Assange-hosted TV show to debut in Russia

Moscow: A 10-part political discussion hosted by Julian Assange, founder of whistleblowing website WikiLeaks, will be broadcast on the Russia Today television channel starting April 17.

"The programme `The World Tomorrow` will be simultaneously broadcast on three RT channels, in English, Arab and Spanish languages," the channel said in a statement. Each half-hour instalment of ‘The World Tomorrow’ will feature guests being interviewed by Assange, who gained popularity after WikiLeaks published thousands of classified US documents starting in 2010. Assange said in a statement: "First of all, being under house arrest for so long, it`s nice to have an occasional visitor and to learn more about the world. And given that the conversations we were having are quite interesting, why not film them and show other people what was going on." ‘The World Tomorrow’ was filmed in London, where Assange has spent around 500 days under house arrest. He is battling an extradition request from Sweden, where he faces charges of sexually abusing two women. Swedish police issued an international arrest warrant for Assange in November 2010. He was arrested in London in December. Assange has denied the accusations and described the case as politically motivated. IANS