19/05/2017 BBC News at Ten

The WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, claims a personal victory

as Sweden drops a long-running rape investigation against him.

Appearing on the balcony at Ecuador's embassy in London,

where he's lived for five years to avoid extradition,

he says he's angry at how he's been treated.

Seven years without charge while my children grew up without me.

That is not something that I can forgive.

It is not something that I can forget.

No answers on his future, but Scotland Yard says

he still faces arrest for skipping bail if he leaves the embassy.

Today, his alleged victim expressed her shock

at the decision to drop the rape investigation

and said she stood by her allegation.

as Donald Trump heads to Saudi Arabia

on his first foreign trip as President, the White House

is engulfed in fresh claims about links to Russia.

Theresa May is forced to defend her election pledge

to scrap winter fuel payments for some pensioners,

as divisions open up within her party.

Graveyard serial killer Stephen Port - his victims' families

say they're dismayed by an inquiry's slow progress

into why police took so long to catch him.

And selling, thank you, sir, for $98 million!

A painting by American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat,

who died 30 years ago, is sold for a record-breaking price.

And coming up in Sportsday on BBC News,

in the final of the European Championship.

The WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange,

after a seven-year rape investigation in Sweden

For almost five of those years, Mr Assange has been holed up

inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid extradition.

But today's development doesn't mean

that the 45-year-old can finally walk free.

Police say they would still be obliged

to arrest him if he left the embassy.

And the United States may also take legal action against him

for leaking secret official documents.

Our correspondent Caroline Hawley has the story.

Her report includes flashing images from the start.

On the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy,

Julian Assange emerged this afternoon

to have his say on the end of the Swedish

for me and for the UN human rights system.

Seven years without charge while my children grew up without me.

That is not something that I can forgive.

It is not something that I can forget.

But the prosecutor in Sweden hasn't cleared Julian Assange.

she simply couldn't pursue the case any further.

TRANSLATION: The decision to discontinue the investigation

is not based on an assessment of the evidence but because

we don't see possibilities to advance the investigation further,

so we do not make any statement on the issue of guilt.

This complex international drama began in 2010 when two women alleged

that Julian Assange had sexually assaulted them on a visit to Sweden

He was detained in Britain on a European arrest warrant.

In May 2012, the Supreme Court upheld a decision

to extradite him to Sweden for questioning.

And in June, Mr Assange walked into the Ecuadorian Embassy in London

The Metropolitan Police mounted a 24-hour guard at the embassy.

By October 2015, it had cost over ?30 million.

Julian Assange is no longer wanted on an international arrest warrant,

but the police say that if he stepped out of the embassy,

for failing to surrender to a London court back in 2012.

At the embassy this evening, his supporters were jubilant.

But in Sweden, the woman who accused him of rape

issued a statement saying he was evading justice

and expressing her shock at the investigation was being shelved.

Julian Assange was not held without charge for seven years -

he was subject to extradition proceedings within the EU,

under the European arrest warrant scheme.

He would have received a fair trial in Sweden,

and the fact that proceedings lasted seven years was entirely down

to him seeking refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy,

in a country that is governed by the rule of law.

It was this footage of an American helicopter shooting civilians

in Iraq that first brought WikiLeaks to international attention.

A flood of other state secrets followed.

Julian Assange has always said it was his fear of extradition

to the US that drove him through the doors

So despite today's dramatic twist in this long-running

diplomatic and legal saga, tonight he's back inside -

We don't know if the US Government is actually planning to ask for his

extradition, but the US Attorney general said recently that he wanted

Mr Assange arrested. Now, Ecuador has asked Britain to give Mr Assange

safe passage, no sign of that happening, so for the moment Julian

Assange stays here. But Scotland Yard has said that there will be

reduced police resources now for their operation. Caroline Hawley,

thank you. It's reported tonight that

President Trump told Russian officials at the White House that

firing the FBI director James Comey the President was under

because of Russia. The New York Times says

he also referred to Comey Another report says

a current White House official is a significant person of interest

in the investigation into possible ties between Trump's presidential

campaign and Russia. The latest claims come

as President Trump flew out of Washington

on his first overseas trip. He's heading to Saudia Arabia,

where he's due to meet Arab leaders, before travelling on

to Jerusalem and Rome. Well, our North America editor,

Jon Sopel, is in Riyadh, where President Trump

will arrive later. Jon, what more can you tell us

about these developments tonight? Well, these are extraordinary

allegations from the New York Times, of what Donald Trump said in that

contested a meeting with Sergei Lavrov ten days ago. He said, I just

fired the head of the FBI, she was crazy, a real nutjob, I faced

greater pressure because of Russia, that is taken off. In other words,

the pressure is removed because he had removed James Comey. The White

House has issued a statement while the president was in midair, far

from pushing back and saying this is nonsense, exaggerated, it says, the

president has always emphasised the importance of making deals with

Russia - by grandstanding and politicising the investigation into

Russia's access, James, created unnecessary pressure on our ability

to negotiate with Russia. Two things quickly, it makes clear that James

Comey was fired because of the Russian investigation. And nothing

else. And secondly, it raises the question of whether the president

has engaged in the obstruction of justice by holding an investigation

by James Comey. And that has potentially very, very serious

consequences. Now, the White House wheel spin that, saying it is not

Donald Trump try to protect themselves legally, he was trying to

protect the national interest, but it is another extraordinary twist in

this whole drama. And it comes as President Trump is setting off on

his first official trip abroad as president, is this likely to

overshadow that? The glib answer is he would love it too, but it's not

going to, because of course this issue will keep on carrying on. That

said, this is a highly important trip for President Trump. Despite

all that he has said about Muslims during the campaign, keeping them

out of America, the responsibility of Saudi Arabia for 9/11, there will

be the warmest of welcomes for him here. Two reasons, one, he is not

Barack Obama, and the Saudis grew to really dislike. I was here one year

ago with Barack Obama, and he received the coolest of receptions.

The other reason he will receive the warmest of welcomes is because he

has been taking a very tough stand on Iran. Just arriving in from the

airport, there were billboards across the motorway, huge pictures

of Donald Trump Andy King saying, together we prevail. He will like

that - he will not like some of the other reporting. Jon Sopel, thank

you. There are divisions opening up

tonight within the Conservative Party over its manifesto commitment

to means-test winter fuel The Scottish Conservative

leader, Ruth Davidson, said she was in favour

of retaining the payment But the Prime Minister argued

it was unfair that wealthy pensioners received the money

while some families were struggling. Here's our deputy political

editor, John Pienaar. Would you trust her to keep things

running, or to run your economy? But has Theresa May dropped

a spanner in the works by keeping people guessing

about her tax and spending plans, about who'd keep and who'd lose

the winter fuel allowance? that the least well off

pensioners are protected. But if you look at the situation

at the moment, we see well off pensioners able to be supported

with their fuel bills, when struggling ordinary

working families are not. I think there's a principle

of fairness that underpins this. But that's not

how all Tories see it, especially Scottish Conservatives

under their leader, Ruth Davidson, The Scottish Tory manifesto,

published today, says, "Social security devolution

allows us to make different choices in Scotland,

and so we will protect universal winter fuel payments

for all older people and they will not be

subject to means testing." We believe there shouldn't be means

testing for the winter fuel payment. The reason that we've said that is,

as many of your viewers will acknowledge, Scotland has

a colder climate, we also have a different amount of housing

stock, and devolution allows Mrs May's answer - she's writing

policy south of the border. As a government, we have given

the Scottish Government significant powers in relation to welfare,

and they make a number of decisions about various welfare

benefits in Scotland. More voters might feel the same

if Jeremy Corbyn's promise to protect the fuel allowance

and pensions catches on. Labour's been attacked over

tax and spending plans What she's done is caused

a huge amount of anxiety, she hasn't said what level

she's going to change it. We think the fuel allowance

should be kept, and it will be kept under Labour,

and it will be universal. Just one way for the SNP full to go

- right at Theresa May. Well, I think taking the winter fuel

payment away from pensioners who have worked hard and paid

in all their life is just wrong. You know, the winter fuel payment

is not a king's ransom. Not all Tories south of Scotland

agree with Mrs May on pensioners, One former Minister told me

they'd be opposing her, and that's one reason

it's happening. Mrs May wants more backing

for potentially unpopular decisions if public money gets tighter

after Brexit, and you can bet she'd hesitate

to make risky promises if she wasn't so confident

of winning. Tories look upbeat

about this campaign for a lot of people afterwards,

whoever wins. The serial killer Stephen Port

was jailed for life last year Their bodies were all found outside

his flat or in a churchyard nearby. Yet their deaths were not initially

treated as murder, and detectives missed a number of chances

to catch the killer. Now the families of the victims

say they're dismayed by the slow progress of an inquiry into why

police took so long to catch him. Here's our home affairs

correspondent Daniel Sandford. The graveyard in Barking that was

Stephen Port's dumping ground for three of the bodies

of the four men he killed

with the date-rape drug GHB. His first victim

was 23-year-old Anthony Walgate, Their families have been waiting

for an investigation by the Independent Police

Complaints Commission that there was a serial killer

at work for so long. But this week, they told me

their patience has run out. I don't feel that the IPCC are in

control of the investigation at all. I think it's the police dictating

to what stage it goes, what pace it goes,

which is disgusting. I think we had to fight

the police to listen, and now we're having to

do the same for the IPCC Stephen Port used dating apps

to lure the men to his home. He then gave them

lethal doses of GHB. His first victim, Anthony Walgate,

was found outside the door of Port's flat, the others

in or near the local churchyard The police were asked

on numerous occasions The IPCC investigation

is designed to work out why detectives were so reluctant

to connect them. But 20 months on, not a single

police officer has been questioned. The BBC has been told

that the Independent Police Complaints Commission investigation

team is itself frustrated and dismayed by the delay

in interviewing the officers. I understand that's being

caused by the officers, the Police Federation

and their lawyers asking for more time to examine

the 7000 pages of evidence. Though in public today,

the IPCC was playing down the row, saying it had agreed that the

detectives should have more time. The families told me they're worried

that any further delays will lead to officers forgetting why they made

the decisions they did. It's like very frustrating,

it's disappointing, it's like you're being let down all over again,

and I think we all feel that, You shouldn't have to keep

chasing things up - after everything that

we've been through. It is very, very frustrating,

because I really thought the IPCC would be totally independent,

be more professional, and a lot They want to know if police just

jumped to conclusions and assumed that gay men dying from date-rape

drug overdoses was something normal and not worth

treating with suspicion. A brief look at some of the day's

other other news stories. A former Newcastle United football

coach, George Ormond, has been charged with 29 historical

sexual offences alleged to have Mr Ormond, who is 61,

is due to appear before A man has been jailed

for more than nine years for a hit-and-run crash which killed

a four-year-old girl. Aidan McAteer lost control

of the stolen car at Violet-Grace Youens was being

carried by her grandmother - Greater Manchester Police say Moors

murderer Ian Brady's body shouldn't be cremated in the city

or surrounding area where he carried out his crimes out of respect

to his victims' families. It's been a year since the ban

on so-called "legal highs" came into effect -

but they are still available Known as new psycho-active

substances, or "Spice" - the legal highs were made Class B

drugs which meant they had to be taken off the shelves

on the high street. They may not be visible now -

but there are warnings that the sale of Spice has been driven underground

as Jeremy Cooke reports. There are new psychoactive

substances, NPS. Not so much a problem,

more so an epidemic. It's got the kind of

psychological addiction you might associate with crack

cocaine and the physical addiction and withdrawals that you'd

associate with heroin. Just because they say it's illegal

doesn't mean you can't get it. That just makes people more

determined to get it. In Edinburgh the drug

subculture has been all about heroin, the needle

and the syringe, so here many chose That drug, it's the worst that

I've ever experienced. Worse than all of them put

together but better. There is quite a bit

of drug use around here. The Streetwork charity's outreach

team are here to help. They've seen first-hand

the devastation caused by NPS. Edinburgh was among the first

cities in the UK to ban Even the users I've

spoken to who now no longer use speak to me about how

that was a terrible episode in their lives and how they're

glad now that the ban But NPS is still on

the streets here, as Friends have died, others have been

left with terrible scars. The drug destroys the flesh

where it's injected. There's a few of my mates

who have got holes in That's because of

a legal highs, yeah. A mega haul of seized

street Spice at the headquarters of Police

Scotland's NPS unit, the only one of Each one gram package costs

a tenner, enough here for countless hits with a street value

of hundreds thousands of pounds. Even before the ban Police Scotland

had been working to take out assembly plants like this one,

where NPS brought in from China was prepared and packaged ready

to flood the streets. We will never arrest our way

out of the issue of new It's about informing

young people of the And making sure that they make

as best an informed decision At Manchester Metropolitan

University they're preparing a Early conclusions

are that Spice dealing But it's still available

and extremely dangerous. Some estimates have suggested

that it's 700 times more potent than traditional

forms of cannabis. As soon as you take one street

dealer out they're just replaced the next day

with somebody else. I don't think you're going to stop

the street-level dealing. And if you have

dealers you have this. For the young street homeless here

Spice remains a clear and It's made vulnerable people more

vulnerable, people are turning on each other, people who had smoked

together are now selling to each other, stealing

from each other. People are being put out to beg

in order to pay for their It's just made things

a hundred times worse. For Beth the ban on legal highs

has been irrelevant. She's clean now but just

a couple of months ago this 22-year-old single mum

was on the streets and on the Spice. I didn't wash, I didn't

clean my hair, I didn't care about nothing,

I wasn't bothered, it just I think you need to look

at the mental health and that. There's a reason why people

are wanting to smoke it, not just because it's banned,

not because it's legal, there's a problem with that person,

that they can't deal with their A year in then the ban

is having mixed success. Spice is no longer on sale

in high street shops. But the young and the homeless

are still finding it, still learning that a new kind of high comes

with a new kind of low. Voting has finally ended tonight

in Iran's presidential elections after polling stations had to be

kept open much longer than they were meant to be because

of an unexpectedly high turnout. Long queues formed across

the country where the relatively moderate President Hassan Rouhani

is facing a strong challenge from a hardline conservative

rival, Ebrahim Raisi. Our Middle East editor,

Jeremy Bowen has this assessment of how the outcome could

affect Iran's future. People are encouraged to vote

in Iran because it gives the system legitimacy but the election,

as ever, isn't free have to be approved

by the unelected Guardian Council. It's looking like a close race

between the main candidates. At this polling station

they were supporting Hassan Rouhani, TRANSLATION: I want

social justice, social freedoms and political development,

and good relations with all TRANSLATION: We will stand

in these queues for as long as it's needed

in order not to go backwards, for the shadow

of the Iranian elections

with all their flaws produce vigorous campaigns

and Candidates have traded accusations

of corruption and criticised Iran's Remarks that at other times

could land Iranians in jail. Iranians don't seem

particularly enthused by For many it's a choice

between bad and worse. The main challenger

is Ebrahim Raisi. He is a veteran

conservative hardliner. He is deeply suspicious

of the West and if he wins there

could be crises ahead. President Hassan Rouhani wants

to have another term. He's a moderate who would like more

openness in politics and society. Rouhani was elected last time

because he promised better relations with the outside world and

the relaxation of economic sanctions through making a deal

about Iran's nuclear plans. President Rouhani is running

on the success of the deal in which Iran accepted restrictions

on its nuclear industry. If he loses it's

because voters think he's Raisi opposed the nuclear

deal when it was being negotiated but now says he'd

keep it, though he insists his toughness will make

sure Iran stays strong. Whoever's going to be the next

Iranian President, whether it be Hassan Rouhani or Ebrahim Raisi,

it's going to change the tenor of Iranian politics, its ability

to dialogue with the international community and the West, particularly

the United States, and also its relationship with its

neighbours in the region. Whoever wins will have to work

with the supreme leader In Iran he has the power

and the last word. Viewed from Tehran, the country's

a regional power with legitimate security interests and the right to

help allies like the Syrian regime. But that alarms its adversaries,

especially the US, the Saudis and Back to the election now -

and the UK's vote to leave the EU was seen by some as an indication

that many feel immigration and globalisation has changed

communities too quickly - with British - or in

some cases English - In the last of our series

about the new politics, our correspondent Alex Forsyth

reports from two different locations on the English south coast

which have seen significant economic and social change, and asks

how it might factor Scattered along Kent's coastline,

seaside towns once host to There is some regeneration

but these traditional communities have seen

undeniable change. The indoor bowlers of Margate have

borne witness to the Margate from the 70s has

changed so much it's There's so many immigrants

who have come in and Do you think people

still feel this is No, because every shop has got

Indians running them. There's Polish shops,

there's Afghanistan shops, which is fine, I've got

nothing against that. But it's pushing the English

traditions out of our lives. This part of town is home

to many EU migrants. B and boarding houses

have become flats. Barry Gardiner's barber's has been

here nearly 30 years. Many of his customers

backed Brexit to A lot of people have

felt they've been The borders, I think,

have been too much, let too many They don't realise

England is only a small The EU referendum,

the question of Britain's place in the world,

and to some extent talk of Scotland's place

in the UK, has raised issues of culture and identity

and it's left many seeking up for them, their society, their

community, and their way of life. Along the coast Southampton

too has changed. The busy port is still key

to the local economy. But shipbuilding and manufacturing

no longer dominate. In the suburban

streets it's not just immigration, but also job insecurity

and rising house prices that have altered neighbourhoods and left

some feeling unsettled by the pace of change,

wanting their values # One, two, three, four, it's got

to be my favourite time of year. Like the members of this local choir

they epitomise community spirit but fear beyond the church hall that's

fragmenting as people There are a lot of young people

who are, you know, in Unless you have a couple

with a fairly substantial income their chances of actually

getting on the property It does affect communities a lot

because, as you say, People work further away

from where they live so their colleagues are spread out

in different places, their family is spread out

in different places. If anything there is more sort

of division in our society at the moment, as a result of recent

political decisions that have been made and society as a whole

is more polarised. I think in a way we kind

of have to create our own In this election who can speak

to these communities might dictate who gets to shape

the future of the country. It seems old values still matter

in the new politics. The American artist Jean-Michel

Basquiat came to prominence as a graffiti artist in the 1970s. He

died at the age of just 27 from a heroin overdose almost 30 years ago.

But now one of his works has just sold at auction for $110 million.

It's a record for any American artist.

So what's behind the phenomenal demand for his work?

Here's our arts editor Will Gompertz.

The moment is about to arrive at Sotheby's last night.

When the American neo-expressionist painter Jean-Michel Basquiat, who

Is that a bid, sir? $69 million.

I'm selling it on this side of the room.

A fair warning and selling, thank you, sir, for $98 million.

The sale price when commissions are included puts him in

the exclusive auction house $100 million plus club.

Along with Pablo Picasso and Francis Bacon.

We definitely had an idea that everybody felt that it was a

masterpiece but the air gets pretty thin at those sort of

So, of course, the previous record price was less than

half what we've achieved this evening so you're going into very

The buyer, Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese online fashion

retailer, was delighted, he said, at winning this masterpiece, which

But why might he have been willing to pay so much?

It's the kind of rock and roll way he put

images and text together, it's extremely influential.

That mixed with a kind of expressionistic style

of painting, added to the fact that he is, you know,

To that you could now add the almost-mythical nature of Basquiat's

and romanticised in this I pick with his friend and mentor

Do you want to buy some ignorant art?

Who himself became a collector of the one-time

Whatever one thinks of the eye watering auction

price paid for the work there is no question that Jean-Michel Basquiat

His paintings reference the so-called low art

There's something I find quite alarming about that picture.

..And the expressionism of Vincent Van Gogh

and the street art scene of 1970s New York,

he is a significant figure in