Friday, 4 November 2011
Phone hacking: Scotland Yard arrests 48-year-old man
The arrest at 10.30am on Friday is the sixth made by detectives working in Operation Elveden, which was set up in July following allegations that police officers had received up to £130,000 over several years from the News of the World for information, including contact details of the royal family.
The Guardian understands the man arrested is not a policeman. It is also understood that the person is a current employee of News International.
Scotland Yard said in a statement: "He was arrested at an outside London on suspicion of corruption allegations in contravention of section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906, and is being brought to a south-west London police station."
Operation Elveden is one of three Met investigations relating to alleged illegal activities by newspapers. The others are Operation Weeting and Operation Tuleta, set up to examine phone hacking and computer hacking, respectively.
On Thursday, Scotland Yard confirmed to the Guardian that the number of people whose phones may have been hacked had reached 5,800 – 2,000 more than previously stated.
So far 16 people have been arrested and bailed on allegations of phone hacking.
Lisa O'Carroll and Sandra Laville @'The Guardian'
France's Charlie Hebdo plans reprint of Islam edition
French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo has said it plans a big reprint of its edition mocking Islamists, days after its offices in Paris were fire-bombed.
Its editor, Stephane Charbonnier, told Reuters news agency it planned to print 175,000 extra copies, after its first print run of 75,000 sold out fast. The paper has been housed by French daily Liberation since fire bombs gutted its own offices.
French Muslim leaders have spoken out in defence of press freedom.
Charlie Hebdo, long known for its scathing attacks on the French establishment including religious institutions, caused controversy when it announced its latest edition would target Islamists, after their recent electoral gains in Tunisia.
It named the Prophet Muhammad as "guest editor" for Wednesday's edition and put a cartoon of him on the cover. Depiction of the Prophet is strictly prohibited in Islam.
On Tuesday night, two fire bombs were hurled at the offices. Nobody was hurt but the paper's office equipment was destroyed.
'Freedom to poke fun' On Thursday, Liberation carried a four-page supplement, which reproduced the offending cartoon, and ran the headline "After their office blaze, this team defends the 'freedom to poke fun'."
The US-based extremist monitoring service, SITE, reports that jihadist forums have been celebrating the attack on the paper's office, which has echoes of the violent protests over the Danish Prophet Muhammad cartoons in 2006.
France has western Europe's largest Muslim community, numbering about five million out of some 65 million people.
Abderrahmane Dahmane, a Muslim former presidential adviser on religious diversity, said he had not been shocked by the Charlie Hebdo front page.
"We have a sense of humour in the world of Islam," he said. "What we sometimes say about Islam and the Prophet, among ourselves and in the presence of imams, is worse than what Charlie Hebdo wrote."
The head of the Paris Mosque, Dalil Boubakeur, said he was "extremely attached to freedom of the press, even if the press is not always tender with Muslims".
@'BBC'
Australia pressured to act on Assange extradition
Assange, who is Australian, on Wednesday lost a bitter legal battle to block his being sent from Britain to Sweden to face questioning over allegations of rape and sexual assault.
Two judges at the High Court in London rejected arguments by the 40-year-old, whose anti-secrecy website has enraged governments around the world, that his extradition would be unlawful.
Assange, a former computer hacker, now has 14 days to take the case to the Supreme Court, the highest legal authority in Britain.
His legal counsel Geoffrey Robertson called on the Australian government to step in. “I think Canberra may have to do something about it,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
“It’s got a duty to help Australians in peril in foreign courts. It didn’t do anything for David Hicks and that was something of a disgrace,” he added, referring to the Australian formerly detained at Guantanamo Bay.
“As far as Julian Assange is concerned, Sweden doesn’t have bail, doesn’t have money bail for foreigners, so he’s likely to be held in custody.”
Robertson added that he does not believe the WikiLeaks founder, who has previously blasted Canberra for not doing enough to protect him amid the fallout from the leaks, will face a fair trial in Sweden.
“He’s going to be tried in secret, and this is outrageous by our standards and by any standards,” he said.
Assange has strongly denied the rape allegations, claiming they are politically motivated and linked to the activities of WikiLeaks. He has been under virtual house arrest since he was first detained in December.
“We are, I think, most concerned to put at rest his danger of going to America and facing charges under the Espionage Act that could take years in prison,” said Robertson, a renowned human rights campaigner.
Assange’s mother told Australian media she believes her son would go to Sweden voluntarily to fight the charges provided the Australian government brokered a deal to ensure he will not be extradited to the US.
Christine Assange said Canberra should follow its own diplomatic and legal advice that her son was in “clear and present danger” and seek written guarantees he would not be sent on to the US.
“If that was to take place I believe Julian would go to Sweden and not resist it. His concern is that he’ll be rendered on,” she said.
She added that her son had been “crucified for doing what he was brought up to do”.
“I brought my son up to tell the truth, to believe in justice. He was brought up to believe he lived in a democracy and to right any wrongs that he saw… Now I believe that’s not true.”
A spokesman for Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd told AFP the government would continue to provide Assange with full consular support.
He added: “The government has made it clear to the UK and Swedish governments our expectation of due process, but Australia cannot directly intervene in legal processes of other countries.”
@'The Raw Story'
Incredible!!!
This family of Tawny Frogmouths have been down our local park for the past couple of weeks and last night was the first time that 'Jimmy Hoot #1' flew, JH#2 still hasn't taken off but any day now I am sure...(Update) just been down at dusk and #1 still doing training flights...
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