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Lawyer: WikiLeaks' Assange Arrested in London

   VOA News 07 December 2010
   WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (file)

Photo: REUTERS

   WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

   Authorities  in  London have arrested WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
   on an arrest warrant issued by Sweden.
   Assange is wanted for questioning in Sweden about allegations of rape,
   sexual molestation and unlawful coercion.  He denies the claims.
   Assange's lawyer said Monday he was making arrangements for his client
   to meet with British police to discuss the arrest warrant.
   Assange's  lawyers  have said he will fight extradition to Sweden, for
   fear he could be turned over to the United States.
   Assange  founded  the WikiLeaks website that has released some 250,000
   secret U.S. diplomatic cables over the Internet.
   Prior  to  his  arrest Tuesday, WikiLeaks leaked diplomatic memos that
   say NATO drew up military plans to defend the Baltic against a Russian
   attack  after  Russia's  conflict with Georgia in 2008.  The Guardian
   newspaper  says the memos reveal that secret plans to protect Estonia,
   Latvia  and Lithuania were drawn up at NATO headquarters at the urging
   of the United States and Germany.
   The  WikiLeaks cables point to underlying tensions in the relationship
   between the former Cold War adversaries.
   Earlier,  WikiLeaks released what it said was a secret U.S. government
   list  of  infrastructure  and resource sites around the world that the
   United States considers critical to its interests.
   U.S. and British officials said the publication of the list puts lives
   at risk.
   The  leaked  list  of  U.S.  critical interests, which appears in U.S.
   diplomatic  cables dating from 2008, includes the locations of vaccine
   manufacturers  across  Europe, undersea cables, ports, and key mineral
   and power resources from Asia to Brazil.
   U.S.  Secretary  of State Hillary Clinton Monday described the release
   of  the  cables  as  "illegal," saying it poses real concerns and even
   potential damage to the United States' friends and partners around the
   world.   Clinton  said  this theft of U.S. government information and
   its publication without regard to consequences are deeply distressing.
   Â
   U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder condemned the release Monday "in the
   strongest  terms"  and said the national security of the United States
   has   been  put  at  risk.   Holder  also  said  an  active  criminal
   investigation remains under way.

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