FTS 6:30 26-04: Julian Assange formalizes deal with U.S. that leads to his freedom
FTS 6.30
*Mark Rutte is confirmed as NATO Secretary General
*Escalating violence leaves several dead and wounded in Kenya
*Mark Rutte is confirmed as NATO Secretary General
*Escalating violence leaves several dead and wounded in Kenya
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00:00WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange pleaded guilty Wednesday to an espionage charge as part of
00:19a plea deal with the U.S. government that allowed him to regain his freedom.
00:29The outgoing prime minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, has been chosen as the next NATO
00:36secretary-general.
00:37Thousands of protesters stormed Kenya's parliament on Tuesday after a bill to increase
00:48taxes in the African country was passed.
00:55Hello, welcome to From the House, I am Irma Shelton from the Telesur studios in Havana, Cuba.
01:05We begin with the news, stay with us.
01:08WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange pleaded guilty Wednesday to an espionage charge as part of
01:15a plea deal with the U.S. government that allowed him to regain his freedom after a
01:22more-than-decade-long court battle.
01:26Assange pleaded guilty in front of a federal court in Saipan, capital of the Northern Mariana
01:33Island, a U.S. territory of the South Pacific, to the crime of conspiracy to obtain and disclose
01:41information relevant to U.S. national defense.
01:46In court, Assange received a sentence from the judge presiding over the hearing of 62
01:53months in prison but will not spend time in U.S. custody because he received credit for
02:00time spent incarcerated in the United Kingdom.
02:04According to experts who have committed a surprising development, it does not appear
02:11that the plea agreement will set new legal precedents that will harm journalists in
02:17the future.
02:25Julian Assange had been charged with 18 crimes of espionage and computer instruction in the
02:33United States after the uncensorable WikiLeaks website exposed U.S. war crimes.
02:40From July to November 2010, Assange published on WikiLeaks confidential documents on Afghanistan's
02:48and Iraq's operations.
02:50He revealed 70,000 top-secret files on the international coalition in Afghanistan, 400,000
02:59reports and 250,000 diplomatic cables on the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
03:07All these documents revealed multiple war crimes committed by the United States and
03:13its allies in their invasion against Middle Eastern countries.
03:19Consequently, he was arrested on April 11, 2019, after being in asylum for several years
03:28in the diplomatic headquarters of Ecuador in London until he was expelled from the embassy
03:36by the government of Lenin Moreno, being apprehended by the British security forces.
03:42Later, on May 23, 2019, the U.S. justice system, which had already charged him with computer
03:51hacking, indicted him on 17 other charges under the anti-espionage law.
04:06In this context, Julian Assange's brothers, Gabrielle and Shipton, celebrated his release
04:12and affirmed that the journalist's health has deteriorated during his imprisonment.
04:18His health has been deteriorating, he has a few different conditions health-wise, but
04:26I think now is a chance for him to rest and recuperate and we've been told by the doctors
04:33who assessed him that he can recover from this.
04:35So I think that's the time for him now is to rest and to recover.
04:42But we're just so, as Julian's family, we're overjoyed, we're overwhelmed that he is finally
04:50free.
04:51This has been an incredibly long campaign with many millions of people around the world
04:59advocating for Julian.
05:02Gabrielle Shipton also affirmed that the international pressure was key to achieve the freedom of
05:09Julian Assange.
05:10It's taken years, it's taken years.
05:13It's taken constant lobbying around the world, constant protests.
05:18It's taken the media, the media has been integral in this, they've been covering this story
05:22more and more, which has put a lot more pressure on those who have been pursuing Julian.
05:28I've been working in Washington, working in Congress over there, advocating for Julian's
05:34release for the past three or four years.
05:37This has been a global effort to get Julian Assange free and credit to everybody out there.
05:45The Pope has advocated for Julian, President Lula of Brazil, the Australian Prime Minister,
05:53this has been a global effort to free Julian.
05:57Meanwhile, in Australia, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese welcomed the agreement reached between
06:03the US government and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
06:07I've been very clear as both the Labor leader in opposition but also as Prime Minister that
06:18regardless of the views that people have about Mr. Assange's activities, the case has dragged
06:24on for too long.
06:26There's nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration and we want him brought home
06:30to Australia.
06:32In other news, the outgoing Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, has been chosen
06:39as the next NATO Secretary General.
06:43He will take up his post from October 2024 when James Stoltenberg's terms expire.
06:51Mr. Stoltenberg, through his ex-account, warmly welcomed the election by NATO allies of Minister
06:58Mark Rutte as his successor.
07:01He described Rutte as a true transatlantic strong leader and a consensus builder.
07:08He wishes Rutte every success as they continue to strengthen NATO and was confident about
07:16leaving NATO in good hands.
07:18On repeated occasions, Rutte has shown his unquestioning support for the Kiev regime
07:25and expressed his fierce criticism of Moscow and, in particular, Russian President Vladimir
07:32Putin.
07:37Now let's take a short break, but remember you can join us on TikTok at TELUS or English
07:44where you will find news in different formats, news updates, and more other stories coming
07:50up.
07:51Stay with us.
08:09Welcome back to From the South.
08:12The Vice President of Venezuela, Velsi Rodriguez, revealed a destabilizing plan to demolish
08:18the Angostura Bridge over the Orinoco River.
08:22During a visit to the Marihuana Parish in the Bolivar State, the Venezuelan executive
08:28denounced destabilizing attempts by sectors of the extreme right, which have cut the cables
08:35to cause the bridge to collapse.
08:38Likewise, he affirmed that they have caused disgrace and suffering to the Venezuelan people
08:45while reaffirming that peace must be maintained in the country after the presidential elections
08:51on July 28.
08:59The United States leaves Cuba on human trafficking country list.
09:05The U.S. government maintains Cuba at level three, the worst category.
09:10In the State Department's annual report on human trafficking released on Monday, presented
09:16by Anthony Blinken, Secretary of State, along with Indy Dyer, Special Ambassador to Monitor
09:24and Combat Trafficking in Persons, the base and one-sided report points to the Cuban government's
09:33failure to fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.
09:39To justify the qualification, the report, referring to the year 2023, used contradictory
09:46and not at all credible arguments, which continues to misrepresent and defame the work of Cuban
09:56medical collaboration for decades in more than a hundred countries.
10:07In Cuba, the Ministry of Public Health confirmed the presence of Oropuche virus in nine provinces
10:15and 23 municipalities of the Caribbean country based on samples studied at the island's
10:23national laboratory.
10:24The National Director of Epidemiology of the Ministry of Public Health, Francisco Duran,
10:31explained that through the monitoring of surveillance of non-specific febrile syndromes, these cases
10:38were identified and all have evolved favorably with improvement of the symptoms between the
10:46third and fourth stage of the onset of the disease.
10:50Likewise, Dr. Duran indicated that the clinical picture manifested as a consequence of the
10:57disease is mild, preceded by incubation period of five to seven days, characterized by fever,
11:05headaches, muscle and joint pain, sometimes vomiting and diarrhea associated with the
11:13virus are also reported.
11:21In Peru, Human Rights Organization asked the Office of the Prosecutors of the International
11:27Criminal Court on Monday to open an investigation into the crimes against humanity of murder
11:34of 10 murder committed by the government of Dina Boiluarte between December 7th of 2022
11:42and February 9th of 2023.
11:45The International Federation for the Human Rights and one of its members' organizations
11:51in Peru, the Pro-Human Rights Association, presented a document in which they substantiated
12:01the murder of 49 people and 937 people injured during the protests of 2022 and 2023.
12:12The documents also specify the justiciability exercise carried out to the present day through
12:20the Prosecutor's Office to clarify the basis of the crime.
12:32In Argentina, Javier Millet's government-based bill was approved on Tuesday at the meeting
12:38of the Chamber of Deputies' Commissions and will be dealt with on Thursday in the
12:44Chamber of Deputies.
12:46The ruling Bloc of Freedom moved forward, reached an agreement with the so-called dialogist
12:52opposition and obtained 66 signatures for the initiative to advance one step further
13:00in Congress with the changes proposed in the Senate.
13:04Meanwhile, the Blocs of Union for the Homeland, the Left and Workers' Front, and the socialist
13:11deputy Monique Fein rejected the opinion.
13:15The initiative, which gave more tools to the executives to deepen the adjustment and liberalize
13:22the economy, was approved in general on June 13 in the Senate with a series of modifications.
13:35We continue in Argentina, where the unemployment rate for the first quarter of 2024 rose to 7.7%.
13:46The National Institute of Statistics and Census of Argentina indicates that this figure represents
13:53an increase of 2% compared to the last quarter of last year, and that is 0.8% higher than
14:04the rate record in the first quarter of 2023.
14:09According to this organization's report, the activity rate, which measures the economically
14:15active population over the total population, reached 48%, and the employment rate, which
14:22measures the proportion of the employed people in relation to the total population, was 44.3%.
14:31Likewise, it added that the under-occupation rate was 10.2% of the economically active population.
14:42While the other employed persons in demand and other available persons not in demand
14:49reached together 11.7%.
14:53Palestinian sources confirmed on Tuesday that Adam Liess,
15:21Palestinian sources confirmed on Tuesday that at least 10 members of the family of
15:40Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, including his sister Sar Haniyeh, were killed in an
15:47early morning Israeli raid on the family compound in Shati Refugee Camp in northern Gaza City.
15:54Forty Gazans minimum were killed in several Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip,
16:00mostly targeting schools for displaced people.
16:04Palestinian authorities report that the Zionist entity carried out a series of airstrikes in
16:12several areas of the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, leaving some dead and injured.
16:19At least 16 people, mostly children and women, were killed and dozens injured in the shelling
16:27of two UN Refugee Agency shelters near East in al-Shati and al-Daraj neighborhoods in Gaza City.
16:42The Gaza Ministry of Health reports that almost 38,000 Palestinians were killed as a result of
16:51attacks by the Israeli regime's army on the occupied territories since last October,
16:57the majority of them women and children.
17:00The Gaza Public Entity stressed in a statement that it has so far been able to confirm around
17:0786,000 wounded and has reported that at least 32 people were killed and 139 injured by three
17:17massacres committed by the Israeli occupation during the past 24 hours.
17:23The Gaza authorities have indicated that around 10,000 people are missing,
17:29so the death toll could be much higher than officially announced.
17:34The Director General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,
17:47warned on Tuesday of the danger of famine in the Gaza Strip due to the genocide by the Israeli occupation forces.
17:56Through his ex-account, he declared that one in five people in Gaza experienced an extreme lack of food
18:05and added that almost all people in the Strip face high levels of acute food insecurity.
18:13He also noted that the devastation caused by the hostilities remains unspeakable.
18:20Only an end to hostilities and immediate, unimpeded and sustained humanitarian access
18:28can reduce the risk of famine in the Gaza Strip.
18:36On Tuesday, Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader, emphasized the significance of a strong turnout
18:44in the country's upcoming presidential elections scheduled for Friday.
18:49Khamenei made the remarks in an address to thousands of Iranians from the different provinces gathered in Iran's capital, Tehran,
18:58three days ahead of the 14th presidential election and on the occasion of the religious holiday of Eid al-Adha,
19:07according to a statement published on the leader's website.
19:11Iran's leaders state that the next president should firmly believe in the principles and foundations of the Islamic Revolution and establishment,
19:22demonstrate efficiency and lifeliness in fulfilling responsibilities and possess the ability to harness the country's diverse and abundant resources to drive progress.
19:42And we have a final short break coming up.
19:46But before, we invite you to join our WhatsApp community for our English-speaking audience.
19:53You can scan the QR code on screen to join directly and share the link to reach more people.
20:01Constant news coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the rest of the world.
20:08Stay connected and informed with Telesur.
20:11It's final short break. Don't go away.
20:34Welcome back to From the South.
20:36The Kenyan government has requested the support of the International Monetary Fund in order to solve its liquidity problems and pay its public debt.
20:47The nation's public debt is reported to be more than 68% of its gross domestic product,
20:54a figure higher than the one recommended by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
21:00Both agencies urge the government of the African country to meet revenue targets to access more international financing.
21:10Kenya is key ally of the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
21:17and has expressed its support to Western countries regarding their opposition on Ukraine,
21:24assuring that the Russian special operation is illegal.
21:30Kenya at least 17 people were killed Tuesday in serious protests against a new bill that provides for tax hikes
21:47after a day of mobilizations on presidents in the history of the country that led to the storming of parliament.
21:55According to a source of the police report working in a group of Kenya,
22:0014 of the deaths were recorded in Nairobi where the police opened fire while trying to prevent unsuccessfully the demonstrators from assessing their parliament premise.
22:14The ANGOS also documented 86 injuries so far, as well as 55 of 52 arrests, most of them in the Kenyan capital.
22:26The platform also claimed to have record at least 21 abductions and disappearance of activities in the last 24 hours at the hands of the UNIFOR and non-UNIFOR officers,
22:39although two of those affected have already been released.
22:49Kenya's parliament passed a finance bill that introduced new taxes as part of the measures the government considers necessary to pay the country's debts to the international creditors.
23:03With this law, the government of Kenya intends to raise $2.7 billion in additional tax to reduce the bucket's deficit and state indebtedness, which amounts 68% of the gross domestic product.
23:20The new tax measures have an impact on the price of basic commodities such as bread, cooking oil and sugar, as well as most manufactured goods, including sanitary pads and diapers.
23:34The measures also contemplates a tax on the circulation of motor vehicles and an increase in existing tax on financial transactions.
23:51The Argentine national team achieved on Tuesday an agonizing and costly victory over Chile by 1-0 and sealed the pass to the quarterfinals of the Copa America 2024
24:19in the framework of the second matchday of Group A. Lautaro Martinez scored with only two minutes left in the match played at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey and gave the victory to the team.
24:35With this result, the national team reaches six points and is at the top of its zone.
24:42Argentina has already secured a place in the next stage as Canada is in second place with three points while Chile and Peru close the group with one point.
24:55And we have come to the end of this news brief. You can find this and many other stories on our website, TELUSURINGLISH.NET, and join us on social media, Facebook, X, Instagram, Telegram and TikTok.