have been quite embarrassing. it the british royal family it could have been quite embarrassing. it was su osed have been quite embarrassing. it was suwosed to have been quite embarrassing. it was suwosed to be have been quite embarrassing. it was supposed to be quite have been quite embarrassing. it was supposed to be quite significant? yes, it was king charles s first state visit as monarch. he was due to address politicians in the national assembly. to address politicians in the nationalassembly. it to address politicians in the national assembly. it was important for him and important for france. his first trip abroad as king. france is one of the uk s oldest and closest allies. these trips are made at the request of the foreign office, so the royal family don t decide where they re going to go. it is the importance of the links with the uk and the rest of europe, particularly after brexit and the issues that have arisen. as well ahead of coronation, getting people
documents. that was part of a deal to end his iii year legal battle over the leaking of vast amounts of secret us military information on the internet. the 52 year old is now on his way home to australia following the hearing. and from where a southeast asia correspondent jonathan had sent this report. the last stage of a very long journey. julian assange walked into the courtroom on this remote pacific island to hear whether the agreement he d struck with us prosecutors would stick. after two hours of very careful consideration by the judge, it did. he pleaded guilty, and she agreed to a sentence equal to the time he d already served in britain. but his lawyers still insist his prosecution for breaking an espionage law was unjust. we firmly believed that mr assange never should have been charged under the espionage act, and engaged in exercise thatjournalists engage in every day. and we re thankful that they do. it is appropriate, though, for this fight to end and it is appr
glastonbury looks dry this year. here in kew gardens, lots of sunshine. i will have the weather for you later. it s wednesday the 26th june. with just over a week to go until polling day, the prime minister rishi sunak and labour s sir keir starmer are preparing to go head to head in their final leaders debate of the election later. it comes as members of both main parties continue to face difficult questions about betting allegations. our political correspondent iain watson reports. the second and final head to head clash between rishi sunak and the man who wants hisjob keir starmer takes place tonight on the bbc. and it s worth a bet that one of the topics might just involve gambling. the conservative campaign has been buffeted by allegations that two candidates, two party officials, and now a member of the welsh senedd had bet on a date of the general election, and were facing inquiries from the gambling watchdog. it s an independent process with the gambling commissio
the wikileaks cofounder has been fighting extradition to the us on espionage charges for over a decade. let s look at the key dates that have brought us here. in 2010, julian assange was part of a flood of classified military files and diplomatic cables spilled by wikileaks that year. months later, an international arrest warrant was issued. sweden wanted to question him about sexual assault allegations made by two women. to avoid extradition, he sought refuge in ecuador s london embassy. he d spend seven years there. but in 2019 in a dramatic moment he was dragged out of the embassy after the ecuadorian government withdrew his political asylum. he was thenjailed for skipping bail. and soon, the americans were asking for his extradition. backed by his supporters, he fought against it in the courts and lost. his extradition was approved in 2022. butjulian assange kept appealing until finally this new plea deal with the us allowed him to fly out of the uk. more on our websi
Heres to you norfolk. A white wine from the broads, beats global competition, to be crowned one of the worlds best. And the legend of king arthur gets the guy richie big screen treatment. Our own knight at the round table mark kermode will be giving it his verdict in the film review at 5 45pm. Its five oclock. Our main story Julian Assange the founder of wikileaks and urged on the belt that prosecutors in sweden have dropped their investigation into Rape Allegations against him. He said in a tweet i do not forgive or forget. He has always denied the charges. The development emerged this morning as the swedish prosecutor announced they would discontinue the investigation into an alleged sex offence committed in 2010. Julian assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy since august 2012. The met police say they would still be obliged arrest him on a lesser charge if he tried to leave. He has now gone back inside the embassy and has not said what he will do next. Victory is howJuli