Ecuador wants help to get Assange out of embassy

Ecuador has for the first time stated it is looking for a mediator to help it remove Julian Assange, the Wikileaks founder, from its embassy in London.

Maria Fernanda Espinosa, the foreign minister, said his nation was seeking a “third country or a personality” to help reach a final settlement with Britain and end the “untenable” five-year impasse.

Mr Assange moved into Ecuador’s embassy in London in 2012 to avoid arrest over now-dropped Swedish rape charges. He remains over fears he will be extradited to America and put on trial for Wikileaks publishing leaked secret US military documents and diplomatic cables in 2010.