WIKILEAKS

1. WIKILEAKS By Hannah Robinson, Meg Golding & Alice Hall

2. An overview of wikileaks • WikiLeaksis an Australian made international organisationthat publishes anonymous submissions and leaks of otherwise unavailable documents while preserving the anonymity of sources. • It is an international self-described non-profitorganisationthat publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. • Its website, launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organisation, claimed a database of more than 1.2 million documents within a year of its launch.

3. Who is Julian Assange? Assange voluntarily went into UK police custody on 7 December 2010, when a European Arrest Warrant was issued in response to a Swedish police request for questioning in relation to a sexual assault investigation. After 10 days in solitary confinement, Assange was freed on bail and fitted with an electronic tag and ordered to report to police daily. Assange appealed in February 2011 decision by English courts to extradite him to Sweden, claiming the allegations of his wrongdoings were "without basis”. On 2 November 2011 the High court upheld the extradition decision and rejected all four grounds for the appeal as presented by Assange's legal representatives. £19,000 court costs was also awarded against Assange. A decision will be taken before the end of November as to whether Assange will be allowed to further appeal to the Supreme Court. Assangeremains on conditional bail. Julian Paul Assangeis an Australian publisher, journalist, computer programmer, Internet activist and the editor in chief of WikiLeaks.

4. 1st newsworthy leak! Wikileaks cables: UK police developed evidence against McCanns. British ambassadors reported comments to US couterpart offer insight into role of UK police in 2007 investigation.British police helped to develop evidence against Madeline McCann’s parents as they were investigated by Portuguese police as formal suspects in disappearance of their daughter. The US ambassador in Portugal was held by his British counterpart in Sep 2007.

5. 2nd newsworthy leak! US diplomats spied on UN leadership: • Diplomats ordered to gather intelligence on Ban Ki-moon• Secret directives sent to more than 30 US embassies• Call for DNA data, computer passwords and terrorist links Washington is running a secret intelligence campaign targeted at the leadership of the United Nations, including the secretary general, Ban Ki-moon and the permanent security council representatives from China, Russia, France and the UK.

6. 3rd newsworthy leak! Iranian dissident 'suspected target for London hit' Cables show Ali Reza Nourizadeh was being pursued by man who tried to arrange killing of another Tehran critic. Iranian intelligence was suspected of targeting a leading critic in London through an individual who had earlier been jailed for hiring a hitman to kill a US-based Iranian broadcaster.

7. 4th newsworthy leak! WikiLeaks cables expose Afghan contempt for British military President Hamid Karzai, Helmand governor and US commander criticise UK failure to impose security and engage with Afghans Britain's four-year military stewardship of the troubled Helmand province has been scorned by President Hamid Karzai, top Afghan officials and the US commander of Nato troops, according to secret US diplomatic cables.

8. 5th ‎newsworthy leak! WikiLeaks cables: Lockerbie bomber freed after Gaddafi's 'thuggish' threats Megrahi case led to threats against UK's Libyan interests, while Scots who released him had turned down 'a parade of treats' The British government's deep fears that Libya would take "harsh and immediate" action against UK interests if the convicted Lockerbie bomber died in a Scottish prison are revealed in secret US embassy cables which show London's full support for the early release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.

9. 6th newsworthy leak! WikiLeaks cables: Whitehall told US to ignore Brown's Trident statement Top civil servants are quoted as telling Washington that UK would renew nuclear deterrent, contradicting Gordon Brown. Two senior Whitehall officials assured US diplomats that the renewal of Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent would go ahead, apparently contradicting then prime minister Gordon Brown's public statements proposing some disarmament by the UK, according to leaked US embassy cables.

10. 7th newsworthy leak! Pope helped to free British sailors held by Iran, WikiLeaks cables show Leaked cables show UK diplomats were reluctant to give pontiff credit for release of 15 sailors held for a fortnight in 2007 The pope intervened to help gain the release of 15 British sailors captured by Iran three years ago, according to a confidential briefing prepared for President Obama.

11. 8th newsworthy leak! WikiLeaks cables: US pressured British regulator to act against Iranian banks US wanted Financial Services Authority to take leadership role against banks to deter a 'nuclear-armed Iran', cables show Senior US officials urged British banking regulators two years ago to take more draconian action against Iranian banks suspected of financing nuclear and missile programmes, US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks show.

12. 9th newsworthy leak! Saudi Arabia urges US attack on Iran to stop nuclear programme • Embassy cables show Arab allies want strike against Tehran• Israel prepared to attack alone to avoid its own 9/11• Iranian bomb risks 'Middle East proliferation, war or both' King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has repeatedly urged the United States to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear programme, according to leaked US diplomatic cables that describe how other Arab allies have secretly agitated for military action against Tehran.

13. 10th newsworthy leak! Steven Spielberg was target of Arab League boycott, WikiLeaks cable shows Leaked dispatch reveals diplomats from 14 Arab states voted to ban the director's films in response to his donation to Israel Steven Spielberg was blacklisted by the Arab League's Central Boycott Office after making a $1m (£570,000) donation to Israel during the 2006 conflict in Lebanon.

14. 11th newsworthy leak! China pressed over Iran and North Korea's nuclear tradeEmbassy cables show US urging Beijing to stop shipments amid claims Chinese firms may be supplying materials The US insisted that China act "urgently" to halt a transshipment of ballistic missile components from North Korea to Iran via Beijing and complained that at least 10 similar missile-related deliveries had been allowed to proceed unhindered.

15. 12th newsworthy leak! Hillary Clinton questions Cristina Kirchner's mental healthSecret cable sent to US embassy in Argentina asks diplomats to find out how president handles stress Hillary Clinton has questioned the mental health of Cristina Kirchner and asked US diplomats to investigate whether the Argentinian president is taking medication to help her "calm down".

16. 13th newsworthy leak! US has lost faith in Mexico's ability to win drugs war, WikiLeaks cables showAmerican diplomats paint scathing picture of Mexican army, branding it as unfit to combat drug traffickers The US has lost confidence in the Mexican army's ability to win the country's drugs war, branding it slow, clumsy and no match for "sophisticated" narco-traffickers.

17. 14th newsworthy leak! Wikileaks cables: Poland furious over getting 'potted plants', not missilesUS rotation of Patriot missiles after persuading Warsaw over shield left Poles furious as they expected live weapons It is the biggest single concrete example of US support for Polish security on the ground. But the leaked embassy cables show that a battery of Patriot missiles in the north-east of the country lacked one crucial component – live missiles.

18. 15th newsworthy leaks! WikiLeaks cables: Sudan warned to block Iranian arms bound for GazaPressure exerted on Arab states over weapons that could be used against Israel The US has worked discreetly to block the supply of Iranian and Syrian weapons to the Palestinian movement Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah, pressuring Arab governments not to co-operate – in many cases where the requests were based on secret intelligence provided by Israel.

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