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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeared in U.S. court on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to obtaining and publishing U.S. military secrets in violation of the Espionage Act. The plea was part of a deal which secured his freedom. Assange left a UK prison earlier this week and flew to Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth in the western Pacific. After pleading guilty, Judge Ramona V Manglona sentenced him to time served. The court appearance took place in Saipan because of Assange's opposition to traveling to the U.S. mainland, as well as the island's proximity to his home country, Australia. After sentencing, Assange flew to Australia. This audio recording has not been edited and reflects the entirety of Julian Assange's court appearance.

Officials from NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) held a media briefing on Friday to discuss the upcoming severe solar storm, which is forecast to arrive on Friday night. NOAA has issued a Severe (G4) Geomagnetic Storm Watch, the first one since 2005, after a series of moderate to strong solar flares. A severe solar storm can disrupt communications, the electric power grid, navigation, radio and satellite operations.

Police and city officials held a press conference on Saturday to provide an update on the shooting attack in Fargo, North Dakota the previous day. A police officer was killed, two officers were critically injured and a civilian was seriously injured. Fargo Police Chief Dave Zibolski said the gunman, identified as 37-year-old Mohamad Barakat, opened fire "for no known reason at all" near the scene of a traffic collision. Barakat was not involved in the crash. The fallen officer was identified as 23-year-old Jake Wallin, who became a police officer less than 3 months ago. Two other officers - Andrew Dotas and Tyler Hawes - were critically injured and a 25-year-old female civilian was seriously injured. Another police officer, Zachary Robinson, shot and killed the suspect.