WikiLeaks founder still fights extradition

WikiLeaks founder still fights extradition

LONDON

Julian Assange is making what could be a last throw of the legal dice in his battle to avoid extradition to Sweden over sex-crimes allegations.

On Monday the WikiLeaks founder will ask judges to let him take his case to Britain’s Supreme Court. If they say no, he could be on a plane to Stockholm within days.

The 40-year-old Australian behind the secret-spilling website has spent almost a year on bail in Britain fighting extradition for questioning over claims of rape and molestation made by two Swedish women. So far, two courts have ruled against him.

For his case to be considered by Britain’s Supreme Court, Assange’s lawyers must convince two High Court judges that it raises a question of “general public importance.”

Brotherhood: Won’t impose Islamic law

CAIRO

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, emerging as the biggest winner in the first round of parliamentary elections, sought Saturday to reassure Egyptians that it would not sacrifice personal freedoms in promoting Islamic law.

The deputy head of the Brotherhood’s new political party, Essam el-Erian, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the group is not interested in imposing Islamic values on Egypt, home to a sizable Christian minority and others who object to being subject to strict Islamic codes.

The comments were the clearest indication that the Brotherhood was distancing itself from the ultraconservative Islamist Nour Party, which appears to have won the second-largest share of votes in the election’s first phase.

Web ads become essential in ’12 race

NEW YORK

As potential voters in New Hampshire and Iowa scan the Internet, they probably are seeing ads for Republican Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama alongside deals for shoes and holiday gifts.

The campaign ads will then follow those voters around the Web, popping up on news sites, Google searches and on social- networking sites such as Facebook.

Online advertising, once used primarily as a way to reach young and heavily wired consumers, has emerged as an essential communications tool in the 2012 presidential contest.

Ruling party wary as Russians vote

MOSCOW

Russia’s long-dominant party appeared likely to lose its edge as voters across the sprawling country cast ballots for Parliament today, many of them frustrated over corruption and the gap between ordinary Russians and the super-rich.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party has signaled it is worried about polls showing it could receive only a bit more than half the votes, cracking down on an independent election monitor and warning of political instability.

Woman, 85, says she was strip-searched

NEW YORK

An 85-year-old woman said Saturday she was injured and humiliated when she was strip-searched at an airport after she asked to be patted down instead of going through a body scanner, allegations that transportation officials denied.

Lenore Zimmerman said she was taken to a private room and made to take off her pants and other clothes after she asked to forgo the screening because she worried it would interfere with her defibrillator. She missed her flight and had to take one 21/2 hours later, she said.

But the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement Saturday no strip search was conducted.

Associated Press