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Seven weeks ago, when Julian Assange was dragged out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London, headed for possible extradition to the United States, the WikiLeaks editor, Kristinn Hrafnsson, told us the legal charges waiting for Assange in the US were "just the tip of the iceberg". And that there would be more coming.

Last week, he was proven right. US prosecutors have expanded the indictment against Assange by another 17 counts. His maximum jail term has jumped from five years to 175 years. And the US Department of Justice is going after him under a different law now, the Espionage Act.

That law has been used against whistleblowers before, WikiLeaks source Chelsea Manning included, but never against a publisher. The alarm bells, including from mainstream media organisations that fear the precedent such a prosecution would set have been going off ever since.

The Assange case isn't really about him or WikiLeaks anymore. It has implications, serious ones - for journalists just about everywhere.

"This is the first time that the government has brought a charge under the 1917 World War One era Espionage Act, which is supposed to cover spying, not disclosing information to journalists," explains Gabe Rottman, project director, Reports Committee for Freedom of the Press. "It's the first time that the government has brought charges under the Espionage Act based exclusively on the receipt and publication of government secrets."

When the Department of Justice announced the indictment, it held a closed-door briefing for journalists. It was on the record but off camera.

The head of the department's national security division was widely quoted on Assange's journalistic credentials.

"The department takes seriously the role of journalists in our democracy", he said. "It is not and never has been the department's policy to target them for reporting. But Julian Assange is no journalist".

"But the question about whether Julian Assange is a journalist or not is irrelevant," contends Trevor Timm, executive director, Freedom of the Press Foundation. "The First Amendment does not bestow upon journalists a certain set of rights, they bestow everybody those rights whether they call themselves a journalist or not ... I think everyone can agree that Donald Trump shouldn't be the one deciding who is a journalist and who isn't."

The use of the Espionage Act by the Department of Justice galvanised media outlets alarmed at the implications. Not for Julian Assange. For themselves.

The Washington Post called the case "a blueprint for making journalists into felons".

The New York Times' editorial board said the indictment "aims at the heart of the First Amendment".

And the Guardian's former editor called the charges "a grave threat to free media".

All that pushback felt like too little, too late. Assange has been treated like a pariah by those same news outlets. And even now, with all the Assange indictments out there, those news outlets are clearly more concerned with possible legal precedents affecting them - than they are about the fate of their one-time source.

"You can be critical of Julian Assange and there may be many good reasons to take issue with the way that Assange has conducted himself and the way that WikiLeaks has released information to the public," says Caroline DeCell, staff lawyer, Knight First Amendment Institute.

"But the charges brought against him in this indictment sweep much more broadly into the realm of typical journalistic practice. The news media organisations that have reacted to this with alarm have done so with a full appreciation of the signal that this indictment sends to the press."

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Istanbul plays an oversized role in the Turkish economy and politics. It has been the gateway to the presidency for Recep Tayyip Erdogan and represents a third of the country's economy.

After a quarter of a century, Erdogan lost the battle to control the financial capital but controversially another vote to elect the mayor has been planned.

It is just one of a number of issues that has many people and businesses losing faith in the country. After a credit-fuelled boom led to bust many are switching to the dollar. Foreign exchange deposits and funds rose to a record high of $182bn this month.

The lira has fallen about 37 percent since the beginning of 2018, pushing the economy into recession. The central bank has stopped short of implementing capital controls on the way governments limit the flow of money in and out of the country. During the boom years, delivered mostly through property and construction, corporations borrowed in dollars and are now finding it difficult to repay $200bn in loans.

Meanwhile, unemployment has jumped to a decade-high of 14.7 percent and inflation soared to 19.5 percent. The Turkish government has promised a series of financial reforms to revive the economy. But for now, many consumers are struggling to pay for imported goods.

Where did it all go wrong for the economy?

"In 2008, our GDP per capita was above $8,000 and it raised up to $12,000. But today we are below the 2008 numbers," says Durmus Yilmaz, former central bank governor. "The reason behind it is the chosen growth model. You can't be a big economy with the skyscrapers you build in Istanbul, Ankara or Izmir, but they can be your prestige projects."

"Turkey shall never capitulate them. All infrastructure, canal, railway, fast train projects must continue, even with [a] foreign subsidiary. Because these are the essentials of an economy. However, a substantial part of foreign money we received has been allocated to a construction sector that feeds 750 different sub-sectors. This created a boom in the economy. But at the end, your cash flow is in local currency but your debt is in foreign exchange. So we are stuck now."

In order to fix the Turkish economy, he says "our job is to follow token economy policies and build up the country's interest accordingly. As the opposition, we and others say the finance and treasury minister, the president's son-in-law, should resign. But this will not resolve the problem. This is a systemic issue. This system has paralysed the decision-making process in the economy. If you monopolise the authority, that person manages all."

"We have to address the key trigger of the problem, which is this new presidential system, which is unique to Turkey. Our institutions are now paralysed. We need to rebuild our system by introducing a rule-based system in line with universal law, separation of powers, checks and balances. Otherwise, I believe the current system will self-terminate," Yilmaz says.

Mozambique's debt crisis
Mozambique is hoping to secure billions of dollars for reconstruction after the devastation of cyclones Idai and Kenneth. Cyclone Idai alone left more than 600 people dead and about 1.8 million people in need.

According to the United Nations, Mozambique needs $3.2bn for post-cyclone reconstruction. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says growth could slow to at least 1.8 percent from 3.5 percent from losses to agriculture, transport and communications. Food shortages in Beira, one of the hardest-hit cities, and surrounding areas could push prices up 8.5 percent from 5.5 percent.

Mozambique's port of Beira is an important hub for the country, as well as for neighbouring Malawi and Zimbabwe. But it is not operating right now. And according to the finance ministry, most homes, hospitals and schools had suffered large-scale destruction.

A debt crisis has complicated Mozambique's finances.

In 2016, it admitted to $1.4bn in undisclosed funding. That prompted the IMF to cut off support, triggering a currency collapse and debt default. It has little hope of repaying the debt.

In 2017, the debt-to-GDP ratio was 112 percent. By 2022, the IMF forecasts that it could climb to over 130 percent. But the country is resource rich. It hopes to become the next liquified natural gas powerhouse. By 2025, Mozambique is on track to invest $128bn. But it would still be many many years before it gets over its debt crisis and begins to reap the benefit of the gas.

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US immigration: Texas detention facility severely overcrowded: A US government watchdog has issued a damning report on overcrowding at a migrant detention facility in Texas.
The Office of Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security says immediate action must be taken to address the problem.

Al Jazeera's Rob Reynolds has more.

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