WikiLeaks founder Assange to stay in prison as bail denied
LONDON — A British judge on Wednesday denied bail to WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange, ordering him to remain in a high-security prison while U. K. courts decide whether he will besent to the United States to face espionage charges.
District Judge Vanessa Baraitser said Assange must remain in prison while the courts consider an appeal by U.S. authorities against her decision not to extradite him.
The judge said Assange “has an incentive to abscond” and there is a good chance he would fail to return to court if freed.
On Monday, Baraitser rejected an American request to send Assange to the U.S. to face spying charges over WikiLeaks’ publication of secret military documents a decade ago.
She denied extradition on health grounds, saying the 49-year-old Australian was likely to kill himself if held under harsh U.S. prison conditions.
Wednesday’s bail ruling means Ass ange must remain in London’ s high-security Belmarsh Prison, where he has been held since he was arrested in April 2019 for skipping bail during a separate legal battle seven years earlier.
Sudan-US pact: Sudan on Wednesday said it had signed an agreement with the United States that paves the way for the cash-strapped African nation to normalize relations with Israel and clear some of its massive debt to the World Bank.
Justice Minister Nasredeen Abdulbari signed the deal with visiting U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, according to the prime minister’s office.
“This is a very, very significant agreement. ... It would have a tremendous impact on the people of Israel and the people of Sudan as they continue to work together on cultural and economic opportunities and trade,” Mnuchin said in comments carried on the staterun SUNA news agency.
Hong Kong crackdown: Police arrested 53 former Hong Kong lawmakers and democracy proponents Wednesday for allegedly violating the new national security law by participating in unofficial election primaries for the territory’s legislature last year.
The mass arrests were the largest move against Hong Kong’s democracy movement since the law was imposed by Beijing last June to quell dissent in the semi-autonomous territory.
“The operation today targets the active elements who are suspected to be involved in the crime of overthrowing, or interfering( in )... the Hong Kong government’s legal execution of duties,” Hong Kong’s security minister, John Lee, said at a news conference.
Border deaths hit high: A project that maps the bodies of border-crossers recovered from Arizona’s inhospitable deserts, valleys and mountains said it documented 227 deaths in 2020, the highest in a decade after the hottest, driest summer in state history.
The previous annual high mapped by the Pi ma County medical examiner’ s office in Tucson and the nonprofit Humane Borders was 224 migrant deaths in 2010.
Enforcement efforts in California and Texas over the years have pushed migrants into dangerous terrain in Arizona without easy access to food and water.
Kim admits policy failures: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un admitted that his economic development plans have failed as he opened the nation’ s first full ruling party congress in five years, state media reported Wednesday.
In an opening speech at the congress that began Tuesday, Kim said that the developmental goals set at a 2016 congress “were not met in almost all areas to a great extent,” according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.
“We should further promote and expand the successes and victories that we’ve achieved through our painstaking efforts but prevent us from having the painful lessons again,” he was quoted as saying.