The secretive world of Julian Assange in London, and 6 other …

In this occasional series, The Washington Post brings you up to speed on some of the biggest stories of the week. This week:A German hackerreveals rare insights into WikiLeaks.

The biggest story:The secretive world of Julian Assange in London

For most of the past six years, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been confined to the Ecuadoran Embassy in London, fearing he will be extradited to the United States if he leaves and prosecuted under the Espionage Act. Ecuador recently granted Assange citizenship, but British officials say he is still subject to arrest if he leaves the embassy.

Andy Mller-Maguhn is one of Assanges few connections to the outside world. In several lengthy interviews, The Washington Post'sEllen Nakashima, Souad Mekhennet and Greg Jaffe were able to gain new insights into Assange's life in London and the secretive world of WikiLeaks.

Read their exclusive story from Berlin and London.

Sixother important stories

1. The pope's apology tour

In 2011, after decades of complaints, Chilean priest Fernando Karadima was found guilty of abusing dozens of minors. He was dismissed and sentenced to a life of penance and prayer. But Karadima's victims say the churchwas too slow to investigate and dismiss the priest. Much of that ire is directed at Pope Francis, who was in Chile this week on something of an apology tour, as Amanda Erickson writes.

During his visit to Chile on Jan. 16, Pope Francis said he felt "pain and shame at the irreparable damage caused to children" who were sexually abused by priests. (Reuters)

2. A nuclear North Korea is bringing back Cold War paranoia

Japanese public broadcaster NHK mistakenly sent an alert on Tuesday warning that North Korea had fired a missile, just days after a similar mistake caused panic in Hawaii. Unlike in the Hawaii case, however, this error took only five minutes to correct, writes Anna Fifield.

The panic it sowed was immeasurable, reviving the terror sparked by similar false alerts during the Cold War. It also reinforced the reality of the present day: Given the state of tensions with North Korea and the rogue regime's demonstrated weapons capabilities, the prospect of ballistic missiles raining down on Hawaii can't be shrugged away, according to Ishaan Tharoor.

That threat has been especially pronounced after the inauguration of President Trump, whohas responded to North Korean provocations by referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as rocket man, short and fat and madman.

And those are not the only remarks that have stunned experts.

3.Trump lauded delivery of F-52s to Norway. The planes only exist in Call of Duty.

President Trump appeared to misspeak on Jan. 10, when he said the U.S. is selling Norway F-52 fighter jets. F-52s only exist in a video game but the F-35 is very real. Here's what you need to know. (Patrick Martin/The Washington Post)

President Trump also caused a stir with his announcement this week that the United States had delivered F-52 fighter jets to Norway. F-52 jets areonly available to fly if youre a gamer at the controls of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

Alex Horton has the full story.

4.Comrade, meet Cupid: Chinas Communist Party plays matchmaker to millennials

Thanks to the one-child policy and a preference for sons, China has a surplus of men. The number of unmarried men between ages 35 and 59 will reach 15 million in 2020, according to one Chineseestimate. Concerned that the gender imbalance could create instability, the ruling party first tried toshame single womeninto marriage, calling themleftover and comparing them toyellowed pearls.

Nowit has settled on a more robust market intervention: mass matchmaking, writes Emily Rauhala inHangzhou.

5.Beijing wins the battle for blue skies but the poor are paying a price

Government regulation in Chinais not only impacting singles searching for potential husbands or wives, but also the air they breathe. One year ago, Chinas capital city was in the grip of suffocating and potentially fatal smog that made life a misery and breathing downright dangerous. But this month, the air in Beijing has been clear.

Tens of thousands of polluting factories were forced to clean up their operations or were simply closed, while millions of households were hurriedly shifted off coal-fired heating and onto natural gas, writesSimon Denyer.

6.Orange is the new blue: Why India wants to color-code its passports

One of the bigrepercussionsof Brexit will likely be a change of British passport colors from burgundy to blue.

In India, orange is the new blue, at least for some. The country's foreign ministry has issued new rules saying that citizens who require emigration checks will now carry orange passports, while those who dont will carry blue ones.

The new orange passports are supposed to protect vulnerablelaborers from exploitation abroad, but critics argue that the orange and blue color coding could lead to discrimination against poor and illiterate workers and effectively render millions of Indians second-class citizens, writes Vidhi Doshi in New Delhi.

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