19/08/2012 BBC Weekend News

The Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, hits out at the United

States, in his first public appearance since being granted

political asylum. From the confines of the Ecuadorian embassy, he

claims that freedom of expression is under threat. I ask President

Obama to do the right thing - the United States must renounce its

witch hunt against Wikileaks. been inside the embassy for two

months - fighting British attempts to extradite him to Sweden to be

questioned about allegations of sexual assault.

Also in tonight's programme: The head of the Catholic Church in

Scotland suspends direct communication with the Scottish

Government because of its support for gay marriage.

The Queen attends church near Balmoral - as the Duke of Edinburgh

spends a fifth day in hospital. again!

And England's cricketers face a massive task to save the third Test

- and their world number one The founder of Wikileaks, Julian

Assange, has appeared in public for the first time since June, to call

on President Obama to end what he called a US witch-hunt against his

whistle-blowing website. He was speaking from the balcony of the

Ecuadorean embassy in London. Last week Ecuador granted him political

asylum, defying diplomatic protests from the UK. Julian Assange faces

extradition to Sweden, to be questioned about allegations of

sexual assault. From Ecuador's embassy, here's Caroline Hawley.

Supporters of Julian Assange arrived in good time to hear him

speak. It is two months to the days since he disappeared into the

embassy, claiming political asylum. A man who used to travel the world,

now confined to a tiny diplomatic mission. Police, poised to arrest

him the minute he leaves. The Ecuadorian embassy today help

prepare a save stage for him to speak.

Julian Assange, the man at the centre of an extraordinary

international drama, was back in the limelight. I thank President

Correa for the courage he has shown in considering and granting the

political asylum. I ask President Obama to do the right thing. The

United States must renounce its witch hunt against Wikileaks.

was the release of this footage which brought Wikileaks to

international attention and embarrassed the American government.

It shows the killing of a group of Iraqis by a US gunship in 2007. A

flood of secret documents followed. A former American soldier, Bradley

Manning, is now awaiting trial for aiding the enemy by leaking the

material. There have been no charges so far against Julian

Assange. It is over accusations of sex crimes by two Swedish women

that Mr Assange now faces questioning. He walked into the

Ecuadorian embassy, where he was photographed today, after his

attempt to avoid extradition to Sweden failed. On these allegations,

Mr Assange had nothing to say today. A lot of people have been surprised

he mentioned nothing about that, nothing about Sweden at all really.

This is the other side of this case, in which there are others who may

be calling for justice to be done, and for the rule of law to be

complied with by Julian Assange himself. Julian Assange lingered a

little before he headed back inside, apparently savouring the moment.

With the show now over, the stand- off goes on, and Britain is still

faced with a costly police operation to ensure he doesn't

escape. And Caroline is outside the

Ecuadorian embassy. Given all of that, in practical terms, one

wonders what might happen next. Julian Assange has had his say, the

British Government has not commented on what he had to save.

In practice, this hasn't really changed anything. The row between

Britain and Ecuador goes on. Ecuador was incensed by Britain's

suggestion it could go into that embassy, its police could go in and

arrest Mr Assange. Britain has backed away from that but it still

says it will not give him a safe passage so that he can get on a

plane to Ecuador, that it is legally obliged to put him on a

plane to Sweden. It is highly unlikely that Mr Assange will get

the guarantees he wants, that he won't ever face on would

extradition to the United States. So for the moment, this stalemate

goes on. The Foreign Secretary has said it could go on for quite some

time. Historical precedent suggests that it might. I have to say, with

all the dramatic twists and turns of this case, I wouldn't want to

predict how it will unfold. A soldier who was shot and killed

in Afghanistan while on sentry duty on Friday has been named as

Guardsman Jamie Shadrake. He was serving with 1st Battalion

Grenadier Guards, and had just celebrated his 20th birthday. In a

statement, his family said Jamie was a tremendous son and brother

who was proud to be a soldier, and died doing a job that he loved.

The head of the Catholic Church in Scotland, Cardinal Keith O'Brien,

has suspended direct communication with the Scottish Government

because of its support for gay marriage. Cardinal O'Brien has been

an outspoken critic of same sex marriage, which the Scottish

Government last month announced plans to legalise. Here's our

religious affairs correspondent, His condemnation of gay marriage

has been outspoken. His determination to stop it,

implacable. In March, Scotland's Catholic leader said gay marriage

was grotesque subversion of a human right. Now comes a diplomatic rift

at the highest level. Cardinal O'Brien said he is ending meetings

with Alex Salmond to discuss the topic and that all further

discussion will be through officials. We want to maintain a

dialogue and the Cardinal wants to maintain a dialogue, but that can

be difficult when you feel that all the things you have to say, to date

at least, have been completely ignored. Evidently anxious to

reduce damage from the rift, Mr Salmond telephoned Cardinal O'Brien.

Officials say it was a friendly Cardinal O'Brien's action is a

symbolic but potent gesture of his anger and frustration. Catholic

archbishops here in London had a letter read in all their churches,

making it clear that they, too, were ready to recruit the Catholic

rank-and-file in the campaign against gay marriage. Cardinal

O'Brien's public snub of Alex Salmond represents a more overt

threat to escalate the dispute over gay marriage into a political

struggle. Many people will join this campaign, Catholics and not

Catholics. The call from the archbishops is to the rank and file,

to say get involved, this is important. Many people, most people,

have invested a lot in marriage. The Church says the institution of

marriage is too important to a healthy society to redefine it. But

even Catholics are divided, with many seeing in gay relationships,

the very qualities of stability and support that the church wants to

uphold. An air and sea search operation

began tonight after a 4-year-old boy was swept into the sea off

Somerset. The child's parents tried to rescue him after he entered the

water at Burnham-on-Sea. A member of the public raised the alarm. The

search has been called off for the night.

Police in Leeds have named two children who've been seriously

injured in a hit and run incident. Sabam Saleem, who's ten, and her 2-

year-old brother Raham were returning to their home in the Hyde

Park area of the city when they were struck by a car. From Leeds,

Yesterday they were hit by a car which fell to stop in the Hyde Park

area of Leeds. The car just run them over and left them there. I

heard them screaming and crying. is a long road and they get some

silly speed, I am not surprised. The children had been to their

local shop to buy the ingredients for a celebratory Eid Mill, before

making the journey just a hundred yards home -- Eid meal. It was

there where they were struck by the car. I have been to visit the

family of the children who were part of the accident yesterday. It

is very distressing for a family and the whole community. They live

opposite our mosque and we are very concerned about those children

because they are in a critical situation. CCTV footage of the

silver Vauxhall Astra is being enhanced in a bid to trace the

driver. The car hit the children, it slowed down, it would appear

that the driver took some notice of what had happened, and then drove

off. I would say to that person, they really need to come and see us,

before we come and see them. Locals say they are saddened that someone

would show such disregard for the children, but they believe that the

driver will be caught with the help The Duke of Edinburgh has spent a

fifth day in hospital, where he is being treated for a bladder

infection. Our correspondent, Lorna Gordon, is outside Aberdeen Royal

Infirmary. Lorna, what's the latest? It is believed that Prince

Philip is continuing to respond well to treatment for that

infection. While he remains in hospital in Aberdeen, it has meant

that he has missed today's weekly service at the parish church, the

church at which she is a regular member of the congregation while

the Royal Family is in attendance in Balmoral. Other members of the

Royal Family were in attendance. We saw Prince Charles, his wife

Camilla, the Queen accompanied by Prince Edward and the Countess of

Wessex. The Queen was looking relaxed, she was smiling and waving

to well-wishers along the route to the church, and there were a great

number of well-wishers out today. During the service itself, prayers

were offered up to Prince Philip, offering him a speedy recovery --

wishing him a quick recovery and to return to his holidays. I don't

think doctors will be in any haste to discharge him. It is a

recurrence of a blood infection that he had in June and they will

be looking to see if there are any underlying medical conditions that

they have to deal with. For a 5th day, and into a 5th night, he

remains in hospital in Aberdeen. In Syria, the conflict between

rebel forces and those loyal to President Assad has resulted in the

government loosening its grip on the Kurdish region in the North

East of the country. After decades of repression, the Kurds are now

getting a taste of freedom. And one activist has finally felt safe

enough to visit his homeland, after 17 years in exile. Orla Guerin

joined him on his journey from The Long Road Home. For Diliya, a

bittersweet return to his birthplace, confronted by all he

has lost. When he fed Syria, fearing arrest for his writings in

Kurdish, he was still a young man. My family is expecting to see a 24-

year-old, he said. But now, I am 42. With the sun setting, we used

smugglers route to cross the border, avoiding Iraqi troops. The Syrians

left last month. Next morning, at last, he was home.

Inside, time to work out who was who among nieces and nephews he has

never met. There is a new life here. A new generation. But there are

spaces that can never be filled. When I came in, it was very painful

not to see my mother, Diliya says. No one can take her place. His

mother, a brother and a sister all died while he was gone. And his

people are still waiting for autonomy. After 17 years, I would

have hoped to come back to victory in our struggle, he says. Not to

have any sign of the Ba'athist regime on my passport. But his home

town of Derek is now under Kurdish control, allowing him to make a

harrowing first visit to his mother's grave.

Why didn't you wait for me, he cries. Why wasn't I here? But

Diliya believes the Assad government will soon fall, and his

nieces and nephews won't have to Sport now. For a round up of all

the day's action, here's Lizzie Greenwood-Hughes at the BBC Sport

Centre. Good evening. Manchester City and

Chelsea both kicked-off their Premier League seasons today. Match

Of The Day 2 follows this programme so if you don't want to know the

scores - this is your chance to leave the room. European Champions

Chelsea were comfortable 2-0 winners at Wigan. Both goals were

scored within six minutes, the first from Branislav Ivanovic and

the second, a Frank Lampard penalty after summer signing Eden Hazard

was fouled. Manchester City's title defence started with a less

convincing 3-2 victory over Southampton, back in the top

division after a seven-year absence. City's star striker Sergio Aguero

was stretchered-off in the first half with a knee injury.

There's a new derby in the Scottish Premier League as Dundee United

played Dundee for the first time competitively in seven years.

United were 3-0 winners at a packed Tannadice, to go to the top of the

table. Johnny Russell scored twice before being sent-off for his

England's position as the world's number one test nation is hanging

by a thread. They'll start the last day of the decisive test against

South Africa needing 330 runs, having lost both their opening

batsmen and chasing what would be a record-breaking total. Alex South

It has been a long, wet summer. England didn't want to waste a

second of sunshine. Trying to hit South Africa hard and fast. Not for

the first time this series, Dale Steyn's fingers were bashed, then

Steyn's fingers were bashed, then his wicket quickly followed. There

is so much strength in the tourists' batting line-up, they got

a chance to get -- if you get a chance to get one of them out, you

can't pass it up. Jimmy Anderson, so often the hero, now cast in a

different role. For a while, it felt like the end was nigh. When a

brief stormed past, Hashim Amla's century with his first boundary of

the day suggested it was. You cannot keep a good side down. Steve

Finn sent Hashim Amla away. A great spell saw been dismissed AB de

Villiers and Jacques Rudolph quickly. Lord's started to believe.

Matt Prior used all his wits for a cheeky stumping but it did not stop

a massive target being said. It seems every time England have a

sniff, at South Africa react. The dream start as Alastair Cook went

cheaply, and the captain followed suit. If the tourists take over as

the world's best cricket team, on this evidence they will be more

Hundreds of budding Bradley Wiggins were able to ride alongside their

idol around the roads of Lancashire where he trains today. The four-

time Olympic champion and first British winner of the Tour de

France was launching his charity which promotes sport. Wiggins also

announced his first competition after London will be on home soil -

in the Tour of Britain along with Mark Cavendish. Certainly the most

successful tour of Britain, in terms of a celebration of British

cycling they do a thing we have achieved this year. That in itself

will be quite something. I am not quite sure what to expect.

Obviously Cavendish is riding as well. It is going to be a great