Saturday, April 13, 2019

Jailed Catalan leaders ease position on post-election coalition talks

File Photo: A demonstrator waves an Estelada (Catalan separatist flag) during a march towards Casa Llotja de Mar, in Barcelona, Spain, December 21, 2018. REUTERS/Susana Vera

APRIL 13, 2019

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Four Catalan leaders on trial over a 2017 bid to split their region from Spain have said separatists should be more flexible about entering negotiations on forming the next Madrid government after a April 28 national election.

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is forecast to win the most seats in the vote, but could need Catalan separatists’ backing to form a government. A unionist, rightist coalition winning a majority is another possible scenario.

The Catalan leaders’ call, made in a letter in Saturday’s edition of La Vanguardia newspaper, said separatists should enter talks with potential coaltion partners as long as they refused to rule out an independence referendum as a “possible solution” for the region.

That marked a softening of their previous stance and raises the possibility of compromise on an issue that has vexed past coalition talks.

“If it depends on us, we won’t look the other way when it is time to form a stable government, provided the candidate commits to dialogue and doesn’t rule out an independence referendum as one possible solution,” the leaders’ letter said.

They had said previously that holding an independence referendum for the region would be a non-negotiable condition for entering discussions to form a national government. Madrid has categorically ruled out holding such a referendum.

While rejecting an independence ballot, Sanchez has taken a more conciliatory tone toward the restive region since coming to power last year.

He called a snap election in February after failing to win the support he needed from Catalan separatists to pass his budget.

The four authors of Saturday’s letter — all members of former leader Carles Puigdemont’s party — are among 12 Catalan politicians and activists being tried on charges including rebellion and misappropriation of funds for their role in organising a 2017 referendum and subsequent failed declaration of independence.

They also sought to rally support for their party by saying a strong showing would lessen the chances of a right-wing coalition, including the far-right party Vox, being able to form a government.

Despite narrowly winning a majority in 2017 snap elections called in the wake of the secession crisis, Catalan separatist parties have struggled to further the independence movement in the face of successive Madrid governments unwilling to negotiate any split from Spain.

Sudan's intelligence chief Salah Gosh resigns: Military council

Feared head of NISS had overseen a sweeping crackdown against demonstrations against Omar al-Bashir's rule

Gosh was well known in the US, where he earned a reputation during the 2000s as a spy chief with whom the CIA could work (AFP)

By MEE and agencies-13 April 2019

Salah Gosh, the head of Sudan's feared National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), has resigned from his post, the country's new military rulers have said on Saturday.

"The chief of the transitional military council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has accepted the resignation of ... the chief of NISS," the transitional military council said.

Gosh had overseen a sweeping crackdown led by NISS agents against protesters taking part in four months of mass demonstrations that led up to the toppling of longtime president Omar al-Bashir in a palace coup by the army on Thursday.

Thousands of protesters, opposition activists and journalists were arrested during the crackdown.

Last month, Middle East Eye revealed that Gosh had held secret talks with the head of Mossad in Germany in February as part of a plot hatched by Israel's Gulf allies to elevate him to the presidency if Bashir was toppled from power.

Highlighting what appeared to be a divide between lower ranks of the army and the NISS, clashes had erupted on Tuesday between soldiers trying to protect protesters against Bashir's rule and intelligence and security personnel trying to disperse them.

New military leader

Gosh's resignation comes just a day after Defence Minister Awad Ahmed ibn Auf, who was sworn in to lead the transitional military council on Thursday, stepped down from the post after less than 24 hours into the role.

EXCLUSIVE: Sudanese spy chief 'met head of Mossad to discuss Bashir succession plan'

Ibn Auf was replaced by Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who was sworn in as transitional ruler on Friday evening.

In his first televised address on Saturday, Burhan said that a civilian government would be established after consultations with opposition forces and promised that the transitional period would last for a maximum of two years.

He also announced the lifting of a night curfew implemented by his predecessor and ordered the release of all prisoners jailed under emergency laws ordered by Bashir.

Meanwhile, Bashir's party urged the country's new ruling military council Saturday to release him and other key members.

"We consider the military council's power grab a violation of constitutional law," the National Congress Party said in a statement. "The NCP rejects the detention of its leaders, among them its acting president and a large number of prominent members, and calls for their immediate release."

Gosh's CIA connections

Gosh was well known in the US, where he earned a reputation during the 2000s as a spy chief with whom the CIA could work in the "war on terror" against al-Qaeda, even visiting the US in 2005 when, as now, Sudan was listed by the State Department as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Gosh headed NISS between 2004 and 2009, when Bashir appointed him as his national security adviser.

He was sacked in 2011 and later arrested on suspicion of involvement in a coup plot, but was released with a presidential pardon in 2013.

He was reappointed as the head of NISS in February 2018.

Over the years the NISS has overseen repeated crackdowns on government opponents and the media.

Its agents frequently confiscated the entire print-runs of newspapers that criticised government policy or reported on anti-government protests.

'Veteran soldier'

In a statement late on Friday, ibn Auf had said his deputy on the transitional council, Kamal Abdul-Marouf al-Mahi, was also quitting.

Ibn Auf steps down as leader of 'transition' in Sudan after one day in role

Ibn Ouf's exit has catapulted Burhan, who had a stint as Sudan's defence attache to Beijing, from the shadows to the de facto head of the country.

"Burhan is a high ranking officer within the armed forces, but basically he's a veteran soldier," said an army officer, who did not want to be named.

"He's never been in the limelight like Ibn Ouf or General Kamal Abdelmarouf."

Like Gosh and ibn Auf, Burhan has also been accused of involvement in war crimes in Darfur, for his role as a militia commander.

On Friday, hours before he was named as Sudan's new military ruler, he was seen talking to protesters who have camped outside the army headquarters since 6 April.

'Transitional period'

Despite the end of Bashir's rule, demonstrators have continued to protest across the country in rejection of the new military authority's plan for a two-year "transitional period".

Sudan's Omar al-Bashir: How coup leader and longtime president was ousted from power

At least 16 people were killed, and 20 wounded by stray bullets at protests and sit-ins on Thursday and Friday, a Sudanese police spokesman said in a statement on Saturday quoted by Reuters.

Government buildings and private property were also attacked, Reuters said, citing spokesman Hashem Ali.

The Sudanese Professional Association (SPA), a leading group in the protest campaign that began late last year against Bashir, called ibn Auf and Mahi's resignation a "victory for the will of the masses".

The association also urged protesters to remain in the streets.

Military Factions Vie for Power After Coup in Sudan

Protesters vow to press on until they gain civilian rule.

After Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was ousted, members of the Sudanese military gather in a street with protestors in central Khartoum on April 11. (Ahmed Mustafa/AFP/Getty Images)

BY JUSTIN LYNCH, ROBBIE GRAMER, JEFCOATE O'DONNELL

| APRIL 12, 2019, 7:57 PM

Omar al-Bashir led Sudan for 30 years. His successor, Defense Minister Ahmed Awad Ibn Auf, led the country for about 30 hours.

Ibn Auf stepped down as the head of Sudan’s ruling military council Friday, just one day after leading a coup against Bashir. He did not explain his reasons for the resignation but promptly named another general, Abdel-Fatah al-Burhan Abdel-Rahman, as his replacement.

The announcement was the latest political drama to unfold in Sudan, where demonstrators have been protesting for months, demanding economic and political reforms. Friday’s reshuffle was the latest sign that Sudan’s turmoil was not over.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, a group that has spearheaded the protests, renewed its calls for a civilian-led political transition and called on citizens to continue their sit-in at the army headquarters.

The military council that took over following Bashir’s ouster said on Friday it would lead a two-year transition that could end sooner under the right political conditions.

Some analysts said Ibn Auf’s resignation might suggest that groups within Sudan’s security forces are still vying for power behind the scenes—and pointed to two factions in particular.

One includes military officials with ties to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, among them Ibn Auf and Sudan’s intelligence chief, Salah Gosh. Others apparently have the backing of Qatar and Turkey, countries that are pushing for more influence in Sudan in an extension of their regional rivalries with the other Gulf states.

“Nobody’s really agreed who will be in and who will be out,” said Susan Stigant, the director of Africa programs at the United States Institute of Peace. “There’s a risk of escalation of violence between those factions.”

Payton Knopf, a former U.S. diplomat who worked on Sudan, said the United States should focus on ensuring that the regional rivalries are not exported there. “The nightmare scenario is that different camps in the Middle East get grafted onto the situation in Sudan,” he said. “The U.S. is not going to solve this on its own, but it can lead an international consensus to a civilian-led transition”

In the months before his ouster, Bashir was in talks with the Qataris and Saudis for more economic relief, trying to play the two regional rivals off one another, said Willow Berridge, a scholar on Sudan at Newcastle University. She said the military officers who now rule Sudan might “try to play the same game.”

In Washington, U.S. officials have called for a democratic transition of power in Sudan but so far refrained from playing the leading role in mediating the crisis.

“The Sudanese people should determine who leads them and their future. The Sudanese people have been clear that they are demanding a civilian-led transition now,” a State Department spokesman said.

Before Bashir’s ouster, the Trump administration was in talks with his government to lift the State Department’s designation of Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism in exchange for progress on human rights and counterterrorism cooperation, among other issues.

The State Department suspended the talks after Thursday’s coup, but the spokesman indicated the United States would consider reopening talks under the right conditions. “We remain open to engagement that would support meaningful progress … with leaders who are willing to address the Sudanese people’s legitimate demands,” the spokesman said.

The abrupt changes in Sudan present the same dilemma that protest organizers have been facing for decades: How do they dismantle the cabal of military leaders ruling the country? Activists are split on how to accomplish the transition to democracy.

Sara Abdelgalil, a spokeswoman for the Sudanese Professionals Association, said the international community should now focus on preventing a massacre in Sudan. In late 2013, the Sudanese government allegedly killed around 200 people who took part in demonstrations.

“We have reached 70 killed since December and there is an ongoing threat this can happen again. We need you to be looking carefully with us because we are very, very worried and concerned that he will use violence,” Abdelgalil told Foreign Policy. She emphasized that no foreign military should interfere in Sudan’s peaceful change.

Other Sudanese civil society groups are calling for stronger international support to sideline the military and install a civilian-led transition in Sudan.

“There is still hope that a coordinated campaign from within and outside Sudan will influence the new military council to hand over power to a transitional civilian government. To do so, we need to push the African Union member states, the African Union Peace and Security Council and the U.N. Security Council,” said a letter from Sudanese civil society groups circulated in the region that was obtained by FP.

The African Union released a statement Thursday saying that “the military takeover is not the appropriate response.”

Brett Carter, a scholar of African politics at the University of Southern California, said most African Union leaders didn’t have much affection for the Bashir government.

“At the same time, they don’t want to do anything that would encourage other protests that would take their inspiration from recent events in Algeria and Sudan,” he said.

“I think from the AU’s perspective, the sooner this situation gets resolved the better.”

Commonality Builds A Bridge

Retrospection of the far-reaching consequences of past international conflicts and reconciliations may bring some new insights to the solution of complexity.

by Michael R. Czinkota-

International business complexity calls for commonality. The need for and acceptance of the soul builds up a common path and provides a joint perspective underpinned by a broadly supported objective.

Rising global communication and output from a global labor force have created a growing and diverse marketplace. Changes include the contrast and juncture of controversial debates over international trade, artificial intelligence, refugees, terrorism, and greatly intensify the complexity of international business.

Commonality is increasingly difficult, yet important to achieve for the sake of relationship and trust building in international business. The understanding of the soul and its accompanying emotional subcomponents provides individuals, companies, and countries with the opportunity to develop and align global values and bridges between them. If people act and argue focused on business principles alone, they may find themselves increasingly ignored.

New thinking and behavior regarding collaboration are needed to help employees work across cultures. According to the World Bank, the global labor force has reached almost 3.5 billion in 2018. A shortage of skilled workers may intensify competition for talent.

Due to a lack of local knowledge, unfamiliarity with market conditions, insufficient insights into consumer behavior, and newness to political decision making, foreign firms typically face shortcomings and disadvantages when entering a new market. The overarching umbrella is provided by the soul, which affects judgment and, offers simplicity. It allows the understanding of truth and enables good decision-making in light of changing realities. For example, negotiators who lose tend to blame their loss on the corruption and nepotism of winners. Yet, culturally, the closeness to family and desire to help one’s own environment can be seen as a supportive obligation rather than a deviation. How good it is to lay off blame and recognize the conditionality of behavior and management.

The soul and its key pillars such as politics, security, and religion can teach new entrants more and prepare them better than mere principles of economics and business.

Some lessons can be taken from history which permeates our lives but is usually forgotten. We bemoan the disruptions from terrorism but neglect that the Crusaders already wrote home about their fear of terror. We debate new approaches of artificial intelligence in teaching and communication but don’t recall the effects which Gutenberg’s printing press of 1440, wireless telegraphy, or the introduction of radio had on business and society. We deplore the differentiation of groups based on religion but conveniently forget the impact of Torquemada, the Inquisition, or the reactions to Luther’s theses on the church doors of Wittenberg.

Retrospection of the far-reaching consequences of past international conflicts and reconciliations may bring some new insights to the solution of complexity. Not all measures are equal at all times. Tariffs, for example, can be a tool to deal with crises and promote trade.

International marketing offers a new linkage in cultures and values. New progress in thinking and behavior can and must shape a greater global commonality in values.

Professor Czinkota (czinkotm@georgetown.edu) teaches international marketing and trade at Georgetown University and the University of Kent in Canterbury.

Assange's indictment is Trump's next step in his war on press freedom

The case against the WikiLeaks founder is the justice department’s perfect vehicle to ultimately get what Trump wants

‘Do you trust Trump’s justice department to protect press freedom?’ Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

@trevortimm-Sat 13 Apr 2019

The WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is so disliked in journalism and political circles that many reporters and liberal politicians were publicly cheering on Thursday when the Trump administration released an indictment of Assange, which was related to his interactions with the whistleblower Chelsea Manning in the months leading up to the publication of Pentagon and state department cables in 2010.

Please do not fall for this trap. It is exactly what the Trump administration is hoping for, as the Department of Justice (DoJ) moves forward with its next dangerous step in its war on journalism and press freedom.

The larger context surrounding this case is almost as important as the Assange indictment itself. Donald Trump has been furious with leakers and the news organizations that publish them ever since he took office. He complains about it constantly in his Twitter tirades. He has repeatedly directed the justice department to stop leaks, and he even asked former FBI director James Comey if he can put journalists in jail.

The justice department has responded by launching a record number of leak cases and have weighed changing the rules to make it easier to subpoena journalists.

Donald Trump has been furious with leakers and the news organizations that publish them ever since he took office

But officials at the justice department aren’t so stupid as to overtly act on the president’s most controversial musings and immediately attempt to prosecute New York Times or Washington Post reporters. Give them more credit than that. If they were to do so, the public backlash would be so overwhelming that, even if their case did not fall apart before trial, a judge would almost certainly put an end to it.

There are other, more methodical ways for the justice department to ultimately get what Trump wants, and the case against Assange is their perfect vehicle.

What’s the most effective way to curtail the rights of all people? First go after the unpopular; the person who may be despised in society and will have very few defenders. Assange fits this profile to a T. Once there is law on the books that says “this aspect of journalism is illegal”, it becomes much easier for the justice department to bring other cases against more mainstream government critics down the road, and much harder for judges to immediately dismiss them.

Instead of thinking, “I hate Julian Assange, so I’m glad he’s going to be punished,” ask yourself this: do you trust Trump’s justice department to protect press freedom?

The Trump administration has attempted to disguise its motives in the Assange case by avoiding overtly criminalizing the act of publishing itself. Instead, they have accused Assange of one count of “conspiracy” to violate a computer crime law when he allegedly offered whistleblower Chelsea Manning help in cracking a password in 2010. (The indictment does not allege they ever did crack the password, nor do they allege it helped Assange get any documents from Manning.)

It’s true that most journalists aren’t going to attempt to help a source crack a password, and no one is claiming that is some sort of first amendment protected right. But when anyone reads the entire indictment – rather than just the hyperbolic “conspiracy to hack” headline the Department of Justice wants you to see – it’s clear that they are using the conspiracy charge as a pretext to target Assange and potentially criminalize important and common journalistic practices in newsgathering at the same time.

The indictment refers to using an encrypted chat program to communicate with Manning for months. It describes how Assange wanted to protect Manning’s anonymity and did so by redacting information such as usernames from the documents Manning sent him. It also talks about how Assange requested that Manning send him additional documents and material that were newsworthy.

These are all standard practices for countless journalists around the country and around the world. In fact, using encryption and protecting the anonymity of sources are virtually requirements in an age where leak investigations are common. Reporters would not be doing their job if they refused to ask sources for information and instead waited for it to miraculously drop in their lap.

CNN has already reported that the justice department expects to bring more charges against Assange. Coupled with the fact that there was an ominous reference to the Espionage Act in the current indictment, this all suggests prosecutors might still be thinking about charging him for a crime involving the act of publishing too – a Rubicon that would be an absolute disaster for reporters everywhere.

For those who have been following the WikiLeaks closely over the years, none of the information in the Assange indictment released yesterday is new. In fact, the Obama administration had this exact same information at their disposal since at least 2011, when it first considered indicting Assange.

Despite Barack Obama’s extremely disappointing record on press freedom, his justice department ultimately ended up making the right call when they decided that it was too dangerous to prosecute WikiLeaks without putting news organizations such as the New York Times and the Guardian at risk.
To those who have no sympathy for Assange, are you going to trust Trump’s justice department here over Obama’s? Given the Trump DoJ is relying on nine-year-old evidence on a flimsy charge of “conspiracy” to crack a password – an alleged scheme even the DoJ admits didn’t work – do you think they might have ulterior motives when it comes to this case?

Virtually all the major press freedom and civil liberties organizations denounced the prosecution yesterday, and expressed extreme concern that even though the indictment was ostensibly about “hacking” that it implicated serious press freedom concerns nonetheless.

At a time when press freedom has never been more at the forefront of the public consciousness, when it is the subject of Super Bowl commercials and celebrity award shows, please do not sit back and say: “Yeah, I trust the Trump administration to protect my rights in this case.” It is a recipe for disaster.

Trevor Timm is executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation

Julian Assange: Wikileaks co-founder arrested in London

Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange has been arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

12 April 2019

Assange took refuge in the embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over a sexual assault case that has since been dropped.

At Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday he was found guilty of failing to surrender to the court.

He now faces US federal conspiracy charges related to one of the largest ever leaks of government secrets.

The UK will decide whether to extradite Assange, in response to allegations by the Department for Justice that he conspired with former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to download classified databases.

He faces up to five years in US prison if convicted on the charges of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion.

Assange's lawyer Jennifer Robinson said they would be fighting the extradition request. She said it set a "dangerous precedent" where any journalist could face US charges for "publishing truthful information about the United States".

She said she had visited Assange in the police cells where he thanked supporters and said: "I told you so."

Assange had predicted that he would face extradition to the US if he left the embassy.

What happened in court?

Sketch of Julia Assange at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 11 April 2019

After his arrest, the 47-year-old Australian national was initially taken to a central London police station before appearing in court.

Dressed in a black suit and black polo shirt, he waved to the public gallery and gave a thumbs up. He pleaded not guilty to the 2012 charge of failing to surrender to the court.

Finding him guilty of that charge, District Judge Michael Snow said Assange's behaviour was "the behaviour of a narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interest".

He sent him to Southwark Crown Court for sentencing, where he faces up to 12 months in prison.

The court also heard that during his arrest at the embassy he had to be restrained and shouted: "This is unlawful, I am not leaving."

Assange gave a thumbs up as he was taken to Westminster Magistrates' Court in a police van

Why does the US government want to extradite Assange?

Assange set up Wikileaks in 2006 with the aim of obtaining and publishing confidential documents and images.

The organisation hit the headlines four years later when it released footage of US soldiers killing civilians from a helicopter in Iraq.

Former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning was arrested in 2010 for disclosing more than 700,000 confidential documents, videos and diplomatic cables to the anti-secrecy website.

She said she only did so to spark debates about foreign policy, but US officials said the leak put lives at risk.

She was found guilty by a court martial in 2013 of charges including espionage. However, her jail sentence was later commuted.

Manning was recently jailed for refusing to testify before an investigation into Wikileaks' role in revealing the secret files.

What are the US charges against him?

The indictment against Assange, issued last year in the state of Virginia, alleges that he conspired in 2010 with Manning to access classified information on Department of Defense computers. He faces up to five years in jail.

Manning downloaded four databases from US departments and agencies between January and May 2010, the indictment says. This information, much of which was classified, was provided to Wikileaks.

The US Justice Department described it as "one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States".

Cracking a password stored on the computers, the indictment alleges, would have allowed Manning to log on to them in such a way as to make it harder for investigators to determine the source of the disclosures. It is unclear whether the password was actually broken.

Correspondents say the narrowness of the charge seems intended to avoid falling foul of the US Constitution's First Amendment guarantee of freedom of the press.

Why did the Ecuadorian embassy stop protecting him?

The Wikileaks co-founder had been in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012, after seeking asylum there to avoid extradition to Sweden on a rape allegation.

The investigation into the alleged rape, which he denied, was later dropped because he had evaded the arrest warrant. The Swedish Prosecution Authority has said it is now considering whether to resume the inquiry before the statute of limitations runs out in August 2020.

Scotland Yard said it was invited into the embassy on Thursday by the ambassador, following the Ecuadorian government's withdrawal of asylum.

Ecuadorian president Lenin Moreno said the country had "reached its limit on the behaviour of Mr Assange".

Mr Moreno said: "The most recent incident occurred in January 2019, when Wikileaks leaked Vatican documents.

"This and other publications have confirmed the world's suspicion that Mr Assange is still linked to WikiLeaks and therefore involved in interfering in internal affairs of other states."

His accusations against Assange also included blocking security cameras at the embassy, accessing security files and confronting guards.

Assange's lawyer Jennifer Robinson and Wikileaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson say the arrest sets a dangerous precedent

Mr Moreno said the British government had confirmed in writing that Assange "would not be extradited to a country where he could face torture or the death penalty".

The arrest comes a day after Wikileaks said it had uncovered an extensive spying operation against its co-founder at the Ecuadorian embassy.

There has been a long-running dispute between the Ecuadorian authorities and Assange about what he was and was not allowed to do in the embassy.

Ecuador court throws out Assange lawsuit

BBC diplomatic correspondent James Landale said that over the years they had removed his access to the internet and accused him of engaging in political activities - which is not allowed when claiming asylum.

He said: "Precisely what has happened in the embassy is not clear - there has been claim and counter claim."

How have people reacted?

Prime Minister Theresa May told the House of Commons: "This goes to show that in the UK, no one is above the law."

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the arrest was the result of "years of careful diplomacy" and that it was "not acceptable" for someone to "escape facing justice".

But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said that Assange had revealed "evidence of atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan" and his extradition "should be opposed by the British government".

Press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders said that the UK should resist extradition, because it would "set a dangerous precedent for journalists, whistleblowers, and other journalistic sources that the US may wish to pursue in the future".

Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne said he would continue to receive "the usual consular support" and that consular officers will try to visit him.

And actress Pamela Anderson, who has visited the embassy to support Assange, said the arrest was a "vile injustice".

Timeline: Julian Assange saga

August 2010 - The Swedish Prosecutor's Office first issues an arrest warrant for Assange. It says there are two separate allegations - one of rape and one of molestation. Assange says the claims are "without basis"
December 2010 - Assange is arrested in London and bailed at the second attempt
May 2012 - The UK's Supreme Court rules he should be extradited to Sweden to face questioning over the allegations
June 2012 - Assange enters the Ecuadorean embassy in London
August 2012 - Ecuador grants asylum to Assange, saying there are fears his human rights might be violated if he is extradited
August 2015 - Swedish prosecutors drop their investigation into two allegations - one of sexual molestation and one of unlawful coercion because they have run out of time to question him. But he still faces the more serious accusation of rape.
October 2015 - Metropolitan Police announces that officers will no longer be stationed outside the Ecuadorean embassy
February 2016 - A UN panel rules that Assange has been "arbitrarily detained" by UK and Swedish authorities since 2010
May 2017 - Sweden's director of public prosecutions announces that the rape investigation into Assange is being dropped
July 2018 - The UK and Ecuador confirm they are holding ongoing talks over the fate of Assange
October 2018 - Assange is given a set of house rules at the Ecuadorean embassy in London. He then launches legal action against the government of Ecuador
December 2018 - Assange's lawyer rejects an agreement announced by Ecuador's president to see him leave the Ecuadorean embassy
February 2019 - Australia grants Assange a new passport amid fears Ecuador may bring his asylum to an end
April 2019 - The Metropolitan Police arrests him for "failing to surrender to the court" over a warrant issued in 2012. He is found guilty and faces up to 12 months in prison, as well as extradition over US charges of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion.

Airplane with world's longest wingspan takes flight, beating Spruce Goose record

Stratolaunch jet, brainchild of late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, may be used to launch small satellites into space

The Stratolaunch plane is pushed out of its hanger in the Mojave desert. Photograph: April Keller/AFP/Getty Images

Associated Press in Los Angeles-Sat 13 Apr 2019

A giant six-engine aircraft with the world’s longest wingspan – surpassing Howard Hughes’ infamous Spruce Goose – took off from California on its first flight on Saturday.

The behemoth, twin-fuselage Stratolaunch jet lifted off from Mojave Air and Space Port and climbed into the desert sky 70 miles north of Los Angeles. It landed two hours later.

Stratolaunch Systems chief executive Jean Floyd said the aircraft made a “spectacular” landing. The company, founded by billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who died in October, is vying to be a contender in the market for air-launching small satellites.

“It was an emotional moment for me, to personally watch this majestic bird take flight, to see Paul Allen’s dream come to life in front of my very eyes,” Floyd told a teleconference briefing.

As the plane lifted off, Floyd said, “I did whisper a ‘thank you’ to Paul for allowing me to be part of this remarkable achievement.”

The aircraft is designed to carry as many as three satellite-laden rockets under the center of its enormous wing, which stretches 385ft, or 117m. At an altitude of 35,000ft, the rockets would be released, ignite their engines and soar into space.

The advantages of such air-launch systems include being able to use airports and avoid the limitations of fixed launch sites which can be affected by weather, air traffic and ship traffic on ocean ranges.

The plane took off shortly before 7am on Saturday and achieved a maximum speed of 189mph at up to 17,000ft, the company said. Test pilot Evan Thomas of Scaled Composites, which built the aircraft, said the flight was “fantastic” and for the most part the plane flew as predicted.

“The airplane very nicely, smoothly rotated and really just lifted off the ground,” he said. “It definitely was ready to fly and wanted to fly and climbed out quickly.”

Thomas said there were “a few little things that were off-nominal but really for a first flight it was spot-on”. He did not specify what those things were, and briefing participants did not take questions.

Amateur footage of the takeoff.

Allen founded Stratolaunch Systems in 2011, after funding the development of the experimental air-launched SpaceShipOne, which in 2004 became the first privately built manned rocket to reach space.

After Allen’s death, Stratolaunch dropped plans to develop its own rocket engine and a family of launch vehicles, focusing instead on getting the giant plane airborne and launching Northrop Grumman’s proven Pegasus XL.

The Stratolaunch aircraft emerged from its Mojave hangar for the first time in May 2017 and proceeded through ground tests, including taxiing and rolling down a runway at near-takeoff speeds.
Powered by the same type of engines used by Boeing 747s, the aircraft is designed to take off at a maximum weight of 1.3m pounds. Its twin fuselages are 238ft long.

The vast wooden sea-plane ‘Spruce Goose’, seen near completion in Long Beach, California. Photograph: Popperfoto/Getty Images

The previous wingspan leader was Hughes’ second world war-era eight-engine H4 Hercules flying boat, which was nicknamed the Spruce Goose. Surviving in an aviation museum, it has an approximately 320ft (97.5m) wingspan but is just under 219ft long.

While Stratolaunch calls its aircraft the world’s largest, other airplanes exceed it in length. They include the six-engine Antonov AN 225 cargo plane, which is 275.5ft or 84m long, and the Boeing 747-8, which is just over 250ft (76.3m) long.