Russia’s Immigration Service may grant entry permission to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, who has been stranded at a Moscow airport since last month. ■ Snowden, who had been living in the transit zone of Sheremetyevo Airport since the day he arrived from Hong Kong on June 23, applied for temporary asylum in Russia last week. His request followed weeks of searching for a way to leave the country, which he intended to pass briefly on his way to another destination and where he was stranded because the US revoked his travel passport. ■ It usually takes the Russian immigration authorities up to seven days for an initial assessment of an asylum request, according to Snowden’s Russian lawyer Anatoly Kucherena. If they choose to proceed with the process, Snowden would be issued provisional documents to that effect. “When he gets those documents in his hands, he will be released from his temporary home at Sheremetyevo Airport and will be able to go freely about the Russian Federation,” explains RT’s Lindsay France, who is at the airport among the journalists waiting for the decision to be announced. It can take up to three months to either grant or reject the asylum request. If granted, temporary asylum would allow Snowden to remain in Russia for one year and be renewed annually. If the request is rejected by the Immigration Service, Snowden may appeal the decision in court.

Stephen Lendman: Snowden Wins Whistleblower Award - In America, he's a wanted man. He's a fugitive. He's a world hero. He connected the dots for millions. He told people what they need to know. Doing the right thing is its own reward. Transparency International Germany gave him its Whistleblower Award. He's "(t)his year's winner," it said. In 1999, it was established. It's sponsored by the Association of German Scientists (VDW) and the German branch of the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA). He'll receive 3,300 euros (about $4,400). He's seeking Russian asylum. Since June 23, he's been in Moscow limbo. He's living in Sheremetyevo Airport's transit zone. He awaits provisional documents to enter Russia. They're expected soon. Perhaps today. He'll be allowed to travel freely.

Three American and four Afghan soldiers and an interpreter were killed Tuesday morning in Wardak Province after an insurgent riding a donkey detonated a bomb in one of the most hotly contested districts in the country, officials said. - The attack occurred around 8:30 a.m. as the Americans and Afghans were conducting a joint patrol in a violent stretch of Sayadabad District, close to the main highway leading to Kabul, the capital. At least three more American soldiers were wounded in the bombing, which the Taliban claimed responsibility for.

Russia Today: CIA scales down Afghanistan operations amid troop pullout

CIA could begin continue shipping arms in the coming weeks after clearance from House and Senate intelligence committees.

The CIA could begin shipping arms to Syria in the coming weeks, after two US congressional panels cleared the way for the controversial transfer of weapons. The White House announced in June that it would provide limited military support for vetted rebel groups, which have recently been struggling in their campaign against President Bashar al-Assad. Republicans and Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees have expressed concerns that arms could end up in the hands of Islamist militants fighting in the region – or not do enough to tip the balance in the civil war attack on Syria.

Pepe Escobar: Meet a moderate Syrian insurgent
Jason Ditz: At Least 49 "Syrian" "Rebels" Killed in Ambush Near Damascus

■ In the late evening hours of July 22, several Blackhawk helicopters flew low over central areas of the city of Chicago without any lights, startling a number of residents who were not aware of the scheduled military helicopter training exercises.
■ A July 10 Chicago Tribune article on fresh exercises planned in the nearby suburb of Tinley Park cited Tinley Park Emergency Management Agency Director Pat Carr on helicopter exercises planned for July 23 and 24, but there was no indication of where these would be taking place.

Jerry Burch of New York wrote on NBCChicago.com: “These drills desensitize the public. The article calls them routine, we shouldn’t have routine urban warfare drills in a free or peaceful country. Having all these military and paramilitary drills with black vehicles is nothing but intimidation of the public using our own tax dollars. Why is this urban warfare practice so important? There seems to be zero accountability here.”

Craig Kegger wrote: “Who do they think they're kidding? Training for overseas? They are training for civil unrest here.”

■ By early 2013 a long-term strategic goal of the U.S. foreign policy became clear. The goal is to create two economic unions to confront the growing power of the BRICS member countries and form two large markets under the control of the United States in the Atlantic and Pacific areas without the participation of China and Russia. ■ The Trans-Atlantic and Trans-Pacific Partnership aim at creating an "economic" NATO, Transatlantic Free Trade Area (TAFTA) between the United States and the European Union. The defense budget of its member countries amounts to approximately 58 percent of global military spending. ■ The outline of the economic agreement in the Pacific version with the participation of traditionally inflexible Japan is not clearly defined, but given the enormous influence of the U.S. in the largest countries of the region and surrounding areas such as Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and others, it is safe to assume that the degree of integration will be at least as high as TAFTA.

Visible in green within the shattered walls of Fukushima nuclear
power plant, the storage pool is dried up, exposing nuclear fuel
rods to the air. AHB (Photo: AP)

The operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant has admitted for the first time that the site’s reactors are leaking highly contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean.
■ Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, admitted the leakage to the ocean for the first time since a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami damaged the plant’s reactors in 2011. The operator made the acknowledgement after steam was seen at one of the plant's reactors on Tuesday. ■ TEPCO has come under criticism for its delay in the announcement, since experts had harbored strong suspicions about a possible leak for a long time. Previously, the company had denied reports suggesting that contaminated water was leaking into the ocean.
■ TEPCO spokesman Masayuki Ono said that radioactive water leaking from the wrecked reactors is likely to have run into the underground water system, before joining the ocean, and might therefore be the result of initial leaks to the underground system spotted in 2011.

Japan Daily Press: TEPCO admits radioactive groundwater is leaking into the sea at Fukushima
Bloomberg: Tepco Says Toxic Water Leaked to Sea From Fukushima Plant
Stephen Lendman: Multiples Worse than Chernobyl [03/21/11]
Stephen Lendman: Coverup and Denial in Japan [03/15/11]
huliq.com: Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Skipped Inspections [03/22/11]
Washington's Blog: Government Reacts to Fukushima Radiation Crisis By Raising Acceptable Radiation Standards … Instead of Fixing Anything [04/15/13]

Russian officials have slammed US ‘double standards’ over routinely disregarding Moscow’s extradition requests of suspected terrorists and criminals. ● Representatives from Russia’s Ministry of Interior and the prosecutor general’s office issued separate statements on Monday criticizing the United States for long rejecting the Kremlin’s extradition requests, while pressing for the repatriation of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. ● Washington has refused repeated extradition requests on about 20 Russian suspects over the last 10 years, including those for Ilyas Akhmadov, a former leader of the Chechen movement, and Tamaz Nalbandov, who is accused of kidnapping and extortion, said Andrey Pilipchuk, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry. ● Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to convince him to extradite Snowden, but Putin has so far refused the request and said Washington has trapped the former spy agency contractor in Moscow.

Obama administration alarmed by vote on 'Amash amendment' aimed at blocking blanket surveillance of phone records. - The Obama administration has forcefully urged the defeat of a legislative measure to curb its wide-ranging collection of Americans' phone records, setting up a showdown with the House of Representatives over domestic surveillance. A statement from the White House press secretary Jay Carney late on Tuesday evening capped an extraordinary day of near-revolt on Capitol Hill concerning the secret National Security Agency surveillance programes revealed by ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden and published by the Guardian and Washington Post. The White House urged House members to vote against a measure from Representative Justin Amash, a Michigan Republican, that would stop the NSA siphoning up the telephone records of millions of Americans without suspicion of a crime.

Russia Today: NSA holds emergency hearing to fight off anti-surveillance amendment in Congress