Peter "Just Loves Flying"

UK fury as Ecuador grants asylum to Julian Assange via @independent_ie.

WIKILEAKS founder Julian Assange has been granted political asylum by Ecuador after taking refuge in the country’s embassy in London.

The announcement will increase tensions between the UK and the South American country, which has been warned that the situation could have “serious implications” for diplomatic relations.

Assange sought sanctuary in the embassy in London’s Knightsbridge in an effort to avoid deportation to Sweden, where he faces sexual assault charges.

UK ‘threatens to arrest’ Assange.

The diplomatic standoff over Julian Assange has escalated after Ecuador claimed Britain threatened to raid its embassy in London if Quito did not hand over the WikiLeaks founder, who has been taking refuge there for two months.

The Ecuadorean government said such an action would be considered a “hostile and intolerable act” as well as a violation of its sovereignty.

“Under British law we can give them a week’s notice before entering the premises and the embassy will no longer have diplomatic protection,” a Foreign Office spokesman said. “But that decision has not yet been taken. We are not going to do this overnight. We want to stress that we want a diplomatically agreeable solution.”…