Britain and Ecuador are locked in a diplomatic tussle, after the South American country granted Wikileaks founder Julian Assange political asylum.

The 42 year old Australian was due to be extradited to Sweden to face rape allegations, but after losing an appeal in the UK Supreme Court, Assange fled to the Ecuadorian Embassy.

Britain and Sweden have both criticised the country's decision to award Assange asylum, with foreign secretary William Hague making it clear that the former hacker will not be granted safe passage out of the UK. Hague added that British police would not storm the embassy in London that has been sheltering Assange for the last two months.

In response, Ecuador's foreign minister Ricardo Patino said he hoped talks with the UK would 'overcome this'.

Mr Assange, who fears if he were extradited to Sweden the authorities would pass him on to US for questioning, called the decision 'a historic victory'.

According to tweets posted on the WikiLeaks Twitter feed, Assange will give a statement outside the embassy on Sunday afternoon, prompting speculation that he could be arrested because the property might be outside the embassy.

Written and presented by Alfred Joyner