Edward Snowden In Russia: No Extradition

The White House says Russia has a "clear legal basis" to expel a whistleblower hiding out in a Moscow airport despite President Vladimir Putin's refusal to do so.

National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said even without an extradition treaty, Russia should expel Edward Snowden to face espionage charges in the US.

Mr Putin rejected calls to hand Snowden over to US officials, saying he was in a transit area of Sheremetyevo airport and had not officially crossed into the Russian border.

The 30-year-old was free to leave the country when he likes and should do so as soon as possible, Mr Putin said, adding that the visit was "unexpected."

He said: "Mr Snowden is a free man, the sooner he selects his final destination point, the better for us and for himself."

Reports on Monday had said Snowden was staying in a 'pod'-style hotel room in an airport VIP area.

Snowden's route since leaving Hawaii, with possible destinations

Mr Putin said Russian security agencies "didn't work and aren't working" with Snowden - dismissing any such claims as "ravings and rubbish".

He said the fact that Russia has no extradition agreement with the US meant it would not be meeting the American request to send him there.

However, he said he hoped the stopover will not affect its relationship with the US.

The former CIA technician, who has worked for the National Security Agency, has been charged with espionage by US authorities after he leaked details of American telephone and internet surveillance programmes.

He revealed the existence of a surveillance system called Prism that was set up by the NSA to track the use of the web directly from internet providers.

The Prism revelations sparked outcry in the UK when The Guardian reported that the GCHQ eavesdropping agency had been accessing information about British citizens.

Snowden is said to have been staying in a 'pod' room at Moscow airport

Evidence given to the paper by Snowden also suggested that GCHQ has been scanning the UK's network of fibre-optic cables that carry vast numbers of emails and other internet traffic.

Earlier, Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Snowden had not crossed into Russian territory - and he said any suggestion that Russia was involved in "some sort of conspiracy" was "absolutely ungrounded and unacceptable".

His comments came after China's top state newspaper - the voice of the communist party - praised the whistleblower for "tearing off Washington's sanctimonious mask".

The People's Daily, which reflects the official thinking of the Chinese government, criticised America for attacking Hong Kong's decision to allow him to flee.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has called for Russia to be "calm" and hand over Snowden. He said Washington was not looking for "confrontation."

Snowden left Hong Kong on Sunday, hours after the US had provided the territory with a request for extradition.

He was widely expected to fly from Moscow to Cuba and then on to Ecuador, possibly via Venezuela. Ecuador's foreign minister said on Tuesday he did not know where Snowden was.

On Monday, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Hong Kong had made a "deliberate choice by the government to release a fugitive despite a valid arrest warrant, and that decision unquestionably has a negative impact on the US-China relationship".

Mr Kerry has dubbed Snowden a traitor, and warned both Russia and China that their relations with the US might be damaged by their refusal to extradite him.

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Taliban: US Backs Talks Despite Kabul Attack

Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai have backed peace talks with the Taliban just hours after an attack on a CIA building in Kabul.

The White House said in a statement the two leaders "reiterated their support for an office in Doha for the purpose of negotiations between the High Peace Council and authorised representatives of the Taliban".

On Tuesday morning suicide attackers fought security forces for around an hour and blew up a car bomb outside Afghanistan's presidential palace after infiltrating one of Kabul's most secure areas.

Fighting also took place nearby at the Afghan ministry of defence and the former Ariana hotel, which is used by the CIA.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack and suggested all three buildings had been targeted.

Police said up to four gunmen jumped out of a car and opened fire after being stopped by security forces trying to use fake documents to get through a checkpoint.

Taliban attacked the presidential palace on Tuesday

They were reportedly wearing military uniforms and the car was fitted with radio antennae to make it look like an ISAF vehicle.

All the assailants were killed in the gunfight, and one palace security guard was wounded, said a police spokesman.

A car bomb also exploded outside the palace and there were reports of more than one vehicle device.

Talks between the US officials and the Taliban had been set to take place last Thursday in Qatar.

But Afghan government anger at the fanfare surrounding the opening of the Taliban office in the Gulf state threw preparations into confusion.

The opening of the Taliban office was ostensibly a practical step to pave the way for peace talks to end Afghanistan's 12-year-old war.

But the official-looking protocol surrounding the event raised angry protests in Kabul that the office would develop into a Taliban government-in-exile.

The militants have indicated they are willing to open peace talks with the US and the Afghan government.

However, at the same time they have not renounced violence and attacks have continued across Afghanistan.

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Snowden's Arrival In Moscow Strains Relations

The departure of whistleblower Edward Snowden from Hong Kong to Moscow threatens to strain diplomatic relations between the US and Russia and China.

The former US spy agency contractor sought asylum in Ecuador after leaving the Chinese territory on Sunday morning - scuppering Washington's efforts to extradite him on espionage charges.

The US has already said it is "disappointed" by Hong Kong's "troubling" failure to arrest the ex-CIA analyst, who has been hiding there for two weeks.

And there's growing anger in America over Russia's decision to allow him access to the country.

US Senator Charles Schumer charged that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely knew and approved of Mr Snowden's flight to Russia and predicted "serious consequences" for a US-Russian relationship already fraught over Syria and human rights.

Mr Schumer told CNN: "Putin always seems almost eager to stick a finger in the eye of the United States - whether it is Syria, Iran and now of course with Snowden."

Mr Snowden's route since leaving Hawaii and his possible next destinations

He also saw "the hand of Beijing" in Hong Kong's decision to let Mr Snowden leave.

China said on Sunday it was "gravely concerned" over new claims by Mr Snowden that US spies had hacked Chinese IT targets, particularly as the Obama administration has painted the US as a victim of Chinese government computer hacking.

The debacle is a major embarrassment for President Barack Obama, who has been trying to reset ties with Russia and build a partnership with China.

The US State Department said Mr Snowden should not be allowed to travel further as an international manhunt for him is launched.

Russia's Itar-Tass news agency said there is a flight ticket in his name from Moscow to Havana, Cuba today and that he will then fly on from there.

But the chief of Cuba's International Press Center, Gustavo Machin, said he had no such information.

A twitter picture of Mr Snowden's plane in Moscow. Credit @Russian_Market

The US has revoked Mr Snowden's passport, and says the "chase is on" to catch him.

Senate intelligence committee chairwoman Dianne Feinstein said: "I want to get him caught and brought back for trial. I think the chase is on and we'll see what happens."

Ecuador, which has been sheltering the founder of the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, at its London embassy for the past year, once again took centre stage in the international diplomatic saga.

Ecuador's foreign minister Ricardo Patino said the country was "analysing" his request for asylum, which "has to do with freedom of expression and with the security of citizens around the world".

Venezuela, Cuba and Ecuador are all members of the ALBA bloc, an alliance of leftist governments in Latin America that pride themselves on their "anti-imperialist" credentials.

Spanish Judge Mr Baltasar Garzon, legal director of Wikileaks, who is assisting Mr Snowden and lawyer for Mr Assange said: "The WikiLeaks legal team and I are interested in preserving Mr Snowden's rights and protecting him as a person.

A still picture of Sarah Harrison taken from a video put out by WikiLeaks

"What is being done to Mr Snowden and to Mr Julian Assange - for making or facilitating disclosures in the public interest - is an assault against the people".

WikiLeaks said he was being accompanied by Sarah Harrison, described by them as a UK citizen, journalist and legal researcher.

Mr Snowden left Hong Kong after The White House asked the autonomous Chinese territory to extradite him. He had earlier been charged in the US with espionage.

The Hong Kong government has said that although the US had sought his extradition, the request did not fully comply with requirements. It said that as a result, he was free to leave.

A US Department of Justice spokesperson said: "The US is disappointed and disagrees with the determination by Hong Kong authorities not to honour the US request for the arrest of the fugitive.

"The request for the fugitive's arrest for purposes of his extradition complied with all of the requirements of the US-Hong Kong Surrender Agreement.

"At no point, in all of our discussions through Friday, did the authorities in Hong Kong raise any issues regarding the sufficiency of the US's provisional arrest request.

"In light of this, we find their decision to be particularly troubling."

Mr Snowden was revealed earlier this month to have been the man who leaked to the Guardian and Washington Post newspapers information about monitoring by America's National Security Agency.

He claimed the NSA has been keeping details of millions of phone calls by Americans and monitoring the use by foreigners of internet sites including Google, Facebook and Yahoo.

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Nelson Mandela's Condition Becomes Critical

Nelson Mandela's health has deteriorated and he is now in a critical condition, the South African presidency has said.

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma and ANC Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa visited Mr Mandela in hospital on Sunday evening.

They were briefed by Mr Mandela's medical team and told that the 94-year-old's condition had "become critical over the past 24 hours".

Mr Zuma said in a statement: "The doctors are doing everything possible to get his condition to improve and are ensuring that Madiba is well-looked after and is comfortable. He is in good hands."

Mr Zuma visited Mr Mandela in hospital in Pretoria this evening

The pair also met with Graca Machel at the hospital to discuss the former South African president's condition.

Mr Mandela has suffered repeated bouts of illness in recent months and has been admitted to hospital four times since December.

The anti-apartheid leader has been in intensive care since he was last admitted to hospital on June 8 for a recurring lung infection.

Mr Zuma appealed to South Africans and to the world to pray for Mr Mandela, his family and the medical team attending to him.

Children have been sending "get well soon" messages to Mr Mandela

In Sunday's statement, Mr Zuma also discussed the government's acknowledgement a day earlier that an ambulance carrying Mr Mandela to the hospital two weeks ago had broken down.

"There were seven doctors in the convoy who were in full control of the situation throughout the period. He had expert medical care," Mr Zuma said.

"The fully equipped military ICU ambulance had a full complement of specialist medical staff including intensive care specialists and ICU nurses.

"The doctors also dismissed the media reports that Madiba suffered cardiac arrest. There is no truth at all in that report."

Mr Mandela is seen by many around the world as a symbol of reconciliation.

He played a leading role in steering South Africa from the apartheid era to democracy, becoming the country's first black president in all-race elections in 1994.

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Syria: 'Friends' Agree Urgent Rebel Support

Western and Arab countries opposed to Syrian President Bashar al Assad have agreed to give urgent military support to rebels fighting for his overthrow.

Ministers from the 11 main countries which form the Friends of Syria group agreed "to provide urgently all the necessary material and equipment to the opposition on the ground".

They also condemned "the intervention of Hizbollah militias and fighters from Iran and Iraq," demanding that they withdraw immediately.

Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague a the meeting in Doha

The support will be channelled through a Western-backed rebel military command, the ministers agreed during talks in Doha.

Guerrillas from Lebanon's Shiite pro-Iranian Hizbollah organisation spearheaded the recapture of the strategic border town of Qusair from mainly Sunni Muslim rebels two weeks ago.

Hizbollah and Shiite Iraqi gunmen have also been fighting around the shrine of Sayyid Zainab, south of Damascus, while Iranian military commanders are believed to be advising Mr Assad's officers on their counter-offensives against the rebels.

The ministers said the growing sectarian nature of the conflict and the foreign interventions "threaten the unity of Syria (and) broaden the conflict" across the region.

They also expressed strong concern at the increasing presence of "terrorist elements" and growing radicalisation in Syria.

Ministers from Britain, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United States attended the talks in Doha.

Speaking at the meeting, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the support for the rebels would help change the balance on the battlefield, where regime forces have scored recent victories.

Mr Kerry expressed concern about Iran and Hizbollah fighters in Syria.

"That is a very, very dangerous development. Hizbollah is a proxy for Iran ... Hizbollah in addition to that is a terrorist organisation."

Mr Kerry blamed Hizbollah and Mr Assad with thwarting efforts to diffuse sectarian rebels and to negotiate a settlement.

The two-year-long civil war in Syria has so far left 93,000 people dead.

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Gunmen Kill 10 Tourists In Pakistan

Gunmen have killed nine foreign tourists after storming a hotel in a remote area of northern Pakistan, say police.

"Unknown people entered a hotel where foreign tourists were staying last night and opened fire," said Ali Sher, a senior police officer in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan province.

The gunmen fled after the attack.

Five Ukrainians, three Chinese, a Russian and their guide were killed in the attack near the base camp for the snow-covered Nanga Parbat mountain, a popular destination for trekkers, officials said.

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

A senior government official said a large number of security personnel had been sent to the area.

"Since the area is very remote with no roads or transport, their bodies will have to be retrieved by helicopter," the official said.

Gilgit-Baltistan province - famous for its natural beauty -  had been considered one of the more secure areas of Pakistan but in recent years has witnessed a spate of attacks by militants targeting members of Pakistan's Shi'ite minority.

More follows...

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