “approximately 50 per cent of the aggregate outstanding amount of (international sovereign bonds) ISBs.” These bondholders hold around $12 billion of Sri Lanka’s total debt.

The government is now focusing on its $25 billion debt with sovereign bondholders. The bondholders’ proposal was on the introduction of a Macro-Linked Bond (MLB).

Their March 2024 proposal suggested a 20 per cent haircut on the minimal amount of existing bonds.

The revised proposal in April 2024 increased the haircut to 28 per cent with no haircuts on public debt interests (PDIs) in both March and April proposals.

However, minute discrepancies cropped up between the proposals of the Ad Hoc Group and the government during the first round of discussions regarding baseline parameters, risk balance, trigger tests, and the allocation of additional value in various MLB scenarios.

Following discussions, the bondholders revised their proposal in April 2024 to address some of the government’s concerns.

The agreement will be reached on a debt restructuring proposal favorable for private external creditors and Sri Lanka, he disclosed.⍐

Wednesday morning, Assange is expected to plead guilty to one charge.

 

Summary

• Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has set off from Bangkok for the Northern Mariana Islands, a US territory
• He left the UK on Monday after spending five years in prison fighting extradition to the US
• It has emerged that, last week, he signed a deal with the US that will see him plead guilty to one espionage charge
• He will not face further prison time - after pleading guilty, he will be free to return to Australia, his home country
• His wife, Stella Assange, tells the BBC she is "elated" and urges the public to track his flight "in case something goes wrong"
• Assange was originally facing 18 charges and feared a long sentence in a US high security prison

Wednesday morning,  Assange is expected to plead guilty to one charge, before returning to Australia. Here's a recap of the story:

• Assange and US authorities agreed to a plea deal, where he will admit one espionage offence - instead of the 18 charges he was originally facing
• The deal means Assange will not spend any time in a US prison, as he has already spent five years in the UK's high security Belmarsh prison, fighting extradition to the US
• It emerged today - via a court document in London - that the deal was signed last Wednesday, with Assange leaving the UK on Monday evening

• The chartered flights from the UK to Australia, via Thailand and the Northern Mariana Islands, have cost more than $500,000 (£393,715). Assange's wife says the Australian government has footed the bill, but the campaign will repay it. He was not allowed to fly commercial, she added

• In an interview with the BBC, Stella Assange said she was "elated" by her husband's release - and they will seek a pardon, once he has pleaded guilty

WikiLeaks' Assange set to be freed after US espionage charge plea deal

Assange, who has been sought for over a decade over allegations he hacked the US government, today left HMP Belmarsh in London and flew out of the country on a flight from Stansted at 5pm today

WikiLeaks' Assange set to be freed after US espionage charge plea deal

By Alasdair Pal and Sarah N. Lynch June 25, 2024

SYDNEY/WASHINGTON, June 25 (Reuters) - 

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is due to plead guilty on Wednesday to violating U.S. espionage law, in a deal that will set him free after a 14-year British legal odyssey and allow his return home to Australia.

Assange, 52, has agreed to plead guilty to a single criminal count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified U.S. national defence documents, according to filings in the U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands.

The deal marks the end of a legal saga that has seen Assange spend more than five years in a British high-security jail and seven holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London as he fought accusations of sex crimes in Sweden and battled extradition to the U.S., where he faced 18 criminal charges.

The U.S. government viewed him as a reckless villain who had endangered the lives of agents through WikiLeaks' mass release of secret U.S. documents - the largest security breaches of their kind in U.S. military history.

The artwork 'Anything to say?' by Italian artist Davide Dormino
portraying Edward Snowden (L), Julian Assange (R) and
Chelsea Manning (R),is displayed in the Piazza Dante in Naples,
Italy, 01 June 2024-Daily Mail

But to free press advocates and his supporters, which includes world leaders, celebrities and some prominent journalists, he is a hero for exposing wrongdoing and alleged war crimes, and was persecuted for embarrassing U.S. authorities.

On Wednesday, Assange is due to be sentenced to 62 months of time already served at a hearing in Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands, at 9 a.m. local time (2300 GMT Tuesday).

The U.S. territory in the Pacific was chosen due to Assange's opposition to travelling to the mainland U.S. and for its proximity to Australia, prosecutors said.

Australian-born Assange left Belmarsh maximum security jail in the early hours of Monday, before being bailed by the London High Court and later boarding a flight, his wife, Stella Assange said. He was currently on a stopover in Bangkok, she said.

"I feel elated," Stella, who flew to Australia from London on Sunday with the couple's two children, told Reuters.

"I also feel worried ... Until it's fully signed off, I worry, but it looks like we've got there."

A video posted on X by Wikileaks showed Assange dressed in a blue shirt and jeans signing a document before boarding a private jet. After the hearing in Saipan, Assange will fly to Canberra where he will arrive on Wednesday, his wife said.

He had recently won permission to appeal against the approval of his U.S. extradition and the case was due to be heard at London's High Court next month, a factor that Stella Assange said helped galvanise talks over a deal.

'TOO LONG'

The Australian government, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, has been pressing U.S. President Joe Biden for Assange's release but declined to comment on the legal proceedings as they were ongoing.

 "There is nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration and we want him brought home to Australia," Albanese said in the country's parliament.

WikiLeaks came to prominence in 2010 after it released hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. military documents on Washington's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq along with swaths of diplomatic cables.

The trove of more than 700,000 documents included battlefield accounts such as a 2007 video of a U.S. Apache helicopter firing at suspected insurgents in Iraq, killing a dozen people including two Reuters news staff. That video was released in 2010.

"Julian Assange endangered the lives of our troops in a time of war and should have been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," said Mike Pence, who served as U.S. Vice President under Donald Trump when the charges were brought against Assange.

"The Biden administration’s plea deal with Assange is a miscarriage of justice and dishonors the service and sacrifice of the men and women of our Armed Forces and their families," he said on X.

The charges against Assange sparked outrage among his many global supporters who have long argued that as the publisher of Wikileaks he should not face charges typically used against federal government employees who steal or leak information.

Many press freedom advocates have argued that criminally charging Assange is a threat to free speech and journalism.

Alan Rusbridger, a former editor of Britain's Guardian newspaper, one of the global titles which worked with WikiLeaks to publish some of the leaked material, said it was "pretty disturbing" that espionage laws were being used to target those who revealed uncomfortable information for states.

Stella Assange said the U.S. government should have dropped the case against her husband altogether.

"We will be seeking a pardon, obviously, but the fact that there is a guilty plea, under the Espionage Act, in relation to obtaining and disclosing national defence information is obviously a very serious concern for journalists," she said.

SWEDISH ALLEGATIONS

Assange was first arrested in Britain in 2010 on a European arrest warrant after Swedish authorities said they wanted to question him over sex-crime allegations that were later dropped. He fled to Ecuador's embassy, where he remained for seven years, to avoid extradition to Sweden.

He and Stella, a lawyer who worked on his case, had two children during his time there. He was dragged out of the embassy in 2019 after Ecuador withdrew his asylum status.

He was jailed for skipping bail and has been in Belmarsh ever since, latterly fighting extradition to the United States.

"Millions of people who have been advocating for Julian, it is almost time for them to have a drink and a celebration," his brother Gabriel Shipton told Reuters from France⍐.

Source: Reuters + Media+ enb

India-Lanka land bridge: Danger to sovereignty and Independence of Sri Lanka

Cardinal: Bridge project poses danger to sovereignty and Independence of Sri Lanka

The Catholic Church has opposed the proposed India-Lanka land bridge connectivity project, warning that it will endanger Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and independence.Colombo Archbishop Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, speaking to the media at Ruwanwella on Friday, said that if implemented, the project would make Sri Lanka part of Tamil Nadu.

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith

“Our history is full of instances where invaders came from South India from time to time to capture parts of this country to rule them. On each occasion, the Sinhala kings had to mobilise armies to get rid of them and liberate those areas. Now, the government in power is proposing to build a land bridge connecting Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. This certainly would end up with this country becoming a part of Tamil Nadu,” the Cardinal said.

The Cardinal’s criticism of the bridge project came days after President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s announcement that a pre-feasibility study for a land connection between Sri Lanka and India had been completed, and a full feasibility study would be conducted in the near future.  The President said so when he met Rev. Dr. Fidelis Lionel Emmanuel Fernando, the Bishop of Mannar, Diocese of Mannar, at the Mannar Bishops House on 16 June, according to a statement issued to the media by the President’s Media Division subsequent to the visit.

The Cardinal said: “Who needs this bridge? It is clear that the idea has been mooted following a request from foreigners not because of a request from the people here. This government is resolute in carrying out all directives coming from outside without thinking whether they are good or bad for us. We must be careful not to carry out what is not beneficial to us. Otherwise we will end up in a worse crisis than what we already have. We must not do anything that harms our sovereignty and independence.”

Meanwhile, the Indian media have reported that in July 2023, during a visit to India, Wickremesinghe discussed the development of a land bridge between the two countries in a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The proposal for land connectivity had come from Sri Lanka, New Delhi at that time.

Creating land connectivity across the Palk Strait, which is as narrow as 25km (15 miles) at certain points, would provide India access to ports like Trincomalee and Colombo. This initiative aims to fortify the millennia old relationship between the two neighbouring countries. The Palk Strait, a narrow strip of water separating Tamil Nadu from Sri Lanka, serves as a rich fishing ground for both countries. Incidents of fishermen from both nations being arrested for inadvertently trespassing into the waters are common.⍐

The Island: 2024/06/24

Adani's wind power project in Lanka hits rough weather

 

செய்தி நறுக்குகள்

 

Note: Continuation is not available.

Russia and North Korea: Signed a new “comprehensive strategic partnership”

 

Russia and North Korea sign partnership deal that includes mutual defense pact 

Dylan Butts-CNBC

Key Points

1. Russia and North Korea have signed a “comprehensive strategic partnership” agreement, which includes military and defense collaboration.
2. It comes as President Vladimir Putin received a warm welcome in Pyongyang during his first trip to North Korea in over 20 years.
3. Experts and officials warn that North Korea would likely try to gain support for its nuclear weapons program in return for supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine.

• Russia and North Korea on Wednesday (19-06-2024), signed a new “comprehensive strategic partnership” as Western officials grow increasingly concerned about the implications of President Vladimir Putin’s first state visit to the nuclear-armed country in 24 years. 

  Russian state media reported the inking of the partnership, which included a mutual defense pact, hours after Putin arrived in Pyongyang to receive a red carpet greeting from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and a welcome ceremony attended by thousands. 

  

  Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un pose for a photo during a signing ceremony following bilateral talks in Pyongyang, North Korea June 19, 2024. 

  Kristina Kormilitsyna | Via Reuters

  
  The Russian president’s lavish reception included praise from Kim, who expressed full support and solidarity with Moscow, including for its “special military operation” in Ukraine, according to the state-owned news agency Tass.

  In reciprocation, Putin reportedly gifted Kim another new Aurus (a Russian-built limousine), an admiral’s dagger and a tea set, in a move symbolic of the two country’s growing ties. 

• Russian officials had signaled plans for the strategic partnership ahead of Putin’s two-day trip. The new document replaces previous treaties and reportedly covers cooperation across politics, economics, culture, humanities and security.

• “The comprehensive partnership agreement signed today provides, among other things, for mutual assistance in the event of aggression against one of the parties to this agreement,” Tass quoted Putin as saying.

• “The Russian Federation does not rule out military-technical cooperation with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in accordance with the document,” Putin added.

• It comes after the official newspaper of North Korea’s ruling party reported on Tuesday that Putin had promised to help develop trade with the country and help to strengthen security across Eurasia. The article added that he supports the DPRK’s opposition to its “dangerous and aggressive” enemies.

• The White House has warned that any Russian aid to North Korea’s weapon programs could have repercussions for South Korea. 

• Potential ramifications

• Western countries — which heavily sanction both Russia and North Korea — have been closely monitoring developments of the visit and the potential ramifications for Russia’s war in Ukraine and tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

• NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a joint press briefing on Tuesday that Putin’s trip “confirms the very close alignment between Russia and authoritarian states like North Korea,” as well as China and Iran. Stoltenberg delivered the comments alongside U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

  U.S. officials have asserted that Pyongyang supplied Russia with dozens of ballistic missiles and over 11,000 containers of munitions for its war in Ukraine and that Putin could use his trip to lobby for more weaponry.

  “We are, of course, also concerned about the potential support that Russia provides to North Korea when it comes to supporting their missile and nuclear programs,” said Stoltenberg. 

• Speaking to CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Wednesday, Victor Cha, senior vice president of Asia and Korea chair for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, agreed that North Korean weapon supplies to Russia could be reciprocated through Kremlin support for its nuclear program.

  “The question is how badly Putin feels he needs the ammunition from North Korea to survive and to win the war,” said Cha. “That may lower the bar for what he’s willing to give to North Korea, particularly if Kim drives a hard deal.”

  Early last year, Kim ordered the “exponential” expansion of his country’s nuclear arsenal and the development of more powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles, state media reported. 

  “The number one vendor for that [expansion] will most likely be Russia,” said Cha. “For the United States, this is a real problem ... The Ukraine war is about the best thing that could have happened for Kim Jong Un.”

• The White House has warned that any Russian aid to North Korea’s weapon programs could have repercussions for South Korea. 

  On Tuesday, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told a news briefing that growing Russia-North Korea ties “should be of great concern to anyone interested in maintaining peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula.”

  Cha said, however, the United States may be limited in its ability to slow the flow of weapons between Russia and North Korea, without the risk of direct war.

  ″[The Biden administration] is giving it more public attention, but on the policy side, I don’t really see any signs of what they’re trying to do with regard to this,” he said.⍐

• Source: CNBC WED, JUN 19 2024

அபிவிருத்தியும் அரசியல் தீர்வும்: அப்பட்டமான அடிமைத்தனம்!

 

கொழும்பில் மக்கள் போராட்ட முன்னணி உதயம்.

Video

Galle Face activists form ‘Jana Aragalaya Sandhanaya’ for political reform in SL

A new political movement, the ‘Jana Aragalaya Sandhanaya,’ was established yesterday by activists from the 2022 Aragalaya (People’s Struggle) movement.

The movement formed according to the group in preparation for the next Parliamentary elections. It consists of student activists, civil activists, journalists and various political groups. 

In a release, the movement said the formation of this party marks a significant step in the pursuit of political power to fulfil the aspirations of the 2022 People’s Struggle, a topic widely discussed among the public and within the political community.

“In line with this objective, a Left political alliance has emerged, advocating for progressive political power, and opposing the alignment with the IMF program, which is not a solution to Sri Lanka’s economic crisis. This Left political alliance is presenting the people with a valuable historic election manifesto, as an alternative to the false belief that the only solution for Sri Lanka’s social, political, and economic crisis is through an election. It offers a political program with short-term and long-term plans which include creating an economic system that is fair for everyone,” it said. 

Former Inter University Students Federation (IUSF) Convenor Wasantha Mudalige addressed the media during the event, expressing disappointment over the lack of systemic change anticipated by the 2022 protesters. Mudalige criticised President Ranil Wickremesinghe, alleging that his policies have only exacerbated the existing crisis.

According to Mudalige, the current Government has failed to ensure stability which has led to the people facing numerous challenges in their lives. He said therefore the ‘Jana Aragala Sandhanaya’ will seek to establish a new political culture in Sri Lanka to ensure a better future for the country⍐. 

Daily FT Thursday, 20 June 2024