Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has left the UK reportedly after reaching a deal with US authorities that will see him plead guilty to criminal charges. 

Assange, who was charged with conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information, would spend no time in US custody as per the conditions finalised in a tentative deal with the US Justice Department.

“Julian Assange is free. He left Belmarsh maximum security prison (London) on the morning of 24 June, after having spent 1901 days there. He was granted bail by the High Court in London and was released at Stansted airport during the afternoon, where he boarded a plane and departed the UK,” Wikileaks said in a post on social media platform X.

“After more than five years in a 2×3 metre cell, isolated 23 hours a day, he will soon reunite with his wife Stella Assange, and their children, who have only known their father from behind bars,” the post added.

“As he returns to Australia, we thank all who stood by us, fought for us, and remained utterly committed in the fight for his freedom,” it added.

Reacting to the development, his wife Stella Assange said, “Throughout the years of Julian’s imprisonment and persecution, an incredible movement has been formed. People from all walks of life from around the world who support not just Julian… but what Julian stands for: truth and justice.” AGENCIES

A “very interventionist” attitude still prevails in the United States although the world has entered a “new era,” Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said.

During a routine daily press conference on Monday, Lopez Obrador questioned remarks made on Sunday by former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who criticised a Mexican government initiative to overhaul the judiciary branch to combat corruption, reports Xinhua news agency.

“They cannot stop doing that (intervening in the affairs of another country), unfortunately, even though we are living in a new era,” he told reporters at the National Palace in Mexico City.

“We still have to suffer this interventionism, which I feel will gradually fade away to the extent that Mexico’s government is not a subservient government,” he added.

According to Lopez Obrador, in Washington, “they have the bad habit of sticking their noses in other places,” since their foreign policy stems from the era of the Monroe Doctrine, in which they would build up or tear down nations, send invading troops and even appoint leaders at will.

Pompeo’s statements, contained in an opinion piece published in the US newspaper The Wall Street Journal, were made with the coming US presidential elections in mind, said the Mexican president.

Lopez Obrador has often chided the US for continuing to follow an outdated doctrine devised in the 19th century to protect its economic interests in Latin America and the Caribbean. AGENCIES

Ukraine is expecting to sign a security agreement with the European Union (EU) in the near future, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said.”Ensuring a just and lasting peace for Ukraine will guarantee Europe’s long-term security and adherence to international law,” Kuleba was quoted as saying by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry’s press service on Monday.

Speaking about Ukraine’s military needs, the minister said that the country is requiring more air defence systems, including Patriot and SAMP/T, Xinhua news agency reported.

Besides, Ukraine needs constant supplies of air defence missiles, artillery systems and shells, long-range missiles, drones, and electronic warfare systems, Kuleba added.

In mid-June, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Kiev had signed 17 security agreements and was preparing to sign another ten. AGENCIES

A suspect was charged with two counts of 1st-degree murder in a mass shooting outside a school in Ottawa, the Toronto Police Service said.

The shooting occurred earlier this month in the parking lot of North Albion Collegiate Institute, the police said in a news release on Monday.

The motive of the suspect, a 14-year-old boy involved in the shooting, remains unclear, reports Xinhua news agency, citing the police release.

The boy was scheduled to appear at the Ontario Court of Justice on Monday, the release said.

Nine men gathered in the parking lot area after a soccer game, and two suspects got out and began shooting at the group before fleeing the area.

Delroy “George” Parkes, 61, was pronounced deceased on the day of the shooting, while 46-year-old Seymour Gibbs succumbed to his injuries three days later.

Another three men suffered gunshot wounds, the police said. AGENCIES

 President Yoon Suk Yeol boarded a visiting US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier on Tuesday ahead of joint drills between South Korea, the United States and Japan aimed at enhancing their responses against rising threats from North Korea.

Yoon visited the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), which made a port call at a naval port in the southeastern city of Busan. The carrier is set to participate in a trilateral naval drill, dubbed Freedom Edge, the first-ever trilateral multidomain exercise, which kicks off on Wednesday.

Yoon said the aircraft carrier’s visit is part of “extended deterrence” measures outlined in the Washington Declaration adopted at his summit with US President Joe Biden in April last year, reports Yonhap news agency.

Extended deterrence refers to Washington’s commitment to using the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear weapons, to defend its ally.

“It symbolises the firm US security commitment to South Korea, including strong extended deterrence,” Yoon was quoted as saying.

The aircraft carrier’s visit came amid rising concerns over evolving threats posed by North Korea after it signed a comprehensive strategic cooperation treaty with Russia, which includes a pledge for the two countries to come to each other’s aid if attacked.

Yoon stressed the importance of enhancing trilateral security cooperation with the US and Japan.

“The cooperation between South Korea, the US, and Japan, which share the values of liberal democracy, will become another powerful deterrent alongside the South Korea-US alliance,” he said.

This marks the third time an incumbent South Korean president has boarded a US aircraft carrier, following former President Park Chung-hee in 1974 and President Kim Young-sam in 1994, according to the presidential office.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt made a port call for the first time in South Korea. It also marked the first arrival of a US aircraft carrier here in seven months.

Earlier in the day, Yoon condemned the deepening military and economic cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow as “anachronistic” acts that go against the progress in history and blatantly violate UN Security Council resolutions.

On Monday, North Korea slammed the arrival of the USS Theodore Roosevelt in South Korea and warned of taking “overwhelming and fresh” deterrence measures against what it called a “provocative act.”

Pyongyang has long denounced joint military drills between Washington and Seoul and also the US dispatch of its strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula as a rehearsal for an invasion of the North. AGENCIES

South Korea and the US kicked off joint drills aimed at strengthening their combined logistics capabilities earlier this week, Seoul’s military said Tuesday.The five-day combined distribution exercise got underway on Monday in multiple locations across the country, including Pocheon, 52 km northeast of Seoul, joined by some 2,000 South Korean and US troops, Yonhap news agency reported, citing the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

The exercise is designed to train troops on procedures to distribute supplies, personnel and equipment to combat units within the peninsula. The latest drills mobilized some 500 pieces of equipment, including tanks, aircraft, warships and civilian cargo ships.

While previous combined distribution exercises took place on a limited scale in southern areas, this year’s drills will train troops in actual operational areas in an effort to maintain their combat capabilities, the JCS said. AGENCIES

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister on Tuesday expressed hope that South Korea would “calmly” accept Moscow’s new partnership treaty with North Korea, a news report said, amid condemnation over deepening military cooperation between the two countries.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said the treaty, signed by the North’s leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin after their talks in Pyongyang last week, is not directed at either South Korea or third countries, reports Yonhap news agency.

The treaty calls for, among other things, the provision of military and other assistance from one side to the other “with all means” at its disposal and “without delay” if either of the two gets invaded or put in a state of war.

Last week, South Korea said it could consider a possible supply of lethal weapons to Ukraine in response to Moscow’s commitment to military cooperation with North Korea.

South Korea also joined the United States and Japan in issuing a joint statement condemning, “in the strongest possible terms,” the expanding military cooperation between Russia and North Korea.

“We hope that Seoul will accept the new agreement with an understanding, and a sound approach will prevail there, including in relations with Russia,” Rudenko was quoted as saying by the Russian news agency Sputnik.

He stressed the deal is a “warning for those countries planning to solve regional problems using military means.”

South Korea has maintained a policy of not providing lethal aid to Ukraine. In response to Seoul’s possible policy shift, Putin earlier warned it would be a “very big mistake” if South Korea provided arms to Kyiv.

Touching on Kim’s potential visit to Russia, Rudenko said the trip could take place when “all the necessary conditions are right.”

During last week’s summit, Putin expressed his hope of holding the next summit with Kim in Moscow.

“I think as soon as all the necessary conditions for such a visit are right, and a certain base for those documents that must be signed at this level will be developed, this visit will take place,” Rudenko said.

Earlier in the day, North Korea’s state media carried Putin’s thank-you message to the North Korean leader, in which the Russian leader called Kim an “honoured guest” that Russia always waits for. AGENCIES

Russia’s western Siberia is experiencing an unprecedented heatwave, with temperatures in several regions shattering records over the past 50 years or so, local weather authorities said on Tuesday. A number of regions, specifically the Novosibirsk and Kemerovo Oblasts, along with the Altai Territory and the Republic of Altai, have experienced temperatures that surpassed records set in the 1970s and 1980s, said Natalia Kichanova, head of the weather forecasting service of the West Siberian Department for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring. Kichanova noted that the heatwave is expected to persist across western Siberia until the end of June, after which temperatures are predicted to decrease to a range of 17-25 degrees Celsius, accompanied by rainfall, reports Xinhua news agency.

The abnormally high temperatures are attributed to warm air masses moving into the macro-region from Central Asia, while “heat ridges” in the mid-troposphere contributed to the additional warming, she said. AGENCIES

 Russian President Vladimir Putin has thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for showing heartfelt hospitality during his visit to Pyongyang last week, saying bilateral ties have been boosted to an “unprecedentedly high level”, North Korea’s state media reported on Tuesday.

In a message to Kim, Putin said his trip to the North has opened ways for the two countries to achieve beneficial cooperation in various fields, Yonhap news agency reported, citing the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

“He said that his recent state visit to the DPRK was of special significance as it raised the relations between Moscow and Pyongyang to an unprecedentedly high level of comprehensive strategic partnership,” the KCNA said, using the acronym of North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Putin said the North’s leader is an “honoured guest” that Russia always waits for, wishing for Kim’s good health and success.

After summit talks on Wednesday, Putin and Kim signed a treaty of comprehensive strategic partnership that calls for providing military assistance without delay if either side comes under attack. It marked Putin’s first trip to North Korea in 24 years.

Putin also voiced hope to hold the next summit with Kim in Moscow, according to Russian media outlets.

Meanwhile, North Korea condemned Ukraine troops for “staging attacks on the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula this week with Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) missiles supplied by the United States”.

“Puppet groups in Ukraine have been clinging to reckless terrorist acts as the country has faced repeated defeats with military confrontations with Russia,” the KCNA said in a separate dispatch, calling the attack the outcome of Washington’s “madness against Russia”.

In a similar message to show solidarity with Moscow, Pak Jong-chon, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, slammed Washington’s military support for Ukraine on Monday. AGENCIES

At least nine motorists have been injured in a car crash due to a tyre blowout in Quezon province, southeast of Manila, police said.

Police said one of the passenger van’s rear tyres burst while travelling on a highway in Atimonan town before 5 p.m. local time on Monday, reports Xinhua news agency.

The driver lost control of the vehicle, causing it to crash into the gutter on the roadside, roll down a hill, and tilt on its side. One of the passengers was thrown off the vehicle and onto the pavement.

Rescuers rushed the injured passengers to a local hospital for treatment. AGENCIES