Monday, December 13, 2010
LAHORE: The speakers at a seminar on ìPost WikiLeaks Pakistanî have said that Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, should be awarded Nobel Prize for being the most courageous person to unveil the truth.
The seminar was organised by the Pakistan Institute of National Affairs (PINA) where the participants were unanimous that Muslim ruling elite stood exposed after WikiLeaks revelations, saying there was need to develop inter-state relations and brotherhood among the Muslim countries.
According to a press statement, the speakers also stressed the need for reviewing the national priorities to reduce dependence on foreign aid and evolving a self-reliance strategy. The seminar was presided over by Javed Hussain, a former ambassador, and was addressed by political thinkers, defence analysts and representatives of civil society.
It was highlighted that WikiLeaks had resulted in a serious trust deficit between the leadership and people in Pakistan, which calls for drastic reforms in the electoral process, enabling the masses to elect honest, clean and credible leadership.
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Sunday, December 12, 2010
'Sex accusers' have hidden agendas: Assange's lawyer
ANI, Dec 13, 2010, 06.03am IST
LONDON: In an exclusive interview , the lawyer of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has said that he had seen secret police documents that prove his client is innocent of accusations of non-use of condom during sex made against him by two Swedish women.
Bjorn Hurtig, who is representing Assange in Sweden, said the papers, which form part of the official Swedish investigation, reveal both women had 'hidden agendas' and lied about being coerced into having sex with his client, reports the Daily Mail. "From what I have read, it is clear that the women are lying and that they had an agenda when they went to the police, which had nothing to do with a crime having taken place," said Hurtig from his Stockholm office.
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LONDON: In an exclusive interview , the lawyer of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has said that he had seen secret police documents that prove his client is innocent of accusations of non-use of condom during sex made against him by two Swedish women.
Bjorn Hurtig, who is representing Assange in Sweden, said the papers, which form part of the official Swedish investigation, reveal both women had 'hidden agendas' and lied about being coerced into having sex with his client, reports the Daily Mail. "From what I have read, it is clear that the women are lying and that they had an agenda when they went to the police, which had nothing to do with a crime having taken place," said Hurtig from his Stockholm office.
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Breaking News: Wikileaks Hacktivists Shut Down Amazon’s European Websites
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Sunday, December 12, 2010.
Assange supporters make good on threat to exact revenge for website closure
UPDATE: Anonymous have tacitly acknowledged that they were behind the attack. “A message on a Twitter account used by the activists, Anonops, read: “We cant confirm anything because we’ll lose our accounts again. Be alert and you will realize,” reports UKPA. However, the Guardian notes that other sites that are also hosted on the Dublin-based server that houses Amazon’s European websites also went down today.
UPDATE: Amazon’s websites have just come back online. The down time was a good two hours. Twitter is still raging on the issue.
It appears that Wikileaks hacktivists have made good on their threat to take down one of the Internet’s global behemoths. Amazon’s European websites are down and inaccessible, costing the company untold millions on one of the busiest shopping days of the year in the run up to Christmas.
Firing the biggest salvo in what hacktivists have dubbed a new cyber-war, Wikileaks supporters have seemingly exacted revenge for Amazon removing Julian Assange’s website from its cloud network of servers at the behest of Joe Lieberman’s Senate Homeland Security Committee ten days ago.
“Catching you up to speed, it is entirely possible that Anonymous, the 4chan-started “hacking” group could be behind the down time. The group, which has tossed attacks at MasterCard, Visa and PayPal since the arrest of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has claimed in the past that it would target Amazon. It was widely known that Wikileaks was using the Amazon DNS services, and Amazon then pulled the site from the services due to its activities,” reports TheNextWeb.
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Prison Planet.com
Sunday, December 12, 2010.
Assange supporters make good on threat to exact revenge for website closure
UPDATE: Anonymous have tacitly acknowledged that they were behind the attack. “A message on a Twitter account used by the activists, Anonops, read: “We cant confirm anything because we’ll lose our accounts again. Be alert and you will realize,” reports UKPA. However, the Guardian notes that other sites that are also hosted on the Dublin-based server that houses Amazon’s European websites also went down today.
UPDATE: Amazon’s websites have just come back online. The down time was a good two hours. Twitter is still raging on the issue.
It appears that Wikileaks hacktivists have made good on their threat to take down one of the Internet’s global behemoths. Amazon’s European websites are down and inaccessible, costing the company untold millions on one of the busiest shopping days of the year in the run up to Christmas.
Firing the biggest salvo in what hacktivists have dubbed a new cyber-war, Wikileaks supporters have seemingly exacted revenge for Amazon removing Julian Assange’s website from its cloud network of servers at the behest of Joe Lieberman’s Senate Homeland Security Committee ten days ago.
“Catching you up to speed, it is entirely possible that Anonymous, the 4chan-started “hacking” group could be behind the down time. The group, which has tossed attacks at MasterCard, Visa and PayPal since the arrest of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has claimed in the past that it would target Amazon. It was widely known that Wikileaks was using the Amazon DNS services, and Amazon then pulled the site from the services due to its activities,” reports TheNextWeb.
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WikiLeaks, Assange a no-show on Twitter list
TWITTERATI: Sally Jackson
From: The Australian
December 13, 2010 12:00AM
IS Twitter stifling tweets about WikiLeaks and its Australian "editor-in-chief" Julian Assange?
Suspicions were aroused last week when, at the height of the Twitter frenzy over Assange being taken into custody in London, the #wikileaks hashtag failed to make the site's list of globally top-trending topics.
According to people who track such things, on the morning of December 6, about 1 per cent of all tweets reportedly mentioned WikiLeaks, a much higher volume than any topic that did make the top 10, and still it didn't show up.
"Julian Assange could be caught in a menage a trois with Paris Hilton and Britney Spears and still not trend on Twitter," commented one user.
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From: The Australian
December 13, 2010 12:00AM
IS Twitter stifling tweets about WikiLeaks and its Australian "editor-in-chief" Julian Assange?
Suspicions were aroused last week when, at the height of the Twitter frenzy over Assange being taken into custody in London, the #wikileaks hashtag failed to make the site's list of globally top-trending topics.
According to people who track such things, on the morning of December 6, about 1 per cent of all tweets reportedly mentioned WikiLeaks, a much higher volume than any topic that did make the top 10, and still it didn't show up.
"Julian Assange could be caught in a menage a trois with Paris Hilton and Britney Spears and still not trend on Twitter," commented one user.
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Obama lashes out amid calls to free Assange
WASHINGTON: Barack Obama has made his strongest condemnation yet of WikiLeaks, as supporters of Julian Assange demonstrated for his release.
In a call to the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the US President ''expressed his regrets for the deplorable action by WikiLeaks'', the White House said.
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The comments, and similar statements in a call to his Mexican counterpart, Felipe Calderon, were Mr Obama's most forceful yet against the website, whose disclosure of a trove of secret US diplomatic cables has won it international condemnation and praise.
Mr Obama's call to Mr Erdogan could be seen as an effort to smooth ruffled feathers in Turkey - a key regional US ally - where officials including the Prime Minister have railed against some of the information divulged by the documents.
Demonstrations took place across Spain on Saturday - including one by hundreds of people outside the British embassy in Madrid - calling for the release from a London jail of Mr Assange, the website's Australian founder, who is awaiting possible extradition to Sweden to face sexual assault allegations.
There were also demonstrations in London and Amsterdam.
The Spanish website Free WikiLeaks called for demonstrations in Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Bogota and Lima. In a manifesto entitled ''For freedom, say no to state terrorism'', it demanded Mr Assange's release and ''restoration of the WikiLeaks domain''.
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In a call to the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the US President ''expressed his regrets for the deplorable action by WikiLeaks'', the White House said.
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The comments, and similar statements in a call to his Mexican counterpart, Felipe Calderon, were Mr Obama's most forceful yet against the website, whose disclosure of a trove of secret US diplomatic cables has won it international condemnation and praise.
Mr Obama's call to Mr Erdogan could be seen as an effort to smooth ruffled feathers in Turkey - a key regional US ally - where officials including the Prime Minister have railed against some of the information divulged by the documents.
Demonstrations took place across Spain on Saturday - including one by hundreds of people outside the British embassy in Madrid - calling for the release from a London jail of Mr Assange, the website's Australian founder, who is awaiting possible extradition to Sweden to face sexual assault allegations.
There were also demonstrations in London and Amsterdam.
The Spanish website Free WikiLeaks called for demonstrations in Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Bogota and Lima. In a manifesto entitled ''For freedom, say no to state terrorism'', it demanded Mr Assange's release and ''restoration of the WikiLeaks domain''.
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No substance to Julian Assange rape allegations: lawyer
Peter Wilson, Europe correspondent
From: The Australian
December 13, 2010 12:00AM
JULIAN Assange's Swedish lawyer has expressed confidence that he can blow away the sexual misconduct allegations against the Australian. Assange's lawyer said he would like to appear at an extradition hearing in London this week to stop the case even reaching Sweden. Bjorn Hurtig, who is representing the WikiLeaks founder in Sweden, says police documents prove that the two women who made the allegations were driven by their own "hidden agendas".
But instead of being part of some sinister international conspiracy to silence Mr Assange, as many of his supporters have claimed, the women were actually motivated by jealousy and disappointment after brief sexual affairs with him, the lawyer said.
"I can prove that at least one of them had very big expectations for something to happen with Julian," he told Britain's Mail on Sunday. Mr Hurtig said he wanted to fly to London for Mr Assange's extradition hearing on Wednesday morning, Australian eastern time. "If I am able to reveal what I know everyone will realise this is all a charade," he said. "If I could tell the British courts I suspect it would make extradition a moot point. "But at the moment I'm bound by the rules of the Swedish legal system, which says the information can only be used as evidence in this country. "For me to do otherwise would lead to me being disbarred."
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From: The Australian
December 13, 2010 12:00AM
JULIAN Assange's Swedish lawyer has expressed confidence that he can blow away the sexual misconduct allegations against the Australian. Assange's lawyer said he would like to appear at an extradition hearing in London this week to stop the case even reaching Sweden. Bjorn Hurtig, who is representing the WikiLeaks founder in Sweden, says police documents prove that the two women who made the allegations were driven by their own "hidden agendas".
But instead of being part of some sinister international conspiracy to silence Mr Assange, as many of his supporters have claimed, the women were actually motivated by jealousy and disappointment after brief sexual affairs with him, the lawyer said.
"I can prove that at least one of them had very big expectations for something to happen with Julian," he told Britain's Mail on Sunday. Mr Hurtig said he wanted to fly to London for Mr Assange's extradition hearing on Wednesday morning, Australian eastern time. "If I am able to reveal what I know everyone will realise this is all a charade," he said. "If I could tell the British courts I suspect it would make extradition a moot point. "But at the moment I'm bound by the rules of the Swedish legal system, which says the information can only be used as evidence in this country. "For me to do otherwise would lead to me being disbarred."
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WikiLeaks Assange says Pentagon plans prosecution
STOCKHOLM, Dec 12 (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who angered Washington by releasing secret cables, said in a documentary on Sunday he faced prosecution by the Pentagon and was disappointed with how Swedish justice had been abused.
Assange has been remanded in custody in Britain after a European arrest warrant was issued by Sweden, which wants to question Assange about allegations made by two women of sexual crimes. He has denied the allegations.
“I came to Sweden as a refugee publisher involved with an extraordinary publishing fight with the Pentagon, where people were being detained and there is an attempt to prosecute me for espionage,” Assange said in an interview in the documentary, aired on Swedish public television.
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Assange has been remanded in custody in Britain after a European arrest warrant was issued by Sweden, which wants to question Assange about allegations made by two women of sexual crimes. He has denied the allegations.
“I came to Sweden as a refugee publisher involved with an extraordinary publishing fight with the Pentagon, where people were being detained and there is an attempt to prosecute me for espionage,” Assange said in an interview in the documentary, aired on Swedish public television.
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WikiLeaks backlash: The first global cyber war has begun, claim hackers
Mark Townsend, Paul Harris in New York, Alex Duval Smith in Johannesburg, Dan Sabbagh, Josh Halliday
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 11 December 2010 21.30 GMT
As Julian Assange is held in solitary confinement at Wandsworth prison, the anonymous community of hacktivists takes to the cyber battlefields
He is one of the newest recruits to Operation Payback. In a London bedroom, the 24-year-old computer hacker is preparing his weaponry for this week's battles in an evolving cyberwar. He is a self-styled defender of free speech, his weapon a laptop and his enemy the US corporations responsible for attacking the website WikiLeaks.
He had seen the flyers that began springing up on the web in mid-September. In chatrooms, on discussion boards and inboxes from Manchester to New York to Sydney the grinning face of a Guy Fawkes mask had appeared with a call to arms. Across the world a battalion of hackers was being summoned.
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guardian.co.uk, Saturday 11 December 2010 21.30 GMT
As Julian Assange is held in solitary confinement at Wandsworth prison, the anonymous community of hacktivists takes to the cyber battlefields
He is one of the newest recruits to Operation Payback. In a London bedroom, the 24-year-old computer hacker is preparing his weaponry for this week's battles in an evolving cyberwar. He is a self-styled defender of free speech, his weapon a laptop and his enemy the US corporations responsible for attacking the website WikiLeaks.
He had seen the flyers that began springing up on the web in mid-September. In chatrooms, on discussion boards and inboxes from Manchester to New York to Sydney the grinning face of a Guy Fawkes mask had appeared with a call to arms. Across the world a battalion of hackers was being summoned.
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Saturday, December 11, 2010
Assange moved to isolation in jail as WikiLeaks continue
By Guy Jackson, Agence France-Presse December 10, 2010
LONDON - Police moved WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange to the segregation unit of a London jail for his safety, a lawyer said Friday as new cables showed the U.S. suspects Myanmar has a secret nuclear program.
The 39-year-old Australian has been transferred from the main section of Wandsworth prison to an isolation unit, said Jennifer Robinson, one of his legal team.
"The prison authorities are doing it for his own safety, presumably," she told AFP.
Assange is due to appear in a London court for a second time Tuesday after being arrested on a warrant issued by Sweden, where prosecutors want to question him about allegations of rape and sexual molestation made by two women.
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LONDON - Police moved WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange to the segregation unit of a London jail for his safety, a lawyer said Friday as new cables showed the U.S. suspects Myanmar has a secret nuclear program.
The 39-year-old Australian has been transferred from the main section of Wandsworth prison to an isolation unit, said Jennifer Robinson, one of his legal team.
"The prison authorities are doing it for his own safety, presumably," she told AFP.
Assange is due to appear in a London court for a second time Tuesday after being arrested on a warrant issued by Sweden, where prosecutors want to question him about allegations of rape and sexual molestation made by two women.
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Assange Prosecution: A Brazen Effort to Kill Alternative Media
Kurt Nimmo
Prison Planet.com
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Now that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is in custody, we can expect the U.S. government to request his extradition and prosecute the Australian for espionage. “Any such proceedings would set up a test of whether the First Amendment’s protection for a free press extends to a website with a worldwide audience,” notes McClatchy today.
In 1917 the United States enacted the Espionage Act, a law that has made it a crime to “willfully communicate” secret government information that could expose national secrets held by officialdom. Since the law was passed, however, the government has avoided prosecuting journalists for publishing classified information.
“The First Amendment’s freedom of speech and the press has protected journalists in the past, though it is not clear whether the courts would consider Assange a journalist,” writes McClatchy.
Assange’s “actions are not those of a responsible journalist that would enjoy the protection of the Constitution,” opines Jeffrey H. Smith, a former general counsel at the CIA. Government, of course, will decided what is responsible and irresponsible journalism and the high court will enshrine this in law.
The establishment – including its highest court – may eventually restrict the First Amendment and have its protection apply only to selected corporate media journalists and other propaganda functionaries of the elite.
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Prison Planet.com
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Now that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is in custody, we can expect the U.S. government to request his extradition and prosecute the Australian for espionage. “Any such proceedings would set up a test of whether the First Amendment’s protection for a free press extends to a website with a worldwide audience,” notes McClatchy today.
In 1917 the United States enacted the Espionage Act, a law that has made it a crime to “willfully communicate” secret government information that could expose national secrets held by officialdom. Since the law was passed, however, the government has avoided prosecuting journalists for publishing classified information.
“The First Amendment’s freedom of speech and the press has protected journalists in the past, though it is not clear whether the courts would consider Assange a journalist,” writes McClatchy.
Assange’s “actions are not those of a responsible journalist that would enjoy the protection of the Constitution,” opines Jeffrey H. Smith, a former general counsel at the CIA. Government, of course, will decided what is responsible and irresponsible journalism and the high court will enshrine this in law.
The establishment – including its highest court – may eventually restrict the First Amendment and have its protection apply only to selected corporate media journalists and other propaganda functionaries of the elite.
Full Story Here
Hackers Strike Back to Support WikiLeaks….Patriot Act for Internet Ahead?
Russia Today: As a result of WikiLeaks, the Obama Administration may introduce a new bill that would allow government officials the ability to spy on Americans through the internet. Meanwhile, an army of hackers rally behind WikiLeaks by shutting down MasterCard and PayPal because they stopped all payments to WikiLeaks. Investigative journalist Wayne Madsen says we could see massive government surveillance of our personal computers, phones and surveillance of our internet activities.
Hackers Strike Back to Support WikiLeaks
CASSELL BRYAN-LOW in London And SVEN GRUNDBERG in Stockholm
WSJ
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
A growing list of organizations and individuals that have tangled with WikiLeaks and its detained founder, Julian Assange, have suffered online attacks, in what appears to be an effort by hackers bent on exacting revenge for the document-leaking website.
The attacks stepped up Wednesday, a day after Mr. Assange was arrested and denied bail in London in connection with sexual-misconduct accusations in Sweden. A range of organizations, including MasterCard Inc., Visa Inc., and the Swedish prosecutor’s office, reported technical difficulties with their websites that appear to stem from so-called denial of service attacks, in which computers flood a server to prevent it from displaying a Web page.
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Hackers Strike Back to Support WikiLeaks
CASSELL BRYAN-LOW in London And SVEN GRUNDBERG in Stockholm
WSJ
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
A growing list of organizations and individuals that have tangled with WikiLeaks and its detained founder, Julian Assange, have suffered online attacks, in what appears to be an effort by hackers bent on exacting revenge for the document-leaking website.
The attacks stepped up Wednesday, a day after Mr. Assange was arrested and denied bail in London in connection with sexual-misconduct accusations in Sweden. A range of organizations, including MasterCard Inc., Visa Inc., and the Swedish prosecutor’s office, reported technical difficulties with their websites that appear to stem from so-called denial of service attacks, in which computers flood a server to prevent it from displaying a Web page.
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Report: Assange accuser flees to Middle East, may not be cooperating with police
By Daniel Tencer Thursday, December 9th, 2010 -- 7:03 pm
Sweden withholding documentation on Assange probe: lawyer
One of the two Swedish women who have filed sex complaints against the founder of WikiLeaks has reportedly left Sweden and may no longer be cooperating with the criminal investigation.
According to a report at Australian news site Crikey.com, Anna Ardin has moved to the Palestinian territories to volunteer with a Christian group working to reconcile Arabs and Israelis.
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Sweden withholding documentation on Assange probe: lawyer
One of the two Swedish women who have filed sex complaints against the founder of WikiLeaks has reportedly left Sweden and may no longer be cooperating with the criminal investigation.
According to a report at Australian news site Crikey.com, Anna Ardin has moved to the Palestinian territories to volunteer with a Christian group working to reconcile Arabs and Israelis.
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Assange Lawyers Prepare for U.S. Spying Indictment
JIM SCIUTTO and LEE FERRAN
ABC News
Friday, December 10, 2010
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, the man behind the publication of more than a 250,000 classified U.S. diplomatic cables, could soon be facing spying charges in the U.S. related to the Espionage Act, Assange’s lawyer said today.
“Our position of course is that we don’t believe it applies to Mr. Assange and that in any event he’s entitled to First Amendment protection as publisher of Wikileaks and any prosecution under the Espionage Act would in my view be unconstitutional and puts at risk all media organizations in the U.S.,” Assange’s attorney Jennifer Robinson told ABC News.
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ABC News
Friday, December 10, 2010
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, the man behind the publication of more than a 250,000 classified U.S. diplomatic cables, could soon be facing spying charges in the U.S. related to the Espionage Act, Assange’s lawyer said today.
“Our position of course is that we don’t believe it applies to Mr. Assange and that in any event he’s entitled to First Amendment protection as publisher of Wikileaks and any prosecution under the Espionage Act would in my view be unconstitutional and puts at risk all media organizations in the U.S.,” Assange’s attorney Jennifer Robinson told ABC News.
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Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Supporters to Launch Protests
Written by James Swift on Saturday, December 11, 2010
There is a tremendous movement all over the world that is seeking to free Julian Assange, a man that supporters are calling a “political prisoner.” After last week’s massive cyber attacks and disrupted payment systems, the protests will take on a different feel, hoping to change the public opinion of the man that has leaked US government documents through his website for years.
Full Story Here
There is a tremendous movement all over the world that is seeking to free Julian Assange, a man that supporters are calling a “political prisoner.” After last week’s massive cyber attacks and disrupted payment systems, the protests will take on a different feel, hoping to change the public opinion of the man that has leaked US government documents through his website for years.
Full Story Here
Protests In Latin American Cities Over Jailing Of Assange
It appears that Julian Assange has some friends in Latin America.
Demonstrations are planned Saturday to protest the detention of the founder of WikiLeaks and the closing of the secret-spilling website's Swiss bank account.
The Spanish-language website Free WikiLeaks says protests are to be held in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Seville and three other Spanish cities. It also says demonstrations are planned Saturday in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and in the capital cities of Colombia, Argentina, Mexico and Peru, as well as in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Full Story Here
Demonstrations are planned Saturday to protest the detention of the founder of WikiLeaks and the closing of the secret-spilling website's Swiss bank account.
The Spanish-language website Free WikiLeaks says protests are to be held in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Seville and three other Spanish cities. It also says demonstrations are planned Saturday in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and in the capital cities of Colombia, Argentina, Mexico and Peru, as well as in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
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Did he or didn't he? The murky politics of sex and consent
IT WAS 2pm in central Westminster Magistrates Court No. 6, a modern chamber, done in blond wood, looking curiously Scandinavian in style, and the world's press were so focused on celebrities such as John Pilger and Jemima Khan crowded behind the defence desk, that few noticed Julian Assange slip into the room. Neatly dressed, more solid than he appears on screen, his white hair neatly clipped, he took his seat behind the semi-circular glass screen.
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