Briefly

AUSTRALIA

Assange to deliver public address

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange plans to break his post-prison silence in an address to the Council of Europe next week, his organization said on Wednesday. WikiLeaks said the 53-year-old would travel from his native Australia to Strasbourg on Oct 1 to testify before a parliamentary legal committee investigating his case. Assange was released from a British prison in June, after serving time for publishing hundreds of thousands of confidential US government documents from 2010.

UNITED STATES

Man who staked out Trump charged

A man who authorities say staked out Donald Trump for 12 hours on his golf course in Florida and wrote of his desire to kill him was indicted Tuesday on an attempted assassination charge. Ryan Wesley Routh had been initially charged with two federal firearms offenses. The upgraded charges contained in a five-count indictment reflect the Justice Department's assessment that he methodically plotted to kill Trump, aiming a rifle through the shrubbery surrounding Trump's West Palm Beach golf course on an afternoon Trump was playing on it. Routh left behind a note in which he described his intention.

GERMANY

Volkswagen warned against plant closures

Union leaders warned Volkswagen on Wednesday against making a "historic mistake" as the two sides started pay talks that are likely to determine how aggressively Europe's biggest automaker pursues layoffs and potential factory closures in Germany. Tensions at the carmaker are running high as the specter of plant closures, which would be a first for the company in Germany, has set it on a collision course with the IG Metall union, which has vowed to fight such moves.

Agencies Via Xinhua