TASK DEFINITION: Given a document and an entity the task is to select the author's sentiment towards the entity. Sentiments can be Positive, Neutral and Negative. Select Positive if the article expresses a positive view towards the given entity or praises its quality or skills. Select Neutral if the document expresses no clear view towards the entity or has equal amounts of positive and negative statements or expressing some fact/quote by someone else. Select Negative if the article expresses a negative view towards like harsh remarks, criticizing entities action/decision etc. Note that URLs in the text have been replaced with [Link].
PROBLEM: What is the sentiment of the following document towards the entity Debra Lee ? CLOSE BET CEO and  president Debra Lee  is handing over  her  presidential title to a new executive. USA TODAY
 Debra Lee   the networks' president  said that  she  will be leaving that role at the start of the year and handing oversight of daily operations to Scott Mills  currently an executive vice president and chief administrative officer at parent company Viacom.
 Lee  will retain  her  positions as BET Networks' chairman and CEO  concentrating on the company's engagement with communities.  She  will also advise Mills in his new role.
Bob Bakish  Viacom's president and CEO  said in a statement that  Lee ’s “vision and leadership  unmatched intuition for what audiences want  and ability to attract and foster top talent — both behind and in front of the camera — have been pivotal to this success.’’
Scott Mills will replace  Debra Lee  as BET Networks' president starting Jan. 1. (Photo: BET Networks)

SOLUTION: Positive

PROBLEM: What is the sentiment of the following document towards the entity Hillary Clinton ? "He has not said one word about them , about other American citizens in the U.S. Virgin Islands ," Clinton said , before Trump tweeted . 
Clinton also criticized Trump for his silence on Puerto Rico 's recovery while devoting several days toward attacks against hundreds of NFL players who knelt in protest against the president , demonstrations that continued through "Monday Night Football ." 
"I 'm not sure he knows that Puerto Ricans are American citizens ," Clinton told Sirius XM 's Zerlina Maxwell on Monday afternoon . 
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday launched a blistering attack against President Donald Trump for his near-silence on the humanitarian disaster in Puerto Rico , questioning the president 's focus on a days-long campaign against NFL athletes on Twitter while the U.S. territory has struggled with universal devastation . 
During appearances on Sirius XM and MSNBC 's "All In With Chris Hayes ," Clinton described the president 's approach as a political calculus and being disinterest in the fate of the 3.5 million American residents living on the island . 
"He does n't think that has any political relevance and it 's certainly not personally important ," Clinton told Chris Hayes on Monday evening . 
Clinton comments echoed those she made just hours earlier while chatting with Sirius XM 's Maxwell .

SOLUTION: Neutral

PROBLEM: What is the sentiment of the following document towards the entity Julian Assange ? Officials in Ecuador have granted WikiLeaks founder  Julian Assange  citizenship after five years of living in the country’s London embassy.
Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa said Ecuador had accepted  Assange ’s request made in December to become a citizen  arguing that citizenship would “provide the asylum seeker another layer of protection.”
“No solution will be achieved without international co-operation and the co-operation of the United Kingdom  which has also shown interest in seeking a way out ”  she  continued.
Ecuador granted Assange  whose organization WikiLeaks has published millions of classified government documents  political asylum in 2012 in an attempt to avoid extradition to Sweden over a rape claim.  Assange ’s activities exposing classified American documents may have led to further extradition to the United States  some speculated at the time.
Sweden has since dropped the rape claim  although  Assange  could still face arrest on charges of skipping bail that could also lead to extradition  meaning he is still unsafe to leave the embassy.
“The government of Ecuador recently requested diplomatic status for  Assange  here in the UK  said a spokesperson for Britain’s Foreign Office. “The UK did not grant that request  nor are we in talks with Ecuador on this matter. Ecuador knows that the way to resolve this issue is for Julian Assange to leave the embassy to face justice.”
 Assange ’s relationship with Ecuadorian authorities has been tested in the past year as a result of  his  social media and internet activities. In October 2016  the embassy temporarily cut off  his  internet access as Wikileaks continued to publish private emails from Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Last April  Ecuador’s then president-elect Lenín Moreno also warned  Assange  to not interfere with the country’s politics  after he taunted Moreno’s conservative opponent Guillermo Lasso over his defeat. Lasso had pledged to kick  Assange  out the embassy.
 Assange  has yet to comment on the development.

SOLUTION:
Positive