Al-Jazeera International launches in two weeks

Arabic television network al-Jazeera will launch its English-language news service in two weeks time.

The channel has already recruited Sir David Frost, BBC News' Darren Jordon and Rageh Omaar and ITV's Shiulie Ghosh to present.

Broadcasting from its Qatar headquarters 24-hours a day, it will feature 12 hours of live news, along with recorded interviews and in-depth features. The station will also have newsrooms in London, Washington and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Al-Jazeera International was due to launch last spring, but was put back, executives say, due to fears over viewing figures over the summer months, though some reports have put the delay down to technical problems around the channel's high definition service.

Al-Gazer's English language website aljazeera.net/english is being re-launched to coincide with the site. Al-Jazeera Arabic language channel is 10 years old this week.

The channel has yet to announce any distribution rights with U.S. cable networks or the availability of the service on the major satellite platforms. A spokesman for the channel said agreements will be announced before launch.