Julian Assange set to arrive in Australia after leaving US court

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is flying to his native Australia after pleading guilty to one charge in a deal that resolves a long-running legal case over the publication of classified documents. Assange is set to touch down in the country’s capital Canberra on Wednesday morning, where he will eventually be reunited with his wife, two young sons and other members of the family. He appeared before a judge in the US territory of the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific just after midnight, pleading guilty to a single felony charge after the US dropped 17 other espionage charges against him. Assange admitted to his role in the conspiracy to violate the Espionage Act and was sentenced to time already served in a British prison. He wore a dark coloured suit and did not answer questions from reporters on the short walk into and out of the court. The court hearing followed his dramatic release from Belmarsh Prison in London on Monday where he has spent five years, largely in solitary confinement, fighting extradition. Assange left the UK on Monday evening and flew to Saipan via Bangkok after the plea deal was signed on June 19.