Paris Hilton is opening up about her experience with past abuse as she continues to advocate for legislation that better protects children from suffering institutional abuse.

On Wednesday, the actor, singer, DJ and model said that she will "be the voice for the children whose voices can't be heard" and will "not stop until America's youth is safe" as she urged congressional action to protect child welfare while testifying at a House committee hearing on Wednesday.

Appearing before the House Ways and Means Committee for a hearing focused on foster care and the reauthorization of Title IV-B of the Social Security Act – which provides resources to states to promote child welfare – Hilton said that "families need resources and support so they don't need to come into the child welfare system in the first place."

READ MORE: Qatar Airways aiming to buy 20 per cent stake in Virgin Australia

Hilton has been an outspoken advocate on child welfare issues and has previously said that she experienced physical and emotional abuse at a boarding school for troubled teens in her 2020 documentary "This is Paris" and her 2023 memoir "Paris: The Memoir."

She has said that she still suffers from PTSD from her time at the institution.

She testified about her experience on Wednesday, telling the committee that when she was 16 years old, "I was ripped from my bed in the middle of the night and transported across state lines to the first of four youth residential treatment facilities."

READ MORE: Victorian man steals $62,000 bottle of whisky

"I was force-fed medications and sexually abused by the staff. I was violently restrained and dragged down hallways, stripped naked, and thrown into solitary confinement. My parents were completely deceived – lied to and manipulated by this for-profit industry about the inhumane treatment I was experiencing," she said.

"So can you only imagine the experience for youth who are placed by the state and don't have people regularly checking in on them?"

"As a mom, these stories break my heart," Hilton, now a mother of two, also said at the hearing.

READ MORE: How much this eye-catching Aussie coin is really worth

Hilton has visited Washington DC to advocate for child safety in the past, including a 2022 visit where, according to a White House official, she met with White House policy staff and other survivors to discuss "issues pertinent to the protection of institutionalized youth in America."

"What I experienced at these places, I will never forget," Hilton told CNN's Brianna Keiler during a 2022 interview.

"It has affected me and will affect me for the rest of my life and that's why I am fighting for change so no child ever has to suffer in the name of treatment."

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

An Australian woman says she is devastated after she was told she won a car in a giveaway competition run by YouTube star MrBeast, but was then disqualified because of a Woolworths receipt "deemed as fraudulent".

Thousands of fans turned out to watch MrBeast, whose real name is James Donaldson, give away 10 cars – including a Lamborghini – to lucky competition winners at the Sydney Opera House forecourt yesterday afternoon.

Sydneysider Isabella Wilson told 9news.com.au she was notified on Sunday evening that she had won a car in the competition.

READ MORE: Aussie wins Lambo in YouTube star's huge Opera House giveaway

Australian fans were given a chance to enter the competition by buying a chocolate bar from MrBeast's Feastables chocolate bar range.

Each chocolate bar purchased qualified the buyer for one competition entry.

A big MrBeast fan, Wilson said she rushed to Woolworths to buy 10 of the chocolate bars as soon as she heard of his Australian competition.

After buying the bars, Wilson followed the competition directions, scanning a QR code which then took her to a website where she uploaded her Woolworths receipt.

"For every chocolate bar you bought, you got a spin on the wheel," Wilson said. 

"On the last spin, I got three Lamborghinis in a row and that means you have won."

Wilson said after spinning the wheel for the final time, a message popped up saying she had won a car in the competition and she would soon receive a call. 

Wilson said she was then taken to a video showing MrBeast. 

"Mr Beast was saying in the video, if you're seeing this, then you have won a car," Wilson said.

The video also told Wilson to go to the Opera House immediately.

Wilson said she was confused by the instruction, as it was around 11.30pm on a Sunday evening, but she did as was told.

"I got out of bed and went to the Opera House, because that is what he was telling me in the video to do," Wilson said.

When she arrived at the Opera House, security staff were also bemused, telling her the MrBeast giveaway event was on Wednesday.

Baffled as to whether she had actually won, Wilson went home.

Needing answers, Wilson said she emailed the Feastable's team on Monday to ask if she had indeed won a car.

On Monday evening, Wilson got the call she was waiting for.

"The man was calling from an American number and he said, 'Is this Isabella?'," Wilson said.

"I said, 'Yeah', and he said, 'I'm calling on behalf of Mr. Beast to congratulate you. You're a winner.'"

The man then asked Wilson if she was available to come to the Opera House on Wednesday, to which she said she was.

Wilson said she was elated with the news.

"I was phoning my mum, saying 'Oh my God. I've at least won a car that is worth $20 grand and possibly even $440 grand if it's the Lamborghini'," she said.

"It was a life-changing opportunity and I almost couldn't believe it. But I thought that that phone call confirmed it."

However, Wilson then woke up on Tuesday morning to find a devastating email in her inbox from the Feastables team.

They were saying unfortunately we deemed your receipt uploads as fraudulent and you have been disqualified.

Wilson said she had both physical and digital copies of her Woolworths receipt and she was bewildered and baffled about why it was considered to be fraudulent.

"I said, 'Can someone please explain this? I can literally come in and give you the receipt in person'," she said.

However, in an email exchange seen by 9news.com.au, a Feastables staff member continued to tell her her entry had been deemed invalid.

"In a review of your receipt upload, it was deemed as breaking our rules," one email message says.

The Feastables staff member then appeared to question whether the person who called  Wilson to let her know she had won had really been a member of the Feastables team, saying the call "shouldn't have come from an American number".

A spokesperson MrBeast's Feastables told 9news.com.au the promoter stood by its decision, which was within the competition's terms and conditions.

"The Promoter conducted this promotion in accordance with the Terms and Conditions and the promoter's decision is final," the spokesperson said.

"The team undertook verification of the entries and disqualified any entrants that were determined to be fraudulent, in accordance with the Promoter's rights under the Terms and Conditions."

Wilson said she was still genuinely confused about why she had been disqualified.

"It's absolutely not a fraudulent receipt," she said.

"That's what's upset me is they're trying to tell me that I've scammed them, when I just bought $25 of chocolate bars and uploaded them as instructed."

After posting about her experience on social media, Wilson claimed she had been contacted by other competition entrants who also had been told that they had won, only to be later denied. 

However, those "winners" had not received the phone call she had, Wilson said.

'We deserve an explanation" she said.

Contact reporter Emily McPherson at em********@******om.au

Armoured vehicles rammed the doors of Bolivia's government palace this morning in an apparent coup attempt against President Luis Arce, but he vowed to stand firm and named a new army commander who ordered troops to stand down.

The soldiers later pulled back as supporters of Arce waved Bolivian flags and cheered in a central square.

In a video of Arce surrounded by ministers in the palace, the Bolivian leader said: "Here we are, firm in Casa Grande, to confront any coup attempt. We need the Bolivian people to organise."

READ MORE: US journalist faces court on spying charges in Russia

Arce confronted the general commander of the army — Juan José Zúñiga, who appeared to be leading the rebellion — in the palace hallway, as shown on video on Bolivian television. "I am your captain, and I order you to withdraw your soldiers, and I will not allow this insubordination," Arce said.

Before entering the government building, Zúñiga told journalists in the plaza: "Surely soon there will be a new Cabinet of ministers; our country, our state cannot go on like this." But, he said, "for now" he recognizes Arce as commander in chief.

Zúñiga did not explicitly say he's leading a coup, but in the palace, with bangs echoing behind him, he said the army was trying to "restore democracy and free our political prisoners."

READ MORE: Kenyan president pulls controversial bill after violent protests

In a message on his X account, Arce called for "democracy to be respected." It came as Bolivian television showed two tanks and a number of men in military uniform in front of the government palace.

"We cannot allow, once again, coup attempts to take the lives of Bolivians," he said from inside the palace, surrounded by government officials, in a video message sent to news outlets.

An hour later, Arce announced new heads of the army, navy and air force amid the roar of supporters. Video showed troops setting up blockades outside the government palace.

"I order all that are mobilised to return to their units," said the newly named army chief José Wilson Sánchez. "No one wants the images we're seeing in the streets."

Soon after troops and armoured vehicles start pulling back from Bolivia's presidential palace.

The leadership of Bolivia's largest labor union condemned the action and declared an indefinite strike of social and labour organisations in La Paz in defense of the government.

READ MORE: Russia guilty of human rights violations, European court finds

The incident was met with a wave of outrage by other regional leaders, including the Organisation of American States; Gabriel Boric, the president of neighbouring Chile; the leader of Honduras, and former Bolivian leaders.

Bolivia, a country of 12 million people, has seen intensifying protests in recent months over the economy's steep decline from one of the continent's fastest-growing two decades ago to one of its most crisis-stricken.

The country also has seen a high-profile rift at the highest levels of the governing party.

Arce and his one-time ally, leftist icon and former President Evo Morales, have been battling for the future of Bolivia's splintering Movement for Socialism, known by its Spanish acronym MAS, ahead of elections in 2025.

FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, celebrity and sport via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.

Mark Thomas felt completely alone when he experienced a "complete mental breakdown" more than a decade ago.

After 21 years of policing, his resilience was simply worn away after he attended a heavily traumatic call-out on April 8, 2003.

"I remember that exact day," Thomas told 9news.com.au.

Looking back at that day, and the years following the incident, the 52-year-old said there were "so many red flags" regarding his mental state.

"Something was markedly different to any other deceased persons or trauma scene. I hadn't been to that type of (suicide) before," he said.

"When I looked at the deceased, I felt a physical reaction in my chest."

Thomas lives with PTSD, depression and anxiety, and now understands exactly what he was feeling.

But it wasn't always that way.

"I was in my early thirties and mental health literacy wasn't really big then," he said.

"I had no knowledge and was very naive, I didn't do anything about it.

"There was something about that scene where it was completely (different) compared to other scenes I've been to regarding trauma."

He continued to work as a uniform officer in the decade following the incident, before moving to a detective and back to sergeant.

But something deeper was bubbling away within the 52-year-old, and it all came to a head in February 2013.

"My symptoms just skyrocketed and that was due to my resilience being completely worn away," he said.

"So that culminated in me having what my first treating psychiatrist said, 'a catastrophic loss of self'.

"That looks like a mental breakdown… It was a massive anxiety attack.

"I was (having) flashbacks. I would be asleep on the couch and then I'd go to bed and put my head down and bang, transported back to the scene and no-one's sleeping with that bouncing around in the head."

Thomas admitted himself to hospital that month, after completely disassociating himself with his friends and family.

"When I had that catastrophic loss of self, my normal human brain shut down, but my policing brain kicked in. I spoke to my wife and I said ring welfare," he said.

"I know what it's like to grow up without a parent. So I couldn't let my two little ones grow up without a parent.

"I (was) trapped in this little weird space of not wanting to leave but (I couldn't) take my life."

He was soon diagnosed with PTSD, depression, and anxiety.

'I thought not one could understand. But that was rubbish'

There are more than 370,000 emergency services workers in Australia and it is estimated at least one in 10 will develop PTSD, according to the Black Dog Institute.

Emergency services workers are also twice as likely to experience a mental health condition than the general population, in large part due to the high risk of trauma exposure at work.

Despite PTSD being so prevalent among emergency services workers, Thomas said he felt "intensely alone" in the days, weeks, and months following his diagnosis.

"I was sitting in there thinking no one else could know what I'm going through here, which is complete rubbish," he said.

That's when he thought about creating a peer support group for local police officers on Facebook.

"I thought once I get back to work full time, I'm gonna start a little support group for coppers that if they're struggling or newly diagnosed," he said.

"So they don't feel alone."

'Glimmer of hope' for thousands

After completing his return-to-work program, the Code 9 Foundation was officially established in 2015.

The group started with 30 members and has since expanded to a membership of over 3200 professional first responders across Victoria.

"We can do anything," Thomas said.

"We're police professionals, fire paramedics and triple zero operators. 

"We do anything to ease the load and put a smile on their faces. If we can put a smile on someone's face while they're in the darkness, that's brilliant because I know what it's like to be in complete black, which is an entirely bizarre feeling.

"Then to have a glimmer of hope that's as powerful as anything can be."

The foundation supplies meal packages to members, they send families on respite breaks and also fund and provide trained and accredited assistance dogs.

Just last week, two new sponsored assistance dogs joined Code 9, thanks to the team at Integra Service Dogs Australia.

Today marks National PTSD Awareness Day, and by sharing his story, Thomas hopes many other police officers and emergency service workers can see a life beyond the diagnosis. 

"I'm a copper for eight hours a day. I'm a husband, father, and a cricket coach. I also run a charity," he said.

"PTSD, depression and anxiety don't define who I am. That's just something that sits in my back pocket and I've got to manage it."

Readers seeking support can contact beyond blue on 1300 22 4636 or Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Lara Warwick had been working as a high school teacher for 18 years when she made the decision to quit her job last year so she could homeschool her own two children full time.

The Perth teacher's decision came at a point when she was well and truly burnt out from her job.

"When I made the decision to leave, I was exhausted," she told 9news.com.au.

"I found the education system was becoming inflexible, the work-load increased exponentially and there was also a lot of politics happening behind the scenes. 

"I left jaded and suffering from PTSD."

In her time working in the profession, Warwick said she had seen the school system change to one where teachers were pulled in all directions trying to cater for so many students with different needs.

When Warwick's "quirky and creative" daughter – who is now nine – was born, she also began to wonder how well that "inflexible" education system would suit her.

Warwick's daughter also had some special needs, with a speech impediment. On a limited budget, Warwick and her husband couldn't find a local school which they felt was right for her.

They decided to see if homeschooling would be a good fit.

Warwick's daughter began her education by attending a small homeschool co-op with eight students part-time, with Warwick also doing some of her homeschooling on days off and weekends.

Encouraged by how well her daughter was thriving, Warwick resigned from her permanent teaching position at the beginning of 2023 to homeschool her daughter, and now also her four-year-old son, full time.

Warwick, who still does some relief teaching and casual work at a local university to help boost the family's income, said she had no regrets.

"It has given me the space to de-school, and to recover from the stress of teaching," she said.

Educating her children at home had also allowed her to re-discover her passion for teaching in a creative way, Warwick said.

"We love the flexibility and the fun, my kids are often finishing their work after a couple of hours and spending the afternoon climbing their trees, writing elaborate stories, playing shop or building amazing lego creations," she said.

"I love that I can engage my kids, within their interests, and allow deep learning to occur in ways I couldn't in the classroom. 

Warwick said home learning did not suit all kids, with some needing the structure of school to learn, but it was proving to be a success with her family.

The high-school teacher said she also knew of many other educators who had followed a similar path to pull back from their jobs to homeschool their children.

It was, in many ways, the ultimate judgement of a school system that was currently failing some students, Warwick said. 

"The fact that there are many teachers not just walking away from the school system as a whole, but who are then choosing to homeschool their own kids, gives us a very clear indication of what the system is like at the moment."

Teachers riding the homeschooling wave 

Rebecca English is a senior lecturer at Queensland University of Technology who has been researching the topic of homeschooling for the past 13 years.

English is currently writing a book about teachers choosing to homeschool their own children, a trend she has noticed growing for some time.

Queensland Department of Education data shows the proportion of teachers among homeschooling parents is high.

In a 2023 survey of around 550 homeschooling parents, 20 percent were qualified teachers or educators.

English said the increasing numbers of teachers quitting their jobs to homeschool their own kids was part of a surge in rates of children being homeschooled more generally in Australia.

There are now roughly 40,000 Australian children who are home schooled – double the rate of before the pandemic in 2019.

Queensland has seen the sharpest increase in home-schooling rates, with numbers ballooning by 19 percent in a single year in 2023, to more than 10,000 students.

New South Wales also has a record number of home-schooled students, with 12,400 enrolled at the end of 2022.

English said the make-up of the homeschooling community had shifted dramatically during the last decade, and particularly post-pandemic.

"In the beginning, it was the stereotypical homeschoolers; the Christians and libertarians, people who maybe because of their beliefs don't want the government in their family life, with a few school refusers as well," English said.

"Now, it's increasingly the school-refuser families, those children, many of whom have extra needs which aren't being met, and a lot more teachers who've been in schools and decided that is not for my kid."

Around 80 percent of the growth in homeschooling in Australia could be seen as coming from parents who were "accidental" homeschoolers, English said.

"They're people who never really set out to homeschool. But, for whatever reason, an experience in that child's or that parent's life led them to this choice," English said. 

While teacher burnout could be seen as one driving factor behind those leaving the profession to homeschool their own children, so too could other reasons, such as their kids' needs not being met in the current system, she said.

"It's all interconnected, and I think people are just really unhappy with how schools are currently run, because if the schools worked, people would use them. 

"Teachers are showing they are prepared to sacrifice – and what a sacrifice – they are sacrificing career advancement, they're sacrificing superannuation and all sorts of things, stability in their financial situation, to look after their kid and that is better than sending the child to school and going back to school yourself."

'I didn't want that for my kids'

Northern Rivers mum-of-three Catherine Chamberlain was a primary school teacher for 15 years, working in the public, private and religious sectors, before she quit teaching seven years ago.

Like Warwick, Chamberlain felt stressed and dissatisfied with the growing bureaucratic demands of teaching.

"In the 15 years I was teaching, the paperwork probably quadrupled," she said.

"I'm a teacher that loves my students, and I love teaching but to actually achieve what I wanted in the classroom, which is to have good lessons and a connection with the children, I couldn't attain that because my energy and my time had to go towards all the assessments and paperwork and politics."

Chamberlain now homeschools her eldest two children, who are aged seven and six.

The former teacher said choosing to homeschool her children over going back to school herself was an easy decision.

"It was a choice between teaching 26 children in the system or to teach my own three children," she said.

"Teachers see the everyday nitty gritty (of the school system) and over the years I just saw a decline in the positive fruit from it and I didn't want that for my kids," Chamberlain said.

Chamberlain said she and her children regularly met with a group of other homeschooled families. The group allows the students to socialise and parents to support each other.

The former teacher said she could not see herself going back to work as a teacher within the school system, but would more likely explore mentoring opportunities within the home-schooling sector in the future.

Former Montessori teacher Rachel Gibson now homeschools her 13-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son after quitting teaching in 2018.

Gibson runs the popular Sunshine Coast Homeschool Community Facebook page, which has more than 7,000 members.

The mother-of-four, who also has two adult children, said she knew of many other teachers who had made the move into homeschooling.

For Gibson, deciding to homeschool her children, rather than paying private school fees, made financial sense.

"We were in an alternative system and I couldn't imagine putting them into a mainstream system, but just the cost of sending my children to school was pretty much my entire wage," she said.

"I was working with other homeschool children at the time. So I thought, 'We'll give this a go.'" 

While Gibson's children did go back to school for a time before COVID, the pandemic brought with it new anxiety issues which made homeschooling a better once more.

Gibson said putting her traditional teaching career on hold had opened up a new career path in helping the growing number of parents homeschooling their children.

"I write curriculum now for homeschool. I have an online platform where parents can go in and get their weekly lessons and materials," she said.

Homeschooling is legal in all Australian states and territories. Families are required to register their children for homeschooling, with reporting rules differing according to each state or territory government.

Contact reporter Emily McPherson at em********@******om.au

A burst of fierce winds, snow and rain is forecast for southern Australia over the coming days, driven by a looming Antarctic airmass.

The cold and windy weather this week brought a couple of centimetres of snowfall at ski resorts in New South Wales and Victoria yesterday, but is just a taste of what's to come, forecasters say.

The expected blast of chilly and damp conditions is being driven by a deep low-pressure system tracking towards south-east Australia.

READ MORE: Julian Assange freed: WikiLeaks founder needs time to recover after long-awaited return home

It is forecast to link up with a north-west cloud band and tropical moisture bringing thick cloud and rain from tomorrow.

The cloud band and associated rain will reach Queensland on Sunday, while the low-pressure system will also move an Antarctic airmass over southern Australia from tomorrow and into next week.

This frigid airmass will cause temperatures to drop further on the weekend in Adelaide, with the mercury struggling to reach 14 degrees for about five days, while temperatures in Melbourne will be about 12 degrees.

The colder air will also reach Sydney and Brisbane next week, with the potential for the NSW capital's maximum temperature to drop to 16 degrees for a day or two.

Chilly nights are also forecast across southeast regions early to mid next week, as the skies clear, causing overnight temperatures to plummet.

READ MORE: Kenyan President withdraws controversial finance bill following protests

There is also the potential for decent snow to fall in the alpine regions from the weekend.

The chilly conditions will be accompanied by strong southerly winds, making the temperature feel much colder than the actual one

Strong winds will begin to impact South Australia tomorrow, with before the gusts reach Victoria, Tasmania, parts of the ACT and NSW on Saturday.

Dairy farmers in Denmark face having to pay an annual tax of 672 krone ($145) per cow for the planet-heating emissions they generate.

The country's coalition government agreed this week to introduce the world's first carbon emissions tax on agriculture. It will mean new levies on livestock starting in 2030.

Denmark is a major dairy and pork exporter, and agriculture is the country's biggest source of emissions. The coalition agreement – which also entails investing 40 billion krone ($8.6 billion) in measures such as reforestation and establishing wetlands – is aimed at helping the country meet its climate goals.

READ MORE: 'You saved my life': Assange needs time to recover after long-awaited return home

"With today's agreement, we are investing billions in the biggest transformation of the Danish landscape in recent times," Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said in a statement on Tuesday.

"At the same time, we will be the first country in the world with a (carbon) tax on agriculture."

The Danish dairy industry broadly welcomed the agreement and its goals, but it has angered some farmers.

The move comes just months after farmers held protests across Europe, blocking roads with tractors and pelting the European Parliament with eggs over a long list of complaints, including gripes about environmental regulation and excessive red tape.

The global food system is a huge contributor to the climate crisis, producing around a third of greenhouse gas emissions.

Livestock farming has a particularly big impact, accounting for about 12 per cent of global emissions in 2015, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation. A share of this pollution comes from methane, a potent planet-warming gas produced by cows and some other animals through their burps and manure.

READ MORE: Victorian nurses, midwives score 'once in a generation' 28 per cent pay rise

Reducing livestock emissions

The tax, expected to be approved by Denmark's parliament later this year, will amount to 300 krone per tonne of CO2-equivalent emissions from livestock from 2030, rising to 750 krone in 2035.

A 60 per cent tax break will apply, meaning that farmers will effectively be charged 120 krone per tonne of livestock emissions per year from 2030, rising to 300 krone in 2035.

On average, Danish dairy cows, which account for much of the cattle population, emit 5.6 tonnes of CO2-equivalent per year, according to Concito, a green think tank in Denmark. Using the lower tax rate of 120 krone results in a charge of 672 krone per cow.

With the tax break in place, that levy will rise to 1680 krone per cow in 2035.

In the first two years, the proceeds from the tax will be used to support the agricultural industry's green transition and then reassessed.

"The whole purpose of the tax is to get the sector to look for solutions to reduce emissions," Concito's chief economist Torsten Hasforth told CNN.

READ MORE: 'Bicycle Bandit' Kym Parsons dies by voluntary euthanasia 

For example, farmers could change the feed they use.

But Danish farmers' group Bæredygtigt Landbrug said the measures amounted to a "scary experiment".

"We believe that the agreement is pure bureaucracy," chairman Peter Kiær said in a statement.

"We recognise that there is a climate problem … But we do not believe that this agreement will solve the problems, because it will put a spoke in the wheel of agriculture's green investments."

Peder Tuborgh, the CEO of Arla Foods, Europe's largest dairy group, said the agreement was "positive" but that farmers who "genuinely do everything they can to reduce emissions" should not be subjected to a tax.

"It is essential that the tax base for a (carbon) tax is solely based on emissions for which there are means to eliminate (them)," he added in statement.

Kristian Hundeboll, the CEO of DLG Group, one of Europe's biggest agricultural businesses and a cooperative owned by 25,000 Danish farmers, said it was "crucial for competitiveness" for the tax to be "anchored" in European Union legislation.

"Neither the climate, agriculture nor the ancillary industries benefit from Denmark acting unilaterally," he said.

It was a peculiar setting to the final act in a legal drama that has now spanned the globe: a rural Western Pacific island, where visitors are usually tourists – attracted by laid-back resorts, snorkelling, diving and golf – and the furthermost reach of the US.

When Julian Assange stepped from a car today to enter the Saipan courthouse, from which he would emerge hours later a free man, it was against a backdrop that could have adorned a travel brochure. Palm trees waved gently and verdant hills stood against a bright blue sky.

If the location felt bizarre to Assange, his sudden arrival – along with dozens of reporters from news outlets across the world – was equally startling to the 43,000 residents of the largest island and capital of the Northern Marianas, a territory of the United States.

READ MORE: 'You saved my life': Assange needs time to recover after long-awaited return home

Fuelled by tourism, Saipan's economy is struggling to rebound after the coronavirus pandemic and a devastating typhoon in 2018, with a declining number of direct flights to the island vexing the local travel industry.

Near the courthouse where Assange's spectacle unfolded, Hitomi Matagolai, a wedding planner, had come to windsurf off the beach because her business was slow.

"The hearing was not like, talk of the town here and people are not all that interested," she said.

"People here have more important things to worry about, like their work, and that's what we talk about."

The so-called "Caribbean of the Western Pacific" has traditionally been a vacation spot for Japanese, Korean and Chinese tourists escaping wintry weather at home, said Mark Rabago, editor of the Saipan Tribune, a weekday newspaper.

"We haven't had this kind of publicity since the Miura case 15 years ago," Rabago said, referring to the case of businessperson Kazuyoshi Miura, who in 2008 was arrested in Saipan in connection with the death of his wife.

AS IT HAPPENED: Julian Assange's wife and lawyers address the media after he arrives home

More than 15 years on, Assange's case was much different: with the expected outcome known in advance, the world's media converged on Saipan for theatre, rather than surprises. But their arrival came unexpectedly for the low-key, rural island.

Accommodation providers, restaurants, law enforcement and tourism officials had "literally less than 24 hours" to prepare for the influx, said Christopher Concepcion, managing director of the Marianas Visitors Authority.

Police officers were deployed to the airport and the courthouse as the WikiLeaks founder arrived there and hotels reported a surge in bookings as reporters scrambled to find places to stay.

"We're used to seeing a bunch of tourists from east Asia, but seeing international media descend on the island all at once, if you will, has been an interesting phenomenon," Concepcion said.

READ MORE: From Wikileaks to plea deal: Julian Assange's legal saga timeline

The tourism agency recorded a surge in the number of people visiting its website and social media platforms, and the tourism head said he hoped the balmy island setting for Assange's last legal hurdle would prompt interest from international visitors – particularly as the case emphasised the island's relative proximity to Australia.

"In show business, there's no such thing as bad publicity, right?" Concepcion added.

Central to Wednesday's events was a building not frequented by most tourists: the United States District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands, one of Saipan's newest and grandest buildings.

Opened in 2020, the 3300-square-metre courthouse looms over the downtown landscape. In front, tall, white pillars mark an elegant and imposing forecourt, while windows at the rear of the building show a commanding view of glittering azure sea.

READ MORE: Why after a 12-year-long chase, the US is letting Assange walk

Before the notorious murder extradition case in 2008, the last time Saipan made world news was when the Japanese emperor and empress visited sites of military significance in 2005, said Rabago of the Saipan Tribune.

Steeped in WWII history, the island was the site of one of war's bloodiest battles in the Pacific, in which more than 50,000 Japanese and American soldiers and local civilians died.

Banzai Cliff became known as Suicide Cliff after the mass suicides of soldiers and civilians jumping off the cliff at the end of the Battle of Saipan in the summer of 1944, when Japan was headed toward World War II defeat.

Emperor Akihito, who abdicated in 2019, prayed at the Banzai Cliff in 2005 when he made a rare foreign visit to pay tribute to the war dead.

On Wednesday afternoon, the cliff – a popular tourist site – was host to a group of four South Korean visitors who were outnumbered by workers mowing the grass.

One man preparing to depart in his pickup truck said the case was probably the biggest event to happen on Saipan in decades – although he had mixed views on Assange himself.

It might have been the most unusual Wednesday in memory for some, but as Assange's plane took off hours after the hearing – reporters not far behind him – the familiar pace of things returned.

"It's back to normal beach resort life for us on Thursday," Concepcion said.

Still, he hoped the island had not seen its last of the Australian.

"When he has the time, we totally invite him to come back and enjoy a vacation here with his family," Concepcion said hopefully.

His promise to Assange? "People tend to mind their own business and there's no paparazzi."

At least not usually.

After years behind bars, Australian Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the US Justice Department that has seen him walk free from prison in the UK.

Assange pleaded guilty to one charge under the Espionage Act in a court in Saipan, a US commonwealth in the Pacific, ending a long legal saga that has been running for more than a decade.

Here are the key events that have led to him walking out of court a free man.

READ MORE: Julian Assange free from prison, set to plead guilty as part of US deal

2006  
Wikileaks is founded by Assange.

2007
Wikileaks posts the procedures manual for Camp Delta, the US detention centre in Guantánamo Bay.

April 5, 2010
Wikileaks posts a video showing a US military helicopter firing on and killing two journalists and several Iraqi civilians in 2007. The military claims that the helicopter crew believed the targets were armed insurgents, not civilians.

July 25, 2010
Wikileaks posts more than 90,000 classified documents related to the Afghanistan war.

August 20, 2010

Swedish prosecutors issue an arrest warrant for Assange based on allegations of sexual assault. The arrest warrant is rescinded the next day.

August 31, 2010
Assange is questioned by Stockholm police and told of the charges against him.

READ MORE: Julian Assange walks free: What happens next

October 22, 2010
Wikileaks publishes classified military documents related to the Iraq war.

November 20, 2010 
The Stockholm Criminal Court issues an international arrest warrant for Assange.

November 28, 2010 
Wikileaks begins publishing diplomatic cables from US embassies.

December 7, 2010 
Assange turns himself in to London authorities. He is remanded in custody. On December 16, he is released on bail and put on house arrest.

February 24, 2011
A judge rules in support of Assange's extradition to Sweden.

READ MORE: Police probe drug overdose link after four people found dead inside Melbourne home

April 24, 2011 
Wikileaks begins releasing classified military documents providing details on the behaviour and treatment of detainees being held at the US Navy's detention facility at Guantánamo Bay.

September 2, 2011 
Wikileaks releases its archive of more than a quarter million US diplomatic cables.

November 15, 2011 
The UK Judicial Office announces Assange has applied to take his appeal against extradition to Sweden to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

On May 30, 2012, the British Supreme Court denies his appeal, but grants him two weeks to file another appeal. This is unusual because rulings are supposed to be final.

June 19, 2012 
Assange enters the Ecuadorian embassy in London, requesting political asylum. On August 16, Ecuador announces it has granted his asylum.

August 19, 2012 
Assange addresses the public from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, demanding that the United States drop its "witch-hunt" against Wikileaks.

READ MORE: 'Totally unmanaged': Call for action over e-bikes on Sydney pavements

September 26, 2012 
Delivers a speech via satellite to a full conference room at the United Nations, asking the US government to end its actions against him and his website. The event is held by the Mission of Ecuador on UN grounds but is not officially sponsored by the world body.

November 2012 
Assange's book, Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet, is published.

February 10, 2015 
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe tells LBC Radio the operation guarding Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London is "sucking our resources in" as costs spiral to more than 10 million pounds (approximately $20.36 million).

May 11, 2015 
The Swedish Supreme Court denies Assange's appeal to dismiss an arrest warrant for allegations of sexual assault.

READ MORE: US inmate facing execution despite key witness recanting testimony

July 3, 2015 
France rejects Assange's request for "protection" after he publishes an open letter in national newspaper Le Monde.

August 13, 2015 
Swedish prosecutors announce they are dropping allegations involving sexual molestation and coercion as statutes of limitations in the investigation run out this month. However, the allegation of suspicion of rape still stands, and he may be investigated until 2020, Swedish prosecutors have said.

February 5, 2016 
A UN rights working group says its investigation found that Assange is being arbitrarily detained by the governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom.

May 25, 2016 
A Swedish court upholds the arrest warrant for Assange, with a Swedish prosecutor saying there's still probable cause to prosecute him on a rape allegation and that "the risk of him evading justice is still large."

July 22, 2016 
Wikileaks publishes nearly 20,000 emails from Democratic National Committee staffers. The hacked emails appear to show the committee favouring presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders during the US presidential primary.

On July 29, Assange tells CNN's Anderson Cooper that the email release was timed to coincide with the start of the Democratic National Convention.

September 15, 2016 
Wikileaks tweets that Assange agrees to serve prison time in the United States in exchange for President Barack Obama granting clemency to imprisoned former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. In 2013, Manning was convicted of stealing and disseminating 750,000 pages of documents and videos to Wikileaks.

READ MORE: 'Save lives': Pill testing to be trialled in Victoria

September 16, 2016 
A Swedish appeals court states again that the arrest warrant for Assange on allegations of rape still stands. This is the eighth time the European arrest warrant has been tested in a Swedish court. All eight judgments have gone against Assange.

October 7, 2016 
Wikileaks begins publishing hacked emails from Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta.

November 14, 2016
Wikileaks tweets that Assange is giving a statement in the presence of a Swedish prosecutor regarding allegations he sexually assaulted two women in the country six years ago.

January 3, 2017 
During an interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News, Assange says that the Russian government was not the source of the hacked DNC emails. He also denies talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin and says he did not have contact with the campaign for US President-elect Donald Trump.

April 20, 2017 
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions announces that the Department of Justice is preparing charges for Assange, and that his arrest is a "priority."

May 19, 2017 
Swedish prosecutors drop their investigation of rape allegations against Assange, ending a nearly seven-year legal impasse.

December 12, 2017 
Becomes a naturalized citizen of Ecuador.

March 27, 2018 
Assange's internet communications outside of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London are suspended for at least the second time since October 2016. The government accuses him of failing to commit to an agreement not to release messages interfering with other nations' affairs.

READ MORE: Security guard plotted to rape and murder British TV presenter, court told

October 19, 2018 
Assange directs his legal team to launch proceedings against the government of Ecuador for "violating his fundamental rights." On October 29, the lawsuit is rejected by an Ecuadorean court.

During a video-linked hearing, Judge Karla Martinez alerts Assange he will have to abide by the new rules imposed by Ecuador's embassy in London.

November 2018 
A court filing in a case unrelated to Assange mistakenly reveals that the Wikileaks founder has been charged under seal in a US federal court.

April 11, 2019 
Assange is arrested by the Metropolitan Police in London on an extradition warrant from the US Justice Department. He is charged with conspiracy to attempt to hack a computer in connection with the 2010 release of classified military information obtained via Manning.

On May 23, it is announced that Assange has been charged with 17 additional counts under the Espionage Act.

READ MORE: Capital city cops one year's rain in six months

May 1, 2019 
Assange is sentenced to 50 weeks in a UK prison after being found guilty of violating his bail conditions when he entered Ecuador's London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden in 2012.

July 15, 2019 
CNN reports on newly obtained documents that describe how Assange transformed the Ecuadorian embassy into a command centre and orchestrated a series of damaging disclosures that rocked the 2016 presidential campaign in the United States.

A day later, former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa says his country was aware that Assange was interfering in the 2016 US presidential election while staying at the embassy.

November 19, 2019 
Sweden's deputy chief prosecutor announces that authorities are ending their investigation into an allegation of rape against Assange. The investigation into Assange was reopened in May following his removal from Ecuador's embassy in central London the previous month.

READ MORE: Two-storey home destroyed in massive blaze on Gold Coast

April 11, 2020 
In a video posted online and shared by Wikileaks, Stella Moris reveals that she and Assange had two sons while he was living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Moris is part of the international legal team working for Assange, but she is not involved in the current extradition case.

June 24, 2020 
The US Justice Department announces a second superseding indictment against Assange. The Justice Department alleges Assange recruited hackers to obtain information for Wikileaks, but does not add any new charges.

READ MORE: Man charged over alleged attack on Uber driver

January 4, 2021 
A British judge rejects a US request to extradite Assange to America, ruling that such a move would be "oppressive" by reason of his mental health.

January 6, 2021 
A British judge denies bail for Assange, ruling that "there are substantial grounds for believing that if Mr Assange is released today he would fail to surrender to court and face the appeal proceedings".

March 2021
A bipartisan delegation from Australia's federal parliament meets with the US embassy's charge d'affaires, Michael Goldman, asking for Assange to be allowed to return home.

The delegation is composed of independent MP Andrew Wilkie, Labor's Julian Hill, and George Christensen from the Nationals.

July 26, 2021 
The Judicial Branch of Ecuador rules in favour of revoking the citizenship of Assange. The court's decision nullifies Assange's status as a naturalized citizen of Ecuador.

December 10, 2021 
US authorities win their bid to overturn a British judge's ruling that Assange should not be extradited to face charges in the United States, on the basis of assurances given about his treatment there.

January 24, 2022 
Wins permission to try and appeal the decision that allows him to be extradited to the United States. Lord Chief Justice Burnett and Lord Justice Holroyde denied Assange permission to directly appeal December's ruling, but leave it to the UK's Supreme Court to decide whether or not to take up the appeal.

On March 14, the Supreme Court refuses Assange's permission to appeal.

READ MORE: Is Trump shielded from criminal charges? A nation awaits Supreme Court

March 23, 2022 
Marries his fiancée and mother of his two children, Stella Moris, inside Belmarsh prison in London.

April 20, 2022 
A London court issues a formal order for Assange to be extradited to the United States. The court sends the order to UK Home Secretary Priti Patel for approval. On June 17, Patel signs off on the order.

September 2023
Another bipartisan delegation from Australian parliament lobbies the US to drop its pursuit of Assange.

Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, Labor MP Tony Zappia, independent Monique Ryan, Liberal senator Alex Antic and Greens David Shoebridge and Peter Whish-Wilson travelled to the United States to meet with Department of Justice representatives and several Republican and Democratic congressmen.

January 2024
Australian Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus raises Assange's case with his US counterpart, Merrick Garland.

February 2024
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese supports a motion in parliament calling for Assange's release. The same month, Assange's lawyers launch a final legal bid at the UK High Court to stop his extradition.

May 20, 2024
London's High Court rules that Assange has the right to appeal in his final challenge against extradition to the US.

READ MORE: Former bikie boss' sentencing delayed for birth of child

June 24, 2024
Assange reaches a plea deal with the US Justice Department that will see him plead guilty to an Espionage Act charge of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defence information.

He walks free from Belmarsh prison and boards a plane to leave the UK, flying to Saipan in the Mariana Islands, an external US territory near the Philippines where his plea and sentencing hearing will be held.

June 26, 2024
Assange faces court in Saipan, where he enters a guilty plea to one charge of espionage and is sentenced to 62 months in prison, crediting time already served.

As he had already spent 62 months in Belmarsh, he leaves court a free man.

Russian President Vladimir Putin promised on Friday to "immediately" order a cease-fire in Ukraine and begin negotiations if Kyiv started withdrawing troops from the four regions annexed by Moscow in 2022 and renounced plans to join NATO.

Such a deal appears a nonstarter for Kyiv, which wants to join the military alliance and has demanded that Russia withdraw its troops from all of its territory. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on Putin's proposal.

"We will do it immediately," Putin said in a speech at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow.

READ MORE: G7 leaders agree to loan Ukraine billions of dollars

His remarks came as leaders of the Group of Seven leading industrialised nations met in Italy and as Switzerland prepared to host scores of world leaders — but not from Moscow — this weekend to try to map out first steps toward peace in Ukraine. The US and Ukraine this week also signed a 10-year security agreement that they hailed as a milestone in relations.

Russia launched its a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. After Ukrainian forces thwarted a Russian drive to the capital, much of the fighting has focused in the south and east – and Russia illegally annexed regions in the east and the south, although it doesn't fully control any of them.

Putin said his proposal is aimed at a "final resolution" of the conflict in Ukraine rather than "freezing it", and stressed that the Kremlin is "ready to start negotiations without delay".

Broader demands for peace that the Russian leader listed included Ukraine's non-nuclear status, restrictions on its military force and protecting the interests of the Russian-speaking population in the country. All of these should become part of "fundamental international agreements", and all Western sanctions against Russia should be lifted, Putin said.

READ MORE: Nine killed in attacks on Ukraine as US widens sanctions on Russia

"We're urging to turn this tragic page of history and to begin restoring, step-by-step, restore the unity between Russia and Ukraine and in Europe in general," he said.

Putin's remarks represented a rare occasion in which he clearly laid out his conditions for ending the war in Ukraine, but it didn't include any new demands. The Kremlin has said before that Kyiv should recognise its territorial gains and drop its bid to join NATO.

Russia doesn't fully control any of the four regions it illegally annexed in 2022, but Putin insisted on Friday that Kyiv should withdraw from them entirely and essentially cede them to Moscow within their administrative borders. In Zaporizhzhia in the southeast, Russia still doesn't control the region's namesake administrative capital with a pre-war population of about 700,000, and in the neighbouring Kherson region, Moscow withdrew from Kherson's biggest city and capital of the same name in November 2022.

Putin said that if "Kyiv and Western capitals" reject his offer, "it is their business, their political and moral responsibility for continuing the bloodshed".