Wikileaks, Visa | featured news

WikiLeaks will have to stop publishing secret cables and devote itself to fund-raising if it is unable to end a financial "blockade" by U.S. firms such as Visa and MasterCard by the end of the year, founder Julian Assange said on Monday.

That appears to have been an accident, at least as far as Visa Europe Ltd. was concerned. In an email to The Associated Press, the company said that one of its financial partners had "briefly accepted payments on a merchant site linked to WikiLeaks." "As soon as this came to our attention, action was taken with the suspension of Visa payment acceptance to the site remaining in place," the company said.

WikiLeaks says it's suing the European operations of Visa and MasterCard because they cut off services to the secret-spreading website last December.

Visa Europe is suspending all payments to whistle-blowing website Wikileaks ahead of an investigation into the organisation.