A British court has ruled that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can appeal against an order that he be extradited to the U.S. on espionage charges. Two High Court judges on Monday said Assange has grounds to challenge the U.K. government’s extradition order. The ruling sets the stage for an appeal process likely to further drag out a years-long legal saga. Assange faces 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over his website’s publication of a trove of classified U.S. documents almost 15 years ago. The Australian computer expert has spent the last five years in a British high-security prison after taking refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for seven years.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been fighting for years to avoid extradition to the United States to face charges related to his organization’s publication of a huge trove of classified documents. He has been in custody in a high-security London prison since 2019 as a back-and-forth with the U.K. courts dragged on over whether he can be sent to the U.S. He previously spent seven years in self-exile in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden to face rape allegations. Two judges at London’s High Court ruled on Monday that Assange can appeal against his extradition order. It's a key legal victory that is likely to prolong the extradition battle.

China’s Ministry of Commerce has announced sanctions against Boeing and two other defense companies for their arms sales to Taiwan. The companies include Boeing’s Defense, Space & Security unit, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, and General Dynamics Land Systems. Monday is the day of Taiwan's presidential inauguration. The move is the latest in a series of sanctions that China has announced in recent years against defense companies for weapons sales to Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China considers part of its own territory. The likely impact of Beijing’s sanctions on such businesses is unclear since the United States bars most sales of weapons-related technology to China. But some military contractors also have civilian businesses in China.

American and Nigerien defense officials say U.S. troops ordered out of Niger by its ruling junta will complete their withdrawal from the West African country by the middle of September. The timeline announced Sunday was the product of four days of talks between the countries’ defense officials in the capital city of Niamey. Niger’s decision to kick out American forces dealt a blow to U.S. military operations in the Sahel, a vast region south of the Sahara desert where groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group operate. The rupture in military cooperation followed last July’s ouster of the country’s democratically elected president by mutinous soldiers.