Julian Assange’s wife has called on Joe Biden to “do the right thing” and “drop the charges” as Thursday marks the fifth anniversary of her husband’s imprisonment.
The US president has said he is “considering” a request from Australia, where Assange is from, to drop the prosecution and allow the WikiLeaks founder to return to his country.
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Biden ‘considering’ dropping Assange prosecution
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called it an “encouraging statement”.
“I believe this must be brought to a conclusion and that Mr Assange has already paid a significant price and enough is enough,” said Mr Albanese on Thursday.
“There’s nothing to be gained by Mr Assange’s continued incarceration, in my very strong view, and I’ve put that as the view of the Australian government.”
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‘Assange already paid significant price’ says Australian PM
Assange‘s lawyer also called Mr Biden’s remarks “encouraging”, while Assange’s brother, Gabriel Shipton, described them as “significant”.
Speaking to Sky News from Melbourne, Mr Shipton said: “This is a controversial prosecution and I think something that Joe Biden could easily get rid of in an election year.”
He added: “This is seen as a complete scandal around the world. It’s not popular with the electorates in any of the countries, and it could easily be brought to an end.”
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Assange’s brother calls for release
Assange, 52, faces prosecution in the US over an alleged conspiracy, nearly a decade and a half ago, to obtain and disclose national defence information.
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It followed the publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents relating to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
After Britain eventually approved his extradition, Assange’s lawyers in February launched a final bid to block it in the English courts.
His extradition was put on hold in March after the High Court said it wanted more assurances he would not face the death penalty.
A further hearing is due in May.
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Stella Assange spoke to Sky’s Yalda Hakim in March
WikiLeaks editor Kristinn Hrafnsson, who visited Assange at London’s Belmarsh prison on Thursday, said it was “not too late” to stop the extradition.
After their meeting, he told Sky News that Assange was “delighted” by President Biden’s comments, believing his remarks to be a “positive step”.
The UK government has said Mr Biden’s comments aren’t enough for it to act.
Mr Hrafnsson said he assumes the UK government will “knock on the door” of President Biden for clarity.
“The UK government justifiably wants a definition,” he said.
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Assange ‘delighted’ by Biden remarks
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It comes as supporters prepare to mark five years since Assange was taken to Belmarsh prison, having been dragged out of his refuge at the Ecuadorian embassy.
Events will be held around the world on Thursday as they continue to campaign for his release.
Australian authorities say there is a disconnect between America’s treatment of Assange and US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.
The US accuses Assange of encouraging and helping Manning to steal diplomatic cables and military files which were then published by WikiLeaks, allegedly putting American agents’ lives at risk.
Manning was sentenced to 35 years but Barack Obama cut it to seven years, allowing her to be released in 2017.
Assange’s supporters insist he is a journalist who exposed US military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan that was in the public interest, and that he is protected by the First Amendment.
Sam Moore, who sang Soul Man and other 1960s hits in the legendary Sam & Dave duo, has died aged 89.
Moore, who influenced musicians including Michael Jackson, Al Green and Bruce Springsteen, died on Friday in Coral Gables, Florida, due to complications while recovering from surgery, his publicist Jeremy Westby said.
No additional details were immediately available.
Moore was inducted with Dave Prater, who had died in a 1988 car crash, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
The duo, at the Memphis, Tennessee-based Stax Records, transformed the “call and response” of gospel music into a frenzied stage show and recorded some of soul music’s most enduring hits, including Hold On, I’m Comin’.
Many of their records were written and produced by the team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter and featured the record label’s house band Booker T & the MGs.
Sam & Dave faded after their 1960s heyday but Soul Man hit the charts again in the late 1970s when the Blues Brothers, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, recorded it with many of the same musicians.
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Moore had mixed feelings about the hit becoming associated with the Saturday Night Live stars, remembering how young people believed it originated with the Blues Brothers.
Sam & Dave broke up in 1970 and neither had another major hit.
Moore later said his drug habit played a part in the band’s troubles and made record executives wary of giving him a fresh start.
He married his wife Joyce in 1982, and she helped him get treatment for his addiction that he credited with saving his life.
Moore spent years suing Prater after his former partner hired a substitute and toured as the New Sam & Dave.
He also lost a lawsuit claiming the pair of aging, estranged singers in the 2008 movie Soul Men was too close to the duo.
In another legal case, he and other artists sued multiple record companies and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists in 1993, claiming he had been cheated out of retirement benefits.
Despite his million-selling records, he said in 1994 his pension amounted to just 2,285 US dollars (£1,872), which he could take as a lump sum or in monthly payments of 73 US dollars (£60).
“Two thousand dollars for my lifetime?” Moore said at the time. “If you’re making a profit off of me, give me some too. Don’t give me cornbread and tell me it’s biscuits.”
Moore wrote Dole Man, based on Soul Man, for Republican Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign and was one of the few entertainers who performed at President Donald Trump’s inaugural festivities in 2017.
Eight years earlier, he objected to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s use of the song Hold On, I’m Comin’ during his campaign.
The fires that have been raging in Los Angeles County this week may be the “most destructive” in modern US history.
In just three days, the blazes have covered tens of thousands of acres of land and could potentially have an economic impact of up to $150bn (£123bn), according to private forecaster Accuweather.
Sky News has used a combination of open-source techniques, data analysis, satellite imagery and social media footage to analyse how and why the fires started, and work out the estimated economic and environmental cost.
More than 1,000 structures have been damaged so far, local officials have estimated. The real figure is likely to be much higher.
“In fact, it’s likely that perhaps 15,000 or even more structures have been destroyed,” said Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at Accuweather.
These include some of the country’s most expensive real estate, as well as critical infrastructure.
Accuweather has estimated the fires could have a total damage and economic loss of between $135bn and $150bn.
“It’s clear this is going to be the most destructive wildfire in California history, and likely the most destructive wildfire in modern US history,” said Mr Porter.
“That is our estimate based upon what has occurred thus far, plus some considerations for the near-term impacts of the fires,” he added.
The calculations were made using a wide variety of data inputs, from property damage and evacuation efforts, to the longer-term negative impacts from job and wage losses as well as a decline in tourism to the area.
The Palisades fire, which has burned at least 20,000 acres of land, has been the biggest so far.
Satellite imagery and social media videos indicate the fire was first visible in the area around Skull Rock, part of a 4.5 mile hiking trail, northeast of the upscale Pacific Palisades neighbourhood.
These videos were taken by hikers on the route at around 10.30am on Tuesday 7 January, when the fire began spreading.
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At about the same time, this footage of a plane landing at Los Angeles International Airport was captured. A growing cloud of smoke is visible in the hills in the background – the same area where the hikers filmed their videos.
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The area’s high winds and dry weather accelerated the speed that the fire has spread. By Tuesday night, Eaton fire sparked in a forested area north of downtown LA, and Hurst fire broke out in Sylmar, a suburban neighbourhood north of San Fernando, after a brush fire.
These images from NASA’s Black Marble tool that detects light sources on the ground show how much the Palisades and Eaton fires grew in less than 24 hours.
On Tuesday, the Palisades fire had covered 772 acres. At the time of publication of Friday, the fire had grown to cover nearly 20,500 acres, some 26.5 times its initial size.
The Palisades fire was the first to spark, but others erupted over the following days.
At around 1pm on Wednesday afternoon, the Lidia fire was first reported in Acton, next to the Angeles National Forest north of LA. Smaller than the others, firefighters managed to contain the blaze by 75% on Friday.
On Thursday, the Kenneth fire was reported at 2.40pm local time, according to Ventura County Fire Department, near a place called Victory Trailhead at the border of Ventura and Los Angeles counties.
This footage from a fire-monitoring camera in Simi Valley shows plumes of smoke billowing from the Kenneth fire.
Sky News analysed infrared satellite imagery to show how these fires grew all across LA.
The largest fires are still far from being contained, and have prompted thousands of residents to flee their homes as officials continued to keep large areas under evacuation orders. It’s unclear when they’ll be able to return.
“This is a tremendous loss that is going to result in many people and businesses needing a lot of help, as they begin the very slow process of putting their lives back together and rebuilding,” said Mr Porter.
“This is going to be an event that is going to likely take some people and businesses, perhaps a decade to recover from this fully.”
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.