Assange ‘will die’ if UK appeal fails and sent to US: wife

Assange ‘will die’ if UK appeal fails and sent to US: wife
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is seen on the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Britain, May 19, 2017. (Reuters)
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Updated 15 February 2024
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Assange ‘will die’ if UK appeal fails and sent to US: wife

Assange ‘will die’ if UK appeal fails and sent to US: wife
  • Julian Assange, 52, is wanted on espionage charges in the US and has been detained in Belmarsh Prison, London, since April 2019
  • Assange was arrested after spending seven years holed up in Ecuador’s London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden

LONDON: The wife of Julian Assange said Thursday the WikiLeaks founder would die if extradited to the United States, ahead of his latest appeal against the UK ruling.
Assange, 52, is wanted on espionage charges in the US and has been detained in the high-security Belmarsh Prison in southeast London since April 2019.
Stella Assange told a news conference that her husband could be on a plane to the US “within days” if he loses the appeal, with a two-day High Court hearing set to begin next Tuesday.
The situation is “extremely grave,” as his mental and physical health are “in decline,” she said. “If he is extradited, he will die,” she added.
Julian Assange was arrested after spending seven years holed up in Ecuador’s London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced accusations of sexual assault that were eventually dropped.
The US authorities want to put the Australian publisher on trial for divulging US military secrets about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Two judges at London’s High Court will hear Assange’s request to be allowed to appeal the most recent ruling approving his extradition. A single judge last June refused permission to appeal.
But if his appeal is successful, Assange will have further opportunities to argue his case before the UK’s domestic courts, with a date set for a full appeal hearing.
If he loses, he will have exhausted all UK appeals and will enter the process of extradition, although his team have said they will appeal to European courts.
The UK is part of the European Court of Human Rights and it is within the court’s power to order a stay on the extradition. These are only given in “exceptional circumstances” however.
It would also require the UK government to accept the order, which is uncertain given its ongoing dispute with the European court after it blocked its plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Assange is accused of publishing some 700,000 confidential documents related to US military and diplomatic activities, starting in 2010.
The US is attempting to convict Assange under the 1917 Espionage Act, which his supporters warn mean he could be sentenced to 175 years in prison.
The UK courts approved the extradition request after the US vowed to not imprison him in its most extreme prison, “ADX Florence,” nor to subject him to the harsh regime known as “Special Administrative Measures.”
But Kristinn Hrafnsson, WikiLeaks’ editor-in-chief, said Thursday that caveats included within the promises meant they were “not worth the paper they are written on.”
The effect of the case on the future of press freedom “cannot be underestimated,” he added.
“No journalists anywhere, including you in the room today, are safe,” he said, speaking of an “anti-press pandemic” spreading across the world.
Assange’s wife Stella said that she had “learned not to be optimistic” ahead of court rulings, and feared the potential outcome.
“Julian will be put in a hole, so far and so deep in the ground that I don’t think I’ll ever see him again,” if extradited, she said.
It is not known yet whether a decision will be delivered immediately after next week’s hearing, or if it will be reserved — nor if Assange will be allowed to attend in person.


Flooding in northeast Nigeria could displace up to one million

Flooding in northeast Nigeria could displace up to one million
Updated 9 sec ago
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Flooding in northeast Nigeria could displace up to one million

Flooding in northeast Nigeria could displace up to one million

KANO, Nigeria: Fatima Yakubu woke up in the middle of the night to find her legs submerged as water rose in her home in northeastern Nigeria earlier this week.
She screamed and people helped her escape with her six children.
Flood waters have displaced more than one million people in and around Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, in one of the worst ever floods in Africa’s most populous country.
Thousands of homes were engulfed by rapidly rising waters after a dam burst following a weekend of torrential rain in northeastern Nigeria.
“I shouted for help in terror and some men outside heard my scream and came into the house which was already flooded and rescued us,” said Yakubu, 26, describing her survival as a “miracle.”
She and her children took shelter in one of the eight camps set up by authorities.
Barkindo Mohammed, the director general of Borno State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), told AFP that the number of people displaced by the flooding could reach one million people.
Mohammed Sheriff, 60, was not so lucky. He too awoke in the middle of the night to rising waters in his home.
Together with his two wives, they carried six of their children, thinking that the two eldest, aged 11 and 13, would be strong enough to fight the current. The two children are still missing.
“We haven’t seen them since and we fear the worst,” Sheriff told AFP.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said on Wednesday that at least 30 people have died in the floods — the worst in 30 years, according to the United Nations refugee agency in Nigeria.
NEMA’s director general Zubaida Umar said on X on Thursday she was relieved that the “flood level in Maiduguri is receding, and normalcy is beginning to return to the metropolis,” adding that rescue operations were ongoing in the city flooded up to 40 percent.
“Children and families are still trapped in their homes,” British charity Save The Children said in a statement on Friday.
“The immense damage to water and sanitation services is driving up the risk of cholera and other water- and vector-borne diseases,” the NGO said, pointing out that the city’s two main hospitals had also been flooded.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said the disaster would increase the risk of food insecurity, particularly in the vulnerable northeast.
At least 259 people have been killed by flooding in Nigeria since the beginning of the rainy season, according to Umar.


Ukraine government approves 2025 draft budget, PM says

Ukraine government approves 2025 draft budget, PM says
Updated 6 min 3 sec ago
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Ukraine government approves 2025 draft budget, PM says

Ukraine government approves 2025 draft budget, PM says

Ukraine’s government has approved the 2025 draft budget, which has a strong focus on defense spending, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Friday.
Shmyhal, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the draft, to be submitted to parliament, provided for 2 trillion hryvnias ($48.2 billion)in revenues and 3.6 trillion hryvnias in expenditures.
The draft, put together 2-1/2 years into the Russian invasion of the country, also included a provision of 2.22 trillion hryvnias ($53.5 bln) for defense.
Shmyhal said preparations in drafting the budget, the third since the start of the invasion, had been completed “despite all the challenges and uncertainty.”
“The priority for this budget is very clear — the country’s defense and security,” he wrote. “We will again direct all domestic resources to these objectives.”
There would be, he said, “more money for Ukrainian weapons, equipment, drones.”
More than 400 billion hryvnias would be allocated for social security, with funds for indexing pensions and providing subsidies and a total of 211 billion hrynias on health care.
Local authorities would receive assistance and advantageous credits provided for entrepreneurs. Capital expenditure would be made more transparent and the government would press on with rebuilding projects and those in the energy sphere. 


1 person shot during scuffle at pro-Israel rally in Boston suburb, authorities say

1 person shot during scuffle at pro-Israel rally in Boston suburb, authorities say
Updated 8 min 33 sec ago
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1 person shot during scuffle at pro-Israel rally in Boston suburb, authorities say

1 person shot during scuffle at pro-Israel rally in Boston suburb, authorities say
  • Police were called at 6:40 p.m. to the scene of what they described as a small rally in Newton
  • Words were exchanged before a passerby rapidly crossed the street and tackled one of the demonstrators, Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said

BOSTON, USA: A pro-Israel rally in a Boston suburb turned violent Thursday evening when a passerby was shot during a scuffle after confronting a group of demonstrators, authorities said.
Police were called at 6:40 p.m. to the scene of what they described as a small rally in Newton. Words were exchanged before a passerby rapidly crossed the street and tackled one of the demonstrators, Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said.
“A scuffle ensued. During that scuffle, the individual who had come across the street was shot by a member of the demonstrating group,” Ryan said during a news conference late Thursday.
Scott Hayes, 47, of Framingham, was arrested on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and violation of a constitutional right causing injury. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Hayes, who works as a contractor for National Grid, was ordered to be fitted with a GPS monitor and to stay away both from the city of Newton and from the individual who had been shot and to not be in possession of a dangerous weapon.
Hayes, who appeared to have bruising to his face during his court appearance Friday afternoon, was also required to post a $5,000 cash bail and to abide by a 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew.
Prosecutors also told the court that an application for a criminal complaint has been applied for against the individual who was shot.
They said they opted for an application for a criminal complaint instead of an arrest because the alleged assault and battery was not committed in the presence of a police officers.
The shooting victim, who was not identified, was being treated at a hospital for life-threatening injuries, Ryan said.
Acting Newton Police Chief George McMains asked witnesses to provide investigators with photos or videos of the confrontation. He said police would provide extra patrols at “houses of worship” over the next several days.
Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller called the shooting a “frightening incident” and asked for everyone to remain calm as police investigate.
“I know people will have a lot of questions, and we will share information with Newtonians and the press when we are able,” Fuller said. “It’s really early stages of an active investigation.”


Pope slams Harris and Trump on anti-life stances, urges Catholics to vote for ‘lesser evil’

Pope slams Harris and Trump on anti-life stances, urges Catholics to vote for ‘lesser evil’
Updated 4 min 44 sec ago
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Pope slams Harris and Trump on anti-life stances, urges Catholics to vote for ‘lesser evil’

Pope slams Harris and Trump on anti-life stances, urges Catholics to vote for ‘lesser evil’

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE: Pope Francis on Friday slammed both US presidential candidates for what he called anti-life policies on abortion and migration, and he advised American Catholics to choose who they think is the “lesser evil” in the upcoming US elections.
“Both are against life, be it the one who kicks out migrants, or be it the one who kills babies,” Francis said.
The Argentine Jesuit was asked to provide counsel to American Catholic voters during an airborne news conference while he flew back to Rome from his four-nation tour through Asia. Francis stressed that he is not an American and would not be voting.
Neither Republican candidate Donald Trump nor the Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris, was mentioned by name.
But Francis nevertheless expressed himself in stark terms when asked to weigh in on their positions on two hot-button issues in the US election — abortion and migration — that are also of major concern to the Catholic Church.
Francis has made the plight of migrants a priority of his pontificate and speaks out emphatically and frequently about it. While strongly upholding church teaching forbidding abortion, Francis has not emphasized church doctrine as much as his predecessors.
Francis said migration is a right described in Scripture and that anyone who does not follow the Biblical call to welcome the stranger is committing a “grave sin.”
He was also blunt in speaking about abortion. “To have an abortion is to kill a human being. You may like the word or not, but it’s killing,” he said. “We have to see this clearly.”
Asked what voters should do at the polls, Francis recalled the civic duty to vote.
“One should vote, and choose the lesser evil,” he said. “Who is the lesser evil, the woman or man? I don’t know.
“Everyone in their conscience should think and do it,” he said.
It’s not the first time Francis has weighed in on a US election. In the run-up to the 2016 election, Francis was asked about Trump’s plan to build a wall at the US-Mexico border. Francis declared then that anyone who builds a wall to keep out migrants “is not Christian.”
In responding Friday, Francis recalled that he celebrated Mass at the US-Mexico border and “there were so many shoes of the migrants who ended up badly there.”
Trump pledges massive deportations, just as he did in his first White House bid, when there was a vast gulf between his ambitions and the legal, financial and political realities of such an undertaking.
The US bishops conference, for its part, has called abortion the “preeminent priority” for American Catholics in its published voter advice. Harris has strongly defended abortion rights and has emphasized support for reinstating a federal right to abortion.
In his comments, the pope added: “On abortion, science says that a month from conception, all the organs of a human being are already there, all of them. Performing an abortion is killing a human being. Whether you like the word or not, this is killing. You can’t say the church is closed because it does not allow abortion. The church does not allow abortion because it’s killing. It is murder.”
However, cells are only beginning the process of developing organs in the earliest weeks of pregnancy. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says that by 13 weeks, all major organs have formed. For example, cardiac tissue starts to form in the first two months — initially a tube that only later evolves into the four chambers that define a heart.
 


Pope Francis decries deaths of Gaza children in Israeli bombings

Pope Francis decries deaths of Gaza children in Israeli bombings
Updated 13 September 2024
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Pope Francis decries deaths of Gaza children in Israeli bombings

Pope Francis decries deaths of Gaza children in Israeli bombings
  • The pope said: “I do not think that they are taking steps to make peace“
  • He said he speaks on the phone with members of a Catholic parish in Gaza “every day” and “they tell me ugly things, difficult things“

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT: Pope Francis on Friday decried the deaths of Palestinian children in Israeli military strikes in Gaza, calling bombings of schools, on the “presumption” of striking Hamas militants, “ugly.”
On the flight back to Rome from Singapore, the pontiff expressed doubt that either Israel or Hamas, now at war for eleven months, were seeking to end the conflict.
“I am sorry to have to say this,” the pope said. “But I do not think that they are taking steps to make peace.”
Francis was speaking in a press conference with journalists after a demanding 12-day tour across Southeast Asia and Oceania. He said he speaks on the phone with members of a Catholic parish in Gaza “every day” and “they tell me ugly things, difficult things.”
“Please, when you see the bodies of killed children, when you see that, under the presumption that some guerrillas are there, a school is bombed, this is ugly,” the 87-year-old pontiff said. “It is ugly.”
The pope, who has supported calls for a ceasefire in the conflict and for the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, said “sometimes I think it’s a war that is too much, too much.”
The Israel-Hamas war was triggered by Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, when the militant group killed some 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. The resulting Israeli military campaign has reduced the Strip to rubble and killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s health ministry.
The United Nations said on Thursday that the war has left Gaza’s economy “in ruins.”
The pope spoke about a range of other issues during the 40-minute press conference. He criticized both former US President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris’ policies, and said US Catholics would have to “choose the lesser evil” when they vote in November, without elaborating.

’HAPPY’ WITH CHINA DEAL
Francis also said a Vatican deal with China over the appointment of Catholic bishops in the communist country was showing good results, indicating it will almost certainly be extended when it comes up for renewal this fall.
The pope said the results of the 2018 deal, in which China gets some input into selection of Catholic bishops, “are good.” “I am happy with the dialogue with China,” said the pontiff. “We are working with good will.”
Conservative Catholics have sharply criticized the agreement as handing over too much control to China. The Vatican says the accord resolves a decades-long split between an underground church swearing loyalty to the Vatican and the state-supervised Catholic Patriotic Association.
The deal has never been published, but only described by diplomatic officials. The Vatican says the pope retains final decision-making power in appointment of Chinese bishops.

PARIS, ARGENTINA, CLERGY ABUSE
The pope also firmly denied a French media report that he will go to Paris in December for the reopening of Notre-Dame cathedral. Francis said: “I will not go to Paris.”
A small French outlet had reported the pope would go for the cathedral’s planned Dec. 8 reopening ceremony, five years after a devastating fire. The pontiff also said on Friday he was still considering whether to travel this year to Argentina, his home country.
“I would like to go,” said Francis, who is the first pope from the Americas and before becoming pontiff served as the archbishop of Buenos Aires. “But it is not yet decided. There are some things to resolve first.”
The pope said that if he did go to Argentina, he would like to make a stop on the way from Rome in the Canary Islands, an autonomous Spanish territory off the coast of northwestern Africa. It has become an increasingly popular destination for migrants braving an Atlantic crossing to try to reach Europe.
Caring for migrants has been a key theme of Francis’ 11-year papacy. He made his first visit as pope to the Italian island of Lampedusa, also confronting an influx of migrants.
“There is situation there with migrants, who are coming by sea,” he said of the Canaries. “And I would like to be close to the government and people.”
Francis was also asked about Catholic clergy abuse, and the case of a French priest, known as Abbe Pierre, who was long celebrated for his work with homeless but was later revealed to have been accused of assaulting at least seven women. He died in 2007.
The organization Pierre founded, Emmaus, disclosed an additional 17 testimonies against the late priest on Sept. 6.
The pope said he did not know when the Vatican had first become aware of the allegations. “Certainly, after his death, surely,” said Francis. “But before (his death), I don’t know.”