Ecuadorian President Defends Decision to Offer Assange Asylum
Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa on Friday defended his country’s “sovereign” decision to grant Wikileaks founder Julian Assange political asylum.
“After almost two months of analyzing the legal process, the government decided to grant him asylum,” Correa told a local television in his first public statement after the decision was made Thursday.
Correa said political asylum was given to the 41-year-old Australian, who has taken refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since June 19 to avoid extradition to Sweden for allegations of rape and sexual assault, as Stockholm never guaranteed that Assange would not be handed over to a third country.
“Sweden never gave that guarantee, England never gave it,” he said.
He added that Assange risked life in prison if extradited to the United States, which was preparing prosecution against Wikileaks’ activities.
The move is “loyal to the country’s tradition of protecting the people who seek shelter in its territory or in their embassies,” Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said on Thursday.
The U.S. government on Friday refused to recognize the diplomatic asylum that Ecuador granted to Assange as the Organization of American States (OAS) is considering convening a meeting on the issue.
“The United States is not a party to the 1954 OAS Convention on Diplomatic Asylum and does not recognize the concept of diplomatic asylum as a matter of international law,” said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland in a statement.
According to the OAS website, the organization is considering convening a foreign ministerial meeting on Aug. 23 in Washington on the issue which has triggered a diplomatic row between Quito and London.
Washington has been furious about Assange’s WikiLeaks which in the 2010 disclosed tens of thousands of U.S. war documents related to Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the diplomatic cables.
Light Plane Carrying Philippine Interior Secretary Crashes
An aircraft carrying Philippine Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo crashed on Saturday afternoon in Central Philippines, his aide were rescued, but the secretary and two pilots were still missing, local media said.
A five-seat light plane carrying Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo crashed near the airport in Masbate, a city in Central Philippine Province of Masbate, according to the website of ABS-CBN, a local TV station.
Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) confirmed the report in a statement, saying Mr. Robredo was on a plane from Cebu to Naga, whose pilots sent a distress call to Masbate airport at about 5 p.m., requesting for an emergency landing.
However, the plane did not make it to the airport and crashed in the nearby Masbate Bay, the statement added.
The ABS-CBN said in a later report that Robredo’s aide, identified as Jun Abrazado, has been rescued from the crash site, and pinpointed the location of the crash site.
It is said that besides Robredo, there were three other people on the plane 2 pilots and Jun Abrazado. Masbate City Vice Governor Vince Revi said in the report that search and rescue operations were ongoing, but he has yet to determine the status of Robredo and the other passengers.
Robredo is one of the members of the cabinet closest to President Benigno Aquino III and helped his election campaign in 2010.
Algae Bloom Kills Nearly 1 Million Fish in Gulf of Mexico
Officials of the U.S. state of Texas said Friday algae bloom, known as red tide, has killed nearly 1 million fish in the Gulf of Mexico.
According to reports by local TV channel ABC13, the estimate was made by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department after finishing a flyover Thursday in the Galveston bay.
Tens of thousands of dead fish, mostly menhaden, were washed ashore on Sunday on Galveston, an island in the Gulf of Mexico, and water samples collected Monday confirmed it was the red tide that killed the fish.
Parts of the Galveston Bay have been closed for shellfish harvesting due to the red tide, which can cause respiratory problems.
Last year, a red tide covering most of the Texas Gulf Coast and Galveston Bay forced the closure of oyster beds.
The red tide of low-to-moderate concentrations last year arrived in August and lasted until February, but killed no fish.