News Daily: Upskirting law, and Corbyn intervenes in Assange case

By Victoria King BBC News

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New offence

When Gina Martin found herself a victim of upskirting - taking a picture or video under somebody's clothing in order to see their genitals or underwear - in 2017, she shared her experience online. She also began a campaign to make it a criminal offence in England and Wales. There was a slight bump in the road - when one MP blocked the bill and briefly found himself something of a national bogeyman - but now the new law has come into force.

Offenders could face up to two years in prison and could be placed on the sex offenders register. BBC legal affairs correspondent Clive Coleman says the law covers culprits who claim images were just taken "for a laugh", and paparazzi who take intrusive pictures. Ms Martin said she hoped it would help people "feel comfortable" to report such crimes. Upskirting was already an offence in Scotland and Northern Ireland is considering a change.

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Assange future

Jeremy Corbyn says the UK government should not extradite Julian Assange to the US "for exposing evidence of atrocities in Iraq in Afghanistan". The Wikileaks founder was arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in London on Thursday where he has sought asylum for nearly seven years. He is wanted in the US for computer hacking in relation to a massive leak of classified government documents.

BBC diplomatic correspondent James Landale said Mr Corbyn's intervention means the battle over Assange's future will now be as much political as it is legal. How likely is he to be prosecuted in the US? Read our assessment.

Assange took refuge in the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden over a sexual assault case that has since been dropped, and on Thursday he was found guilty of failing to surrender to the court. Read more about the man himself, and here's how his long, complicated story has unfolded.

Finding phones

Mobile phone detectors are being installed by two police forces in an effort to cut down the number of drivers using them at the wheel. The technology picks up 2G, 3G and 4G signals so will flash a signal if it detects someone using a phone to call, text or use data. It won't flash if people are using a Bluetooth hands-free device.

The detectors can't tell if it's the driver or a passenger who's using the phone, and they won't be used to prosecute offenders. But police said they hoped the devices would help change driver behaviour, and Kate Goldsmith, whose daughter Aimee was killed by a lorry driver using his phone, said it was a step in the right direction.

The women and children no-one wants

By Quentin Sommerville, BBC News

The al-Hol camp in north eastern Syria is an overflowing vessel of anger and unanswered questions. Inside are the lost women and children of the jihadist group Islamic State (IS), abandoned by their men, their nightmare caliphate and their governments. Some cling to their hate-fuelled ideology: "We are undefeated!" they scream in your face. Others beg for a way out - a way home. Al-Hol is a nightmare, a camp that has grown from 11,000 people, to more than 70,000. It is swollen with the dark aftermath of the collapsed pseudo-caliphate. It is ready to burst.

Read the full article

What the papers say

The bearded face of Julian Assange appears on many of Friday's front pages. With undisguised relish, the Daily Mail describes his case as the "downfall of a narcissist". The i claims the Ecuadorian embassy invited the police round after "losing patience with their lodger". The FT feels his arrest ends "a seven-year saga that pitted global authorities against one of the most controversial transparency advocates". In Brexit news, the Times reports that the DUP has been holding private talks with Boris Johnson "and his Tory leadership campaign team". Following the fall of President Omar al-Bashir in Sudan, one of the Guardian's columnists, Nesrine Malik, who is from the country, describes experiencing his regime's brutality first hand. And finally, several papers carry the apparent decision of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex not to pose for pictures outside hospital when their baby is born. "They don't want any distractions," a source tells the Daily Mirror.