WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange shelled out half a million dollars to fly to a remote island to avoid returning to the American mainland after accepting a plea deal with the US government and being freed from prison. Assange, 52, was freed Monday morning from UK prison and flew from London Stansted Airport to the US territory of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands — a $500,000 flight, according to reports. There, he will plead guilty to conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information for releasing classified reports on the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on his WikiLeaks site, the US Justice ... (full story)