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Obsession 23.12.2010 Alexandru Popovici Live & Jules & Moss Live

Assange signs $A1.5m book deal

WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange has said in an interview he had signed deals for his autobiography worth more than one million pounds(($A1.57 million).

Assange told Britain's Sunday Times newspaper that the money would help him defend himself against allegations of sexual assault made by two women in Sweden.
"I don't want to write this book, but I have to," he said on Sunday. "I have already spent 200,000 pounds for legal costs and I need to defend myself and to keep WikiLeaks afloat."
The Australian said he would receive the equivalent of $A800,000 from Alfred A. Knopf, his American publisher, and a British deal with Canongate is worth about $A500,000.
Money from other markets and serialisation is expected to raise the total to 1.1 million pounds, he said.
The latest project of Assange's whistleblower website is the gradual release of tens of thousands of US diplomatic cables.
Since this latest project began Assange, who is on bail in Britain fighting a bid by Sweden to extradite him over the sex assault claims, has faced problems financing WikiLeaks.
Credit-card companies Visa and MasterCard and the internet payment firm PayPal have blocked donations to WikiLeaks, prompting Assange to label them "instruments of US foreign policy".
The Bank of America, the largest US bank, has also halted all transactions to WikiLeaks.
Washington has been infuriated by WikiLeaks as the site slowly releases the cache of about 250,000 secret US State Department cables. The US is believed to be considering how to indict Assange over the the huge leak.
Assange has been staying at a friend's country mansion in eastern England since his release from jail on December 16 on strict bail conditions that include reporting to police daily and wearing an electronic tag.
A court in London is due to hold a full hearing on the Swedish extradition request starting February 7.
@'SBS'

(GB2010) Metropolitan Police face legal action for kettling children during tuition fees protest

Police hold protesters back during the demonstration over tuition fees and university funding on 24 November in London. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Scotland Yard is facing legal action over claims that officers "falsely imprisoned" and assaulted schoolchildren during a tuition fees protest in London last month.
In what is believed to be the first lawsuit taken against police in connection with the violence, lawyers from human rights group Liberty have notified the Metropolitan Police of legal action involving minors who suffered "inhuman and degrading treatment" during a protest on 24 November.
The organisation claims the treatment of children amounted to a breach of their human rights after they were "kettled" by officers during the demonstrations for up to nine hours in cold conditions, without food, and were denied medical help despite some of them suffering injuries, including at least two fractures.
The claim is on behalf of three young protesters, one of whom is a 15-year-old whose foot was broken after allegedly being struck by an officer when trying to leave a police kettle and who claims she was subsequently refused medical help. Another is a 17-year-old London student who became so distressed inside the "kettle" that her father said she came away suffering from shock. The third is Rory Evans, 19, whose ankle was broken during a crowd surge among protesters contained between police lines.
Lawyers believe the Met breached the European convention on human rights on at least four counts. The case is believed to be the first of what many observers believe could be a number against police over the protests.
The 15-year-old claimant, a GCSE pupil who was wearing her school uniform, describes how she became anxious while "kettled" and decided to go home. The teenager was climbing a gate to leave when an officer pulled her down and struck her.
A letter to Scotland Yard's legal team states: "The police officer continued to pull her down, causing her to fall on to the floor. She picked herself back up and the police officer then hit her hard on her foot with a baton. She was then alone in the 'kettled' area and barely able to walk unassisted." "She was extremely cold and frightened and in a great deal of pain," the letter adds.
The 17-year-old, an A-level student, joined the protest and was kettled within 15 minutes of arriving in Whitehall. For six hours she unsuccessfully asked officers to allow her to leave because she was desperate to go to the toilet. At 6pm, portable toilets were delivered outside the "kettle", but after the teenager was allowed to use them she was escorted back inside the crowd. She has described seeing a woman pleading to be released because she felt nauseous. Later she was escorted from the kettle, vomited by the side of the road and was taken back into the kettle without receiving any medical attention.
After seven hours police said she could leave when her father turned up.
The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the Observer: "It's disappointing that young people had their opportunity to express themselves taken away. There are not many positive things for young people who are categorised as yobs and will be forced to pay ridiculous amounts for university. The police tactics made a mockery of pluralism in democracy."
The final case involves Evans, a recent school leaver who described how people "kettled" in Whitehall resembled a "large tide" against lines of police with officers pushing back. He said people started to fall and he became trapped, with other demonstrators falling on his ankle and causing it to break. Evans noticed young people in school uniform who had also fallen. In serious pain, the teenager was eventually released from the kettle but, although he asked police, they did not seek medical attention for him nor know where to find assistance.
Emma Norton, legal officer at Liberty, said: "Policing demonstrations is no easy task but the police must distinguish between the law-abiding majority and the handful intent on violence. Our three young clients came away from November's march distressed, and, in two cases, with broken bones.
"The tactic of 'kettling' large groups so that peaceful protesters and passers-by are trapped for hours alongside more troublesome elements exacerbates tensions and creates a risk to public safety."
Scotland Yard has justified "kettling", saying it was crucial to contain people and the threat of disorder while minimising the use of force. Last week the Metropolitan Police commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, said officers had to deal with "unrestrained violence" at the protests. Discussing his officers' actions, he said "things happen in violent disorders" and he regretted any injuries caused. He said any complaints about police conduct would be investigated.

Mark Townsend @'The Guardian'

It is a (very) long night after all!

Wikileaks reveals pressure on US drug wiretapping

Fresh US diplomatic cables released via Wikileaks suggest governments have pressed the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to extend wiretapping services.

Publishing the secret cables, the New York Times said governments wanted information on political adversaries.
Panama and Paraguay are two of the nations cited.
Panama's government says President Ricardo Martinelli's request on wiretaps had been "misinterpreted" by the US envoy.
In a cable from August 2009, President Martinelli is reported to have "sent the Ambassador a cryptic Blackberry message that said: "I need help with tapping phones."
Then US Ambassador to Panama, Barbara Stephenson, says: "He made reference to various groups and individuals whom he believes should be wiretapped, and he clearly made no distinction between legitimate security targets and political enemies."
The Panamanian president's office has issued a statement saying the government "regrets the misunderstanding by the US authorities. The request for assistance was made for the struggle against crime, drug trafficking and organised crime".
"We never asked for help to tap telephones of politicians. Any interpretation to such a request is completely wrong," it says.
'Faked incineration' In a cable from February 2010, the DEA tries to resist a request by the government in Asuncion to spy on the Paraguayan People's Army insurgent group, accused of a number of kidnappings.
The New York Times says that when US diplomats baulked, Paraguay Interior Minister Rafael Filizzola threatened to shut the service down.
Diplomats finally agreed to allow wiretapping for anti-kidnapping work under certain circumstances.
"We have carefully navigated this very sensitive and politically sticky situation. It appears that we have no other viable choice," a cable says.
The Times says the DEA has 87 offices in 63 countries and that many governments are eager to take advantage of the advanced wiretapping technology the agency uses.
DEA spokesman Lawrence Payne said on Saturday it could not comment as the cables were considered classified.
A number of cables reveal the extent of the involvement of senior officials in the drug trade in some countries.
In one cable dated March 2008, US diplomats in Guinea report that a supposed incineration of drugs was faked.
The cable says: "The event was a real eye-opener and a facade. The incineration was a ridiculous attempt by the [government of Guinea] to prove that a law enforcement campaign against narcotics exists. If anything was proven, it was that the traffickers' influence has reached the highest levels of the government."
The Wikileaks website - together with several major media organisations - is currently publishing tens of thousands of leaked US diplomatic cables.
@'BBC'