2012-04-23 #WikiLeaks News Update: "World Tomorrow" news; Swedish hypocrisy; Manning's next hearings

WikiLeaks has been financially blockaded without process for 506 days.
Julian Assange has been detained without charge for 503 days.
Bradley Manning has been imprisoned without trial for 700 days.
A secret Grand Jury has been active in the U.S. without transparency for 586 days.

WikiLeaks News:

• WikiLeaks cables show that U.S. officials see Manitoba Hydro, which plans to spend $18B on export-dependent projects, as a struggling utility whose enthusiasm about proposed dams is not shared.

• Virgin Airlines stated that WikiLeaks lawyer Jennifer Robinson was stopped at Heathrow Airport due to "security issues." Virgin continued by saying it was not an airline issue, but something to be brought up with security services or the Home Office. Robinson also gave an interview with WSWS discussing the incident, as well as government and media attacks on WikiLeaks. See our in-depth coverage of the incident here.

• A panel was held about surveillance at the Whitney Museum in New York. One of the panelists was Jacob Appelbaum, who talked about his experiences being detained and interrogated at airports after speaking on WikiLeaks at the HOPE conference.
  

• WikiLeaks Press has released a news summary for the week of March 15.

Julian Assange News:

• A new episode of "The World Tomorrow" will air Tuesday, April 24, 12:30PM London time. Featured guests will be conservative activist David Horowitz and philosopher Slavoj Žižek. WikiLeaks issued a press release with information about the upcoming episode.
  

• Professor Richard Keeble of the Lincoln School of Journalism gave an interview about the debut episode of "The World Tomorrow." He commented that Julian Assange has bravely challenged the mainstream media and that his television show is something that journalism needs.

• During an appearance on the TV show "City Link," Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa announced he had been interviewed by Julian Assange. Correa highlighted Assange's work and commented how he been "persecuted, slandered, and lynched by the media" because of WikiLeaks' revelations.

• Julian Assange was included in The Guardian's Open 20 list of fighters for internet freedom.

• Sweden recommended that Syria make incommunicado detention illegal. Yet if Julian Assange is extradited to Sweden, the prosecutor on the case, Marianne Ny, is insisting that he be held incommunicado during the investigation process, before any charges are brought.

• Guy Rundle has written a new article at Crikey which looks at how one allegation against Julian Assange by complainant AA is worded very similarly to a Amnesty International report on sex crimes from 2009. Justice for Assange also reported on the similarities.

• Greg Barns, who recently spoke at a Melbourne panel on WikiLeaks, has written an OpEd about the Australian government's failure to protect Julian Assange.

• Our article, "Common Misconceptions of the Assange Case," is now available in German courtesy of Twitter user @chrhnk.

Bradley Manning News:

• Today marks Bradley Manning's 700th day of imprisonment without trial.
  

• Bradley Manning's defense has filed two new motions with the court to be argued during the April 24-26 hearings. The first is a move to dismiss all charges against Manning that hold prejudice and the other is a request for materials from the secret WikiLeaks grand jury.

• Firedoglake's Kevin Gosztola hosted a live chat with Chase Madar to discuss his new book, "The Passion of Bradley Manning."

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Upcoming Dates & Events:

April 23-28: Performances of "The Radicalization of Bradley Manning" held between these dates in schools across Wales.

April 23: Bradley Manning's 700th day of imprisonment without trial.

April 24-26: Bradley Manning's next set of pre-trial hearings. Support events planned worldwide.

April 24: New episode of "The World Tomorrow" airs on RT, 12:30PM London time.

April 27-28: Kristinn Hrafnsson to speak at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy at panels "Whistleblowers and anonymous leaks: can the media do without them?" (27/4) and "Dossier WikiLeaks. Segreti italiani" (28/4).

May 23: Julian Assange to speak at Enterprise Information Management Congress 2012 in the Netherlands.

May 27: "Incident in New Baghdad" to air on The Documentary Channel, 8PM.