• Ecuador's triumphant Correa vows to deepen 'citizen's revolution' following landslide

    Martin Jaramillo / AP

    Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, right, and running mate Jorge Glass celebrate in Quito on Sunday.

    By Gabriela Molina and Gonzalo Solano, The Associated Press

    QUITO, Ecuador -- A landslide second re-election secured, President Rafael Correa immediately vowed to deepen the "citizen's revolution" that has lifted tens of thousands of Ecuadoreans out of poverty as he expanded the welfare state.

    "In this revolution the citizens are in charge, not capital," the leftist U.S.-trained economist said after winning 56.9 percent of the vote Sunday against 23.8 percent for his closest challenger, longtime banker Guillermo Lasso.

    With 57 percent of the vote counted, former President Lucio Gutierrez finished third with 6 percent. The remainder was divided among five other candidates. Lasso conceded defeat late Sunday.

    The fiery-tongued Correa has brought surprising stability to an oil-exporting nation of 14.6 million with a history of unruliness that cycled through seven presidents in the decade before him.

    With the help of oil prices that have hovered around $100 a barrel, he has raised lower-class living standards and widened the welfare state with region-leading social spending.

    'Everything for you'
    The 48-year-old Correa dedicated his victory to his cancer-stricken friend President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who some analysts have suggested he could succeed as the standard-bearer of Latin America's left.

    "We are only here to serve you. Nothing for us. Everything for you," Correa told cheering supporters from the balcony of the Carondelet presidential palace Sunday shortly after polls closed.

    Yet Correa has also drawn wide rebuke for intolerance of dissent and some analysts have questioned how sustainable his economic policies are. The number of people working for the government has burgeoned from 16,000 to 90,000 during Correa's current term if office, Ecuador's nongovernmental Observatory of Fiscal Policy reported in December.

    Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank, called Correa's ramping up of social spending "simply applying the standard recipe for many populist governments in the region." While it succeeds in building political support in the short term, he said, it is not clear whether it is sustainable.

    And while Correa has shown himself to be the "undisputed rhetorical leader of Latin America's left" — and should now see his standing enhanced there — Shifter said Correa's consolidation of power have damaged Ecuador's "already precarious institutions" and he lacks the clout, the ambition and the coffers to build a coalition that could curtail U.S. power in the region.

    Correa's result Sunday easily topped the 51.7 percent that he won in his first re-election in April 2009. He is barred by the constitution from another 4-year term.

    Dolores Ochoa / AP

    Supporters of Ecuador's President Rafael Correa celebrate his election victory in Quito on Sunday.

    Since Correa took office in 2007, the United Nations says Ecuador's poverty rate has dropped nearly five percentage points to 32.4 percent. In all, 1.9 million people receive $50 a month in aid from the state. Critics complain that the handouts to single mothers, needy families and the elderly poor, along with other subsidies, have bloated the government.

    Civil liberties, meantime, have suffered.

    Correa has been widely condemned for using criminal libel law against opposition news media and for such strong-arm tactics as seizing Ecuador's airwaves virtually at will to spread his political gospel and attack opponents.

    He has been unable to stop a growing sensation of vulnerability in a country where robberies and burglaries grew 30 percent in 2012 compared with the previous year.

    The graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign gained an early reputation as a maverick, defying international financiers by defaulting on $3.9 billion in foreign debt obligations and rewriting contracts with oil multinationals to secure a higher share of oil revenues for Ecuador.

    He has also kept the United States at arm's length while upsetting Britain and Sweden in August by granting asylum at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the online spiller of leaked U.S. government secrets who is wanted for questioning in Sweden for alleged sexual assault.

    Correa has, meanwhile, cozied up to U.S. rivals Iran and China. The latter is the biggest buyer of Ecuador's oil and holds $3.4 billion in Ecuadorean debt, according to Finance Minister Patricio Rivera.

    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Strong 6.9 earthquake strikes Colombia; minor injuries reported

    USGS via EPA

    An intensity map shows the location of a strong 7-magnitude earthquake that struck southwestern Colombia.

    By Andrew Mach, Staff Writer, NBC News

    A strong 6.9 magnitude earthquake jolted southwestern Colombia on Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported, causing damage to more than 100 homes and injuring six people.

    The quake, centered 6 miles southwest of Pasto, was 80.5 miles deep and was felt in Quito, Ecuador, 123 miles away, where buildings shook for at least two minutes, Reuters reported. Some residents were evacuated briefly in the Colombian capital, Bogota.

    Five adults and a child suffered minor injuries and more than 100 buildings, mainly private homes, were damaged, Reuters reported.

    "For the time being, the assessment shows that 124 homes, a health clinic and three schools have been damaged, and a church was destroyed, but no one was killed or disappeared," said Carlos Ivan Marquez, the head of the national emergency services office.

    Marquez said they have not issued a tsunami warning and there have been no aftershocks. 

    USGS originally reported the tremor, which happened at 9:16 a.m. ET, had a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. 

     

  • Two female tourists freed after Ecuador kidnap ordeal

    APTN

    Kathryn Cox, left, and Fiona Louise Wilde were abducted as they travelled by canoe through the Cuyabeno nature reserve in the Tarapoa region of Ecuador.

    By ITV News and Alastair Jamieson, NBC News

    Two female tourists were kidnapped while visiting a nature reserve in north-eastern Ecuador near the border with Colombia, but were released after two days, authorities said Monday.

    Kathryn Sara Cox, 23, who is British, and an Australian identified in local media as 32-year-old Fiona Louise Wilde, were seized on Friday by what Ecuadorean authorities said was a Colombian group, according to a BBC report.

    Ecuador's interior minister Jose Serrano said the two were rescued Sunday night by police and armed forces.

    Read more on this story at ITV News

    Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said the safety of Cox was now "top priority" as U.K. and Ecuadorian authorities worked together to find who was responsible.

    Two female tourists are free after being kidnapped in Ecuador near the Colombian border and spending two days with captors in the jungle. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

    An FCO spokesman said:

    "We are very pleased to be able to confirm that Kathryn Sara Cox, who was kidnapped in a remote part of Sucumbios province, Ecuador, on Friday has been found today. She, along with an Australian national, was found following an intensive search of the area by the police and military. She is now in the care of Ecuadorian and U.K. officials, and her health and safety is our top priority. We are giving full consular assistance to both her and her family."

    The incident took place as the women traveled by canoe as part of a tour group in the Cuyabeno nature reserve in the Tarapoa region of Sucumbios province, in the north east of Ecuador close to the border with Colombia, the BBC said.

    Officials in Ecuador are searching for suspected arsonists behind the devastating wildfires that have burned thousands of acres of farmland. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

    It reported they were part of a group made up of several foreign tourists and two Ecuadorean guides. Local reports suggested a criminal gang called the Black Eagles, made up of ex-paramilitaries, might have been behind the abduction, according to the BBC.

    Australia’s Herald Sun newspaper quoted Wilde as saying:

    "We were very scared. We could often hear the helicopters above us and that was very comforting while we were in the jungle. When the helicopters got right above us, the kidnappers made us hide under bushes and they got scared and they were, we think, close to maybe nearly killing us. For some reason they changed their mind and told us to run and we ran out towards the helicopters, yelling and trying to get their attention.”

    The U.S. State Department does not warn against travel in that part of Ecuador, but noted that at least four U.S. citizens have been murdered in Ecuador since 2009.

    ITV News is the UK partner of NBC News

    More world stories from NBC News:

    Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

     

  • Firefighters battle forest fire in Quito, Ecuador

    Elder Bravo / Reuters

    A firefighter screams as a forest fire grows behind him in an area close to the house of former painter Oswaldo Guayasamin in Quito, Ecuador on September 12, 2012.

    Kevin Granja / Reuters

    Smoke from a fire billows in a forest in the metropolitan district of Quito on September 12, 2012.

    More than 1,000 hectares of forest have been burned since a series of fires started two weeks ago in the Ecuadorian province of Pichincha, according to the country's Ministry of Environment.

    -- Reuters

    Follow @NBCNewsPictures

    •Sign up for the NBCNews.com Photos Newsletter


  • Supporters of WikiLeaks' Assange lose $320K in bail money

    Jacquelyn Martin / AP

    Gan Golan, of Los Angeles, dressed as the "Master of Degrees," holds a ball and chain representing his college loan debt.

    Suzanne Plunkett / Reuters

    WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks to the media outside the High Court in London in this December 5, 2011 file photo.

    By Isolde Raftery, NBC News

     

    Supporters who put up nearly $320,000 to bail out WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange have lost their money, the Guardian of London reported.


    Assange’s backers -- who include Jemima Khan, a writer, movie directors Ken Loach and Michael Moore and publisher Felix Dennis – had to forfeit their money because Assange skipped bail in June to avoid being extradited to Sweden where he is wanted on rape charges.

    Assange, 41, has repeated that the Swedes would send him to the U.S., where he believes he would face the death penalty for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents through the website WikiLeaks.

    Foreign Secretary William Hague has said those claims are “without foundation,” according to the BBC.

    Instead, Assange moved into the Ecuadorean embassy, where British officials cannot arrest him, according to the Guardian. President Rafael Correa of Ecuador extended an open invitation to Assange to stay at the embassy, where, according to Reuters, he resides in a small, sequestered room with a vitamin D light and a treadmill to blow off steam.

    A district court in Westminster, England, will convene again in October to determine whether nine other backers should also lose their money

    Those financial supporters had promised to pay the court $31,732 each, the Guardian reported. Total, the backers stand to lose $539,444. Other backers include Assange’s girlfriend Sarah Harrison, along with a journalism critic and a Nobel Prize winning biologist, according to the Independent.

    The conditions of Assange’s bail required that he wear an electronic tag and stay at the home of businesswoman Sarah Saunders. Saunders, who told the BBC in 2010 that Assange was a family friend, also put more than $30,000 toward his bail.

    None of Assange’s financial supporters attended court, which frustrated Judge Howard Riddle. The judge said those backers had a month to convince Assange to turn himself in.

    More world stories from NBC News:

    Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

     

  • Ecuador authorities issue warning as Tungurahua volcano spews ash, gas

    Gary Granja / Reuters

    The Tungurahua volcano spews a large cloud of ash towards the nearby town of Bilbao, Ecuador, in the early hours of August 21, 2012.

    Carlos Campana / Reuters

    The volcano spews large clouds of gas and ash near Banos, about 110 miles south of Quito, on August 20, 2012.

    Gary Granja / Reuters

    The volcano spews ash towards the nearby town of Banos on August 21, 2012.

    Carlos Campana / Reuters

    A view of the volcano on August 20, 2012.

    Ecuadorian authorities are encouraging residents living near the Tungurahua volcano to evacuate due to increased activity, according to local media reports cited by Reuters. The volcano has been in an active state since October 1999. 

    See more images of the Tungurahua volcano on PhotoBlog

    Follow @NBCNewsPictures

    Sign up for the NBCNews.com Photos Newsletter

    Ecuador's Tungurahua Volcano rumbled to life on Sunday causing alarm among residents living in the area. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.


  • Assange in balcony appeal to Obama: Release leak suspect Bradley Manning

    Kerim Okten / EPA

    Wikileaks founder Julian Assange addresses the media and supporters while British policemen stand outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Sunday.

    By Alastair Jamieson and Duncan Golestani, NBC News

    Updated at 10:14 a.m. ET: LONDON -- From a second-floor window of his refuge at the Ecuadorean embassy, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Sunday called on President Obama to release Bradley Manning, the United States intelligence analyst accused of leaking masses of confidential information.

    In his  first public appearance in two months, the former hacker thanked his supporters gathered outside the London embassy and appealed to the U.S. not to prosecute WikiLeaks staff and supporters.

    From the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Julian Assange asked the U.S. to "renounce its witch hunt against WikiLeaks." NBC's Duncan Golestani reports.

    "I call on President Obama to do the right thing - renounce the witch-hunt against Wikileaks," he said in a provocative address in which he appeared to invoke the support of dozens of Latin American countries.

    The U.S. administration’s “war on whistleblowers must end,” he said.

    Ecuador on Thursday granted political asylum to the former computer hacker who incensed the United States and its allies by using his WikiLeaks website to leak hundreds of thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic and military cables in 2010.

    Assange paid tribute to Manning, who is the suspected source of those leaks and faces 22 criminal charges which, if he is convicted, could land him in jail for life.

    "If Bradley Manning did as he is accused, he is a hero and one of the world's foremost political prisoners," Assange said.

    Investigators have determined that Manning allegedly unlawfully downloaded tens of thousands of documents onto his own computer and passed them to an unauthorized person, but have not been able to make a link between those files and Assange.

    Calling for US President Obama to "do the right thing," Wikileaks founder Julian Assange makes his first public statement since entering the Ecuadorean embassy in London in June to seek asylum. Watch his entire statement.

    Assange spoke from a balcony at the embassy because Britain has made it clear it will arrest him the moment he steps out of the property.

    The west London embassy is in a building shared with other tenants and has no vehicular access except via the street, meaning Assange could not even appear in the entrance hall without risking immediate arrest.

    UK refuses WikiLeaks' Assange safe passage to Ecuador

    With a police helicopter hovering overhead and protestors using megaphones, the international legal row over Assange's future has become a spectacle in what is an upscale area of London, just a few meters away from department store, Harrods.

    The former hacker is wanted in Sweden for questioning regarding allegations of rape and sexual assault and Britain has said he will not be granted safe passage out of his Ecuadorean embassy refuge, which enjoys diplomatic status.

    Baltasar Garzon, a Spanish jurist and prominent human rights investigator who heads Assange's legal team, was also expected to speak in a separate address outside the building ahead of Assange's appearance.

    The United Kingdom is fighting the controversial decision and will not grant Julian Assange safe passage. NBC's Duncan Golestani reports.

    A group of about 20 Assange supporters, many of whom have slept on sheets of cardboard outside the building since Wednesday, have decorated barriers with messages of support for Assange.

    Army is pressed on why it kept trusting Manning

    Assange's attempt to avoid extradition has provoked a diplomatic tussle between Britain and Ecuador, which said London had threatened to raid its embassy and cast the dispute as an arrogant European power treating a Latin American nation like a colony. 

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    More world stories from NBC News:

    Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook


  • Ecuador: UK threatened to break Wikileaks' Julian Assange out of embassy

    Martin Alipaz / EPA file

    A composite file photo of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange , left, and Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, right.

    By NBC News wire reports
    Updated at 1 a.m. ET: QUITO - Ecuador said on Wednesday that the British government had threatened to raid its embassy in London if Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was not handed over, and that Quito would make its decision on his asylum request on Thursday.

    "We are not a British colony," Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said in an angry statement.

    "Under British law we can give them a week's notice before entering the premises and the embassy will no longer have diplomatic protection," a Foreign Office spokesman said. 

    "But that decision has not yet been taken. We are not going to do this overnight. We want to stress that we want a diplomatically agreeable solution."

    The decision on Assange's asylum request would be announced on Thursday at 7 a.m. (12 GMT), Reuters reported.

    Former computer hacker Assange, who enraged Washington in 2010 when his WikiLeaks website published secret U.S. diplomatic cables, is wanted in Sweden to face trial for rape.

    Assange has been taking refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London since June 19. The Australian anti-secrecy campaigner says he fears he could be bundled to the United States where his life would be at risk.

    President Rafael Correa, who is openly sympathetic to Assange, said via Twitter on Tuesday that a "rumor of asylum for Assange is false. A decision has not yet been made. I am awaiting a report from the Foreign Ministry." Britain's Guardian newspaper had earlier quoted an unnamed Ecuadorean official as saying asylum had been granted for the Australian.

    However, granting asylum would offer no legal protection in Britain where police will arrest him once they get a chance. 

    Assange has no way of leaving his refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London without being arrested, even if Quito grants him asylum shortly, lawyers say. 

    "The question of asylum is arguably a red herring," said former British government lawyer Carl Gardner.

    Watch World News videos on NBCNews.com 

    Assange, who is also liable to arrest for skipping bail, would still have to find a way of getting from central London to South America without passing through British territory.

    "I can't see the UK backing down and just allowing him safe passage out of the country," said Rebecca Niblock, an extradition specialist at London law firm Kingsley Napley.

    Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter

    "I think the UK will see their obligations under the European extradition system as overriding any diplomatic relations with Ecuador, who haven't really been considering their diplomatic relations with the UK, apparently."

    Assange would be protected from arrest if travelling in a diplomatic car, but the embassy is on the first floor of a building that is being watched by police day and night.

    The tall red-brick block just behind the Harrods department store also houses the Colombian embassy and private apartments. A police van was parked outside the main entrance on Wednesday and police officers were patrolling the area in pairs.

    The property has several gated entrances and a private car park, but the Ecuadorean embassy is not linked internally with any of them, making the front entrance its only point of exit, a security manager at the building told Reuters.

    "There is no other exit. He is going to have to come out of the main entrance," said the manager, who asked not to be named. "There is no way to bring a vehicle in because the car park is private and it is not connected in any way to their premises."

    He added: "He can climb out of a window, of course, but there are CCTV cameras everywhere."

    Even if he somehow managed to get out of the building and into a waiting car unnoticed by police, he would have to leave the vehicle at some point to board a flight out of Britain, offering more opportunities for his arrest.

    Other scenarios lawyers are discussing on the Internet include smuggling him out in a diplomatic bag, which would be illegal, or appointing him as an Ecuadorean diplomat to give him immunity. But lawyers and diplomats said neither was realistic.

    Even if Assange were willing to try his luck packed in a crate all the way to Quito, a risky plan by any measure, it seems unlikely Ecuador would attempt such a scheme.

    Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.


     

    Related stories:

    WikiLeaks' Assange defiant over UK police request

    NBC News partner ITV News's coverage of Assange: 'Not going near a police station soon'

     

    More world stories from NBC News:

    Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

     

  • Ecuador president: I've not yet decided on asylum for Wikileaks' Julian Assange

    Martin Alipaz / EPA file

    Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, left, and Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, right.

    By NBC News staff and wire services

    Updated at 6:55 p.m ET: Ecuador's president Rafael Correa on Twitter Tuesday denied reports in the British media that he has decided to offer Wikileaks founder Julian Assange asylum.


    "Rumors about asylum for Assange are false," Correa tweeted in Spanish hours after the Guardian newspaper reported the president had already made up his mind. He said in the tweet he was awaiting a report from the Foreign Ministry.

    Earlier this week, Correa had said he hoped to announce a decision on Wednesday.

    An offer may amount to little more than a symbolic gesture since Assange, holed up in Ecuador’s London embassy since June 19, has no guarantee that he could escape United Kingdom arrest and fly to the capital, Quito.

    Assange, 41, has been trying to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning on sex-crime allegations.

    The former computer hacker, who enraged Washington in 2010 when his WikiLeaks website published thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic cables, says he fears he could be sent to the United States, where he believes his life would be at risk.

    Assange is in breach of his British bail conditions and the British police have said he is liable to arrest if he steps out of the embassy, which is located in London's ritzy Knightsbridge area, miles away from any airport, Reuters reported.

    Watch World News videos on NBCNews.com 

    It appears unlikely that the British government would give Assange safe passage to an airport as that would mean going against the Swedish arrest warrant and a ruling by Britain's own Supreme Court that the warrant was valid, Reuters reported.

    Earlier Tuesday, an official in Quito, who is familiar with the government discussions, told the Guardian, "Ecuador will grant asylum to Julian Assange."

    A WikiLeaks spokesperson, Kristinn Hrafnsson, could not confirm the asylum offer, Reuters reported.

    "I cannot confirm. I just spoke to him (Assange) and he said he had not been notified either," Hrafnsson said.

    Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said that Assange's grounds to request political asylum are that he thinks he is being politically prosecuted and that he Sweden will extradite him to the United States.

    Patino, who has led Ecuador's analysis of the case, told Reuters the Andean country was also looking at how the 41-year-old Australian might travel to Ecuador if he is granted asylum.

    "Beyond the international treaties, the right to asylum etc, and the autonomy or sovereignty the national government has to take a decision of this nature, we have to look at what will happen next," he said before an event in the highland city of Ambato.

    "It's not only about whether to grant the asylum, because for Mr. Assange to leave England he should have a safe pass from the British (government). Will that be possible? That's an issue we have to take into account."

    Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter

    Correa, a self-declared enemy of "corrupt" media and U.S. "imperialism", said he sympathizes with Assange but also feels respect for the British legalsystem and for international law.

    Assangehasnot been charged with any offense in Sweden or in the United States. Swedish prosecutors want to question him about allegations of rape and sexual assault made by two WikiLeaks supporters in 2010. Assangesays he had consensual sex with the women.

    This article includes reporting by Reuters.

    Related stories:

    WikiLeaks' Assange defiant over UK police request

    NBC News partner ITV News's coverage of Assange: 'Not going near a police station soon'

    More world stories from NBC News:

    Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

     

  • UK police demand Assange leave Ecuador embassy

    Miguel Medina / AFP - Getty Images, file

    Wikileaks founder Julian Assange arrives for a hearing at the Supreme Court in London on February 2.

    By msnbc.com and news services

    LONDON - British police summoned WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to a London police station on Thursday as part of his extradition process, demanding he leave Ecuador's embassy where he has been holed up seeking political asylum.

    Assange, 40, is wanted for questioning in Sweden over sex crime allegations and took refuge in Ecuador's London embassy in a surprise move last week.

    He now risks being arrested the moment he steps outside the red-brick building after breaching bail terms, keeping both his supporters and police puzzled as to what he might do next.

    On Thursday, police said it had formally "served a surrender notice upon a 40-year-old man that requires him to attend a police station at date and time of our choosing."

    WikiLeaks' Assange says Ecuador 'quite supportive'

    It added: "He remains in breach of his bail conditions, failing to surrender would be a further breach of conditions and he is liable to arrest."

    The statement, in line with UK police policy, did not name him but local media quoted sources identifying him as Assange.

    The BBC reported the extradition unit delivered a note to both Assange and the Ecuador embassy. The embassy declined to comment. Other media reported that he was due to present himself to a police station on Friday.

    Assange enraged Washington in 2010 when his WikiLeaks website published secret U.S. diplomatic cables.

    He denies any wrongdoing in Sweden and says he fears that if extradited there he could be sent on to the United States, where he could face criminal charges punishable by death.

    After losing his appeal against extradition to Sweden to face allegations against rape and sexual assault, The Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, says he is considering his next step, which could be an appeal to Britain's Supreme Court. ITN's Sejal Karia reports.

    Assange, known for his unpredictable behavior, caused a media storm in Britain with his asylum bid. Ecuador's ambassador has in the meantime flown home to discuss whether to grant him asylum but the decision has yet to be made.

    By diplomatic convention, police cannot enter the embassy without authorization from Ecuador. But even if Quito granted him asylum, he has no way of travelling to Ecuador without passing through London and exposing himself to arrest.

    WikiLeaks' Assange seeks asylum in Ecuador 

    On Tuesday, a group of celebrities and activists published an open letter to Ecuador published in The Guardian newspaper asking that Assange be given asylum in that country because he faced the death penalty if eventually sent to the United States. 

    "We believe Mr Assange has good reason to fear extradition to Sweden, as there is a strong likelihood that once in Sweden, he would be imprisoned, and then likely extradited to the United States," reads the letter signed by the leaker of the Pentagon Papers Daniel Ellsberg, film-maker Michael Moore, actor and director Danny Glover, director Oliver Stone, comedian Bill Maher and author Naomi Wolf, among others.

    Reuters contributed to this report. 

     

    More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

     

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/26/appeal-

    cuador-julian-assange-political-asylum

  • WikiLeaks' Assange, trapped in embassy, says Ecuador 'quite supportive'

    Oli Scarff / Getty Images

    Embassy staff serve coffee to members of the media waiting for Julian Assange outside the Ecuadorian embassy on Friday in London. Julian Assange, the founder of the WikiLeaks whistle-blowing website, has sought refuge in Ecuador's London embassy to prevent him from being extradited to Sweden on allegations of rape and assault.

    By Reuters

    WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Friday said he was ready for a life in Ecuador and said the country had been "quite supportive" of his bid for asylum.

    Assange is holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London, England, where he has sought asylum in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden where he is wanted for questioning on sexual assault charges.

    He faces arrest by British police if he leaves the embassy.


    In a telephone interview with Australian Broadcasting Corpation radio from the embassy, Assange said he was concerned about being sent to the United States to face possible charges related to the WikiLeaks website, which published thousands of leaked U.S. diplomatic cables in 2010.

    "The Ecuadorean people have been quite supportive. I heard (the) Ecuadorean Ambassador in Australia has been making supportive comments. They are sympathetic over a long period of time," he said.

    Facundo Arrizabalaga / EPA file

    WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrives at the Supreme Court in London Feb. 2.

    "We hope the asylum application will be viewed favorably. Now it's is a matter of gathering extensive evidence of what is happening in the U.S. and submitting that with a formal request,” he added.

    Assange said he had no indication of when Ecuador would decide on his asylum claim, and said his move was aimed at raising awareness of U.S. moves to prosecute him over the 2010 leaks.

    WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange seeks asylum in Ecuador

    He fears that if sent to Sweden, he would then be extradited to the United States where he believes he could face criminal charges punishable by death.

    He said he was not running away from questioning over sexual assault allegations in Sweden, but said the Swedish prosecutors had refused to visit him in Britain or contact him by phone.

    "This issue is about a very serious matter in the United States," he said, adding Swedish authorities said he would be detained on arrival in Sweden.

    Assange said his case was currently before a U.S. grand jury, which would decide whether charges could be laid. He said U.S. authorities have been careful not to confirm or deny any grand jury investigation.

    "There are subpoenas everywhere. We have received subpoenas, there are subpoenas in my name," he said, adding people have been detained at U.S. airports and been questioned by the FBI and asked to become informers.

    Assange also hit out Australia for not taking stronger action to protect him, saying he had no consular contacts since December 2010 apart from telephone text messages.

    Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has said Assange has received more consular support than anyone in a similar position, while Attorney-General Nicola Roxon said Australia has regularly made representations about Assange to authorities in the U.S., Sweden and Britain.

    "It is an effective declaration of abandonment," Assange said.

    More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

    Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • Teenager rescued after 28 days adrift at sea in small boat

    AP

    Adrian Vasquez, left, an 18-year-old Panamanian who worked in a seaside resort hotel, receives medical attention aboard an Ecuadorean navy ship on Sunday.

    By msnbc.com staff and news services

    Updated at 6:01 a.m. ET: A teen has apparently survived 28 days adrift in the Pacific Ocean after going on a fishing trip with two friends, according to reports. Adrian Vasquez, who was rescued by the Ecuadorean navy on Sunday, said he stayed alive by drinking rainwater and eating raw fish, the BBC reported.

    Vasquez said neither of his friends survived, but that he had always held onto the hope he would be rescued.

     

    AP

    Adrian Vasquez receives medical attention on Sunday.

    The 18-year-old was found drifting alone near the Galapagos Islands on his friends' 10-foot fishing boat more than 600 miles from where they had set out.

    He was first found by a commerical fishing vessel then handed over to Ecuador's coast guard. The trio had been missing since February 24.

    The Associated Press reported the three were heading back to his home port of Rio Hato when the boat's motor failed.

    Rainstorm
    Vasquez told the Ecuadorean navy crew he likely owed his survival to a sudden rainstorm that replenished his water supply.

    The young Panamanian recounted his story to Hugo Espinosa, captain of the navy vessel, after being treated for malnutrition and severe dehydration. He recalled they had caught a lot of fish, and had a big jug of water.

    The AP quoted Espinosa as saying Vasquez had identifed his dead friends as Oropeces Betancourt, 24, and Fernano Osorio, 16.

    Arnulfo Franco / AP

    Rescued castaway Adrian Vasquez is surrounded by family members upon his arrival to Tocumen international airport in Panama City on Tuesday.

    Panamanian navy boats began to search for the vessel but did not find it. Espinosa said the ice melted and the fish rotted, leaving the trio to live off what they could catch with their net.

    "The spirits of the survivors began to wane with the passing of days," Espinosa told The Associated Press.

    The report said Betancourt stopped eating and drinking after two weeks and died on March 10. Three days later, his body began to decompose and Vasquez threw it over the side.

    AP

    Adrian Vasquez, center, poses with Ecuadorean sailors onboard a navy ship on Monday.

    Osorio died on March 15, also apparently of dehydration, sunburn and heat stroke. After three days, Vasquez pushed his other friend's body into the ocean, the AP said.

    "When he was nearly dead, on March 19, it rained, and Vasquez was able to fill up with four gallons of water," said Espinosa. He spent the next five days eating raw fish before being spotted by commercial fishermen working on a skiff from a mother ship, the Duarte V.

    'He was quiet'
    Once aboard, Vasquez asked for a telephone so he could make two calls, the AP reported. The first was to his mother. The second was to the hotel manager to explain why he had missed so many days of work.

    "He didn't know what was happening. He was quiet, looking lost," Espinosa said.

    Vasquez was flown on Monday to Guayaquil on the Ecuadorean mainland before flying to Panama City on Tuesday where he was greeted by a crowd including family and friends.

    The AP report said the teenager shed some tears as his relatives hugged him but he didn't talk to reporters.

     

    The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

    More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

    Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

Older posts