Great Britain and Ecuador remained in a standoff early Friday, following the South American nation's decision to grant Julian Assange asylum - a decision British authorities are refusing to honor, saying they are committed to extraditing the WikiLeaks founder to Sweden.
According to the official Twitter feed of WikiLeaks - a website that's published hundreds of thousands of once-secret U.S. government documents - there were "over 35 police surrounding the Ecuadorian embassy in London" soon after 12:30 a.m. Friday. Britain's foreign ministry, though, earlier countered that there was a larger "police presence outside the British Embassy in Quito" than at the Ecuadorian mission in London.
Inside the latter embassy is Assange, the Australian national wanted in Sweden to face questioning over claims of rape and sexual molestation, as he's been since first seeking asylum in June.
On Thursday, he thanked his "courageous, independent" Ecuadorian hosts for protecting him "from persecution," after its Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño announced his nation was giving asylum to
Assange and urged British authorities to let him travel freely to South America.
This morning on "Early Start," Atika Shubert reports on the latest in the standoff.
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