Assange launches last-ditch fight

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has launched a final attempt to persuade British officials not to force him to go to Sweden to face sex charges.

A lawyer for the 40-year-old Australian told Britain's highest court that age-old legal tradition would be compromised if it endorsed a European Arrest Warrant written up by Swedish prosecutors.

The case now before the British Supreme Court hinges on a dry technicality: whether Sweden's public prosecutor was qualified to issue a warrant for Assange's arrest.