Julian Assange says he will stay in the Ecuadorian embassy "as long as it takes"

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange marked a year living in one room in the Ecuadorian embassy in London this week, and announced he will stay "as long as it takes" to resolve his situation. He originally took refuge in the embassy when the British high court refused his appeal against extradition to Sweden, but now he says he won't come out even if Sweden drops its request because he believes the US has already drawn a secret warrant for his extradition on charges of leaking military documents. The advantage for Assange in remaining in the embassy is clear; he keeps his case in the media spotlight, a cause he's helped this week by tying his case to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden's, offering him a charter flight from Hong Kong to Iceland. It's interesting to think about what Ecuador is gaining from this; foreign minister Ricardo Patino visited London for talks this weekend in what looked like a desperate attempt to get rid of their awkward house guest, but then defiantly told a press conference Britain is violating Assange's human rights. It seems to me that Rafael Correa's government believes it's worth risking strained relations with Britain and the US for regional diplomatic gains; the charismatic Ecuadorian president sees himself as the heir to Hugo Chavez as leader of the Latin American left and wants to be seen defending the sovereignty of small countries against perceived imperialism, even if that means sheltering an alleged rapist.

Here's my report for Channel News Asia on Assange's year in the embassy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3uXbFbtoww

G8 disappoints on tax evasion

Last week I interviewed a number of anti-poverty activists full of hope ahead of the G8 summit, praising David Cameron's courage in pushing the issue to the top of the summit agenda. For the British government, the political calculation is clear; the electoral advantage in convincing a public outraged by serial revelations about tax dodging that major international firms are being forced to pay their share should outweigh the interests of keeping those firms happy. All the G8 nations lose money to tax havens; developing nations lose more than they receive in aid, as multinationals extract resources and hide their business in shell companies based offshore. The summit concluded with much fanfare about a breakthrough in fighting tax evasion; but the devil is in the detail. Campaigners wanted two things: a set of international rules on exchange of tax information, and a pubic registry of beneficial ownership that shows who really owns companies. On the former, the G8 agreed to exchange information with one another, but doubts remain over how much developing countries will get access to that information, with the US particularly having pushed for exchanges to be reciprocal, when most developing nations just don't have the bureaucracy to collect that kind of information. On the latter, the UK was alone in pushing for public registries. A 10 point plan was agreed that says lots of the right things, but doesn't give member countries any deadlines for action. I'm reminded of the fact that a quarter of the aid promised to developing countries at the 2005 G8 summit has yet to be received; set-piece summit diplomacy continues to make grandiose promises, but deliver very little.

Here's my report on the G8 and tax evasion for Channel News Asia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRqZYG2EoR8

British space industry goes into orbit

The UK is hoping to become a world leader in aerospace technology - with the government last year announcing a 300 million pound boost in funding for the sector, saying Britain could become the best place in the world to do science.

The drive to develop new satellite technology in Britain is being led by a collaborative project with China - manufacturing high-resolution observation satellites in a factory near London, as part of a joint agreement with Beijing-based firm 21AT.

Here's my report for CCTV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kgeWBvLCCk

Ethical fashion, made in Britain

After the Bangladesh factory collapse that killed over a thousand people, the major British retailers are under increasing pressure to clean up their supply chains, with Primark among big names forced to admit their clothes were being made in the factory where the disaster occurred. Fast fashion retailers aren't solely responsible for poor welfare standards though - far more expensive brands are also unable to give shoppers any guarantees about the way their clothes are produced, I discovered when researching this piece for CCTV. But there is an alternative; small British brands who are revitalizing the garment industry in Britain and keeping traditional crafts like Harris tweed alive, by choosing to produce their clothes entirely in the UK, as you can see in this report.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsGUqJgeyD4