Category Archives: Wikileaks

Assange Gets Swedish Court Date in Fight to Drop Arrest Warrant

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was given a date in a Swedish court on his appeal of the arrest warrant for an alleged sexual assault in a bid to leave the Ecuadorian Embassy in London after two years.

The Stockholm District Court has set a hearing on July 16 for the appeal, Camilla Murray, chief administrator at the court, said by phone today.

The defense probably thinks that hes been remanded in absentia unreasonably long for the crimes that hes suspected of, she said. If the warrant is withdrawn, it means that we wont want him handed over to Sweden, at least not for an arrest.

Assange, an Australian national, sought asylum in Ecuadors embassy in London on June 19, 2012, after exhausting options in U.K. courts to avert extradition to Sweden, where he faces questioning on allegations of rape and sexual molestation.

He has said hes innocent of the charges and last month asked Swedish prosecutors to withdraw the arrest warrant and drop the case. The prosecutor declined his request on July 1, saying that there is still probable cause and that it sees significant risk that he flees justice.

Assange is accused of failing to use a condom with one woman and having sex with another while she was asleep. The women, both supporters of WikiLeaks, let Assange stay at their homes during a speaking tour in Sweden in 2010. The U.K. Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that he should return to Sweden to face the claims. He hasnt been charged with a crime.

To contact the reporters on this story: Johan Carlstrom in Stockholm at jcarlstrom@bloomberg.net; Niklas Magnusson in Stockholm at nmagnusson1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jonas Bergman at jbergman@bloomberg.net Anthony Aarons

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Assange Gets Swedish Court Date in Fight to Drop Arrest Warrant

Julian Assange, fashion model?

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Daniel Terdiman/CNET

Julian Assange: WikiLeaks founder, lightning rod, and now... fashion model?

Apparently so. According to multiple reports, he's been asked to make his modeling debut during London Fashion Week in a show by designer Ben Westwood. And he won't have to risk arrest to work the catwalk.

The September show will take place at the Ecuadorian embassy, where Assange has for two years sought political asylum from a British court order to extradite him to Sweden over sexual assault allegations.

Westwood -- who is not listed under designers on the official London Fashion Week site -- found inspiration for his upcoming collection from "The Good, The Bad And The Ugly," a '60s Italian Western in which Clint Eastwood plays an enigmatic loner.

"My view about Julian is that he is a popular hero and he's done a great deal to change public opinion," Westwood said in a statement. "I think it's a citizen's duty to stand up for justice and freedom of speech. I want to highlight Julian Assange's plight."

Assange's WikiLeaks site has published more than 8 million anonymously leaked documents since 2006, including a trove of classified information.

Westwood, a photographer known for his erotic shots, is the oldest son of famed designer Dame Vivienne Westwood, also an Assange supporter. She created an "I am Julian Assange" T-shirt bearing his image and wore it when visiting Assange at the embassy in 2012. The shirt also appeared in one of her own runway shows.

Assange, 42, will reportedly appear in the London Fashion Week fringe event along with six other models. Still, fashion magazines shouldn't set aside space for an Assange photo spread just yet.

According to a New York Times fashion blog, Richard Hillgrove, a London publicist working on the September Ben Westwood show, has said the Assange modeling gig is still under discussion.

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Julian Assange, fashion model?

WikiLeaks Reveals True Intent of Secret TiSA Trade

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International Trade Union Confederation

WikiLeaks Reveals True Intent of Secret TiSA Trade Talks

Brussels, 26 June 2014 (ITUC OnLine): A WikiLeaks expos has revealed the true intent behind secret 50-country negotiations on a new financial services chapter of the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) at the WTO in Geneva. The draft agreement being discussed by government officials is aimed at weakening financial regulation and giving extra market access to hedge funds, banks, insurers and other providers.

Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary, said, Governments are negotiating away financial regulation in secret, instead of tackling the unfinished regulation task that triggered the current global economic crisis in 2007. It defies belief that they are actually planning to help the already too big to fail banks and other financial conglomerates to expand."

It is deeply disturbing to find out that governments are getting ready to exempt from or expedite the approval of some of the most toxic insurance products, like Credit Default Swaps, and also allow hedge funds and banks to launch unlimited new products without proper controls.

The leaked draft includes self-defeating provisions that would reinforce the power of big finance over democratic processes, with bizarre clauses such as:

Notwithstanding any other provision of the Agreement, prudential measures are allowed in order to ensure the integrity and stability of a Partys financial system, but [w]here such measures do not conform with the provisions of this Agreement, they shall not be used [].

In stark contrast to the interests of taxpayers, welfare for the finance industry, including through bailouts, is welcomed under the proposals. Bailouts are meant for the clean-up stage; prudential measures are meant to prevent disasters and mitigate financial risk. The negotiating governments even ignored the stipulations of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the usefulness of capital control measures both to prevent and to deal with crises, said John Evans, ITUC Chief Economist and General Secretary of the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC).

The proposed TiSA rules on financial services go hand-in-hand with investment protection provisions of bilateral investment treaties (BITs). Investors in financial products of other countries will effectively be granted the privilege to contest financial regulation and decisions of competent authorities through private dispute procedures.

On top of the drive to give the finance sector free reign over sovereign states, the TiSA proposals also aim to liberalise professional services, information technology, construction and social and public services, a move sharply criticised by the Public Services International (PSI). The PSI and UNI Global Union have called for the TiSA negotiations to be stopped.

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WikiLeaks Reveals True Intent of Secret TiSA Trade

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to appear at London Fashion Week

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June 27, 2014 - 15:23 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange reportedly is going to appear at September's London Fashion Week, The Hollywood Reporter said.

The Independent reports that Assange will model for Ben Westwood, son of fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, who will present the latest collection from his namesake line. It is said that the show will take place at Assange's current home, the Ecuadorian Embassy in London; he once described living there as "a bit like prison."

Despite the WikiLeaks founder's political stigma, Westwood explains: "I want to highlight Julian Assange's plight. What happened to him is totally unfair."

Six other models will join Assange, wearing clothes inspired by Clint Eastwood's western films and what the designer calls Assange's "combat-beret look."

As to whether or not Westwood's designer mum approves of the casting, it's probably safe to assume she's all for it, given she's been spotted showing her support in a T-shirt with the words "I'm Julian Assange." Like mother, like son.

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to appear at London Fashion Week