Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Arrested In London

The BBC reports:

The founder of the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks, Julian Assange, has been arrested by police in London.

The 39-year-old Australian, who was the subject of a European arrest warrant, denies allegations he sexually assaulted two women in Sweden.

Mr Assange is due to appear at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court later.

A Wikileaks spokesman said Mr Assange's arrest was an attack on media freedom but it would not stop the release of more secret files.

Kristinn Hrafnsson told Reuters on Tuesday: "Wikileaks is operational. We are continuing on the same track as laid out before.

"Any development with regards to Julian Assange will not change the plans we have with regards to the releases today and in the coming days."

Secret locations

He said Wikileaks was being operated by a group in London and other secret locations.

Scotland Yard said Mr Assange was arrested by appointment at a London police station at 0930 GMT.

Mr Assange is accused by the Swedish authorities of one count of rape, one of unlawful coercion and two counts of sexual molestation, alleged to have been committed in August 2010.

If the district judge rules the arrest warrant is legally correct, he could be extradited to Sweden.

But the process could take months.

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Swiss Post to shut bank account of Assange

Swiss Post announced Monday it will close down the bank account of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, saying he gave false information when he opened the account.

'PostFinance will terminate its business relationship with Julian Assange,' according to a statement which used the official name of the bank run by the post office.

The announcement about the account was the latest blow to the site, which last week lost control of its domain name wikileaks.org and its ability to receive PayPal donations.

It is employing 70 other internet domains in various nations as 'mirror sites' to keep broadcasting leaked US diplomatic cables, including the primary mirror in Switzerland.

WikiLeaks had asked on its website for donations to be sent to the PostFinance account for the so-called 'Julian Assange Defence Fund'.

The statement from the Swiss Post said Assange gave 'false information' regarding his domicile when he opened the account.

The post's bank is only open to residents of Switzerland or Swiss citizens, Andrey had warned over the weekend.

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Rage Against Cash Machine: Bank Run Day take-away to trash financial terror?

French bankers have a nervous day ahead. They're waiting to see whether a campaign calling on depositors to withdraw all their money will really catch on. It's been organized by a former French football star against what he calls the 'corrupt and criminal' financial system.

UPDATE

Activists empty bank accounts to protest bailouts

(AP) A group of activists in Paris have emptied their bank accounts after a call by French sports icon Eric Cantona to protest practices by leading banks.

The group marched in costumes in Paris on Tuesday and withdrew money from a branch of Societe Generale. They then opened accounts with a nearby branch of Credit Cooperatif bank.

Activists have seized on former Manchester United star Cantona's call in October for depositors to empty their bank accounts. The groups suggest signing up with cooperative banks and rejecting major banks that were given bailouts and that are often blamed for the global financial crisis.

Bankers and some economists warn against heeding the call.

The football star-turned-actor was nowhere to be seen Tuesday.

~ Source: Washington Examiner ~

Greece: 6 December Protest And Clashes With Police

And a bit of censored news: Police raided the site of the memorial for 15-year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos yesterday while student protesters were paying their respects. Grigoropoulos was shot by a policeman on this day two years ago. The police attempted to desecrate the site, tearing up as much as they could of the makeshift altar that has sprung up in that location and ripping out a tree planted there by students.

Clashes continued late into the night.

More than 50 protest marches were held throughout the country.

Max Keiser: "IMF is Pledging Greece's Assets as Collateral"

Interview bu Helen Skopis

For eleven years the Gold Anti Trust Action Committee has been amassing evidence that the prices of gold and silver are suppressed. As part of an ongoing investigation, it has now become clear that JP Morgan is sitting on what is estimated to be a 3.3 billion ounce short position on silver in an attempt to keep the price artificially low in order to keep the appeal of the dollar and other fiat currencies high. Financial analyst Max Keiser is calling on people to crash JP Morgan by buying silver...in this way making its price go up leaving JP Morgan with a huge short position to cover. To find out more about this initiative Helen Skopis spoke to Max Keiser and asked the following questions:
1) Why should people want to crash JP Morgan?
2) You are comparing JP Morgan to a terrorist organization?
3) What does a short position in silver mean?
4) Credit rating agency Standard & Poors has warned that Greece faces a further downgrade following the proposed new bailout regime in Europe... Why? Why now?
5) The head of the IMF Dominique Strauss Kahn is coming to Athens tomorrow (December 6) . What can be expected from his visit?
6) The domino effect you stated would begin after Greece is occurring. Where and when will this stop?
7) There has been talk recently of issuing European Bonds. Will this help the Eurozone?