Wikileaks merge (Assange loses extradition appeal)

One of the newspapers selected by the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks to release details of sensitive classified documents has given early details of the content while America desperately goes for damage limitation, it is claimed.

A report on The Guardian website claims the hundreds of thousands of classified US state department documents leaked to the website, details of which are due to be published in both British and European newspapers tomorrow, reveal:

Arab leaders privately urging an air strike on Iran

US officials instructed to spy on the UN's leadership

An important shift in relations between China and North Korea

Information about clandestine US efforts to combat al-Qaida in Yemen.

Fears in Washington and London over the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme

Alleged links between the Russian government and organised crime

Criticism of the UK's military operations in Afghanistan

Claims of inappropriate behaviour by a member of the Royal family

The veto of a meeting between Nelson Mandela and Margaret Thatcher by the ANC due to her policy of "constructive engagement" with the apartheid regime

The leaking of these documents, including thousands of sensitive diplomatic cables sent to Washington from the American Embassy, has caused condemnation from the US state department and the Foreign Office as it is feared they may not only damage the 'special relationship' between the UK and America but also risk inflaming the Muslim world against the West or cause other global rows.

As well as being expected to to reveal political criticisms of the prime minister David Cameron, his deputy Nick Clegg and his predecessor Gordon Brown, there are reportedly requests from the US administration for specific intelligence about individual MPs and allegations about a member of the Royal family.

The cables are also said to contain specific allegations of corruption and against foreign leaders, as well as harsh criticism by US embassy staff of their host governments, on Caribbean islands and of major powers like China and Russia. In addition Vladimir Putin is described as an "alpha-dog", Hamid Karzai as being "driven by paranoia" and Angela Merkel allegedly "avoids risk and is rarely creative". There is also a comparison made between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Adolf Hitler.

According to the newspaper, which is going ahead with publication despite the condemnation from both America and the UK, the cables name countries involved in financing terror groups, and describe a near "environmental disaster" last year over a rogue shipment of enriched uranium and disclose details of secret US-Russian nuclear missile negotiations in Geneva.

This weekend US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who is said to be affected by cables relating to Barack Obama's adminstration, was said to be contacting world leaders to warn them of the content in a desperate attempt to preserve America's global relations.

She has reportedly spoken to leaders in China, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Britain, France and Afghanistan. Canada, Denmark, Norway and Poland have also been warned.

There are also claims, subsequently denied by the US state department, that American embassies operate as a 'global espionage network' with diplomats working as intelligence operatives. It is alleged they were asked to comply to "human intelligence directives" issued in the name of Hillary Clinton or her predecessor, Condoleeza Rice, and gather information on military installations, weapons markings, vehicle details of political leaders as well as iris scans, fingerprints and DNA, their most controversial target being the leadership of the United Nations.

The WikiLeaks website was not available online earlier today due, it claimed, to as cyber attack.

Last night the US State Department’s top lawyer warned WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange that lives and military operations would be put at risk if the cables were released while legal adviser Harold Koh said it would be breaking the law if it published. Assange, in a response released today by his lawyer, said he had no intention of halting the release.

The Sunday Times website will reveal further details of the WikiLeaks documents later this evening