Europe Breivik's trial ends with verdict date set Ending exactly 11 months after he massacred 77 people in Norway, killer demands acquittal.

Europe

Breivik's trial ends with verdict date set

Ending exactly 11 months after he massacred 77 people in Norway, killer demands acquittal.     The last day of the trial of Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in Norway last July, has ended with his defence, as expected, calling for his acquittal. Even though there is no chance Breivik will be set free, his main lawyer, Geir Lippestad  formally made the request since Breivik pleaded not guilty, despite having confessed to carrying out the murderous twin attacks on July 22. Breivik has evoked the "principle of necessity", claiming his attacks were "cruel but necessary" to protect Norway against a "Muslim invasion". As Breivik prepared to begin his last statement, a number of people walked out of the courtroom. "We have no need to hear more about what he has to say," Trond Henry Blattman, leader of a victim's support group, told reporters. "We have heard him many times, we don't hear anything new ... we want to show that we don't care about what he has to say, who he is, what he has done." Breivik used the 45 minutes accorded him to make final remarks on Friday to claim that his attacks were necessary in defence of "my ethnic group" against multiculturalism, and demanded his acquittal. Shortly before the trial day began, another defence lawyer, Vibeke Hein Baera, told AFP news agency of the request for acquittal that Breivik "knows that this is just a formality that is far from any plausibility". With no illusion of getting his client off, Lippestad used most of his closing argument to prove that the 33-year-old right-wing extremist is criminally sane, and should be sent to prison, not a closed psychiatric ward as requested by the prosecution. The day of the massacre, Breivik first set off a car bomb outside government buildings in Oslo, killing eight people, before travelling to Utoeya island, northwest of the capital. There, he spent more than an hour methodically shooting and killing another 69 people, mostly teenagers. The victims, the youngest of whom had just celebrated her 14th birthday, had been attending a summer camp hosted by the governing Labour Party's youth organisation. Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Europe: Turkey drops anti-abortion legislation

Europe

Turkey drops anti-abortion legislation

Government withdraws controversial plan to slash time limit for abortions after mounting pressure from civil society. Thousands have staged demonstrations throughout the country in protest against the planned measures [Reuters] Turkey's conservative government has dropped plans for a controversial bill that would have slashed the time limit for abortions. "The government has backed away from initial plans to curb abortion rights," an unnamed parliamentary source told the AFP news agency on Friday. The source said that the Islamist-rooted government would instead seek to limit the number of Caesarean sections being performed in the country. The legislation, initially proposed by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), would have required all abortions to take place within the first six weeks of pregnancy, down from the 10 weeks currently allowed. Experts said the limit would have effectively outlawed abortions, since most women do not realise they are pregnant until around the sixth week of pregnancy. Opposition to the plan Thousands of women and activists have staged demonstrations throughout the country in protest of the planned measures, while Turkish media published surveys that indicated curbing abortion rights would cause the AKP to lose votes, even among its female supporters. Nurettin Canikli, an influential AKP lawmaker, also said the ruling party would not introduce a bill to curb abortion rights. "The abortion issue is off the agenda. No legislation will be introduced to the parliament on this issue," he told the Turkish daily Hurriyet. Recep Akdag, Turkey's health minister, told reporters that his ministry would on Monday submit a report to the cabinet regarding abortion rights. he did not elaborate further. "The matter is not to ban or not to ban abortion. The matter is to let a new understanding prevail in Turkey compatible with certain principles and enact new regulations," said Akdag. "Abortion should never be a family planning method, or a method to prevent an un-intended pregnancy," he said. Outrage Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had sparked outrage last month when he likened abortion to murder. He reportedly said that every abortion "was an Uludere," referring to a botched attack on Kurds from Uludere village by Turkish warplanes in December that claimed 34 lives. Erdogan has frequently called for women to have at least three children, and his party intended to criminalise adultery in 2004 but backed off under pressure from the European Union. Secular Turkey legalised abortion for medical reasons in 1965, broadening the right in 1983 to all women in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. Government officials also chided the high number of Caesarian births in Turkey, where they now represent half of all deliveries. The health minister had earlier said doctors were warned against performing unnecessary C-sections amid worries that some were forcing women to undergo unnecessary surgeries in order to make more money. Source: Agencies

Assange's Ecuador asylum bid may not succeed

Europe

Assange's Ecuador asylum bid may not succeed

WikiLeaks founder has acknowledged that he does not know if his unusual plea for political asylum will be approved.   Media gather outside the Ecuadorean embassyin London where Assange has sought political asylum [EPA] WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has acknowledged that he does not know whether Ecuador will approve his unusual plea for political asylum, as he spent a third night inside the country's London embassy. Assange told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio in an interview on Thursday that he had mounted his bizarre request for political asylum in Ecuador because his native Australia had made an "effective declaration of abandonment" by refusing to intervene in his planned extradition from Britain to Sweden. "We had heard that the Ecuadoreans were sympathetic in relation to my struggles and the struggles of the organisation with the United States," Assange told ABC, explaining his actions in his first public comment since launching his asylum bid. However, Assange acknowledged there was no guarantee that his plea would be successful, and indicated he did not know when a decision on his case would be made. Ecuador President Rafael Correa told reporters in Quito on Thursday night that careful deliberations and consultations with other nations were involved. "We are going to have to discuss with and seek the opinions of other countries. We don't wish to offend anyone, least of all a country we hold in such deep regard as the United Kingdom," Correa said after arriving from a climate summit in Brazil. "Once a decision is made we can talk about safe passage and such things," he said. British authorities say they are poised to pounce the moment Assange steps out of Ecuador's London embassy. He would be arrested, they say, for breaching the terms of his bail, which include an overnight curfew at a registered address. Swedish prosecutors want to question Assange about allegations of sexual assault made by two women, which he denies. Assange's fears Assange fears that if sent to Sweden he would be extradited onwards to the US where he believes he could face criminal charges punishable by death. His website, WikiLeaks, angered the US administration in 2010 by publishing secret US diplomatic cables. "I genuinely believe, and I know him well, that he fears for his life," said Vaughan Smith, founder of a now defunct TV news agency, who hosted Assange at his country mansion for 13 months after Assange was freed on bail in December 2010. "He fears that if he goes to Sweden he'll be sent to America and you only have to look at the treatment of Bradley Manning by the Americans to fell that he's right to be fearful," Smith told the BBC. Manning, the US intelligence analyst accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of government files to Wikileaks, faces a court-martial in September at which he could be jailed for life. Ecuador had briefly offered Assange residency at the height of the WikiLeaks furore in November 2010 before backing off. Ecuador connection It was not clear whether Assange's decision to appeal to Ecuador was connected to a recent interview he conducted with Rafael Correa, the South American country's leftist president, on Russia Today, a Kremlin-sponsored English-language TV channel. "Cheer up. Welcome to the club of the persecuted," Correa told Assange at the end of the interview, which was conducted by video-link between Britain and Ecuador and posted on YouTube by Russia Today TV channel on May 22. The two men appeared to hit it off during the 25-minute interview, exchanging flattering comments and laughing at each other's jokes. Assange expressed sympathy with Correa's battle against his country's media - viewed by Human Rights Watch as a serious threat to free speech - and praised him for getting more done for his country than President Barack Obama was achieving for the US. In London, a crowd of television crews and reporters were stationed in front of the Ecuadorian embassy but there was no sighting of Assange, whose distinctive white-blond hair has helped make him instantly recognisable around the world. Neither US nor Swedish authorities have charged Assange with anything. The former computer hacker, whose unpredictable behaviour and love of the limelight has cost him the support of many former friends and colleagues, lost a long-running legal battle last week to avoid extradition from Britain to Sweden. Having exhausted all possible avenues offered by the British courts, Assange's only option to keep fighting would have been an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. Source: Al Jazeera and agencies