Technologies

Julian Assange wins right to seek appeal against extradition to the US

The WikiLeaks founder is granted the right to petition the UK’s top court for an opportunity to appeal a decision to have him extradited.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange scored a small win in court in London on Monday, when a judge granted him the right to appeal to the UK’s Supreme Court over his extradition to the US.

The High Court ruled that Assange has points that Supreme Court justices may want to consider ahead of the UK extraditing him. Assange will now petition the UK’s Supreme Court for a hearing, but there is no guarantee his request will be granted. As his case proceeds through the courts, his extradition will continue to be stalled and Assange will remain in Belmarsh Prison, where’ has been held since leaving the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2019.

«Today we won — but Julian continues to suffer,» said Stella Moris, Assange’s fiancee, speaking outside the court on Monday. «Julian must be freed.»

Monday’s decision follows a ruling by a High Court judge in December granting the US permission to go through with the extradition. It overturned a previous decision by a District Court judge that blocked Assange’s extradition on mental health grounds. The WikiLeaks founder has raised a legal question about the circumstances in which the High Court received assurances from the US over the treatment he would receive in prison.

Assange is wanted in the US on espionage charges and faces an 18-count indictment accusing him of conspiring to hack military databases to publish classified information about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. If convicted, Assange could receive a 175-year jail sentence, although the US government has said he would likely face a sentence of between four and six years.

Assurances made by the US include a promise not to hold Assange at ADX, a supermax prison in Colorado, or to make him subject to «special administrative measures.» The US has also agreed that if Assange is convicted it will consent to an application from Australia for him to serve his sentence there (Assange is an Australian citizen). Finally, the US has guaranteed that if he is held in the US, Assange would receive appropriate clinical and psychological treatment.

In a statement issued Monday, Amnesty International said it welcomes the High Court’s decision, but remains concerned over the limitations of the appeal.

«The Supreme Court should have had the opportunity to deliberate and rule on all of the points of law raised by Assange at this crucially important point but the High Court has limited its scope to do so. If the question of torture and other ill-treatment is not of general public importance, what is?» said Amnesty International’s Deputy Research Director for Europe Massimo Moratti. «We now hope that the Supreme Court will grant leave to appeal on the certified issue concerning at what stage in extradition proceedings should such assurances be submitted and considered.»

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for April 16, #570

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for April 16 No. 570.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a fun one, especially if you enjoy unusual team names. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Put your glasses on for this.

Green group hint: Hoops home.

Blue group hint: The minors.

Purple group hint: Hidden hoops word.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Look at.

Green group: Seen at an NBA court.

Blue group: Double-A baseball teams.

Purple group: Starts with a WNBA team.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is look at. The four answers are observe, spectate, view and watch.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is seen at an NBA court. The four answers are benches, half-court logo, scorer’s table and shot clock.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is double-A baseball teams. The four answers are Biscuits, Drillers, Trash Pandas and Wind Surge.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is starts with a WNBA team. The four answers are dreamy, firefly, Skype and sundial.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Thursday, April 16

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for April 16.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? It’s pretty simple, but 1-Across is a bit tricky. Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Bow ties and ribbons that you can’t wear?
Answer: PASTA

6A clue: Opposite of lower
Answer: UPPER

7A clue: Flappable origami creation
Answer: CRANE

8A clue: Where the Hangul alphabet is used
Answer: KOREA

9A clue: Apparatus under a trapeze
Answer: NET

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Disc dropped on center ice
Answer: PUCK

2D clue: One might read «Kiss the Chef»
Answer: APRON

3D clue: Unlikely outcome after a 7-10 split
Answer: SPARE

4D clue: Fundamental belief
Answer: TENET

5D clue: Bay ___ (part of California)
Answer: AREA

Technologies

Apple Reportedly Plans to Send Siri Engineers to AI Coding Bootcamp

The move comes just weeks before the company is expected to unveil a new Siri.

Apple plans to send dozens of Siri engineers to a multiweek AI coding bootcamp, The Information reported Wednesday. The move comes less than two months before the company is widely expected to unveil a new Siri experience as part of a broader AI reboot.

A group of fewer than 200 engineers will be sent to the bootcamp, leaving approximately 60 members of the core Siri development team behind to continue working on Siri, while another 60 will evaluate Siri’s performance, according to The Information. The outlet also reported that AI has grown in popularity in some Apple divisions, prompting some teams within the company to allocate large parts of their budgets to Claude Code.

Apple representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Siri, once a pioneer, has lagged behind its rivals in voice assistants. Apple had planned to roll out a smarter, AI-driven Siri in 2025 as part of its Apple Intelligence initiative, but executives delayed the launch until spring 2026, admitting the early version wasn’t reliable enough to ship.

For Apple, the move would mark another attempt to reset expectations around its AI strategy after repeated delays to its more advanced Siri ambitions. The news also comes as John Giannandrea, Apple’s former AI chief, is reportedly leaving the company this week after stepping down from that role in December.

The new Siri experience is expected to be introduced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference on June 8 and would arrive as part of iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and MacOS 27 later this year, according to a Bloomberg report in March. The report says Apple is testing out a new Siri that would make the assistant feel more like a standalone AI chatbot — think ChatGPT or Claude — rather than the current built-in tool.