Daily Briefing: Assange's plea agreement
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has agreed to plead guilty to violating the Espionage Act. Why sextortion threats are targeting young boys and the Florida Panthers captured their first Stanley Cup.
🙋🏼♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert, Daily Briefing author. Here are the facts on sunscreen.
Assange agrees to plead guilty to one felony
Julian Assange has fought extradition for years to avoid facing charges for releasing an enormous trove of classified information about U.S. military activity in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, under the terms of a plea deal with U.S. prosecutors, Assange will get no more detention time than the 62 months he has already served in the United Kingdom. Assange is set to be released to Australia, his country of citizenship, after a Tuesday court proceeding is over, according to federal records. Read more
Will Trump get another gag order?
A federal judge in Florida appeared skeptical Monday when the government said former President Donald Trump should be gagged after claiming President Joe Biden was "locked & loaded" to kill him during an FBI raid of Trump's Mar-a-Lago club. That was one of a handful of statements special counsel Jack Smith noted in requesting the gag order in the Florida federal criminal case that charges Trump with willfully retaining national defense information. Read more
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Abortion access two years after Dobbs
This week marks the two-year anniversary of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and handed the right to abortion to the states.
Since June 2022, the landscape for abortion access has significantly altered: Fourteen states have all-out banned abortion. Americans in banned or restrictive states are forced to travel long distances to seek care, while accepting states scramble to meet high demand. And the issues have returned to the Supreme Court — earlier this month, the justices decided to maintain FDA approval of the abortion pill mifepristone.
Abortion clinics reinvented themselves after Dobbs. They're still struggling.
Infant deaths are increasing, not decreasing: In the wake of Texas' near-total abortion ban, more babies died before their first birthday, likely due to health issues that wouldn't have allowed them to live, a new study found. These pregnancies would typically have been terminated by abortion. Researchers say similar results showed in states with laws akin to Texas' SB 8.
What is Trump saying about abortion? Trump said over the weekend that even if states want to restrict abortion, he supports exceptions in cases of rape, incest, and life-threatening medical emergencies.
War and elections: Iran in focus
Israel will not end the war in Gaza until all hostages held by Hamas-led militants are returned, Hamas is eliminated and "Iran's intentions to destroy us" have been thwarted, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israeli lawmakers Monday. The comments came a day after the prime minister drew criticism for appearing to reject a cease-fire plan designed to roll in permanent peace if both sides follow steps laid out in the proposal. Meanwhile, Iran is heating up for a presidential election this week which highlights division between supporters and opponents of the 45-year-old Islamic Republic. Read more
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More teens are threatened with sextortion
Financial "sextortion" schemes have surged in recent years with offenders appearing to primarily target teenage boys through Instagram and other social media platforms, threatening victims with compromising imagery in exchange for cash. Over the last several years, concerns over a "unique" form of sextortion targeting young boys have increased, according to a new report. Financial sextortion deviates from sexual or relational demands and instead involves demands specifically for money. Read more
Photo of the day: Florida wins first Stanley Cup title
The Florida Panthers are first-time Stanley Cup champions, defeating the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 on Monday, ending a three-game losing streak after they had won the first three games of the championship round. Read our full recap of Game 7.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Julian Assange, Trump trial, abortion, Israel, Iran, Panthers, Olympics, Taylor Swift: Daily Briefing
