Julian Assange has said Sweden's decision to drop an investigation into allegations of rape against him is an "important victory".
But on the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where the WikiLeaks founder has been holed up since June 2012, he said he cannot forgive or forget the "terrible injustice" he has suffered.
He told reporters and supporters in central London that his children had grown up without him during the total of seven years he has spent in detention without charge.
Assange criticised the EU during his speech, and said: "The reality is detention and extradition without charge has become a feature of the European Union."
Although he is no longer facing action from Swedish prosecutors, Assange is still at risk of arrest if he tries to leave the Ecuadorian embassy.
He is wanted by British police for breaching bail conditions - and WikiLeaks is concerned this could result in him being extradited to the US, where he would face prosecution for publishing swathes of classified military and diplomatic documents.
Assange has said the UK is refusing to confirm or deny whether America has made an extradition request - and he insisted he is happy to engage with the US Justice Department.
:: Years inside: Timeline of Assange's fight for freedom
The 45-year-old, who is originally from Australia, told his supporters that the road is far from over - and "the proper war is just commencing".
Prior to his speech, Ecuador's foreign minister Guillaume Long had said: "Given that the European Arrest Warrant no longer holds, Ecuador will now be intensifying its diplomatic efforts with the UK so that Julian Assange can gain safe passage in order to enjoy his asylum in Ecuador."
Assange has now been inside the embassy for four years and 334 days.
From outside the embassy, Sky's Ashish Joshi said: "Assange sounded angry, he sounded triumphant and he sounded defiant.
"When he was speaking he talked about another major victory: Chelsea Manning being released from jail 28 years early because her sentence had been commuted.
"The important distinction is that her sentence was commuted by then president Barack Obama. Is Donald Trump likely to take a lenient approach to Julian Assange? The answer is no."
Assange had always denied the rape allegation against him, and his accuser said in a statement that she was "shocked" the investigation had ended - describing it as a "scandal".
Although the investigation has been dropped, Assange has not been exonerated - and Sweden could reopen the case if he returns to Sweden before the statute of limitations lapses in 2020.
Friday, May 19, 2017
Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation
Julian Assange, 45, has been holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012 [Reuters]Swedish prosecutors on Friday dropped a rape investigation into Julian Assange, the founder of anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks, bringing to an end a seven-year legal stand-off.
Yet, British police said he would still be arrested if he left the Ecuadorean embassy in the UK capital, London, where he has been holed up since 2012.
Assange, 45, took refuge there to avoid extradition to Sweden amid fears that he would have been handed over to the US to face prosecution over the publication of classified military and diplomatic documents by WikiLeaks.
"The investigation is discontinued," Marianne Ny, the director of public prosecution, told reporters in Sweden's capital, Stockholm.
"In order to proceed with the case, Julian Assange would have to be formally notified of the criminal suspicions against him. We cannot expect to receive assistance from Ecuador regarding this," Ny said.
"We are not making a statement about his guilt."
'Very pleased'
Christophe Marchand, a member of Assange's legal team, welcomed the suspension of the investigation as "the end of his nightmare".
"We have been waiting a long time for this decision," he said, adding: "Julian Assange has been a victim of a huge abuse of procedure. We are very pleased and very moved".
READ MORE: Chelsea Manning's release - Life beyond whistle-blowing
Shortly after the announcement, Assange posted a picture of himself smiling broadly, without comment.
Later on Friday, British police said separately they would still arrest Assange if he walked out of the embassy because he had broken his conditions for bail by failing to surrender on June 29, 2012 for extradition to Sweden.
"Now that the situation has changed and the Swedish authorities have discontinued their investigation into that matter, Mr Assange remains wanted for a much less serious offence," it said in a statement.
"The Metropolitan Police Service is obliged to execute that warrant should he leave the Embassy."
In a Twitter post, WikiLeaks said the UK has refused to comment whether it has received a US warrant to extradite Assange, and added: "Focus now moves to UK".
'It's a scandal'
The rape accusation against Assange dates from August 2010 when an alleged victim, who says she met him at a WikiLeaks conference in Stockholm a few days earlier, filed a complaint.
She said she was "shocked" by the Swedish prosecutors' decision to drop the investigation, according to her lawyer.
"It is a scandal that a suspected rapist can escape justice and thereby avoid the courts ... no decision to (end the case) can make her change that Assange exposed her to rape," Elisabeth Fritz, the plaintiff's lawyer, said in a statement.
Assange, however, has repeatedly reiterated his innocence and said the sex was consensual, insisting that the accusations are "politically motivated".
OPINION: Clamping down on whistle-blowers a 'retrograde' step
The probe has suffered from endless procedural complications since it began in 2010.
Per Samuelsson, Assange's Swedish lawyer, last month filed a new motion demanding that the arrest warrant be lifted after US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in April that arresting Assange would be "a priority".
In a letter sent to the Swedish government on May 8, Ecuador condemned "the obvious lack of progress" despite Swedish officials questioning Assange at the embassy in November 2016.
"The Ecuadorian government have been putting pressure on the Swedes to bring about some sort of solution to this long-running stand-off," Al Jazeera's Neave Barker, reporting from London, said.
The probe was dropped "largely on a technicality," he said. Prosecutors "simply cannot continue with the case because they cannot serve Assange with the necessary documents to do so, rather than a belief on whether he's guilty or not."
Barker added that the US was preparing to press charges against Assange.
"We believe the sealed indictment has been prepared, although we don't know what is in it," he said.
"The Obama administration felt charges couldn't be brought and things were very much in flux and they seem to be in flux even now."
A UN panel has said that Assange had been "arbitrarily detained" and should be able to claim compensation from Britain and Sweden. The two countries have dismissed the report.
Assange, who is Australian, was granted asylum by Ecuador and has been able to evade justice because he is on Ecuador's sovereign territory by being in the embassy.
Sudan's Bashir declines to attend Saudi summit with Trump
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has decided not to take up an invitation from Saudi Arabia to attend an Islamic summit at which US President Donald Trump will be guest of honour.
Mr Bashir, who cited "private reasons", is wanted for alleged war crimes in Darfur and the US was reportedly unhappy about his attendance.
Sudan had said it was looking forward to improving US ties at the event.
Saudi Arabia is the first stop on Mr Trump's first foreign tour.
A statement from Mr Bashir's office said the president had apologised to King Salman of Saudi Arabia for being unable to attend the Riyadh summit. No further explanation was given.
Minister of State Taha al-Hussein will represent him.
What's behind Donald Trump's first visit?
Who is Omar al-Bashir?
In 2009 and 2010, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against Mr Bashir for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity related to the conflict in Darfur, which has claimed at least 300,000 lives.
He denies the charges, and has successfully evaded arrest for several years.
Saudi Arabia is not a signatory to the statute that founded the ICC and neither Sudan nor the US have ratified it.
But a US official told NBC News earlier that the Trump administration opposed invitations or travel by individuals facing ICC indictments.
"While the United States is not a party to the Rome Statute... we nevertheless strongly support efforts to hold accountable those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes," the official said.
The Saudi summit brings together more than 50 leaders from Arab and Muslim nations.
Mr Trump will deliver a speech on his "hopes for a peaceful vision of Islam".
His trip will also take him to Israel, the West Bank and Europe.
Mr Bashir, who cited "private reasons", is wanted for alleged war crimes in Darfur and the US was reportedly unhappy about his attendance.
Sudan had said it was looking forward to improving US ties at the event.
Saudi Arabia is the first stop on Mr Trump's first foreign tour.
A statement from Mr Bashir's office said the president had apologised to King Salman of Saudi Arabia for being unable to attend the Riyadh summit. No further explanation was given.
Minister of State Taha al-Hussein will represent him.
What's behind Donald Trump's first visit?
Who is Omar al-Bashir?
In 2009 and 2010, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against Mr Bashir for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity related to the conflict in Darfur, which has claimed at least 300,000 lives.
He denies the charges, and has successfully evaded arrest for several years.
Saudi Arabia is not a signatory to the statute that founded the ICC and neither Sudan nor the US have ratified it.
But a US official told NBC News earlier that the Trump administration opposed invitations or travel by individuals facing ICC indictments.
"While the United States is not a party to the Rome Statute... we nevertheless strongly support efforts to hold accountable those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes," the official said.
The Saudi summit brings together more than 50 leaders from Arab and Muslim nations.
Mr Trump will deliver a speech on his "hopes for a peaceful vision of Islam".
His trip will also take him to Israel, the West Bank and Europe.
Danny DeVito urges UK to vote Jeremy Corbyn in the General Election
Hollywood actor Danny DeVito has pledged his support for Jeremy Corbyn, urging people in the UK to vote for him on Twitter.
The US actor known for his offbeat comedies tweeted: "UK. You've got the guy.
"Register by May 22nd. Vote for Jeremy Corbyn... show us how it's done!"
It is not the first time the 72-year-old star has pledged his allegiance to the Labour leader. Last year, he said he was a "big-time" supporter and that Mr Corbyn and Bernie Sanders were "the only shining lights we have right now".
This time, he got a response from Mr Corbyn, who tweeted to say that "if Danny DeVito is saying you should register to vote then you really should".
At the end of his tweet, DeVito added the hashtag #grime4corbyn, used by some UK rappers to voice their support for the Labour campaign.
The US actor known for his offbeat comedies tweeted: "UK. You've got the guy.
"Register by May 22nd. Vote for Jeremy Corbyn... show us how it's done!"
It is not the first time the 72-year-old star has pledged his allegiance to the Labour leader. Last year, he said he was a "big-time" supporter and that Mr Corbyn and Bernie Sanders were "the only shining lights we have right now".
This time, he got a response from Mr Corbyn, who tweeted to say that "if Danny DeVito is saying you should register to vote then you really should".
At the end of his tweet, DeVito added the hashtag #grime4corbyn, used by some UK rappers to voice their support for the Labour campaign.
Hackers arrested across Europe over spree of ATM 'black box' thefts
Twenty-seven people have been arrested across Europe as part of an international investigation into so-called ATM black box attacks.
EU member states and Norway contributed to the investigation, which was supported by Europol's European Cybercrime Centre.
Black box attacks are when criminals connect an unauthorised device to an ATM's controller, which sends commands to the cash dispenser telling it to dispense all of the money inside.
The attack requires the criminals to have physical access to the controller, often achieved by drilling holes or melting through the cover of the terminal.
Perpetrators responsible for this new and sophisticated method of ATM fraud were identified in a number of countries in 2016 and 2017, with the most recent arrest in Spain this month.
Image:Europol is headquartered in The Hague in the Netherlands
The black box phenomenon first appeared in Western Europe in 2015.
Losses from successful attacks can be significant, according to Europol, stretching into the hundreds of thousands of euros.
A recently published report from the European ATM Security Team (EAST) reveals that criminals carried out ATM black box attacks in 10 reporting countries during 2016.
According to EAST, there were 58 such attacks in 2016 - almost quadruple the amount in 2015, when there were 15.
Losses linked with overall ATM-related fraud rose 2% over the same period, up from £280m to £284m.
Europol has been cooperating with the ATM industry in order to detect black box incidents properly.
The agency says most attacks are now unsuccessful as public and private cooperation in the security domain is improving.
There were four operational meetings in 2016 and 2017 at The Hague, in which 20 countries including the UK and the US discussed how to share intelligence to tackle the rising threat.
Image:Arrests were made in the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain and Norway
According to Europol, perpetrators involved in ATM black box attacks come mainly from countries such as Romania, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine.
The agency states investigations are still ongoing and further arrests are expected in the near future.
EU member states and Norway contributed to the investigation, which was supported by Europol's European Cybercrime Centre.
Black box attacks are when criminals connect an unauthorised device to an ATM's controller, which sends commands to the cash dispenser telling it to dispense all of the money inside.
The attack requires the criminals to have physical access to the controller, often achieved by drilling holes or melting through the cover of the terminal.
Perpetrators responsible for this new and sophisticated method of ATM fraud were identified in a number of countries in 2016 and 2017, with the most recent arrest in Spain this month.
Image:Europol is headquartered in The Hague in the NetherlandsThe black box phenomenon first appeared in Western Europe in 2015.
Losses from successful attacks can be significant, according to Europol, stretching into the hundreds of thousands of euros.
A recently published report from the European ATM Security Team (EAST) reveals that criminals carried out ATM black box attacks in 10 reporting countries during 2016.
According to EAST, there were 58 such attacks in 2016 - almost quadruple the amount in 2015, when there were 15.
Losses linked with overall ATM-related fraud rose 2% over the same period, up from £280m to £284m.
Europol has been cooperating with the ATM industry in order to detect black box incidents properly.
The agency says most attacks are now unsuccessful as public and private cooperation in the security domain is improving.
There were four operational meetings in 2016 and 2017 at The Hague, in which 20 countries including the UK and the US discussed how to share intelligence to tackle the rising threat.
Image:Arrests were made in the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain and NorwayAccording to Europol, perpetrators involved in ATM black box attacks come mainly from countries such as Romania, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine.
The agency states investigations are still ongoing and further arrests are expected in the near future.
Trump hopes to leave scandals behind as he makes first foreign tip
On his first foreign trip as US President, Donald Trump is leaving behind a White House suffocating in scandal.
Known for being a reluctant traveller who prefers his own bed, Mr Trump may welcome a shift in focus from the numerous political fires that neither he nor his aides can extinguish.
A hectic nine-day tour of Saudi Arabia, Israel, Belgium, Italy and the Vatican will certainly divert attention from what is happening at home but the problems are not going away.
And with this President the trip itself could throw up its own surprises. Each stop requires some pretty intense briefing and delicate handling, which Mr Trump is not known for.
The first trip abroad of a US president is usually either to neighbouring Mexico or Canada.
The countries chosen for Mr Trump's first outing have been seen as too ambitious.
The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg thinks it could be too much.
"Heading to the Middle East to have this encounter with the Abrahamic religions and to the Vatican, adding the Vatican onto that, seems both fraught and unnecessary, also possibly counterproductive," he said.
"Because the Middle East - it doesn't take a genius to know this - is a little bit of a minefield."
How much room Mr Trump has for the nuances of all that is highly questionable. Accusations of obstruction of justice and revealing secrets to the Russians will surely be front of mind whether at home or abroad.
His global audience has been watching open-mouthed as scandal replaces scandal.
After those reports that he may have bragged classified information to the Kremlin, allies like Israel and the UK will be seeking reassurance about intelligence sharing. Though, according to a US official, there are no tweaks or changes to the schedule to accommodate that.
The same official said NATO will be a strong theme of the trip, with an emphasis on "increased burden sharing".
Mr Trump will be telling members they need to increase their commitments.
His administration is hoping for a "warm and upbeat" meeting with the Pope Francis.
The aim is to "show respect" for the Pope, with whom Mr Trump clashed during the election campaign over the need to build bridges not walls.
Despite reports that Mr Trump is dreading this trip, his administration says he is eager to press the agenda he campaigned on.
But Mr Trump did not campaign on foreign policy. No one really knows what his approach is.
Mr Goldberg says: "There is no discernible American foreign policy at the moment, there are a bunch of impulses, there are a bunch of initiatives, there are competing power centres, but there's no through-line, there's no theme."
He reckons the best the Trump administration can hope for is that the trip passes without incident.
"The best possible outcome of this trip for him is that he doesn't screw anything up," he said.
"He's literally going to the most volatile place in the world, he's going to Jerusalem, he's going to Saudi Arabia to give a talk on the future of Islam.
"I'm not speechless that often, but that one really took me by surprise, because that seems like a somewhat audacious thing for Donald Trump to go and do."
Audacious is the only way this President knows.
Known for being a reluctant traveller who prefers his own bed, Mr Trump may welcome a shift in focus from the numerous political fires that neither he nor his aides can extinguish.
A hectic nine-day tour of Saudi Arabia, Israel, Belgium, Italy and the Vatican will certainly divert attention from what is happening at home but the problems are not going away.
And with this President the trip itself could throw up its own surprises. Each stop requires some pretty intense briefing and delicate handling, which Mr Trump is not known for.
The first trip abroad of a US president is usually either to neighbouring Mexico or Canada.
The countries chosen for Mr Trump's first outing have been seen as too ambitious.
The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg thinks it could be too much.
"Heading to the Middle East to have this encounter with the Abrahamic religions and to the Vatican, adding the Vatican onto that, seems both fraught and unnecessary, also possibly counterproductive," he said.
"Because the Middle East - it doesn't take a genius to know this - is a little bit of a minefield."
How much room Mr Trump has for the nuances of all that is highly questionable. Accusations of obstruction of justice and revealing secrets to the Russians will surely be front of mind whether at home or abroad.
His global audience has been watching open-mouthed as scandal replaces scandal.
After those reports that he may have bragged classified information to the Kremlin, allies like Israel and the UK will be seeking reassurance about intelligence sharing. Though, according to a US official, there are no tweaks or changes to the schedule to accommodate that.
The same official said NATO will be a strong theme of the trip, with an emphasis on "increased burden sharing".
Mr Trump will be telling members they need to increase their commitments.
His administration is hoping for a "warm and upbeat" meeting with the Pope Francis.
The aim is to "show respect" for the Pope, with whom Mr Trump clashed during the election campaign over the need to build bridges not walls.
Despite reports that Mr Trump is dreading this trip, his administration says he is eager to press the agenda he campaigned on.
But Mr Trump did not campaign on foreign policy. No one really knows what his approach is.
Mr Goldberg says: "There is no discernible American foreign policy at the moment, there are a bunch of impulses, there are a bunch of initiatives, there are competing power centres, but there's no through-line, there's no theme."
He reckons the best the Trump administration can hope for is that the trip passes without incident.
"The best possible outcome of this trip for him is that he doesn't screw anything up," he said.
"He's literally going to the most volatile place in the world, he's going to Jerusalem, he's going to Saudi Arabia to give a talk on the future of Islam.
"I'm not speechless that often, but that one really took me by surprise, because that seems like a somewhat audacious thing for Donald Trump to go and do."
Audacious is the only way this President knows.
Thursday, May 18, 2017
How Mark Zuckerberg Gets $9 Billion Wealthier Every Year
Exactly five years have passed since Facebook had its glitch-riddled debut on the Nasdaq.
Each year since then, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has added an average $9 billion to his net worth, building his wealth up to $62.3 billion today. Based on the Bloomberg Billionaire's Index, 33-year-old Zuckerberg is the fifth-wealthiest person in the world — largely thanks to the appreciation of his Facebook stock holdings.
At the social media company's debut half a decade ago though, it would've been easy to doubt Zuckerberg's ability to rank in the world's 10 wealthiest. Four days after the CEO turned 28, Facebook much-hyped about IPO finally hit markets — as a dud. Thanks to technical glitches, Facebook didn't begin trading until 11:30 a.m. that Friday, priced at $42.05 a share. But by the end of the day, it had dropped as low as $38 as investor confidence began to wane.
In that single trading day, Zuckerberg's stake in the company had fallen from $19 billion when the stock began trading, to $17 billion at the market's close. And the losses didn't stop there. After the company reported a weaker than expected quarter following its first ever earnings call as a publicly-traded company in July, the CEO's worth had fallen to $11.9 billion.
But Facebook has certainly proved its doubters wrong since. Under Zuckerberg's leadership, shares of the company have risen some 282% since its IPO. Meanwhile, the platform now boasts 1.3 billion daily active users on the site during the first quarter of 2017 (that's about 17% of the world's population). Back in 2012, Facebook's user base was roughly half of that.
Zuckerberg also proved to investors that he could effectively monetize the social media company by selling web space and user information to advertisers. Profit margins have grown to a sizable 37% in 2016 — up from 19% five years prior to that.
With revenue of $28 billion (up 656% since 2011), and income of $10 billion (up 1,400% since 2011), Facebook now commands a market cap of $426.5 billion.
“He maintains a relentless focus on innovation, but at the same time he’s an applied-science and engineering guy,” Matt Cohler, an early Facebook employee and venture capitalist at Benchmark told Fortune's Adam Lashinsky. Facebook has in recent years been pushing more deeply into the areas of artificial intelligence and virtual reality.
That wealth that Zuckerberg has built though won't all end up in his pockets at the end of the day. The billionaire pledged in 2015 to give away 99% of his family's net worth in their lifetime.
Each year since then, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has added an average $9 billion to his net worth, building his wealth up to $62.3 billion today. Based on the Bloomberg Billionaire's Index, 33-year-old Zuckerberg is the fifth-wealthiest person in the world — largely thanks to the appreciation of his Facebook stock holdings.
At the social media company's debut half a decade ago though, it would've been easy to doubt Zuckerberg's ability to rank in the world's 10 wealthiest. Four days after the CEO turned 28, Facebook much-hyped about IPO finally hit markets — as a dud. Thanks to technical glitches, Facebook didn't begin trading until 11:30 a.m. that Friday, priced at $42.05 a share. But by the end of the day, it had dropped as low as $38 as investor confidence began to wane.
In that single trading day, Zuckerberg's stake in the company had fallen from $19 billion when the stock began trading, to $17 billion at the market's close. And the losses didn't stop there. After the company reported a weaker than expected quarter following its first ever earnings call as a publicly-traded company in July, the CEO's worth had fallen to $11.9 billion.
But Facebook has certainly proved its doubters wrong since. Under Zuckerberg's leadership, shares of the company have risen some 282% since its IPO. Meanwhile, the platform now boasts 1.3 billion daily active users on the site during the first quarter of 2017 (that's about 17% of the world's population). Back in 2012, Facebook's user base was roughly half of that.
Zuckerberg also proved to investors that he could effectively monetize the social media company by selling web space and user information to advertisers. Profit margins have grown to a sizable 37% in 2016 — up from 19% five years prior to that.
With revenue of $28 billion (up 656% since 2011), and income of $10 billion (up 1,400% since 2011), Facebook now commands a market cap of $426.5 billion.
“He maintains a relentless focus on innovation, but at the same time he’s an applied-science and engineering guy,” Matt Cohler, an early Facebook employee and venture capitalist at Benchmark told Fortune's Adam Lashinsky. Facebook has in recent years been pushing more deeply into the areas of artificial intelligence and virtual reality.
That wealth that Zuckerberg has built though won't all end up in his pockets at the end of the day. The billionaire pledged in 2015 to give away 99% of his family's net worth in their lifetime.
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