Julian Assange is ‘sucking resources’ from police, Met chief says

His presence in the embassy means the Metropolitan Police has been forced to post a round-the-clock detail of officers to arrest Mr Assange should he leave the building in Knightsbridge.

In August Mr Assange indicated he would soon leave the embassy but six months later he remains inside.

The total bill is thought to consist of almost 8 million in police pay and nearly 2 million in other indirect costs.

The sum would have been enough to keep 343 police officers on the beat for a year.

The Foreign Office has insisted it remains committed to reaching a diplomatic solution to this situation.

A spokesman said: We are clear that our laws must be followed and Mr Assange should be extradited to Sweden. As ever, we look to Ecuador to help bring this difficult and costly situation to an end.

Me Assange has claimed that if he is extradited to Sweden, he will be sent on to the United States for questioning over WikiLeaks publishing of secret files which the authorities say have damaged national security.

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Julian Assange is 'sucking resources' from police, Met chief says

U.K. to review high cost of Julian Assange policing operation

LONDON - The cost of keeping watch on Julian Assange, who is holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, is proving a drain on police resources and the operation is under review, London's police chief said on Tuesday.

The WikiLeaks founder sought refuge in the embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations of sexual assault, which he denies.

He faces arrest for breaching British bail conditions if he leaves the embassy, which is in the upmarket central London neighbourhood of Knightsbridge.

London's Metropolitan Police have been standing guard outside the embassy around the clock to prevent him from fleeing, at an estimated cost of about 10 million pounds ($15 million) since the operation began.

"We are reviewing ... how we can do that differently in the future because it's sucking our resources in," Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe told LBC radio, adding that the force was facing funding cuts.

"We won't talk explicitly about our tactics, but we're reviewing what options we have," he said, declining to be drawn on whether fewer police might be deployed outside the embassy.

Assange's presence inside the embassy has caused a diplomatic impasse between Britain and Ecuador, which has granted him asylum.

London says that having tried and failed to challenge Sweden's extradition request through the courts, Assange must obey the law and hand himself over to be flown to Stockholm.

Assange says that the allegations against him were trumped up to facilitate his extradition first to Sweden but ultimately to the United States, where he could be put on trial over huge leaks of previously secret information to WikiLeaks.

The website began publishing thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables in 2010, infuriating Washington and, according to Assange's critics, damaging U.S. national security and putting the lives of some dissidents in authoritarian countries at risk.

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U.K. to review high cost of Julian Assange policing operation

Paycoin Accepted by GoUrl Payment Gateway

Bloomfield, CT (PRWEB) February 10, 2015

The integration of PayCoin by GoUrl Payment Gateway is emblematic of the continuing acceptance of cryptocurrency and Bitcoin as a global payment device resulting from its ease of use, low processing cost and unparalleled security.

The acceptance of PayCoin by GoUrl is huge, said Josh Garza, CEO of PayCoin and BTC. The fact that GoUrl is an open source plugin on website development tools, opens up commerce to many that otherwise might not be able to make their products or services available to consumers the world over. And who knows what the next great thing might be? With tools like GoUrl, well likely find out.

PayCoin is one of the many cryptocurrency tender options accepted by GoUrl. The feature-rich plugin, which as an open source payment gateway is 100 percent free on both Github (github.com) and WordPress (wordpress.com) development tools. Transaction fees are significantly less than other payments options such as PayPal, with fees starting as low as 0 percent.

GoUrl offers sellers of products or services the option where they can set their own prices in US dollars (USD) with exchange rates determined by Live Exchange Rates. Songwriters, poets those and others with intangible items or intellectual properties can charge buyers directly per download versus using aggregators like a record label or large publishing house.

Cryptocurrency is becoming more popular on the Internet, said Lydia Sprague, Manager at GoUrl. We think only 2-3 cryptocurrencies will be widely used on the Internet in the future. PayCoin can be one of these.

GoUrl offers a wide selection of PayCoin community services for the use and promotion of PayCoin within the GoUrl payment gateway. The GoUrl.io PayCoin / Bitcoin Monetizer online web service serves as the payment gateways main service idea which is ideal for people paying to unlock digital files, music, videos, photos and the like. For example, if a musician were to offer a mp3 available for PayCoins / Bitcoins on gourl.io online and a visual artist could sell directly to buyers his / her high-res images and works. Website owners can use Free Open Source GoUrl PayCoin / Bitcoin Payment Gateway on their website and can start to accept customer payments in paycoins and other cryptocurrency in addition to traditional payment systems. Internet companies and web developers, can integrate PayCoin and other cryptocurrencies into their software using GoUrl cryptocoin payment API. To encourage usage, we offer on gourl.io a unique affiliate commission that offers a lifetime 0.50% from each PayCoin / Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency payment made by users through their software which is installed on various internet websites.

Owners of paycoins will have even more access to a wealth of digital commerce via websites featuring GoUrl. Using PayCoin, owners will have greater security in conducting online transactions for anything they want to buy or sell. Paycoins, which are based upon blockchain technology, a kind of digital DNA, ensures anonymity and tags each transaction with a unique code and as such offers greater security on online when conducting business.

About Paycoin

Paycoin is a global currency that allows owners to send and transact money to anyone, anywhere at anytime. Using Paycoin is totally free, lightening fast and very easy to use by both businesses and consumers. Paycoin is secure and uses a new Blockchain technique that regularly validates, compresses, and archives old transaction data to create near-instant transaction times with a light, efficient, and extremely secure blockchain.

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Paycoin Accepted by GoUrl Payment Gateway

Chelsea Manning to Write Columns for The Guardian

Chelsea Manning, the Wikileaks leaker formerly known as Bradley Manning who was recently sentenced to 35 years in prison, has joined The Guardian US as a contributor.

The Guardian US editor-in-chief says that Manning will write on war, gender, and freedom of information.

According to Politico, Manning will not be compensated.

In August of 2013, Pvt. Chelsea (then Bradley) Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison for supplying WikiLeaks with 700,000 classified documents in 2010. Manning was found guilty on charges under the Espionage Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and the code of military justice but was spared the charge of aiding the enemy, the most serious of all the charges. If convicted of that crime, Manning could have face up the 90 years behind bars.

Shortly after her sentencing, Manning revealed that she was transgender, suffering from gender dysphoria a condition in which a person does not identify with the sex assigned to them at birth.

Manning recently sued the Department of Defense over allegedly stalled gender treatments.

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Chelsea Manning to Write Columns for The Guardian

The Guardian Hires Chelsea Manning

The Guardians U.S. news wing announced on Tuesday that it has hired Chelsea Manning (formerly known as Bradley Manning) as a contributing opinion writer.

The Guardians U.S. editor-in-chief Katharine Viner announced the news on Twitter, adding that Manning will write about war, gender, freedom of information.

Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2013 after being convicted of leaking classified national security documents to WikiLeaks.

Shortly after sentencing, it was revealed that Manning planned to undergo a sex change.

RELATED: Chelsea Manning to TIME: Thankful for Those Who Dare to Ask Probing, Even Dangerous Questions

Last December, Manning penned an essay for The Guardian alleging the government was denying her civil rights as a transgender woman.

Viners tweet breaking the news below:

[h/t Politico] [Image via screengrab / The Guardian]

>>Follow Andrew Desiderio (@forza_desiderio) on Twitter

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The Guardian Hires Chelsea Manning