Top story: Assange faces up to five years in prison

Good morning, this is Alison Rourke bringing you Friday’s briefing.

Julian Assange is expected to receive Australian consular assistance today after his arrest and removal from the Ecuadorian embassy in Knightsbridge, London. Scott Morrison, Australia’s prime minister, said Assange would not be given “any special treatment”, and the foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, said any extradition was a matter “between the United States and the United Kingdom”. The WikiLeaks founder had his political asylum revoked and was forcibly taken out of the embassy by Metropolitan police on Thursday morning. It ended 2,487 days in the building where he sought refuge in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations which he denies. On Thursday he was found guilty of failing to surrender to the court and faces up to 12 months in a British prison. He was further arrested at the request of the US, which seeks his extradition over allegations he conspired with former US military analyst Chelsea Manning to download classified databases in what the justice department called “one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States”.

On Thursday night, Ecuador arrested a man it claimed had links to WikiLeaks as he tried to leave Quito airport for Japan, for allegedly conspiring against the Ecuador government.

This video has been removed. This could be because it launched early, our rights have expired, there was a legal issue, or for another reason. Julian Assange removed from Ecuadorian embassy in London - video

Ed Pilkington has reported on concerns about the possible impact of Assange’s arrest on press freedom and national security reporting in the US. It includes Harvard law professor Yochai Benkler’s assessment that the indictment that will form the basis of his extradition is “vastly over-broad and could have a significant chilling effect”. David Smith, the Guardian’s Washington bureau chief, writes about Donald Trump’s vacillating position on Wikileaks. And here’s what the papers say about Assange’s arrest.

Fatty liver disease – Experts have warned of an “epidemic in young people” of the condition, caused by being overweight. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is fairly common among older adults, detectable in about a quarter of the population. But researchers from Bristol University who tested more than 4,000 young people found that substantial numbers of 24-year-olds were also affected, putting them at risk of serious health problems later, such as liver cancer, type-2 diabetes and heart attacks. Participants in the study were given an ultrasound at the age of 18, which revealed that 2.5% had non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Five years later, a newer kind of scan detected that more than 20% had fatty deposits on the liver, or steatosis, indicating non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Half of those were classified as severe.

No-deal stand down – Six thousand civil servants who had been seconded to help prepare for no deal will return to their normal duties, to the chagrin of Brexiter Tories. Steve Baker branded the decision “sheer spite” as the next cliff edge was pushed back to 31 October by the EU. In March, the National Audit Office revealed that £1.5bn had been allocated across Whitehall for no-deal contingencies under an umbrella Operation Yellowhammer project.

‘Appalling’ conditions – More than 500 suspected illegal schools, educating thousands of pupils, have been operating in England over the past three years, in data published by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) for the first time. One of the watchdog’s inspectors said some of the schools were in appalling condition, with rat traps, exposed wires and open sewers. In one, pupils were left to play computer games all day, while in another inspectors found children in every classroom repeating religious texts with no other apparent education going on. Some students were being taught by teachers who had been banned or not undergone checks. Victor Shafiee, who heads the unregistered schools taskforce, said the most vulnerable children ended up being looked after by the least capable adults and as a result were “robbed of their life chances”. Almost a quarter (23%) of the unregistered schools Ofsted inspected were in London, with the rest evenly spread across the country as far afield as Cornwall and the north-east.

Climate action – A fresh wave of youth strikes will hit towns and cities across the UK today as a government report revealed that the nation is set to miss its emissions targets. More than 60 demonstrations involving tens of thousands of young people are expected from Parliament Square in London to sites in Leeds, Manchester and Brighton. “Young people in the UK are sending those in power a clear message: we won’t accept anything less than urgent climate action,” said Anna Taylor, 18, from London and co-founder of the UK Student Climate Network. “We need [leaders] to act to protect people and planet.”

Page 3 no more – Almost two decades into the 21st century the days of topless women look to be finally over after the Daily Star announced it would no longer feature the pictures. The newspaper was the final holdout, with the Sun stopping in 2015. “The Daily Star is always looking to try new things and improve,” said the Star’s editor, Jonathan Clark. “In that spirit, we’ve listened to reader feedback and are currently trialling a covered-up version of page 3.”

Today in Focus podcast: Brexit means breakfast: behind the scenes at a Brussels all-nighter

After a marathon debate in Brussels, Theresa May emerged with a new October Brexit deadline. Jennifer Rankin and Daniel Boffey, in Brussels, saw the debate through to the bitter end and explain what happens now. Plus: Richard Sprenger on funeral poverty.

Lunchtime read: Cinema’s death of sex

The film classification board has awarded 18 certificates to just two films this year, mostly on the basis of sex or nudity – down from 14 in 2016. So are standards about what constitutes an adult film changing, or is there less sex at the movies, asks Catherine Shoard? The short answer from the board is no: “We haven’t made any significant changes to our guidelines on depictions of sex in recent years.” So why the change? A consultation by the film board in 2018 “suggested that parents are concerned by the borrowing of visual and verbal tropes from pornography and that such material should normally be restricted to 18”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Strange affair … Juliette Binoche and Robert Pattinson in the movie High Life, one of this year’s films given an 18 certificate. Photograph: Allstar/Alcatraz Films

This is, of course, the most obvious reason for cinema’s new puritanism. Its traditional function as the only way to glimpse a nipple is redundant. If you want to see sex on a screen, you are no longer required to traipse to the Odeon in the rain and sit through two hours of exposition. Nichi Hodgson, author of The Curious History of Dating: from Jane Austen to Tinder, agrees, pointing out that while Hollywood’s value is estimated at around $11bn, porn is worth $15bn – and growing fast. “Perhaps we’re merely seeing a compartmentalising of sexually explicit material versus everyday film … perhaps in the foreseeable future, mainstream cinema will have no need for sex scenes at all.” Of Peter Bradshaw’s top five sex scenes in the cinema, only two (from 2004 and 2016) post-date the turn of the century.

Sport

Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau gave the home crowd plenty to shout about as each shot rounds of 66 to share the lead at the end of day one of the Masters, while Rory McIlroy suffered swings and roundabouts at Augusta. A mature Aaron Ramsey and an own goal from Kalidou Koulibaly put Arsenal in a good position after the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final. Three Chelsea supporters were barred entry into the club’s Europa League tie in Prague after they were identified as having engaged in a chant describing the Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah as a “bomber”. Tara Moore, who pulled off one of the great comebacks in tennis history in a £25,000 tournament in Sunderland this week, said the experience has given her career “an enormous boost”. And British rugby league clubs have voted in favour of New York and Ottawa joining the domestic league structure next season: another significant step for the game’s expansion into North America.

Business

Asian shares turned lower on Friday ahead of the start of the US corporate earnings season and underlying anxiety over the global growth outlook eclipsed some reassuring American economic data. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was last down 0.1%, having see-sawed within a tight range throughout the morning session.

The pound was down on this time yesterday, buying €1.158 and $1.3075.

The papers

The arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy, where he has lived since 2012, is splashed across most of the front pages today.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: The Guardian

The Guardian reports that “Assange faces five years in US jail as standoff ends”, the Times puts the number higher, saying: “Assange faces decades in US jail over spying claims”. The FT has: “Assange faces US extradition after Ecuador drops asylum protection”, the i says “Assange faces jail in the US” and the Daily Mail is gleeful: “That’ll wipe the smile off his face”.

Assange features on but is not the lead on the Express, which runs: “MPs need a break? We want Brexit” and the Telegraph: “No-deal plans axed after Brexit put on hold”. The Sun references the troubled relationship between Assange and his hosts, with a headline “Whiffyleaks” but leads on a story about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle: “Not in Meg backyard”.

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