Assange can take extradition case to UK’s top court

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was yesterday given the chance to challenge a decision allowing him to be extradited to the United States to face 18 criminal charges including breaking a spying law to Britain's Supreme Court. US authorities are seeking Australian-born Assange, 50, to face trial on 18 counts relating to WikiLeaks' release of vast troves of confidential US military records and diplomatic cables which they said had put lives in danger. In December, the High Court in London overturned a lower court's ruling that he should not be extradited on health ground. While judges refused him permission for a direct appeal to the Supreme Court on their decision, they said his case raised an issue of legal importance that he could ask the UK's top court to rule on.